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Text File | 1986-01-09 | 40.9 KB | 1,251 lines

QFONEDIT--THE QMODEM PHONE DIRECTORY EDITOR Version 1.3c (C)1985, 1986 Karl Brendel Although the copyrights for Qfonedit and its documentation are reserved by the author, permission is hereby irrevocably granted for their distribution by any desirable means, with only these restrictions: No- one but the author or his designated agent is to receive any remuneration for Qfonedit or its documentation, except that bona fide users' groups, clubs, etc, may charge a nominal fee for the materials and handling involved in non-profit distribution of this package on magnetic media. Distribution of any kind must include the entire Qfonedit program and documentation. Inclusion of the file SAMPLE.FON is optional. It is expressly stipulated that Qfonedit and its documentation may be distributed by "electronic bulletin boards", via modem connection or other means, insofar as the above restrictions are observed. Unlimited license for the non-commercial use of this program, and its use in a place of business by individuals for their non-commercial purposes, is hereby irrevocably granted. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor 1. Qfonedit: What It Does 1 2. Starting Qfonedit 2 3. The Main Menu 3 4. The Clear Options 5 5. The Default Options 6 6. The Editor 7 7. Sorting 8 8. Tidy Options 10 8. Exchange Options 11 10. Configuring Qfonedit: The Configuration Menu 12 10A. Configuring Qfonedit: Setting the Screen Colors 13 10B. Configuring Qfonedit: Default Communications Parameters 15 10C. Configuring Qfonedit: File Saving 16 10D. Configuring Qfonedit: The Path to QMODEM.FON 18 10E. Configuring Qfonedit: Sound Parameters 19 11. Examples 21 12. The Pitch: A Brief Exercise in Fundraising 23 13. My Thanks to... 24 14. Acknowledgements of Other Kinds 25 Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 1 1. Qfonedit: What It Does Qfonedit is designed to be your all-purpose Qmodem directory maintenance utility. It is one of those rare programs that carries its own answer to the question, "Why do I need it?" You may not need Qfonedit. If your entire dialing directory fits on one display page in Qmodem, you can probably maintain it more easily within Qmodem. If, however, you are one of us--the people who cannot help acquiring new numbers to feed to their modems--you should take Qfonedit now! Remember--the use will reveal the need. Qfonedit operates on the file QMODEM.FON to allow you to view all entries, sort them in several fashions, rearrange or delete them quickly in arbitrary ways, reset the dialing parameters en masse, or edit the entries with an intelligent full-page editor. Qfonedit allows you to configure several of its features, including varying or eliminating its sound effects. At your option, Qfonedit will read communication parameters and screen colors from Qmodem, or allow you to set them directly. Qfonedit can find QMODEM.FON down any file path which you have provided in configuring it, and will prompt for a new path if its search fails. Likewise, using DOS 3.X, Qfonedit will find its own configuration file even if your Qfonedit files are not in the current directory. (With DOS 2.X, Qfonedit looks only in the current directory of the logged drive to find its configuration file.) Floppy disk users will be pleased to realize that they do not have to keep the Qmodem files and the Qfonedit files all on one disk. Qfonedit required DOS 2.0 or later, with enough RAM to run Qmodem. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 2 2. Starting Qfonedit From the DOS prompt, call for QFONEDIT, using any required drive specifier and path to enable DOS to find it. (Note that you may do this from within Qmodem by using AltR to enter DOS. Any revisions made will not be reflected in Qmodem until you restart it--the directory is not reloaded when you re-enter Qmodem with the DOS command EXIT.) With DOS 3.X, Qfonedit will look in the same disk/directory that it is in for its configuration file. With DOS 1.X or 2.X, Qfonedit looks only in the current directory for its configuration file. Failing to find one, it will rely on default settings for all configurable variables. Qfonedit will then look down the configured path for QMODEM.FON. The default path is .\; unless you configure Qfonedit otherwise, it will look first in the current directory of the logged drive. With DOS 2.X or 3.X, if Qfonedit does not find QMODEM.FON down the configured path or in the current directory, it will search the DOS PATH if one exists in the DOS Environment. Failing to find QMODEM.FON, or suffering any other disk-related error, Qfonedit will present this display: =(indicates start or end of screen copy in this manual) ***Either QMODEM.FON does not exist in this disk directory, or some other error has occurred. Please determine the solution to the problem and correct it. The current disk directory is C:\TURBO\WINDOWS\WINDMNGR The PATH to QMODEM.FON in this program's configuration is .\ Please enter a new path, if needed. Enter only a carriage return to keep the old path. Enter Q to terminate the program. Your entry, please: = If you identify an error such as having the wrong diskette in the drive, correct the error and hit Enter. If the correction can be made by entering a new drive specifier/ file path, do so. Entering Q ends Qfonedit, without endangering QMODEM.FON. [Endangering QMODEM.FON is something that is strenuously avoided in Qfonedit. All disk files are closed except during the actual acts of reading and writing to them. Your revisions to QMODEM.FON are not written to disk until the very end of the session. Saving the revised QMODEM.FON may be done with or without prompting. The default is to prompt, assuring that you may quit without revising your directory. The previous two copies of QMODEM.FON may be saved as backups, with or without prompting.] Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 3 3. The Main Menu After the dust has cleared, Qfonedit will present you with the first page of your Qmodem directory, displayed in a manner familiar to you from your use of Qmodem. In the right-hand portion of the screen you will see the Main Menu: = ------------------- Options ------------------- C - Clear D - Defaults E - Edit F - conFigure S - Sort T - Tidy up X - eXchange # - 0 to 9 page = (At this and all similar menus in Qfonedit, your response must be given by pressing the key for that letter which is capitalized to the left of your chosed option; eg, F--or f--for conFigure.) Briefly, the choices and their effects are: Clear--Clears the chosen group of entries to null and default values. Defaults--Resets the communication parameters (including speed) of all of the entries, or just those which have null names and numbers (indicated by ----- for the name and number listings). Edit--Places you into a full-page editor operating on the directory page currently on display. (This is the only action which requires the target page to be currently on display.) conFigure--Allows you to specify several features of Qfonedit. Sort--Allows sorting of any specified portion of the directory on up to five fields, in any mixture of ascending or descending order, with or without considering case. Tidy up--Moves the entries with null names to the bottom of the chosen group of lines (a page, the whole directory, etc.). eXchange--Exchanges the chosen groups of entries. #--Selects pages 1 through 10 (press 0 for 10) to be displayed. All entries except # and Edit use the "Go" prompt before modifying the directory. # is nondestructive. Edit provides a different prompt before modifying the main copy (in RAM) of the directory. The "Go" prompt is: Go? Y Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 4 Responding to the "Go" prompt with Y, y, or Enter will initiate the action. Responding with N or n will return to the previous menu without carrying out the action. Throughout the remainder of this manual, a Y, y, or Enter, response to the "Go" prompt will be referred to simply as Go. The choices are explained at more length in the following sections. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 5 4. The Clear Options Clear operates on chosen entries to delete them from the directory. In their places will be the null name and number, and the configured default communication parameters. After choosing Clear from the Main Menu, the Clear Menu is displayed: = ------------------- Clear Options ------------------- L - clear Lines P - clear Page = These options allow you to specify the group of entries to be deleted. They are to clear: Lines--from one line to another, inclusively. Page--to clear one page (not necessarily the currently displayed one). Go is required before the entries are deleted. Hitting the Escape key returns you to the Main Menu. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 6 5. The Default Options Default sets the communication parameters of the chosen group of entries to match the currently configured default parameters. When is this useful? Primarily on two occasions: When you first create a Qmodem directory, and when you acquire a different (hopefully, faster) modem. On those occasions, you may find that the entire directory is set up with an inappropriate speed. After choosing Default from the Main Menu, the Default Menu is displayed: = ------------------ Default Options ------------------- E - Empty lines G - Global = These options allow you to specify the group of entries for which the communication parameters will be reset. Those groups are: Empty lines--those entries which have the null name. Global--all entries, regardless of name. Note that only communication parameters are reset, so that existing names and numbers are not changed. Go is required before the parameters are reset. Hitting the Escape key returns you to the Main Menu. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 7 6. The Editor Invoking the Editor places the cursor in the upper left corner of the currently displayed page. The Main Menu is replaced by a small help screen reminding you of the keys used in the Editor: = ------------------- Edit Keys ------------------- Cursor Movement: Up Down Left Right Home End Tab Enter Character keys when appropriate = The cursor moves about the page in any useful fashion, and wraps around the sides, top and bottom of page. It will not, however, move into areas where input would be meaningless to the directory. Home and End move the cursor to the upper left or lower right corners of the page. Enter moves the cursor to the start of the next line. Tab moves the cursor to the next active editing field. In each field (eg, Name, Speed, etc.), the only other keys active are those which provide possibly meaningful input to that field. For instance, you may enter 319 277 0040 as a Name, but you cannot enter Forbin Project Colossus as a Number. In the same fashion, only those communication parameters which would be accepted by Qmodem are allowed entry in the Editor. You may enter parameters of 8-N-1 or 7-N-1, but you cannot enter 8-E-1 or 6-O-3. In the Speed field, entry of an acceptable character or space in the first column causes entry of the corresponding character in the second column, and vice versa. Hitting the Escape key takes you from the Editor. Go is not required in the Editor. Its place is filled by a prompt to: Save changes? Y Responding with Y, y, or Enter causes the edited page to be stored in the main (RAM) copy of the directory. Responding with N or n causes the edited page to be abandoned and the unedited version to be redisplayed. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 8 7. Sorting Sort allows you to sort the directory in more ways than you may ever care to. It uses a powerful sorting algorithm which sorts in linear time: A sort of 20 entries takes only twice the time of a sort of 10 entries. The sort time is also linear with respect to the length of the entries. Since Numbers are ignored if only Names are important to you, the sort uses only the time needed for your purpose. After choosing Sort from the Main Menu, the Sort Menu is displayed: = ------------------- Sort Options ------------------- B - global By page G - Global L - Lines P - Pages = These options allow you to specify the group of entries to be sorted. The selections are: global By page--sorts the entire directory, but does not move entries from one page to another. Global--sorts the entire directory, and may move entries from one page to another. Lines--for a specified number of lines, starting at a chosen line. Pages--from one chosen page through another chosen page, most likely moving some entries from one page to another. After the group has been selected, the sort fields, directions, and case sensitivity must be defined. The menu area displays: = Sorting Globally: [NB--or Lines, etc.] (Field D terminates input) Sort on field: N E A X L S D? (continued to next page) Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 9 Fields: Name Entire number Area code eXchange Last four digits Speed Done = The fields are chosen by pressing the appropriate key, listed under "Sort on field". As fields are chosen, their name and key letter are removed from the display. When all desired fields have been chosen, pressing D for Done (which is also a dummy field) allows the sort to proceed. The phone number fields are Entire number, Area code, eXchange, and Last four digits. In the number 1 319 277 0040 the Entire number would be just that; the Area code would be only 319; the eXchange would be 277; the Last four digits would be 0040. Only non-overlapping fields can be chosen. If you choose Entire number, all phone number fields disappear from the choice list. If you choose any of the other phone number fields, Entire number disappears from the list. The Speed field refers to the communication parameters. This will probably be of limited use unless you upgrade to an unusually fast modem, which can only be handled by a few of the parties you call. Upon selecting any field other than Done, you will be prompted Ascending Order? Y Y, y, or Enter will cause the sort to be in ascending order. N or n will cause it to be in descending order. In either case, entries with null names will be sorted to the bottom of the group being sorted. (In a global sort by page, those entries will remain on their original page.) When selecting the Name field, the order prompt will be followed by Ignore Case? Y Y, y, or Enter will cause upper case letters to be treated the same as lower case letters, in human alphabetical order. N or n will cause the sort to be sensitive to case, putting things in ASCII order. Go is required before the sort is done. Hitting the Escape key returns you to the Main Menu. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 10 8. Tidy Options Tidy up acts on the directory by moving null entries (those with ---- in the name field) "down" in the directory (into the higher line numbers) and the more meaningful entries "up" (into the lower line numbers). Tidy up eliminates the disarrayed appearance that a working directory has after it has been revised repeatedly, often resulting in a liberal scattering of null entries throughout. (Of course, Sorting has the same effect on null entries, but it is not always what's wanted.) After choosing Tidy up from the Main Menu, the Tidy Menu is displayed: = ------------------- Tidy Options ------------------- B - global By page G - Global L - Lines P - Pages = These options allow you to specify the group of entries to be processed. The selections are: global By page--cleans up the entire directory, but does not move entries from one page to another. Global--cleans up the entire directory, and may move entries from one page to another. Lines--for a specified number of lines, starting at a chosen line. Pages--from one chosen page through another chosen page, most likely moving some entries from one page to another. Go is required before the entries are cleaned up. Hitting the Escape key returns you to the Main Menu. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 11 9. Exchange Options Exchange operates on chosen entries to exchange their locations in the directory. Nothing is changed in the entries themselves. After choosing eXchange from the Main Menu, the Exchange Menu is displayed: = ------------------- Exchange Options ------------------- L - exchange Lines P - exchange Pages R - exchange Ranges = These options allow you to specify the groups of entries to be exchanged. They are to exchange: Lines--to exchange a single pair of lines. Pages--to exchange a single pair of pages (not necessarily involving the currently displayed page)l Range--to exchange a specified number of lines in two blocks, starting with two specified lines. Exchange of ranges is nondestructive. If the two blocks overlap, the entries in the overlapped area will not be moved. Instead, the number of lines to be moved will be adjusted, and you will be informed of the adjustment. Go is required before the entries are deleted. Hitting the Escape key returns you to the Main Menu. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 12 10. Configuring Qfonedit: The Configuration Menu After choosing conFigure from the Main Menu, the Configuration Menu is displayed: = ------------------- Configuration Options ------------------- C - screen Colors D - comm Defaults F - File saving P - file Path S - Sound params = These options allow you to specify the program characteristics to be configured. They are to configure: screen Colors--choose foreground and background colors for the video display. comm Defaults--set speed, number of data bits and stop bits, and parity to be the default values used by the Clear and Defaults options from the Main Menu. File saving--determine the amount of prompting and/or automatic saving of the directory to disk. file Path--the drive/path to find QMODEM.FON. Sound params--set the tone and duration of Qfonedit's soundeffects. Much of the information exchange during configuration will occur in the Configuration Window, located in the area where the directory pages are normally displayed. Hitting the Escape key returns you to the Main Menu. Before returning, if you have made changes in your configuration, you will be prompted to save the changes: = Save new configuration? Y = A response of Y, y, or Enter will cause an attempt to create a new configuration file. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 13 10A. Configuring Qfonedit: Setting the Screen Colors People seldom agree on desirable colors for program display. Qmodem allows you to set its colors. So does Qfonedit. Choosing screen Colors from the Configuration Menu causes a prompt: = Pick up screen colors from Qmodem? Y = A response of Y, y, or Enter, will cause Qfonedit to attempt to read the current screen colors directly from Qmodem. The search is made along the same path provided for QMODEM.FON. This feature allows to go through color configuration routine one time only, in the place of greatest importance: Qmodem. A response of N or n will cause configuration messages to begin appearing in the Configuration Window. Along with the messages, an array of colored boxes will appear to enable you to determine exactly how the possible colors will appear on your video display. These messages are: = The numbers show the 16 available | 0 | | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | colors as they would look on the current back- ground. | 4 | | 5 | | 6 | | 7 | Please enter a number from 0 to 15 to choose a | 8 | | 9 | | 10 | | 11 | foreground color. (The current foreground color is 15.) | 12 | | 13 | | 14 | | 15 | Your number, please: = After selection of the foreground color, these messages appear: = The numbers show the 8 available | 0 | | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | colors as they would look behind the current fore- ground. | 4 | | 5 | | 6 | | 7 | (continued to next page) Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 14 Please enter a number from 0 to 7 to choose a background color. (The current background color is 0.) Your number, please: = After selecting the background color, all eight colored boxes will display the selected foreground/background combination. You will be prompted: = Do you want to change the screen colors now? Y = A response of Y, y, or Enter, will cause the screen to be redrawn in the selected colors. A response of N or n will leave the screen in its current colors. Regardless of the response to this prompt, another one will appear: = Do you want to save these screen colors? Y = A response of Y, y, or Enter will cause the configuration record in RAM to be updated, although the actual file will not be written until later. A response of N or n will avoid the update. After the save prompt, you will be returned to the Configuration Options Menu. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 15 10B. Configuring Qfonedit: Default Communications Parameters Choosing comm Defaults from the Configuration Menu causes a prompt: = Pick up default communication parameters from Qmodem? Y = A response of Y, y, or Enter, will cause Qfonedit to attempt to read the current default communication parameters directly from Qmodem. The search is made along the same path provided for QMODEM.FON. This feature allows you to set the parameters one time only, in the place of their greatest importance: Qmodem. You do not need to repeat their entry, adding the slight chance of a mistake. A response of N or n will cause configuration messages to begin appearing in the Configuration Window. These messages are (for a hypothetical set of values): = Speed is 1200 New speed 300 4800 1200 9600 2400 ? 1200 The number of data bits is 8 New number of data bits? 7 Parity is None. New parity? Even [Or, if 8 data bits were specified: With 8 data bits, the only acceptable parity is None.] The number of stop bits is 1 New number of stop bits? 1 If these choices are wrong, please choose comm Defaults from the Configuration Menu again. Press a key to continue... = As in the Editor, the only keys active during input are those which result in information meaningful within the directory. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 16 10C. Configuring Qfonedit: File Saving In order to make permanent the revisions to your directory, it must be saved to disk. In order for it to be available to Qmodem, it must be named QMODEM.FON. You may elect to have the save made automatically, or to be prompted. You may make that same choice for the existing QMODEM.FON, or choose not to save the existing file. You may make a similar choice for one additional backup. Choosing File saving from the Configuration Menu causes messages to begin appearing in the Configuration Window. The exact sequence of messages depends on the selections you make. The messages are: = At the end of the program, the new Phone Book must be saved if the changes are to permanent. The save can be done automatically, or you can be prompted each time. Do you wish to be prompted? Y As an option, you can save the old QMODEM.FON file. Again, this can be done automatically, or you can be prompted. Do you wish to be prompted? Y You have elected not to be prompted each time. Instead, the old file will be saved or not, as you choose now. Do you wish to save the old QMODEM.FON file? Y You have elected to save the old QMODEM.FON file. If saved, the old QMODEM.FON file will be saved as QMODEFON.BAK. If there is already a file QMODEFON.BAK, you can choose to save it, as well. Again, this can be done automatically, or you can be prompted. Do you wish to be prompted? Y You have elected not to be prompted each time. Instead, the older file will be saved or not, as you choose now. Do you wish to save the old QMODEFON.BAK file? Y You have made these choices: To be prompted to save the Phone Book: FALSE (The Phone Book will be saved automatically.) (continued to next page) Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 17 To be prompted to save the old QMODEM.FON: FALSE (The old QMODEM.FON will be saved as QMODEFON.BAK automatically.) To be prompted to save the old QMODEFON.BAK: FALSE (The old QMODEFON.BAK will be saved as QMODEFON.BA$ automatically.) If these choices are wrong, please choose File saving from the Configuration Menu again. Press a key to continue... = Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 18 10D. Configuring Qfonedit: The Path to QMODEM.FON. Choosing file Path from the Configuration causes messages to begin appearing in the Configuration Window. The messages are: = QFONEDIT does not need to be in the same directory or on the save drive as QMODEM.FON. Here you may specify the DOS PATH to QMODEM.FON. The PATH may start with a drive specifier and should be from the root directory of that drive to the directory in which QMODEM.FON resides. No check is made for illegal drives or PATHs. (Enter a space to clear the PATH; enter nothing to leave the old PATH unchanged.) The present PATH to QMODEM.FON is: .\ Enter a new PATH: = Selection of a proper path to QMODEM.FON frees you from any requirement to have a particular directory be the current one when operating with Qfonedit. Since Qfonedit looks for its configuration file in the same directory where QFONEDIT.COM is located, it does not need a path. If one is provided for QMODEM.FON, then Qfonedit and QMODEM.COM are both free from directory requirements. Again, if the configured path does not allow Qfonedit to find QMODEM.FON, you will be prompted for a new path at the beginning of the session. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 19 10E. Configuring Qfonedit: Sound Parameters Some people like to have key clicks, error beeps, and so on. Many do not. Among those who do, not all like the same combinations of pitch and duration. Qfonedit allows you a great deal of control over its sounds. After choosing Sound params from the Configuration Menu, the Sound Options Menu is displayed: = ------------------- Sound Options ------------------- B - Beep params C - Click params O - sounds On/Off = These options allow you to specify the characteristics of Qfonedit sounds. They are to configure: Beep params--change pitch and/or duration of the error beeps. Click params--change pitch and/or duration of the key clicks. sounds On/Off--toggle both or either of the sounds. Hitting the Escape key returns you to the Configuration Menu. Choosing Beep params or Click Params will cause configuration messages to appear in the Configuration Window. These messages are: = Use the cursor keys to change the pitch and duration: The up and down arrows change pitch. The left and right arrows change duration. The up and right arrows increase pitch and duration, the left and down arrows decrease them. Shifted arrows make more change than unshifted ones. Esc to exit. = Hitting the cursor keys will change the indicated sound characteristics and produce a sample of the revised sound. It is possible to set a duration of 0 in this manner, effectively silencing the particular sound, but that is better done with the choice of sounds On/Off from the Sound Options Menu. Hitting the Escape key returns you to the Sound Options Menu. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 20 After choosing sounds On/Off from the Sound Options Menu, the Toggle Sounds Menu is displayed: = ------------------- Toggle Sounds ------------------- B - turn Beeps off [NB--on appears if the sound is presently off.] C - turn Clicks off = Pressing the indicated key toggles the chosen sound. This is the preferred manner of silencing a sound. It allows a faster restoration of sound, if desired. It also avoids needless jumps to the Beep and Click procedures in the program. Hitting the Escape key returns you to the Sound Options Menu. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 21 11. Examples Included with this package should be a sample QMODEM.FON file to allow you to practice without concern for your own file. It also gives you a few numbers you may not have tried before. (Some of the communication parameters listed are bogus, but the numbers are not. All of the numbers listed should have 1200 baud capabilities, and can be called with 8-N-1. The names shown are not always the "official" names, but rather those I think of. The appearance of a number here reflects at least a partial endorsement by me, based solely on personal experience and preference.) Put the sample file in the current directory and invoke Qfonedit. At the Main Menu, press 2 to display page 2. Part of page 2 looks like this: = 21 TECHMAIL 1 703 430 2535 1200-8-N-1 22 RailRoad 1 516 741 6914 9600-8-N-1 23 grafboard 1 703 370 3885 1200-8-N-1 24 allen's fido 1 513 579 2587 2400-8-N-1 25 AI ATLANTA 1 404 843 8360 1200-8-N-1 26 VitaSoft 1 718 693 6122 1200-8-N-1 27 PLEASURE DOME 1 201 330 0613 1200-8-N-1 28 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 1200-8-N-1 29 DOUBLE DOS 1 603 644 5556 300-7-E-2 30 MULTI-BOARD (PC&MAC) 1 404 432 0535 1200-8-N-1 31 Crest 1 213 471 2518 1200-8-N-1 32 Walnut Creek 1 415 937 0156 1200-8-N-1 33 ITC (Modula-2) 1 713 523 7255 1200-8-N-1 = Now choose Sort from the Main Menu. Choose Lines from the Sort Options Menu. Input line number 21 and line number 33. Sort on field N, in ascending order. Ignore case. Select field D, for Done. Go, and watch the screen change. Notice that allen's fido appears before Crest. Repeat the sort, but answer N to the ignore case prompt. Observe that Walnut Creek now appears before allen's fido. Also observe that, both times, the null entry wound up at line 33. Repeat one of the sorts, but choose descending order by answering N to the ascending order prompt. Observe that the null entry is still at line 33. Sort the same lines again, but this time, sort on field S, descending order, field A, ascending order, and field X, ascending order. (The key sequence is L,21,33,S,n,A,Enter,X,Enter.) Notice that when you chose field A, field E disappeared from the list. There is no point in sorting first on area code, then on the entire number. Select field D, and Go. Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 22 Now the first six lines are: = 21 RailRoad 1 516 741 6914 9600-8-N-1 22 allen's fido 1 513 579 2587 2400-8-N-1 23 PLEASURE DOME 1 201 330 0613 1200-8-N-1 24 Crest 1 213 471 2518 1200-8-N-1 25 MULTI-BOARD (PC&MAC) 1 404 432 0535 1200-8-N-1 26 AI ATLANTA 1 404 843 8360 1200-8-N-1 = RailRoad and allen's fido are first, due to the higher speeds. PLEASURE DOME and Crest are next, with the lower area codes. In the 404 area code, AI ATLANTA is last with the higher exchange. Hit Escape to get back to the Main Menu. Choose E to get into the Editor. Tab over from the R in RailRoad to the start of the Speed field. Hit a space, and watch RailRoad drop to 300 baud. Cursor down to the 8 in allen's fido's parameters. Cursor left to the 4 in the speed. Hit a 2 to change the 2400 to 1200. Cursor (or tab) over the the N. Hit an E. Hear the beep (if your sound is on). Hit an O. Beep again. Cursor left to the 8 and hit a 7. Now hit an E or an O. No beep, this time. Cursor left twice to the 7. Hit 8. Watch the N appear for parity. Hit Home to return to the initial R in RailRoad. Cursor down, put the caps lock on, and create ALLEN'S FIDO. Tab (or cursor) over to the number. Give ALLEN a new number. Notice that you are restricted to numeric input--put you are allowed to input at the spaces: You can go from 1 513 579 2587 to 15135792587. Qmodem would allow that, so Qfonedit does, also. In fact, your numbers can contain 14 characters, but only numeric ones. Qmodem does allow other characters in the numbers, but they do not reach the modem. Although the spaces shown are not required, the Sort fields Area code, eXchange, and Last four all act on the columns shown in the sample directory. If you allow your numbers to get all jumbled from this order, sorting on those fields may not be meaningful. Hit Enter. You are at the initial P in PLEASURE DOME. A pleasant place to stop. Hit Escape. For now, respond N to the save changes prompt. Watch the unedited page return to the display as you return to the Main Menu. Choose eXchange. From the Exchange Menu, choose Pages. Exchange page 1 with page 2. After Go, watch the displayed page change. Hit Escape to return to the Main Menu. Hit Escape to exit the program. At the prompt, save the directory. Save the old directory. (You can, of course, erase either or both. These saves are just so you can observe the action.) Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 23 12. The Pitch: A Brief Exercise in Fundraising If you have much software with your modem, you should be familiar with the arguments in favor of user-supported software. You are able to try before you buy, encourage creative programming, avoid the costs associated with commercial marketing, even use a program legally without ever compensating the author. This program and manual have required far too many hours of work. But I did it because of a need to create. Even so, I request your financial assistance. If you have not paid for Qmodem, please do that now. After you have paid for Qmodem, if you find Qfonedit to be useful enough, or perhaps interesting enough, please "contribute" $5.00 US for it. You will earn my appreciation, as well as having the feeling that you have furthered the development of affordable software. Whether you "contribute" or not, please pass this package along to anyone with a use or desire for it. Checks may be sent to: The Forbin Project Inc. John Friel III 715 Walnut Street Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613 (Please notate the check "for Qfonedit". Thanks!) Hardcopy messages may be sent to: Karl Brendel 718 East Avenue B Hutchinson, Kansas 67501 Questions, bug reports, anything suitable for modem communication, are most likely to reach me at these boards: Fargo 1 701 293 5973 Forbin Project 1 319 277 0044 Atlantic Palisades 1 718 238 7855 Pacific Palisades 1 213 459 6480 The Boss 1 201 568 7293 Omegammon 1 201 653 3893 Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 24 13. My Thanks to... First and foremost, thanks to John Friel III for the creation of Qmodem. Without making any comments derogatory to other communication programs, suffice it to say that the others which I have used would never have led to the creation of Qfonedit, under any other name. John has contributed an important service to many of us with Qmodem. Thanks, John! (If you haven't paid him for Qmodem, please do. At last word, such payment entitled you to use a restricted number to access his Forbin Project Colossus board. That's a nice reward for doing what you ought.) Thanks to Keith Shafer for circulating the file TURSORT.PAS, containing sorting procedures adapted from "Data Structures Using Pascal", by Tenenbaum and Augenstein. (And thanks, indirectly, to them as well.) The Radix sort algorithm was new to me, and adapted (with extensive modification) from TURSORT.PAS. (And I regret not acknowledging this during earlier releases of this document.) Thanks also to Jim Everingham. His windowing package ("The Window Manager") was used in the layout of this program, although the production version uses only stock Turbo routines. Keep an eye out for his work. Thanks to Marshall Brain and Bela Lubkin for Turbo routines to trap the DOS critical error. Thanks to Philippe Kahn for Borland International, and to Borland for Turbo Pascal and Sidekick, both of which were nearly essential to the development of this program. If these thanks are more modest, it is only because Visa has thanked these parties for me. And to my employer, the National Cooperative Refinery Association, for putting an Enhanced AT on my desk--and not yet having fired me for making so much use of it! Qfonedit: The Qmodem Phone Directory Editor Page 25 14. Acknowledgements of Other Kinds Qmodem is the name of the copyrighted communications program produced by John Friel III and the Forbin Project, holders of the copyright. Turbo Pascal is the copyrighted trademark for the Pascal compiler produced by Borland International. I presume AT to be the copyrighted trademark used by IBM for its "Personal Computer AT". DOS, as referred to in this documentation, is the generic term for one or both of two copyrighted products: MicroSoft's MS-DOS, and IBM's PC- DOS, in any of their various versions. Any such reference should be understood to recognize the rights of those parties to the names of their products. Names and phone numbers included with this documentation or contained in any accessory computer file accompanying it were chosen purely by this author. No solicitation of any party by any other was involved in such choice. It is this author's belief that the phone numbers referred to are assigned to and operated by individuals or groups engaged in legal and ethical exercise of their first amendment rights through the medium of computerized telecommunications. Version 1.3c, 9 January 1986