Demon Dial is a Microphone II 4.0 program that dials a consecutive series of phone numbers and stores the response (VOICE, MODEM, BUSY) of the other end of the line in a file of the user's choosing. Demon Dial is provided absolutely free and with no warranty. The user assumes all liability for the use of this program. Demon Dial may be freely distributed provided that this document accompanies it unmodified. You may modify Demon Dial for your own purposes; but if you redistribute your modified copy, you must add remarks to the effect that you have modified the scripts to all scripts which you change. For details see the section of this document entitled DISCLAIMER.
USING DEMON DIAL
To use Demon Dial just click on the DMonDial icon or the Demon Dial button or select Demon Dial from the scripts menu. You will be prompted for a file to store results in with a standard open file dialog. After selecting a file to store your results, Demon Dial prompts you for a starting and ending phone number. If you want to check all possible numbers in a particular exchange, say 555, you would select 555-0000 as your first number and 555-9999 for your stopping number. Be forewarned though that checking an entire exchange will take a VERY LONG, LONG, TIME. At about a minute per phone number this takes over six days. It also will be considered very rude by the 10,000 people you're going to bother.
A new feature of Demon Dial 1.2 is the ability to accept phone numbers in mnemonic form; i.e. numbers like 1-800-US-HAYES will be automatically converted to their numeric equivalents, in the above case1-800-87-42937. The formatting doesn't change when the numbers are converted so you might want to enter the above number as 1(800)USH-AYES instead. This magic is performed by the StringToPhone XFCN. For details write the author.
Demon Dial makes some checks on the sensibility of the phone numbers you suggest, but to allow for various dialing combinations required from different PBX's you can override them. Currently Demon Dial does not allow for access codes that need to be entered after the phone number. If there's sufficient demand, I'll add this to version 2.0.
How specific Demon Dial can be about what's at a given phone number depends in large part on the modem used to do the demon dialing. For connections with other modems Demon Dial can only offer a lower limit on the other modem's speed. For example, if you connect to a 9600 baud modem with a 2400 baud modem, Demon Dial will only report a 2400 baud modem. In general Demon Dial can only distinguish between modems of speed less than or equal to your own modem speed. Demon Dial can reliably detect if a modem answers the other end of the line or if the line is busy. On some modems it may be able to detect a voice though this feature is highly dependent on the specific modem. Currently Demon Dial cannot detect a FAX machine. It may be possible for those with FAX modems to adjust the Get Result Script to add this feature. I'm really not able to check this unless someone cares to loan me a FAX modem to experiment with.
MODEM SETTINGS AND FAST DIAL
By default Demon Dial is configured for a standard 2400 baud modem connected to the modem port. You can adjust these settings as necessary for your hardware. Two settings you may not normally think about can be of great importance when dialing many phone numbers. On a Hayes compatible modem register S7 holds the number of seconds to wait for a Carrier signal and register S11 holds the duration of and time between each touchtone in milliseconds. Most modems and phone-lines should reliably work with the minimum touchtone length of fifty milliseconds and I recommend you set your modem to that. If there's a problem you can always set it higher.
The time to wait for a carrier signal is a little more troublesome. If your modem can reliably detect voice connections this is not really an issue, since Demon Dial will catch the VOICE signal from the modem and hang up. For modems that do not reliably detect voice you may want to wait less than the normal thirty seconds for a carrier signal. Most but not all modems will generate a carrier within ten seconds of picking up the phone. Setting the waittime for carrier detect to ten seconds will allow you to dial a lot more numbers faster but may miss a few modem signals. You need to decide the trade-off. Note that Demon Dial will never wait more than sixty seconds for a carrier. If for some reason you'ld like to wait longer adjust line 45 of the "Get Result" script.
To assist you in setting the values of these registers, I've included a new script called "Fast Dial" in Demon Dial 1.2. Fast Dial prompts you for the values to place in those registers and then sends the appropriate commands to the modem to put them there. Fast Dial only works on modems that support the appropriate features of the Hayes Command set. It's behavior on other types of modems is unpredictable at best since it relies on direct AT commands to the modem rather than using Microphone II's scripting language. (Sort of like the difference between using assembly and C: the code's a lot faster but a lot less portable.) Fast Dial will probably work with no more than minor adjustment on all Hayes compatible modems. It works for me. Your mileage may vary.
ONE SMALL WARNING
Demon Dial gets around the lack of a "Create Service" command in Microphone's scripting language by consistently redialing a service named "temp" whose phone number is listed as @service.tmp. Demon Dial writes the successive phone numbers out to the file service.tmp in the process rewriting whatever is already in that file. I consider it extremely unlikely that anyone will have a file by that name in the search path, but if you do be forewarned that Demon Dial will attempt to overwrite it. This kludge is unfortunately necessary due to the lack of a "Create Service" command in Microphone's scripting language. I did consider sending the modem commands myself rather than using the Dial Service command but the thought of attempting to recognize and deal with the host of different modems out there was too horrible to contemplate.
And now a note from my attorney:
DISCLAIMER
BECAUSE DEMON DIAL IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, I PROVIDE ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE STATE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING, ELLIOTTE M. HAROLD AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE DEMON DIAL "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 THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE DEMON DIAL PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW WILL ELLIOTTE M.HAROLD, AND/OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND REDISTRIBUTE DEMON DIAL BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST MONIES, OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH OTHER PROGRAMS) THE PROGRAM, EVEN IF YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.
FURTHERMORE ALL LIABILITY FOR USE OF DEMON DIAL RESTS SOLELY WITH THE USER, NOT THE AUTHOR OR DISTRIBUTOR. YOU, THE USER, ARE EXCLUSIVELY RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINATION OF AND COMPLIANCE WITH ANY RELEVANT LOCAL, NATIONAL, OR INTERNATIONAL LAWS THAT MAY PERTAIN TO THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM.
Microphone is a trademark of Software Ventures Corporation. Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
TECHNICAL INFO
And with that out of the way, here's a few notes of interest for the technically inclined, particularly for anybody who may wish to reuse the code contained in Demon Dial:
I wrote Demon Dial mainly to familiarize myself with the scripting environment and commands of Microphone II 4.0. Please feel free to peruse the code and include it in your own scripts as you need it. While the program itself is copyrighted, you should feel free to use the code as you like without any necessity of acknowledgement or other restrictions. If, however, you modify the Demon Dial program itself, you should adjust the appropriate about boxes and remarks in the code so that it is clear that this software has been modified so that its recipients will know what they have is not the original and so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the reputation of the original author. The settings document may be freely redistributed without prior permission except that any company wishing to bundle Demon Dial with their own product which is neither shareware, freeware, nor in the public domain. What this really means is that if Software Ventures Corporation should decide to add this settings document to a distribution of Microphone, they should contact me for written permission first. You are however free to upload it to BBS's, online services or FTP sites, distribute in on Shareware disks for which you may charge a fee, pass it on to a friend, etc.
Besides the kludge to get around the lack of a create service command Microphone hackers may want to pay attention to the StripChar, Increment PhoneNumber, and CheckNumbers scripts. These are reasonable illustrations of the possibilities for string handling in Microphone II, particularly strings that should be phone numbers. While it is my intention to replace all of these by XFCNs in version 2.0 of Demon Dial, the techniques shown here are generally useful.
BUGS
There is currently one known bug in Demon Dial 1.1. For some unknown reason the string returned by the "Save results as" dialog box early in the program, apparently does not always return a null string. Consequently Demon Dial does not always catch if a user has nowhere to output a file and offer him or her the option to abort. This is likely not an exact description of the cause of the bug, but the result is it is often possible to cancel the Save File without getting a warning. This error is more annoying than fatal; but if anyone can properly diagnose it, I'd be much obliged.
VERSION HISTORY
1.00 March 1992: First general release
1.01 April 1, 1992: Added recognition of MNP5 modems
1.02 April 2, 1992: Improved Robustness of help function. It now gives the user an option to find the help file if Demon Dial can't locate it.
1.10 April 3, 1992: Adjusted formatting and incrementing of phone numbers to allow commas and hyphens in the numbers dialed. (I originally intended to call this Version 1.03 but adding the commas and hyphens ended up requiring two completely new scripts and substantial rewriting of what had been done before. And since I'm not charging anybody $129 for upgrades like some companies I could mention, I figured I'd treat myself to the higher version number. After all I worked for it.)
1.11 April 5, 1992: I discovered that not all MNP modems are created equal. Depending on the manufacturer of the local modem, there are at least three different connect signals you may get when connecting to another MNP modem. Version 1.11 now recognizes all these signals. (CONNECT 9600/REL, CONNECT 2400/REL, and CONNECT 9600 EC. I also tossed in a CONNECT 2400 EC just in case. If you know of any different MNP connection signals please tell me. Unlike adding the commas and hyphens, this is a simple thing to add. Unfortunately some true 9600 baud V.32 modems also send the CONNECT 9600 EC signal so things may be a little confused.)
The help function has been further improved. It now uses the full screen on compact Macs, making the help file substantially more legible.
1.12 April 6, 1992: Added version resource and displayed an about dialog on startup. Also deleted all variables on startup. This version was never officially released although its features were folded into version 1.20
1.20 April 21, 1992: 1.20 is the most major revision yet. Connections at 14,400 baud are recognized. An XCMD has been added that transforms mnemonic phone numbers like "1(800)US-Hayes" into their numeric equivalents so it's now possible to enter such strings for both the starting and stopping numbers. A fast dial feature was written to substantially speed up demon dialing with Hayes compatible modems. A number of minor cosmetic improvements were made.
Demon Dial now retains parentheses, hyphens, spaces, and slashes that are entered in the starting phone number for the formatting of all subsequent phone numbers. "*" and "#" may now be entered as part of a phone number. Since I retain any conventional formatting the user specifies in the initial number, I removed all the (rather poor) efforts to format the phone numbers automatically before writing them to the output file. If there's a substantial demand for this feature, I'll consider adding it back in as an XCMD in version 2.0.
A bug in demon dialing some long distance numbers was discovered. Previous versions of Demon Dial translated the phone number into an integer before incrementing it. Therefore long distance numbers that required an area code ran up against Microphone II's maximum integer value of 2,147,483,647 and incrementing these numbers returned spurious results. This has been fixed in 1.20 by always treating phone numbers as strings. This also required substantial changes to the incrementation code and several other scripts. In general I think the new code is both more stable and much more legible than previous versions that were constantly converting numbers to strings and back again.
2.0: ? : Version 2.0 will replace several of the formatting scripts with compiled XFCNs for improved speed, performance, and code legibility. Version 2.0 should allow for PBX offcodes that need to be entered after the phone number and may attempt to automatically configure the settings document for the user's modem. It will likely also include a module for adjusting the volume of the modem's speaker. The About Demon Dial file may (or may not) be hardwired into the settings as an XCMD. If there are features you would like to see in Demon Dial that aren't listed here, write to me and let me know. Commas were added to the admissible characters in the phone number, because a user wrote to me and asked; and it seemed like a good idea. If there's something missing from this package that you'd like to see, tell me.
CONTACTING THE AUTHOR & REGISTERING THE PROGRAM
Everyone who received their copy of this program directly from the author is automatically a registered user and, if they have an Internet accessible E-mail address, will automatically receive major upgrades and announcements about minor upgrades. To keep network bandwidth down I am going to restrict minor upgrades to those who request a particular upgrade specifically. In the first week the program was released there were three minor updates, so this is important even though things have calmed down a bit since then. I do not intend to sell or give my mailing list to anyone; but if you would rather not be on it, simply send E-mail to the author, elharo@m.njit.edu, and I'll be happy to delete you, although of course this also means that you won't receive regular update notices. If you got this from a source other than the author himself, you can register by sending E-mail or snail mail to one of the addresses below. No money is necessary. Please include your most reliable E-mail address and please tell me where you got the program so I can know who's distributing it. If you'ld like to pass the program on to friends please do. Similarly for uploading to any local BBS's. Uploading to large online services is OK, but you may wish to consult with me first to see if someone is already uploading that version, since these things sometime take awhile to get posted. Please wait a week after the release of any new version before uploading it to any of the major services since its been my experience that every major release is followed by a flurry of minor fixes, before it stabilizes. I'll handle submitting Demon Dial to the various anonymous ftp sites when I think its ready for general distribution.
If you feel, I'm an awful, evil hacker for releasing this program and want to discuss the ethical questions involved with me, please direct your comments to /dev/null. Otherwise if you have questions about the Demon Dial code or comments about the program, please feel free to contact me on the Internet as erh0362@tesla.njit.edu (at least until Fall 1992) or as elharo@shock.njit.edu (afterwards). You can also contact me at those addresses if you wish to discuss the possibility of hiring me as a consultant on telecommunications matters or for specific Microphone II programming projects. Snail mail may be addressed to Elliotte Harold, Department of Applied Mathematics, Newark, NJ 07103.
