OnTap User Guide

I want to create content!

Introduction
Terminology
How OnTap Works
Reader Guide
Server Guide

Introduction

OnTap makes it easy to create and distribute content for the Pilot. You create and save your documents in text or standard HTML format using your favorite desktop application. Use the OnTap Server to translate and distribute your documents. View them with the OnTap Reader on your PalmPilot.

Gather your favorite reference materials, web pages, and important emails. Use OnTap to translate them into an OnTap collection that you can take with you on your PalmPilot.

OnTap augments the existing capabilities of the PalmPilot and lets you control text formatting such as bold, italics, underline and alignment.

OnTap even supports hypertext links to allow navigation within a document, making it a powerful authoring tool for many personal, business and professional applications.

Terminology

- OnTap Database or Collection.

The official PalmPilot name is database. We prefer collection but you'll find that we use the word database and collection interchangeably. The OnTap Collection is opened when you tap on the OnTap application icon in the applications area of your PalmPilot.

- Database Record or OnTap Document.

An OnTap Database or OnTap Collection is made up of any number of individual database records or OnTap Documents, as we prefer to call them. Each individual document in your OnTap Collection has a name or a document title. When you open an OnTap Collection, you tap on one of the document titles to read the document.

OnTap Components and How They Work

The OnTap Reader resides on the PalmPilot. If you want to read documents created with OnTap, the OnTap Reader must be installed on your PalmPilot. Install it using the standard PalmPilot Install Application on your desktop system. Once it is installed on your Pilot, you will see the OnTap application icon under applications on your PalmPilot.

The Pilot database (OnTap Collection) is installed on the PalmPilot. Install it using the standard PalmPilot Install Application on your desktop system. Once an OnTap Collection is installed on your PalmPilot, it is accessible by tapping on the OnTap application icon under applications on your PalmPilot.

The OnTap Collection is created with the OnTap Server. To create your own OnTap Collection, email your raw text or HTML files to the OnTap Server. You do not have to install anything on your desktop system -- all translation takes place on the server.

The OnTap Server translates your documents into an OnTap Collection and emails it back to you or to several email addreses that you can specify. You will need an OnTap Author account to use the server. Turnaround time is typically fairly short, usually within a few minutes.

Current Limitations


  1. Hypertext links work within one OnTap document only.

  2. Images are currently not supported.

  3. HTML tables are currently not supported.

  4. (unregistered only) Only one OnTap Collection at a time on the PalmPilot is supported; installing a new Collection on the PalmPilot will replace the previous Collection.

  5. (unregistered only) To add documents to your Collection, send the source files to the OnTap Server. However, an unregistered OnTap Reader will only add the first document of the new Collection.

  6. (public server only) Distribution list feature of the OnTap Server is turned off.

OnTap Reader Guide

The OnTap Reader gives the PalmPilot the means to carry information that doesn't fit in the address, to do, schedule, and memo formats.

With the OnTap Reader, you can:

Installing an OnTap Collection

Use your standard Pilot install application to indicate that the database should be installed on the Pilot during your next HotSync.

Using the OnTap Reader

When you activate the OnTap Reader, the program presents a list of documents from your OnTap Collection. The list includes those Documents filed under the category shown in the upper right corner of the PalmPilot display. Select the "All" category to see all of the documents in your OnTap Collection.

You can change the position of a document in the list by dragging the document's icon to the desired position.

To view an OnTap Document, select the document (tap the title of the document) from the list. The document will appear along with the "Done" and "i" buttons. If the document extends beyond the screen, the scroll arrows will also be visible.

The scroll arrows enable you to scroll up or down to view the entire contents of the document. Note that the up and down scroll buttons on the front panel of your PalmPilot can also be used to scroll through an OnTap Document. Where the onscreen arrows move the document up or down one line at a time, the front panel buttons move the document an entire screen at a time.

Some OnTap Documents may include hypertext links. Hypertext links appear in an OnTap Document as text with a dotted underline. Tap on a link to bring the link's destination to first line on the PalmPilot screen. You can return to link's source by tapping on the return arrow button that appears at the bottom of the Pilot screen.

Tap the "i" button to bring up a dialog box concerning some details about the OnTap Document. This dialog displays the document's full title, its category, and whether the document is marked as private. Use this dialog to change the document's category, to mark the document as private or not, and to delete the document from the Collection.

Tap the "Done" button to return to the OnTap collection's list of documents.

Within the OnTap Reader are also a number of menu commands and shortcuts which can be used to quickly navigate in a document.

OnTap Server Guide

The OnTap Server accepts your input and translates and distributes your input as an OnTap Collection. The OnTap Collection is downloaded into the Pilot using the standard PalmPilot install application for transfer at the next HotSync.

The OnTap Server:

The OnTap Server accepts your source documents in either simple text or HTML format. Your documents are individually converted, and then combined into an OnTap Collection. A single OnTap Collection may contain any number of both types of documents. The server returns an OnTap Collection to you as a MIME attachment, or forwards it to others on your distribution list (see note).

Simple text is easy to generate and lets you quickly convert the most basic desktop document to Pilot OnTap format. HTML may be more time consuming to generate, but HTML permits much greater flexibility over the document's format and allows you to include hypertext links to navigate through your document.

Your documents are individually converted, and then combined into an OnTap Collection. This OnTap Collection is returned to you as a MIME attachment, or forwarded to others on your distribution list.

You can control the translation process and distribution list with simple OnTap document controls and settings.

Installing an OnTap Collection

Use your standard Pilot install application to indicate that the database should be installed on the Pilot during your next HotSync.

Using the OnTap Server

During our OnTap beta test, you can send documents to the OnTap Server without purchasing an OnTap Authoring Subscription. Follow these step by step instructions to create your own OnTap Collections.

To create your own OnTap Collection:


  1. Save your desktop documents as standard text or HTML files. Follow the guidelines outlined here and in the OnTap HTML Reference.

  2. Attach and send the documents you want to translate as MIME attachments to the OnTap Server: pilot-server@ontaptech.com.

  3. Within a few minutes, the OnTap Server replies with an email containing the Pilot database (OnTap Collection) as a MIME attachment to you or to the distribution list you specify as outlined under OnTap Document Controls.

    The OnTap Server combines your documents into a Collection in the same order that you used to attach them to your email. To change this order, you can resend your input and specify the attachments in another order or change the document order once you install the Collection on your Pilot. Refer to the OnTap Reader Guide for details on changing the order of OnTap documents on your Pilot.

  4. When the new OnTap Collection arrives, use your standard Pilot install application to indicate that the database should be downloaded on the next HotSync (see note).

OnTap Document Controls

Once you have attached the file(s) you wish to translate and are ready to send your email to the OnTap Server, use the body of the email message to override the OnTap Server translation defaults as follows:

DISTRIBUTION KEYWORD (note)
Format: distribution list

Use the "DISTRIBUTION" keyword in the body of the email to specify where to send your OnTap Collection when translation is complete.

Example:

distribution demitrios@aegean.com  martello@ee.pitt.edu  sales@ontaptech.com