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Text File | 1988-08-02 | 24.1 KB | 612 lines

_C_v_t_F_o_n_ _2_._0a (written 02 Aug 88) CvtFon converts the phone directories of various modem programs from one format to another. It supports Boyan, GT Power 14.00/13.00/11.00/9.2/9.1/9.0/8.0/4.2/Pre-4.2, K9X 6.1+, PC-Talk III, PibTerm 4.0+/3.0, ProComm and ProComm Plus, Qmodem 2.2+/2.0/1.05, Telix 3.0/2.1, and Comma-Separated directory formats. The main idea of writing shareware is to let you use the program before you buy it. I hope this program facilitates trying out different programs without going through the hassle of typing in your phone directory all over again. CvtFon is also useful for using phone directory utilities for other programs (such as using QFonEdit to sort your ProComm directory), changing files to a text file format for printing or editing, exporting a directory to a database, and more... NNOOTTEE:: If you just want to know enough to get a phone directory converted, and don't want to wade thru a lot of complicated options, skip down to Basic, No Frills, Want-To-Get-It-Done Usage below. _S_y_n_t_a_x For those who can read it, here is a standard DOS syntax diagram (just like in the manual). [Brackets] around an item mean that it is optional. Ellipses (...) mean you can use repeat that item more than once. CvtFon [?] [path][input file][=type[version]] [+[path][input file][=type[version]]]... [path][output file][=type[version]] [/PARAMETERS:speed[-parity[-data bits[-stop bits]]]] [/ECHO:echo] [/PROTOCOL:file transfer protocol] [/TERMINAL:term type] [/MAXSPEED:maximum speed] [/SORT[:field]] [/WIPE[:field]] [/KEEP] [/CHOOSE] [/INCLUDE:include string]... [/EXCLUDE:exclude string]... [/PREFIX:prefix[-digits]] [/SUFFIX:suffix[-digits]] [/DEFIX:affix] Whew! No one expects you to remember all that. CvtFon will display the syntax diagram for you if you type "CVTFON ?". All those /OPTIONS are explained in the section titled Options below. I suggest that instead of trying to read the whole thing, you read the other sections and just refer to that one when you want to know how a particular option works. I'll assume a basic familiarity with basic DOS concepts like paths and subdirectories. If those concepts are foreign to you, DOS has a manual of its own, and many books are written on understanding DOS. (This isn't a professional manual. If you can't make head or tail out of it, or find someone who can, my address is below.) _I_n_p_u_t_ _a_n_d_ _O_u_t_p_u_t_ _F_i_l_e_s CvtFon can read more than one input file. Just type + before every input file name after the first. If the output directory has a fixed size (like a Qmodem directory always contains 200 entries), CvtFon will insure that the directory contains the proper number of entries. For example, CvtFon would only write the first 200 phone numbers to a Qmodem directory, or add blank entries on the end if there were less than 200. *** Basic, No-Frills, Want-To-Get-It-Done Usage ****** Basic, No-Frills, Want-To-Get-It-Done Usage *** The simplest way to use CvtFon is to tell it what files to use and what kind they are. You do this by specifing the full file name and directory type for every file. For example, to translate your Qmodem SST 3.0 QMODEM.FON directory to a PibTerm 4.1 PIBTERM.FON directory, you could type: CvtFon QMODEM.FON=QmodemSST3.0 PIBTERM.FON=PibTerm4.1 That is all you really need to know to convert a directory from one format to another. However, there are shortcuts if you know how to use them, and lots of options. You can skip these if you just want to get the darn thing translated already. Shortcut #1: How to specify a directory type with only part of the program name By no means do you actually have to type =GTPowerComm12.10 to specify a GT PowerComm 12.10 directory. =GT12.1 is enough for CvtFon to know what you mean. As a rule, you need only type just enough letters to distinguish it from any other program. Example: CvtFon only knows of one program beginning with Q, so =Q has the same effect as =QMODEM. However, =P could mean ProComm, ProComm Plus, PibTerm, or PC-Talk III. Two or three letters should be enough for any program except ProComm Plus, which requires =PROCOMMP to distinguish it from ProComm (OK, I got tired of typing it myself. So, allow me to document the undocumented synonym of =PCPLUS, making =PCP the LCD.). You may have noticed I dropped the version numbers in the last example. They usually aren't necessary. When you don't give CvtFon a version number, CvtFon assumes you mean the latest version it knows about. Example: =QMODEM or =Q means the Qmodem 2.2 (and later) format, but for a Qmodem 2.0 file you would have to type =QMODEM2.0 or just =Q2. Shortcut #2: How to let CvtFon figure out the directory type If you don't tell CvtFon what kind of directory a file is, CvtFon will try to figure out the directory type from the file size. This method only works for directories that are a fixed size (like a Qmodem directory, which is always 200 entries long). Some directory types don't have a fixed size (ex. GT Power), and even when they do, sometimes they'll have extra bytes tacked on the end. For instance, if you download a ProComm directory from a BBS with XMODEM, it might end up 4224 bytes long rather than 4150 because of bytes "padded" on in order to send it in even 128- byte bundles. You would have to append =PROCOMM to the input file name so that CvtFon would recognize it. If you give CvtFon an output file name but don't give it a directory type, CvtFon tries to determine the type of the directory if the file already exists. Shortcut #3: How to let CvtFon figure out the file name When a directory type is given without a file name, the default file name for that program's phone directory is used: Program Phone directory file name ------- ------------------------- Boyan BOYAN.FON Comma-Separated input file with .CSV extension GT Power(Comm) GT.DIR K9X K9X.P Qmodem QMODEM.FON PibTerm PIBTERM.FON PC-Talk PC-TALK.DIR ProComm PROCOMM.DIR ProComm Plus PCPLUS.DIR Telix TELIX.FON For example, CVTFON =QMODEM =BOYAN converts QMODEM.FON to BOYAN.FON. If the file name ends in ':' or '\', CvtFon uses it as a path, and appends the default file name for that directory type. For example, CVTFON \QMODEM\=QMODEM \BOYAN\=BOYAN would convert \QMODEM\QMODEM.FON to \BOYAN\BOYAN.FON. Example: CVTFON PC-TALK.FON=PC-TALK +\QMODEM\=QMODEM2.0 +=PRO FONDIRS.TXT=PIB will read a PC-Talk III directory named PC-TALK.FON, a Qmodem 2.0 directory named \QMODEM\QMODEM.FON, and a ProComm directory named PROCOMM.DIR, then write all the entries to a PibTerm text-file phone directory named FONDIRS.TXT. _E_x_a_m_p_l_e_s Here's an example or two to illustrate the use of CvtFon, taking advantage of the shortcuts listed above. You have the ancient DIALER program (a memory-resident background auto-dialer) on a Qmodem 1.13 disk, and you want to convert your Qmodem 2.2 directory to a Qmodem 1.13 directory for DIALER. You could enter CVTFON =QM =QM1.13. Or, you simply want to update your GT PowerComm 9.0 directory to a GT PowerComm 13.00 directory. CVTFON =GT9 =GT would be sufficient. _O_p_t_i_o_n_s Proceed at your own risk. There are too many to memorize in one sitting, so please, feel free to skip this secton and just refer to it later when you want to know about a particular switch. If you can't remember what the switch was called, you can type CVTFON ? for a reminder. Help (?, /? or /HELP) Display a brief help message. The same message is displayed when CVTFON is typed alone without any parameters. Default Parameters (/PARAMETERS:speed[-parity[-data[-stop]]]) Default Echo (/ECHO:echo) When blank entries are written, the parameters and echo are set to defaults. The defaults used are 1200 bps, no parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit, and no echo, but you can specify different defaults with these parameters. Example: CVTFON PC-TALK.DIR=PCTALK3 QFONEDIT.BAQ=QMODEM2.2 /ECHO:YES /PARAMETERS:300-EVEN-7 would read PC-TALK.DIR and write the entries to a Qmodem 2.2+ phone directory named QFONEDIT.BAQ. Since a PC-Talk III directory holds at most 60 numbers, and a Qmodem directory always contains 200 entries, at least 140 blank entries will be written. These entries will be written with parameters of 300 baud, even parity, 7 data bits, 1 stop bit, and echo on. Default File Transfer Protocol (/PROTOCOL:transfer protocol) Some programs have a default file transfer protocol field. CvtFon normally sets this field to "none" when writing blank entries in this format, but you can specify another with this switch. CvtFon uses PibTerm's two-letter protocol abbreviations internally, with a few additions. Abbrev. Protocol ------- -------- XK XMODEM Checksum XC XMODEM CRC X1 XMODEM/1K (called "YMODEM" by GT Power, Qmodem) M7 MODEM7 (a weird XMODEM Batch) TE Telink (a less weird XMODEM Batch) T1 Telink/1K (a GT Power exclusive, basically XMODEM/1K Batch) YM YMODEM (often XMODEM/1K in disguise) YB YMODEM Batch (True YMODEM, often called "YMODEM Batch" by programs that call XMODEM/1K "YMODEM") YG YMODEM/G SL SEAlink ML Megalink ZM ZMODEM KE Kermit WX WXMODEM CB CIS B IM Internal modem protocol Default Terminal Type (/TERMINAL:term type) Some programs have a field for a terminal type to emulate. CvtFon normally sets this field to "none" when writing blank entries in this format, but you can specify another with this switch. CvtFon uses three-letter terminal abbreviations internally, of my own design. Abbrev. Protocol ------- -------- TTY TTY V52 VT52 V10 VT100 V12 VT102 ANS ANSI (used by many BBS systems) AVT AVATAR (used by Opus BBS) IBM IBM 3101 327 3270 H19 Heath/19 AVP ADDS Viewpoint AD3 ADM 3a AD5 ADM 5 TEK TekTronics 4010 T91 Televideo 910 T92 Televideo 920 T93 Televideo 925 T95 Televideo 950 T96 Televideo 955 WY5 WYSE 50 WY1 WYSE 100 And for PibTerm: GSP Gossip (split-screen) mode HST Host mode Maximum speed (/MAXSPEED:maximum speed) Any speeds above the limit you specify will automatically be reduced to the speed limit. If you have a 9600-baud modem at work, and a 1200-baud modem at home, you could use this option to change all the 2400, 4800, and 9600 baud entries into 1200 baud ones. You could use a batch file to automatically convert the directory, then replace it with the original, like this one for DOS 3.x: if "%PLACE%"=="OFFICE" goto :COMM if not "%PLACE%"=="HOME" goto :NOPLACE copy QMODEM.FON QMODEM.BAQ CvtFon QMODEM.BAQ =QMODEM /MAX:1200 if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto :END :COMM Qmodem if not exist QMODEM.BAQ goto :END copy QMODEM.BAQ QMODEM.FON del QMODEM.BAQ goto :END :NOPLACE echo Please SET PLACE equal to HOME or OFFICE. :END Sort (/SORT[:sort field]) Sort entries by name, or any other field you specify. In name sorting, if the first word is 'the', it is skipped. You can sort on NAME, PHOME number, SPEED, PARITY, DATA bits, STOP bits, ECHO, SCRIPT, PROTOCOL, TERMINAL type, number of CALLS, DATE of last call, TIME of last call, PASSWORD, or HOURS. (I'm sure you've always wanted a program that could sort your phone directory by Echo on or off...) In addition, there are two pseudo-fields, AREA code and EXCHANGE. These apply to AT&T phone numbers, international dialing and other phone number formats probably wouldn't work. They both ignore any punctuation. For example, "1 201 463 0001", "(201)463-0001" would both return 201 as the area code and 463 as the exchange. Letters in this field are translated into digits, AT&T style. Wipe (/WIPE[:field]) Erase the contents of a particular field in conversion. If you don't specify a field, it assumes you mean passwords. See /SORT above for a list of valid field names. For every entry, the field is blanked or set to the default for fields that you can give defaults for. Wiping the password would leave blank passwords for every entry, but wiping the speed would set it to the default speed. For example, you're giving someone a copy of your phone directory, and you want to erase all the passwords, scripts, and last call dates for her. You might use /WIPE /WIPE:SCRIPT /WIPE:DATE to clear those fields. Or, you just got a 2400 baud modem that "cycles down" to the correct baud rate when it connects. You want to set the speed on all the entries to 2400, and let the modem choose the fastest speed possible for each number. You could use /PARAM:2400 /WIPE:SPEED. Include (/INCLUDE:search string) Include only entries containing a particular string in the name or phone number fields in the output file. You can get very specific by selecting more than one. Exclude (/EXCLUDE:search string) Exclude all entries containing a particular string in the name or phone number fields from the output file. You can get very specific by selecting more than one. Prefix (/PREFIX:prefix[-digits]) Tacks on a prefix. If you specify a number of digits, the prefix will only be attached to phone numbers with that number of digits. Useful for adding a prefix to long- distance numbers. Only the last dash is used to separate the number of digits, any others are assumed to be part of the prefix. Example: I'm in California and want to call BBS's back home, only to find that all the northern Jersey numbers in my Qmodem directory don't have an area code attached. I'm in the directory containing Qmodem, and I don't feel like typing more than I need to, so I enter CVTFON =Q =Q /PRE:(201)-7 to attach the area code to only the 7-digit phone numbers (the ones without area codes attached). Suffix (/SUFFIX:suffix[-digits]) Like /PREFIX, but tacks on a suffix, instead. Example: You're converting your Qmodem phone directory, in the \COMM\QMODEM subdirectory on your hard disk, into a Boyan directory, in the \COMM\BOYAN directory on your hard disk. You want to use the ! macro to dial Sprint and wait for it to answer, and the @ macro to send the access code after the phone number. In Boyan, you do that by putting \! before and \@ after the phone number in the phone directory. You might enter: CVTFON \COMM\QMODEM\QMODEM.FON=QMODEM \COMM\BOYAN\BOYAN.FON=BOYAN /PREFIX:\!-10 /SUFFIX:\@-10 Delete Affix (/DEFIX:affix) Deletes a prefix or a suffix. Example: You live in the 415 area code and you want to sort all your entries by area code. The local numbers don't have area codes attached in your phone directory, but you want them sorted as if they did. You could use /PREFIX:(415)-7 /SORT:AREA, then run CvtFon again with /DEFIX:(415), so that the entries in your area code would be positioned that way. Choose (/CHOOSE) Displays each entry on the screen and allows you to decide whether to write it to the output file or not. Keep Blanks (/KEEP) Reads blank entries (defined as those without meaningful phone numbers), so that deliberate spacing between entries will be preserved (to keep them on separate directory "pages" for example). Usually they are ignored when encountered, so that they are not written to the output file (which may or may not put them on the same "page"). Long Distance Strings (/PLUS, /MINUS, /AT, /POUND, and /BANG) ProComm uses the characters +, -, @, #, and ! for phone number affixes. PC-Talk III uses only + and -. ProComm Plus uses affixes lettered letters A-J (CvtFon treats A thru E like + thru !). They all store the strings attached to these macros in the phone directory. CvtFon will convert these properly. However, every time you convert from ProComm to Qmodem to ProComm again, you would lose them, since Qmodem saves the affixes in a separate file. So, CvtFon will let you specify values for these macros with the /PLUS, /MINUS, /AT, /OCTOTHORPE, and /EXCLAMATION parameters (/+, /@, /#, and /! are also acceptable, but /- is not). Example: You use the ! macro in ProComm to dial the Sprint long distance system, wait for it to answer, and send a 0 before the phone number, and the @ macro to follow it with your Sprint access code. You could use a batch file to convert your Qmodem directory to a ProComm directory, and write it with the same macros. The batch file would contain a line like: CVTFON QMODEM.FON=QMODEM PROCOMM.DIR=PROCOMM /!:1-800-877-8000,,,0 /@:12345678901234 _I_m_p_o_r_t_i_n_g_ _t_o_ _D_a_t_a_b_a_s_e_s_ _w_i_t_h_ _C_o_m_m_a_-_S_e_p_a_r_a_t_e_d_ _F_i_l_e_s Many database programs will read files in comma separated form, one entry to a line, each field separated by a comma, numbers left alone and everything else enclosed in "quotation marks". It's an easy format to write a program to read, too. Of course, a program needs to know what order the fields are in. CvtFon always reads and writes in this order: Name, Phone number, Speed, Parity, Data bits, Stop bits, Echo, Script, Protocol, Terminal type, number of Calls, Date of last call, Time of last call, Password, Hours. Most programs don't use one or more of these fields. CvtFon writes only the fields it has read, and any in between to preserve this order. For example, if none of the input files contain Echo, Calls, Date, Time, or Password fields, CvtFon would write the fields, by the order listed above, up to Protocol, using the default value for echo. Comma-separated input files should be in the same order. CvtFon will read them line by line, reading as many fields in the above order as it finds. _C_o_m_p_a_t_i_b_l_e_ _P_h_o_n_e_ _D_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_i_e_s Some communications programs use phone directory files that are compatible with those of existing programs, or require only slight modification. Here are a few: Canine Express (K9X) version 4.50 uses a 228-entry PibTerm-format phone directory named K9X.P. Some earlier versions were the same but without the last three columns- parity, data bits, and stop bits- since Canine is fixed (ouch!) at N-8-1. Various flavors of PC-Talk abound. CompuServe has one in particular that supports the B protocol and more than 60 entries. To allow for this, CvtFon will read as many entries as it finds, but can only write standard PC-Talk III files. The shareware program called Termulator was renamed to ProComm early on because of a commercial program with the same name. ProComm versions earlier than 2.3 do not allow scripts (called "command files" in ProComm) to be attached to directory entries. However, the directory structure is the same, since extra space was left for future expansion, only the file name, TERMULTR.DIR, is different. Lotus 1-2-3 can read comma-separated files if the lines end with a trailing comma and the .PRN extension is used. The .CSV files CvtFon writes can be made into .PRN files with little difficulty, and .PRN files may be read without modification. _E_r_r_o_r_s Most errors cause CvtFon to abort, display an error message, and return an ERRORLEVEL reflecting the kind of error encountered: 1 = User break 2 = DOS error 3 = I/O error 4 = Critical error 5 = Fatal error 6 = Other error A user break is returned if you halt the program with Ctrl-Break or choose the Abort option in Choose mode. Most DOS and I/O errors are external, that is, caused by conditions outside CvtFon. Critical and Fatal errors are usually internal bugs in the program itself. This could be faulty programming or perhaps just a garbled download. Other errors are mistakes that I went to the trouble to check for specifically. Many are caused by invalid command line parameters. You can get a brief reminder the command syntax by typing "CVTFON ?". _F_u_t_u_r_e_ _F_e_a_t_u_r_e_s Future versions may or may not be able to: o Read DIF files. [(tm) Software Arts, Inc.] o Sort on two or more fields. o Ask the user questions with magic windows and everything. Be usable. Grow much bigger. o Read/write comma-separated files with other field configurations. Probably by choosing from a magic window. o Support other modem programs. If you have one you wish supported, tell me about it! Better yet, tell me the format! _S_u_g_g_e_s_t_i_o_n_s If you find this program useful, please send any comments, complaints, and correspondence to: Steve Linhart Re: CvtFon 2.0a R.P.O. 5139, CN 5063 New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903 or call my BBS, The Cork Board, at +1 (201)463-0001. You can also send FidoNet mail to node 1:107/345. _C_o_n_t_r_i_b_u_t_i_o_n_s (or "What? He's letting me off the hook?") I may regret this now that I'm in college, but, yes, I'm letting you off the hook. In a way, this program is my payment to the authors of the communications programs involved. It would simplify things for me if in return, my name appeared on their mailing lists (hint, hint). Pay for whatever communications program you settle on, then if you still feel obligated to pay for this program, send your money to a worthy charity, public television, or listener-supported radio. _D_i_s_t_r_i_b_u_t_i_o_n_ _N_o_t_i_c_e Free license is granted to the public for non-commercial use, and to all users to give unmodified copies of this program to others. Please share this program with anyone who might find it useful. I encourage the distributors of Boyan, GT Power, K9X, PC- Talk, PibTerm, ProComm Plus, Qmodem, and Telix to include CvtFon, unmodified, on their distribution media, as long as they don't encompass it in their license agreements, or increase the cost of their distribution media solely for the inclusion of this program. (In other words, if you license only your own programs on the disk, not the entire disk, and don't charge extra for throwing in CvtFon.) ProComm Plus is a registered trademark of Datastorm Technologies, Inc. 1-2-3 and Lotus are registered trademarks and DIF is a trademark of Software Arts, Inc. FidoNet is a trademark of Tom Jennings. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft, Inc. Turbo Pascal is a trademark of Borland International.