Every get disconnected in the middle of writing a message (post or email)

and maybe lose all that eloquent prose you've painstakingly written? Well,
Synchronet will now save your unsaved draft (assuming your editor saves it
before exiting due to disconnetion) and will give you the option of
restoring that draft when you attempt to email or post again within 48
hours. The message's subject is saved/restored along with the draft body
text as well. Drafts older than 48 hours are just ignored. This duration
is currently hardcoded, but that could easily be changed.

src/sbbs3/writemsg.cpp

 /* Synchronet message creation routines */
+// vi: tabstop=4
 
 /* $Id$ */
 
@@ -209,6 +210,8 @@ bool sbbs_t::writemsg(const char *fname, const char *top, char *subj, long mode,
 				,useron_level;
 	char	msgtmp[MAX_PATH+1];
 	char	tagfile[MAX_PATH+1];
+	char	draft_desc[128];
+	char	draft[MAX_PATH + 1];
 	char 	tmp[512];
 	int		i,j,file,linesquoted=0;
 	long	length,qlen=0,qtime=0,ex_mode=0;
@@ -243,10 +246,16 @@ bool sbbs_t::writemsg(const char *fname, const char *top, char *subj, long mode,
 		mode|=WM_NOTOP;
 
 	msg_tmp_fname(useron_xedit, msgtmp, sizeof(msgtmp));
+	removecase(msgtmp);
 	SAFEPRINTF(tagfile,"%seditor.tag",cfg.temp_dir);
 	removecase(tagfile);
+	SAFEPRINTF(draft_desc, "draft.%s.msg", subnum >= cfg.total_subs ? "mail" : cfg.sub[subnum]->code);
+	SAFEPRINTF3(draft, "%suser/%04u.%s", cfg.data_dir, useron.number, draft_desc);
 
-	if(mode&WM_QUOTE && !(useron.rest&FLAG('J'))
+	bool draft_restored = false;
+	if(fexist(draft) && (time(NULL) - fdate(draft)) < 48L*60L*60L && yesno("Unsaved draft message found. Use it"))
+		draft_restored = mv(draft, msgtmp, /* copy: */true) == 0;
+	else if(mode&WM_QUOTE && !(useron.rest&FLAG('J'))
 		&& ((mode&(WM_EMAIL|WM_NETMAIL) && cfg.sys_misc&SM_QUOTE_EM)
 		|| (!(mode&(WM_EMAIL|WM_NETMAIL)) && (uint)subnum!=INVALID_SUB
 			&& cfg.sub[subnum]->misc&SUB_QUOTE))) {
@@ -260,7 +269,6 @@ bool sbbs_t::writemsg(const char *fname, const char *top, char *subj, long mode,
 				free(buf);
 				return(false); 
 			}
-			removecase(msgtmp);
 			if((file=nopen(msgtmp,O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC))==-1) {
 				errormsg(WHERE,ERR_OPEN,msgtmp,O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC);
 				free(buf);
@@ -410,6 +418,8 @@ bool sbbs_t::writemsg(const char *fname, const char *top, char *subj, long mode,
 		max_title_len=cols-column-1;
 		if(max_title_len > LEN_TITLE)
 			max_title_len = LEN_TITLE;
+		if(draft_restored)
+			user_get_property(&cfg, useron.number, draft_desc, "subject", subj, max_title_len);
 		if(!getstr(subj,max_title_len,mode&WM_FILE ? K_LINE|K_TRIM : K_LINE|K_EDIT|K_AUTODEL|K_TRIM)
 			&& useron_level && useron.logons) {
 			free(buf);
@@ -489,20 +499,29 @@ bool sbbs_t::writemsg(const char *fname, const char *top, char *subj, long mode,
 		if(cfg.xedit[useron_xedit-1]->misc&XTRN_SH)
 			ex_mode|=EX_SH;
 
-		if(!linesquoted)
-			removecase(msgtmp);
-		else {
-			qlen=(long)flength(msgtmp);
-			qtime=(long)fdate(msgtmp); 
+		if(!draft_restored) {
+			if(!linesquoted)
+				removecase(msgtmp);
+			else {
+				qlen=(long)flength(msgtmp);
+				qtime=(long)fdate(msgtmp); 
+			}
 		}
 
 		CLS;
 		rioctl(IOCM|PAUSE|ABORT);
-		external(cmdstr(cfg.xedit[useron_xedit-1]->rcmd,msgtmp,nulstr,NULL),ex_mode,cfg.node_dir);
+		const char* cmd = cmdstr(cfg.xedit[useron_xedit-1]->rcmd, msgtmp, nulstr, NULL);
+		int result = external(cmd, ex_mode, cfg.node_dir);
+		lprintf(LOG_DEBUG, "'%s' returned %d", cmd, result);
 		rioctl(IOSM|PAUSE|ABORT); 
 
 		checkline();
-		if(!fexistcase(msgtmp) || !online
+		if(!online)	 { // save draft due to disconnection
+			mv(msgtmp, draft, /* copy: */true);
+			user_set_property(&cfg, useron.number, draft_desc, "subject", subj);
+		}
+
+		if(result != EXIT_SUCCESS || !fexistcase(msgtmp) || !online
 			|| (linesquoted && qlen==flength(msgtmp) && qtime==fdate(msgtmp))) {
 			free(buf);
 			return(false); 
@@ -542,7 +561,7 @@ bool sbbs_t::writemsg(const char *fname, const char *top, char *subj, long mode,
 	}
 	else {
 		buf[0]=0;
-		if(linesquoted) {
+		if(linesquoted || draft_restored) {
 			if((file=nopen(msgtmp,O_RDONLY))!=-1) {
 				length=(long)filelength(file);
 				l=length>(cfg.level_linespermsg[useron_level]*MAX_LINE_LEN)-1
@@ -554,6 +573,16 @@ bool sbbs_t::writemsg(const char *fname, const char *top, char *subj, long mode,
 			} 
 		}
 		if(!(msgeditor((char *)buf,mode&WM_NOTOP ? nulstr : top, subj))) {
+			if(!online) {
+				FILE* fp = fopen(draft, "wb");
+				if(fp == NULL)
+					errormsg(WHERE, ERR_CREATE, draft, O_WRONLY);
+				else {
+					fputs(buf, fp);
+					fclose(fp);
+					user_set_property(&cfg, useron.number, draft_desc, "subject", subj);
+				}
+			}
 			free(buf);	/* Assertion here Dec-17-2003, think I fixed in block above (rev 1.52) */
 			return(false); 
 		} 
@@ -602,12 +631,14 @@ bool sbbs_t::writemsg(const char *fname, const char *top, char *subj, long mode,
 		}
 	}
 
+	remove(draft);
 	fclose(stream);
 	free((char *)buf);
 	bprintf(text[SavedNBytes],l,lines);
 	return(true);
 }
 
+/****************************************************************************/
 /****************************************************************************/
 /* Modify 'str' to for quoted format. Remove ^A codes, etc.                 */
 /****************************************************************************/
@@ -1005,19 +1036,18 @@ ulong sbbs_t::msgeditor(char *buf, const char *top, char *title)
 			line-=2; 
 		}
 	}
-	if(!online) {
-		for(i=0;i<lines;i++)
-			free(str[i]);
-		free(str);
-		return(0); 
-	}
-	strcpy(buf,top);
+	if(online)
+		strcpy(buf,top);
+	else
+		buf[0]=0;
 	for(i=0;i<lines;i++) {
 		strcat(buf,str[i]);
 		strcat(buf,crlf);
 		free(str[i]); 
 	}
 	free(str);
+	if(!online)
+		return 0;
 	return(lines);
 }