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CD ROM Paradise Collection 4
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CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso
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b_link10.zip
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B-LINK.EXE
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1994-02-06
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B-LINK - BASIC LINK for the NEWTON
----------------------------------
1) FROM THE LAWYERS:
B-LINK is "FREEWARE" and as such may be freely used and
distributed. Absolutely no fee is to be charged for using or
providing this program/package. Please distribute the B-LINK.EXE
archive unaltered.
Neither the author, his spouse, relatives, heirs, friends, or
casual acquaintances assume any responsibility or liability from
the use of B-LINK. Always backup your NEWTON before using B-LINK.
It's always better to be safe than sorry!
2) INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:
B-LINK was created for two purposes:
1) Allow users to upload information to their NEWTON from
any operating system: DOS, OS/2 (DOS box), Windows (DOS
box) - using a reasonably friendly GUI.
2) Demonstrate to developers the protocol necessary for
them to create even better apps that will allow users to
upload information to their NEWTON (eg: an import
function).
B-LINK can be used by your secretary during the day to add
names, appointments, etc. to the database. When you get back
to the office the B-LINK database can be uploaded to the
NEWTON. A procedure that I find works well is:
- when you leave the office have your secretary use B-LINK
to capture new appointments, contact names, etc.
- when someone calls (eg: John Sculley) have your
secretary add "CALL SCULLEY" to the notepad database.
- if the secretary doesn't have John's number it can be
added to the B-LINK business card database.
- when you arrive back at the office download the B-LINK
database to the NEWTON.
- you can then go through the new notepad items (eg: CALL
SCULLEY) and use the intelligent assistant to help you
catch up.
B-LINK started out as a quick weekend "hack" written in BASIC
from various skeleton programs that were available. Most
notably I borrowed some code from a program called "TDB.BAS"
which was written as a telephone database program and uploaded
to CIS as freeware.
BTW, BASIC celebrates it's 30th birthday this year.
All of the protocol information required for writing this was
available on the Internet. However it took some digging around
to find the information I needed. Using FTPMAIL from CIS is
quite valuable!
When I showed B-LINK to other NEWTON users they encouraged me
to continue developing it. The resulting code is not a pretty
sight <G> - but it does the job!
Thanks to Mr. Robert E. Johnson (oh yeah - the 3rd) the
creator of "PDALINK" for the inspiration for writing B-LINK.
I hope that others will use B-LINK and create other more
useful shareware apps and that they will SHARE their source
with others.
3) ENVIRONMENTS:
B-LINK was written in BASIC so that it could be used on a
rather ordinary DOS machine. It will also work in a DOS box
under Windows. I have not yet figured out how to get it to
work properly under an OS/2 DOS box (I am using special COM
drivers which may be interfering), but it should be possible.
It has been setup to default to COM1: at 9600 baud. The COM
port can be selected from the main menu. The baud rate and
other COM parameters can be changed in the program if
necessary.
4) HARDWARE:
To use B-LINK to transfer data to the NEWTON from a PC you
will need a "NULL MODEM" cable. This cable is not the same as
the serial cable used to connect the PC to a modem. A null
modem cable (or adapter) is available at Radio Shack for about
$10.00. To create your own, just crisscross lines 2 and 3 on
the serial cable.
5) USAGE:
B-LINK is pretty straight forward to use. All the functions
are available by selecting a menu option, a sub-menu option,
then using the database screens that follow. There is some
online help available to guide you.
To run B-LINK simply run the "B-LINK.BAT" which will start the
QBASIC program needed to run it.
If you get really stuck (eg: if your COM port gets stuck while
transmitting) you'll need to hit BREAK to exit the program. If
you land in the QBASIC program just exit from there and start
over again.
6) SCREENS:
The MAIN menu:
File Newton Port
┌─────────┐
│ Load │▓▓
│ Save │▓▓
│ Import │▓▓
│ Summary │▓▓
│ Exit │▓▓
└─────────┘▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
Load: Restore a previously saved B-LINK database file (B-
LINK.DB).
Save: Save the current database records to the current B-LINK
directory.
Import: This is for someone else to develop!
Summary: Gives you a count of the number of current database
records that are in memory. It also tells you what
COM port is currently selected.
Exit: Go back to DOS.
The NEWTON menu:
File Newton Port
┌────────────────┐
│ Business Card │▓▓
│ Appointment │▓▓
│ Notepad │▓▓
│ Anniversary │▓▓
│ Daily Note │▓▓
│ Daily Alarm │▓▓
└────────────────┘▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
When you select an option from the NEWTON menu you will go to
the database view/entry screen. From this screen you can
always exit back to the main menu by pressing PF10.
You will only be able to work with the database records for
the NEWTON sub-menu application you have selected (except for
find and print which works on all database records). When you
try to browse forward/backward it will only browse the
database records for the current NEWTON sub-menu application
selected. If no records exist for the selected application you
will automatically go into the ADD RECORD mode.
You can abort adding or editing a record by pressing the <ESC>
key before completing the add/edit.
Sample sub-menu screen:
Single Appointment Data Entry Screen
╔════[ 2 / 2 ]══════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ Year: 1994 ║
║ ║
║ Start Date (MMDD): 0401 Start Time (HHMM): 1800 ║
║ End Time (HHMM): 2000 ║
║ ║
║ Alarm Time (HHMM): 0000 ║
║ ║
║ Description: Meeting with John Sculley ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
1Help 2Add 3Delete 4Edit 5Find 6Prev 7Next 8Send 9Print 10Exit
The [ 2 / 2 ] represents: the left number is the record
number currently being worked on, the right number is the
total number of records in the database.
The data fields are subject to basic editing restrictions:
Year: must be numeric between 1904-2999
Month: must be numeric between 1-12
Day: must be numeric between 1-31
Time: must be numeric between 0000-2359 (yes, it's 24hr)
Description: can be alphanumeric and must be entered
NOTE: there is no intra-data editing done. Eg: B-LINK will
allow you to setup an appointment that ends before it
starts. Also, you can add an appointment for Feb. 31st.
However the NEWTON will not like it if you do that!
The PF key help line defines how to select various database
functions. PF1 selects a help screen.
The NEWTON sub-menu applications:
Business Card:
Allows you to add a name card to your NEWTON's unfiled
names folder. Note: Only the persons LAST NAME is used! So
I enter the person's name in LAST, FIRST format in that
field.
Appointment:
Allows you to add a single appointment to your calendar.
NOTE: the alarm function does not appear to be picked up by
the NEWTON so you can just enter "0000" in that field.
Notepad:
Allows you to add a short 5 line notepad page.
Anniversary:
Allows you to add a day note that will automatically be set
with an annual frequency.
Daily Note:
Allows you to add a day note that will automatically be set
to appear for the duration specified.
Daily Alarm:
Allows you to set the time of day that an automatically
scheduled appointment (30 minute duration) called "Daily
Alarm" will be defined. NOTE: this repeating event has no
end date - so if you want it to stop it you'll have to go
to the date you want to end it at and delete it from the
NEWTON's calendar.
The PORT Menu:
File Newton Port
┌───────┐
│ COM1 │▓▓
│ COM2 │▓▓
└───────┘▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
Select the COM port that you want to use. NOTE: the program
automatically defaults to COM1 if you do not select a port.
You can check which PORT is selected by picking the SUMMARY
sub-menu option from the FILE menu option.
7) THE AUTHOR:
I was one of the first proud owners of a NEWTON in Toronto. As
a System's Development Project Leader at Canada's second
largest bank (CIBC) I use the NEWTON daily to help organize my
business and personal life.
I am also the organizer of a group of fellow users of the
NEWTON in Toronto - called "GNUT" (Group of NEWTON Users in
Toronto) pronounced NEWT. The group meets regularly every
couple months. The meetings are announced and minutes are
distributed via the COMPUSERVE NEWTON forum.
To contact me please send EMAIL to:
John Marman
CIS: 70410,1257
Internet: 70410.1257@compuserve.com
Please let me know what you think of B-LINK. If you create new
applications based on B-LINK please let me know.
Live long and thanks for all the fish!
John.
* * * *