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*********************************************************************
* *
* The Amiga Phone Book *
* w/Concert Dial *
* *
* written by: Jeff Hoag *
* *
* Copyright - 1990 Jeff Hoag All Rights Reserved World Wide *
* *
*********************************************************************
SHAREWARE:
The Amiga Phone Book is Shareware. You may upload this software to
any bulletin board or electronic service provided:
1. That service does not claim copyright on uploaded software or
does not charge above it's normal access rates for download of this
software.
2. No organization may charge more than handling costs for this
software with out the express written permission of the author.
3. All files included in this archive remain intact inside the
archive, including this licensing notification.
The Amiga Phone Book is Shareware. This means that you may try the
software first and see if you like it or use it frequently. If you
do, shareware asks you to send $20.00 (Twenty dollars) as a
registration/usage fee to:
Jeff Hoag
615 10th Ave So.
Safety Harbor, FL 34695
Doing so will give you a warm feeling inside, knowing you have
helped support a starving Amiga developer. Also I plan on
releasing more titles in the future as shareware and as a
registered owner you will be entitled to two things:
1. A $5.00 rebate in the form of paying $5.00 less shareware fee's
on the next software program released (on a $10.00 piece this means
half off) and
2. Notification of upgrade availability or new title releases as
they occur.
If you enclose an extra $5.00 (twenty five dollars total) I will
send you the latest version of APB that has a much smaller information
window. This will cut almost 20k from the size of the program, for all
you memory concerned people out there. Please specify that this is
what you wish.
INTRODUCTION
The Amiga Phone Book is exactly that, an Amiga Phone Book.
APB catalogs names, phone numbers and comments for you and then
dials the numbers you choose. It is easy and convenient to use. APB
shrinks itself down to a small bar yet can still control your modem
and the Concert Dial option redials repeatedly busy numbers until a
connect is made. This option is great for getting through to very busy
numbers. A lot of work has gone into making APB a great Amiga
phone book. Please see the enclosed APB_Read-Me file or look at
the info requestor inside the program. Thanks.
Program Overview:
The Amiga Phone Book is like a Rolodex for your Amiga with
the added advantage of being able to hook that Rolodex up to the
telephone and letting it dial the numbers for you. This often is very
convenient, especially if you spend a lot of time in front of your computer
like I do. APB allows you to have multiple phone books, gives you a
choice of a start-up phone book and one of the nicest features, APB
detaches from the CLI that called it. Of course APB will also run from
the WorkBench, simply by clicking on it's Icon.
Defaults
Two of the files that are included inside this lzh archive
should be put in your S: directory. These files are:
APB.config - Configuration Info for the modem.
AP.Book - A demo phone book.
You can edit these or delete them from within APB. These are the
only default assumptions APB makes however even if you do not have
these files in the S: directory this is OK. APB will simply configure
itself to it's own internal values, which are set for a Hayes compatible
modem.
Starting APB from the CLI.
The recommended way of using APB is to start APB up in your
Amiga's startup-sequence. As this is a form of CLI start it will be
covered here as well. A tiny script is provided that you can use as a
model to modify your startup-sequence for APB. APB is taylored for use
from the Amiga CLI or Shell. Flags are provided for use in start-up that
allow you to customize how your phone book starts up. A list of these
options are provided below. Another large advantage of APB is that it
detaches from it's calling CLI or Shell. This means you can start APB and
then close down the window from which it started. This makes APB ideal
for use in your startup-sequence.
To start APB from the CLI simply change directory (cd) to the
directory the program is in and type APB. The phone book will load
and you should notice that your CLI prompt returns. This signals that
the program has detached. Flag options for start-up are as follows:
-s or -S Brings APB up in shrink mode. Default location for
the shrunk bar is at x = 0 (zero), y = 0 (zero).
-x or -X Only useful with shrink mode. Specifies the X
coordinate on the screen to initially place the
shrunk APB title bar. Other examples are -x100,
-x400, -x0. Please notice there is no spaces between
any of the characters in the command. APB also is
smart enough to recognize a value that it cannot use
and will adjust accordingly. Default is location 0 (zero).
-y or -Y Same as -x but for the y axis coordinate. Other
examples are -y40, -y190, -y0. Default is location 0 (zero).
-b or -B Allows you to specify a default phone book to load when
APB starts up. This feature used in conjunction with
those given above are very useful for running APB from
the startup-sequence. A full path must be used if you wish
APB to look outside the current directory for a phone
book. Examples are: -bS:AP.Book, -bdh0:PhoneBooks/AP.Book,
-bAP.Book (looks in current directory).
-m or -M Manually sets a number into the dialer and dials it on
start up. This is nice for a quick dial of a number
without having to bring up the main Phone Book window
and add the number. Examples are -m555-1212,
-m1-211-555-1212, -m5551212, -m12115551212. Other
combinations are recognized as well. After dialing the
number the -m option also starts APB in shrink mode,
placing the number in it's manual dial buffer. Thus the
number can be re-dialed etc from the controls on the
shrink bar.
-c or -C Manually sets the Concert Dial flag to on. This allows
Concert Dial to be used with a manual dial phone number.
These flags can be used in any combination, allowing you the ultimate
freedom of control over your phone book. Some example start-up's that
you might choose to use are illustrated below:
APB -s [RETURN]
APB -s -x50 -bs:AP.Book [RETURN]
APB -s -x50 -y100 -bs:AP.Book [RETURN]
APB -s -x50 -y100 -bdh0:PhoneBooks/AP.Book [RETURN]
APB -m555-1212 -c [RETURN]
APB -m555-1212 -x50 -y100 -c [RETURN]
APB -m555-1212 -x50 -y100 -bs:AP.Book [RETURN]
Starting APB from the WorkBench.
APB is started from the workbench like any other Amiga program,
by double clicking on the APB icon. Many of the above CLI options
are not available through the Workbench start at this time. The S:
directory default remains true however.
The Main Phone Book Window.
After starting APB, assuming you did not specify the -s or -m
start-up options you will be shown the main phone book window.
It consists of a large black window for phone book entries, a
slider gadget and up and down arrows and 3 rows of control gadgets
at the bottom. The very bottom area is a system status message area.
The following will list these gadgets and features beginning with the
phone book window.
Phone Book Entries Window
This is the window where your phone book entries are displayed.
There is room for 11 (eleven) entries, after this the drag bar to
the right and the up/down arrows will begin to function, to allow
you to scroll through your phone book. Clicking on any entry in the
phone book once will highlight that entry. Clicking on it again (not
too fast) will un-highlight the entry. Clicking on an entry twice
relatively fast (DOUBLE CLICKING an entry) will cause the FIRST
HIGHLIGHTED entry to be dialed. You may cycle through the highlighted
entries from the dialer window. To deselect multiple highlighted
entries use the None option button.
Dial
Clicking on the Dial button has 2 possible responses. If there
are no entries highlighted or no phone book loaded, APB will do
nothing. If you have an entry or entries selected APB will go to the
dialing window, automatically dialing the first highlighted number.
Please see the section titled Dialer Window for more information.
D or d Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Dial.
Info
Clicking on the Info button will display APB's information
window. Please take a moment and consider supporting APB if you
haven't yet done so. Thanks. To exit the Info window click the
left mouse button anywhere inside the Info window.
I or i Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Info.
Quit
Clicking the left button on the Quit button will quit APB.
If a phone book has been changed you will be asked if you
wish to quit APB before saving changes made to your phone book.
Q or q Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Quit.
Load
Clicking the left mouse button on the Load button will open
the file requestor window and present you with either the default
phone book and directory (s:) settings or with your last used
settings. For more information please refer to the section titled
Loading a Phone Book.
L or l Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Load.
Save
Clicking the left mouse button on the Save button will open
the file requestor window and present you with either the default
phone book and directory (s:) settings or with your last used
settings. For more information please refer to the section titled
Saving a Phone Book.
No keyboard equivalent currently implemented.
Config
Clicking the left mouse button on the Config button will open
the Modem Configuration Window. The default location that APB will
look for the APB.config file is in your s: directory. If APB does
not find this file it will assume it's own internal modem defaults
which are currently set for a Hayes compatible. Please refer to
the section titled Configuration Editor for further information.
C or c Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Config.
Add
Clicking the left mouse button on the Add button will open
the New Record Entry Window, clearing any old information. Please
refer to the section Titled Adding a New Record for more information.
A or a Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Add.
Edit
Clicking the left mouse button on the Edit button will give
one of two results.
1. If there is no phone book open or no entries highlighted APB will
inform you of this and do nothing more.
or
2. If you have one or more highlighted entries APB will open the
Record Entry Window for you with the information for the
highlighted entry displayed. If you have more than one entry
highlighted, APB will cycle through them, un-highlighting
entries as it goes.
E or e Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Edit.
Delete
Clicking the left mouse button on the Delete button will give
one of two results.
1. If there is no phone book open or no entries highlighted APB will
inform you of this and do nothing more.
or
2. If you have one or more highlighted entries APB will delete
these entries from the displayed phone book starting with the
first highlighted entry. Each mouse click will delete another
entry.
No keyboard equivalent currently implemented.
Sort
Clicking the left mouse button on the Sort button will cause
APB to re-sort itself. Sorting is done in a straight across the
entry sequence that is NOT CASE SENSITIVE. This seemed to work the
best to me. While sorting APB will flash a message telling you it
is Sorting and then Finished Sorting your phone book.
The sort used is a Non-Recursive Quick Sort written by Timm
Martin and modified to sort structures for APB by myself.
S or s Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Sort.
Print
Clicking the left mouse button on the Print button will cause
APB to display a requestor telling you to 'Align Your Paper,
OK Prints'. What this means is that if you click your left button
on the OK button APB will dump your phone book as semi-formatted
to your PRT: device. By dumping to PRT: the Amiga automatically
loads your preference driver and APB prints through that. If you
choose ABORT at the requestor APB will not print. APB will also
give you status messages telling you that it is printing and when
it is done printing.
No keyboard equivalent currently implemented.
Time
Clicking the left mouse button on the Time button will
display the current System Time on the APB info line.
T or t Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Time.
None
Clicking the left mouse button on the None button tells APB
to un-highlight all currently selected entries.
N or n Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for None.
Shrink
Clicking the left mouse button on the Shrink button tells APB
begin operation in shrunk mode. APB will close it's main window
but will not forget any of it's current status. Please see the
section titled Operating in Shrunk Mode for further information.
No keyboard equivalent currently implemented.
New
Clicking the left mouse button on the New button causes APB
to respond in one of two ways.
1. No phone book loaded, nothing happens.
2. Phone book loaded, APB presents a requestor asking if you wish
to delete this phone book. If you click the left button on OK
APB will delete the current phone book from memory. Abort
aborts this. APB will also display appropriate status messages.
No keyboard equivalent currently implemented.
Manual
Clicking the left mouse button on the Manual button causes APB
to display a requestor with a string entry gadget in it that asks you
to enter the number you wish to manual dial. Entering a number and
pressing return causes this number to be dialed from the phone book
window. Space Bar Hangs Up The Modem. The number is also stored in
the current active number buffer so it may be accessed from the
shrunk window as well. If you decide not to dial the number click
your left button on ABORT in the requestor instead.
M or m Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Manual.
Date
Clicking the left mouse button on the Date button will
display the current System Date on the APB info line.
No keyboard equivalent currently implemented.
Dialer Window
The dialer window is reached by highlighting a phonebook entry
and clicking the left mouse button on the dial button or by pressing
either 'd' or 'D'. Once you are in the dialer window you will see a
black window with a blue window in it's middle. This blue window is
for dialer status reports to you. You will see at the bottom two
columns (sort of) of 3 lines each. Each of these is a command that
you may give to the dialer either by pressing the letter shown on
your keyboard or by placing your mouse pointer over the line you
wish and clicking your left mouse button. See below for an explanation
of each of these options. This arrangement of controls is one of
my experiments in alternative entry formats. These are not gadgets
at all but rather text strings and mouse clicks. I am not sure I
love the way they look however and may change them in a future
release of APB.
r - repeat last number This option re-dials the last number that
was dialed and then aborted either by a
busy signal or through manual hangup.
n - next selected number This option dials the next number that you
highlighted in the phonebook window. This
allows you to select multiple entries in
the phone book and not have to returnfrom
the dialer to the phonebook to select the
next number to dial.
c - Concert Dial Concert Dial is probably one of the most
important, powerful and easy to use
features of APB. Concert Dial is the auto
re-dial feature of the Amiga PhoneBook.
When Concert Dial is activated you will see
the words Concert Dial plus two little
musical notes displayed in the upper left
corner of the dialer window. Now a word about
modems and etc. Concert dial depends on your
modem to hang up the phone and return either a
BUSY command string or a NO ANSWER command
string. If either of these responses is
returned Concert Dial will resend the last
number dialed, immediately. To abort
Concert Dial just re-click on the sentence
or press your 'c' key. Hanging up the modem
(space bar) should abort Concert Dial as
well, then re-dial will start Concert Dial
again (as long as the Concert Dial logo is
still showing in the dialer window).
q - quit back to APB Quits the dialer window and returns you to
the APB PhoneBook window. Hangs up modem
as well.
Space Bar to Hang Up The space bar sends out the Hang-Up string
to the modem. This feature is enabled in
almost all the windows of APB.
s - Shrink Closes the dialer window and puts you in
the shrink mode. The current phone number
is retained and Concert Dial if enabled
remains enabled in shrink mode. What this
means is you may select a number for dial,
engage Concert Dial and then shrink the
window and put it out of the way. Your modem
will continue to dial it's number while you
use your Amiga for other things. Ahh the joy
of TRUE MULTITASKING. Please see the section
titled Operating in Shrunk Mode for further
information. One final note. When re-enlarging
the window from shrunk mode you will be
returned to the PhoneBook window even though
you chose shrink in the dialer window. This
was done to maintain compatibility across
windows and to provide a memory refresher as
to what numbers you are working with.
Configuration Editor
The Configuration Editing window has three text entry gadgets
(string) and four buttons across the bottom of the window. Each of
these text entry gadgets and buttons will be explained below. This
window is yet another experiment in alternative look and feel for
data entry. Please let me know what you think. The file APB.config
will be looked for in your S: directory. If it is not found APB
will initialize these values to it's own internal defaults which
are for a Hayes compatible modem.
SetUp String - This is the string that APB will first send to your
modem to initialize it. This string comes up active
for entry. See your modem documentation for further
information. IMPORTANT - You must have VERBOSE result
codes enabled ( V1 ) for APB to work correctly. This
is the default for most Hayes compatible modems.
Prefix - This is what APB sends to the modem before sending a
phone number to dial. The two values that could be
here are:
1. ATDT for Attention Dial Tone (default) or
2. ATDP for Attention Dial Pulse if you have a rotary
dial telephone.
HangUp - This is the string which APB will send to your modem
to hang-up the modem. Please refer to your modem
documentation for further information. A last note
here: APB has the waits and the Attention codes (+++)
built into it internally so these are not necessary
to include in any setup string.
Load - Loads the configuration information from the file
S:APB.config. This is useful if you are experimenting
but have not saved and you wish to get back to your
original configuration. If all else fails, delete the
the file S:APB.config and then start APB. Enter the
Configuration Editor and you will be shown the internal
defaults. You may save these and you will be back at
the start.
Save - Saves the configuration information shown above.
reInit - Sends out the SetUp String to the modem. This is
useful if you wish to change a setting on the modem
and have it take effect immediately. An example would
be turning off the modems speaker (NOT RECCOMENDED).
reInit also closes the Configuration Editor window and
returns you to the phonebook window. Because of the
built in waits etc to insure a complete initialization
of the modem reInit takes approximately 3 seconds to
complete. Status information will be shown at the bottom
of the phonebook window.
Abort - Closes the Configuration Editor window and returns to
the phonebook without sending any information to the
modem.
Loading a Phone Book
The phonebook loading window is a very simple file requestor. My
goal was to talk to the modem not the disk drive in this version
and so there is nothing fancy about this window, other than the fact
it gets the job done. Defaults are the S: directory and AP.Book for
a phonebook to load. If you change this, APB will remember what you
changed to and will present that information to you. Look for
improvements (maybe someday) in this window. At a bare minimum I am
aware the window needs a Parent button.
Saving a Phone Book
The phonebook saving window is a very simple file requestor. My
goal was to talk to the modem not the disk drive in this version
and so there is nothing fancy about this window, other than the fact
it gets the job done. Defaults are the last phonebook loaded or the
S: directory and AP.Book for a file name. I recommend you follow this
protocol for your main phonebook. If you change this, APB will remember
what you changed to and will present that information to you. Look for
improvements (maybe someday) in this window. At a bare minimum I am
aware the window needs a Parent button.
Adding a New Record
This window is where you can add a new phone book entry. It is
also another experiment in alternative data entry. What appear to
be regular string gadgets are really Smartfields. Smartfields are a
set of routines written by Timm Martin and placed into the Public
Domain by Timm Martin. All editing commands are the same in these
fields except that instead of using the RIGHT AMIGA key you use the
CTRL key. All alpha-numeric keys are the same as a regular Amiga
string gadget. This is a trade-off situation. Notice please the
background colors of the smartfields. A normal Amiga string gadget
cannot do this, also there is a lot more control over a Smartfield
than an intuition string gadget. Still I am not 100% on these either.
Please - let me know what you think!
Editing a Record
Please see above - Adding a New Record. All changes to a record
will only be saved if you choose the OK gadget or press return in the
Comments field. Pressing Abort cancels any changes made.
Operating in Shrunk Mode
Shrunk mode is one of the most useful aspects of the Amiga
PhoneBook. When APB is shrunk you will see a small title bar that
displays a title, the normal system gadgets ie: close, drag and
depth arrangement plus 3 (three) letters 'R' | 'H' | 'E'. These
letters are gadgets that allow you to control your modem and APB
from the shrunk title bar. The function of each of these is
discussed below. Also note that if Concert Dial is activated then
it will be active in shrunk mode as well. This is very handy for
rapidly re-dialing a number. An example would be: Assume you
are trying to get into a radio station for a contest but the number
is busy. You know that someone will have to hangup soon and you want
to be the next one in. Select the number to dial, set Concert Dial,
tell the dialer to dial the number and then shrink the window. The
modem will dial and if a busy signal is detected will hangup. APB
will send to the shrunk bar the busy message and the dialing message
then redial the modem. APB will continue this re-dial procedure until
you tell it to stop. In the meantime you can be working with your
Amiga doing other things, APB is shrunk and out of the way yet still
controlling the modem. This same effect can be obtained through
manipulation of the CLI StartUp procedures outline previously.
R - Re-dials the current selected number. If the modem has been
hung-up manually and the Concert Dial flag has been set
then R will re-start the Concert Dial process as well.
H - Hangs up the modem. If the Concert Dial flag is set this
button also stops Concert Dial but does not change the
state of the Concert Dial flag. This allows 'R' to restart
the Concert Dial process.
E - Expands the shrunk window back to the Amiga Phone Book.
Other Notes about Shrunk Mode:
APB will remember the location of all of it's windows. In other
words if you place the shrunk bar in a certain location and then
re-enlarge the bar the next time you shrink the window back to the
bar, the bar will be in the same location it was in previously. This
only holds true assuming you have not stopped and then re-started APB.
APB in shrunk mode also monitors the modem. If the phone rings
it will send the RING notification to the shrunk bar.
All of the system gadgets will perform as normal. The close
gadget on the left hand side of the bar will quit APB. Use 'E' to
return to the phonebook.
A manually entered number through the -m flag will be in the
manual buffer when the shrunk bar is expanded back to the phonebook.
This is useful for a re-dial later on in expanded mode if APB was
started with the -m option.
/*****************************************************************\
Thanks for using The Amiga Phone Book. Please don't forget that it
is Shareware and that I am depending on you to help support APB.
I can be reached at the Shareware address provided in the Info
requestor. Please feel free to pass APB along to other bbs's or
friends, only PLEASE keep all the files included in this LHarc
together. Thanks. Jeff Hoag. 1.14.90