World of Shareware - Software Farm 2/wosw_2.zip/wosw_2/CPROG/A86ASS.ZIP/ZIPKEY.ADV

Text File | 1989-05-17 | 4KB | 78 lines

The ZIPKEY zipcode directory eliminates
the manual typing of U.S. cities and towns!

ZIPKEY is a complete city-level directory of 5-digit United
States zipcodes, combined with a keyboard enhancement program.
The goal of ZIPKEY is to provide enough power and flexibility
so that no one with an IBM-PC (or hardware-compatible
computer) will ever again have to manually type in the name of
a United States city or town (at least not one big enough to
have its own zipcode).

When run as an ordinary program from the DOS command prompt,
ZIPKEY allows you to instantly access any of the 43000+
zipcodes in the directory, searching by zipcode, state-and-
city, or city-only.  You'll be amazed by ZIPKEY's speed and
power.  ZIPKEY is so fast it can fill its popup window with
intermediate results-- you can watch the search narrowing down
with every keystroke.  You can use your keyboard's paging and
arrow keys to explore ZIPKEY's database, gaining fascinating
insights into U.S. geography through the names of its cities
and towns.

ZIPKEY achieves its full power when installed permanently in
memory.  In this "memory-resident" mode, you can invoke ZIPKEY
from within any other program (a word processor, a data-base
manager, etc.).  You can type just a 5-digit zipcode, and
ZIPKEY will fool the program you're running into thinking that
you have typed any or all of the following: the city name, the
state name and/or abbreviation, the zipcode, and any other
combination of fixed keystrokes.  This "keystroke output" can
be in any format.

ZIPKEY is completely configurable.  You can specify any
combination of keystrokes (the "hotkey") that will invoke
ZIPKEY when running another program.  You can also specify
alternate hotkeys to allow differing sources of zipcode
specifications (repeat the last zipcode, use a fixed sequence
of first digits, or get the zipcode from the screen), and/or a
differing format when ZIPKEY feeds the city/state/zip back
through the keyboard.  The configuration is stored in a disk
file, which is automatically read by ZIPKEY whenever it is
invoked.

ZIPKEY has a sophisticated abbreviation algorithm, allowing
you to specify a limit to the length of the city name, so
that it will fit into a fixed field.

ZIPKEY's database is based on data from numerous sources,
including the U.S. Postal Service.  It has been extensively
cross-checked to ensure accuracy and consistency.  The data is
highly compressed, so it won't occupy very much space on disk
or in memory.  The compression method was custom-designed for
this database, providing for maximum compaction while
retaining instant access.  It occupies less than 128K bytes
(less than 3 bytes per entry), small enough to allow
installation of the data base in either LIM-EMS or main
memory.  But access to the data is fast enough so that it is
perfectly reasonable to leave the database on a hard or RAM
disk-- in that case, resident ZIPKEY occupies only 19K of main
memory.

The zipcode data is updated monthly.  You can arrange to
receive update diskettes at any frequency from monthly to
annually.  Attractive pricing is offered for the licensing
of multiple keyboards.

The basic registration for one keyboard is $30.  You get one
disk with the latest data, the printed manual, and the license
to execute ZIPKEY in memory-resident mode for one year, or
in non-resident mode indefinitely.  Send a check, money order,
or Visa/MC/Amex number and expiration date to:

    Eric Isaacson Software
    416 E. University Ave.
    Bloomington, IN 47401-4739

    credit card orders can also call [phone]