Fish 'n' More 2/fishmore-publicdomainlibraryvol.ii1991xetec.iso/dirs/contact_384.lzh/Contact/Contact-Demo-ReadMe

Text File | 1990-10-23 | 18KB | 489 lines

                                Contact

                        Demonstration Version 1.0
                     Copyright (c) 1990 Craig Fisher
                        Produced by CMF Software
                               P.O. Box 686
                              Woden ACT 2606
                                AUSTRALIA



This demonstration version of Contact is identical to the retail version
except for the ability to load or save the Contact data file.

Contact retails for $A60 and should be available from your local dealer,
or contact:
             Desktop Utilities
             P.O. Box 3053
             Manuka  ACT  2603
             AUSTRALIA
             Phone: [phone]
             BBS:   [phone]


What is Contact?
-----------------

As the name may or may not imply, Contact is a program for managing
personal contacts.  Contact allows you to keep a name and address list
along with phone numbers and comments.  There are many worthwhile advantages
in keeping this information on computer using Contact:

    - Contact is a memory resident pop-up program.  This means that
      your address list can be accessed in under a second no matter
      what you are doing.
    - An address label can be printed for any contact simply with a
      couple of mouse clicks. (Even PostScript printers are supported.)
    - Any address can be transferred to another program (such as a word
      processor) by one of two ways:
            a) via the clipboard. (The destination program must have
               support for the clipboard.)
         or b) having Contact type the address to another program, as if
               it had been typed in by the user.
    - Contact can automatically dial your phone for you (provided you
      have a modem).  Two phone numbers can be stored with each address.
      Dialling is just a matter of pointing to the number and clicking.
    - Contact keeps your address list alphabetically sorted for easy
      reference.


Getting Started
---------------

    Contact stores its data in a file called Contact.data which must be
    in a directory pointed to by the CONTACT: device name.

    You might find it convenient to create a directory called `Contact' on
    your system disk to store Contact and the data file.  For example, if
    you had a directory called DH0:Utilities/Contact you should put an
    assign command in your startup-sequence to tell Contact where to
    find the data file as follows:
        assign Contact: DH0:Utilities/Contact

    To run Contact, simply double click on its icon or enter `Contact'
    from the CLI.

    Contact will then be installed in memory - to activate it at any time
    you then just press [ALT]\.

    Note: The phone dialling function requires you to have a Hayes compatible
    modem connected to your serial port (and turned on!).


Adding Addresses
----------------

The first thing you will need to do when you start using Contact is
to put some addresses in your address list.  First, activate Contact by
pressing the hot key ([ALT] \), and then click on the "NEW" button
at the bottom of the screen (or select "New Address" from the menu, or
press [Right-Amiga] N).

This will create a new record in the address list and position your
cursor on the first line of the address label.  Type the name of the
contact on the first line and press return.  You will see the name appear
in the top half of the window, and your cursor will move to the next line
of the label.  Type in the rest of the address on the next 6 lines.  If the
address needs less than 6 lines, just press RETURN on the remaining lines.
Your cursor will then be on the first phone number field for you to type in
one of two phone numbers for the contact.  Any characters can be used here -
all non numeric characters are removed before dialling, so you can enter
something like: "[phone] (Home)".  Press return and your cursor
moves on to the second phone number field.  Enter the second phone number
or just press RETURN to leave it blank.  You now have the first address in
your Contact address list.

To add further addresses, simply repeat the procedure.

To permanently store the addresses you have added to your address list you
must select Save from the Project menu.  This will write the complete
address list to the Contact data file.


Selecting a Contact
-------------------

Once you have a list of a contacts together, you will want to take
advantage of Contact's other features.  Before you can perform an
operation on an address (such as print, clip etc.) you need to select
one from your list.

Contact allows you to view the first line of seven addresses at any one
time.  Your address list will probably have a lot more than seven people
in it, so Contact allows you to `scroll' through the list to find the
contact you want.  A scroll bar is provided at the right of the address
list display to jump rapidly through the list.  There are also up and down
arrow buttons for moving up or down through the list.  The up and down keys
on the keyboard perform the same function.

When the contact you are interested in is in view in the top half of the
window, simply point to its' line with the mouse and click.  The complete
address label and phone numbers for that contact will appear in the
lower part of the window.  The address you have selected can now be used
for other Contact operations.


Printing Labels
---------------

Printing an address label for the selected contact is as easy as clicking
on the LABEL button at the bottom of the window.  Alternatively you can
press the [Right-Amiga]-P key combination to perform the same function.

You should have your printer ready and loaded with labels lined up at the
start.

Labels are printed according to settings which can be changed via the
preferences menu.  The settings which can be adjusted are:
    a) Indent - This is the width of the left margin (i.e. how many
                spaces appear before each line of a label)
                Selecting this option from the preferences menu
                will bring up a requester asking for the size of the
                indent.  Enter the required value and press return.
                This option can also be selected by pressing Right-Amiga I.
                The default value is 10.
    b) Pitch -  This allows you to specify the width of characters to
                be used.  Some addresses may be too wide to fit on
                your labels in the standard pitch.  To use a smaller
                character width, select the Elite or Fine pitch.
                The default pitch is Pica.
    c) Lines per label - This allows you to specify how many lines there
                are between one physical label and the next.
                This option can also be selected by pressing Right-Amiga L.
                The default number of lines per label is 8.
    d) Quality - This option allows you to specify the print quality to
                be used for printing labels.  You can choose from either
                Draft or Letter quality printing or PostScript mode.
                The default quality setting is Letter.

If you want to print a label for every contact on your list, a shortcut
is provided.  Choose the "Print all" item from the Project menu: a label
will be printed for each contact.



Clipping Addresses
------------------

When writing to a contact you would normally put their address at
the top of the letter.  Since you already have the address stored in
your Amiga, it would be crazy to have to type it in again, right?
Contact will save you the effort and do it for you.  If your word processor
has support for the clipboard, you can just select the CLIP button from the
bottom of the Contact window.  The selected address will be copied to the
clipboard - you can then paste it into your word processing document
wherever you want.

The Clip function can also be invoked by pressing [Right-Amiga]-C.



Typing Addresses
----------------

If your word processor or text editor does not support the Amiga's
clipboard device, don't worry - Contact can still do insert the address
for you.  Selecting the TYPE button at the bottom of the Contact window
will `type' the selected address into your application, as if you had type
it yourself.  To use this facility you must ensure that the window that
you want the address to go to is active before popping up Contact, and
that your cursor is at the position where you want the address placed.

The `type' facility can also be activated by pressing [Right-Amiga]-T.



Phone Dialling
--------------

In keeping with Contact's aim of saving the user as much effort as
possible, Contact will even dial the phone for you.  To use this feature
you must have a Hayes compatible auto-dialling modem with a telephone
handset attached to it.  By default Contact assumes that you have a tone
dial phone line.  If your phone line will not accept tone dial (i.e. a pulse
dial line) you can tell Contact to use pulse dialling when it is started -
see Appendix A.

Each of the phone fields of the selected address has a dial button to
its' left.  Simply click on this button to dial the associated phone
number.  A requester will appear as the phone is being dialled.  Once you
hear the ring tone, pick up the handset and then click on the OK button in
the requester.  You can then treat the call as if you had dialled it directly
on the handset - simply replace the handset to hang up when finished.  If
you wish to cancel the call before picking up the handset just click on the
requester's OK button.



Sorting Addresses
-----------------

When you add new addresses to your address list, Contact just places them
at the end of the list.  To view them in sorted order, select the Sort
option from the Project menu.

If you don't explicitly tell Contact to sort the address list, it will
do so next time the address list is loaded from file.



Deleting Addresses
------------------

Occasionally you will want to remove one of your contacts from the address
list.  To do this, select the address and then choose "Delete Address" from
the Address menu.  The address will be removed from the address list and
the preceding address will become the selected address.

For the address to be removed from the list permanently you must select
Save from the Project menu to update the file.



Saving Addresses
----------------

After you have added addresses to Contact's address list, or removed an
old one, the changes are only stored in your Amiga's memory until you store
them permanently by saving them to the data file.  To do this, select `Save'
from the Project menu.

Next time you start Contact the updated list of addresses will be available,
and will be in sorted order.



Comment Fields
--------------

Sometimes you may find it desirable to record a brief comment about an
individual in your address list.  You can use one of the address lines
to store a note to yourself by placing an exclamation mark (!) as the first
character in the line.  Any address lines starting with an exclamation mark
will not be printed on labels or clipped to the clipboard or typed (using
the TYPE option).

With seven lines for storing an address there are usually one or two
left over which the address doesn't fill.  It can be useful to use
these to store notes to yourself about the contact using this comment
facility.



Quitting Contact
----------------

To exit Contact, select the Quit option from the Project menu or press the
ESCAPE key or [Right-Amiga]-Q.  To reactivate Contact, press the hot key
([ALT]-\).



Unloading Contact
-----------------

If you have finished using Contact and don't wish to use it again until
next time you restart, select the `Unload' option from the Project menu.
This will remove Contact from memory.  To use Contact again you will
have to restart it (see Getting Started).

If you have made any changes to your address list you should select the
`Save' option before unloading Contact, otherwise your changes will be
lost.

Note: Because Contact is a memory resident program there is normally no
need to unload it from memory unless you are running very short of free
memory.  Unloading Contact will free up the memory it occupies, currently
about 40K plus that required for your addresses.



ARexx Control
-------------

For users of the ARexx programming language, Contact can be controlled
from an ARexx program. This enables the facilities of Contact to be
accessed from other applications which support ARexx or from a standalone
ARexx program.  Note that Contact does not have to be popped up for it to
be able to respond to ARexx commands.  The ARexx commands which Contact
provides are described below:

'POPUP' - Tells Contact to pop-up, just as if the user had pressed the hot key.

'POPDOWN' - Tells Contact to pop back down.

'SELECT FIRST' - Makes the first address in its address list the selected
address.  (So that it can be used for subsequent actions.)

'SELECT NEXT' - Make the next address in its address list the selected
address.

'FIND text' - Finds the first address record which contains the given text.
(e.g. 'FIND CMF Software')  If no matching address is found a warning level
return code is returned.

'FIND NEXT' - Finds the next occurence of the previously searched for text.
Searching starts from the address following the currently selected one. If
no matching address is found a warning level return code is returned.

'LABEL' - Prints a label for the currently selected address.

'CLIP' - Copies the currently selected address to the clipboard.

'TYPE' - Tells Contact to 'type' the currently selected address (as if typed
by the user).

'DIAL1' - Tells Contact to dial the first phone number of the currently
selected address.

'DIAL2' - Tells Contact to dial the second phone number of the currently
selected address.

'UNLOAD' - Unloads Contact from memory.

'GET' - Gets the current Contact address into ARexx variables LINE1-LINE7 and
        PHONE1-PHONE2.

'NEW' - Create a new Contact address record (the new address becomes the
        current address).

'SET' - Used to set values for the current Contact address.  For example:
            'SET LINE1 Brian May'  will set the first line of the current
                                   address to 'Brian May'.
            'SET PHONE1 12345'     will set the first phone number of the
                                   current address to '12345'.



Appendix A - Command Line Flags
-------------------------------

The following command line flags can be used to modify the behaviour of
Contact when started from the command line.


        -s          Silent Mode  - Stops initial startup window from
                                   appearing.

        -p          Pulse Dial   - Specifies that pulse dialing should be
                                   used (as opposed to tone dialing).

        -khotkey   Key code      - Key code (in decimal) of the key to use
                                   for hot key.
                                   (Default is the backslash (\) key.)
                                   For a list of the key codes to use
                                   see Appendix B.

        -qhotqual  Qualifier     - Qualifier code (in decimal) of the keys to
                                   act as qualifiers to the hot key.
                                   (Default is either ALT key.)
                                   For a list of the key codes to use
                                   see Appendix B.

        -ffilename Data file     - Name of the data file to use.
                                   (Default is Contact:Contact.data.)

        -ofilename PostScript output - 'filename' can be the name of a device
                                   such as SER: or PAR: or the name of a file
                                   which PostScript mode output is to be
                                   written to.  (This also makes PostScript
                                   output the default.)

    Example: Contact -s -p -k0 -fdf0:data/addresses.data
        - This will start Contact up in silent mode (no startup window).
          The dial mode will be pulse dial and the hot key will be the
          ` key (the hot key qualifier remains the ALT key).  The data file
          used will be "addresses.data" in the `df0:data' directory.



Appendix B - Key Codes and Qualifier Codes
------------------------------------------

(All values are in hexadecimal.)


    SPACE - 40
    '     - 2a
    ,     - 38
    -     - 0b
    .     - 39
    /     - 3a
    0     - 0a
    1     - 01
    2     - 02
    3     - 03
    4     - 04
    5     - 05
    6     - 06
    7     - 07
    8     - 08
    9     - 09
    ;     - 29
    =     - 0c
    [     - 1a
    \     - 0d
    ]     - 1b
    `     - 00
    a     - 20
    b     - 35
    c     - 33
    d     - 22
    e     - 12
    f     - 23
    g     - 24
    h     - 25
    i     - 17
    j     - 26
    k     - 27
    l     - 28
    m     - 37
    n     - 36
    o     - 18
    p     - 19
    q     - 10
    r     - 13
    s     - 21
    t     - 14
    u     - 16
    v     - 34
    w     - 11
    x     - 32
    y     - 15
    z     - 31

KEYPAD KEYCODES:

    ENTER - 43
    -     - 4a
    .     - 3c
    0     - 0f
    1     - 1d
    2     - 1e
    3     - 1f
    4     - 2d
    5     - 2e
    6     - 2f
    7     - 3d
    8     - 3e
    9     - 3f
    (     - 5a
    )     - 5b
    /     - 5c
    *     - 5d

QUALIFIER KEYCODES

(Note: These (hex) values can be added together to specify a combination of
qualifier keys.)

    NONE          - 00
    SHIFT         - 01
    ALT           - 02
    CONTROL       - 04
    LEFT AMIGA    - 08
    RIGHT AMIGA   - 10