Title:  How does Pine 4 look up email addresses when I compose a message?

Question:
I'm puzzled by what Pine does when I enter names or email addresses on the
To or Cc line when I compose a message. Can you explain the behaviors I see?

Answer:
Starting with Pine Version 4 on the Uniform Access computers (and PC-Pine
Version 4 distributed in the UW Internet Connectivity Kit,) the online UW
student and faculty/staff directories are searched when you compose
messages.  This is in addition to the methods Pine previously used to
complete email addresses. Let's review all the things that can happen. 

You can enter addresses which fit the following forms:

   a)  username@domain         eg,  bill_clinton@whitehouse.gov

   b)  username or nickname    eg,  bill

   c)  real name               eg,  William Clinton

Pine's behavior varies depending on which form it finds on the To, Cc, Bcc
or Lcc line. Let's look at each form, one at a time. 

Form a)   You enter some text followed by an "@" followed by more text.  
For example:
 		123456@somewhere
	or
		sammysosa@chicago.cubs.com

Pine sees each of these as a complete email address and will dutifully
send the message you compose. Pine does not change the address you
entered.  If the address is incorrect, the message will bounce back to
you. 

Form b) You enter some text (a single word) without making it look like a
valid email address, i.e., without the "@" and a domain.  For example:
		
		mom

Pine sees an incomplete address and tries to help by looking up what you
enter in several places, in the following order: 

1.  Pine checks your address book to see if you have an individual or
    distribution list entry with "mom" as a nickname.  If so, the
    address is completed according to the information you have
    stored in your address book.  (If you have several address books
    defined, all of them are checked.)

2.  If no address book nickname is found, Pine now checks the accounting
    records for the computer where it is running.  For example if you
    use Homer, Pine checks to see if there is an account with the 
    login name "mom."  If so, Pine completes the address line by 
    adding the computer's domain.  In addition, Pine will add any 
    personal name information it finds in the computer's account file.  
    So, starting with:
       To:  mom
    You might see something like
       To:  "Z. 'Mom' Momentous" 

3.  If Pine finds neither an address book nickname nor an account 
    record matching the text you have entered, it then searches the 
    online UW student directory and the online UW faculty/staff
    directory.  (This directory search capability was added with Pine
    version 4.  It uses technology based on the Lightweight Directory
    Access Protocol, LDAP.)
  
    Pine asks the directory server for entries that match the text you
    entered, often resulting in a list of several people.  Sometimes
    the list is quite long.  This Pine screen is labeled "SELECT ONE
    ADDRESS FOR "mom".  You can scroll around to find the right 
    individual. If the desired address is present, select it and press
    "S" to pull it into your composition. If the online directories
    contain only one record that matches your text, it will automatically
    appear to complete the address line.  For example
       To:  mom
    could become
       To:  Major Major 

4.  If Pine completes all three steps above and still hasn't found
    matching information with which to complete the address, it adds 
    the default domain of the computer you are using. So:
       To:  mom
    becomes
       To:  mom@u.washington.edu

Form c)  You enter a person's real full name, or the first characters of a 
name.  For example
	To:  David Wall
or
	To:  D Wall
or
	To:  Dav wa

The spaces in these entries tell Pine that they are not address book
nicknames nor computer account login names. Again, it queries the
directory server to get entries from the UW online directories that match
the text you specified. If several entries match, you get a list from
which to select the correct address.