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- Address Book User Guide Version 2.2
-
- 1
-
-
-
-
- ADDRESS BOOK
-
- Address and 'Phone Number Management for the Psion Series 3A
-
- Shareware Program
-
- ⌐ 1994, 1995 John W Dawson
-
-
-
- V2.2, July 1995
-
-
- 1 Introduction
-
- Address Book is an Application for the Psion Series 3A which you can use to manage
- addresses, 'phone numbers, and related information. It has a number of special
- features which make it more convenient and suitable for this purpose than the
- standard Database Application built into the Series 3A. These include:
-
- * Alphabetic listing and searching of names;
-
- * Enhanced DTMF dialling:
-
- * Variable volume;
-
- * Automatic prefixing of charge card account number and PIN;
-
- * Automatic prefixing of network service codes (for call diversion etc.);
-
- * Linking of records, to allow common information to be defined once only but
- shared by more than entry;
-
- * Configurable print layouts, allowing you to print addresses onto envelopes or
- labels. The program generates RTF files containing all the necessary formatting,
- which can be printed using a compatible word processor on a PC;
-
- * Tagging of entries, to create temporary or permanent lists of related entries.
-
- The Application manages one or more database of information about an individual or
- an organisation. Each entry in a database has the same layout, but the template for
- this is fully configurable.
-
- Two of the fields have special significance, since they are used to sort the
- entries. In the default template they have the labels Name and Organisation; however
- you can change their labels and positions in the template.
-
- An entry may relate to a person, in which case the Name field will be present and
- optionally an Organisation. Alternatively the entry may relate to a Company or other
- organisation, in which case there will no Name, only an Organisation.
-
- There are four principle screens:
-
- The Find screen lists entries in alphabetical order, and allows alphabetic searches.
-
- The Show screen displays a single entry in full.
-
- The Update screen allows existing entries to be modified.
-
- The Add screen allows new entries to be added.
-
- 2 Getting Started
-
- 2.1 Installation
-
- To install the Application carry out the following steps:
-
- 1 Copy the file ADDBKV4.OPA into the \APP directory on the Internal Drive or an
- SSD.
-
- 2 Copy the files ADDBK2V4.OPO, ADDBK3V4.OPO, IXFILEV3.OPO, and DIALOGV3.OPO into
- the \OPO directory on the same drive.
-
- 3 On the System screen use the "Install" (Psion-I) command to install ADDBKV4.
- The Address Book icon (depicting a book, 'phone, and envelope) should now appear
- on the screen.
-
- 4 You may find it convenient to assign a button to the Application, using the
- "Assign Button" (Psion-A) command.
-
- 2.2 Creating a new Address Book
-
- You can now create an Address Book database by using the "New File" (Psion-N)
- command (while the highlight is beneath the Address Book icon). In the dialog box
- specify the name for the database and the drive where it is to be located.
-
- The Edit Labels screen will now be displayed, allowing you to customise the default
- template to your preferences. If the default is acceptable just type Escape.
- Otherwise edit the labels; keys work in the same way as on the Add and Modify
- screens described below. Type Enter when finished.
-
- A dialog will then be displayed, to allow you to specify which fields to use for
- sorting, and the format you wish to enter names in. The choice of format is either
- forename(s) followed by surname (e.g. "Sally Ann Field") or surname followed by
- forename(s) (e.g. "Field,Sally Ann"). You can choose the character used to separate
- the forenames and surnames; this can be a space, a comma, or some other custom
- character. Alternatively you can specify "None", in which case names are not split
- into separate forename and surname parts. This last option would be most suitable if
- you wished to use Address Book to manage information other than names and addresses.
-
- On completion of the dialog the Add screen (described fully below) will then be
- displayed, enabling you to start adding entries to the database.
-
- Once you have some entries in the database you can go to the Find screen by typing
- Escape or Diamond.
-
- 2.3 Using an existing Database
-
- If you have an address database in standard Psion DBF format (e.g. created using the
- built in Data application or an OPL program) then you can open this with Address
- Book. You can not use a Database that contains numeric fields, but any Database
- which the built-in Database can open should be okay.
-
- Note that the default directory and extension for Address Book is different from the
- built-in Database (for historical reasons), hence Database files will not appear
- under the Address Book icon. However you can create an 'alias' to access such files
- more conveniently. Position the highlight under the Address Book icon, and type
- Psion-E. Create a new list for Address Book, with Directory \DAT and Extension DBF.
- Your database files will then appear under the additional Address Book icon.
-
- Databases which have been created and maintained by Address Book have an extra
- 'index' file associated with them. When Address Book first opens a database where
- this index information is not available then, it must build this index. Once created
- there should be no need to rebuild this index, unless the index is accidentally
- deleted or the database file is modified by an application other than Address Book.
-
- Open the file in the normal way (from the System screen). If the database does not
- contain a template (typically a file created by an OPL application) then the Edit
- Labels screen is displayed. The default template is shown, and you should modify
- this to reflect the structure of entries in the database. (If there is a template
- already present in the database then Address Book will use this.)
-
- A dialog is then shown to allow you to specify how the database is to be sorted and
- the layout of the Name field (as when creating a new file). There are extra dialog
- lines which allow you to control whether entries which contain more than one name in
- the Name field are split into multiple linked entries.
-
- If you set Name Separator to "None" then no changes will be made to entries in your
- database. Otherwise if an entry contains more than one name (separated by the
- specified character) then extra database entries are created for the second and
- subsequent names, which are all linked to the entry for the first name. (See below
- for explanation of linking).
-
- The application will now build the index. When this is complete the Find screen is
- displayed, listing the entries in alphabetic order.
-
- 3 General Points
-
- Most of the basic features operate in the 'standard' way. Diamond/Shift-Diamond
- switches to the next/previous screen. Menu displays the menus. Control-Menu controls
- the displaying of the Status Window.
-
- The Find, Show, Update, and Add screens can all be zoomed, by typing Psion-Z or
- Psion-Shift-Z. The "About Address Book" (Psion-Shift-A) command displays the
- introductory screen. You can exit cleanly from the Application by using the "Exit"
- (Psion-X) command in any screen.
-
- 4 The Find Screen
-
- Entries are listed in alphabetical order. Entries for People are sorted by surname,
- which is generally taken to be the final space-separated 'word' in a name. E.g. John
- William Hedges and Peter Hetherington-Whyte would both be listed under H.
-
- You can override this, to cater for exceptions such as double-barrelled surnames
- without hyphens, e.g. Ralph Vaughan Williams which should be listed under V. You
- should enter such names with a double space between the last forename and the start
- of the surname (e.g. between Ralph and Vaughan).
-
- The ╚ character indicates the 'current' entry.
-
- Entries for Organisations are sorted by their complete names; e.g. Acme Software
- Company would be listed under A.
-
- You can find an entry by typing the initial letters of its surname (or complete name
- for an organisation). Use lower case letters only. As you type the program will
- progressively find the first entry which matches the letters entered, and display
- the entry with the matched letters highlighted.
-
- Upper and lower case characters are treated as equivalent. Accented characters are
- sorted and matched as the equivalent unaccented character; "╛" is treated as "a",
- "┐" as "o", and "º" as "s". Punctuation characters are ignored when sorting and
- matching; e.g. O'Regan is listed between Oppenheimer and Oswald, and can be found by
- typing o r ....
-
- If you make a mistake when typing the sequence of initial letters then press the
- Escape key; this cancels the matching, and enables you to start the sequence again
- from the first letter.
-
- Once the entry you require is displayed on the screen you can select it immediately
- by typing the digit or shifted letter shown to the left of it. The entry is then
- shown in full on the Show screen. Enter or Diamond displays the current entry in
- full.
-
- You can move up and down the screen using the Up/Down arrow keys. Page Up/Down move
- a whole screenfull at a time. Home moves to the first entry, End to the last. Use of
- any of these keys cancels any matching in progress.
-
- 4.1 Configuring the Find Screen
-
- You can configure the layout of the Find screen by using the "Screen Layout" (Psion-
- Shift-S) command. Surname width and Forename width specify the widths of the two
- different parts of names (approximately in number of characters). Extra field
- specifies an additional field to be shown on the screen. If the 'phone symbol is
- selected then the first non-blank 'phone number of each entry is shown.
-
- You can also use this dialog to specify how tags are shown on the Find screen. A "*"
- can be displayed against each Find screen entry which has a particular tag set, or
- any tag set.
-
- 5 The Show Screen
-
- This displays the full details for a single entry. Only fields which have
- information in them are shown. Any tags set can be shown, either as full names or
- short codes (use Psion-Shift-S to set required preference).
-
- If the entry is too big to be shown in full then you can scroll up and down, using
- Up/Down/Page-Up/Page-Down. Alternatively you can zoom to a smaller font.
-
- Typing any lower case letter starts a 'quick-find' the Find screen is displayed with
- the first entry starting with the letter selected.
-
- You can display then next or previous entry in the database (or found set) by typing
- ">" or "<" respectively.
-
- 6 The Update Screen
-
- You can update the current entry by using the "Update" (Psion-U) command on the Find
- or Show screens, or by pressing Diamond on the Show screen. The Update screen is
- then displayed, showing all the fields for the entry and their current values if
- any.
-
- You can now change these values by typing text on the keyboard. If all or part of a
- field is highlighted then this is replaced by what you type; otherwise text is added
- at the cursor position. You can put line breaks in any of the fields by typing
- Shift-Enter.
-
- Use the arrow keys to move around within a field or between fields. Use these keys
- with Shift down to highlight text. Control-Left/Right moves a word at a time. Home
- and End take you to the start and end of the current line.
-
- The Delete key removes the highlighted text, or the character to the left of the
- cursor if nothing is highlighted. Shift-Delete deletes to the right, and Psion-
- Shift-Delete deletes to the end of line. You can cut and paste text between fields
- using Delete or "Copy" (Psion-C) with text highlighted and then "Insert" (Psion-I).
-
- Text is automatically wrapped onto the next line if a line becomes to long to fit on
- the screen.
-
- The Enter key writes the modified entry back into the database. An entry will not be
- updated if both the Name and Organisation fields are blank. Use Escape to abandon
- the update, leaving the entry unchanged in the database.
-
- 7 The Add Screen
-
- You can add new entries to your database by using the "Add" (Psion-A) command or by
- pressing the Diamond key on the Update screen or Shift-Diamond on the Find screen.
- This takes you to the Add screen, whose operation is similar to the Update screen
- described above, except that all fields are initially blank.
-
- You can create a new entry based on an existing entry by using the "Copy Entry"
- (Psion-O) command.
-
- 8 Finding Entries
-
- The principle way of finding a particular entry is by alphabetical searching by name
- on the Find screen. However you can also make searches on other fields, using the
- "Find" (Psion-F) command. In the dialog you then specify the text you are looking
- for, which field to search (or all fields), whether the search should be case
- sensitive, and whether the entire field must match the specified text.
-
- You can either list all the entries which match the criteria (by setting Find to
- "All"), or display the first matching entry in full (by setting Find to "First").
-
- If "All" was selected then when the search is complete a dialog showing the number
- of matching entries is displayed. Type Escape to abort the search, or Enter to list
- the found set on the Find screen. The found entries can then be selected, displayed,
- modified, deleted, printed, etc., exactly as when the entire database is listed.
- Typing Escape lists the entire database again (a second Escape is required if part
- of a name is highlighted.) Also if any entries are added the program reverts to
- listing the full database.
-
- If "First" was selected you can find further entries matching the same criteria
- using "Find Next" (Psion-G). Note that "Find" and "Find Next" find search the
- database in physical order, which may not be the same as the sorted order in which
- entries appear on the Find screen.
-
- You can find and list all entries linked to the currently selected entry by using
- the "Find Linked" (Psion-K) command. This works in similar fashion to searching with
- the Find = "All" option.
-
- 9 Tagging Entries
-
- You can define up to 16 different "tags", and apply one or more of them to
- individual records, to mark the records as belonging to a subset of the database, or
- as being of special interest. You can then search for entries which have a
- particular tag, or combination of tags, set. Tags may be of a permanent nature, e.g.
- partitioning your database into different categories, or temporary, e.g. to create
- lists of people you need to 'phone. Tag settings are saved (in the index file)
- between invocations of the program.
-
- Use the "Define Tag" (Psion-Shift-N) to create a new tag. In the dialog specify the
- full name (up to 30 characters) and a "short code" (2 alphabetic characters) for the
- tag.
-
- You can then apply this tag to the current entry (on the Find or Show screens) by
- typing the 2 character short code with the Control key down (similar to applying
- styles in Word). This actually has the effect of toggling the current tag setting,
- i.e. setting it if it is not already set, clearing it if it is set.
-
- You can also set or clear tags using the "Set Tag" (Psion-T) command. In the dialog
- you can specify a particular tag, or "All" tags, and the operation to be performed
- (Setting, Clearing, or Toggling). You can perform the operation on just the current
- entry, all entries in the database, or all entries in the current found set (if a
- search has previously been performed).
-
- To find entries with particular tag settings use the "Find Tags" (Psion-Shift-F)
- command. You can specify up to 3 different tags, and search for entries which have
- all those tags set, for entries which have any of those tags set, for entries which
- have none of those tags set, or for entries which have not all those tags set. The
- found entries are listed in the same way as entries found in a text search.
-
- You can modify existing tag definitions, to change their full names and/or short
- codes, using the "Modify Tag" (Psion-Shift-Y) command. Entries which have the
- modified tag set will not have their tag settings altered, but will be displayed
- with the new tag name or short code.
-
- You can delete tag definitions no longer required using the "Delete Tag" (Psion-
- Shift-T) command. Any entries having the deleted tag set will have this cleared.
-
- 10 Deleting Entries
-
- An entry can be deleted using the "Delete" (Psion-D) command, or by typing the
- Delete key on the Find or Show screens. You are asked to confirm the deletion before
- the entry is removed from the database.
-
- 11 Linking Entries
-
- This facility allows more than one entry to share the same common information. The
- sort of situation where this might be useful is where you have a couple who have the
- same address and home 'phone numbers, but different work 'phone numbers. Each
- individual can have their own separate entry, but the common address and home 'phone
- is only defined in one entry; the other entry refers to this 'parent' entry. If the
- couple should move then you only need to change the address in one place.
-
- Another way of using linking is to set up a 'parent' entry for a Company, and have
- several linked entries for individuals in the Company.
-
- You can create a new entry linked to an existing 'parent' entry using the "Add
- Linked Entry" (Psion-L) command. The 'parent' entry must be the current entry on the
- Find or Show screen. The Add screen will then be displayed, with the field contents
- derived from the 'parent' shown in grey. These values cannot be modified, but can be
- replaced by typing new contents.
-
- You can link an existing entry to an existing 'parent' using the "Link" (Psion-
- Shift-L) command. First select the entry to be linked on the Find or Show screen and
- type Psion-Shift-L. Then select the required parent and type Psion-Shift-L again.
-
- An entry can only be linked to a single 'parent', but a 'parent' entry can have any
- number of other entries linked to it.
-
- When a linked entry is displayed on the Show screen then for any of its fields which
- are blank the contents of the field in the 'parent' entry are shown instead. You can
- suppress the showing of field contents derived from the 'parent' by entering a
- single space in the field.
-
- When you update a linked entry, fields derived from the 'parent' are shown in grey
- and cannot be changed, only replaced.
-
- You can remove a link from an entry with the "Remove Link" (Psion-Shift-U) command.
- You are asked to confirm the removal.
-
- 12 Counting Entries
-
- The "Show Number" (Psion-N) command on the Entries menu displays briefly the total
- number of records in the database in the bottom right corner of the screen.
-
- 13 DTMF Dialling
-
- You can dial the current entry on the Find or Show screen by typing Dial (Psion-
- Help). This displays the Dialling screen which lists all the telephone numbers for
- that entry. Select the number you wish to dial using the Up and Down keys.
-
- The Tab key dials the number exactly as shown. Enter prefixes the "dial out" code,
- e.g. to make an outside call via a switchboard. Type c to automatically prefix the
- account number and PIN for a BT charge card call (or similar). Type d to dial the
- number with the code and terminator for a special service (such as BT Star Services
- Call Diversion). Type Escape to quit from the Dial screen.
-
- After any of these buttons are pressed there is a short delay; this allows you to
- position the loudspeaker correctly for successful dialling. You can dial further
- digits by pressing any of the 0 to 9 and *, # keys while the Dial screen is
- displayed.
-
- If a 'phone number entry contains non-diallable characters, then only the digits
- preceding the first such character will be dialled. E.g. if an entry contains "0123
- 456789 x321" then only 0123 456789 will actually be dialled. Spaces or hyphens may
- be used to separate parts of 'phone numbers.
-
- This version of the program does not support international dialling. However numbers
- should be dialled correctly when making calls within the same country, even where
- the numbers have been entered in standard Psion international format, so long as any
- national prefix is included (e.g. 1 321 4567890 [USA]).
-
- Note the c and d buttons will not be displayed or activated until you have set up an
- account number and PIN or service code; use the "Dialling Setup" (Psion-Shift-D)
- command to display the Dialling Setup Dialog. When setting up the Divert Code
- specify both the code prefix and the terminator, separated by a space. E.g. for Star
- Services "Divert on No Reply" you should set *61* #.
-
- You can also set the code required to obtain an outside line. E.g. if you have to
- dial 9 and then wait for a second dial tone you should set 9,.
-
- The other fields allow you to specify the duration of the tones, the pause between
- tones, and the length of a delay; units are 1/32s of a second. You can also set the
- volume of the tones; allowed values are 0 to 5, with 5 the quietest. (5 seems to
- give the most reliable results with most 'phones.)
-
- 14 Printing
-
- This program does not support direct output to a printer attached to the Psion.
- However you can output to a file, either in plain text or rich text (RTF) formats.
- These can then be printed using the built-in Word application, or transferred to an
- external PC for printing. RTF files contain formatting instructions in addition to
- the text, which can be interpreted by compatible Word Processors (e.g. Microsoft
- Word).
-
- The RTF output generated by this program for various layouts has been tested using
- Microsoft Word for Macintosh V4.0. This interprets all the formatting commands to
- produce 'correct' printout, except that page orientation commands (\landscape and
- \portrait) are ignored, and orientation has to be set manually within Word before
- printing. Some other Word Processors may not interpret the formatting commands fully
- and correctly; in particular I have seen reports that Word Perfect is not very good
- at interpreting RTF. Hence it is recommended that Word (if available) should be used
- to interpret and print RTF output
-
- 14.1 Defining Print Layouts
-
- Before you can print you must define at least one layout, to specify which fields
- you wish to be printed, and how you want the page laid out. Use the "New Layout"
- (Psion-Shift-W) command to display the "Print Layout" dialog.
-
- Each layout should be given a unique name, which you can type directly into the Name
- field. To change other values you must select the appropriate line of the dialog,
- using the Up and Down keys, and type Tab to enter the sub-dialog.
-
- The Page sub-dialog allows you to specify the width and height of the paper (all
- dimensions are in inches) and the orientation (portrait or landscape). You can also
- specify the number of rows and columns on each page.
-
- If Rows is 0 then page breaks are inserted automatically when there is not enough
- room for the next entry. If Columns is greater than 1 then entries are printed in
- 'snaking' columns. This option would be suitable for making a 'hard copy' listing of
- your entries.
-
- If Rows is 1 then entries are printed one per page. This would be suitable for
- printing addresses onto envelopes.
-
- If Rows is greater than 1 then entries are printed inside Rows * Columns equally
- sized and spaced 'cells' per page. This would be suitable for printing addresses
- onto sheets of labels.
-
- You can also specify if the field labels and/or empty fields are printed.
-
- In the Margins sub-dialog you can set the margins round the whole page and the
- position of each entry. Horizontal offset is the offset of the text from the left
- margin, column boundary, or cell boundary; field labels are always printed flush
- against the left margin. If Rows is 0 then Vertical offset sets the vertical spacing
- between entries, otherwise it sets the offset of each entry from the top margin or
- the top of the cell.
-
- The Font sub-dialog allows you to specify the font name, size, and attributes. As
- well as the Name of the font (e.g. "Times" or "Helvetica") you need to specify the
- Family to which it belongs (e.g. "roman" or "swiss"). Name and Family can be any
- combination which the Word Processor on your PC can recognise; you can find out
- about available fonts by generating an RTF file from your PC's Word Processor and
- examining the entries in the \fonttbl section. The sub-dialog also enables you to
- set the font size and whether the field labels and/or main text are printed in bold
- and/or italic.
-
- The Fields sub-dialog allows you to set which fields are printed. You can specify
- all fields, or up to 7 selected fields (in any order). If you select "Name OR
- Organisation" then either the designated "Name" field will be printed, or if this is
- empty the designated "Organisation" field.
-
- Existing layouts can be changed using the "Modify Layout" command (Psion-Shift-M) or
- deleted using the "Delete Layout" command (Psion-Shift-E). You can create a new
- layout based on an existing one using the "Copy Layout" command (Psion-Shift-C).
-
- 14.2 Printing Entries
-
- If you wish to output the print file directly to your PC then you must first connect
- and activate the serial link.
-
- The "Print" (Psion-P) command brings up the Print dialog. This allows you to
- specify:
-
- * whether All entries in the database are printed, or selected Individual entries,
- or the Found subset (if you had previously performed a search);
-
- * which layout to use;
-
- * whether to generate a plain Text file or an Rtf file;
-
- * the drive and specification for the Destination file;
-
- * whether you are printing via a Host Apple Mac or IBM PC.
-
- If you specified All or Found entries, then these are printed immediately you
- terminate the dialog with Return.
-
- If you specified Individual entries then you must select each entry that you wish to
- print (on the Find screen) and use the "Print Entry" (Psion-P) command. When all
- required entries have been printed you terminate printing with the "Finish Printing"
- (Psion-Shift-P) command.
-
- 14.3 Setting Printer Defaults
-
- You can set default values for:
-
- * the destination drive and directory for print files;
-
- * the file format (Text or RTF);
-
- * the host type (Mac or PC);
-
- using the "Print Setup" (Psion-Y) command. Also in this dialog you can specify how
- to print the 'phone symbol which appears in some labels. You need to specify the
- name and family of an appropriate special symbol font which includes a 'phone symbol
- in its character set, and the equivalent character in a normal character set. E.g.
- on the Mac you can use font Zapf Dingbats (family nil), which prints a "%" character
- as a 'phone symbol.
-
- Note that if you wish to specify a default directory on the PC then you must have
- the serial link activated when performing this dialog. If you subsequently attempt
- to print with the link disconnected then the Print dialog will not offer this remote
- drive and directory. However if you then print to a local drive on the Psion this
- will not supersede the default setting.
-
- 15 Editing Labels
-
- You can modify the labels template by using the "Edit Labels" (Psion-E) command. The
- Edit Labels screen is then displayed. Keys operate as on the Add and Update screens.
- Use Shift-Dial (Psion-Shift-Help) to insert the 'phone symbol at the start of a
- label, to indicate that the field is diallable.
-
- It is not advisable to add or remove labels in the middle of the template, as data
- in existing records will become misaligned with the labels. It is okay however to
- add new fields to the end of the template.
-
- 16 Upgrading
-
- 16.1 Converting from Address Book V1.0
-
- If you have a database that was created using Address Book V1.0, then you must first
- convert the file before you can open it with Address Book V2.2, since the file
- formats are different.
-
- Copy the file CONVADBK.OPA to \APP on the same drive as you installed the main
- application, and install it on the System screen. Select the database beneath the
- conversion program icon, and press Enter.
-
- In the dialog box specify a new name for the database (no directory path or
- extension). The Edit Labels screen is then displayed, allowing you to customise the
- default template to your preferences. However if you delete or modify any of the
- label names then data in fields corresponding to these labels will not be
- transferred into the new file. You can delete labels corresponding to fields you
- were not using in the original database, and add labels for new fields which will be
- initially blank. You can change the labels of any of the fields after conversion,
- using "Edit Labels" in the main application.
-
- After pressing Enter (or Escape to use the default template), the program will
- convert your database, displaying progress in the bottom right corner of the screen.
-
- Once all your databases have been converted you can remove CONVADBK.OPA from your
- disk.
-
- 16.2 Converting from Address Book V2.x
-
- No conversion is necessary since the file formats are the same. However it is
- recommended that Psion-T is used to clear all tags in all entries, since it is
- possible that entries may have random tags set.
-
- 17 Problems and Troubleshooting
-
- The most likely problems to be encountered are associated with running out of
- memory. This is most likely when attempting to display a new screen or dialog. The
- program is designed to trap such occurrences and either abandon what it was trying
- to do or exit gracefully.
-
- If the program should exit in an uncontrolled way, or has to killed off (because it
- appears to be locked up), then when it restarts it may display the message "Index
- file is obsolete". This is the result of a check it performs to see whether the
- database has been modified by another application, which would make it inconsistent
- with the index. If the database has not in fact been modified then it should be okay
- to continue.
-
- If the program should start behaving erratically (e.g. listing entries in wrong
- order or missing out some entries) this may indicate corruption or inconsistency in
- the index file. In such cases it is best to exit, and delete the index file. Then
- when the database is reopened Address Book will rebuild the index.
-
- I will be pleased to receive any queries or comments about this program. I can be
- contacted via:
-
- CIX: jdawson
-
- Compuserve: 100415,370
-
- E-mail: John.W.Dawson@baesema.co.uk
-
- 'Phone: +44 1734 666185
-
- Snail mail: 19, St Edward's Rd.
- Reading
- Berkshire
- RG6 1NL
- England
-
- Please 'phone outside working hours if possible, and not after 11pm UK time!
-
- 18 File Formats and Compatibility
-
- By default Address Book files are created in \ADD directories, and have extension
- ".ADD", as in V1.0. Unlike V1.0, V2.2 uses a standard DBF format which should be
- compatible with the built-in Database and other applications. Hence these other
- applications should be able to read files created by Address Book.
-
- However it is not recommended that other applications are used to modify or add to
- files being maintained by Address Book. The reason for this is that Address Book
- maintains information in a separate 'index' file, which it uses to list entries
- alphabetically. This 'index' file must be updated in step with changes to the main
- database file.
-
- It appears that the built-in Database application automatically compresses a DBF
- file on exit, even if no changes were actually made to the file. Since this has the
- undesirable effect of making the file inconsistent with its index, Address Book sets
- the database file attributes to read-only on exit, in order to prevent this. However
- some other applications, e.g. JBData, will not open a read-only file. Thus before
- opening the file with such an application you must set the file attributes to "read-
- only" = "No", using Psion-T on the System screen.
-
- If the database file is made inconsistent with the 'index' file, then it is possible
- to reconstruct the index, though this does take significant time. Also any links and
- tags which have been set up will be lost, since information about these is also held
- in the index file. No actual data is lost, and the links can be restored manually,
- i.e. using the Psion-Shift-L command.
-
- The 'index' file has the same name as the main DBF file, but with extension ".IDX".
- It is normally created on the same drive as the DBF file, except where this is a
- flash SSD. In this case the index file is created on the internal drive.
-
- 19 Registration
-
- I am making this program available as Shareware. There is no registration procedure;
- the software as distributed is fully operational. However if you find this program
- useful then I would ask you to send a donation (suggested ú10 Sterling) to a charity
- I am closely involved with. Reading Steiner School Project (Registered Charity No.
- 297857) is developing education in the Reading area based on the work of the
- Austrian educationalist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner.
-
- Please make cheques etc. payable to R.S.S.P., and send them to:
-
- Department ADBK
- Alder Bridge School
- Mill Lane
- Padworth
- Reading
- England
- RG7 4JU
-
- Non-UK users might prefer to make a donation to a Steiner school in their home
- country; I can provide addresses on request.
-
- Please do not send any technical queries etc. to the School!
-
- Please do distribute this program freely, providing you do not make any charge
- (other than to cover reasonable costs of distribution) and you include these notes.
-
- 20 Future Developments
-
- I have developed this program for my own use, so its facilities and operation very
- much reflect my own requirements. However there are a number of obvious ways it
- could be extended and developed, to make it more useful to a wider range of people.
- And many thanks for the useful suggestions I have received from those who tried out
- earlier versions.
-
- Future plans include
-
- * Full support for international dialling.
-
- * Exporting and importing to/from text files and other DBF files. The mapping
- between fields in the files would be configurable, allowing exchange of data
- with databases that have a different record layout.
-
- * Implementation of Link-Paste (the "Bring" command), to facilitate exchange of
- data with other Psion applications.
-
- 21 Thanks
-
- To those who have made invaluable technical information available via CIX and CIS.
-
- To all those who paid registrations for earlier versions, and provided encouragement
- and ideas for future development. Note that some of these ideas have not been
- implemented in this release, but are not being ignored, and will hopefully be
- implemented in later releases.
-
-
-