PLEASE READ THE LEGAL STUFF AT THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT!
PhoneBook Plus is multi-featured program with many niceties for handling that long list of names and addresses usually managed by a Rolodex, Hypercard, or some other clumsy tool. It sports the slickest interface around, extensive phone dialing features, envelope printing, report design and printing, and a robust phone call timer.
New users: to get started, choose New from the File menu, click Phonebook and click OK. Choose New Record from the Edit menu to add your first name. If you have any questions about anything, turn on Balloon Help and start pointing at things. That should get you started. If you have any questions, give me a call.
Users of previous versions: there isn’t a DA anymore. It no longer made sense to offer and support a desk acessory considering how little advantage it offers over Phonebook Plus. If you are using a copy of the DA, feel free to use the latest version instead. There is no upgrade fee for registered users of previous versions. If necessary, use your old password to register this version. Contact me if you lost or never received a password.
Custom Tab Users: VERY IMPORTANT! If you used the Custom Tab feature described later in this Read Me, the Tabs have changed in this version. As of version 3.5, the tabs are stored in the preferences file instead of in the program. To save your custom tabs, use ResEdit to open your preferences file (Phonebook Prefs, in your Preferences folder) and your old version of the Phonebook program. Double-click the STR# icon in the Phonebook program, select STR# 131 and choose Copy from the Edit menu. Select your Preferences file and choose Paste. Close the Phonebook program. Double-click the STR# icon in the Preferences file, select STR# 131, choose Get Info from the File menu, and change the number from 131 to 256. You can then quit and save changes.
The rest of this file contains:
Notes about the report designer
Some common Q & A
Version Release Notes
Notes on how to change the A-Z tabs
Legal stuff which you probably should read
Written by Tim Herzog
Produced by Two Bits Worth
778 Hague Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55104
(612) 227-2920
Email: shareware@2bitsworth.com
Make checks payable to Two Bits Worth. See the About dialog box for registration and payment information.
About the Report Designer: I’ve tried to make the interface for this as easy as I can without including all the documentation with the pictures and everything. The report designer works almost identically to several other programs that let you create your own reports, most notably FoxPro, but it is also similar to FileMaker. If you’re familiar with any of these programs or others like them, you should feel very at home in Phonebook’s report designer. Use the “Insert Field” and “Insert Special” submenus, and look at the sample reports provided (“Full Report,” “Phone Numbers Only,” and “Mail Labels” for some examples. You’re also welcome to experiment with any of the commands in the Report menu; it’s impossible to permanently damage anything unless you save it to disk with the Save command. I send out full (printed) documentation when I receive your Shareware registration fee.
A couple of common questions that have come up so far:
Q: Why is the Report menu dimmed?
A: It is only active when you have a report open (e.g., Full Report, Mail Labels, or one that you make yourself with the New command). Choose Open from the File menu and choose a report to open it.
Q: Why is Page Setup dimmed when my phonebook is the active window?
A: You can have different page setups for each report; therefore, you set the page setup for the report, not for the phonebook you are printing with it. To set the page setup for a report, open the report (with the Open command) and Page Setup will be active.
The rest of this Readme file contains changes not found in the documentation that accompanies software sent out to registered users. Version notes are in reverse order (most recent version first).
3.5: Most significant upgrade in awhile. Phonebook is now FAT (runs native on PowerMacs) and is much more memory efficient than before. This means that you can store lots more names and that large files (once converted to the new format), will open much faster. Also, the edit window is now modeless has eight phone numbers instead of three, and has a larger, scrollable notes field. It also has two panes because of the extra fields; in Document Preferences for the phonebook (in the File menu), you can choose which fields appear on which panes. Lots more dialing stuff, including redial, more powerful long distance number handling, better support for toll free numbers, and support for numeric numbers, like 800 CALL-APPL. There's also new options in the Document preferences for phonebooks, including the ability to view all the records in one big list.
3.0.4: Fixed a major bug that caused problems opening files on certain file systems. My deepest apologies to those of you who couldn’t open preference files or phonebooks.
3.0.2-3.0.3: (3.0.2 was not widely released). Fixed a bug where the active text box in a report wouldn’t update properly if you saved the file while the text box was selected with the Text tool. Added Balloon help (with somewhat useful information) to all dialog boxes, windows, and menus. In Dial Setup, there is an extra scroll bar allowing you to set the volume during Speaker dialing. Fixed a bug (hopefully) that caused weird line spacing in the Notes box, depending on what font you were using.
3.0.1: Fixed a couple of minor bugs, including the one where the Type Search scroll bar wouldn’t record its changes. Fixed the text in the Help window for Report Preview, which was misleading as to what modifier keys you used to zoom in and out. The highlighting for “Ask for Code Number” and “Stop Logs when Phone Hangs Up” weren’t working properly, so sometimes the checkbox was dimmed even when you should have been able to select it. This has been fixed.
Speaker dialing is back (yay). It actually works pretty well now.
3.0: Added the report designer and custom fields. Added “Type Search Speed” and “Quit Application” features to the Application Preferences dialog box (formerly “Startup Preferences”). Combined the Printer/Modem radio buttons in Dial Setup into one popup menu. Phonebook now supports the Comm Toolbox, so if you have an internal modem, that will appear on the popup menu as well. Improved the Import interface and added longer help text. Added Page Sizes feature. Changed the Preferences dialog box for phone logs so that it no longer appears after you open the file unless you’ve never opened (viewed) it before. Phone log preferences now forces you to choose at least one field to display (the OK button dims if no fields are selected).
Changing the Tabs
Phonebook supports custom sorting; that is, you can change the A-Z tabs that appear in the right side of a Phonebook window. International users can have a separate tab for Å or É, or you can have a separate tab for numbers. You’ll need ResEdit (and familiarity therewith) to do this. ResEdit is a program distributed by Apple and is widely available from online services, user groups, and the Internet. Start ResEdit and use the Open command in the File menu to open the Phonebook Prefs file in your Preferences folder. Double-click STR#. Double-click the STR# with the name “Tabs.” Each entry in the list corresponds to a tab button; the more strings you have, the more tabs you have. The first character in the entry is the character displayed on the tab. Subsequent characters in the entry are “sort” characters; that is, letters that should be sorted into this tab. Note that this is NOT case sensitive, so you can have upper and lower case A’s in two different tabs. Also, note that the display character (the first one) is not counted as one of the sort characters. Examples: “CcC” creates a tab represented by “C” that contains records starting with an upper or lower case C. “#1234567890” creates a tab represented by “#” that contains any record starting with a number (but NOT a “#”). Any character not covered by a tab gets stored in the first tab.
Be sure you have enough screen real estate to hold extra tabs! They don’t scroll, and Phonebook will automatically resize your window to hold extra tabs, so if you have a small monitor, you won’t be able to see the bottom of the window.
Note also that changing the tabs only affects what “letter” each record is stored in. The order in which records are stored WITHIN each letter is still determined by an Ascii sort.
And now a word from the lawyers…
This software is a copyrighted work, it is not and never has been in the public domain. You may use this software to evaluate its usefulness if your evaluation is strictly for private and non-commercial use. You may give a copy of this software to another individual if you include this notice, as well as the software’s README file and all other related software materials. This software may not be sold, incorporated into other products, or in any way commercially exploited without prior written consent of the author. If you want to continue using this software beyond your evaluation, you must register the software with the author. When Phonebook Plus is running, choose About Phonebook Plus from the Apple menu and click the Registration button for instructions on how to register this software.
TWO BITS WORTH MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE SOFTWARE PACKAGE DESCRIBED BELOW, ITS MERCHANTABILITY, OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF DATA OR MATERIALS RESULTING FROM ITS USE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER RIGHTS YOU HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.
