Night Owl 6

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Night Owl 6 / Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso / 001a / pcfd_104.zip / PCFDIAL.DOC next >

Wrap

Text File | 1992-01-22 | 92KB | 2,003 lines

i Contents Legal notices 1 PCFDial warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 U.S. Government restricted rights . . . . . . . . 2 Evaluation copies 3 Disk vendors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Bulletin board operators (sysops) . . . . . . . . 3 Colleges & teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Registering PCFDial 4 Volume discounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Site licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Reseller discounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Part 1: Getting started Chapter 1: What is PCFDial? 7 Chapter 2: Installation 8 2.1 Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2 Setting up PCFDial . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.3 A word to the wise . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.3.1 DOS 3.20 users . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.4 Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.4.1 Call Data Standard . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.4.2 Microsoft Windows . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Chapter 3: Context sensitive help 10 3.1 Customizing PCFDial . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Chapter 4: Starting PCFDial 16 4.1 Command line summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4.2 Program initialization . . . . . . . . . . . 18 4.3 TSR information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 4.3.1 Loading considerations . . . . . . . . . 18 4.3.2 Size considerations . . . . . . . . . . 18 4.3.3 TSR hotkey selection . . . . . . . . . . 19 Part 2: Using PCFDial Chapter 5: Invoking PCFDial 22 5.1 Dialing a phone number . . . . . . . . . . . 22 5.2 When the call ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Chapter 6: The TOLLNMBR.INF file 25 ii Chapter 7: The TIMEZONE.INF file 26 Part 3: Appendixes Appendix A: Status & error messages 28 A.1 Exit codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Appendix B: Helpful hints 32 B.1 Invoking PCFDial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 B.2 Common questions & answers . . . . . . . . . 32 B.3 Get the correct time . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 B.4 Hotels & credit cards . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 B.5 Disable call waiting . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 B.6 One modem, two lines . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Appendix C: Troubleshooting 38 C.1 Call history file problems . . . . . . . . . 38 C.2 Modem problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 C.3 If that doesn't help . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Index 39 Figures Figure 3.1: Context sensitive help screen . . . . . . 10 Figure 3.2: PCFDial configuration screen . . . . . . 11 Figure 5.1: PCFDial working with a PC-File screen . . 22 Figure 6.1: Sample TOLLNMBR.INF file . . . . . . . . 25 Figure 6.2: Sample TOLLNMBR.INF exceptions . . . . . 25 Figure 7.1: Sample TIMEZONE.INF file . . . . . . . . 26 Figure B.1: Radio Shack parts for two-line switch . . 37 Figure B.2: Diagram for two-line switch . . . . . . . 37 Tables Table 2.1: Mandatory PCFDial files . . . . . . . . . 8 Table 2.2: Optional PCFDial files . . . . . . . . . . 8 Table 4.1: Hotkey values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Table 5.1: PCFDial keyboard commands . . . . . . . . 23 Table 7.1: Time zone designators . . . . . . . . . . 26 Table A.1: PCFDial exit codes . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 _________________________________________________________________ Legal notices PCFDIAL Version 1.0 Barn Owl Software P.O. Box 74, O'Fallon, IL 62269 Voice line (618) 632-7345, regular business hours Orders only (800) 2424-PSL (Public software Library) (713) 524-6394 Fax line (618) 632-0023 Compu- Serve 74017,1344 InterNet 74017.1344@compuserve.com Telex 3762848. First line must say "TO:EASYPLEX:74017,1344" PCFDial software & documentation Copyright 1991,92 by Barn Owl Software, all rights reserved worldwide. Barn Owl Software is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals and PCFDial falls under ASP guidelines for shareware products. Any specific hardware/software names used in this manual are the (registered) trademarks of specific companies. You may not modify PCFDial in any way that changes the program's actual computer instructions unless these methods are approved by Barn Owl Software. Barn Owl Software strives to produce technically accurate docu- mentation for its products but we're only human. This manual may contain any number of typographical, graphical, printing, or interpretation errors. 2 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual "This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536". PCFDial warranty PCFDial is offered under the shareware concept, in which users may thoroughly test the program before deciding to pay for it. Because of the diversity of conditions, hardware, and other soft- ware under which the program may be used, no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose can be offered. Barn Owl Software offers a 30-day money back guarantee after purchase, no questions asked. You may return all materials for a full refund during this time. Materials must be in good condition. This applies only to copies sold directly by Barn Owl Software or purchased through direct resellers (such as Public software Library). WE CANNOT REFUND PRODUCTS SOLD BY INDIRECT RESELLERS. Physical materials (manuals, disks, etc.) supplied by Barn Owl Software are warranted to be free of defects in workmanship for the life of the product. Users may return defective materials anytime for replacement at no charge. ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING THOSE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE LIMITED TO THE TERMS OF THE EXPRESS WARRANTIES. IN NO CASE SHALL Barn Owl Software'S PRODUCT LIABILITY EXCEED THE MONETARY FEES PAID FOR THE RIGHT TO LEGALLY USE THE PRODUCT. U.S. Government restricted rights Use, duplication, or disclosure by the government is subject to restrictions as set forth in Rights in Technical Data and Com- puter Software, para (c)(1)(ii), DFARS 242.227-7013 (10/88) and FAR 42.227-19 (6/87). Contractor is Barn Owl Software, P.O. Box 74, O'Fallon, IL 62269. Evaluation copies 3 _________________________________________________________________ Evaluation copies You may try PCFDial on a 30-day trial basis to determine if this program meets your needs. You must then either purchase your copy/copies of the program, or quit using it. You may give UNMODIFIED copies of PCFDial to others so they can evaluate it for their needs, subject to the same restrictions and conditions above. Disk vendors The Association of Shareware Professionals sets standards for disk vendors if they wish to obtain "ASP approved" status. You can learn more by writing to the ASP vendor membership commit- tee, 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442. Barn Owl Software, like many ASP members, lets ASP approved disk vendors distribute PCFDial without having to ask first. We send master disks to ASP approved disk vendors at no charge. If you are not an ASP approved disk vendor, please send a copy of your catalog along with your request to distribute our product. Bulletin board operators (sysops) Bulletin board operators (sysops) may offer unmodified copies of PCFDial on BBSs and other electronic information services so others can download the program and evaluate it for their needs. Colleges & teachers Barn Owl Software is happy to help teachers offering courses on PCFDial. We can supply master disks & manuals as course materials. Please contact us for more details. Our address & phone numbers are on page 1. 4 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual _________________________________________________________________ Registering PCFDial Please submit a completed registration form with proper payment to continue using PCFDial after your 30-day trial period. Look for the REGISTER.FRM file on your master disk. Your PCFDial registration includes the following: * One year of voice support at (618) 632-7345, fax support at (618) 632-0023, and newsletter support; * The latest version of PCFDial is sent on disk and you will be notified for at least a year when major enhancements are made to the program; * Information on how to get a CompuServe IntroPak that waives the normal sign-up fee and gives you a $15 usage credit on top of it; * Help "beta test" future versions of PCFDial if you wish before they are publicly marketed. Volume discounts The following discounts apply for regular orders. Each package consists of a set of disks, a professionally printed manual, and the registration benefits shown above. This is a per order discount, not an accumulative order discount. 001 - 002 packages 00% discount 003 - 009 packages 05% discount 010 - 019 packages 10% discount 020 - 049 packages 20% discount 050 - 099 packages 30% discount 100 - XXX packages ask for details Barn Owl Software accepts purchase orders (POs) only from schools, government agencies, and Fortune 1000 companies. Please add a $10 processing fee on POs less than $100. Site licenses Barn Owl Software offers site licenses if you don't need manuals and technical support for each copy of the program you use. We supply you with one "gold" disk & manual and give you a license so up to XX people in your organization can legally use the program. See the SITELIC.DOC file included with PCFDial for more details. 5 Reseller discounts Please contact Barn Owl Software if you resell software and wish to offer PCFDial to your customers. 6 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual ______________________________PART 1_____________________________ Getting started Chapter 1, "What is PCFDial?" 7 ____________________________Chapter 1____________________________ What is PCFDial? PCFDial is a TSR (terminate and stay resident) phone dialer designed to pluck numbers right from the screen of your favorite software program. It also reminds you at regular intervals how long you've talked on the phone -- useful if you must "close the deal" in a set amount of time, for example. PCFDial comes out of the box ready for ButtonWare PC-File users, overriding the ALT-J command so you can dial phone numbers and go back to what you were doing in PC-File. However, you can custo- mize the program to your particular needs. PCFDial, like PC-File and other dialer programs, keeps a log of calls for you. (It even writes log entries to the same file if you wish.) And of course, the log conforms to specifications described in the Call Data Standard. This means you can analyze call history files with CDS-compatible phone bill analyzers. 8 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual ____________________________Chapter 2____________________________ Installation 2.1 Requirements PCFDial runs on an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or compatible computer with a Hayes compatible modem and a hard disk. You must use DOS 2.0 or better. The following tables describe the necessary and the optional files which make up PCFDial: Table 2.1: Mandatory PCFDial files ----------------------------------------------------------------- PCFDIAL.EXE The actual program PCFDIAL.OVR The program's "overlay" file ----------------------------------------------------------------- Table 2.2: Optional PCFDial files ----------------------------------------------------------------- PCFDIAL.CDS CDS call history file, but it can be any file- name you choose PCFDIAL.CFG PCFDial configuration file, but it can be any filename you choose PCFDIAL.HLP The context-sensitive help file TIMEZONE.INF A list of time zones for the U.S. and Canada, broken down by and area code TOLLNMBR.INF A list of local exchanges that must be dialed as a "toll" call READ.ME! Contains late-breaking PCFDial notes ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 Setting up PCFDial PCFDial is easy to install. If you put the master PCFDial disk in your A: drive, type the following commands at the DOS prompt: A: INSTALL and follow the instructions displayed on your screen. Chapter 2, "Installation" 9 2.3 A word to the wise chronology (kra na"l'a jee) n., ... 2. the arrangement of events, dates, etc. in the order of occurrence 3. a list or table of dates in their proper sequence ... nd -- New World Dictionary, 2 ed. You must set the DOS date & time whenever you boot up if you hope to create valid call history files. If you don't do this, your files will show calls made on 1-1-80 just after midnight. That's not right! Please don't change your DOS date or time while using PCFDial. It will be reflected in your call history file(s) and could pose problems later on. 2.3.1 DOS 3.20 users People who use DOS 3.20 may experience a weird bug: the DOS date stays the same when the clock strikes midnight. Communications programs rely on the DOS date when logging phone calls and this can mess up a call history file. We say "some" people may have this bug. DOS 3.21 corrected the problem but, for whatever reason, some DOSs tell programs they're running under DOS 3.20. (Zenith DOS does this, among others.) 2.4 Compatibility 2.4.1 Call Data Standard PCFDial conforms to "CDS", the Call Data Standard, specification 1.0, for [voice] communication programs. Please contact Barn Owl Software if you want to learn more about CDS. 2.4.2 Microsoft Windows PCFDial works under Microsoft Windows IF you load it in a DOS window (usually as part of a batch file process). If you load it in memory before starting Windows, you must take care not to press the program hotkey while working in a DOS window -- you'll hang the system if you try it. If you want to use PCFDial with a particular DOS database program running in a window, you can load/unload it from memory as part of a batch file used to start the desired application. Tell Windows to execute the batch file instead of the database program itself. PCFDial can't dial phone numbers displayed on a graphics screen; therefore it cannot dial any phone numbers displayed by a Windows application. 10 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual ____________________________Chapter 3____________________________ Context sensitive help You can get context sensitive help anytime PCFDial is active just by pressing the F1 key. Don't know anything about a particular data entry field or menu item? Move the highlight bar over the item in question and press F1. It's that simple. If you have a mouse device, you can press both the left & right keys instead of the F1 key. ----------------------------------------------------------------- /|PCFDial installation|------------------|by Barn Owl Software|\ >------------------- Dist prefix --------------------\ | This string of characters is added by default to | | the front of all the long-distance calls you dial. # | | Normally this is "1-", but some businesses may | | | need to dial "9" to get an outside line. You would | | | thus enter "9-1-" to dial the number properly. | | | | | | The string is loaded by default with "9,1-" if you | | | put "/9" on the command line when you load PCFDial | | | into memory. Consult the program manual for more | # | details. | | | | | | See also: Prefix/suffix codes | | | Special modem commands | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | \|F1 for more help|----------------------------------/ \|Press F1 for help|---------------|Press CTRL-ENTER when done|/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 3.1: Context sensitive help screen Many help topics contain more details than the small help window can show at one time. A message on the lower right edge of the window may tell you to press PgUp or PgDn to see more text. If you have a mouse device, put the mouse cursor on the up/down arrows (located on the right side of the help window) and press the left mouse button. In some cases the help screen has its own highlight bar. You can use the cursor keys to move the bar so it covers a topic of interest, then press ENTER. The program displays help on the related topic you requested. You can pick & choose your way Chapter 3, "Context sensitive help" 11 through all the various help topics pertaining to the original subject. Keep an eye on the bottom left corner of the help window to see if you can press F1 for even more help. Doing so gives you access to major topics in the program. Move the highlight bar over a major topic of interest and press ENTER. Press ESC when ready. You'll wind up right where you left off in the program. 3.1 Customizing PCFDial You can change many of PCFDial's defaults by typing "PCFDIAL /INSTALL" at the DOS prompt. The program doesn't load itself in memory; it just creates a configuration file for you. PCFDial displays the following data entry screen when you use the /INSTALL option: ----------------------------------------------------------------- /|PCFDial installation|------------------|by Barn Owl Software|\ | COM port: 1 | Speed: 1200 Delay: 25 | | Surname: | | Init command: | | Dial command: ATDT | | Hangup command: ATH0 | | | | Local area code: | | | | Local prefix: # | Local suffix: | | Toll prefix: 1- | | Toll suffix: | | Dist prefix: 1- | | Dist suffix: | | Other prefix: | | Other suffix: | | | | Keep log of call: Y | | Log local calls: Y \|Press F1 for help|---------------|Press CTRL-ENTER when done|/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 3.2: PCFDial configuration screen Use the cursor keys to move between fields and feel free to press F1 if you need specific help. Here's a rundown of each data field and its significance to the program: 12 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual COM port: tells the program the serial port your modem uses. DOS normally recognizes them as COM1, COM2, COM3, or COM4. Just enter the numeric value -- 1, 2, 3, or 4. PCFDial defaults to 1, meaning it will look for the modem on COM1. [This option can be specified with a command line switch. See section 4.1.] Speed: refers to the baud rate your modem understands. Typical values are 300, 1200, and 2400. The default is 1200. [This option can be specified with a command line switch. See section 4.1.] Delay: dictates the number of milliseconds PCFDial must pause after sending each character to your modem. Some modems accept commands faster than they can interpret them: this option slows things down for the modem. The default is a 25 millisecond pause between each character. [This option can be changed with a command line switch. See section 4.1.] Surname: tells the program to identify your calls by a special name when recording details in the log file. It only applies to people who generate reports on their calls with a CDS phone bill analyzer program. PCFDial normally uses the COM port number to uniquely identify the call for phone bill analysis purposes, but this isn't always desirable. For example, multiple users in a network environment may use the same modem and log file, and a phone bill analyzer would have no way to distinguish between two or more calls going on at the same time. Business travelers may want to identify each call based on the name of the hotels they visit. You can do it with the surname option. Init command: is the first string of characters sent to the modem when you dial a call. This is blank by default. Common settings are "ATM1" (turns the modem's speaker on), "ATZ" (resets the modem), or "ATS7=60" (tells the modem to wait 60 seconds before automatically hanging up). Consult your modem handbook for details if you want to learn more about the Hayes AT command set. Dial command: is the first part of the string of characters sent to your modem to dial a phone number. PCFDial defaults to "ATDT". You must change this to "ATDP" if you have only rotary dial service. Consult your modem handbook for more details about the Hayes AT command set. Hangup command: is sent to the modem to tell it to hang up once you've picked up the receiver. This is "ATH0" by default. Consult your modem handbook for more details about the Hayes AT command set. Local area code: tells PCFDial your own area code. This helps it dial local calls when it detects your area code as part of the dialing string -- and it helps determine the time of day Chapter 3, "Context sensitive help" 13 for other U.S. and Canadian area codes. [This option can be changed with a command line switch. See section 4.1.] Local prefix: specifies a string of characters you want appended to the front of the dialed phone number. The string is included only when PCFDial recognizes the number as being local. It is blank by default but, if you use the /9 option (see section 4.1), it will be initialized to "9-" so you can get an outside line. Local suffix: works like the local prefix described above, but it goes at the end of the dialed number. This string goes to the modem only if PCFDial recognizes the number as being local. It is always blank by default. You might use this field if you dial local calls with a credit card, for example. Toll prefix: is a string of characters appended to the front of the phone number you wish to dial. The string is included only when PCFDial recognizes the number as being toll. It is set to "1-" by default but, if you use the /9 option (see section 4.1), it will be initialized to "9,1-" so you can get an outside line. Toll suffix: is like the toll prefix described above, but the string is appended to the back of the phone number you wish to dial. The string is included only when PCFDial recognizes the number as being toll. It is always blank by default. You might use this field if you dial calls with a credit card, for example. Dist prefix: is a string of characters appended to the front of the phone number you wish to dial. The string is included only when PCFDial recognizes the number as being dialed with an area code (thus being long distance). It is "1-" by default but, if you use the /9 option (see section 4.1), it will be initialized to "9,1-" so you can get an outside line. Dist suffix: is like the Dist prefix described above, but the string is appended to the back of the phone number you wish to dial. The string is included only when PCFDial recognizes the number as being dialed with an area code (thus being long distance). It is always blank by default. You might use this field if you dial calls with a credit card, for example. Other prefix: is a string of characters appended to the front of the phone number you wish to dial. The string is included only when PCFDial does not recognize the number as being local or long distance. (It could be an office extension or an overseas phone number, for example.) It is always blank by default. Other suffix: is like the Other prefix described above, but the string is appended to the back of the phone number you wish to dial. The string is included only when PCFDial does 14 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual not recognize the number as being local, toll, or long distance. It is always blank by default. You might use this field if you dial calls with a credit card, for example. Keep log of calls: tells the program whether to record various details about calls in a CDS compatible log file. The details include the number you dialed, the date & time the call started, and the date & time you hung up. Calls will be logged by default. Log local calls: specifies if you want to keep a history of local calls. Some people may only want to keep track of long distance numbers. Log as business: lets PCFDial know if it should annotate each call it logs as having been placed for business reasons. This is mainly used by people who generate reports with a phone bill analyzer program. Log filename: is the call log filename. You can specify a drive and path for the file if you wish. The program writes to PCFDIAL.CDS by default. The file will be stored in the PCFDial directory if you don't specify a specific path for it. Call time remind: tells PCFDial how many seconds to wait before reminding you how long you've talked on the phone. The program defaults to remind you every 120 seconds (two minutes). This option proves especially useful for salesmen who must "close the deal" in a certain amount of time. You can turn off the reminders either by setting the value to zero or by turning off the "Keep log of calls" option. TSR disk default: tells the program to use a specific drive for storing temporary system files when it loads into memory. (System files are always stored in the root directory of the drive.) This option is blank by default, meaning the program uses the default drive if necessary. You can change this if you normally start the program from a hard disk or floppy and want it to store its system files on a RAMdisk. Note: PCFDial normally ignores the drive you specify here if it has enough EMS or XMS memory for the task. (See section 4.1 for details on how to make the program ignore EMS/XMS memory.) Also note: if you specify "!" in this field, PCFDial will load completely in regular memory. See section 4.3.2 for more information. TSR hotkey: is the hotkey you wish the program to use. It is "2074" by default, which translates to the ALT-J key. PCFDial lets you change this hotkey either automatically (you press the hotkey) or manually (you enter the numeric value). Posi- tion the cursor on this field and press the F1 key to learn about the keystroke numeric values. [The hotkey can be changed at load time with a command line switch. See section 4.1.] Chapter 3, "Context sensitive help" 15 string: is simply the name you give for the hotkey. It is "ALT-J" by default, but you can change it if you wish. [This string can be changed at load time with a command line switch. See section 4.1.] Press CTRL-ENTER to save the current configuration and end the program. Press ESC if you want to terminate PCFDial without saving a configuration file. 16 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual ____________________________Chapter 4____________________________ Starting PCFDial 4.1 Command line summary PCFDIAL [options...] PCFDial begins when you enter "PCFDIAL" at the DOS prompt. Quite a few options let you alter the way the program runs, but don't worry. Some exist only for advanced users and some may not even apply to you. /1[:bbbb[:ddd]] /2[:bbbb[:ddd]] /3[:bbbb[:ddd]] /4[:bbbb[:ddd]] Modem connected to COMx. You can optionally specify the baud rate ("bbbb") and character transmission delay speed ("ddd"). PCFDial defaults to COM1, 1200 baud, 25ms delay. /9 Dial "9" for outside line. Tells PCFDial to dial "9" before dialing the telephone number for an outside line. (It initializes all default prefix strings so they have a "9" as the first character.) This option has no effect if you use a configuration file. /Annn Local area code to ignore. Numbers displayed on the screen with an nnn area code will lose their area code and be dialed as a local call. This proves use- ful for people who travel -- today's long-distance office call may be tommorow's local hotel room call. /Dx[:nnnn[:string]] TSR support drive, hotkey, & ID string. PCFDial normally uses its own drive/hotkey/ID string or the ones you declared in a configuration file, but you can override them with this option. Note: if you specify "!" for the support drive, PCFDial loads completely into regular memory. See sections 4.3.2 and 4.3.3 for more information. /E Ignore EMS. PCFDial normally uses expanded (LIM EMS) memory if it finds enough available. This tells the program to ignore EMS. /I Ignore PCFDial configuration files. PCFDial is geared to hunt for its configuration file. This option tells the program to ignore any such file. Chapter 4, "Starting PCFDial" 17 /INSTALL Create PCFDial configuration file. The program runs in standalone (non-TSR) mode and creates a configura- tion file to your specifications. /Kcfg-file PCFDial configuration filename. The program looks for PCFDIAL.CFG when it loads, but you can specify a different filename with this option. See section 4.2 for detailed information. /N Noiseless operation. Toggles the program into total silence at startup. /Prrr:ccc[:lll] Highlight bar row, column, & length. The first time you use PCFDial after loading, its highlight bar positions itself on row 17, line 17, covering a length of 17 characters. This option lets you initialize to different values. NOTE: if you use this option, the highlight bar continuously resets itself to this default. Otherwise, it remembers its last position & length between popups. /U Uninstall program from TSR status. See below for detailed information. /X Ignore XMS memory. Similar to the /E option, but it tells PCFDial to specifically ignore extended (LIM XMS) memory if present. /X1 Single swap file. PCFDial temporarily allocates a second memory swap file when it swaps out to disk, or it permanently allocates about 360k when it swaps out to XMS. (It always allocates the minimum memory needed if it swaps to EMS.) The /X1 option tells PCFDial to use a single disk-based swap file, or half as much room in XMS memory as it normally uses. This can prove beneficial if you run low on disk space or can't spare much XMS memory. NOTE: this option forces PCFDial to load as a 10k TSR instead of just 7k. It also increases the time it takes for the program to swap back into memory when you press the hotkey. See section 4.3.2 for more information. /XX Choose XMS over EMS. Some people have both EMS and XMS memory. When given a choice, PCFDial chooses EMS. However, this switch makes the program choose XMS for its memory swap file. Note: PCFDial will still look for EMS to hold its "overlay" file unless you specify the /E option. You should use /E instead of /XX if you want the program to totally ignore EMS. 18 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual /[x Override color/mono detection. PCFDial sometimes fails to detect the correct status of a color or monochrome system. Use /[C to force the program to think in color; use /[M to force it to think in mono- chrome. Syntax: You must put a space between each option. PCFDial accepts parameters in any order but you should put the /K option first if you specify it. And finally, you may use "-x" instead of "/x" if you wish. See appendix B for visual aids on starting PCFDial at the DOS prompt. 4.2 Program initialization When PCFDial starts up, it looks for the configuration file PCFDIAL.CFG if you didn't specify one on the command line with the /K option. It searches: 1. The default directory; 2. The directory where the PCFDial program is kept; and, 3. The directories listed on the DOS PATH (consult your DOS manual if you need more information about this). 4.3 TSR information There are some special considerations you must follow if you wish to use PCFDial: 4.3.1 Loading considerations Network users must load PCFDial after any network shells. Multitasker users must load PCFDial after any system managers like DESQView, OmniView, TaskView, or Windows. Loading it in a partition is fine if the partition is at least 180k. (PCFDial occupies only 7k of regular memory by default when dormant.) 4.3.2 Size considerations PCFDial is a large program (as TSRs go) yet it takes only 7k when it runs as a TSR. In simple terms, the program leaves behind a small "kernel" and writes the rest of itself out to a hard disk, RAMdisk, EMS memory, or XMS memory. This kernel waits for you to press the hotkey (ALT-J by default) at which point it reads the rest of PCFDial back into memory. When you're done, the kernel swaps everything back out and waits for you to press the hotkey again. Note: PCFDial's swapping process speeds up if it uses EMS or XMS memory or a RAMdisk. It also uses less regular memory and swaps faster if you avoid the /X1 command line option. Chapter 4, "Starting PCFDial" 19 You must have either: * 180k of free EMS memory to load PCFDial as a 7k TSR; or, * 360k of free hard disk space, RAMdisk space, or XMS memory to load PCFDial as a 7k TSR; or, * 180k of free hard disk space, RAMdisk space, or XMS memory to load PCFDial as a 10k TSR (via the /X1 command line option); or, * 180k of regular memory to load the program without using any disk space, EMS memory, or XMS memory (via the /D! and /E command line options). Consult your DOS manual if you need more information about EMS/ XMS memory or RAMdisks. If PCFDial swaps to a hard disk or RAMdisk, it will allocate about 180k of space for a hidden file in the root directory. The program will temporarily need 360k of disk space when it actually swaps in and out of memory -- but you can get around this if you wish by using the /X1 command line option. If you want to use a specific disk drive for this purpose, you can accomplish it a few different ways: 1. Generate a configuration file in which you explicitly set the "Default TSR drive" option; or, 2. Use PCFDial's /D command line option to specify the drive you want to use; or, 3. Make the target drive the DOS default and then invoke PCFDial. 4.3.3 TSR hotkey selection If you want to specify a different hotkey value in PCFDial, pick one key from the first section of table 4.1 and zero or more keys from the second section. When you've chosen the keys you want, add the numbers together and use the final result for the /D command. 20 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual Table 4.1: Hotkey values ----------------------------------------------------------------- CHOOSE EXACTLY ONE: A = 30 1 = 02 <F1> = 59 B = 48 2 = 03 <F2> = 60 C = 46 3 = 04 <F3> = 61 D = 32 4 = 05 <F4> = 62 E = 18 5 = 06 <F5> = 63 F = 33 6 = 07 <F6> = 64 G = 34 7 = 08 <F7> = 65 H = 35 8 = 09 <F8> = 66 I = 23 9 = 10 <F9> = 67 J = 36 0 = 11 <F10> = 68 K = 37 <F11> = 217 L = 38 - = 12 <F12> = 218 M = 50 = = 13 N = 49 \ = 43 <SCROLL> = 70 O = 24 ` = 41 <HOME> = 71 P = 25 [ = 26 <END> = 79 Q = 16 ] = 27 <PGUP> = 73 R = 19 ; = 39 <PGDN> = 81 S = 31 ' = 40 <INS> = 82 T = 20 , = 51 <DEL> = 83 U = 22 . = 52 <PLUS> = 78 V = 47 / = 53 <MINUS> = 74 W = 17 <PRTSC> = 55 X = 45 <ESC> = 01 <LEFT> = 75 Y = 21 <BS> = 14 <RIGHT> = 77 Z = 44 <TAB> = 16 <CNTR5> = 76 <SP> = 57 <UP> = 72 <DOWN> = 80 <SYSREQ> = 84 CHOOSE ZERO OR MORE: <ALT> = 2048 <LT SHIFT> = 512 <CTRL> = 1024 <RT SHIFT> = 256 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 21 ______________________________PART 2_____________________________ Using PCFDial 22 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual ____________________________Chapter 5____________________________ Invoking PCFDial PCFDial pops up when you press the "hotkey" (normally ALT-J) so you can dial phone numbers displayed on the screen. ALT-J also designates the end of a call if you keep a log of your calls. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Index: LAST_FIRST ascending F -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >--------------- Dialing from screen ----------------\ | PCFDial lets you dial telephone numbers directly -----------------\ | from the screen of another application. (PCFDial # | | must be loaded as a TSR to do this.) Press the | | | hotkey (ALT-J by default) so a reverse-video |----------/----<>----\ | shadow box appears. You can move the box with the | |Command: | | arrow keys, and you can make it grow/shrink with | |------------| | the "+" (plus) and "-" (minus) keys. Don't worry | |Add a record| | if the phone number starts on one line and ends on | |Delete | | another -- the shadow box is intelligent enough to | |Modify | | "straddle" the line break. | |Find (cont.)| | | |Search (new)| | Press ENTER when you cover the telephone number. | |End of file | | This tells PCFDial to dial it. It's that simple! |----------|Beginning | | NOTE: any letters appearing in the shadow box will | |Next record | | be converted to numbers. This means you can dial |----------|Prior record| | "vanity" phone numbers like (800) 2424-PSL. | |Rcd# get | | |one bill a|+ browse dwn| | PCFDial always looks at the length of the phone |- browse up | \|F1 for more help|--------------| PgDn for more|/ng phone l|Quit finding| \------------/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 5.1: PCFDial working with a PC-File screen 5.1 Dialing a phone number Press ALT-J (or whatever hotkey you defined) when you want to dial a phone number displayed on the screen. A highlight bar appears so you can "pluck" the phone number. The following keys perform various functions: Chapter 5, "Invoking PCFDial" 23 Table 5.1: PCFDial keyboard commands ----------------------------------------------------------------- +,- increases/decreases length of highlight bar TAB jump to next phone number on the screen UpArrow DownArrow RightArrow LeftArrow moves highlight bar one character in the chosen direction PgUp PgDn moves highlight bar to top/bottom of screen Home End highlight bar to far left/right side of screen F1 brings up context sensitive help F2 time of day for any area code F3 time of day for any area code (sorted by state) * F4 time of day for any area code (sorted by zip) ENTER dial the highlighted phone number ALT-E edit the highlighted number first, then dial it ESC never mind, return to the other program (or optionally dial the previous phone number) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Don't worry if the phone number starts on one line of the screen and ends on another. Just position the highlight bar on the first digit and increase its length (with the "+" key) until it "straddles" the rest of the number on the next line. And don't worry about dialing a "vanity" phone number like 800-2424-PSL. PCFDial converts highlighted letters to numbers when it dials for you. If you press ESC at this point, and you had previously dialed a phone number (whether or not it connected), PCFDial will ask if you want to re-dial the number. This is handy if you failed to _________________________________________________________________ * You must have previously loaded the ZIPKEY TSR from Eric Isaacson Software, version 1.91 or later, for this command to work. See the advertisement at the end of this manual. 24 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual connect earlier due because no one was home or you got a busy signal. If you choose not to dial the previous number, PCFDial gives control of the computer back to the program you were using. Press ENTER to immediately dial the highlighted number on the screen, or press ALT-E to edit it before dialing takes place. The program will send the necessary commands to dial the phone number. Pick up the telephone and press a key when the last digit has been dialed; PCFDial will hang up the modem so you can have the line all to yourself. NOTE: PICK UP THE PHONE BEFORE PRESSING A KEY! Otherwise the call will disconnect and you'll end up talking to a dial tone. PCFDial will then ask if the call connected. Press "Y" if some- one answers the phone; press "N" if the line is busy or no one answers. If you answer yes, the program will remind you to press the ALT-J hotkey again when you hang up so it can log the time the call ended. (This assumes you keep a log of calls.) PCFDial pops up automatically at regular intervals to remind you how long you've talked on the phone. 5.2 When the call ends If you keep a log of calls, be sure to press ALT-J (or whatever hotkey you defined) when you hang up. This tells PCFDial to record the end of the call in its log file. If you press ALT-J and the highlight bar pops up, it means the program wasn't keeping track of a call in progress (and thus assumes you want to dial another number). Just press ESC at this point and answer "no" if it asks to redial a previous phone number. Chapter 6, "The TOLLNMBR.INF file" 25 ____________________________Chapter 6____________________________ The TOLLNMBR.INF file PCFDial looks for a special TOLLNMBR.INF file whenever it dials a local number. Normally, the program understands a phone number to be local or long-distance. Yet sometimes local numbers must be dialed as "toll" calls. (Normally this means dialing a "1" before the number.) TOLLNMBR.INF tells it what local three-digit exchanges should be treated as toll calls. TOLLNMBR.INF is a simple ASCII text file. Each three-digit exchange appears on a line by itself, like so: ----------------------------------------------------------------- 233 555 578 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 6.1: Sample TOLLNMBR.INF file Exchanges don't have to be in any order, but there must be NO blank lines, nor can there be any blank spaces at the beginning or end of a line. If you tell PCFDial to dial a local call, it checks to see if TOLLNMBR.INF exists and looks for the three-digit exchange. For example, if the number you want to dial is 233-7215 and 233 was listed, it dials the call using the default toll prefix & suffix. The program reads TOLLNMBR.INF file each time you dial a number in your area code. This means you can update it on the fly with- out having to unload the program from TSR status. Special note: some people may have so many toll exchanges, it might be easier just to list the local ones as exceptions. You can do this if you follow this example: ----------------------------------------------------------------- EXCEPTIONS 739 759 982 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 6.2: Sample TOLLNMBR.INF exceptions "Exceptions" must be on the first line of the file. It doesn't matter if you use uppercase or lowercase letters -- you just have to spell it right. PCFDial includes a sample TOLLNMBR.INF file with "555" as a toll exchange. Please feel free to add more toll exchanges (or exceptions). 26 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual ____________________________Chapter 7____________________________ The TIMEZONE.INF file PCFDial looks for a special TIMEZONE.INF file whenever you want to see the time of day for an area code or state. This file is simply a list of the area codes for each state and the time zones they fall under. It is a simple ASCII file with the following general layout: ----------------------------------------------------------------- CO Colorado 303 MT 719 MT ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 7.1: Sample TIMEZONE.INF file Each state gets two lines. The first line contains the state abbreviation and the full state name. The second line lists each area code in the state followed by a two-letter designator for the time zone: Table 7.1: Time zone designators ----------------------------------------------------------------- AT Atlantic Time ET Eastern Time CT Central Time MT Mountain Time PT Pacific Time KT Alaska Time ----------------------------------------------------------------- Each item in the list is separated by a space. There must be NO blank lines, nor can there be any spaces at the beginning or end of a line. PCFDial includes a generic TIMEZONE.INF file. You may notice some area codes cover two time zones, but the file only lets you specify one. We struggled to list the zone with the most phone numbers in a given area code, but please feel free to alter it if you like. 27 ______________________________PART 3_____________________________ Appendixes 28 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual ____________________________Appendix A___________________________ Status & error messages The following is a list of all status & error messages. In some cases there may be an obscure reason why the message would come up, and we've tried to list those reasons to help you out. (We left out the obvious possible causes like an unformatted disk or an open drive door.) Bad parameter or filename on the MS-DOS command line. * An invalid command-line option was specified. * The /K option was specified but the program could not find the configuration file. Be sure to press xxx when you hang up! * This information message reminds you the call is being logged. Press the hotkey xxx (ALT-J by default) when you hang up so PCFDial can log the end of the call. Call logging feature has been turned OFF. * A disk error occurred; PCFDial recovered from it but was forced to turn off the CDS call logging feature. CALLS WILL NO LONGER BE LOGGED FROM THIS POINT ON! You must unload/ reload the program to re-activate the call logging feature. Change the TSR hotkey? * This question appears when you use the "/INSTALL" command line option. If you answer yes, PCFDial records (the numeric value of) your next keystroke as the TSR's hotkey. Couldn''t find a phone number on screen. * You pressed the TAB key to move to the next phone number on the screen, but the program couldn't find one. This some- times happens with vanity phone numbers like 800-IBM-DISK. Move the highlight bar with the cursor keys and +/- keys until it covers the phone number you want to dial. Couldn't recognize xxxxxxxx. * Multiple command-line options were specified without a space or tab to separate them. "/I/N" is not acceptable, you must say "/I /N". * An invalid command-line option was specified. * The specified PCFDial configuration file doesn't exist. Dial last number (xxx-xxxx)? * If you press the hotkey, PCFDial pops up and expects you to pluck a phone number from the screen. If you press ESC, it asks if you want to dial the previous phone number. This can be handy if the previous number you dialed was busy or no one was home. Appendix A, "Status & error messages" 29 Did the call connect? * Unfortunately, PCFDial can't tell when someone picks up the phone at the other end -- modems just don't return that kind of data. You must tell the program if your call connected. Did you just hang up on the current call? Do you want to redial the number? * If you tell PCFDial the call failed to connect for some reason, it will ask if you want to redial it. Answer yes or no. Remember, you can redial the last phone number by pressing the hotkey (ALT-J by default) followed by ESC. DOS says today is Tue 1-1-80! That's not right! * The DOS date is not set properly. It won't affect PCFDial, but it could mean a bad call history file. See section 2.3 for more information. Error reading/writing the xxxxxxxx file. * The file is not a valid PCFDial v1.0 configuration file. (You might be trying to read a file generated by a later version of PCFDial.) * The disk has become full. * Tried to write or erase a read-only file or a file on a write-protected disk. Error occurred trying to access modem. * You failed to turn on an external modem. * You specified an improper COM port. Failure occurred in TSR handler logic. * The program failed in its attempt to go resident as a TSR. Call Barn Owl Software for assistance. Let me know when to dial the next portion... * A semicolon ";" character appeared somewhere in the string sent to the modem. PCFDial sent everything up to the semicolon and is now waiting for you to press a key so it can send the rest. This is useful if you want the program to dial your credit card number, for example. Read appen- dix B.4 for detailed information. No config file found, using internal defaults... PCFDial already loaded in memory. PCFDial has been unloaded. PCFDial v1.0x loaded in memory. PCFDial not resident in memory. Remember, hotkey1 invokes PCFDial! * The program displays these general status messages when it loads or unloads from memory. 30 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual PCFDial can't unload at this time. * One or more TSRs were loaded into memory after the program. TSRs must be unloaded in reverse order, last to first. * You tried to unload the program from inside a standalone application or while operating in a secondary DOS shell. Pick up the phone AFTER the modem finishes dialing. * This information message appears when PCFDial finishes sending the phone number to your modem. Wait for the modem to completely dial the number, pick up the phone, and THEN press a key. DON'T press a key before picking up the phone or you'll wind up talking to a dial tone. Press your choice for a hotkey. * This message appears when you use the "/INSTALL" command line option. PCFDial will record (the numeric value of) your next keystroke as the TSR's hotkey. Runtime error nnnn at xxxx:yyyy * This "catch-all" error message means a problem occurred that PCFDial wasn't programmed to handle. Please tell Barn Owl Software if you get this message and give a detailed description of what you did that led up to it. Sorry, couldn't find TIMEZONE.INF file. Sorry, couldn't find TOLLNMBR.INF file. * Some functions need the TIMEZONE.INF or TOLLNMBR.INF files to work properly. See pages 26 and 25 for details. Sorry, you need ZIPKEY v1.91 or later. Sorry, ZIPKEY not loaded in memory. * Some functions need the ZIPKEY TSR to work properly. See the advertisement at the end of this manual. The key you pressed is not valid here. Press F1 for help. Using config file xxxxxxxx. Warning: a DOS 3.20 bug can corrupt log files! * This information message appears whenever PCFDial runs on a computer using DOS version 3.20. See section 2.3. You have been talking on the phone for nn minutes. You talked for nn minutes. * A simple status message telling you how long you've been on the phone. The first message pops up at regular intervals while you talk; the second message pops up when you specify the call has ended. Appendix A, "Status & error messages" 31 A.1 Exit codes The various programs which make up PCFDial generate an exit code that tells how the session went. This code is known as the "ERRORLEVEL" in batch files. (Consult your DOS manual if you are unfamiliar with it.) The possible exit codes are: Table A.1: PCFDial exit codes ----------------------------------------------------------------- 0 Normal termination 1 Bad parameter or filename on the command line 3 Error reading/writing a configuration file 9 Error trying to locate or read the help file 10 Error writing to a CDS log file 17 Error occurred trying to access modem ----------------------------------------------------------------- 32 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual ____________________________Appendix B___________________________ Helpful hints B.1 Invoking PCFDial Here are a few visual aids for PCFDial's start-up options: PCFDIAL Loads the program into memory with no special instructions. PCFDIAL /I/N Wrong! You must put a space between each option. The program will only see the /I option in this case. PCFDIAL /N The program starts up in silent mode. PCFDIAL /KC:\DOS\DATA\MY-DATA.CFG The program uses the configuration file MY-DATA.CFG. PCFDIAL /KC:\DOS\DATA\MY-DATA.CFG /INSTALL The program loads in standalone mode so you can create a con- figuration file. In this example, we want to change the con- figuration in MY-DATA.CFG. PCFDIAL /I /E Orders the program to use its internal defaults instead of looking for a configuration file. It will also ignore LIM EMS memory if present. PCFDIAL /XX /X1 Tells the program to use XMS memory instead of EMS memory if it has a choice, and to use minimal disk or XMS space to store its memory swap file. PCFDIAL /U Removes the program from memory resident status. B.2 Common questions & answers "How do I get PCFDial to run as a TSR?" See page 16. "I need PCFDial's default hotkey for some other program. Can I change it?" Certainly. See pages 14 and 16. Appendix B, "Helpful hints" 33 "I don't have expanded memory. Can PCFDial's TSR portion use extended memory?" The program can use extended memory directly if you load Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS device driver (available free from Micro- soft) or some other LIM XMS device driver as part of your 1 CONFIG.SYS file. PCFDial can use extended memory even if you don't have a LIM XMS device driver: consult your DOS manual for information on a device driver usually known as RAMDISK.SYS or VDISK.SYS. Set up a RAMdisk in extended memory and tell PCFDial to use it like a regular disk drive. "I can't get PCFDial to unload from TSR status." You may be running another application, or you may have loaded other TSRs after PCFDial. Exit to DOS from any program you may be running at the time, unload any "later" TSRs, and try again. "My system locks up when I press the PCFDial hotkey while using a DOS application under Microsoft Windows." You loaded PCFDial before starting Windows. Load it from a batch file used to run a DOS application under Windows, and make sure Windows calls the batch file instead of the DOS application itself. "The program takes about 10k of memory instead of 7k when I load it. How come?" You used the /X1 command line option (and possibly /XX as well). See page 17. "The program loaded as a 180k TSR! What happened?" First off, we can assume you either have no EMS/XMS memory or you used command line options to ignore it. This means you either loaded the program from a floppy drive or used the special /D! option. * you loaded the program from a computer with no hard drive; or, * you loaded the program from a floppy drive without using the /D option to tell PCFDial where to store its memory swap files; or, * you loaded the program from a floppy drive without using a configuration file to tell PCFDial where to store its memory swap files; or, * you used the /D! option to make the program load everything in regular memory; or, * you entered a "!" in the "TSR disk default" field of your configuration file. See page 16 for potential solutions. _________________________________________________________________ 1. Most 286/386 memory managers programs provide LIM XMS support in lieu of HIMEM.SYS. 34 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual "Sometimes PCFDial can't find files when I load it as a TSR from my AUTOEXEC.BAT file. It works fine if I reload it into memory. What gives?" Your AUTOEXEC.BAT file loads the program before it sets the DOS PATH. PCFDial looks for files across the DOS PATH if it doesn't find them in the directory from which you loaded the program. However, a quirk in DOS itself forces you to load TSRs after setting the PATH if the TSRs need the PATH. Most of them don't need to look at the PATH so they have no problem with it. "I told PCFDial which COM port to use but my modem won't dial. What's wrong?" See page 38 for possible fixes. "Why doesn't F4 show me the current time of day for each zip code?" You must have the popular ZIPKEY program from Eric Isaacson Software, it must be version 1.91 or later, and it must be loaded before PCFDial. See the advertisement at the end of this manual. B.3 Get the correct time One thing you can depend on is the fact that all phone companies set their timing clocks according to an atomic clock. You can get the absolute correct time by dialing one. You might want to call occasionally to reset your computer clock. You can hear the correct time from the Naval Observatory's master atomic clock by dialing (900) 410-8463. There is a fifty-cent charge for each call. You can also get the correct time from any ham radio by tuning to 10.0000MHz. B.4 Hotels & credit cards Unfortunately, phone service varies widely between cities and even between hotels in the same city. Some systems may require you to dial "9" to get an outside line; others may force you to dial something like "88" or "02". If you use a credit card, you may have to dial a toll-free number, wait for a tone, dial the number you want, wait for another tone, and then dial your card number. The worst case is when you find yourself in a hotel with a credit card! But luckily, PCFDial can be configured to make your life simpler when you travel. It takes some tinkering, though, to get it right. If you're in any of the newer hotels (especially ones with the convenient RJ11 phone jacks), chances are you'll dial "9" to get an outside line. PCFDial's /9 command may be all you need to deal with the hotel phone system. Appendix B, "Helpful hints" 35 Some hotel phone systems may force you to pause briefly before you can dial out. Most Hayes compatible modems accept a comma as a command to pause for two seconds, and PCFDial's /9 command sets the default prefixes to "9,-" (local) and "9,1-" (long distance). Dialing a number can be tricky if you don't know how long of a pause to insert. Most Hayes compatible modems accept a semicolon ";" character as a return-to-control-mode command, and PCFDial takes advantage of this fact. If you include a semicolon in the string, PCFDial will: 1. send everything up to and including the semicolon 2. wait for you to press a key 3. send the rest of the string You can insert more than one semicolon: the program will keep pausing until it reaches the end of the string. Many Hayes-compatible modems accept the "W" character as a "wait for dial tone" command. If all you need to do is pause for the next dial tone, the modem can do all the work for you. You and PCFDial will never know the difference. Practically all credit card users dial their card number after the phone number. Your best bet is to change the default local & long distance suffix codes to include your card number. Be sure to put a semicolon (or enough commas) at the beginning of the prefix string if you must wait before dialing the card number. WARNING: KEEP YOUR PHONE CREDIT CARD NUMBER CONFIDENTIAL! Be careful if you store it in a PCFDial configuration file -- some- one could gain access to it if you aren't careful. Example: John Smith wants to dial his wife from his hotel phone. He will dial "9", pause briefly, then dial his MegaBell access node; wait for a second dial tone, then dial his wife's number with a "0" instead of a "1"; wait for a special ring tone, then dial his credit card number. Smith's Hayes compatible modem recognizes ";" as a return-to-control-mode signal and "W" as a "wait for dial tone" command. Here's what his settings might look like: Default prefix: 9,1-800-555-6789W0- Default suffix: ;312-345-6789-0123 Mrs. Smith ph#: 708-987-6543 Smith's modem is Hayes compatible and recognizes the comma, semi- colon, and "W" as commands. PCFDial doesn't care about the comma or "W" but it does recognize the semicolon as a pause-for-key- stroke command. The program will: 1. send the prefix string, his wife's phone number, and the semicolon in the suffix string; 2. wait for Smith to press a key 36 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual 3. send the rest of the suffix string CAUTION: many Hayes-compatible modems fail to execute a command longer than 40 characters! Check your modem manual for important details on the maximum number of characters you can send in a single command. If necessary, use the semicolon command capa- bility to split large dialing strings into smaller parts. Hint: it pays to check the phone rates before you use a credit card in a hotel. Sometimes it's cheaper, and sometimes it needlessly adds money to the cost of the call. This is a sad fact of life and it depends on the phone service at each hotel. B.5 Disable call waiting Homes and small businesses often pay for a "call waiting" feature so they can have the equivalent of two lines on a single phone. However, people sometimes find it offensive if the person at the other end takes time out answer another call. Most (but not all) people can temporarily disable call waiting so they aren't interrupted during an important conversation. You just dial "*70" before the number. Your call waiting feature is re-enabled when you hang up. PCFDial makes it easy to implement this feature. Change the modem dialing command from "ATDT" to "ATDT*70," and you're on your way. (Choose the Config/Hardware/Modem menu item to do this.) Note: be sure to include the comma at the end of the dialing command! But what if the other guy has call waiting? Can you turn it off on his end, too? In some cases, YES -- but you must have three- way calling as well as call waiting to temporarily disable some- one else's call waiting, and your modem must recognize the "!" character as a "flash hook" command. Change PCFDial's modem dialing command from "ATDT" to "ATDT,!,*70,". Remember, you must have both three-way calling and call waiting on your end for this to work. Note: be sure to include the comma at the end of the dialing command! B.6 One modem, two lines Many users have two or more phone lines and wonder how they can get the modem to work with them. Let's say John Smith's wife works at home. They have two lines, one for personal calls and one for her business. Can Mrs. Smith get the modem to dial calls on both lines separately? Appendix B, "Helpful hints" 37 It's possible, but it can be tricky. The easiest method would be to use a two-line switch for your modem. Radio Shack seems to be the only major chain of stores selling one, though many outlets don't carry it in stock. You'll pay $34.95 plus tax -- quite a lot of money for a box with three buttons. Ask for part number 43-380. Altex Electronics, a mail order firm, sells an A/B line switch for $18.95. They even have a tollfree number: 800-531-5369. Do we use these devices? No. We built our own using $8.27 (plus tax) in Radio Shack parts. It takes three minutes to assemble with no messy soldering or stripping. You need a small flathead screwdriver and these items: ----------------------------------------------------------------- PART # PRICE DESCRIPTION 275-1537 $1.99 DPDT knife switch 279-310 $4.99 12ft RJ14/spade cord 279-391 $1.29 12in RJ14/spade cord ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure B.1: Radio Shack parts for two-line switch Assembly is easy. You'll notice the knife switch has six screws in a pattern much like a pool table; the loose wires on each cord have spade lugs for easy attachment. 1. Loosen the knife switch screws. 2. Attach the wires from the long and short cords to the screws as shown in figure B.2. 3. Tighten the knife switch screws. ----------------------------------------------------------------- * * * LONG SHORT LONG red red & black black SHORT LONG green & LONG green yellow yellow * * * ----------------------------------------------------------------- Figure B.2: Diagram for two-line switch Just flip the switch when you want the modem to dial on the other line. That's all there is to it. Look in the README.1ST file (included on the PCFDial disk) for any last-minute news on other sources for this type of product. 38 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual ____________________________Appendix C___________________________ Troubleshooting C.1 Call history file problems Some people visually check a .CDS file to see what it looks like. It's basically an ASCII text file, but it conforms to a stringent format imposed by the Call Data Standard. You will most probably confuse phone bill analyzer programs if you make ANY changes to the file. C.2 Modem problems If you know you set your modem correctly, but it doesn't respond to the commands PCFDial is sending it, the problem may be in how fast the program talks to the modem. Some modems can't accept commands at the same speed it accepts regular data. You can slow down PCFDial's command data transmission speed either with a command line option or by creating a configuration file. See chapters 2 and 4.1. C.3 If that doesn't help Before you call Barn Owl Software for help, please take the time to jot down your answers to these questions: * Did you install the program according to the instructions? * Did you read the appendix on helpful hints? * What brand/model of computer do you use? * What brand/model of modem do you use? * What does your CONFIG.SYS file look like (if you use one)? * What does your AUTOEXEC.BAT file look like (if you use one)? * Do you use multitasking or networking software? * Do you have any experience with similar products? Index 39 Index /1 16 highlight bar 10, 11, 23 /9 16 hints 32, 36 /[ 18 /A 16 K /D 16, 19, 33 kernel 18 /E 16, 17, 19 /I 16 L /INSTALL 17 legal notices 1 /K 17, 18, 28 license See: registration /N 17 /P 17 M /U 17 Microsoft Windows 9 /X 17 mouse 10 /X1 17, 18, 19, 33 /XX 17, 33 N notes 8, 14, 16, 17, 18, A 24, 36, See Also: area code 12 cautions B P Barn Owl address 1 PCFDial limited license 3 C support 4 Call Data Standard See: syntax 18 CDS prefix 13, 16, 25, 35, See cautions 36, See Also: Also: suffix warnings CDS 8, 9, 38 R configuration 16, 17, 18, registration 4 28, 32 site 4 volume discounts 4 D disk vendors 3 S distributors See: disk shareware 1, 2 vendors suffix 13, 25, 35, 36, See DOS 3.20 9 Also: prefix E T ERRORLEVEL 31 trademarks 1 exit code 31 V F visual aids 32 files 8 W H warnings 30, 35, See Also: help notes context sensitive 10 warranty 2 40 PCFDial v1.0 User Manual Z ZIPKEY 23, 30, 34