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D o c u m e n t a t i o n
f o r
P A G E M A T E
S h a r e w a r e V e r s i o n 3 . 3
======================================================================
Copyright (C) 1991-1993 by R.J. Matter & Associates
All Rights Reserved
L I M I T E D W A R R A N T Y
THIS PROGRAM AND DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THIS
PROGRAM AND DOCUMENTATION IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THIS PROGRAM OR
DOCUMENTATION PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU (NOT THE AUTHOR, DISTRIBUTOR, OR
DEALER) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR
CORRECTION. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR, DISTRIBUTOR, OR DEALER BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST
SAVINGS, OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF
THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PROGRAM OR DOCUMENTATION EVEN IF THE
AUTHOR, DISTRIBUTOR, OR DEALER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.
======================================================================
by
Robert J. Matter
P.O. BOX 9042
Highland, IN 46322-9042
Voice: (219) 845-5247
E-MAIL
GEnie: R.Matter
CompuServe: 71021,2654
America On-Line: Robert7063
Internet: 71021.2654@compuserve.com
1
PageMate 3.3
D E S C R I P T I O N
PageMate is a program that monitors your telephone line for an
incoming ring and then dials a number you specify after a specific
delay. It also includes an alarm facility to call your pager (or any
other number) at a predefined date and time and optionally send a
phone number you are supposed to call at that time. All incoming and
outgoing calls are logged to a file for later examination.
PageMate is most commonly used in conjunction with display type pagers
(or "beepers") and answering machines to notify owners of incoming
messages, but it can call any telephone number and an answering
machine is not necessary. PageMate will work with rotary pulse or tone
telephone line service.
F E A T U R E S
* Supports any COM port (1-25) and IRQ (0-15)
* IRQ's can be shared among other serial devices
* 100 entry "Alarm" function with user selectable Month-Day,
Hour:Minute or wildcards
* Each alarm entry can send a unique "number to call"
* Incoming calls and outgoing alarm calls logged to disk
* Can run in the background under Windows 3.1 (Enhanced Mode)
* Redials if number called was busy
* Won't interrupt if telephone is in use
* User defined "hang-up" time
* Support for several brands of multi-port serial cards that
have the 8250/16450/16550 or compatible serial chip
H A R D W A R E / S O F T W A R E R E Q U I R E M E N T S
* IBM PC or compatible computer with MS-DOS 2.0 or higher
* 300 baud or greater Hayes or compatible modem
* One floppy or hard disk drive
* A text editor or word processor
* A telephone line
* Digital pager (optional)
2
PageMate 3.3
S E T U P
S T E P 1 - E D I T P A G E . D A T
PageMate is compatible with a wide variety of hardware configurations.
To facilitate this flexibility a more detailed set of setup
instructions is necessary than in pre-3.X versions. One COMMA
SEPARATED setup line is required in the PAGE.DAT file in the format:
COM PORT#, SERIAL PORT ADDRESS, IRQ NUMBER, BAUD RATE, LINE SERVICE,
DELAY TIME, "BEEPER NUMBER", NUMBER TO DISPLAY, HANG-UP TIME,
ENABLE/DISABLE REDIAL
Example: 1, 3F8, 4, 2400, T, 180, "555-5555,,,,", 999-9999#, 20, 1
Sample setup lines have been provided in PAGE.DAT for the four most
common configurations. With any luck you will only need to copy one of
them to the top line. The other sample setup lines can be left in
PAGE.DAT for future reference because PageMate only reads the first
line.
With a text editor such as DOS 5.0's "Edit" or a word processor, edit
setup line to include:
1) COM PORT# [1-25]. The COM port number your modem is installed on.
This is usually 1 through 4 for most PC's with standard serial
ports or internal modems.
2) SERIAL PORT ADDRESS [000-3FF]. The hexadecimal address of the
selected COM port. The conventional address values for most PC'S
are:
Port Address
----- ------
COM1 3F8
COM2 2F8
COM3 3E8
COM4 2E8
Internal modems and normal serial cards usually have dip switches
or jumpers indicating the COM port and address. Many computers
display installed serial device addresses when booting up.
3) IRQ NUMBER [0-15]. The table below shows common IRQ (Interrupt
Request) values, but yours may vary. PageMate allows sharing of
IRQ's so for example if you already have a serial card on COM1
using IRQ 4 you can install an internal modem configured as COM3
using IRQ 4 also.
Port IRQ
---- ---
COM1 4
COM2 3
COM3 4 (sometimes 5 or 7)
COM4 3 (sometimes 5 or 7)
3
PageMate 3.3
4) BAUD RATE [300, 1200, 2400]. The baud rate has no effect on
PageMate since it is not communicating with another modem. The
alternatives are for users who have fixed rate modems. You can
use the highest or lowest baud rate your modem supports. Note
however that most modems cannot recognize if the telephone line
is in use ("off hook") at 300 baud.
5) LINE SERVICE [P,T]. Indicates rotary Pulse dialing or touch Tone
dialing. Note that manually dialing out on a rotary pulse line
while PageMate is running may cause PageMate to interpret the
"clicks" as an incoming ring.
6) DELAY TIME. Number of seconds PageMate should delay before
calling the pager. If you are using an answering machine, allow
caller enough time to leave message and for single-tape machines
to rewind. Usually 3-5 minutes (180-300 seconds) is sufficient.
7) "BEEPER NUMBER". The paging service telephone number (or other
number) PageMate is to call. Special characters surrounded by
quotation marks (" "). Spaces, dashes, and parentheses can be
included for readability and are usually ignored by modems. The
default pause of a comma on industry standard modems is usually 2
seconds. I found that 8 seconds is enough time for my paging
service to answer before I send the number to be displayed so my
pager number string looks something like this:
"555-5555,,,,"
Translation: Dial 555-5555 and wait for 8 seconds before sending
the number to be displayed on pager. Example #2:
",9,555-5555,,,,"
Translation: Wait 2 seconds for a dial tone, dial 9 to get an
outside line, wait 2 seconds for the second dial tone, then dial
555-5555 and wait 8 seconds before sending the number to be
displayed on pager.
DO NOT FORGET TO SURROUND THIS ENTRY WITH QUOTATION MARKS!
Special characters like asterisks (*) can be entered as well. For
instance, to disable call waiting on tone service lines an entry
might look like this:
"*70,555-5555,,,,".
An entry to disable call waiting on rotary pulse service lines
might look like this:
"1170,555-5555,,,,".
The values to disable call waiting may be different in your
locale.
4
PageMate 3.3
8) NUMBER TO DISPLAY. The telephone number to be displayed on the
pager. Note: Tone line service is necessary to transmit numbers
to the paging service. This number does not have to be surrounded
in quotation marks if it contains no commas. Suffix the number
with a pound sign (#) or other character required by your paging
service to indicate transmission completed. Example:
999-9999#.
If you don't have tone line service simply put a digit in this
field for a place holder.
9) HANG-UP TIME. The number of seconds to wait after the dialing
string is sent to the modem before hanging up the line. Allow
enough time for the pager service's phone to ring, answer, and
receive your transmission. I find that 20 seconds is adequate for
my dialing string, but yours may differ. 20-40 seconds is usually
adequate.
10) ENABLE/DISABLE REDIAL [1,0]. 1 = Redial enabled, 0 = Redial
disabled. If redial is enabled, PageMate will redial the number
if a busy signal was sensed on the previous attempt. If redial is
disabled, PageMate will NOT attempt to redial the number if a
busy signal was sensed on the previous attempt.
Note: Some older paging systems transmit a busy signal at the end
of the call to indicate that the transmission was received.
PageMate will sense that busy signal and attempt to redial if
redialing is enabled [1]. If you have that type of system,
disable redialing with a [0].
MAKE SURE THE PARAMETERS ARE IN THE EXACT ORDER SHOWN AND THAT EACH
PARAMETER IS SEPARATED BY A COMMA (,)!
Also be careful to enter a zero (0) where you need a digit, not the
letter "O". The computer discerns these as different characters!
You need only edit PAGE.DAT once if there were no mistakes. It will be
stored on your disk and accessed by PageMate each time the program is
started.
If you are using a multi-port card and can't get PageMate to operate
properly with the parameter settings above, you will need to request a
special version of PageMate from the author that allows for additional
parameters to be set. Specify the brand and model number of the card.
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PageMate 3.3
S T E P 2 - E D I T A L A R M . D A T
An alarm function is provided to activate PageMate at different dates
and times specified in the ALARM.DAT file. 100 different alarm entries
can be included. Like PAGE.DAT, ALARM.DAT is an ASCII text file so if
you use a word processor for editing make sure to save ALARM.DAT in
ASCII text format, not document format. Alarm entries consist of 4
fields delimited (separated) by commas in the format:
MM-DD,HH:mm,NUMBER TO DISPLAY,COMMENTS WITHOUT COMMAS
Where MM = Month to call (01-12 or ** for every month)
DD = Day to call (01-31 or ** for every day)
HH = Hour to call in MILITARY TIME (00-23)
mm = Minute to call (00-59)
Optional number to send to your pager
Optional comments of your own (can be any length as long as
no commas are included)
THE ALARM.DAT FILE INCLUDED WITH PAGEMATE HAS ONE DUMMY ENTRY (SEE
BELOW) WHICH SHOULD NOT BE DELETED BECAUSE ALARM.DAT MUST CONTAIN AT
LEAST ONE ENTRY FOR PAGEMATE TO RUN, AND IT ALSO SERVES AS A TEMPLATE
FOR FUTURE REFERENCE!
00-00,00:00,555-5555#, *** DUMMY ENTRY DO NOT DELETE ***
Here are some other example entries with explanations:
08-01,14:35,111-222-3333#, Call restaurant for dinner reservations
Translation: PageMate is to call on August 1st at 2:35 P.M. and
display the number (with area code) 111-222-3333. The call is to
remind you to call a restaurant to make dinner reservations.
If you want PageMate to call you at a specified date and time and just
display your regular number as defined in PAGE.DAT, leave the number
to display field blank BUT INCLUDE THE COMMA SEPARATORS. For example:
09-28,10:30,,
Translation: Have PageMate call on September 28th at 10:30 A.M.,
display normal number specified in PAGE.DAT, no user comments. With an
optional comment the entry would like this:
09-28,10:30,, Dentist appointment
Two asterisks (**) can be used for wildcards (any match) in the month
or day positions. For example:
**-**,11:00,, Take heart medicine
Translation: Have PageMate call every day of every month at 11:00 A.M.
to remind you to take medication.
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PageMate 3.3
**-17,13:00,222-2222, Call beauty salon for monthly appointment
Translation: Have PageMate call on the 17th of every month at 1:00
P.M. to remind you to make an appointment. The number 222-2222 is to
display on your pager.
09-**,22:00,, Wake up call
Translation: Have PageMate call everyday of the month of September at
10: P.M. to wake you up for the midnight shift.
A L A R M R U L E S U M M A R Y
A separator character is required between the month and day and also
between the hour and minutes. You can use any character including a
space for a separator, however PageMate will insert a "-" between the
month day and a ":" between the hour and minutes when activity is
logged to PAGE.LOG.
Time to call must be in MILITARY TIME, i.e., number of hours past
midnight where midnight = 00:00. For example:
6:00 A.M. = 06:00 (6 hours past midnight)
Noon = 12:00 (12 hours past midnight)
6:00 P.M. = 18:00 (18 hours past midnight)
Single digit date and time entries are padded with a zero (1 = 01).
The four fields are separated by commas, and there are no commas in
the comment field.
Dates and times do not have to be entered in sorted order. Tip:
Include entries to remind you of birthdays, anniversaries, long range
appointments, gatherings, etc. Because there is no year specified,
those entries will be valid for future years! Remember to account for
seasonal time adjustments "Spring ahead, Fall back" when creating long
term entries.
PageMate checks for errors in the alarm file during start-up. If an
error was found, PageMate will abort and display the error that caused
the problem, diagnostic message, and the line number of ALARM.DAT
where the error was found.
Make sure the DOS "End Of File" character is immediately after the
last entry in ALARM.DAT (no blank lines between the last entry and the
End of File character). Many text editors will display an End Of File
character or message. If you use DOS 5.0's "Edit" program, position
cursor on blank line immediately after the last alarm entry and press
"Ctrl-Y" several times until a beeping sound is heard, then save the
file (Alt-F,X,Y).
PageMate will not call alarm entries that have a date and time less
than the date and time at start-up.
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PageMate 3.3
O P E R A T I N G I N S T R U C T I O N S
The modem and telephone/answering machine must be on the same line.
The computer and modem must be turned on. Internal modems are always
on when the computer is on. PAGE.EXE, PAGE.DAT, AND ALARM.DAT MUST
RESIDE IN THE SAME DIRECTORY.
S T A R T I N G P A G E M A T E
Type "PAGE" to start the program. The PageMate status window will
appear and after a few moments of modem/port initialization, the date
and time will be displayed and the seconds should be ticking. A
"Waiting for next call..." message will appear.
If everything is installed and working correctly, you can turn off
your monitor and leave PageMate and your computer unattended. When
PageMate detects the first incoming ring on your telephone line, it
will begin counting down the delay seconds you specified in PAGE.DAT
and then call the dialing string you specified in PAGE.DAT.
PageMate will not call if your telephone line is in use (off the hook)
and your baud rate is set at 1200 or 2400. If you have redialing
enabled and PageMate encountered a busy signal when dialing out, it
will re-try the number until it gets through.
T E S T I N G
You can test PageMate any time by pressing "t" or "T". The delay time
for test mode varies according to the length of the specified dialing
string.
E X I T I N G
You can exit PageMate at any time by pressing the Escape key.
ACTIVITY LOGGING
All incoming and outgoing call activity is automatically recorded in a
file named PAGE.LOG in the same directory where PageMate resides. This
file is not included with the distribution files because PageMate
creates it if it is not found at start-up time. Test calls are not
logged.
PAGE.LOG IS NOT DELETED BY PAGEMATE, SO OCCASIONALLY YOU WILL NEED TO
DELETE IT WHEN IT GETS LARGER THAN DESIRED!
PAGE.LOG can be examined or printed any time with a word processor or
text editor or a DOS command such as PRINT PAGE.LOG or TYPE PAGE.LOG.
Call activity is recorded in the same format as ALARM.DAT:
MM-DD HH:mm *** Call Received*** (for incoming calls)
MM-DD HH:mm [Number to Display] [Comment] (for alarm calls)
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PageMate 3.3
S H A R E W A R E V E R S I O N N O T E S
The full 100 entry alarm feature with logging is enabled. Unlimited
testing is also enabled. However, the SHAREWARE VERSION of PageMate
allows only one incoming call (and corresponding log) per session. You
must register in order to receive the unlimited call version. To
register, print and fill out PAGE.FRM and mail it with your check or
money payable to R.J. Matter for $35 to:
R.J. Matter - PageMate
P.O. BOX 9042
Highland, IN 46322-9042
Orders are shipped First Class Mail on the same day received. Overseas
orders add $5. Dealer inquiries welcome. Call regarding custom
development.
D I S T R I B U T I O N
This software may be distributed freely provided that it is
distributed as a complete set (ALARM.DAT, PAGE.DAT, PAGE.DOC,
PAGE.EXE, PAGE.FRM, PAGE.ICO, PAGE.PIF) without modification and no
fee is charged other than a nominal handling or duplication fee of
$5.00 or less.
F I L E S
ALARM.DAT - Alarm Data File
PAGE.DAT - PageMate setup file
PAGE.DOC - PageMate Documentation
PAGE.EXE - PageMate Executable Program
PAGE.FRM - PageMate Registration Form
PAGE.ICO - PageMate Icon for Windows
PAGE.LOG - PageMate Log File (created - not included)
PAGE.PIF - PageMate Program Information File
for Windows 3.1 Enhanced Mode
PageMate 3.X RELEASE HISTORY
Version 3.0 Added COM1-25 support, alarm facility, & logging.
Version 3.1 Added enable/disable redial on busy signal switch.
Version 3.2 Maintenance release for 9600 baud modem support.
Version 3.3 Added Windows compatibility, improved modem support.
9