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AIMS Contact Manager Documentation For a registered version of this software please send in the order form or write or call: Adeptus Computer Solutions Inc. 100-5 Donald Street Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3L 2T4 Ph: (204) 982-9822 NOTE: Unfortunately, this documentation is not quite up to date. This documentation is accurate for version 1.3. You have version 2.1. While all the basics of the program remain the same, new features have been added and the program has been given a facelift. The printed manual, part of the registration package, has been revised for version 2.1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Manager Documentation Introduction Contact Tracking: The contact management program is a complete contact tracking system, with features such as: - unlimited user-definable fields. - locate filter based on any number of criteria. - select records matching unlimited criteria. - unlimited sub-contacts for a contact. - different information for company and individual contacts. - unlimited dated note fields for follow-up. - import ASCII delimited text files. - export ASCII delimited contact database. - pop-up Task Manager. Appointment Scheduling: The Appointment Scheduling program allows you to plan your week. - appointment scheduling. - pop-up alarms with definable lead time to let you know when you have an appointment or meeting. - week-at-a-glance visual display. - pop-up calendar allows you to move easily to next week, month, etc. Word Processing: The Word Processing module is a text based word processor. - keeps track of your document with dates and descriptions. - merge codes for simple mail-merge with the contact database. - print labels with your mail-merge documents or just one label. - printing codes for Bold, Underline, Italics, Compressed, and Enlarged typefaces. System Requirements AIMS has been written for DOS 3.1 or greater platforms. A computer with at least 640K of main memory is required. AIMS can function using just one floppy drive, however a hard disk drive is recommended. Also, monochrome monitors are supported. If you experience any difficulty with the AIMS and the configuration of your system, please call Adeptus for assistance. Using the AIMS - Contact Management System There are several keys which will retain their properties throughout the whole contact management system and others may only apply in one aspect. The [F1] key will always pull up a help screen specific to your location in the program. The [Esc] key will always abort what you are doing, not saving any of the changes you have made. There are four main screen types in the contact management system: the browse screen, the field entry screen, the option box and the menu. Using the Browse Screens Every attempt has been made to make all of the browse screens similar in function. There are numerous keys that have the same use through out all of the browse screens in the contact management system. Navigation Keys Function Up Move the highlight bar up one row. Down Move the highlight bar down one row. Page Up Move the highlight bar up one page. Page Down Move the highlight bar down one page. Ctrl-PgUp Move the Highlight bar to top of the browse. Ctrl-PgDn Move the Highlight bar to top of the browse. Other Keys Function Escape or End Escape to previous function or Exit program. F1 Pull up help screen. Alt-T Toggle display of clock. The highlight bar in the browse screens is the differently colored bar that rests upon one record in the browse. Pressing the Navigation keys will cause the highlight bar to move, and a different record will become current. Selecting and Unselecting Records As you move through the contact browse screen you can select certain records that you may then perform different operations on. A selected record will have a checkmark just to the left of the name. To select a record, you would move the highlight bar over the contact record you would like selected and press the [Space] key. A small checkmark will then appear to the left of the contact name. To unselect a record that has already been selected, move the highlight bar over that record and press the [Space] key. │ │ Schlack, Jacques │ Jacques Bistro de Jour Unselected Record │ √ │ Schlack, Jacques │ Jacques Bistro de Jour Selected Record Using the Field Entry Screens The field entry screens are screens that ask you to supply information to fill various fields such as name, address, and phone number. Within each field entry screen is one or more 'fields'. Each field represents one piece of information. For example, 'Last Name' and 'Address' would each be one field. The current field will display in a different color than the rest of the screen and will have a flashing cursor. The flashing cursor means that the system is waiting for you to enter a value. There are two types of cursors in the contact field entry screens, an overstrike cursor and an insert cursor. The overstrike cursor is a small thin underline, '_', and will write over any existing the characters as you type. The insert cursor is a small block about half a character high, '▄', and will insert characters before the current character you are positioned on. You can toggle the cursor in the field entry screen by pressing the [Insert] key. There are five data types in the field entry screens, including character, numeric, date, logical and special. The character fields are strings of text of a specific length, depending on the field. Numerics are numbers with 0 or more decimal places. Date fields are dates in the format MM/DD/YY. Logical fields are true and false (T/F) fields. They are also (optionally) Yes and No (Y/N). There are also 'special' fields which have additional screens for editing their information. They can be accessed by moving the cursor on the field and pressing the [Enter] key. Fields marked with '-----' mean that no information is contained in that field. Fields marked with '*****' mean that there is information available and it can be accessed with the [Enter] key. You can move the cursor inside a field, by using the following keys: Keys Function Right Move cursor one position to the right Left Move cursor one position to the left Ctrl-Right Move cursor one word to the right Ctrl-Left Move cursor one word to the left Home Move cursor to beginning of the field End Move cursor to end of the field Ctrl-U Undo change to field provided [Enter] was not pressed Ctrl-T Delete word right Ctrl-Y Delete from cursor to end of field Backspace Delete one character left Del Delete one character right As well as moving the cursor inside a field, you can also move the cursor between fields in the field entry screens. The following keys are used in the field entry screen to navigate the fields. Key Function Up Move the cursor up one field Down Move the cursor down one field PageUp Move the cursor to the first field PageDown Move the cursor to the last field Enter Enter the changes to the field and move down Esc Done The Option Box The option box is a small pop-up box that appears on the screen to inform you of what is happening or to prompt you for more information. There are two types of option boxes, the message box and the question box. The message box appears as; ┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ! │ <some important message> │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ < Continue > │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ The message box will usually have a 'continue' prompt. Press the [Enter] key when you have read the message and the message box will disappear and you can continue. The question box is used to prompt you for information the system needs to continue processing. For example, when you print a contact list, you are prompted for a location to print the file. You can use the right and left arrow keys to move the highlight bar over the option you wish to choose. ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Output Destination │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ [Printer] File Abort │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────┘ When you have moved the highlight to the option you want, press the [Enter] key to select the option. The option box will disappear and processing will continue. The Menus Some of the browse screens have a menu system attached so that you can easily find the operations you wish to perform without memorizing numerous keystrokes. The menus are currently available for the contact browse screen, the appointment scheduler browse screen and the word processing browse screen. To access the menu from these locations, you can press the / key or use the ALT+<somekey> code where the <somekey> is the highlighted menu item. The menu will appear on the bottom of the screen. You can then use the right and left arrow keys to highlight the option you wish to select. As you move the highlight, a brief description of that option is displayed below the list of menu items. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Files Contacts Browse Programs Utilities Defaults System │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When you press the [Enter] key on that highlighted element of the menu, that option will processed. That option may be a function of the program or yet another menu. For example, if you selected the 'Contact' option from the menu in the contact browse screen, you would be given a list of options to perform on the contacts, such as Insert, Update, Delete, and Print. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Files Contacts Browse Programs Utilities Defaults System │ └───────┬──────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘ │ Insert Contact Ins │ │ Update Contact Ret │ │ Delete Contact Del │ │ Restore Contact ^Del │ │ Print Contacts │ │ Copy Contacts @F2 │ │ Move Contacts F2 │ │ Promote Contact @Ret │ │ ──────────────────── │ │ Mass Field Upd. F8 │ │ Mass Dates │ │ Mass Information │ └──────────────────────┘ You can then use the [up] and [down] keys to move in the current menu and the [right] and [left] keys to change to the next and previous menu respectively. To go back one menu level, you would press the [Esc] key. You would be taken one level back and your highlight bar would be placed on the first element of the menu. Contact Manager The Contact Manager is a great tool for keeping track of all your contacts and all the information about them. It allows you to enter a company as a contact and have the employees of that company as sub-contacts. The manager incorporates a variety of useful tools including the ability to have an unlimited amount of user-definable information attached to each contact. How you use the Contact Manager is your choice as its functions apply to a variety of diverse situations. Inserting a New Contact To insert a new contact into the database, press the [Insert] key while you are in the contact browse screen or select insert from the menu. You will then be prompted with a box asking you if you wish to add an INDIVIDUAL or a COMPANY. ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ What do you wish to INSERT? │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ [Individual] Company │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────┘ Use the arrow keys to highlight the entry you want and press the [Enter] key. The appropriate screen will then show up. Inserting an Individual Contact If you select an individual contact, you will be presented with the following screen. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ UPDATE CONTACT │ │═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════│ │ Last: Comp: │ │ First: Posn: │ │ Title: ┌─ Phone Numbers ──────────────────┤ ├─ Address ────────────────────────────────┤ [Bus. ]: ( ) - │ │ Address: │ [Fax. ]: ( ) - │ │ : │ [Res. ]: ( ) - │ │ : │ [Cel. ]: ( ) - │ │ City: ├─ Documents ──────────────────────┤ │ Province: Postal Code: │ Salutation: │ │ Country: │ Recv Mailers: [ ] │ │ ├─ Special Fields ─────────────────┤ ├─ Contacts ───────────────────────────────┤ Other Information: ----- │ │ First Contact: 11/29/95 at 12:28a │ Contact Notes: ----- │ │ Last Contact: / / at │ Contact Dates: ----- │ │ Next Contact: 12/06/95 at 10:00a │ Sub Contacts: ----- │ │ │ Contact Screens: ***** │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┘ Most of these fields are self explanatory. The phone number fields allow you to store up to four phone numbers for each contact. You can also store a short descriptor for the phone number fields, such as 'Bus.' or 'Fax.'. The other information field allows to you store the user-definable information. To enter the other information screen, press the [Enter] key when that field is highlighted. (For information on how to add other information, see the Adding Other Information section.) Inserting a Company Contact The company contact is similar to the individual contact but is displayed in a slightly different format. Since a company does not have a first or last name, a title, a salutation or a position, these have been removed from the company screen. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ INSERT CONTACT │ │═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════│ │ Company: │ │ Short Name: │ │ ┌─ Phone Numbers ──────────────────┤ ├─ Address ────────────────────────────────┤ [ ]: ( ) - │ │ Address: │ [ ]: ( ) - │ │ : │ [ ]: ( ) - │ │ : │ [ ]: ( ) - │ │ City: ├─ Documents ──────────────────────┤ │ Province: Postal Code: │ Salutation: │ │ Country: │ Recv Mailers: ╨╙╥ │ │ ├─ Special Fields ─────────────────┤ ├─ Contacts ───────────────────────────────┤ Other Information: ----- │ │ First Contact: 04/27/96 at 10:16a │ Contact Notes: ----- │ │ Last Contact: / / at │ Contact Dates: ----- │ │ Next Contact: 05/04/96 at 10:00a │ Sub Contacts: ----- │ │ │ Contact Screens: ***** │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┘ Editing a Contact (Company or Individual) To edit either type of contact, you would move the highlight over that contact, in the main browse screen, and press the [Enter] key, or choose the Contact - Update from the contact browse menu. The update contact screen will be displayed and you can edit any of the fields. When you have finished editing the contact, you can press the [Esc] and you will be asked if you wish to save the changes or not. Select 'Yes' to save them and exit, 'No' to exit without saving and 'Cancel' to remain in the update contact screen. Deleting a Contact (Company or Individual) If you wish to delete a contact, you can do so by pressing the [Delete] key or by selecting the Contact - Delete option from the contact browse menu. Deleting a contact will not remove that contact from the database, but will just mark that record as deleted. If the browse is set to NOT show deleted records then the contact will be removed from the list. (For more information on toggling the show deleted records flag, see Deleted under the Browse section of the manual.) Deleted contacts will be removed from the database once the program is restarted. If you delete a contact and exit the program without restoring that contact, you can override the database updating by pressing the Ctrl-O keys during the AIMS introduction screen. Restoring a Contact If you delete a contact and wish to restore it, you can do so by moving the highlight bar onto the contact and pressing the Ctrl- Delete keys or by selecting the Contacts - Restore option from the contact browse menu. You will be prompted with an option box asking you if you wish to restore this contact. Select 'Yes' if you wish to restore or 'No' if you do not. Note that you must have the show deleted contacted set on. (For more information on the Set Deleted Flag, see Deleted in the Browse section of the manual.) Printing Contacts From the contact browse screen you can print the information about the contacts in the database. There are three different printing functions, brief listing, full listing and select listing. Brief Listing The brief listing can be accessed from the Contacts - Print - Brief Listing from the contact menu or by pressing the Alt-P keys. The brief listing is a list of all your contacts, showing their first and last names, company name, position and first phone number. Full Listing The full listing for the contacts gives you a printout of all the information for all of your contacts. You can access the full listing from the Contacts - Print - Full Listing option from the menu. Entering Other Information When you select the other information field from either an individual or company contact, you will be shown the list of other information already defined for that contact. If there is no information defined, a 'No Current Entries' message is displayed. ┌─┤ Contact Notes ├───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ No Current Entries │ ▓ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Inserting Other Information To insert a new piece of information for a contact, press the [Insert] key. You will then be presented with a list of all the user-defined information categories. Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight bar on top of the category you wish to select and press the [Enter] key. You will then be presented with a list of all the elements for the information category you selected. Move the highlight bar over the element you wish to select and press the [Enter] key. The new information for your contact is now added to the list. Changing Other Information To Edit a piece of information for a contact, move the highlight bar over the information you wish to change and press the [Enter] key. You will be given a list of all the information categories. Select the information category you wish to use and press the [Enter] key. Then select the information element you want and press the [Enter] key again. The new information will replace the old. Deleting Other Information To Delete a piece of information, move the highlight bar on top of the element you wish to delete and press the [Delete] key. You will then be asked if you really wish to delete this information. If you do then highlight the [Yes] and press the [Enter] key. Otherwise highlight the [No] button and press [Enter] or just press escape to quit. Changing the User-Definable Information The user-definable information categories and elements can be changed. (For more information on how to do this, read the section on Other Information.) Exiting the Other Information Screen When you are finished adding, changing and deleting the other information, press the [Esc] key. If you have made changes, you will be asked if you wish to save your changes. If you do, select [Yes] and press [Enter], otherwise, select [No]. Contact References Inserting a Contact Reference A contact reference is a sub-contact or a more general contact. For example, if you have a company and two or three different people you may talk to at that company, you could enter those people as sub-contacts of the company. To enter a sub-contact, move to the 'Other Contacts' portion of the contact screen and press the [Enter] key. The Other Contacts screen would then appear. ┌─┤ Other Contacts ├───────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ No Current Entries │ ▓ │ ░ │ ░ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If there are no sub-contacts currently entered, you will get a 'No Current Entries' message. To insert the new sub-contact, press the [Insert] key and you will get the contact reference insert screen. ┌─┤ Insert Contact ├───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Last Name.: B'Hyndhim First Name: Kenny C. │ │ Position..: General Manager │ │ Salutation: Dear Title.....: Mr. │ │ Recv Mail?: Y │ │ │ │ Phone Numbers: │ │ [Bus. ]: (204) 737-5566 (1245) │ │ [Fax. ]: (204) 737-5567 │ │ [Res. ]: (204) 888-5615 Notes.....: ----- │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Enter all the desired information into the fields. If you have notes for this sub contact that you wish to enter, you can enter them here. These notes will be for this sub-contact only and will not appear in notes for the main contact. When you have entered all the information you require, press the [Esc] key to get back to the Other Contacts screen. ┌─┤ Other Contacts ├───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Kenny C. B'Hyndhim (204) 737-5566 (1245) (204)888-5615 │ ▓ │ ░ │ ░ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now the sub-contact that you just entered is listed and the 'No Current Entries' message is gone. You may add as many sub contacts as you like. When you are finished, you can press the [Esc] key to return to the contact screen. Changing a Contact Reference Once you have entered a contact reference, you can update that sub-contact by highlighting it and pressing the [Enter] key. You will be presented with the Update Contact screen. The Last Name field will be highlighted first. ┌─┤ Edit Contact ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Last Name.: B'Hyndhim First Name: Kenny C. │ │ Position..: General Manager │ │ Salutation: Dear Title.....: Mr. │ │ Recv Mail?: Y │ │ │ │ Phone Numbers: │ │ [Bus. ]: (204) 737-5566 (1245) │ │ [Fax. ]: (204) 737-5567 │ │ [Res. ]: (204) 888-5615 Notes.....: ----- │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can change the fields you wish to change. When you are finished Inserting a Company Contact, you can press the [Esc] key to return to the contact reference browse screen. Deleting a Contact Reference If you no longer require a sub-contact, that contact can be deleted by moving the highlight bar over the sub-contact and pressing the [Delete] key. You will then be asked if you really wish to delete the contact reference. If you are sure you wish to delete it, select [Yes], otherwise you can select [No] or press the [Esc] key to cancel. ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Do you wish to Delete this? │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ [Yes] No │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ Notes The notes field allows you to store dated notes for a contact or sub-contact. The notes are ordered based on the sequence that they have been added. The notes are created in a word processor environment and are not limited in length or format. Adding Notes To add a note to a contact, press the [Insert] key and you will be given a text box for editing your note. You can enter in your note as you would enter a document. (For more information on editing documents, see the Word Processing section.) When you have written the note, you can press [Esc] key exit. You will be asked if you wish to save changes to this note. If you want the note created, select [Yes], otherwise select [No] or press the [Esc] key to cancel. Editing a Note To edit a note that has already been entered for a contact, you would move the highlight bar over that note and press the [Enter] key. You would then be given the edit screen where you could make any changes to the note that you wish. When you have finished editing the note, press the [Esc] key. You will be asked if you wish to save the changes. Select [Yes] if you wish your changes saved, and [No] if you do not want to update the note. Deleting a Note To delete a note, move the highlight bar over the note and press the [Delete] key. An option box will appear and ask you if you really wish to delete this note. If you do then select [Yes], otherwise select [No]. Printing a Note To print a note use the Alt-P key combination. You will be prompted for a destination and after you make an appropriate selection the notes for that contact will be printed. Browse System The Browse function in the Contact Management System provides an easy way to view contacts that meet the conditions that you specify. There are different categories of browses. All of the browse selections use the same general screen to gather the information about the search, which allows you to perform a fuzzy search through the browse. ┌─┤ <title...> ├────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ ┌─ Match On ────┐ ┌─ Comparison ────────────────────┐ │ │ │ [None ] │ == <> > < >= <= $ │ │ │ │ Company ▓ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ │ Last Name ░ ┌─ Criteria ──────────────────────┐ │ │ │ First Name ░ │ │ │ │ │ Position ░ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ │ Address ░ ┌─ Connectors ────────────────────┐ │ │ │ City │ And Or None │ │ │ └───────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────────┘ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ About the Search Mechanism The search mechanism used in the contact management system allows unlimited freedom in creating your search criteria. There are four parts to the search mechanism; The match field, the comparison operator, the field criteria and the connectors. Evaluating the search Technically, it is important to note that the search mechanism evaluates the search from left to right with the following priorities; <mf> = Match Field <op> = Comparison Operator <fc> = Field Criteria <con> = Connector <mf> <op> <fc> [ <con> <mf> <op> <fc> ... ] The Match Field The match fields are the fields in the database that you are allowed to match on. These fields include; Company The company name of the contact Last Name The last name of the contact First Name The first name of the contact Position The position of the contact Address The address of the contact City The city of the contact Province The province of the contact Postal Code The postal code of the contact Other The other information Title The title of the contact (Mr, Mrs, etc.) Phone 1 The first phone number of the contact Phone 2 The second phone number of the contact Phone 3 The third phone number of the contact Type The type of the contact (1=Co.2=Ind.) First Contact The date of the first contact Last Contact The date of the last contact Next Contact The date of the next contact The Comparison Operators The comparison operators allow you to decide how to compare your match field to you field criteria. The available operators are; == Equal to <> Not equal to > Greater Than < Less than >= Greater than or equal to <= Less than or equal to $ Is contained in The Field Criteria The Field criteria is the number, string, date or logical (True or False) that you wish to match the match field against. The width of the field criteria will be the same as that of the match field you are comparing it against. For example, since the company field is 30 characters wide, the criteria you can enter would be a string up to 30 characters in length. For string fields, the search mechanism will only look at the number of characters that you have entered into the field criteria. For example, if you were trying to find all last names that were equal to 'Smith'. If you entered smith as the field criteria, not only would it find 'Smith', but it would also find 'Smithe' and 'Smithandwesson' assuming they existed in your database. If you only entered 'Sm', it would find all last names that started with 'Sm'. Note that case does not matter, 'SM' and 'sm' are both the same. The Connectors The connectors allow you to specify more than one match criteria to a search. For example, you can find all of the contacts who live in Winnipeg and like to play golf by using the connector 'and'. As long as you keep track of who likes golf (in the 'Other Information' field), this search is possible. Using the Search Mechanism To Create a search criteria, you would do the following; 1. Select a field to match on by using the up and down arrow keys. If you are finished entering conditions or you do not want a filter, select 'None'. Press the [Enter] key to move on to the next step. 2. You must now select a comparison. Use the right and left arrow keys to select the operator you wish to use. Press the [Enter] key to select the operator. 3. Enter the field criteria you wish to search for. Press the [Enter] key when you have finished. 4. Select the connector you wish to use. Use the right and left arrow keys select the connector you wish to use. If you have entered in all of the search criteria you want, select 'None'. Press the [Enter] key when you are finished. Repeat steps one through four for every condition you wish to place on the search. Browse Filter A browse filter will allow you to narrow your contact browse screen to only those contacts which meet certain conditions. If you have a large number of contacts, this function can be helpful in providing you with a more condensed list of contacts to view. For example, you could narrow your search down to only those contacts who you call on a particular day. Setting a Browse Filter To set a browse filter, you can select the Browse - Filter - Set Filter options from the main menu or press the Alt-L keys while in the contact browse screen. You will be given the Search Mechanism display. Use the search mechanism to select the filter you wish to place on the database. When you are finished, the contact browse screen will be re-displayed. The browse may take a few seconds to refresh itself, depending on the number of contacts and the speed of your computer. Removing a Browse Filter Removing a browse filter will clear the filter and restore the display to all of the contacts. To remove the filter, you can select the Browse - Filter - Remove Filter option from the menu, or press the Alt-O keys while in the contact browse screen. Batch Filter To select the batch filter system, select Browse - Filter - Batch Filter from the menu or press the Alt-B keys while in the contact browse screen. Because some browses may be time consuming to create, (i.e., ones with four or five conditions attached) the batch filter allows you to create browse filters and save them for later use. When entering the batch filter screen for the first time, a default batch filter is listed. The default batch filter is a blank filter, the equivalent of removing the filter using the Remove filter command. ┌─┤ Batch Filter ├─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Description │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Default (No Filter) │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┤ [F1] = Help ├─┘ As you create and save batch filters, your list will begin to grow. You may store up to 256 batch filters. Creating a New Batch Filter To create a batch filter, you would press the [Insert] key. You will then be asked to enter a description for the batch filter you are going to create. Once you have entered the description, you will be given the Search Mechanism Screen. Use the search mechanism to create the filter you want. Once you are done, the new batch filter will be added to the end of the list. (For more information on using the Search Mechanism, see Using the Search Mechanism.) Updating a Batch Filter If you wish to change a batch filter, you may do so by pressing the [Space] key. You will then be given the old description of the batch filter. If you wish to change this, use the cursor keys to move your cursor in the field. Once you have made the changes you want to make, press the [Enter] key. You will then be given the Search Mechanism Screen. Enter the filter you want and once you are done your new batch filter will be automatically updated. Deleting an Old Batch Filter As you create more and more filters you may no longer need some of them. To delete a batch filter, move the highlight bar on top of the batch filter you wish to delete and press the [Delete] key. You will be prompted as to whether you really wish to delete this batch filter. If you do select 'Yes', otherwise select 'No' or press the [Esc] key to cancel. Selecting a Batch Filter To select a batch filter and make that filter active, move the highlight bar on top of the filter you wish to select and press the [Enter] key. That batch will become active and you will be returned to the contact browse screen. Exiting the Batch Filter Screen If you do not wish to activate a batch filter or change your current filter, you may exit the batch filter screen by pressing the [Esc] key. This will the return you back to the contact browse screen. The Select Function The select functions will allow you to easy select records that meet certain criteria. You can then use these selected records to perform other tasks like printing, updating, etc. There are three select function: Select All, Unselect All, and Matching. (For more information on selected records see the Selecting and Unselecting Records section of the manual.) Select All The Select All function is available from the both the menu system and as a keystroke from the contact browse screen. To select all the records, select the Browse - Select - Select All from the menu or press the [F3] key. You will notice that the leftmost column of the browse now contains all checkmarks. The Select all function honours the browse filter and will only select the records that currently match the filter condition. Unselect All Should you wish to unselect all the records, select the Browse - Select - Unselect All option from the menu or press the [F4] key. This will clear any records that may have been selected previously using any of the select methods. Note that this will not affect the browse filter. Matching The matching function allows you to select only those record that meet certain conditions. To select only matching records, use the Browse - Select - Matching option from the menu or press the Alt-S keys. You will then be shown the Search Mechanism. Use the search Mechanism to create the condition you wish to use when selecting records. When you have entered your search into the search mechanism, all matching contacts will be selected. (For more information on using the search mechanism see the Using the Search Mechanism section of the manual.) Goto The Goto option allows you to goto the first record matching the search condition you specify. To select the goto function, use the Browse - Goto option from the menu or press the Ctrl-F keys. You will then be presented with the Search Mechanism. Use the Search Mechanism to create the condition. When you are finished, the highlight bar will be placed on the first record that meets the condition you specified. If there are no contacts meeting your search criteria, the program will beep and you will remain on the current contact. Next The next option allows you to proceed to the next record that meets the previous search condition. It is used in conjunction with the Goto command to allow you to skip through the contact database and look at records that meet a criteria. If you have not selected a goto criteria and you select the Next option, you will be given the Search Mechanism to create you search criteria. To select the Next function, use the Browse - Next option from the menu or press the Ctrl-L keys. If there are no more records matching your search criteria, the program will beep and you will remain on the current contact. Deleted The Deleted function allows you to toggle on and off the display of deleted contacts. To toggle the deleted flag on and off, you may use the Browse - Deleted option from the menu or press the Alt-Delete keys from the contact browse screen. Toggling deleted record on and off with not affect the browse filter or the selected records. [Network Version] When a contact is deleted, the information will be kept until all users have exited AIMS. Once the program has been re-started the previously deleted information will be removed from the databases. To override the compacting of the databases, press Ctrl-O during the opening AIMS screen. [Single-user Version] A deleted contact's information will be kept until the program is started again. To override deleting, press the Ctrl-O keys during the opening screen display. This will allow you to restore any contacts you do not want deleted. References The references option allows you to toggle on and off the display of the references for a contact. To toggle the references on and off, use the Browse - References for the menu or press the Alt-E keys while in the contact browse screen. Word Processing The AIMS word processing module has been designed as an aid in creating correspondence with your contacts. The most useful features are not the document editing tools, but rather the ability to merge contact information with your documents so that formatting, addressing, salutations etc. are done with the press of a key. In addition, import and export functions have been provided so that you may continue to use your favorite word processor in conjunction with AIMS. Documents Documents in the AIMS word processor are displayed using a browse similar to the format used for the main contact database. The files are identified by a date and a description that can be up to 50 characters long. To move within the list the up, down, PgUp and PgDn keys are all active. The Word Processing menu is activated using the / key. ┌─┤ Word Processor Documents ├─────────────────────────────┤ 09:50:04 ├┐ │ │ │ Date Description │ │──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│ │ 01/01/92 │ Follow-up letter 1 │ 01/01/92 │ Prospecting letter 1 ▓ │ 01/01/92 │ Closing memo 1 ░ │ │ ░ │ │ ░ │ │ ░ │ │ ░ │ │ ░ │ │ ░ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ [Insert] Update Delete Export Margins Print Menu Label Menu Create a New Document ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ Inserting A new document can be created from the document list by pressing the [Insert] key or by selecting Insert from the menu. A screen will appear with the current date and the description field will be highlighted. You may now enter a description that is up to 50 characters in length. The next field is the Public field. This variable denotes whether or not everyone using the system will be able to edit/view the document. If you wish to keep the document private simply place an 'N' in this field. ┌─┤ Insert Document ├───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Date..: 21-Jul-92 │ │ Desc..: letter to the editor │ │ Public: Y │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Once the document has been created the word processor is automatically invoked so that the document can be edited. (See Editing Documents for information on using the word processor.) ┌─┤ Document - ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ I was very pleased to find the complimentary demo disk in last month's │ │ issue. My evaluation of the product will be submitted early next │ │ week. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Row 1 Col 1 ┘ Contact Manager v1.0 [F1] = Help │ [Alt-/] = Menu │ [Esc] = Exit Editing Documents There are two methods of accessing a file for editing. Inserting a new file, as described above, and editing an already existing file. To edit an already existing file simply press [Enter] when the desired file is highlighted or select Update form the menu. You will then be shown the file description and the public status of that document so that changes can be made. When [Enter] is pressed on the public field, the document goes into 'Edit Mode'. Edit Mode Once the document is in edit mode there are several functions and keystrokes that are of particular importance. The editing window is sized according to the margins that you set (see Setting Margins), so that the document is spaced roughly the same on the screen as it will be on paper. Word wrapping will also take place, where necessary, according to the margin settings. Using hard carriage returns before the right margin is reached will eliminate the need for word wrap. Navigation and edit Keys Key Action Up Arrow Move up one line Down Arrow Move down one line Left Arrow Move left one character Right Arrow Move right one character Ctrl-Left Arrow Move left one word Ctrl-Right Arrow Move right one word Home Move to beginning of current line End Move to end of current line Ctrl-Home Move to beginning of current window Ctrl-End Move to end of current window PgUp Move to previous edit window PgDn Move to next edit window Ctrl-PgUp Move to beginning of document Ctrl-PgDn Move to end of document Return Move to beginning of next line Delete Delete character at cursor Backspace Delete character to left of cursor Tab Insert tab character or spaces Ctrl-Y Delete the current line Ctrl-T Delete word right Ctrl-B Reform paragraph Ins Toggle insert mode Special Feature Keys Key Menu item Action Alt-/ Word Processor menu Alt-L Add Codes Add contact codes to document (see Add Codes below ) Alt-R Read File Read a text file into document (see Read File below ) End Session Keys Key Action Alt-S Save, without exiting Ctrl-w / Esc Save, and exit Edit Mode Menu The Menu used in edit mode is activated using the Alt-/ key combination so that the / can remain a printable character. Insert File The Insert File option will insert any ASCII text file into the current word processing document. When this option is invoked from either the menu or using Alt-R you will be prompted for the file name. Note that the file will be read in respecting the current margin settings and the maximum buffer size for a document is 64K. ┌─┤ File to Insert ├────────────────────────┐ │ \CONTACT\ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────┘ Add Codes One of the more powerful features of the AIMS word processor is the ability to add codes to the documents. These codes will allow you to personalize the same document for each contact. When the Alt-L key sequence is entered of the Add Codes option is chosen from the menu an option box prompting for the type of codes will appear. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Codes Insertion: Format │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ [Letter] Memo Fax Cover Abort │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ Letter Format Inserting the letter format will add the proper codes for a standard block format letter. It does not matter when the codes are added or where the cursor is, the body will automatically be placed properly within the codes so that a formatted letter is the result. ┌┤ Document - letter to the editor ├───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <CUR_DATE> │ │ │ │ <FIRST_NAME> <LAST_NAME> │ │ <ADDRESS> │ │ <CITY>, <PROV> │ │ <POSTAL_CODE> │ │ │ │ │ │ <SALUTATION> <FIRST_NAME>: │ │ │ │ I was very pleased to find the complimentary demo disk in last month's │ │ issue. My evaluation of the product will be submitted early next │ │ week. │ │ │ │ <CLOSING>, │ │ │ │ │ │ <MY_FNAME> <MY_LNAME> │ │ <MY_POSITION> │ │ <MY_COMPANY> │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Row 23 Col 0 ┘ Contact Manager v1.0 [F1] = Help │ [Alt-/] = Menu │ [Esc] = Exit Memo Format Inserting the codes in memo format will place the applicable codes so that a memo can be generated. Again, it does not matter when the codes are read or where the cursor is at the time, the body will automatically be placed after the header and the codes will be placed in the proper position. ┌─┤ Document - letter to the editor ├─────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Memo │ │ │ │ │ │ Date : <CUR_DATE> │ │ │ │ To : <FIRST_NAME> <LAST_NAME> │ │ │ │ From : <MY_FNAME> <MY_LNAME>, <MY_POSITION>, <MY_COMPANY> │ │ │ │ Subject : │ │ │ │ │ │ I was very pleased to find the complimentary demo disk in last month's │ │ issue. My evaluation of the product will be submitted early next │ │ week. │ │ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Row 0 Col 0 ┘ Contact Manager v1.0 [F1] = Help │ [Alt-/] = Menu │ [Esc] = Exit Fax Format Inserting the codes in Fax format will place the necessary codes so that a fax cover can be produced. There is no requirement for when the codes are to be read or where the cursor should be at the time, the body will automatically be placed after the header and the codes will be placed in the proper position. ┌─┤ Document - letter to the editor ├─────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Fax Cover │ │ │ │ │ │ Date.............: <CUR_DATE> │ │ │ │ │ │ Transmitting to..: <FIRST_NAME> <LAST_NAME> │ │ <COMPANY> │ │ <FAX> │ │ │ │ │ │ Transmitting from: <MY_FNAME> <MY_LNAME> │ │ <MY_COMPANY> │ │ │ │ │ │ Number of Pages (including cover): │ │ │ │ │ │ I was very pleased to find the complimentary demo disk in last month's │ │ issue. My evaluation of the product will be submitted early next │ │ week. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Row 0 Col 0 ┘ Contact Manager v1.0 [F1] = Help │ [Alt-/] = Menu │ [Esc] = Exit Although the above three sets of codes represent the standard formats, there are several other codes that you may add. In fact, you may wish to read in one of the standard formats and modify it by deleting some of the codes and adding others. The codes can be added in any location and not affect the layout of the output. That is, once you have added the codes to your document it will be re-justified on the screen according to what is typed, not the actual length of the output code; this will be corrected during printing. The other codes that are available are listed below along with an example of the applications. Valid Codes Code Function <FIRST_NAME> First name of the contact <LAST_NAME> Last name of the contact <ADDRESS> Address Line 1 of the contact <ADDRESS2> Address Line 2 of the contact <ADDRESS3> Address Line 3 of the contact <CITY> City of the contact <PROV> Province of the contact <POSTAL_CODE> Postal Code of the contact <COUNTRY> Country of the Contact <SALUTATION> Salutation given to the contact <COMPANY> Company the contact works with <FULL_ADDRESS> Full Address of the contact <POSITION> Position within the company <FAX> Fax number of the contact (for phone number description with the word 'Fax') <PHONED1> The first phone description <PHONE1> The first phone number <PHONED2> The second phone description <PHONE2> The second phone number <PHONED3> The third phone description <PHONE3> The third phone number <PHONED4> The fourth phone description <PHONE4> The fourth phone number <CUR_DATE> The current date <CUR_TIME> The current time <DOC_DATE> The document date <DOC_DESC> The document description <CLOSING> Your closing <MY_FNAME> Your first name <MY_LNAME> Your last name <MY_COMPANY> Your company <MY_POSITION> Your position <COMP_ON> Turn compressed mode on <COMP_OFF> Turn compressed mode off <BIG_ON> Turn double height printing on <BIG_OFF> Turn double height printing off <BOLD_ON> Turn bold on <BOLD_OFF> Turn bold off <ITALIC_ON> Turn italics on <ITALIC_OFF> Turn italics off <UL_ON> Turn underline on <UL_OFF> Turn underline off Note: These codes are valid only for the edit mode of the word processor and will not operate in any other part of the program. Document in raw form: Letter format ┌─┤ Document - letter to the editor ├─────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <DOC_DATE> │ │ │ │ <FIRST_NAME> <LAST_NAME> │ │ <ADDRESS> │ │ <CITY>, <PROV> │ │ <POSTAL_CODE> │ │ │ │ │ │ Dear <FIRST_NAME>: │ │ │ │ I was <BOLD_ON>very<BOLD_OFF> pleased to find the complimentary demo │ │ disk in last month's issue. My evaluation of the product will be │ │ submitted <UL_ON>early next week<UL_OFF>. │ │ │ │ <CLOSING>, │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ <MY_FNAME> │ │ │ │ P.S. Next time please use 3.5" disks. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Row 1 Col 0 ┘ Contact Manager v1.0 [F1] = Help │ [Alt-/] = Menu │ [Esc] = Exit Document after merging with sample data. 07/21/92 Chuck Darwin 999b-125 Wellington Ave Saskatoon, SA W3D 3D3 Dear Chuck: I was very pleased to find the complimentary demo disk in last month's issue. My evaluation of the product will be submitted early next week. Sincerely, Mike P.S. Next time please use 3.5" disks. The codes will remain in 'code' format until you either print the document (see Print Menu below) or you perform a translate codes (see translate codes). Translate Codes The Translate Codes option will use the currently highlighted contact in filling the codes with the proper data. This option can be initiated using Alt-T or by choosing Translate Codes from the menu. Only the contact data codes will be filled so that the printer codes remain to be translated during printing. The example below shows the 'Letter to the editor' document, from above, translated with Chuck Darwin selected. This option is useful if the document will only be used for one contact and changes need to be made to one of the coded fields. ┌─┤ Document - letter to the editor ├─────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ 07/21/92 │ │ │ │ Chuck Darwin │ │ 999b-125 Wellington Ave │ │ Saskatoon, SA │ │ W3D 3D3 │ │ │ │ │ │ Dear Chuck: │ │ │ │ I was <BOLD_ON>very<BOLD_OFF> pleased to find the complimentary demo │ │ disk in last month's issue. My evaluation of the product will be │ │ submitted <UL_ON>early next week<UL_OFF>. │ │ │ │ Sincerely, │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Mike │ │ │ │ P.S. Next time please use 3.5" disks. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Row 1 Col 0 ┘ Contact Manager v1.0 [F1] = Help │ [Alt-/] = Menu │ [Esc] = Exit Setting Margins The setting of margins is discussed below because it can be accessed from both Edit Mode and from the word processing menu. The operations and results are the same in both cases. Deleting a Document The Delete option can be accessed using the [Delete] key or by selecting Delete from the menu. An option box will appear for confirmation. The document that is highlighted will be deleted upon confirmation. ┌────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Delete Document? │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ Yes No │ │ │ └────────────────────────────┘ The Delete document confirmation screen appears above. Setting Margins The setting margins function is accessible from both within Edit mode and from the document browse. From both sections the function operates in the same manner. This option is activated using the Alt-M key sequence or by selecting Margins from the menus. ┌─┤ Margin Setup ├─────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Top Margin...: 5 (Spaces) │ │ │ │ Page Length..: 50 (Spaces) │ │ │ │ Left Margin..: 5 (Spaces) │ │ │ │ Page Width...: 70 (Spaces) │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────┘ The margins are set in terms of character spaces so that a Top Margin of 5 creates a document that has a 5 lines of space at the top. The Page Length denotes how many lines of writing there will be on each page, so that if you want a 5 line margin at the top and bottom and you have 60 lines paper, 50 is the appropriate entry for the page length. The Left Margin denotes the number of spaces the document is indented from the left. The Page Width is the writing area of one line. Once you have completed entering the appropriate margins an option box will appear. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Do You Wish to Save Changes? │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ [Save Defaults] Current Session Only Abort │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Selecting the Save Defaults option will save those margins as your document margins until you change them. The Current Session Only option will only use the new margins until your current AIMS session is ended. Abort will abandon the changes. Note: The margins are set for all documents and specific documents cannot have individual margins. If you require particular margins for a document, set those margins using the Current Session Only option so the original margins are restored next time AIMS is invoked. Exporting Documents The Export of documents can be invoked using Alt-E or by selecting Export from the menu. The export will take place for the currently highlighted document and the destination is the file name that you supply. The file will be exported in Ascii format. ┌─┤ File Name to Export to: ├───────────────┐ │ CONTACT\ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────┘ Printing There are two methods of printing: Single document and Merge Mail. Every time document printing is invoked the option box will appear as follows. Use the arrow keys to move and press [Enter] to make the appropriate selection. ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Output Destination │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ [Printer] File Abort │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────┘ Document The print document option can be select using the Alt-P sequence or by selecting Print Menu - Document from the menu. When a document is printed all existing codes will be translated. If the codes reference a contact the currently highlighted contact will be used. (see Add Codes for more information) Merge Mail The Merge Mail option can be invoked using Alt-V or by selecting Print Menu - Merge Mail from the menu. When a document is merged with contacts only the contact that has been selected with the ' ' will be used. Also, any contact who has the Receive Mail field entered as 'No' will not receive the document, even if that contact is tagged. This allows the tagging of all contacts and only the appropriate contacts will be merged. Further, a merge mail cannot be completed with a company because there are no salutation fields etc. After a merge mail is completed an option box will appear prompting as to whether labels should be printed. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Confirm: Print Labels for these Documents? │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ Yes No │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Note: Labels can be printed for any tagged contact regardless of mail or company status (see Printing Labels for more information) Labels Defining Labels The AIMS system contains a label generation facility that will allow you create custom labels. For most users the standard label definitions provided with the program will suffice, but if you need more flexibility in the way your labels are defined, the label system will allow changes. There are 5 label definitions allowed at any one time. There are three standard labels and two custom labels. All of these labels may be modified to suit your needs. When you select the Labels - Define Label option from the word processing menu, you are given a list of the available labels. ┌─┤ Select Label ├─────────────────┐ │ │ │ 1 - Standard - 5 Lines x 2 Wide │ │ 2 - Standard - 5 Lines x 3 Wide │ │ 3 - Standard - 6 Lines x 2 Wide │ │ 4 - Custom Label #1 │ │ 5 - Custom Label #2 │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ Select the label you wish to edit and press the [Enter] key. You will be given the label editing screen. The top of the screen consists of several variables for defining the layout of the labels. These include: the width of the label in characters, the height of the label in lines, the number of labels across to print, the left margin for the label, the number of lines between each horizontal label, the number of spaces separating each vertical label and remark field to describe the label. ┌┤ Edit Label: 1 - Standard - 5 Lines x 2 Wide ├───────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Dimensions Formatting │ │ Width...: 35 Margin..: 0 │ │ Height..: 5 Lines...: 1 │ │ Across..: 1 Spaces..: 0 │ │ │ │ Remarks.: │ │ │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can edit these fields as you would any other field entry screen. When you get to the remarks field and press the [Enter] key you will be given the label layout screen. ┌─┤ Edit Label: 1 - Standard - 5 Lines x 2 Wide ├─────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Dimensions Formatting │ │ Width...: 35 Margin..: 5 │ │ Height..: 5 Lines...: 1 │ │ Across..: 2 Spaces..: 2 │ │ │ │ Remarks.: 3 1/2 x 15/16 by 3 │ │ │ ├── Line: 01 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ [ if(c_type==1,alltrim(c_fname)+' '+c_lname,c_company) ] │ │ c_addr │ │ alltrim(c_city)+', '+c_prov │ │ c_post │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ While the layout itself looks confusing, it is really a powerful tool for defining labels. Each line of the label consists of a series of variables, functions and character strings added together to produce one line of the label. A variable is a field from either the contact database or your current settings. The 'c_' field value will change for each contact that you print a label for, updating the information in that variable. The following variables are available for defining labels: Variable Description c_lname Contact Last Name c_fname Contact First Name c_title Contact Title c_company Contact Company c_position Contact Position c_addr Contact Address #1 c_addr2 Contact Address #2 c_addr3 Contact Address #3 c_city Contact City c_prov Contact Province c_post Contact Postal/Zip Code c_country Contact Country c_ph1 Contact Phone Number #1 c_ph2 Contact Phone Number #2 c_ph3 Contact Phone Number #3 c_ph3 Contact Phone Number #4 c_salute Contact Salutation c_type Contact Type (1=Ind., 2=Co.) c_mail Contact Mail Flag c_cfirst First Contact c_clast Most Recent Contact c_cnext Next Contact myfname Your First Name mylname Your Last Name myco Your Company Name mypos Your Position myclosing Your Closing Statement (ie: Sincerely) A function is a statement that will return a value based on the variable that it is passed. For example, if you used the lower() function and passed it the variable c_fname and c_fname was equal to 'John', the function would return 'john'. You call a function in your label field by specifying the name of the function and then in brackets putting the name of the variable(s) you wish to pass to it. For example, if you wanted to extract the first 10 characters of the address field, you would call the substr function as follows: SUBSTR(c_addr,1,10 ). The following Functions are available in the label system: Function Description AT( str1,str2 ) Position of Str2 in Str1. IF(cond,stmt1,stmt2) If cond is true, use stmt1 otherwise stmt2. LEN( str ) Length of a strint str. LOWER( str ) Convert a string 'str' to lower case. LTRIM( str ) Remove leading spaces from str. PADC( str,len ) Center str for width len. PADL( str,len ) Left justify str for width len. PADR( str,len ) Right justify str for width len. RTRIM( str ) Remove trailing spaces from str. STRINT( int ) Convert an Integer int to a String. SUBSTR( str,start,len ) Extract len characters from str. UPPER( str ) Convert a strint str to UPPER case. A Character string is any string of letters, numbers and other characters enclosed in single quotation marks: '...' You can use any combination of variables, functions and character strings to create the definition for a label field. A valid label field consists of one of more variables, functions or character strings separated by a plus sign [+]. For example, to create a label with a contact's lastname and first name separated by a comma and underlined, you would enter the following: ┌──────┬─── Concatenation character │ │ On line 1 put: RTRIM(c_lname) + ', ' + RTRIM(c_fname) │ │ │ Function ───┘ └─ Variable └── Character String On line 2 put: '----------------------------------------------' │ Character String ───┘ And, if there are more lines, you would leave them blank. When you have entered all of the label report fields you require, press the [Esc] key. You will be prompted with an option box asking you if you wish to save your changes. After you decide, you will be returned to the word processing menu. Print Labels The Print Labels option is accessed from the word processing menu with the Label Menu - Print Labels sequence. This module will allow you to print the labels that you created in the label definition section. When this function is invoked a menu listing the available labels will appear. ┌─┤ Select Label ├─────────────────┐ │ │ │ 1 - Standard - 5 Lines x 2 Wide │ │ 2 - Standard - 5 Lines x 3 Wide │ │ 3 - Standard - 6 Lines x 2 Wide │ │ 4 - Custom Label #1 │ │ 5 - Custom Label #2 │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ After you make your selection an option box will appear to confirm the destination of the labels. Remember that there must be tagged contacts for the labels to print; that is, one label will be printed for each tagged contact (see Selecting and Unselecting Contacts). Appointment Scheduler The AIMS appointment scheduler is formed of two components: An appointment manager for specific contacts and a general scheduler. Both of these modules have been designed to help you manage your time and your contacts more efficiently. General Appointment Scheduler The general appointment scheduler can be accessed from the main menu using the Programs - Appointments selection or by using the [F6] key. Upon entering the scheduler a list of the current day's business will appear. ┌┤ Appointment Scheduler ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Scheduled Appointments for: Monday July 20, 1992 │ │ │ │ Time Dur. Description Done Alarm? │ │──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│ │ 9:00a │ 30m │ meet john about new product ideas. │ F │ │ 10:00a │ 4h │ seminar - computing in '92 - Holiday Inn │ F │ √ ▓ │ 2:00p │ 0m │ drop off AIMS at bill's. │ F │ ░ │ 4:15p │ 5h │ golf at the club │ F │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ From this point you may add, change, delete appointments, move to another day or print your schedule. The / key will activate the menu that works with the appointment scheduler. Insert Appointments To insert a new appointment simply press the [Insert] key while in the appointment scheduler or select Insert from the menu. A screen that prompts you for the relevant information appears. ┌─┤ Insert Appointment ├────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Date.....: 07/20/92 at 9:45a │ │ Regarding: pick up invoices │ │ Duration.: 10 mins │ │ Alarm?...: N Lead Time: 0 mins │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The date field must be entered as a valid date in the format mm/dd/yy. The time for the appointment can be entered in a variety of ways. First, if you press [Enter] on the blank time field a list of times, at fifteen minute intervals, between 6:00 am and 11:45 pm will appear. Selecting one of these times will allow you to move on to the next field. If you prefer to enter the time yourself you may do so in the format hh:mmx, with x representing either an 'a' for am or a 'p' for pm. If the 'a' or 'p' is omitted then 'a' is assumed. The next field, 'Regarding', is a 50 character field allowing you to enter a description of the appointment. The duration of the appointment is measured in minutes or hours. After you enter a numeric duration, should you require, the option of mins or hrs will be presented. The arrow keys toggle the selection and [Enter] will choose an option. The 'Alarm' field is the final aspect of the appointment. Should you require a reminder for your appointment you may set the alarm to 'Y'. Subsequently, a lead time, denoting how long in advance the alarm will ring, can be entered. Note: For the alarm to ring at its proper time, AIMS must be active. Otherwise the alarm will ring at the earliest activation after the alarm time. Upon completion, an option box will appear asking you if you wish to save your changes. If you wish to save your changes select 'Yes', other wise select 'No' or press the [Esc] key to cancel. Update Appointment Any pre-entered appointment can be updated by pressing [Enter] when the desired appointment is highlighted or by selecting Update from the menu. The same screen is used for update as is used for the insertion of an appointment. ┌─┤ Edit Appointment ├──────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Date.....: 07/20/92 at 2:00p │ │ Regarding: drop off AIMS at bill's. │ │ Duration.: 0 │ │ Alarm?...: N Lead Time: 0 mins │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ (For more information on the data requirements for an appointment see Insert Appointment.) Attention: Appointments with alarms attached may not be updated. To change an appointment with an alarm, simply delete the old appointment and replace it with a new one. Deleting Appointments Any appointment may be deleted from the list by pressing the [Delete] key when the desired appointment is highlighted or by selecting delete from the menu. An option box prompting you for confirmation will appear. ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Delete 10:00 Appointment? │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ [ Yes ] No │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ Navigation in the Scheduler The appointment scheduler is originally initialized to the current day, but you may access any day. The right arrow key will advance the scheduler one day , whereas the left arrow moves to the previous day. Using the b key in conjunction with the left and right arrows will move one month in either direction. The other form of navigation is the calendar. Pressing [F9] or selecting calendar from the menu will provide you with the calendar module. The original position will be the current day and the cursor keys will move to any other day. PgUp and PgDn will change the month and Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn will change the year. The days which currently contain appointments will be denoted with a ' '. Press [Enter] to select a new day or [Esc] to return to the original day. ┌─┤ Calendar ├──────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ July 1992 │ │ │ │ 1 2 3 4 │ │ 5 6√ 7 8 9√ 10 11 │ │ 12 13 14 15√ 16 17 18 │ │ 19 20√ 21 22 23 24 25 │ │ 26 27 28 29√ 30√ 31√ │ │ │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ Week-at-a-glance The week-at-a-glance option allows you to preview all of your scheduled times for the week. This function is useful, for example, so that you can see where in the week you can fit a two hour appointment. The week-at-a-glance is called using Alt-W or by selecting Week- at-a-Glance from the menu. The left and right arrow keys will scroll from week to week. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Week-at-a-Glance From: 20-Jul-92 To: 25-Jul-92 │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 6a 7a 8a 9a 10a 11a 12p 1p 2p 3p 4p 5p 6p 7p 8p 9p │ ├─────────┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┤ │Monday │▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ │▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ │ │ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ │ │ ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤ │Tuesday │ │▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤ │Wednesday│ │ │ │▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ │ │▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ │ │ │ │ │ ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤ │Thursday │ │ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ │ │ │▓ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤ │Friday │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ │ ├─────────┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┤ │ Press any Key to Continue │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Printing The print menu is accessed from the appointment scheduler menu and contains the following functions. Today's Appointments: Provides a list of the appointments that are scheduled for the currently selected day. Name.....: Mike Ludwick - Adeptus Computer Solutions Appointment Schedule: 20-Jul-92 Page: 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6:00a 2hours training 9:00a 30mins meet john about new product ideas. 9:45a 10mins pick up invoices 10:00a 4hours seminar - Holiday Inn 11:00a 0mins drop off AIMS at bill's. 12:00p _________ ____________________________________________________ 1:00p _________ ____________________________________________________ 2:15p 5hours golf at the club 3:00p _________ ____________________________________________________ 4:00p _________ ____________________________________________________ 5:00p _________ ____________________________________________________ etc. Incomplete Appointments: Provides a list of the appointments, over a specified range, that are not yet tagged as completed. Name.....: Mike Ludwick Company..: Adeptus Computer Solutions Time.....: 15:50 Page: 1 Date.....: 20-Jul-92 Incomplete Appointments: 07/20/92 to 07/20/92 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Alm Date Time Description Done 07/20/92 6:00 training F 07/20/92 11:00 drop off AIMS at bill's. F 07/20/92 14:15 golf at the club F The range for the printout is specified by date on the following screen. ┌─┤ Specify Date Range ├──────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Begin Date: 07/20/92 End Date: 07/20/92 │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Complete Appointments: Provides a list of the appointments, over a specified range that are tagged as complete. Name.....: Mike Ludwick Company..: Adeptus Computer Solutions Time.....: 15:50 Page: 1 Date.....: 20-Jul-92 Complete Appointments: 07/20/92 to 07/20/92 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Alm Date Time Description Done 07/20/92 9:00 meet john about new product ideas. T 07/20/92 9:45 pick up invoices T √ 07/20/92 10:00 seminar - Holiday Inn T All Appointments: Provides a list of all appointments over a specified range. Name.....: Mike Ludwick Company..: Adeptus Computer Solutions Time.....: 15:50 Page: 1 Date.....: 20-Jul-92 All Appointments: 07/20/92 to 07/20/92 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Alm Date Time Description Done 07/20/92 6:00 training F 07/20/92 9:00 meet john about new product ideas. T 07/20/92 9:45 pick up invoices T √ 07/20/92 10:00 seminar - Holiday Inn T 07/20/92 14:00 drop off AIMS at bill's. F 07/20/92 16:15 golf at the club F Contact Appointments The appointment scheduler for individual contacts operates the same way as the general scheduler. The primary difference is that the appointments are scheduled for specific contacts. The scheduler is accessed from the main contact browse via Alt-A, or by selecting Programs - Contact Appointments from the main menu. When the general scheduler is called the appointments created for individual contacts are displayed along with all the other appointments. However, if the scheduler is called for an individual contact then only the appointments created for that contact will be displayed. ┌─┤ Contact Manager ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤ 09:32:51 ├┐ │ │ │ Company.: Vansco Electronics Ltd. 92000 <Company> │ │ Address.: 1305 Clarence Avenue │ │ : Winnipeg, MB, R3T 1T4 Rec Mail: No │ │ Company.: Vansco Electronics Ltd. Position: │ │ Contacts - First: 06/26/92 Last: None Next: None │ │ Bus : (204) 452-6776 │ [Locate.: Off] [References: On ] │ ┌─┤ Appointments with: Vansco Electronics Ltd. ├──────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Scheduled Appointments for: Tuesday July 21, 1992 │ │ │ │ Time Dur. Description Done Alarm? │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│ │ 2:00p │ 10m │ pick up hardware specs for network │ F │ │ │ │ │ │ ▓ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ │ │ │ │ ░ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Task Manager The Task Manager is a simple pop-up to do list. It allows you to easily keep track of all the important things you must do. You can create tasks, edit tasks, delete tasks, mark tasks as done and print a list of all your tasks, complete with boxes to mark them off as you complete them. ┌─┤ Task Manager ├───────────────────────────────────┐ │ √ │ This is the First Task │ √ │ Do this between the first to tasks ▓ │ │ This is the Second Task ░ │ ── End of List ── ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The task manager appears as a box in the upper right hand corner of the screen. The task manager is accessed from any part of the program using the [F7] key or by selecting the Task Manager under Programs on the main menu. Pressing the [Esc] key will exit you from the task manager and return you to what you were working on previously. Inserting a Task To insert a task, press the [Insert] key. The new task is inserted above the task you are currently on. A flashing cursor will appear and you can type in your task. ┌─┤ Task Manager ├───────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ Do this task before the first one. │ √ │ This is the First Task ▓ │ √ │ Do this between the first to tasks ░ │ │ This is the Second Task ░ │ ── End of List ── ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When you have entered the task in, press the [Enter] key. Your task will now be saved. Editing a Task If you wish to change the description of a task, press the [Enter] key on that task and you will be given the flashing cursor. You can then change the description of the task to what you want. Marking a Task as Done To mark a task as done, move the highlight bar over the task and press the [Space] key. A check mark will appear beside the task signifying that it is done. Of course, the marking need not mean that it is done, it could mean anything you want it to mean. It has no effect on how the computer handles the information. For example, it could mean tasks you have to do today or important tasks that MUST be done. Deleting a Task If you wish to delete a task from the task manager list, move the highlight bar over the task and press the [Delete] key. The system will then delete the task, no questions asked. Because the system will not automatically delete any tasks, you must remove old tasks yourself. You are limited to 1024 tasks, so you have to make sure that you eventually delete some of the tasks. Printing a Task List If you require a hard copy of your task list, you can press the Alt-P keys to print the list. You will be prompted for a destination and you can select the printer or a file. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ John Doe - Acme Binocular Company │ │ │ │ 20-Jul-92 To Do List 10:36:41 │ │-----------------------------------------------------------------------│ │ ┌──┐ │ │ │ │ 1. Do this task before the first one. │ │ └──┘ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ │XX│ 2. This is the First Task │ │ └──┘ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ │ │ 3. This is the Second Task │ │ └──┘ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ │ │ 4. __________________________________________________ │ │ └──┘ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ │ │ 5.__________________________________________________ │ │ └──┘ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Journal The personal journal is a simple tool used to keep dated notes about anything you feel is important. The journal entries are ordered in the order you add them. You can access the journal from the Programs - Journal option in the menu or by pressing the Alt-J keys. The journal list will show you the date of the entry followed by part of the first line of the entry. You can move through the list of entries with the up, down, PageUp and PageDown keys. ┌─┤ Personal Journal ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │[ 08/03/92: It was a dark and stormy night... ] │ 08/04/92: Sunny day, didn't feel like working, wanted to sleep ▓ │ 08/05/92: I met with John from Info Services and talked about the ░ │ 08/06/92: John phoned back with the results from the market survey ░ │ 08/07/92: Bob from the marketing agency phoned about possible ideas ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Adding a Journal Entry To add an entry to your journal, press the [Insert] key and you will be given a text box to edit your entry. The entry screen is similar to the document entry screen. (For more information on editing documents, see the Word Processing section.) ┌─┤ Note: 08/07/92 ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │You can add as many journal entries as you want for one day but │ │you are limited to a maximum of 64K for all of your entries. It │ │is recommended that you remove journal entries that are old or │ │print them and keep a hard copy of them only. This will prevent │ │the system from getting overcrowded with journal entries. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When you have written your journal entry, you can press [Esc] key to exit. You will be asked if you wish to save changes to this entry. If you want the entry saved, select [Yes], otherwise select [No] or press the [Esc] key to cancel. Editing a Journal Entry To edit a journal entry that has already been entered, you would move the highlight bar over that entry and press the [Enter] key. You would then be given the edit screen where you could make any changes to the entry that you wish. When you have finished editing the journal entry, press the [Esc] key. You will be asked if you wish to save the changes. Select [Yes] if you wish your changes saved, and [No] if you do not want to update the journal entry. Deleting a Journal Entry To delete a journal entry, move the highlight bar over the entry and press the [Delete] key. An option box will appear and ask you if you really wish to delete this journal entry. If you do then select [Yes], otherwise select [No]. Printing a Journal Entry If you wish to print a hard copy of a certain journal entry, you can do so by pressing the Alt-P keys. You will then be prompted for the destination to print the journal entry. ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Output Destination │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ [Printer] File Abort │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────┘ Choose the location you want by moving the highlight bar over your choice and pressing the [Enter] key. The journal entry will then be printed and you will be returned to the journal entry list. Utilities There are several utilities that have been provided with the contact management system to assist you in maintaining and manipulating your data. Users [Network and Multiuser Non-Network Versions Only] The users section is provided as a method for a supervisor to control the users allowed onto the system. There are three user functions, Create User, Update User and Delete User. Create User To create a new user, you would select Utilities - Users - Create from the menu. You would then be given the Create User screen. ┌─┤ Create User ├─────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Username..: │ │ Password..: │ │ Last Name.: │ │ First Name: │ │ Company...: │ │ Position..: │ │ Closing...: │ │ Printer...: │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The username you enter for the contact must be unique, meaning that it cannot be the same as any other username in the system. Note that usernames are not case sensitive, so 'JOHN' is the same as 'John'. If you enter an invalid username, the system will not let you go to the next field. Once you have entered a valid username for the user, you may enter in the rest of the information. To select a printer, type the name of the printer you wish to select, or press the [Enter] key and a list of available printers will appear. Note that you must enter the name of a valid printer from the printer file. The printer file is a dBASE III+ (tm) compatible database file of printers and control codes. If your printer is not listed and does not support either the Epson or HP printer commands, then contact Adeptus for an updated version of the printer database. Update User If you wish to modify a user on the system, choose Utilities - Users - Update from the menu in the contact browse screen. You will be prompted to enter a username. ┌─┤ Update User ├─────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Username..: JOHND │ │ Password..: GOOD254 │ │ Last Name.: Demplemyer │ │ First Name: John │ │ Company...: Acme Insurance Corporation │ │ Position..: Vice-President, Human Resources │ │ Closing...: Sincerely, │ │ Printer...: Epson Action Laser II │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Enter the username for the user. If the user exists, the information for the user will be displayed and the cursor will be positioned on the password field. You can change the information in the fields to anything you want. To change the printer type for a user, type in the new name of the printer or blank the field. You can blank the field by pressing the Ctrl-Y keys while the cursor is at the beginning of the field or by using the [Delete] key. When the field is blank, press the [Enter] key and you will be shown a list of printers. Select the printer you want to attach to the user and press the [Enter] key. When you are finished editing this user, press the [Esc] key. You will be given an option box asking you if you wish to save the changes to this user. If you wish to save changes, select 'Yes', otherwise, select 'No' or press the [Esc] key. Deleting a User If a user will no longer be using the system or there was a mistake in creating a user, you can delete that user by using the Utilities - Users - Delete option from the contact menu. ┌─┤ Delete User ├─────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Username..: JOHND │ │ Password..: XXXXXXXXXX │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Enter the username of the user you wish to delete and press the [Enter] key. If the username exists, you will immediately be given an option box asking you if you really wish to delete this user. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Do you wish to DELETE this user? │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ Yes No │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you wish to delete the user, select the 'Yes' option, otherwise select the 'No' option or press the [Esc] key to cancel. Note: Users cannot be restored. Settings A normal user does not have access to the users menu, so they cannot change the user settings from there. This function is provided so that users can change their own personal information. To select the settings function, use the Utilities - Settings option from the contact menu. You will be given the user settings screen. ┌─┤ Change Settings ├─────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Username..: JOHND │ │ Password..: GOOD254 │ │ Last Name.: Demplemyer │ │ First Name: John │ │ Company...: Acme Insurance Corporation │ │ Position..: Vice-President, Human Resources │ │ Closing...: Sincerely, │ │ Printer...: Epson Action Laser II │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Network and Multiuser Settings Screen ┌─┤ Change Settings ├─────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Last Name.: Demplemyer │ │ First Name: John │ │ Company...: Acme Insurance Corporation │ │ Position..: Vice-President, Human Resources │ │ Closing...: Sincerely, │ │ Printer...: Epson Action Laser II │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Single User Settings Screen If you are using a network version or a non-network multiuser version, you will be able to change your user password as well as all your personal information and printer type. When you have finished changing your user setting, you can press the [Esc] key and you will be given an option box. Select the option you want and you will be returned to the contact browse. Calculator The Calculator is provided as a tool to help solve some of the most advanced mathematical problems. You can select the calculator from the Utilities - Calculator option on the contact menu. While the calculator does not look like a calculator, it provides all the necessary features while adding a few little extras. ┌─┤ Calculator ├─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Equation -> │ │ Result -> │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The calculator allows you to enter an equation in a vertical format and it will evaluate it when you press [Enter]. To perform a simple addition, enter the numbers, separated by '+' signs and it will give you the answer. For example, to add 56,127,942.56 and 12.23 together, you would type the following 56+127+942.56+12.23 and press the [Enter] key. Your result would be displayed in the result field. ┌─┤ Calculator ├─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Equation -> 56+127+942.56+12.23 │ │ Result -> 1137.79 │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can perform the following mathematical operations: + Addition - Subtraction * Multiplication / Division % Modulus ** or ^ Exponentiation You may also use relational operators to produce True and False answers: < Less then > Greater Than = Equal <> Not Equal <= Less than or equal >= Greater than or equal $ Is contained in the set or is a subset of You may also use the following logical operators: .and. Logical and .or. Logical or .not. Logical not You may also use the following functions in your calculator: abs( x ) Absolute value of x exp( x ) Calculate e to the power of x if( a,x,y ) if a is true then x otherwise y int( x ) Return the Integer portion of x len( s ) Length of the string s log( x ) The natural logarithm of x max( a,b ) The larger of a or b min( a,b ) The smaller of a or b round( x,y ) Round the value x to y decimal places sqrt( x ) The square root of x You may combine the above operators and functions to produce some complex calculations. For example, to out find out if 3^2 > 2^3 you would type in the following: ┌─┤ Calculator ├─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Equation -> 3^2 > 2^3 │ │ Result -> TRUE │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ To use the 'if' function, you would do the following: ┌─┤ Calculator ├─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Equation -> 25950 * if( 3000 > 5^5,1,10 ) │ │ Result -> 259500.00 │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The above equation would check to see if 3000 > 5^5 (3125) which is false so it will multiply by the second value or false operand which is 10, giving you the value 259500.00. Messaging [Novell Network Only] If you are running on a Novell Network, a messaging system is available to allow you to send messages to another user without leaving the contact management system. To send a message, select the Utilities - Messaging option from the contact menu. ┌─┤ Send Message ├────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Username: RALPHP │ │ Message.: Hi Ralph, is it lunch time yet? │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You are prompted for the name of the user to whom you wish to send a message. The program does not check to see if the user is on the system or even if they exist. You then may enter a message up to 50 characters long. Pressing the [Enter] key after the message will automatically send the message. AutoDialer If you have a modem attached to your computer and you have setup your com port in the settings sections to the port that contains your modem, you can use the autodialer function in the contact manager. The autodialer will put touch-tone signals through your modem so that you do not have to manually dial. Remember, the phone must be hooked up to the modem jack along with the phone line. Using the AutoDialer First of all, you want to move the highlight bar over the contact to whom you wish to place the call. Once you are on the contact you wish to dial, press the [F8] key or select Utilities - Dialer from the main menu. The Autodialer screen will appear showing you the name of the contact and the three phone numbers. ┌─┤ AutoDialer ├──────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Name : Acme Explosive Inc. │ │ │ │ Bus. : (204) 737-5566 (1245) │ │ Fax. : (204) 737-5567 │ │ : ( ) - │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ A Highlight will appear over the first phone number. You can use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight bar over the phone number you to dial. You will then be asked if the number is Local or Long Distance. ┌─┤ AutoDialer ├──────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Name : Acme Explosive Inc. │ │ │ │ Bus. : (204) 737-5566 (1245) │ │ Fax. : (204) 737-5567 │ │ : ( ) - │ │ │ │ [ Local ] Long Distance │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Use the right and left arrow keys to highlight your choice and the [Enter] key to select it. A message will appear telling you the system is trying to dial the contact. The modem will then dial the contact and their phone should start ringing. When their phone begins to ring, you can pick up your phone and press any key on the keyboard telling the modem to release control. ┌─┤ AutoDialer ├──────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Name : Acme Explosive Inc. │ │ │ │ │ │ Dialing...Press any key to Disconnect Modem. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ After the modem disconnects, the program will return to the contact browse screen. Import/Export Contact Records Import Records If you wish to import records into the contact management system, you can do so by using the Utilities - Import/Export - Import option from the contact menu. The file layout for the contact database is given below. Field Type Len Dec Remarks ------------------------------------------------------------------------ C_NO N 5 0 Leave as 0, System Generated C_LNAME C 20 0 C_FNAME C 15 0 C_TITLE C 4 0 Mr. Mrs. Miss, etc... C_COMPANY C 30 0 C_POSITION C 30 0 C_ADDR C 30 0 C_CITY C 30 0 C_PROV C 2 0 C_POST C 7 0 C_PHD1 C 5 0 Bus, Fax, Res, etc C_PH1 C 22 0 (###) ###-####XXXXXX C_PHD2 C 5 0 Bus, Fax, Res, etc C_PH2 C 22 0 (###) ###-####XXXXXX C_PHD3 C 5 0 Bus, Fax, Res, etc C_PH3 C 22 0 (###) ###-####XXXXXX C_SALUTE C 15 0 C_INFO M 0 0 Leave Blank - "" C_CONTACTS M 0 0 Leave Blank - "" C_NOTES M 0 0 Leave Blank - "" C_VIEW L 1 0 Should be .T. C_TYPE N 2 0 1 - Company 2 - Individual C_REF C 20 0 C_REFNO N 5 0 Should be 0 C_MAIL L 1 0 T or F (True or False) C_REFBY C 30 0 C_CFIRST D 8 0 C_CLAST D 8 0 C_CNEXT D 8 0 C_RESULTS C 50 0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Data Types and their Format Character "character string" Numeric 123.5 Logical T or F Memo "" Date YYYYMMDD Example Import Format (This is not a Contact Manager Record) "John Doe",123.5,T,"",19920505,"My Address Maybe".... When you select the import function, you will be asked to supply a filename to import from. Select the directory and file you wish to import from and press the [Enter] key. The system will attempt to import the file. If all the fields are defined properly, the record will be added. If the fields in the import file are incorrect, the records may be only partially added or not added at all. Fields with type 'M' are memo fields. These should be left blank (as "") because they are used to store specialized information. All contacts must be entered as either company or individual, references can not be imported although they may be created after. Current - Export Current Record If you wish to export the current record, you can use the Utilities - Import/Export - Current option from the contact menu. You will be prompted for a filename to write the exported record. Type in the filename and press the [Enter] key. The current record (the record the highlight bar is on) will be exported to the filename you specified in ASCII delimited format. Selected - Export Selected Records This function will allow you to export all the selected records to a file in ASCII delimited format. To select this option, use the Utilities - Import/Export - Selected from the contact menu. You will be prompted for a filename. Type in the filename and press [Enter]. The selected records will be exported to the file. (For more information on Selecting Records, see the Selecting Record section of the manual.) All - Export All Records Should you wish to export all of the records to an ASCII file, the Utilities - Import/Export - All option can be used. When prompted, enter the filename you wish to export the records to and press the [Enter] key. The records will be exported in ASCII delimited format. Other Information Perhaps the most important aspect of a contact management system is the ability to store the information that you want to store, not information we think you might want to store. Every business is unique in the contacts it has and the way it handles them. The other information field of a contact is a series of category - element pairs, both of which are definable by you. Categories and Elements You may be wondering at this point at what is meant by category - element pairs. Well a category is a information 'topic' and an element is one of a number of possible matches for each 'topic'. For example, if you wanted to keep track of the payment terms of a contact, you would create a category called 'Payment Terms' and a series of elements 'C.O.D', 'Net 10 Days', 'Net 15 Days' and 'Net 30 Days'. Because of the definable nature of the other information field, you can keep any number of categories and any number of elements for each category. Changing Other Information The other information categories and elements can be changed in two locations, from the Utilities - Other Information option in the contact menu or directly from any contact's other information screen. The Add, Change and Delete functions work the same from both locations. Categories The Category Browse Screen The category browse screen allows you to scroll through the list of categories that you have defined. Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight bar. ┌─┤ JOHND: Contact Manager ├───────────────────────────────────┤ 08:54:43 ├┐ │ │ ┌─┤ Update Contact ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ Company...: Acme Explosive Inc. Company No: ACM001 │ │ │ │ │ │ Address...: 234-1234 Main Street E. │ │ │ City......: Winnipeg │ │ │ Province..: MB Postal Code..: R3T 5T5 │ │ │ Contacts - First: 07/21/92 Last: 07/10/92 Next: 01/01/93 │ │ │ │──┤ │ Phone Numbers: │ │ │ [Bus. ]: (204) 737-5566 (1245) Other Information: ***** │──│ │ [Fax. ]: (204) 737-5567 Contacts.........: ***** │ ┌─┌─┤ Select Category ├───────────┐─────────────────────────────────────┐ ▓ │ │ │ ░ │ │ Customer Type ▓ ░ │ │ Job Type ▓ ░ ░ │ │ Payment Terms ░ ░ ░ │ │ ░ ░ ░ │ │ ░ ░ ░ │ │ ░ ░ └─│ ─────────────────────────────────────┘ └─└───────────────────────────────┘────────────────────────────────────────┘ The Category Browse Screen from Contact Update. ┌─┤ JOHND: Contact Manager ├───────────────────────────────────┤ 08:59:36 ├┐ │ │ │ Company.: Acme Explosive Inc. ACM001 <Company> │ │ Address.: 234-1234 Main Street E. │ │ ┌─┤ Other Information ├──────────┐ Rec Mail: No │ │ │ │ Position: │ │ │[Customer Type ]t: 07/10/92 Next: 01/01/93 │ │ │ Job Type ▓ [Locate.: Off] [References: On ] │ │ │ Payment Terms ░ [Matched: 9] [Deleted...: Off] │ │ │ ░ [Total Number of Contacts: 9] │ ├─│ ░───────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ ░ │ │─│ ░───────────────────────────────────────│ │ │ ░ │ ACM001 │ │ ░ │ General Manager ▓ │ │ ░ │ Accountant ░ │ │ ░ │ Biotech Industries ░ │ │ │ JOHN001 ░ │ │ │ │ President ░ │ └────────────────────────────────┘ │ Secretary ░ │ │ Schlack, Jacques │ Jacques Bistro de Jour ░ │ │ Smith, Helga │ Granny Smith's Fried Chicken ░ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The Category Browse screen from the Utilities - Other Information Menu Adding a New Category If you wish to add a new category in the other information field, you can do so by pressing the [Insert] key. This will bring up a screen with category and element fields. When you create a new category, you must create one corresponding element. More elements can be added to the category later. ┌─┤ Insert Category ├────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Category.: ______________________________ │ │ Element..: ________________________________________ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You are prompted for the name of a category. Type in the name of the category you wish to enter and press the [Enter] key. You will then be prompted for an element you wish to have for that category. ┌─┤ Insert Category ├────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Category.: Credit Rating_________________ │ │ Element..: ________________________________________ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Enter the name of one of the elements you are going to attach to this category. The order in which the elements are added will not matter, they will be placed in alphabetical order later. When you have typed in the element, press the [Enter] key. ┌─┤ Insert Category ├────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Category.: Credit Rating │ │ Element..: Excellent_______________________________ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you change your mind or make a mistake entering the category and element, you can press the [Esc] key and you will be returned to the category browse screen. If you did create the new category, your category will appear in the browse. ┌─┤ Other Information ├──────────┐ │ │ │[Customer Type ] │ Credit Rating ▓ │ Job Type ░ │ Payment Terms ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ ░ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────┘ Editing a Category If you decide to change the name of a category, you can do so by pressing the [Space] key from the category browse screen. First, select the category you wish to edit by moving the highlight bar over that category and pressing the [Space] key. You will be given a small pop-up window asking you to change the name of the category. Edit the field like any other and press the [Enter] key once you are finished. ┌─┤ Edit Category ├──────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Category.: Credit Rating_________________ │ │ Element..: 1 - Excellent │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You have to be careful when changing the name of a category. The system will not change any of the contact information, so if that category is used by a contact, it's description will not be changed. When a category is edited, the system will also present the first element for editing. If you do not wish to change this element, simply press the [Enter] key over the element field, without typing in changes. Once again, if you do not wish to save any changes, you may press the [Esc] key to cancel and return to the category browse screen. Deleting a Category As your contacts change and your business changes, you may find that certain categories no longer apply or are no longer of any use to you. You may delete these categories using the [Delete] key. This function will remove the category and all the elements from the category. It will also scan through the contact database looking for this category. Any occurrences of this category will be removed from the other information field of the contact. If you have changed the description for this category at any time without updating the individual contacts, then the delete will not remove this information. When you press the [Delete] key, an option box will appear asking you whether or not you really wish to delete this category. If you do, select 'Yes', if not select 'No' or press the [Esc] key to cancel. ┌─┤ Other Information ├──────────┐ │ │ │ Customer Type ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │ Job Type │ ┌───┐ │ │[Payment Terms] │ │ ? │ Delete this Category? │ │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ [ Yes ] No │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────────────┘ Elements The Element Browse Screen The element browse screen is quite similar to the category browse screen. The element browse screen allows you to scroll through the list of elements for a particular category, insert new elements, edit existing elements and delete old elements. ┌─┤ JOHND: Contact Manager ├───────────────────────────────────┤ 08:54:44 ├┐ │ │ ┌─┤ Update Contact ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ Company...: Acme Explosive Inc. Company No: ACM001 │ │ │ │ │ │ Address...: 234-1234 Main Street E. │ │ │ City......: Winnipeg │ │ │ Province..: MB Postal Code..: R3T 5T5 │ │ │ Contacts - First: 07/21/92 Last: 07/10/92 Next: 01/01/93 │ │ │ │──┤ │ Phone Numbers: │ │ │ [Bus. ]: (204) 737-5566 (1245) Other Information: ***** │──│ │ [Fax. ]: (204) 737-5567 Contacts.........: ***** │ ┌─┌─┤ Select Category ├────────────┐┌─┤ Select Element ├─────────────────┐ ▓ │ │ ││ │ ░ │ │ Customer Type │1 - Excellent ░ │ │ Job Type ░│2 - Good ▓ ░ │ │ Payment Terms ░│3 - Above Average ░ ░ │ │[Credit Rating ]░│4 - Satisfactory ░ ░ │ │ ░│5 - Poor ░ ░ │ │ ▓│ ░ ░ └─│ │ └─└────────────────────────────────┘└────────────────────────────────────┘─┘ The Element Browse Screen from Contact Update. ┌─┤ JOHND: Contact Manager ├───────────────────────────────────┤ 08:59:06 ├┐ │ │ │ Company.: Acme Explosive Inc. ACM001 <Company> │ │ Address.: 234-1234 Main Street E. │ │ ┌─┤ Other Information ├──────────┐┌─┤ Information Elements ├───────────┐ │ │ │ ││ │ │ │ │ Customer Type │1 - Excellent │ │ │ Job Type ░│2 - Good ▓ │ │ │ Payment Terms ░│3 - Above Average ░ │ │ │ Credit Rating ░│4 - Satisfactory ░ │ ├─│ ░│5 - Poor ░─┤ │ │ ░│ ░ │ │─│ ░│ ░─│ │ │ ░│ ░ │ │ ░│ ░ ▓ │ │ ░│ ░ ░ │ │ ▓│ ░ ░ │ │ │ ░ │ │ ││ │ ░ │ └────────────────────────────────┘└────────────────────────────────────┘ ░ │ │ Schlack, Jacques │ Jacques Bistro de Jour ░ │ │ Smith, Helga │ Granny Smith's Fried Chicken ░ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The Element Browse screen from the Utilities - Other Information Menu Adding a New Element Once you have created a category, you can add unlimited elements to that category. You can insert a new element by pressing the [Insert] key. A screen with the name of the category will appear and you will be prompted for the name of the new element. ┌─┤ Insert Element ├─────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Category.: Credit Rating │ │ Element..: ________________________________________ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Type in the name of the Element you wish to add and press the [Enter] key. ┌─┤ Insert Element ├─────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Category.: Credit Rating │ │ Element..: 6 - Horrible____________________________ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Once you have entered the new element, the list will be updated and placed in alphabetical order. If you do not want the list sorted in alphabetical order, you can precede the element with a number or some character that will order the database, as was done above for the credit rating. Editing an Element Editing an element allows you to change the description of an element without having to delete the old one and create a new one. To edit an element, position the highlight bar over the element you wish to edit and press the [Space] key. ┌─┤ Select Category ├────────────┐┌─┤ Select Element ├─────────────┐ │ ││ │ │ Customer Type │[1 - Excellent ] │ Job Type ░│ 2 - Good ▓ │ Payment Terms ░│ 3 - Above Average ░ │[Credit Rating ]░│ 4 - Satisfactory ░ │ ░│ 5 - Poor ░ │ ▓│ ░ │ │ └────────────────────────────────┘└────────────────────────────────┘ You will then be given a screen with the category name and the current element description. You can edit the element description to what you want and when done, press the [Enter] key. ┌─┤ Edit Element ├───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Category.: Credit Rating │ │ Element..: 1 - Excellent___________________________ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You may want to change the description '1 - Excellent' to '1 - Very Good'. Use the right arrow key to move the cursor over to the E in excellent and type 'Very Good'. ┌─┤ Edit Element ├───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Category.: Credit Rating │ │ Element..: 1 - Very Good___________________________ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you press the [Enter] key, your changes will be saved and the description will now read '1 - Very Good'. ┌─┤ Select Category ├────────────┐┌─┤ Select Element ├─────────────┐ │ ││ │ │ Customer Type │[1 - Very Good ] │ Job Type ░│ 2 - Good ▓ │ Payment Terms ░│ 3 - Above Average ░ │[Credit Rating ]░│ 4 - Satisfactory ░ │ ░│ 5 - Poor ░ │ ▓│ ░ │ │ └────────────────────────────────┘└────────────────────────────────┘ To exit the element update without saving your changes, press the [Esc] key. Deleting an Element You may at some point in time wish to delete an element from a category. To do this, move the highlight bar over the element you wish to delete and press the [Delete] key. ┌────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ │ │ ? │ Delete this Element? │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ [ Yes ] No │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────┘ ┌─┤ Select Category ├────────────┐┌─┤ Select Element ├──────────────┐ │ ││ │ │ Customer Type │[1 - Very Good ] │ Job Type ░│ 2 - Good ▓ │ Payment Terms ░│ 3 - Above Average ░ │[Credit Rating ]░│ 4 - Satisfactory ░ │ ▓│ 5 - Poor ░ │ │ └────────────────────────────────┘└─────────────────────────────────┘ You will be prompted with an option box asking you if you really wish to delete this element. If you do, select 'Yes', otherwise select 'No' or press the [Esc] key to cancel. Deleting an element will cause the system to search through the contact database looking for any contacts that have this element. For all contacts that match this search, that element will be removed from the contact's other information field.