Cream of the Crop 11/Cream of the Crop 11-1.iso/comm/cctr10sh.zip/COMMCTR.DOC

Text File | 1996-01-12 | 17KB | 370 lines

                               VIPERSOFT COMM CENTER
                               Version 1.0 Shareware
                           Copyright (c) 1995 by ViperSoft
                                 All Rights Reserved




                                  Mario Melendez
                                  ViperSoft Inc.
                                P.O. Box 1109-2150
                                  Moravia, San Jose
                                     Costa Rica




                               *** SHAREWARE NOTICE ***

    This program is SHAREWARE and is distributed on a "try before you buy"
basis. You are allowed to try the program for a period of 15 days, after
which you must register if you wish to continue using it. With your
registration you will receive the latest registered (no nag screens or
disabled options) version of the program and will be granted a license to
continue using it for as long as you wish.

    Registration for this program is only $20, versus more for
commercially available programs which do the same thing and have less options. To
register, press the "Register Now" button and fill out the registration
form and mail it to us along with your payment (US Funds only, money
orders must be made payable to Mario Melendez). Please note the following
costs for shipping and handling:

- Orders to be shipped outside of Costa Rica: $5
- Orders inside Costa Rica: $2 + 15% sales tax
- E-Mail orders: $3

    You may freely distribute this shareware version to whoever you wish.
You may not in any way, alter, disassemble, or reverse engineer the
program or any of the files included in the package.

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1. INTRODUCTION: The amazing world of communications

    Communications is a major issue today. For years we have spent countless
hours and millions of dollars trying to better the quality of our
transmissions, installing better phone lines made out of higher quality
materials, newer phone centrals with more options, and dozens of other
devices. But in the end, we've forgotten to better the one thing that
makes all phone communications possible: the telephone.

    Comm Center is designed to turn any ordinary telephone into a high
performance communications device, allowing total control from your PC.
With 50 autodial memories, 10 quickdial memories, answer tone
capabilities, and much more it eliminates the need for expensive phones,
it even eliminates the need for the dialing device inside the phone,
meaning that if you wanted you could simply hook up a telephone headset
and an interruptor to your modem's "LINE OUT" jack (more on this later).

    In short, Comm Center is a power tool for the person who wants total
phone control from his PC.

2.0 INSTALLATION

2.1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

    Comm Center requires the following:

- IBM PC or 100% compatible running under Microsoft Windows or Microsoft
Windows 95

- A modem with a standard command set (AT commands). Mostly every modem
made for the PC has uses standard commands, installed on any one of the 4
regular COM ports (COM1, COM2, COM3 or COM4).

- Mouse (not necessary, but highly recommended).

- Approx. 500 Kb of hard disk space (60 Kb for the program and its INI
file, the rest for VBX and DLL libraries).

2.2 INSTALLING COMM CENTER

    To install Comm Center, simply copy the COMMCTR.EXE file to the
directory of your choice and the other files (.VBX and .DLL) to your
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Finally, create an item on your desktop or
inside your program groups for the program.

    Upon startup, you will receive a message that the configuration file or
the numbers file was nonexistant or damaged. This is simply a message to
notify you that new configuration and phone directory files were created.
Once you receive the message telling you to check configuration, proceed
to the configuration part of this manual.

2.3. CONFIGURATION

    Once you are inside the program, you will notice a "Please wait"
message. The program is now trying to initialize the COM1 communications
port. If your modem is installed here, lucky you, if not, nothing will
happen. Initialization takes about 6 seconds. Once this is completed,
press the configuration button (the one with the T-Square ruler on it,
right next to the 6 button). You will be taken to the configuration
screen.

    Once you are here, select your modem's COM port and speed. Note that a
modem cannot operate at a higher speed than it's designed for, with
exception of 14400 modems, which will generally operate at 19200 with no
problems. A modem will, on the other hand, operate at less speed than
it's designed for, so if you have a 2400 modem you can set it at 300 baud
or 1200 baud with no problems.

    If your modem uses a special init string (to set dialing speed for
example), specify it in the "Init string" field. Note that an AT must
precede the init string. If you wish to use an editor other than notepad,
specify the command to use in the "Editor Command" field.

    Finally, select the type of dialing system you have (tone or pulse), the
modem's settings (databits, stopbits and parity), generally N81 is used,
and the volume setting for the modem. After you have completed these
steps you may either save the configuration and begin using the program
or configure your autodial memories.

2.4. AUTODIAL MEMORY CONFIGURATION

    Inside the configuration screen, there is a button in the lower right
corner which says "Memory config". With this button you may edit the
names and numbers in the autodial memories. When you press it, the
program reads the NUMBERS.DAT file into memory and displays the entries.
You may pass from one field to the next by pressing TAB or clicking on
the space with the mouse pointer. The person's name goes in the left
column, and the number in the right column. Once you are finished, press
"Save" to save the entries, "Cancel" to abort editing or "Print" to print
out a list of the autodial memories.

NOTE: The registered version of the program has 50 autodial memories, the
shareware version has 50 also, but will only allow the use of 20.

3.0. USING COMM CENTER

3.1. LAYOUT

    The Comm Center control panel is arranged in a way that's very similar
to a regular phone. There are numbers 0 through 9 that are used to dial
the number, and in place of the # and * symbols are the clear and the
dial buttons. The dial button has the phone with the lightning bolt on
it, and the clear button has the dynamite on it.

    To the right of the keypad are other special function buttons, which are:

NAME AND NUMBER BOXES: These show the number to dial and if it has been
selected using the autodial memory function, the name that goes along
with it. These may be edited directly by clicking on them. If at any time
the phone should ring (if the modem sends a RING signal) the word "RING"
will appear in the name box and the program will beep, and after 3 rings
a larger "RING" will appear (useful if you're working in another
application).

EXIT BUTTON: Located next to the 3. This button exits Comm Center.

CONFIGURATION BUTTON*: Located next to the 6. This button brings up the
configuration screen.

NOTEPAD BUTTON: Located next to the 9. Brings up the notepad or your own
specified editor.

HELP BUTTON: Located next to the clear button. This button, when pressed,
will activate help mode. It disables normal functioning of all buttons
(except "About", "Register Now!" and itself). When it is down it changes
color and any button pressed will give an explanation of what it is and
what it does. To disactivate help mode, press the help button again.

MEMORY BUTTONS: These buttons allow access to the autodial functions of
Comm Center. The one with the chip on it is the memory recall button.
When pressed, you will be asked for a memory number, once you enter it,
the corresponding autodial entry will be displayed. The one with the chip
and the question mark (?) on it brings up a list of autodial memory
entries. The one with the exclamation mark (!) on it activates quickdial
mode (more on this later). Finally, the one with the disk on it searches
for the next available autodial memory and saves the current Name and
Number to it.

PHONE CONTROL BUTTONS*: These are the buttons with the red phone icons on
them. The one on top instructs the modem to pick up the phone, while the
one below it instructs the modem to hang up. Useful for checking to see
if the line is occupied before dialing.

TONE BUTTONS (fax icons)*: These buttons provide access to the modem's
answer functions and are useful for establishing modem to modem
connections during a telephone call. The one on top instructs the modem
to give an answer tone (properly the "ATA" command). The one below it
instructs the modem to receive the answer tone (properly the "ATX1D"
command).

* Only functional after modem initialization is over.

3.2. DIALING A NUMBER

    To dial a number, simply press the buttons on the keypad with your mouse
pointer, or click on the "Number" box and enter the number to dial from
the keyboard. After the desired number is entered, simply press the dial
button. Once the other end picks up, pick up the phone and press the dial
button again. To erase the Name and Number boxes, press the clear button.

3.3. MEMORY FUNCTIONS

3.3.1. QUICKDIAL

    Quickdial memories are the easiest to use since they don't require you
to keep pressing the memory recall button and entering number after
number. The quickdial memories are located in autodial spaces 1 through
10. To access them, press the quickdial memory button (the one with the
chip and the exclamation mark (!) on it) and then the dial button if you
wish to dial them. They are useful for storing your most frequently
called numbers.

NOTE: The registered version of the program provides 10 quickdial
memories, the shareware version provides only 5.

3.3.2. MEMORY RECALL

    To recall a memory entry out of the quick dial range (1-10) press the
memory recall button (the one with the chip on it) and enter the memory
number (1-50). If you wish to dial it, press the dial button.

NOTE: The registered version of the program has 50 autodial memories, the
shareware version provides only 20.

3.3.3. MEMORY LIST

    By pressing the memory list button (chip and question mark) you are
given a list of available autodial memories. You may either return to the
main screen by pressing Ok or print the list by pressing Print.

3.3.4. STORE ENTRY TO MEMORY

    To store an entry to memory, there are 2 ways: you can go to the
configuration screen, press "Memory config" and enter the entry manually,
or you can press the memory store button (the one with the floppy and
hard disks on it). The memory store button will search for the next
available memory entry and store the data in the Name and Number boxes to
it.

NOTE: It is important that unused memory entries are not altered, since
the program recognizes blank entries and entries containing "No Name" and
"No Number" as available. If you wish to make a space available for use,
erase the Name and Number fields completely.

3.3.5. HANGUP AND PICK UP BUTTONS

    These are the equivalent of picking up and hanging up the phone using
the modem. Note that many modems shut off the "LINE OUT" jack when
picking up the phone.

3.3.6. NULL TONE AND ANSWER TONE BUTTONS

    These buttons are useful for establishing a data connection during a
phone call. Note that Comm Center will only establish the connection, you
must load a communications program to transfer files. To establish a
connection using two copies of comm center, one end presses the answer
tone button and the other end the null tone button.

4.0. TROUBLESHOOTING

Q: I get a "File not found", "Input past end", or garbled configuration
error after multitasking Comm Center and other programs.

A: This is probably caused by multitasking with programs that alter or
access the COMMCTR.INI and NUMBERS.DAT files, or by deleting them while
the program is active. If you get garbled configuration file or "Input
past end" errors, exit Comm Center, delete the COMMCTR.INI and
NUMBERS.DAT files and restart the program. If you get other errors, close
all programs that are active and accessing the COMMCTR.INI and
NUMBERS.DAT files and try again.

Q: Comm Center locks up my computer, or gives me trouble with my mouse.

A: Check your mouse, sound card, scanner, or any other peripheral that
uses a COM port for conflicting IRQs or ports.

4.1. KNOWN PROBLEMS WITH COMM CENTER

Under any version of Windows:

4.1.1. Modem initialization failure:

    This is a problem which occasionally appears in the shareware version of
the program, in which the modem does not recognize the user specified
initialization string. This is caused by the "Unregistered Version"
screen which appears at the start of the program. It has been corrected
for the registered version of the program.

4.1.2. Erratic screen colors:

    This is not a bug in the program, but simply that some buttons and
objects in the program use the default Windows color scheme. To correct
the colors in the program you must change your Windows colors.

    The program was made on a 24 bit True Color system, but was designed to
work without any problems on monochrome and 16 color systems. It is
recommended that your system provide at least 256 colors for optimum
performance.

Under Microsoft Windows 95:

4.1.3. Erratic operation of taskbar:

    Comm Center requires a considerable amount of memory to create the
arrays for storing phone numbers and names for autodial instant access.
In order to limit memory usage, the program unloads unnecessary screens
from memory, which is the case when switching to the configuration or
registration screens. Due to this every time that the program unloads a
screen to switch to another, the taskbar button description for Comm
Center is changed, and if the taskbar's "auto hide" option is active, it
will cause the taskbar to momentarily appear. Due to the way Comm Center
operates this problem is inevitable in the shareware version of the
program, and will hopefully be corrected for the registered version. In
no way does it affect normal functioning of Windows or of the program.

    Something similar will be seen under Windows 3.11, where the description
of the program in the "Switch to" (Ctrl-Esc) window will vary depending
on what screen is active.

4.1.4. Detection of inexistant comm ports

    This is not a problem with Comm Center. Comm Center will allow you to
use any of the COM ports specified in the Device Manager.


5.0. QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, REGISTRATIONS:

    All material regarding the program may be sent to:

                    Mario Melendez
                    ViperSoft
                    P.O. Box 1109-2150
                    Moravia, San Jose
                    Costa Rica

Or on the Internet to:

                    [e-mail]
                                or
                    [e-mail]

We can also be reached by phone at (506)-235-0857.

6.0. PHONELESS OPERATION

    It is possible to operate your phone line with only a telephone headset.
Simply plug in the headset to the LINE OUT jack of the modem and use the
hangup and pick up buttons on the main Comm Center screen. Note that
after a call is finished you must shut off the headset or disconnect it
from the modem. Headsets that have the switch built in are available from
many phone supply retailers

7.0. TRADEMARKS AND OTHER LEGAL JARGON

Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Visual Basic are
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines.

    This program is a shareware version, and is mass distributed along many
networks and computers. Along the way, it may be taken and modified, or
"reverse engineered" (naturally, this violates the shareware agreement).
For this reason this software is provided on an "as-is" basis, and
ViperSoft Inc. will not be responsible for any damages of any type caused
by the program or modified versions of the program to software or
hardware .