CD ROM Paradise Collection 4/CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso/comms/fn90021.zip/F900HELP.DAT

Text File | 1991-07-31 | 13KB | 290 lines

** SAVING NEW ADDED DATA

When entering or modifying data in the ADD, COPY/MODIFY, or MODIFY
screens, the data is saved to the database when you exit the screen by
pressing the ESC key.

However, the MENU ID AND SERVICE NAME field must be non-blank, since this
is the information that will appear on the Audiotex Service menus.  It is
also used to relate the memo field to the Audiotex service information.

If this field is blank, the data will not be saved.

Note that "MENU ID and SERVICE NAME" is one field, and you are free to
design your own method for taking advantage of the fact that all entries
are displayed alphabetically in the menus.

** MODIFICATION DATE/TIME

When you add a new entry, or modify an existing entry, FONE900(tm)
marks it with the current date and time.

This date/time stamp appears on the various display screens as a
convenient indication of the currency of the data source.

** COPYING DATA TO FORM A NEW ENTRY

The COPY / MODIFY option is designed to allow you to quickly copy most of
the information from an existing entry into a new entry.

The COPY / MODIFY option will make a copy of an existing Audiotex service
entry, then blank out the "MENU ID and SERVICE NAME" field, and place you
in the modify mode for the new entry.

If you just press the Esc key right away, the copied entry will not be
added, since the "MENU ID and SERVICE NAME" field is still blank.  You
must at least fill in that field, and you will probably want to modify the
phone number also.

** PLACING A CALL

Press F4 from the ADD, BROWSE, COPY/MODIFY, or MODIFY screen.
FONE900(tm) will use your modem to dial the number.  Most modems have a
speaker over which you will hear the number being dialed.  When you hear
the dialing complete, then pick up your telephone handset to make the
voice connection, and press any key on the computer keyboard to
disconnect the modem from the circuit.

If you do not pick up your handset BEFORE pressing a key to disconnect
the modem, the connection will be lost! This is how you abort the call,
if you suddenly decide you didn't really want to make it.

You must have a modem attached to your computer, and have specified the
correct port number during the SETUP, to use the automatic dial feature.

If you do not have a modem, you can still use FONE900(tm).  Just place
the call the way you would normally, using the data in your database.
Then enter the memo as a permanent record of your conversation.  (See
ENTERING/EDITING A NOTE PAD MEMO).
** TIMING AND COST OF YOUR CALL

After placing a call, begin automatic timing of the call by pressing
the F5 key.  Stop timing by pressing the F5 key again.

If you use the "shell to DOS" option, then return to the program, the
timing function will accurately log the entire time.
** ENTERING/EDITING A NOTE PAD MEMO

From the PLACE CALL screen, you may enter a new memo, or edit a previous
memo in the memo field.  To make an initial entry, just type the text.
FONE900(tm) will automatically add the date and time of your entry to the
memo.

If a previous memo exists, the F3 key will become active, and will allow
you to swap between the current memo and previous memo(s).  Press the F3
key, and your current memo will be replaced by the previous memo in the
NOTE PAD field.  Press F3 again, and the current memo will re-appear.
The F3 key can be used to toggle back and forth between the current memo
and the previous memo(s).

The following standard editing keys are supported for editing memo text:
  Cursor Up/Down/Left/Right
  Page Up/Down
  Home/End
  Tab/Shift-Tab
  Insert/Delete/Backspace
  Enter/Return



The following additional keys are also supported:
  Ctrl-Y to delete a line
  Ctrl-N to insert a blank line
  Ctrl-Cursor Left/Right to move left/right a word at a time

There IS a limit to the memory which can be allocated to the memo data,
and it will be different for each user, depending upon how the computer
is configured.  We suggest that you limit your total memo entries for
each Audiotex service to about 60 lines.

As the number of Audiotex services which also have memos increases, so
will the time to find a particular memo increase.  If you experience
an unacceptable delay between the time you select a service for the
PLACE CALL screen, and the time the screen appears, you can decrease
this time by making hard copies of some of your infrequently-used memos,
then deleting those memos.
** PRINTING A REPORT

FONE900(tm) will print a one-page report containing all information
entered about a Audiotex service.  Select PRINT from the main menu,
then select the Audiotex service to be printed.

FONE900(tm) does not generate any specialized printer graphics, so the
report can be printed on almost any printer.

You can also print a report for the service displayed on the BROWSE
screen by pressing the F6 key.
** DELETING/UN-DELETING ENTRIES

Choose DELETE from the main menu, then choose the Audiotex service
entry to delete.  FONE900(tm) will surround the service name with
the characters « and », and mark the entry for deletion.

With « in front of the name, the entry will now sort to the last
page of the menu.  If you decide to change your mind, at this point,
you can still un-delete the entry by choosing UN-DELETE from the
utility menu, then selecting the entry to un-delete.

Once the database has been purged of deleted entries with the
PURGE option on the utility menu, the items are no longer available
for un-deletion.

** DELETING A NOTE PAD MEMO ENTRY

FONE900(tm) remembers your note pad memo entries and makes them
available on the PLACE CALL screen with the use of the F3 key.
If you wish to conserve disk space by deleting old memo entries,
just use the Ctrl-Y (delete line) sequence to delete all lines
in the old memo entry.

** BACKING UP YOUR DATABASE

It is very important that you backup your Audiotex service database
periodically.  You have no idea of the number of excuses we and
others have used when soliciting help from the experts in trying
to recover lost data.

The basic rule should be to ask yourself periodically, "How comfortable
am I with losing everything I've done since I last backed up my data?"

If the answer is "Not very comfortable", then it's probably time to
backup your data again.

The simple way is to copy your database to a formatted diskette with
the following DOS commands:

  COPY F900DB.DAT A:
  COPY F900NDX.DAT A:
  COPY F900MEMO.DAT A:

If you own a commercial back up utility, then by all means use it.

** RE-INDEXING THE DATABASE

The database menu is driven from a sorted database index on the
MENU ID and SERVICE NAME field.  If some sort of anomaly occurs,
and the menu appears to not reflect the data in the database,
you should choose RE-INDEX from the utility menu.

Some things which could cause such an anomaly include:
 - Shutting off the power while in the FONE900(tm) program
 - Re-booting while in the FONE900(tm) program
 - A disk error during execution of the program

** PURGING DELETED ENTRIES

Choose PURGE from the utility menu, and all Audiotex service entries
marked for deletion are purged from the database forever, thereby
compacting the database.

** SETTING UP YOUR MODEM

FONE900(tm) provides automatic telephone number dialing for those users
who have a modem connected to their computer on serial ports 1 or 2.

If you do not have a modem, you can still use FONE900(tm).  Just place
the call the way you would normally, using the data in your database.
Then use the other features of FONE900(tm) to conveniently record your
Audiotex service data.

If you have a modem attached to your computer, you must specify the
serial communications port to which it is connected.

On the SETUP screen:
     Enter "A" if you do not have a modem
     Enter "B" if the modem is connected to serial port 1
     Enter "C" if the modem is connected to serial port 2

Also see SELECTING PULSE OR DIAL TONE.
** THE FONE900(tm) ACTIVITY LOG

You may log each timed call into a continuous log file.  From the
PLACE CALL screen, after initiating timing with the F5 key, just
answer "Y" when the program asks if you want to log the timed session.

The log file is a plain text file, which you can edit with any text
editor, if you would like to remove some or all of the log entries.

The name of the log file is F900LOG.DAT.

The FONE900(tm) program has a PRINTLOG selection on the main menu,
which allows you to print the log file with page formatting.
** SELECTING PULSE OR DIAL TONE

You may select the method that FONE900(tm) uses for dialing numbers.  On
the setup screen, enter a "Y" after "Tone Dialing" if your modem and
phone line both support tone dialing.  Otherwise enter "N", and
FONE900(tm) will send pulse dialing commands to the modem when dialing.

Just a reminder:  You must have a modem connected to your computer,
and have specified the port to which it is connected, for auto-dialing
to work.

Also see SETTING UP YOUR MODEM.
** SETTING UP SCREEN COLORS

If you have a color monitor, you may choose your favorite colors
for the Entry screen, the Menus and Announcements, and the Exit screen.
The Data Input screen, Browse screen, Modify screen, Call In Progress
screen, and Setup screen colors are predetermined by the program.

When you first enter FONE900(tm), the program will automatically
determine what type of monitor interface hardware you have.  Based
on that information, the SETUP screen will contain a default
value for the "Color Monitor" field.  The field will contain a "Y"
if FONE900(tm) has determined that you probably have a color monitor,
or an "N" if the program thinks you have a monochrome monitor.

You can override this value by moving to that field with the TAB key,
and specifying a "Y" if you have a color monitor, or an "N" if you
have a monochrome monitor.
** USER MANUAL

I have prepared a complete, and well documented Users Manual for
FONE900(tm).  The User Manual is very detailed, and was written to serve
as a tutorial/instructional guide for the Novice PC User, or as a handy
reference text for the more experienced PC User.  To encourage New
Registrations I will send out copies of the User Manual for FONE900(tm),
by return mail, on a PC compatible diskette.  The User Manual is in
Standard ASCII format suitable for printing.  For a limited time I will
provide Registered Users with the FONE900(tm) User Manual on diskette for
just the shipping and handling charge of $5.00.  The List Price of the
User Manual is $11.95 plus Sales Tax, plus the shipping/handling fee of
$5.00 or $16.95 plus tax.  Again, if you Register your copy of
FONE900(tm) the User Manual is yours for only $5.00.  Quantities are
limited.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:      EUGENE L. WOODS, PE/EE
                           Software for the Information Age
                           P. O. Box 261267
                           San Diego, CA 92196 / USA
                           TELEPHONE (Voice):  [phone]
** DOS SHELL

You can shell out to DOS, and use DOS commands outside of FONE900(tm),
by pressing the F8 key from the PLACE CALL screen.  Note that FONE900(tm)
uses a significant amount of RAM memory, therefore some memory-intensive
DOS commands may not have enough RAM left to function.

When you are done using DOS commands, type EXIT to return to FONE900(tm).

Be sure to change directory (cd) back to the FONE900(tm) directory before
exiting from DOS back to FONE900(tm).  If you don't, FONE900(tm) may not
be able to find its associated database files.
** END
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FILE ID: F900HELP.DAT

COPYRIGHT (c) 1991, BY EUGENE L. WOODS, PE/EE.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THE TITLE/FILENAME, CONTENTS, AND MANNER OF PRESENTATION ARE FULLY
PROTECTED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.  COPYING OR
REPRODUCTION IS FORBIDDEN WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE
AUTHOR/PREPARER.