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10October94
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Phone.txt
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1995-06-12
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Hutchison Ave. Software has finished developing a bundle for use with
Phone.app, (current shareware release is 2.2). This bundle allows users
who have a Sharp Wizard series 8000 and higher to exchange phonebook files to
and from their NEXTSTEP computer.
Hutchison also has plans to develop a Newton access bundle for Phone.app. You
can download Phone version 2.2 from the archives. People registering Phone
version 2.2 get a free upgrade to version 3.1, which includes PDA access.
Contact us at phone@hasc.ca for information about obtaining version 3.1.
Note: if you're using Phone.app, please register it. So far, we've had
one (1) person register their software. Hutchison is trying to produce some
neat software for NEXTSTEP users, and make it available for cheap. There's
certainly no incentive to do this when hundreds of people are using the
software and only one person has bothered to send in the ten bucks to
register it.
Also note: version 3.1 has other bug fixes and improvements over 2.2 (incuding
enhanced dialing support!), incorporating quite a few suggestions from the
net. We'd like to take the time to do more, but considering the number of
people that have registered the software, we're not able to keep adding
features and improvements. If you want cheap and good software, do the right
thing and register today, and allow us to continue making updates.
Here's a short Q+A on Phone.
What's new?
We've added the following:
- numerous bug fixes
- PDA access (downloading and uploading phonebooks)
- password protection
- faster phone dialing
- dialing prefixes (comma for pause)
What is Phone.app?
It's a phonebook manager which can read and write ASCII plain text files. If
you're currently using perl or some other command line tool to read phonebook
files, then this application can live side-by-side with your tool, and you'll
not have to change your file format one bit.
Gee, that's cool. Are you sure about the file format thing?
Well, we're pretty sure! By default Phone.app is looking for records like
this:
Herve Avril
Hutchison Ave. Software
herve@hasc.ca
Darcy Brockbank
Hutchison. Ave. Software
514/499-2067
samurai@hasc.ca
Danny Gagne
danny@hasc.ca
...
As you can see, you don't have to do anything special with your records. They
can be in pretty much any order. Phone uses some intelligent algorithms to
figure out what's what. You can set this application up so that it reads
colondelimited files, or whatever!
So, why is plain text better than binary?
Because you can read it with the tool of your choice. You can also bring your
phonebooks to other computers (ie. running DOS) and read them there if you
need to. It allows Phone to reside in your system, and work on the same
phonebook file that you may have perl or awk or bourne shell scripts for
reading. Here's an example perl script which will read files in a plain-text
format:
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
$/ = ""; #enable paragraph mode.
open (ROLODEX, "/Net/eos/Users/murphy/lib/rolodex/rolodex")
|| die "Can't open rolodex.\n";
while (<ROLODEX>)
{
print if ((/$ARGV[0]/i) && (/$ARGV[1]/i) && (/$ARGV[2]/i))
}
Ok, enough about the file format junk. How do I use this thing?
It's pretty easy. Make a new phonebook, and hit the "Insert" menu item to add
a new record. Phone will search case insensitively for records that match
yoursearch. You can search forwards or backwards based on the contents of your
query field. You've got emacs keybindings within your query field, so be sure
to use them! Also, Phone will do a "and" search if you list more than one
wordin your field.
Does this app do anything else?
You can set the color of each of your open phonebooks to help you find them
amidst the break grey windows that abound on NEXTSTEP. While we figured it
would make Steve Jobs have a hemorrhage, we found that a small grey window
wasoften hard to locate. So, we allow you to drag and drop in the color of your
choice. You, the user, are being allowed to be a victim of your own poor
taste! . Other features include telephone number dialing (click the little
phone icon); email window opening (click the little NeXTmail icon (both of
these icons show up in the document window). Everything else should be pretty
much self-explanitory in the best Keith Ohlfs fashion.
Very funny. Do you expect me to pay you for this?
Yes we do. This app is shareware, and if you find that you're using it, then
you should send ten bucks (and we don't mean male deer) to:
Hutchison Ave. Software
3481 Aylmer, Suite B
Montreal, Qc., CANADA
H2X 2B4
I have a Sharp Wizard PDA. Can I access my phonebook there?
Yes. We have a bundle you can drag and drop into Phone.app which will allow
you to upload and download phonebooks to and from your Wizard. The bundle
costs $20.00, so you'll have to contact us to register for it.
Cool! How about the Newton?
We're in the process of adding support for the Newton as well. Ditto on
pricing, etc.
OK, if I register this, will I get free upgrades?
Minor upgrades and bugfixes are free. We use this app internally and continue
to upgrade it and add features. The NEXTSTEP community is notorious for not
paying for stuff, so please register this application if you're using it.
Registering this app encourages us to continue to develop and enhance it. Not
registering encourages us to abandon NEXTSTEP development. This is a decent
and cool piece of shareware, and you can part with ten bucks, can't you?
Are there any secret hidden features?
Yes, but if we told you what they were, they wouldn't be secret and you
wouldn't have any fun. (HINT: "dwrite Phone HandsetBitmapFile"... look under
the app directory before you do this).
OK... by the way, those are pretty cool color wells. Much more svelte than
theusual breed.
Why thank you! We like the emacs keybindings in the text field too.
I have no more questions. I'd just like to say ``What a great deal!''
Wait! There's more! Phone can be programmed to use hints when it
parses your plain text. We're not ready yet to disclose this feature to
everyone, but if you really need it, let us know. Using hints will help it
determine what's what... it already uses some that are pre-programmed.
OK, are you finished?
Yes. Enjoy the app. And don't forget to send us some cash.