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PDE 2.01
USER'S GUIDE
Copyright 1994 James R. Aragon
All Rights Reserved
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
SHAREWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
LICENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Shareware Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Registered Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Shareware Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Registered Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
REGISTRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Benefits of Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Customized Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
STARTING PDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Dialing Directory Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Monochrome Video Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Quiet Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
GETTING HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Printing This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
ERROR AND INFORMATION MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Message Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Invalid Keypress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
MOVING AROUND IN PDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Cursor Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
PageUp/Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Goto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Find Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
MARKING ENTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Clearing Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
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PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 2
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EDITING THE DIALING DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Pack Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Revise Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Add Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Sort Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Dialing Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CREATING A NEW DIALING DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
SAVING A DIALING DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Jump to DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Print Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Printing to a Parallel Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Printing to a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Toggle Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Exchange Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Loading A New Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Using the Picklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Dialing Directory Integrity Checks . . . . . . . . . . 18
Undoing Your Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Quiet Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
HOW TO CONTACT ME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
TRADEMARK INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
PROGRAMMER'S NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
=================================================================
PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 3
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PDE 2.01
USER'S GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to PDE, the dialing directory editor for Procomm Plus
version 2.x. Procomm Plus, the popular communications software
by Datastorm Technologies, Inc., is a great program, but its
dialing directory has one major drawback: there is no easy way
to move dialing directory entries around.
The only way to move an entry to a new spot in the dialing
directory is to delete it from its current spot and then manually
re-enter it at its new location. And if the new location is
already occupied, then THAT entry also has to be manually re-
entered at a new spot.
It gets worse quickly. Suppose you have twenty entries in
your dialing directory. You hear about a new bulletin board, so
you add an entry for it in spot number 21. After a few days of
calling this BBS, you realize that it's a really great board. In
fact, you call it more often than any other BBS. You decide to
move its listing up to spot number 1 in your directory, so it
will always be the first one highlighted when you activate the
dialing directory.
In order to get entry number 21 into spot number 1, you will
have to completely retype AT LEAST two entries. You can swap
entry 1 with entry 21 by re-entering both of them. But if you
also call the old entry number 1 a lot, you probably don't want
it to become entry 21. What if you want to put your new entry,
number 21, in spot number 1, and just push all the others down
one spot so that they keep their present order?
With Procomm Plus's dialing directory, you would have to
manually re-enter ALL TWENTY-ONE entries. That's where PDE comes
in. With PDE, you would just "mark" the entry or entries you
want to move. Then move the cursor to the new location and press
'M' for "move." Presto, the marked entries move to their new
location and the other entries move down (or up) to fill in the
gap left when the marked entries were moved from their old
locations.
In addition to moving entries, PDE lets you add new entries,
revise existing entries, erase entries, delete entries, search
for entries containing specified text, and sort a block of
entries by any of five sort criteria, in either ascending or
descending order. You can also print a listing of all the non-
=================================================================
PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 4
=================================================================
blank dialing directory entries, and you can shell to DOS to
execute other commands or programs without shutting down PDE.
SHAREWARE
If you're already familiar with shareware, then skip ahead to
the "License" section; otherwise read on.
Shareware is "try before you buy" software. PDE is not free
software, nor is it public domain software. Both the program and
this User's Guide are Copyright 1994 by James R. Aragon. All
Rights Reserved. This program is copyrighted commercial
software, just like software you buy at a computer store. The
only difference between "regular" commercial software and
shareware is the marketing method.
With normal commercial software, you have to pay for the
software before you can try it. With shareware, you can try the
software for a limited evaluation period BEFORE you buy it. At
the end of the evaluation period, you are on your honor to either
pay for the software, or remove it from your drive and stop using
it. Paying for shareware is usually called "registering."
LICENSE
Shareware Version
You are granted a free limited license to use this shareware
version of the software for evaluation purposes for thirty
calendar days from the date you first install this software. At
the end of the thirty-day evaluation period, you must either
purchase the regular license by registering the software, or
discontinue using the software and remove it from your computer.
However, even if you discontinue using the software, you may
still keep copies on disk to pass on to others as explained
below.
See "Registration" (page 6) for details on how to purchase a
regular license. The shareware version can be identified by the
legend "UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY" at the bottom of the main
screen, just above the copyright notice.
Private individuals may distribute this shareware version
freely, subject to only two minor restrictions:
1. You must include ALL of the files (they are listed in the
file PACKING.LST), and you may not modify any of the files.
You may, however, archive the files, or unarchive them, or
change the archive method.
=================================================================
PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 5
=================================================================
2. You may not sell or require a payment for this software,
however you may collect a distribution fee, not to exceed
$10 total, for the cost of copying the software and the
media on which it is distributed, and shipping and
handling.
Disk vendors, user group or computer club librarians, bulletin
board sysops, and other distributors please see the file
VENDOR.DOC for distribution terms applicable to you.
Registered Version
Upon payment of the registration fee, you will be granted a
permanent non-transferable license to use one copy of this
software. You may install the software on as many computers as
you like, as long as only one copy is in use at any one time.
WARRANTY
Shareware Version
Since the evaluation version of this software is distributed
free, it is provided AS-IS. I make no warranty, express 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 software is with
you. Should the software prove defective, you assume the entire
cost of all necessary repair, servicing, or correction. In no
event will I be liable to you for any damages, including lost
profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential
damages arising out of the use or inability to use this software,
even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Registered Version
For the registered version of this software, I warrant only
that it will operate substantially as explained in this
documentation. Should the software prove defective, your sole
remedy is to receive a refund of any license fee paid. In no
event will I 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 software,
even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also
have other rights which vary from state to state. Some states do
not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or exclusion of
liability for incidental or consequential damages so the above
may not apply to you.
=================================================================
PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 6
=================================================================
REGISTRATION
The cost to register this software and obtain a regular
license is $15. Add $5 for shipping to countries outside the
United States and Canada. Send a money order or check drawn on a
U. S. Bank to:
James Aragon
101 Heather Court
Vallejo, CA 94591
As soon as your check clears, you will receive a copy of the
latest registered version of PDE by return mail. The software
will be shipped on a 5.25" double-density disk unless you request
3.5".
To make it easy, I have included the file REGISTER.FRM. This
is an ASCII file which you may print and fill out for use as an
order form. However, you don't have to use this form. You can
simply print your name and address on a piece of paper and send
it to me with your registration fee.
Actually, you don't even have to do that. You can just send
your registration fee and if you don't include an order form
(either mine or one you print yourself), I'll send the disk to
the name and address on your check or to the name and return
address on your envelope.
Benefits of Registration
1. You will get the latest version of the program and
documentation, complete with any bug fixes or enhancements.
2. Your name and address will go into my customer database so I
can contact you in case of any future bug fixes or upgrades.
3. The registered version does not display the legend
"UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY" on the main screen.
4. The registered version does not display the shareware reminder
screen when you exit the program.
5. The registered version has a quiet mode that lets you turn off
the speaker sounds.
6. If there are any future upgrades, registered users will be
able to get them at a discount. Frankly, I think PDE is
pretty full-featured right now, so at this time I'm not
planning any upgrades. But if there ARE any, registered users
will get a discount. By "upgrades" I do NOT mean "bug fixes."
If any bugs are found in the program, they WILL be fixed, if
at all possible.
=================================================================
PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 7
=================================================================
7. You should feel good about yourself, because registering is
the right and legal thing to do.
Customized Versions
Customized versions of PDE that involve minor modifications,
such as displaying your name or your company's name, changing
colors, or changing which keys activate a command, may be
available for a small additional charge. If you think you would
like a customized version, please contact me and we'll discuss
your proposed modifications. See "How to Contact Me" on page 19.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
An IBM-PC or compatible with DOS 3.0 or higher and about 250K
free RAM. PDE has also been tested extensively in a DOS session
under OS/2 2.0 and 2.1 with no problems.
STARTING PDE
Running PDE is easy. You can just type "PDE" to use the
default values, or there are some options you can specify. If
you specify more than one option on the command line, the options
can appear in any order.
Dialing Directory Name
First, you can specify the dialing directory you want to edit.
The command "PDE BACKUP.DIR" tells PDE to load a dialing
directory called BACKUP.DIR. All dialing directory files must
have an extension of ".DIR". If you omit the extension from the
command line, PDE will provide it for you. Therefore, an easier
way to execute the same command is "PDE BACKUP".
You can include a complete path in the dialing directory
filename if you want to edit a dialing directory that is not in
the current subdirectory. For example "PDE C:\BACKUP\OLD.DIR".
If you do not specify a dialing directory name, PDE will try to
load PCPLUS.DIR from the current subdirectory. You don't have to
specify the dialing directory when you start PDE. Even if
PCPLUS.DIR isn't the directory you want to edit, you can always
use the Exchange Directory command to change to a different
directory after PDE is running.
If PDE can't find the dialing directory you specified (or
PCPLUS.DIR, if you didn't specify a directory), it will ask if
you want to create a new directory. See "Creating a New Dialing
Directory" (page 15) for details.
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PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 8
=================================================================
Monochrome Video Mode
Normally, PDE will automatically detect the type of video
display you have and set its colors accordingly. However, some
laptop liquid crystal displays will identify themselves as color
displays, even though they aren't really. The same goes for the
so-called "black and white VGA" displays.
In order to accommodate these displays, you can force PDE into
monochrome mode by using the '-m' switch. To run PDE in
monochrome mode and load PCPLUS.DIR you could type "PDE -m". The
'm' can be either lowercase or uppercase, and the switch
character can be either '-' or '/', so to run PDE in monochrome
mode and edit your backup dialing directory, you could type
"PDE BACKUP /M". The order of the command line arguments doesn't
matter, so "PDE -M BACKUP" would work just as well.
In fact, PDE only checks the first letter following the switch
character; anything else is ignored. So, if you're really bored,
you could name your backup dialing directory "RIVER.DIR" and then
you could type "PDE -Mississippi River".
Normally, on a monochrome monitor, PDE displays most text in
normal color, but certain things (like the name of the directory
being edited, or the headings above the dialing directory
entries) are highlighted. If you have a monochrome monitor but
everything looks the same (no highlighting), try the 'm' switch.
Quiet Mode [Registered Version only]
PDE beeps the speaker whenever it displays an error message or
warning message. If you want to turn the sound off, use the '-q'
switch. For example, "PDE -q". You can also toggle the sound
off and on after PDE is running. See "Quiet Mode" (page 19)
under "Miscellaneous Commands." Just like the "-m" switch, 'q'
can be either lowercase or uppercase, and the switch character
can be either '-' or '/'.
GETTING HELP
Online Help
A brief summary of PDE's main commands is displayed at the
bottom of the main screen, but because of lack of space not all
commands are shown. However, PDE also has context-sensitive
help. Press <F1> anytime you want to see a help screen. PDE is
aware of where you are in the program, and will display different
help topics, depending upon what you are trying to do. When you
are at the main screen, <F1> will display a help screen that
explains all the available commands.
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PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 9
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If there is more help text than can be displayed in the help
window at once, you can use the <CursorUp>, <CursorDown>,
<PageUp>, or <PageDown> keys to scroll through the help text.
Also, if you have a mouse installed, you can click on the PageUp
or PageDown buttons or on the scroll bar to the right of the help
window.
Pressing <End> will move the cursor to the bottom of the
visible help window. If the cursor is already at the bottom of
the help window, pressing <End> will move to the very bottom of
the help text. Pressing <Home> will move to the top of the
visible help window. If the cursor is already at the top of the
help window, pressing <Home> will move to the very beginning of
the help text.
You can bring up an alphabetical list of all available help
topics by either pressing <Alt><I> or clicking your mouse on the
Index button. Once the index is displayed, you can move forward
through the help titles with <Tab> or backwards with
<Shift><Tab>. When you are on the topic you want, press <Enter>
to select that topic. You can close the help window at any time
by pressing <Esc> or clicking your mouse on 'Quit'.
Printing This Manual
To print this manual position your printer at the top line of
the paper and enter the DOS command "copy pde.doc prn". In order
for the page breaks to be positioned properly, you must be using
standard 8-1/2" paper with the vertical spacing set to six lines
per inch (the default for most printers).
ERROR AND INFORMATION MESSAGES
Message Window
Whenever PDE needs to display an error message or information
message, it will pop open a window on the screen, display the
message, beep the speaker, and wait for a keypress. After you
have read the message, you can remove the message display from
the screen by pressing any key except <F1> (<F1> always activates
the online help). If you don't press a key, the message will
automatically remove itself after five seconds.
Invalid Keypress
Whenever you press an invalid key, PDE will beep the speaker
and ignore the keypress. For example, pressing 'O' from the main
screen would be invalid, because there is no command that is
activated by 'O'. 'C', for Clear Marks, is a valid PDE command,
but pressing 'C' when there are no marks to clear would be
invalid. In the registered version only, the speaker can be
turned off with the Quiet Mode command (page 19).
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PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 10
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MOVING AROUND IN PDE
The movement commands in PDE work almost exactly the same as
in Procomm Plus. If you can find your way around a Procomm Plus
dialing directory, then you can also find your way around PDE.
The movement commands are:
Escape
From the main screen, <Esc> will exit from PDE. From anywhere
else, <Esc> lets you "back out" of what you are doing. From the
Revise Entry command, you may have to press <Esc> several times
to get all the way out and back to the main screen. If the
cursor is positioned on a field where you enter text from the
keyboard, <Esc> will take you straight back to the main screen.
But if you are at a field that has popped up a menu, the first
time you press <Esc> will only take you out of the current menu
or submenu.
Cursor Keys
The <CursorUp> and <CursorDown> keys make PDE's highlighted
cursor bar move up or down by one line. If you press
<CursorDown> at the last entry on the screen, PDE will move the
display down by one page (ten entries). If you press <CursorUp>
at the first entry on the screen, PDE will move the display up by
one page.
PageUp/Down
<PageUp> and <PageDown> shift the display up or down by one
page (ten entries). The cursor always moves to the FIRST entry
on the new page. If you are on the first page (entries 1 through
10) and you press <PageUp>, PDE will wrap around to the last page
(entries 191 through 200). If you are on the last page and press
<PageDown>, PDE will wrap to the first page.
Home
Pressing the <Home> key will always move to entry number 1.
End
Pressing the <End> key will always move to the first entry on
the last page (entry number 191).
Goto
To go directly to any entry in the dialing directory, simply
type the number of the entry you want to go to. For example, to
go to entry number 15, simply type "15" and then press <Enter>.
Whenever you press a number key (except for zero), the Goto
command is activated.
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PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 11
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You can also activate the Goto command by pressing 'G' just
like in Procomm Plus. PDE will open a window and prompt you for
the entry number to go to.
The number you enter must be between 1 and 200. If you enter
an invalid number, PDE will display an error message and then
prompt you again for a valid entry. You can cancel the Goto
command at any time by pressing <Esc>.
Find
Press 'F' and PDE will prompt you to enter a text string to
search for. PDE will move to the first entry that contains that
string in EITHER the name OR the phone number field. The search
is not case-sensitive, so entering "JOE'S BBS" will have exactly
the same effect as entering "Joe's bbs". The search string can
be anywhere within the name or phone number fields, so entering
"Joe's BBS" will find both "Joe's BBS Node 2" and "Fred and Joe's
BBS".
PDE searches downwards from the currently highlighted entry.
If it reaches the bottom of the dialing directory without finding
a match, it wraps to the first entry and continues searching
downwards until either a match is found, or until PDE has
searched the entire dialing directory back to the highlighted
entry without finding a match. The currently highlighted entry
is not included in the search, so you might see the "NO MATCHES
FOUND" message, even though the current entry matches.
Find Next
Press 'N' and PDE will search for the next entry that matches
the search string that you entered the last time you used the
Find command. If you have not used the Find command, PDE will
act just like Find and prompt you for a search string. Find Next
searches the same way that Find does, and like Find, Find Next
does not include the currently highlighted entry in the search.
MENUS
Many selections in PDE are made from menus. Whenever PDE
displays a menu, simply move to the desired selection with the
cursor keys and press <Enter> or, if you have a mouse, click on
the desired selection. You can always back out of menus by
pressing <Esc>. Many menus use a "quick-select" character. If
one character of a menu item is highlighted, you can select that
item simply by pressing that character on your keyboard. For
example, from the "SORT BY" menu, you can select "TOTAL CALLS" by
pressing 'T' regardless of where the cursor bar is.
Be careful with this feature. On a few menus, more than one
selection uses the same quick-select character. In that case,
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PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 12
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PDE will search downwards from the cursor bar and select the
FIRST item that matches the quick-select character.
MARKING ENTRIES
PDE allows you to "mark" one or more entries, so that a
command will act on all the entries at once. Some PDE commands
can work on either the single entry that is highlighted by the
cursor or on a block of entries. Some commands will work ONLY on
marked entries. Commands that can work on either a single entry
or a block of marked entries are Delete and Erase. Commands that
can work only on a marked block are Move, Pack, and Sort. In the
case of Move, the marked block can be as small as a single entry.
Marking
To mark entries, move the cursor to the first entry to be
marked and press <F3>. You must mark downwards (towards higher
numbers). So, for example, if you want to mark entries 15
through 23, you must start with entry 15.
When you press <F3>, marking will be turned on, and the entry
under the cursor will be marked. A triangle symbol will appear
to the left of the entry number to indicate marked entries. The
word "On" in the phrase "F3 Mark On/OFF" will be highlighted to
show that marking is on.
You can mark additional entries by using any of the normal
movement keys: <CursorUp>, <CursorDown>, <PageUp>, <PageDown>,
Find, Next, <End>, and Goto. If you move too far down and mark
too many entries, you can use any of the movement keys to move
back up. As the cursor moves upwards, it will unmark entries.
However, since you can only mark downwards, you cannot move up
beyond the first marked entry.
When you are finished marking entries, press <F3> again to
turn marking off. In the phrase "F3 Mark On/Off," the word "On"
will return to normal color and the word "Off" will now be
highlighted. This indicates that block marking is now off, but
there is a marked block. Once marking is off, you will once
again be able to move above the first marked entry.
Clearing Marks
If you change your mind about performing an operation on the
marked entries, or decide that you want to change which entries
are marked, you can clear the marks by pressing 'C.' You can do
this while you are still marking entries; it is not necessary to
press <F3> the second time to turn marking off before clearing
the marks. When you press 'C' all the marks will be cleared and
either "On" or "Off," whichever was highlighted, will return to
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PDE 2.01 USER'S GUIDE PAGE 13
=================================================================
its normal color. If you press 'C' when there are no marks, PDE
will simply beep.
EDITING THE DIALING DIRECTORY
Now that you know how to move around the dialing directory and
mark entries, let's see how to actually make changes to the
directory.
Insert
Pressing <Ins> will insert a new blank entry at the cursor
location. Although it's not shown on the main screen, you can
also press 'I' if that's more convenient. All following entries
will be pushed down to make room for the new entry. This command
will fail, with an error message, if there are no blank slots
below the cursor.
Erase
If no entries are marked, pressing 'E' will erase the entry
under the cursor. If any entries are marked, Erase will erase
all of the marked entries. The Erase command blanks out the
Name, Phone Number, Script Filename, Password, Meta Filename,
Keyboard Filename, and Note Filename fields. The Total Calls
field is set to zero, the Last Call field is set to "00/00/00"
and the Baud Rate, Parity, Data Bits, Stop Bits, Duplex, Port,
File Transfer Protocol, Terminal Emulation, and Mode fields are
all set to default values.
Delete
If no entries are marked, pressing the <Del> key will delete
the entry under the cursor. If any entries are marked, then all
of the marked entries will be deleted. Unlike Erase, when
entries are deleted, the following entries move up in the dialing
directory to fill in the gaps where the deleted entries were.
New blank entries are added at the end of the dialing directory
to fill in the gap created by moving entries up.
Move
To move entries to a new location in the dialing directory,
first mark the entries you wish to move. Move will not work
unless the entries are marked, so even if you only want to move
one entry, you must use <F3> to mark it. After you have marked
the entries you want to move, press <F3> again to turn marking
off.
You can now move the cursor to the new location where you want
to move your entries. Press 'M' and your marked block will be
inserted at the new location. The only restriction on moving
entries is that you cannot attempt to move a block to a position
WITHIN the marked block.
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Pack Block
When you have erased a lot of entries, you may end up with a
lot of gaps in your dialing directory. You can get rid of these
gaps using Pack. Pack only works with marked entries, so first
mark the entries you want to pack, then press 'P.' PDE will scan
through the marked entries and delete each blank entry, which
will cause following entries to move up to fill in the gap left
by the deleted entry. An entry is considered blank if BOTH the
Name field and the Phone Number field are blank. No other fields
are checked.
However, unlike a regular Delete, a new blank entry will not
be added to the end of the dialing directory. Instead, it will
be added to the end of the marked block. Therefore, entries
outside the marked block will not be affected and will not change
position.
Revise Entry
To edit the highlighted entry just press <Enter>. Although
it's not shown on the main screen (due to lack of space), you can
also press 'R' just like in Procomm Plus. The pop-up editing
screen works just like Procomm Plus's Revise Entry screen. There
is a different context-sensitive help screen for each field, so
press <F1> anytime you want help for a particular entry.
Add Entry
The Add Entry command searches from entry 1 downwards until it
finds the first blank entry, and then calls the Revise Entry
command. Add Entry is an easy way to add new entries without
having to manually search for a blank slot for the new entry.
Sort Entries
First mark the block of entries you wish to sort. If you want
to sort the entire directory, a quick way to mark all entries is
to press <F3> when entry 1 is highlighted and then use the Goto
command to jump right to entry 200.
When the entries you want to sort are marked, press 'S.' A
menu will pop up and allow you to select whether to sort by name,
phone number, baud rate, total calls, or date of last call.
Either select one of these choices or press <Esc> to cancel
sorting. After you select the type of sort you want (unless you
pressed <Esc>), a second menu lets you select whether to sort in
ascending order or descending order. Again, you can cancel the
sort from this menu by pressing <Esc>.
If you are sorting on a field that contains numerical values
(phone number, baud rate, and total calls), ascending order means
from smallest number to largest and descending order means from
largest to smallest. For sorts by phone number, PDE ignores all
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characters except numerical digits, and treats the phone number
as a single large number. If you are sorting by name, ascending
order means alphabetical order and descending order means reverse
alphabetical order. If you are sorting by date of last call,
ascending order means from least recent date to most recent date
and descending means from most recent date to least recent date.
Blank entries are always sorted below non-blank entries,
regardless of what field you are sorting on and regardless of
whether you are sorting in ascending or descending order. An
entry is considered blank if both the name field and the phone
number field are blank. This means that sorting a block of
entries also packs the block.
Dialing Codes
Press 'D' to open the dialing codes editing window. The ten
dialing codes are identified by the letters 'A' through 'J.' To
edit a dialing code, use the cursor keys to highlight the one you
want to edit and press <Enter>. For an even faster way to select
the dialing code you want to edit, simply press the letter of the
code you wish to edit, for example press 'B' to edit the second
dialing code.
The dialing codes can contain any characters that your modem
will recognize. Dialing codes are most often used for telephone
company access numbers or account numbers.
CREATING A NEW DIALING DIRECTORY
There are two ways to create a new dialing directory. The
first is to specify the name of the new directory on the command
when you first run PDE (See "Starting PDE," page 7). The other
is to enter the new dialing directory name at the Exchange
Directory prompt. In either case, if PDE can't find the dialing
directory you specified, it will ask if you want to create a new
directory.
If you press 'y' for "yes," PDE will create an empty directory
with the new name. When you first create a new directory, it
exists in your computer's memory ONLY. No file is actually
created on disk unless you actually enter some data into the new
directory and then save it either by exiting from PDE or by using
the Exchange Directory command. If you do not enter any data in
to the new directory, then it will not be saved.
If you press 'n' for "no," a new directory will not be
created. If you are using the Exchange Directory command, the
directory that was already loaded will remain in memory and the
Exchange Directory command will be aborted.
If no dialing directory was loaded, which will only happen if
PDE can't find a dialing directory to load when it first runs
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(either PCPLUS.DIR or a directory you specify on the command
line), then an empty directory will be created with the name
"UNTITLED.DIR".
SAVING A DIALING DIRECTORY
PDE keeps track of whether or not you have made any changes to
the dialing directory that is currently loaded. Any time that
you try either to exit from PDE or to load a new dialing
directory, PDE will check if the directory has been changed. If
there have been any changes, PDE will ask if you want to save
your changes. If you press 'y' for "yes," PDE will save the
changed dialing directory to disk. If you press 'n' for "no,"
the changes will be discarded.
These two methods--either exiting from PDE or loading a new
directory--are the only two ways to save a dialing directory.
What if you have made a lot of changes to a directory, and you
want to save what you have done so far, but then continue to make
more changes? You can fool PDE into doing this by simply using
the Exchange Directory command to load the same directory that
you are already editing. Be sure to answer "yes" to the "Save
changes" prompt.
If PDE is unable to save the changes, it will display an error
message and abort the current command. Suppose, for example,
that you have created a new dialing directory, but when you try
to exit from PDE and save the new file, PDE says that it is
unable to save the changes. You can use PDE's Jump to Dos
command to try to correct the problem and then try saving again.
It could be that there simply wasn't enough room on your disk
for the new directory. You could delete some files to make room.
Or, if you were trying to save the dialing directory file to a
floppy disk, you could exchange the floppy disk in your drive for
one with more free space.
MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS
Jump to DOS
Press 'J' and PDE will shell to DOS while leaving PDE active
in memory, providing there is enough memory left for another copy
of the command interpreter. You may execute any DOS command you
wish. Of course, if you do something that causes your computer
to crash or lock up, then you will not be able to save any
changes you made with PDE.
Print Directory
Press 'L' to print the dialing directory. PDE will skip blank
entries and only print entries that have data in them. An entry
is considered blank if both the Name and Phone Number fields are
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blank. No other fields are considered by PDE in determining if
an entry is blank. PDE will ignore any marked entries--except
for blank entries, the entire dialing directory will be printed.
You can print either to a parallel printer or to a file.
Printing to a Parallel Printer:
To print to a parallel printer, enter PRN, LPT1, LPT2, or
LPT3. PDE does not currently support printing to serial
devices, so you cannot enter a COM port. You also cannot
print to reserved DOS device names CON or AUX.
Printing to a File:
To print to a file, simply enter the filename you wish to
print. For example, "C:\REPORTS\DIAL.DIR".
Toggle Display
Press 'T' to cycle among the three display screens. PDE's
three screens correspond exactly to Procomm Plus's display
screens. The name field is always displayed at the left side of
the screen. The other data changes as you toggle among the
screens.
Exchange Directory
Loading A New Directory:
Press 'X' when you want to load a new dialing directory for
editing. A window will open and you will be prompted for the
name of the directory to load. You can manually enter the
name of the dialing directory you want (with or without the
.DIR extension). The name can include a complete subdirectory
path if you want to load a dialing directory that is not in
the current subdirectory.
Using the Picklist:
Instead of manually typing the new dialing directory name,
you can use PDE's dialing directory filename picklist. Simply
press <Enter> at the filename prompt. PDE will open up a
window showing all files in the current directory that have an
extension of ".DIR". Move the cursor to the desired filename
and press <Enter>, or click on the desired filename with your
mouse.
You may also move to other subdirectories or even other
drives using the pick window. Select "<Parent>\" to move up
one subdirectory level, or select the name of a subdirectory
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to move down one level. Subdirectory names have a backslash
on the end, for example "PCPLUS\". Available drives will be
shown in brackets, for example "[-A-]".
If you have made any changes to the current dialing
directory, PDE will ask if you want to save your changes
before loading the new directory. If you press 'Y' for "Yes,"
PDE will write the changes to the dialing directory file on
disk. If you press 'N' for "No," your changes will be
discarded and the file on disk will be unchanged.
Note that ALL files with an extension of ".DIR" will show
up in the filename picklist, even if they are not Procomm Plus
dialing directories.
Dialing Directory Integrity Checks:
PDE performs a number of checks before and after loading a
new dialing directory file, so it might not be possible to
load a file, even if it appears on the picklist.
All Procomm Plus version 2.x dialing directory files are
exactly 23,050 bytes in length. If the file you select is not
this size, PDE will not load the file. It will not load a
file if it is unable to determine the file size or if there is
an error in opening the file (both of which would probably be
due to hardware errors).
It will not load a file that is set as read-only, since you
would be unable to save any changes.
It will also not load a file that has an extension other
than ".DIR". This can only happen if you type in the name and
extension instead of using the picklist. If you do not type
in an extension, PDE will automatically add the correct
extension of ".DIR" so it's easier to just leave the extension
off and let PDE supply it.
If you enter the name of a dialing directory that does not
exist, PDE will ask if you want to create a new dialing
directory. See "Creating a New Dialing Directory" (page 15)
for details.
Whenever PDE can't load a dialing directory file, it will
display a message explaining the reason.
After loading a new file, PDE checks each entry in the
dialing directory to make sure that all values are legal. If
an illegal value is found, PDE substitutes a default value.
For example, there are 9 possible baud rates in a Procomm
Plus dialing directory entry. While you see the baud rate
displayed as a text string (such as "2400"), internally the
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Procomm Plus dialing directory actually stores only a single
byte. The 9 different baud rates are represented by the
numbers 0 through 8.
If PDE finds a baud rate value other than 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, or 8, it knows the value has been corrupted and it
substitutes value 2, which is 2400 baud. This may not be the
baud rate you want, but at least the value is now legal and
the entry can be edited in either PDE or Procomm Plus.
Undoing Your Changes:
You can use the Exchange Directory command to undo your
editing changes if you have made a mistake. Press 'X' and
then select the SAME dialing directory that you are already
editing. Answer "No" when PDE asks if you want to save your
changes. PDE will discard the changes and re-load the dialing
directory from disk.
Exit
You can exit from PDE by pressing either <Esc> or <Alt><X>.
If you have made any changes to the currently loaded dialing
directory, PDE will ask if you want to save your changes.
Quiet Mode [Registered version only]
To turn the sound off, press 'Q'. Actually, 'Q' toggles the
sound. If it was on, it will be turned off; if it was off, it
will be turned on. You can also turn the sound off by using the
command line switch "-q". When Quiet Mode is active, the word
"ON" will appear on the main screen command summary right after
"Q Quiet Mode".
HOW TO CONTACT ME
I've tried to make PDE as easy to use as possible. I've tried
to make it so that you won't NEED any support from me. But if
you find you have a question that is not answered in the
documentation or in the help screens, you can contact me in any
of the following ways:
CompuServe: I usually check for CompuServe mail daily. My
CompuServe user ID is 70372,335. This is the best way to
contact me, unless you are local to Vallejo, CA.
BBS: My "home" bulletin board is Power Station BBS in
Vallejo, California. This is a seven-line BBS with call
rollover. The first number in the rollover chain is (707)
552-0602. I check here several times daily. User name
"JIM ARAGON". If you leave a message here, use conference
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1, "Private Mail." This is the best way to contact me if
you are local to Vallejo.
Internet: You can send e-mail to my CompuServe account using
Internet address 70372.335@compuserve.com, or you can send
e-mail to me on Power Station BBS using Internet address
jim.aragon@ocr.com.
Fidonet: Power Station's Fidonet address is 1:161/123. Be
aware, however, that in my experience Fido netmail can be
both slow and unreliable. If you use netmail, don't assume
your message was received unless you get a confirmation
back from me.
Telephone: (707) 554-3402.
U.S. Mail:
James Aragon
101 Heather Court
Vallejo, CA 94591-4314
TRADEMARK INFORMATION
PROCOMM, PROCOMM PLUS, and DATASTORM are trademarks of
Datastorm Technologies Inc.
PROGRAMMER'S NOTES
PDE was written in the C language and compiled with Borland
C++ 3.1. All window, menu, data entry, help, and display
routines are from the TCXL User Interface programmer's library by
Innovative Data Concepts. Sorry, source code is not available.