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Contents
Legal notices 1
Express warranties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
U.S. Government restricted rights . . . . . . . . 2
Evaluation copies 3
Disk vendors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Bulletin board operators (sysops) . . . . . . . . 3
Colleges & teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Registering dbDIAL 4
Volume discounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Site licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Reseller discounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Part 1: Getting started
Chapter 1: What is dbDIAL? 7
Chapter 2: Installation 8
2.1 Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Setting up dbDIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 A word to the wise . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.1 DOS 3.20 users . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4.1 Call Data Standard . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4.2 Mouse support . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4.3 GRAB Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4.4 ZIPKEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4.5 4DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4.6 Task/Omni/DESQView . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4.7 Microsoft Windows . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4.8 DoubleDOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Chapter 3: Starting dbDIAL 13
3.1 Command line summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 Program initialization . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 4: dbDIAL as a TSR 17
4.1 Loading considerations . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.2 Size considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.2.1 TSR hotkey selection . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 5: Context sensitive help 20
Chapter 6: The dbDIAL records screen 22
ii
Chapter 7: Configuration 26
7.1 Database options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.2 Modem configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
7.3 Prefix/suffix codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
7.4 Miscellaneous options . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Part 2: Using dbDIAL
Chapter 8: Dealing with a dbDIAL record 37
8.1 Adding a record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
8.2 Editing a record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.3 Copying a record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.4 Finding a record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.4.1 Incremental searches . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.4.2 Regular searches . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
8.4.3 Abstract searches . . . . . . . . . . . 41
8.4.4 Note searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
8.5 GRABing an envelope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
8.6 TSR keyboard playback . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8.7 Killing a record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8.8 Moving records to another database . . . . . 43
8.9 Printing a record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.10 Utility options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Chapter 9: Dialing a phone number 45
9.1 Dialing from dbDIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
9.2 Dialing numbers on the screen . . . . . . . . 46
9.3 Dialing a phone number . . . . . . . . . . . 46
9.4 When the call ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 10: Current time for area code 49
10.1 Viewing by area code . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.2 Viewing by state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
10.3 Viewing by zip code . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Chapter 11: Stopwatch timer 51
Chapter 12: Dealing with every record 52
Chapter 13: Filtering out certain records 54
Chapter 14: Importing & exporting 56
14.1 Importing data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
14.1.1 ASCII delimited . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
14.1.2 GRAB Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
14.2 Exporting data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
14.2.1 ASCII delimited . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
14.2.2 dBASE III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
14.2.3 Freeform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
14.2.4 GRAB Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
14.2.5 SprintMerge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
iii
Chapter 15: The TOLLNMBR.INF file 64
Chapter 16: The TIMEZONE.INF file 65
Part 3: Included utilities
Chapter 17: dbDMerge utility 67
Chapter 18: Find-Dup utility 68
Chapter 19: GRAB2DBD utility 69
Chapter 20: SixSorts utility 71
Part 4: Appendixes
Appendix A: Status & error messages 74
A.1 Exit codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Appendix B: Helpful hints 80
B.1 Invoking dbDIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
B.2 Common questions & answers . . . . . . . . . 80
B.3 Special calling problems . . . . . . . . . . 82
B.4 Hotels & credit cards . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
B.5 Disable call waiting . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
B.6 One modem, two lines . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Appendix C: Notes for advanced users 87
Appendix D: Troubleshooting 89
D.1 Call history file problems . . . . . . . . . 89
D.2 Modem problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
D.3 DOS shell problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
D.4 If that doesn't help . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Index 91
Figures
Figure 5.1: Context sensitive help screen . . . . . . 20
Figure 6.1: Record selection screen . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 6.2: Main menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Figure 7.1: Database configuration screen . . . . . . 26
Figure 7.2: Modem configuration screen . . . . . . . 30
Figure 7.3: Prefix/suffix code configuration screen . 33
Figure 7.4: Miscellaneous items configuration screen .
34
Figure 8.1: Adding a database record . . . . . . . . 37
Figure 8.2: Incremental search in progress . . . . . 39
iv
Figure 9.1: Dialing from a database record . . . . . 45
Figure 9.2: dbDIAL working with a PC-File screen . . 46
Figure 10.1: Time of day by area code . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 13.1: File filtering submenu . . . . . . . . . 54
Figure 14.1: Simple ASCII delimited file . . . . . . 56
Figure 14.2: ASCII delimited import screen . . . . . 57
Figure 14.3: Sample mailmerge blueprint file . . . . 62
Figure 14.4: GRABDB import screen . . . . . . . . . . 62
Figure 15.1: Sample TOLLNMBR.INF file . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 15.2: Sample TOLLNMBR.INF exceptions . . . . . 64
Figure 16.1: Sample TIMEZONE.INF file . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 17.1: Sample dbDMerge session . . . . . . . . 67
Figure 18.1: Sample Find-Dup report . . . . . . . . . 68
Figure 19.1: Sample GRAB2DBD session . . . . . . . . 69
Figure 20.1: Sample SixSorts session . . . . . . . . 72
Figure B.1: Radio Shack parts for two-line switch . . 85
Figure B.2: Diagram for two-line switch . . . . . . . 86
Tables
Table 2.1: Mandatory dbDIAL files . . . . . . . . . . 8
Table 2.2: Optional dbDIAL files . . . . . . . . . . 9
Table 4.1: Hotkey values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Table 9.1: dbDIAL screen-dial keyboard commands . . . 47
Table 16.1: Time zone designators . . . . . . . . . . 65
Table A.1: dbDIAL exit codes . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
_________________________________________________________________
Legal notices
dbDIAL(tm) Version 1.0
ZPAY Payroll Systems, Inc.
th
2526 69 Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712
Support (900) 88-HELP-8
8am-9pm Monday-Friday (Central time)
$2.00 per minute
Orders
only (800) 468-4188
9:30am-5pm Monday-Friday (Eastern time)
Fax line (813) 866-8034
24 hours a day
Compu-
Serve send private mail messages to 70040,645
GEnie send private mail messages to P.MAYER1
InterNet send to 70040.645@compuserve.com
Telex send to 3762848. The first line of your
message must say "TO:EASYPLEX:70040,645"
dbDIAL software & documentation Copyright 1990,91 by Barn Owl
Software and licensed to ZPAY Payroll Systems, Inc. All rights
reserved worldwide. Any specific hardware/software names used in
this manual are the (registered) trademarks of specific com-
panies.
You may not modify dbDIAL in any way that changes the program's
actual computer instructions without approval from ZPAY Payroll
Systems.
We strive to produce accurate documentation but we're only human.
This manual may contain any number of typographical, graphical,
printing, or interpretation errors.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 2
Express warranties
"This program is produced by a member of the Association
of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make
sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you
are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with
an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may
be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve
a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not
provide technical support for members' products. Please
write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon,
MI 49442 or send a Compuserve message via CompuServe
Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536". The Ombudsman may be
contacted by FAX by sending to the ASP FAX number:
(616) 788-2765. In communication with the Ombudsman
please include a telephone number and/or FAX if
available.
dbDIAL is offered under the shareware concept, in which users may
thoroughly test the program before deciding to pay for it.
Because of the diversity of conditions, hardware, and other soft-
ware under which the program may be used, no warranty of fitness
for a particular purpose can be offered.
Physical materials (manuals, disks, etc.) supplied by ZPAY are
warranted to be free of defects in workmanship for 90 days after
purchase. Users may return defective materials for replacement
during this time at no charge.
ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING THOSE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE LIMITED TO THE TERMS OF THE
EXPRESS WARRANTIES. IN NO CASE SHALL ZPAY PAYROLL SYSTEMS'
PRODUCT LIABILITY EXCEED THE MONETARY FEES PAID FOR THE RIGHT TO
LEGALLY USE THE PRODUCT.
U.S. Government restricted rights
Use, duplication, or disclosure by the government is subject to
restrictions as set forth in Rights in Technical Data and Com-
puter Software para (c)(1)(ii), DFARS 242.227-7013 (10/88) and
FAR 42.227-19 (6/87). Contractor is ZPAY Payroll Systems Inc.,
th
2526 69 Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712.
Evaluation copies 3
_________________________________________________________________
Evaluation copies
You may try dbDIAL on a 30-day trial basis to determine if this
program meets your needs. You must then either purchase your
copy/copies of the program, or quit using it.
You may give UNMODIFIED copies of dbDIAL to others so they can
evaluate it for their needs, subject to the same restrictions and
conditions above.
Disk vendors
The Association of Shareware Professionals sets standards for
disk vendors if they wish to obtain "ASP approved" status. You
can learn more by writing to the ASP vendor membership commit-
tee, 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442.
ZPAY Payroll Systems, like many ASP members, lets ASP approved
disk vendors distribute dbDIAL without having to ask first. We
send master disks to ASP approved disk vendors at no charge.
If you are not an ASP approved disk vendor, please send a copy of
your catalog along with your request to distribute our product.
Bulletin board operators (sysops)
Bulletin board operators (sysops) may offer unmodified copies of
dbDIAL on BBSs and other electronic information services so
others can download the program and evaluate it for their needs.
Colleges & teachers
ZPAY Payroll Systems is happy to help teachers offering courses
on dbDIAL. We can supply master disks & manuals as course
materials. Please contact us for more details. Our address &
phone numbers are on page 1.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 4
_________________________________________________________________
Registering dbDIAL
Please submit a completed registration form with proper payment
to continue using dbDIAL after your 30-day trial period. Look
for the REGISTER.FRM file on your master disk.
Your dbDIAL registration includes the following:
* A printed manual and master disks;
* Unlimited support via our toll support line (see page 1 for
details);
* Information on how to get a CompuServe IntroPak that waives
the normal sign-up fee and gives you a $15 usage credit on
top of it;
* Help "beta test" future versions of dbDIAL before they are
publicly marketed.
Volume discounts
The following discounts apply for regular orders. Each package
consists of a set of disks, a professionally printed manual, and
the registration benefits shown above. This is a per order
discount, not an accumulative order discount.
001 - 002 packages 00% discount
003 - 009 packages 05% discount
010 - 019 packages 10% discount
020 - 049 packages 20% discount
050 - 099 packages 30% discount
100 - XXX packages ask for details
ZPAY Payroll Sytems accepts purchase orders (POs) only from
schools, government agencies, and Fortune 1000 companies. Please
add a $10 processing fee on POs less than $100.
Site licenses
ZPAY Payroll Systems offers site licenses if you don't need
manuals and technical support for each copy of the program you
use. We supply you with one "gold" disk & manual and give you a
license so up to XX people in your organization can legally use
the program.
See the SITELIC.DOC file included with dbDIAL for more details.
5
Reseller discounts
Please contact ZPAY if you resell software and wish to offer
dbDIAL to your customers.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 6
______________________________PART 1_____________________________
Getting started
Chapter 1, "What is dbDIAL?" 7
____________________________Chapter 1____________________________
What is dbDIAL?
dbDIAL is a Rolodex-like database program designed to dial voice
and fax phone numbers if you have a Hayes compatible modem. It
has the power to go resident in memory as a TSR, letting you work
in other applications (like a spreadsheet or word processor) and
call on dbDIAL without having to exit from the other program.
Important details:
* Menu-driven Rolodex-like application with mouse support and
context-sensitive help;
* Runs as a standalone program or as a fully functional 7k
TSR;
* Stores up to four different phone numbers per record and
dials them if you have a Hayes-compatible modem;
* Stores up to two billion variable length records and
instantly sorts databases six different ways;
* Write more than 2K of notes for each record in the database
using a built-in professional text editor;
* Plucks names & addresses displayed on the screen by other
applications so you don't have to type them in yourself;
* Switches between two databases with a single keystroke;
* Compatible with GRAB Plus for DOS and GRAB Plus for Micro-
soft Windows;
* Stuffs names & addresses into the DOS keyboard buffer or
into the Microsoft Windows clipboard at your discretion;
* Dials numbers displayed by other applications -- it even
dials "vanity" phone numbers like 800-IBM-DISK;
* Displays the current time of day for any area code, sorted
by area code or by state at your discretion;
* Compatible with ZIPKEY, a powerful zip code lookup program
available from Eric Isaacson Software;
* Call-again reminders for each record help you follow up on
contacts;
* Speedy access to any record in the database using abstract
or rigid search criteria covering every field (even the
notes);
* Incremental search capability locates records the instant
you start typing a name or company;
* Keeps a log of every call you make in a CDS-compatible file;
* Record output language lets you merge letters, generate
mailing labels, and export whole databases;
* Powerful filter function temporarily "masks" records if they
don't meet your criteria;
* Utility functions let you move records to another database,
delete the notes for every record, and so on;
* Import and export data in different formats -- with or with-
out notes.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 8
____________________________Chapter 2____________________________
Installation
2.1 Requirements
dbDIAL will run on an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or compatible com-
puter with a hard disk and one floppy disk. You must use DOS 2.0
or better and have at least 500k of free memory. A Hayes-com-
patible modem is optional.
The following tables describe the necessary and the optional
files which make up dbDIAL:
Table 2.1: Mandatory dbDIAL files
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DBDIAL.EXE The main program file
DBDIAL.OPL A user interface "overlay" file
DBDIAL.OVR A user interface "overlay" file
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2, "Installation" 9
Table 2.2: Optional dbDIAL files
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DBDIAL.HLP The program's context sensitive help file
DBDIAL.CDS CDS call history file, but it can be any file-
name you choose
DBDIAL.CFG dbDIAL configuration file, but it can be any
filename you choose
DBDIAL.DAT dbDIAL database file, but it can be any filename
you choose (it must end with ".DAT" and have a
corresponding ".IX" file)
DBDIAL.IX dbDIAL database index file, but it can be any
filename you choose (it must end with ".IX" and
have a corresponding ".DAT" file)
DBDIAL.PIF Microsoft Windows 3.0 program file. Consult
your Windows manual for information on how to
use a .PIF file.
README.1ST Contains late-breaking dbDIAL notes
SAMPLE.BAT Runs a sample dbDIAL session
SAMPLE.DAT A sample dbDIAL database so you can get started
SAMPLE.* Various other sample files so you can get
started
DBDMERGE.EXE Appends dbDIAL databases to create a "master"
database (see chapter 17)
FIND-DUP.EXE Reports on suspected duplicate records in a
dbDIAL database (see chapter 18)
GRAB2DBD.EXE Converts ZPAY's GRABDB databases to dbDIAL's
database format (see chapter 19)
SIXSORTS.EXE A conversion utility to make dbDIAL sort data-
bases six different ways instead of five (see
chapter 20)
AVRY5260.LJ2 A mailmerge "blueprint" file (see
chapter 14.2.3) prepared for people who use
Avery 5160/5260 labels on a LaserJet or DeskJet
or compatible printer
AVRY5260.PS A mailmerge "blueprint" file (see chapter 14.2.3
prepared for people who use Avery 5160/5260
labels on a PostScript compatible printer
AVRY5267.LJ2 A mailmerge "blueprint" file (see
chapter 14.2.3) prepared for people who use
Avery 5167/5267 labels on a LaserJet or DeskJet
or compatible printer
CONGRESS.DAT A sample dbDIAL database so you can call
senators & congressmen in Washington, D.C.
DIR-ASST.DAT A sample dbDIAL database so you can dial the
information operator for any area code in the
U.S.
TIMEZONE.INF A data file containing area code & time zone
details for the United States and Canada (see
chapter 16)
TOLLNMBR.INF A sample data file containing phone number
prefixes in your local area code which must be
dialed as a "toll" call (see chapter 15)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 10
2.2 Setting up dbDIAL
dbDIAL is easy to install. Insert the first master disk in the
appropriate floppy drive (we'll use the A: drive as an example)
and type the following commands:
A:
INSTALL
The installation program will ask where you want to install the
program.
Various sample files come with dbDIAL. Feel free to play around!
You can get a feeling for how the program works by typing "DBDIAL
SAMPLE" at the DOS prompt.
2.3 A word to the wise
chronology (kra na"l'a jee) n., ... 2. the arrangement
of events, dates, etc. in the order of occurrence 3. a
list or table of dates in their proper sequence...
nd
-- New World Dictionary, 2 ed.
You must set the DOS date & time correctly each time you boot up
if you wish to keep an accurate log of the calls you make. If
you don't do it, your call history files will show calls being
made on 1-1-80 just after midnight. That's not right!
Please don't change your DOS date or time while using dbDIAL. It
will be reflected in your call history files and could pose prob-
lems later on.
2.3.1 DOS 3.20 users
Some people who use DOS 3.20 may already know about a weird bug
in which the DOS date stays the same when the clock strikes mid-
night. dbDIAL relies on the DOS date when logging phone calls.
We say "some" people may have this bug. DOS 3.21 corrected the
problem but, for whatever reason, some of them tell applications
they are operating under DOS 3.20. (Zenith's DOS 3.21 does this,
among others.)
Chapter 2, "Installation" 11
2.4 Compatibility
2.4.1 Call Data Standard
dbDIAL is compatible with "CDS", the Call Data Standard, specifi-
cation 1.0. dbDIAL is classified as a [voice] communications
program. Please contact ZPAY if you want to learn more about the
Call Data Standard.
2.4.2 Mouse support
dbDIAL works with Microsoft, Logitech, and compatible mouse
devices. The left button moves highlight bars and mouse cursors
across the screen. The right button works like the ESC key.
Press both the left & right buttons to bring up context sensitive
help. If your mouse has three buttons, press all three to simu-
late the CTRL-ENTER key.
You must load a mouse device driver in memory before running
dbDIAL or loading it as a TSR. Consult the manual supplied with
your mouse device for more information.
Sadly, mice are untidy animals in the IBM PC world. dbDIAL may
not work correctly with extremely old versions of the Microsoft
mouse device driver. Ask the manufacturer for a software update
if this happens.
2.4.3 GRAB Plus
dbDIAL works with GRAB Plus, a powerful envelope printing program
available from ZPAY. dbDIAL automatically detects if you loaded
GRAB Plus in memory as a TSR and calls on it for you.
Note: you must load GRAB Plus as a TSR before loading dbDIAL as
a TSR.
See below for details about compatibility with the Windows 3.0
version of GRAB Plus.
2.4.4 ZIPKEY
dbDIAL works with ZIPKEY, a powerful zip code database utility
available from Eric Isaacson Software. dbDIAL automatically
detects and uses ZIPKEY if it is loaded in memory as a TSR -- you
don't have to configure ZIPKEY to work with dbDIAL.
You can override the ZIPKEY defaults anytime by entering the city
and state yourself. dbDIAL fills them only if both fields are
blank.
Note: you must load ZIPKEY as a TSR before loading dbDIAL as
a TSR.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 12
2.4.5 4DOS
dbDIAL is tested under the latest versions of "4DOS", a popular
replacement for Microsoft's COMMAND.COM command processor. (See
the advertisement at the back of this manual.)
2.4.6 Task/Omni/DESQView
dbDIAL is compatible with TaskView, OmniView, and DESQView. Load
it like any program that writes screen data via the BIOS.
(Consult your multitasking manual if you are unfamiliar with this
concept.) dbDIAL needs at least 500k of memory to run. You
should give it up to 640k if you can spare it because the program
"grows" while working.
2.4.7 Microsoft Windows
Even though dbDIAL runs as a traditional DOS application, it DOES
understand the Microsoft Windows 3.0 working environment. The
program can access the Windows "clipboard," freeing you from
having to clip & paste text manually. This means you can load
both the DOS and Windows editions of GRAB Plus, for example.
dbDIAL will load addresses into the clipboard if it runs under
Windows, and will look for the GRAB Plus TSR under DOS.
dbDIAL can also read directly from the Windows 3.0 clipboard when
you write notes for a given record.
If you want to use dbDIAL as a TSR with a DOS database program
running under Windows, you must load/unload it as part of a batch
file used to start the desired application. Tell Windows to exe-
cute the batch file instead of the database program.
If you load dbDIAL in memory before Windows, you must take care
not to press the program's hotkeys while working in a DOS window
-- your system will hang if you try it.
dbDIAL can't dial phone numbers displayed on a graphics screen;
therefore it cannot dial phone numbers displayed by a Windows
application.
dbDIAL comes with its own Windows 3.0 .PIF file so you can use
the program immediately.
2.4.8 DoubleDOS
dbDIAL is NOT fully compatible with DoubleDOS. Intense screen
bleed-thru occurs if you try to run it as the background task.
(Consult your DoubleDOS manual if you are unfamiliar with this.)
Run dbDIAL only as a foreground task.
Chapter 3, "Starting dbDIAL" 13
____________________________Chapter 3____________________________
Starting dbDIAL
3.1 Command line summary
DBDIAL [options...]
dbDIAL begins when you enter "DBDIAL" at the DOS prompt. There
are quite a few options you can use to alter the way the program
runs, but don't worry. Some are for advanced concepts, and some
may not even apply to you.
dbFile Database filename. The program looks for DBDIAL.DAT
by default but this option lets you specify another
name. You can also specify a path if you wish. The
file will be created if it doesn't already exist.
/1[:bbbb[:ddd]]
/2[:bbbb[:ddd]]
/3[:bbbb[:ddd]]
/4[:bbbb[:ddd]]
Modem connected to COMx. You can optionally specify
the baud rate ("bbbb") and character transmission
delay speed ("ddd"). dbDIAL defaults to COM1, 1200
baud, 25ms delay.
/8[y/n] Toggle 8x8 font. Toggles EGA/VGA "8x8" font to
provide more than 25 lines on a screen. It only
works if an EGA or VGA monitor is present. You can
optionally append a "Y" or "N" to this command to
force the 8x8 font into a specific mode (on or off);
otherwise it swaps the current state of the monitor.
/9 Dial "9" for outside line. Tells dbDIAL to dial "9"
for an outside line before dialing the telephone
number. It initializes the default local and long-
distance prefix strings so they have a "9" as the
first character. (You can change them if you wish.)
/A Local area code. A matching area code will be
stripped from the phone number and treated as a local
call before dialing. Note: prefixes & suffixex are
still appended if you specified any for the number.
/Dx[:nnnn[:string]]
Default TSR drive, hotkey, & ID string. dbDIAL
normally uses its own drive/hotkey/ID string or the
ones you declared in the "File/Change/Config/Other
items" entry screen, but you can override them with
this option. You must also specify the /R option for
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 14
this command to have any effect. See below for
detailed information.
/E Ignore EMS. dbDIAL uses expanded (LIM EMS) memory if
available. This command tells dbDIAL to ignore EMS
memory.
/I Ignore configuration files. dbDIAL is geared to hunt
for its configuration file. This option tells the
program to use its internal defaults.
/KcfgFile
dbDIAL configuration filename. You can optionally
specify a path to the file.
/M Memory allocation toggle. Increases the size of the
program's TSR memory "swap" file so it can support
wildcard "*.*" filenames. By default, dbDIAL limits
the size of the swap file so it can come up faster
when you press the TSR hotkey. You may want to
specify this command if you have enough EMS or if you
store the swap file on a RAMdisk.
/N Noiseless operation. Toggles the program into
silence at startup.
/P Prefix/suffix editing. By default, dbDIAL lets you
edit the prefix & suffix code specifier for each
work/home/fax/other phone number. This option turns
off field editing if you don't need special prefixes
& suffixes. (You can also do this in the configura-
tion file if you wish.)
/Q Confirm quit. dbDIAL normally exits without question
if you press ESC at the record selection screen.
This option forces the program to confirm with you
before exiting.
/R Load as a TSR. See below for detailed information,
and see above for the /D and /M options.
/S Database save mode. The program normally "buffers"
disk writes to increase speed. This can result in
minor problems if you reboot or turn off the computer
when dbDIAL is still using a database. This option
turns off buffering, at the expense of writing to
disk more often. (It doesn't affect the speed of
disk reads, though.)
/U Unload from TSR status. See below for detailed
information.
Chapter 3, "Starting dbDIAL" 15
/X Ignore XMS memory. Similar to the /E option, but it
tells dbDIAL to specifically ignore extended (LIM
XMS) memory if present.
/X1 Single swap file. dbDIAL temporarily allocates a
second memory swap file when it swaps out to disk, or
it permanently allocates about 1MB when it swaps out
to XMS. (It always allocates the minimum memory
needed if it swaps to EMS.) The /X1 option tells
dbDIAL to use a single disk-based swap file, or half
as much room in XMS memory as it normally uses. This
can prove beneficial if you run low on disk space or
can't spare much XMS memory. NOTE: this option
forces dbDIAL to load as a 11k TSR instead of
just 8k. It also increases the time it takes for the
program to swap back into memory when you press the
hotkey. See section 4.2 for more information.
/XX Choose XMS over EMS. Some people have both EMS and
XMS memory. When given a choice, dbDIAL chooses EMS.
However, this switch makes the program choose XMS for
its memory swap file. Note: dbDIAL will still look
for EMS to hold its "overlay" file unless you specify
the /E option. You should use /E instead of /XX if
you want the program to totally ignore EMS.
/Z Zoom memo notes. By default, the program dedicates
only a few lines on the screen so you can see the
notes for each record in the database. This remains
true even while you edit the notes -- but if you
specify this command, dbDIAL will "zoom" the memo
editor window so it takes up the full screen while
editing. This gives you more lines on the screen to
see the notes. (You can also set this option as part
of a configuration file.)
/[x Override color/mono detection. dbDIAL sometimes
fails to detect the correct status of a color or
monochrome system. Use /[C to force the program to
think in color; use /[M to force it to think in mono-
chrome.
Syntax: You must put a space between each option. dbDIAL accepts
parameters in any order, but you should use /K first if you
specify it. And finally, you may use "-x" instead of "/x" if you
wish.
See appendix B for visual aids on starting dbDIAL at the DOS
prompt.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 16
3.2 Program initialization
When dbDIAL starts up, it looks for the configuration file
DBDIAL.CFG if you didn't specify one on the command line. It
searches:
1. The default directory;
2. The directory where the dbDIAL program is kept; and,
3. The directories listed on the DOS PATH (consult your DOS
manual if you are unfamiliar with this).
Chapter 4, "dbDIAL as a TSR" 17
____________________________Chapter 4____________________________
dbDIAL as a TSR
When you run dbDIAL with the /R option to load it as a TSR, there
are two separate "hotkeys" you can use to bring the program up.
Each hotkey has a specific purpose which we'll get into in a bit.
The defaults are ALT-0 (zero, not the letter O) and ALT-[ ... but
you can change them if you wish.
ALT-0 brings up the program just as if you had run it from the
command line without the /R option. You return to the underlying
program as soon as you exit -- and it waits for you to press
ALT-0 again.
ALT-[ is a special hotkey: it lets you dial phone numbers shown
on the screen of some other application. This is useful if some-
one sends you electronic mail to call a special number. You can
"pluck" it off the screen, dial it, and keep a log of the call.
ALT-[ can also be used to designate the end of a call placed by
either the ALT-0 or ALT-[ command. dbDIAL will log the call the
same way in any case. Of course, you must be logging calls for
this to work.
4.1 Loading considerations
Network users must load dbDIAL after any network shells.
Multitasker users must load dbDIAL after any system managers like
DESQView, OmniView, TaskView, or Microsoft Windows. Loading
dbDIAL as a TSR within a partition is fine as long as the parti-
tion is at least 500k.
GRAB Plus should be loaded as a TSR before loading dbDIAL.EXE as
a TSR. This lets you address envelopes just as if you ran dbDIAL
in non-TSR mode.
4.2 Size considerations
dbDIAL is a large program yet it takes only 8k when running as a
TSR. In simple terms, the program leaves behind a small "kernel"
and writes the rest of itself out to a hard disk, RAMdisk, EMS
memory, or XMS memory. This kernel waits for you to press the
hotkey (ALT-0 by default), at which point it reads the rest of
dbDIAL back into memory. When done, the kernel swaps everything
back out and waits for you to press the hotkey again.
Note: dbDIAL's swapping process speeds up if it uses EMS or XMS
memory or a RAMdisk. It also uses less regular memory and swaps
faster if you avoid the /X1 command line option.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 18
You must satisfy one of the following conditions if you want to
run the program in TSR mode:
* 500k of free EMS memory to load as an 8k TSR; or,
* 1MB of free hard disk space, RAMdisk space, or XMS memory to
load as an 8k TSR; or,
* 500k of free hard disk space, RAMdisk space, or XMS memory
to load as an 11k TSR (via the /X1 command line option).
Consult your DOS manual if you need more information about EMS/
XMS memory or RAMdisks.
If dbDIAL swaps to a hard disk or RAMdisk, it will allocate
about 500k of space for a hidden file in the root directory. The
program will temporarily need 1MB of disk space when it actually
swaps in and out of memory -- but you can get around this if you
wish by using the /X1 command line option.
If you want to use a specific disk drive for this purpose, you
can accomplish it a few different ways:
1. Generate a configuration file in which you explicitly set
the "Default TSR drive" option; or,
2. Use dbDIAL's /D command line option to specify the drive you
want to use; or,
3. Make the target drive the DOS default and then invoke
dbDIAL.
4.2.1 TSR hotkey selection
If you want to specify a different hotkey value in dbDIAL, pick
one key from the first section of table 4.1 and zero or more keys
from the second section.
When you've chosen the keys you want, add the numbers together
and use the final result for the /D command.
Chapter 4, "dbDIAL as a TSR" 19
Table 4.1: Hotkey values
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CHOOSE EXACTLY ONE:
A = 30 1 = 02 <F1> = 59
B = 48 2 = 03 <F2> = 60
C = 46 3 = 04 <F3> = 61
D = 32 4 = 05 <F4> = 62
E = 18 5 = 06 <F5> = 63
F = 33 6 = 07 <F6> = 64
G = 34 7 = 08 <F7> = 65
H = 35 8 = 09 <F8> = 66
I = 23 9 = 10 <F9> = 67
J = 36 0 = 11 <F10> = 68
K = 37 <F11> = 217
L = 38 - = 12 <F12> = 218
M = 50 = = 13
N = 49 \ = 43 <SCROLL> = 70
O = 24 ` = 41 <HOME> = 71
P = 25 [ = 26 <END> = 79
Q = 16 ] = 27 <PGUP> = 73
R = 19 ; = 39 <PGDN> = 81
S = 31 ' = 40 <INS> = 82
T = 20 , = 51 <DEL> = 83
U = 22 . = 52 <PLUS> = 78
V = 47 / = 53 <MINUS> = 74
W = 17 <PRTSC> = 55
X = 45 <ESC> = 01 <LEFT> = 75
Y = 21 <BS> = 14 <RIGHT> = 77
Z = 44 <TAB> = 16 <CNTR5> = 76
<SP> = 57 <UP> = 72
<DOWN> = 80
<SYSREQ> = 84
CHOOSE ZERO OR MORE:
<ALT> = 2048 <LT SHIFT> = 512
<CTRL> = 1024 <RT SHIFT> = 256
-----------------------------------------------------------------
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 20
____________________________Chapter 5____________________________
Context sensitive help
Context sensitive help is available anytime by pressing the F1
key. Don't know what a particular data entry field or menu item
is for? Move the highlight bar over the item in question and
press F1. It's that simple.
If you have a mouse, you can press the left & right buttons
simultaneously instead of F1.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
/----------------------------|Editing Record # 527|----------------------------\
| Mr/Mrs/etc. [Mr. ] |
|/-------------------- Tag fields --------------------\ |
|| M = mayor |
|| S = senator | |
|| |] |
|| If you wanted to do something with all the records | |
|| for federal elected politicians, you could set the | |
|| File/Filter option so tag field #1 equals "F". |] 12345 |
|| When dbDIAL begins filtering the database, only | Tags [ ] |
|| the federal records will be displayed. It's as if | ] Suffix [ ] |
|| no other records exist in the database. If you # ] Suffix [ ] |
|| perform any global database functions, only the | ] Suffix [ ] |
|| filtered records themselves will be affected. All | ] Suffix [ ] |
|| other records will be ignored. | Last call [11-04-91] |
|| |------------------------|
|| Let's suppose you want to do something only with |e" around the second |
|| the records for your U.S. senators. You can set | Contact him at CIS PPN |
|| up the File/Filter option so tag field #1 equals | |
|| "F" and tag field #2 equals "S". dbDIAL will | |
|| filter out all but the federal senators. |
|\|F1 for more help|--------------|PgUp/PgDn for more|/ |
| |
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
<F1> HELP <CTRL-Y> Clear <CTRL-R> Restore <CTRL-ENTER> Done <ESC> Quit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 5.1: Context sensitive help screen
Many help topics contain more information than the window can
show at one time. If so, you'll see a message in the lower right
corner of the window telling you to press PgUp or PgDn to see
more text. If you have a mouse device, put the mouse cursor on
the up/down arrows (located on the right side of the help window)
and press the left mouse button.
In some cases you may find the help screen has its own highlight
bar. Use the cursor keys to move this bar so it covers a topic
of interest, and press ENTER. The program will then display help
on the related topic. You can pick & choose your way through all
the various help topics pertaining to the original subject.
Chapter 5, "Context sensitive help" 21
You can rapidly "flip back" through previous help topics by
pressing ALT-F1.
Keep an eye on the bottom left corner of the help window to see
if you can press F1 again for even more help. Doing so gives you
access to major topics of interest in the program. Move the
highlight bar over a topic and press ENTER.
Press ESC when finished. You'll be right where you left off in
the program.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 22
____________________________Chapter 6____________________________
The dbDIAL records screen
When you start dbDIAL or press its hotkey to invoke it as a TSR,
you'll see a screen much like this:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a record Sort: Person
/--------------------------------------------------------------------|09:11:08|\
|Last name Company City St Last call Next call N |
|<None> 375 MAW/PA Scott AFB IL |
|<None> 800 Directory Assist 02-20-91 v/ |
|<None> ABC Television Headq New York NY |
|<None> Altex Electronics 08-29-90 v/ |
|<None> American Express Cor 08-24-90 |
|<None> AT&T Billing Dept. Orlando FL v/ |
|<None> AT&T Business Office Itasca IL |
|<None> Avery Schaumburg IL |
|<None> B.Dalton Bookstore Fairview H IL 11-21-90 |
|<None> Boatman's Bank O'Fallon IL |
|<None> Business One Irwin Homewood IL |
|<None> Call Management Prod Broomfield CO 09-04-90 v/ |
|<None> Capitol Advantage McLean VA 11-01-90 v/ |
|<None> Capri Sun, Inc. San Mateo CA 05-21-90 v/ |
|<None> Caseyville R&P, Inc. Fairview H IL |
|<None> CBS Television Headq New York NY |
|<None> Central Bank & Trust Fort Worth TX |
|<None> Channel 1 BBS 12-01-90 |
|<None> Charge-It System North Subu IL v/ |
|<None> Circus Circus Hotel Las Vegas NV 07-06-90 v/ |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|408 records|/
F1=HELP F2=Add F3=Edit F4=Kill F5=Find F6-F9=Grab F10=Menu ESC=Quit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 6.1: Record selection screen
Each line of information on the screen represents one person in
the dbDIAL database. One line is always highlighted -- this is
known as the "highlight bar" and it designates the current
record. Most of the program's functionality pertains to the
current record.
The following keys will set the current record appropriately:
Down Arrow Moves the highlight bar one line down
Up Arrow Moves the highlight bar one line up
PgDn Shows the next screen of records in the
database
PgUp Shows the previous screen of records in the
database
Chapter 6, "The dbDIAL records screen" 23
Home Moves the highlight bar to the first record
in the database (with respect to the current
sorting and filtering methods)
End Moves the highlight bar to the last record
in the database (with respect to the current
sorting and filtering methods)
In most cases you can just start typing the first few characters
of the person's name or company. dbDIAL will instantly move the
highlight bar to the closest match based on your input. (See
chapter 8.4.1 for details.)
Press ENTER or F10 when you position the highlight bar on the
correct record. This invokes the dbDIAL main menu so you can
call the person, write notes, etc. Use the cursor keys or a
mouse device to select a menu command, or press any capitalized &
highlighted letter. This will make the program perform the
selected menu function:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a menu item Sort: Person
/----------------------------------|INCR KEY|------------------------|09:15:04|\
|/------------------------------- 375 MAW/PA -------------------------------\N |
|| File Record Dial Time Ended Help Quit Shell | |
|\------------------------------------------------------------ version 1.02 /v/ |
|<N| Before | ABC Television Headq New York NY |
|<N| Change | Altex Electronics 08-29-90 v/ |
|<N| Export | American Express Cor 08-24-90 |
|<N| Filter | AT&T Billing Dept. Orlando FL v/ |
|<N| Import | AT&T Business Office Itasca IL |
|<N| Print | Avery Schaumburg IL |
|<N| Sorts | B.Dalton Bookstore Fairview H IL 11-21-90 |
|<N| Utils /-- Global --\tman's Bank O'Fallon IL |
|<N\-------| Case notes/------------\win Homewood IL |
|<None> | Details | Mixed case | Prod Broomfield CO 09-04-90 v/ |
|<None> | Kill notes| Upper case |ge McLean VA 11-01-90 v/ |
|<None> | Mailmerge \------------/ San Mateo CA 05-21-90 v/ |
|<None> | Name split |eyville R&P, Inc. Fairview H IL |
|<None> | Pack-purge | Television Headq New York NY |
|<None> | Zipkey |tral Bank & Trust Fort Worth TX |
|<None> \------------/nnel 1 BBS 12-01-90 |
|<None> Charge-It System North Subu IL v/ |
|<None> Circus Circus Hotel Las Vegas NV 07-06-90 v/ |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|408 records|/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 6.2: Main menu
The "File" submenu brings up a number of database options
fully described in chapter 12.
The "Record" submenu brings up a number of options fully
described in chapter 8.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 24
The "Dial" submenu lets you pick which number you want to dial
(work, home, fax, other) via your modem. This option is
protected from selection if no phone numbers are stored in the
current record. See chapter 9.
"Time" lets you view the current time of day for any area
code, and it also offers a "stopwatch" capability when you
need to time a certain event. See chapters 10 and 11.
"Ended" logs the end of a call (for reporting purposes). This
option is protected from selection unless a call is currently
in progress. See chapter 9.4.
"Help" brings up a useful context sensitive help facility so
you can learn more about dbDIAL. See chapter 5 for more
information. NOTE: you can press F1 at any menu or submenu or
data entry field and receive instant details on what it's for.
(That's what they mean by "context sensitive help.")
"Quit" terminates dbDIAL and returns you to the DOS prompt.
The "Shell" menu item lets you temporarily "shell to DOS" so
you can perform other chores. This option is protected from
selection if no phone numbers are stored in the current
record. When done, type "EXIT" and press ENTER. You'll be
right where you left off.
Some of the menu functions have "shortcut keys" you can use to
make life easier:
F1 Bring up context sensitive help
ALT-A
F2 Add a new dbDIAL record
ALT-D
ENTER
F10 Bring up the dbDIAL main menu so you can
dial a phone number (or do anything else for
that matter)
ALT-E
F3 Edit the current dbDIAL record
ALT-F
F5 Find a dbDIAL record
ALT-H Just hung up on current phone call
ALT-K
F4 Kill the current dbDIAL record
ALT-N Find record based on string in notes field
Chapter 6, "The dbDIAL records screen" 25
ALT-O Temporarily drop to DOS
ALT-S Reset the database to the default sorting
sequence
ALT-T Display current time for every area code
ALT-X
CTRL-C Quit, return to dbDIAL's main menu
F6
F7
F8
F9 Display the current record in various
formats suitable for printing on envelopes
(useful for those who use GRAB Plus)
ALT-F6
ALT-F7
ALT-F8
ALT-F9 Similar to the F6-F9 commands shown above,
but they feed addresses to an underlying
program as a sequence of keystrokes (useful
for typing names & addresses in a word pro-
cessing document)
ALT-F10 Similar to ALT-F6 through ALT-F9, but it
only feeds telephone numbers into the key-
board
CTRL-N Find record based on an abstract string of
characters contained anywhere in the record
(not just in a particular field or in the
notes)
CTRL-F3 Switch to previous database
CTRL-F4 Switch to a database you name
CTRL-F5 Continue searching on prior ALT-F or F5
entry
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 26
____________________________Chapter 7____________________________
Configuration
7.1 Database options
If you choose the "File/Change/Config/Database" item from the
main menu, the following data entry screen will appear:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a menu item Sort: Person
/----------------------------------|INCR KEY|------------------------|09:16:33|\
|/----------------------|Database options|-----------------------\ Next call N |
|| Database: \MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA.DAT |
|| Database sort #: 1 Log each call: Y Cond upper case: Y # v/ |
|| Remind to call: Y Log local calls: Y Edit notes first: Y | |
|| TSR replay ph#: Y Log as business: N Print the notes: Y | v/ |
|| Last name first: N Unique log file: N Zoom note editor: N | |
|| Call time alarm: 120 Logged by name: Y Menu shows ph#: Y | v/ |
|| Local area code: 813 | |
|| | |
|| FIELD # TITLE EDIT DISPLAY LENGTH | |
|| Field #0 Mr/Mrs/etc. Y N 4 | |
|| Field #1 Last name Y Y 20 | |
|| Field #2 First name Y Y 20 | v/ |
|| Field #3 Company Y Y 20 | v/ |
|| Field #4 Address #1 Y N 35 | v/ |
|| Field #5 Address #2 Y N 35 | |
|| Field #6 City Y Y 10 | |
|| Field #7 State Y Y 2 | |
|| Field #8 Zip Y N 5 |
|\-----------------|Press CTRL-ENTER when done|------------------/ v/ |
|<None> Circus Circus Hotel Las Vegas NV 07-06-90 v/ |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|408 records|/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 7.1: Database configuration screen
This screen contains more information than you can see at one
time; the window scrolls so you can gain access to all the
fields. A scroll bar on the right side of the window frame gives
you a relative idea of where you sit in the data entry screen.
Here is a breakdown of each item and its function:
"Database:" the name of the database currently in use. For
information only; you cannot change it from this screen.
"Database sort #:" is the default sorting sequence for your
database. Here are the values you can assign:
1. Person's name
Chapter 7, "Configuration" 27
2. Company name
3. Zip code
4. Date of last call
5. Date to call again
1
6. Social Security number
"Remind to call:" Each time you open a database, dbDIAL
checks today's date against the earliest date you must next
call someone and lets you know if you're due (or overdue!) for
a follow-up call. You can disable this check by pressing "N".
"TSR replay ph#:" If you press ALT-F6 through ALT-F9 while
dbDIAL runs as a TSR, it plays back the name & address of the
current record into your keyboard buffer (see chapter 8.6 for
details). This option dictates whether the phone numbers for
the current record also play back into the keyboard.
"Last name first:" Many people have gotten used to seeing
first names first on data entry screens, but not everyone.
Press "Y" if you want last names to come first.
"Call time alarm:" Sets an alarm to beep at regular intervals
while you talk on the phone. The value is in seconds; the
default is 120 seconds (two minutes). This serves two
purposes. First, it tells you the length of the call -- use-
ful for salesmen who must "close the deal" in a set amount of
time. Second, it reminds you in case you forgot to press
ALT-H to tell dbDIAL you hung up on the call. Set this value
to zero if you don't want to be reminded of your calls at
regular intervals.
"Local area code:" tells the program to ignore a specific area
code and treat the number as a local call -- especially useful
if you take dbDIAL on road trips. Consider a businessman who
flies around the country. Today he may land in New York,
tomorrow in St. Louis. No matter where he is, he must call
the people in his database. When he gets to New York, he sets
this option to "212"; dbDIAL then dials those numbers as local
calls. When the businessman arrives in St. Louis, he enters
"314".
"Log each call:" dictates whether dbDIAL keeps a log of calls.
"Log local calls:" dictates if local calls are logged. Has no
effect unless you keep a log of calls (see above).
_________________________________________________________________
1. Allowed as a sorting option only if you run the SixSorts
utility. See page 71.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 28
"Log as business:" tells dbDIAL if you're dialing a call
specifically for business reasons. This is most useful if you
want to generate a separate report for business calls,
possibly for income tax purposes. Has no effect unless you
keep a log of calls (see above).
"Unique log file:" dbDIAL normally keeps a log of your calls
in xxx.CDS, where "xxx" is the name of the database. Press
"Y" if you want to create a unique log file for each person
instead. Has no effect unless you keep a log of calls (see
above). Note: Log files always reside in the same directory
with the database.
"Logged by name:" dictates whether unique .CDS filenames are
generated with the first eight characters of each person's
name. If you press "N", the filename comprises the first
eight characters of the company name. Has no effect unless
you activate both the "Log all calls" and "Unique log file"
options (see above).
"Cond upper case:" dictates if you want dbDIAL to condition-
ally capitalize text while you edit a record. If you entered
"148 white pine drive" in an address field, the program would
assume you meant "148 White Pine Drive". This is extremely
useful if you hold the phone in one hand and type with the
other. Some notes on the capitalization technique:
* Conditional capitalization occurs only for these fields:
1. Title
2. First & last name
3. Company
4. Address
5. City
* Letters are capitalized only if typed after a space or a
hyphen.
* ALT-C toggles auto-capitalization on & off when you edit
a record.
"Edit notes first:" Whenever you edit an existing record,
dbDIAL assumes you want to edit the notes first. Set this to
"N" if you want to edit the first field on the screen instead.
"Print the notes:" specifies if you want to print the notes
field when you choose to print a record. Notes can get
lengthy and not everyone needs to print them out in every
case.
"Zoom note editor:" tells dbDIAL if you want to use full-
screen editing when you modify the notes for any record. If
you specify "N", the program will use the top half of the
screen to display the rest of the record. You can toggle this
on & off by pressing ALT-Z while editing a notes field.
Chapter 7, "Configuration" 29
"Menu shows ph#:" controls whether telephone numbers display
on the main menu when you want to dial someone.
"FIELD #", "TITLE", "EDIT", "DISPLAY", and "LENGTH" fields
control characteristics for each data field in a dbDIAL
record.
"Title" describes each field on the data entry screen. You
can alter it to suit your needs.
"Edit" specifies if you want to view/edit the corresponding
field on the data entry screen. If you set this to "N" to
turn off editing for a particular field, be sure to set the
corresponding "display" field to "N" as well.
"Display" determines if the field shows up as part of the
record selection screen, and "Length" dictates how many
characters to use for the field on the record selection
screen. Note: you can show up to 255 characters per record
on the screen, even though it may not all fit at one time.
Just press the left & right arrow keys to scroll the
display horizontally.
Press CTRL-ENTER to put your changes into effect. Press ESC if
you don't want to use the modifications you made.
7.2 Modem configuration
You can configure dbDIAL for your modem by choosing the "File/
Change/Config/Modem" option from the main menu. The following
data entry screen will appear:
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 30
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a menu item Sort: Person
/----------------------------------|INCR KEY|------------------------|09:17:44|\
|/--------------------|Modem install|---------------------\st call Next call N |
|| Have modem: Y | |
|| COM port: 1 Speed: 1200 Delay: 25 |-20-91 v/ |
|| Init command: | |
|| Dial command: ATDT |-29-90 v/ |
|| Hangup command: ATH0 |-24-90 |
|| | v/ |
|| Local default prefix: | |
|| Local default suffix: | |
|| Toll default prefix: 1- |-21-90 |
|| Toll default suffix: | |
|| LD default prefix: 1- | |
|| LD default suffix: |-04-90 v/ |
|| Other default prefix: |-01-90 v/ |
|| Other default suffix: |-21-90 v/ |
|\--------------|Press CTRL-ENTER when done|--------------/ |
|<None> CBS Television Headq New York NY |
|<None> Central Bank & Trust Fort Worth TX |
|<None> Channel 1 BBS 12-01-90 |
|<None> Charge-It System North Subu IL v/ |
|<None> Circus Circus Hotel Las Vegas NV 07-06-90 v/ |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|408 records|/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 7.2: Modem configuration screen
Use the cursor keys to move between fields and feel free to press
F1 if you need specific help. Here's a rundown of each data
field and its significance to the program:
"Have modem:" tells the software if you have a modem hooked up
to your computer. You must set this to "Y" if you want dbDIAL
to dial the telephone for you.
"COM port:" specifies what serial port your modem uses. DOS
normally recognizes them as COM1, COM2, COM3, or COM4. Just
enter the numeric value -- 1, 2, 3, or 4. dbDIAL defaults to
1, meaning it will look for the modem on COM1. [This option
can be specified with a command line switch. See
chapter 3.1.]
"Speed:" refers to the baud rate your modem understands.
Typical values are 300, 1200, and 2400. The default is 1200.
[This option can be specified with a command line switch. See
chapter 3.1.]
"Delay:" dictates the number of milliseconds dbDIAL must pause
after sending each character to your modem. Some modems
accept commands faster than they can interpret them: this
option slows things down for the modem. The default is a 25ms
Chapter 7, "Configuration" 31
pause between each character. [This option can be changed
with a command line switch. See chapter 3.1.]
"Init command:" is the first string of characters sent to the
modem when you dial a call. This is blank by default. Common
settings are "ATM1" (turns the modem's speaker on), "ATZ"
(resets the modem), or "ATS7=60" (tells the modem to wait 60
seconds before automatically hanging up). Consult your modem
handbook for details if you want to learn more about the Hayes
AT command set.
"Dial command:" is the first part of the string of characters
sent to your modem to dial a phone number. dbDIAL defaults to
"ATDT". You must change this to "ATDP" if you have only
rotary dial service. Consult your modem handbook for more
details about the Hayes AT command set.
"Hangup command:" is sent to the modem to tell it to hang up
once you've picked up the receiver. This is "ATH0" by
default. Consult your modem handbook for more details about
the Hayes AT command set.
"Local default prefix:" specifies a string of characters you
want appended to the front of the dialed phone number. The
string is included only when dbDIAL recognizes the number as
being local. It is blank by default but, if you use the /9
option (see chapter 3.1), it will be initialized to "9-" so
you can get an outside line.
"Local default suffix:" works like the local default prefix
described above, but it goes at the end of the dialed number.
This string goes to the modem only if dbDIAL recognizes the
number as being local. It is always blank by default. You
might use this field if you dial local calls with a credit
card, for example.
"Toll default prefix:" is a string of characters appended to
the front of the phone number you wish to dial. The string is
included only when dbDIAL recognizes the number as being toll.
It is set to "1-" by default but, if you use the /9 option
(see chapter 3.1), it will be initialized to "9,1-" so you can
get an outside line.
"Toll default suffix:" is like the toll default prefix
described above, but the string is appended to the back of the
phone number you wish to dial. The string is included only
when dbDIAL recognizes the number as being toll. It is always
blank by default. You might use this field if you dial calls
with a credit card, for example.
"LD default prefix:" is a string of characters appended to the
front of the phone number you wish to dial. The string is
included only when dbDIAL recognizes the number as being
dialed with an area code (thus being long distance). It is
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 32
"1-" by default but, if you use the /9 option (see
chapter 3.1), it will be initialized to "9,1-" so you can get
an outside line.
"LD default suffix:" is like the long distance default prefix
described above, but the string is appended to the back of the
phone number you wish to dial. The string is included only
when dbDIAL recognizes the number as being dialed with an area
code (thus being long distance). It is always blank by
default. You might use this field if you dial calls with a
credit card, for example.
"Other default prefix:" is a string of characters appended to
the front of the phone number you wish to dial. The string is
included only when dbDIAL does not recognize the number as
being local or long distance. (It could be an office exten-
sion or an overseas phone number, for example.) It is always
blank by default.
"Other default suffix:" is like the Other default prefix
described above, but the string is appended to the back of the
phone number you wish to dial. The string is included only
when dbDIAL does not recognize the number as being local,
toll, or long distance. It is always blank by default. You
might use this field if you dial calls with a credit card, for
example.
Press CTRL-ENTER to put your changes into effect. Press ESC if
you don't want to use the modifications you made.
7.3 Prefix/suffix codes
You can configure dbDIAL for your modem by choosing the "File/
Change/Config/Modem" option from the main menu. The following
data entry screen will appear:
Chapter 7, "Configuration" 33
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a menu item Sort: Person
/----------------------------------|INCR KEY|------------------------|09:19:01|\
|Last name Company City St Last call Next call N |
|<None> 375 MAW/PA /-------|Prefixes & suffixes|--------\ |
|<None> 800 Directory Ass| A 1- v/ |
|<None> ABC Television He| B 0- | |
|<None> Altex Electronics| C |v/ |
|<None> American Express | D | |
|<None> AT&T Billing Dept| E |v/ |
|<None> AT&T Business Off| F | |
|<None> Avery | G # |
|<None> B.Dalton Bookstor| H | |
|<None> Boatman's Bank | I | |
|<None> Business One Irwi| J | |
|<None> Call Management P| K |v/ |
|<None> Capitol Advantage| L |v/ |
|<None> Capri Sun, Inc. | M |v/ |
|<None> Caseyville R&P, I| N | |
|<None> CBS Television He| O | |
|<None> Central Bank & Tr| P | |
|<None> Channel 1 BBS | Q |
|<None> Charge-It System \----|Press CTRL-ENTER when done|----/v/ |
|<None> Circus Circus Hotel Las Vegas NV 07-06-90 v/ |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|408 records|/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 7.3: Prefix/suffix code configuration screen
This screen contains more information than you can see at one
time; the window scrolls so you can gain access to all the
fields. A scroll bar on the right side of the window frame gives
you a relative idea of where you sit in the data entry screen.
Use the cursor keys to move between fields and feel free to press
F1 if you need specific help. Here's a rundown of each data
field and its significance to the program:
"Prefix/suffix code A-Z:" lets you specify codes for the times
when you may have to override the default prefix or suffix
strings for a given record. You might want to use these to
hold a personal identification number or a special in-house
dialing sequence, for example. The A and B codes default to
"1-" and "0-" respectively, but you can change them as needed.
Press CTRL-ENTER to put your changes into effect. Press ESC if
you don't want to use the modifications you made.
7.4 Miscellaneous options
You can modify some of the more advanced options available in
dbDIAL by choosing "File/Change/Config/Other items" from the main
menu. The following data entry screen will appear:
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 34
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a menu item Sort: Person
/----------------------------------|INCR KEY|------------------------|09:20:21|\
|Last name Company City St Last call Next call N |
|/-------------------|Miscellaneous options|--------------------\ |
|| Status msg delay: 15 seconds | v/ |
|| Status msg beep: 250 ms Pitch: 880 Hz | |
|| /--------------|Question|--------------\ | v/ |
|| TSR takes wildca| Change the Plucker TSR hotkey? [N] | | |
|| Default TSR dr\--------------------------------------/ | v/ |
|| Dialer hotkey: 2059 String: ALT-0 | |
|| Plucker hotkey: 2074 String: ALT-[ | |
|| | |
|| PRN device handle: PRN | |
|| COM port surname: | |
|| | v/ |
|| | v/ |
|\-----------------|Press CTRL-ENTER when done|-----------------/ v/ |
|<None> Caseyville R&P, Inc. Fairview H IL |
|<None> CBS Television Headq New York NY |
|<None> Central Bank & Trust Fort Worth TX |
|<None> Channel 1 BBS 12-01-90 |
|<None> Charge-It System North Subu IL v/ |
|<None> Circus Circus Hotel Las Vegas NV 07-06-90 v/ |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|408 records|/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 7.4: Miscellaneous items configuration screen
Here is a breakdown of each item and its function:
"Status msg delay:" dictates the maximum amount of time (in
seconds) a status or error message remains on the screen. You
can always press a key to erase such messages.
"Status msg beep:" tells the length in time, in milliseconds,
for the program to sound the speaker when it wants to get your
attention. The default is 250ms (a quarter of a second). Set
this to zero if you don't want the program to make any noise.
"Pitch:" determines the frequency of the tone dbDIAL generates
when it sounds the speaker. You can adjust it if you wish.
"TSR takes wildcards:" equates to the /M command line option
and tells the program if it should recognize all available
memory when it loads as a TSR. See chapter 3.1 for more
information on the /M option.
"Default TSR drive:" tells the program to use a specific drive
for storing temporary system files when it loads into memory.
(System files are always stored in the root directory of the
drive.) This option is blank by default, meaning the program
uses the default drive if necessary. You can change this if
you normally start the program from a hard disk or floppy and
Chapter 7, "Configuration" 35
want it to store its system files on a RAMdisk. Note: dbDIAL
normally ignores the drive you specify here if it has enough
EMS or XMS memory for the task. See chapter 3.1 for details
on how to make the program ignore EMS/XMS memory.
"Dialer hotkey:" is the primary hotkey you wish the program to
use to call it up as a TSR. It is "2059" by default, which
translates to the ALT-0 key. dbDIAL lets you change this hot-
key either automatically (you press the hotkey) or manually
(you enter the numeric value -- see chapter 4.2.1). [The hot-
key can be changed at load time with a command line switch.
See chapter 3.1.]
"Dialer string:" is simply the name you give for the primary
program hotkey. It is "ALT-0" by default, but you can change
it if you wish. [This string can be changed at load time with
a command line switch. See chapter 3.1.]
"Plucker hotkey:" is the hotkey you wish the program to use in
TSR mode to dial phone numbers displayed on the screen by
other programs. It is "2084" by default, which translates to
the ALT-[ key. dbDIAL lets you change this hotkey either
automatically (you press the hotkey) or manually (you enter
the numeric value -- see chapter 4.2.1).
"Plucker string:" is simply the name you give for the plucker
hotkey. It is "ALT-[" by default, but you can change it if
you wish.
"PRN device handle:" All printer output is directed to this
physical device, which is "PRN" for most people. Note: you
can specify a filename if you wish.
"COM port surname:" tells the program to identify your calls
by a special name when recording details in the log file. It
only applies to people who generate reports on their calls
with a CDS phone bill analyzer program. dbDIAL normally uses
the COM port number to uniquely identify the call for phone
bill analysis purposes, but this isn't always desirable. For
example, multiple users in a network environment may use the
same modem and log file, and a phone bill analyzer would have
no way to distinguish between two or more calls going on at
the same time. Business travelers may want to identify each
call based on the name of the hotels they visit. You can do
it here with the surname option.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 36
______________________________PART 2_____________________________
Using dbDIAL
Chapter 8, "Dealing with a dbDIAL record" 37
____________________________Chapter 8____________________________
Dealing with a dbDIAL record
8.1 Adding a record
-----------------------------------------------------------------
/---------------------------------|Add Record|---------------------------------\
| Mr/Mrs/etc. [Mr. ] |
| First name [John ] |
| Last name [Smith ] |
| Bus. Title [President ] |
| Company [Widget Software Corp. ] |
| Address #1 [123 Main Street ] |
| Address #2 [ ] |
| City [Robins ] State [IA] 12345 |
| Zip [52328- ] Tags [ ] |
| Work [319-555-7626] Ext. [ ] Prefix [ ] Suffix [ ] |
| Home [ - - ] Ext. [ ] Prefix [ ] Suffix [ ] |
| Fax [ - - ] Ext. [ ] Prefix [ ] Suffix [ ] |
| Other [ ] Ext. [ ] Prefix [ ] Suffix [ ] |
| NOTES [] Next call [01-16-92] Last call [01-01-80] |
|-----------------------------------|Notes|------------------------------------|
|Has a new product coming out for the new year and wants to offer full support |
|for GRAB Plus, ZPAY III, and dbDIAL users. Have tech support give his crew |
|all the assistance they need. |
| |
| |
| |
| |
\|Line: 3 Column: 30 Chars: 185 7% Insert Indent Wrap|------------------/
<F1>=HELP <ALT-Z>=Zoom <CTRL-B>=Reformat <CTRL-ENTER>=Done <ESC>=Quit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 8.1: Adding a database record
Press F2 or ALT-A at the record selection screen, or choose the
"Record/Add" item from the main menu, to add a new record to your
database. A screen will appear so you can enter pertinent infor-
mation about the person: name, address, phone number, and of
course some notes if you wish. Press CTRL-ENTER when finished,
or press ESC to abort the data entry process.
If you add notes about a person, move the cursor to the "Notes"
field position and press ENTER. This opens the notes window so
you can type anything you wish. Press CTRL-ENTER when finished,
or press ESC to abort the notes entry process. (If you press ESC
after entering notes, dbDIAL will confirm your desire to erase
your changes.)
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 38
8.2 Editing a record
Editing a dbDIAL record is similar to adding it. You even use
the same data entry screen. Press F3 or ALT-E at the record
selection screen, or choose the "Record/Edit" item from the main
menu, and start editing.
Press CTRL-ENTER to save your changes and go back to the record
selection screen. And remember, no matter how many modifications
you make, you can abandon all changes by hitting the ESC key.
Don't be alarmed if you hit ESC accidentally -- dbDIAL will
discard your modifications only after confirming it with you.
8.3 Copying a record
Suppose you have a record for John Doe and now you need to add
one for his wife. You could start from scratch by adding a new
record ... or you could copy John's record and make the necessary
changes.
Select the "Record/Copy" item from the main menu to create a
duplicate of the current record. dbDIAL will take you into
editing mode so you can change the duplicate record you just
created.
8.4 Finding a record
8.4.1 Incremental searches
In most cases, you'll know the name of the person or company when
you want to locate the corresponding record. If so, you can use
dbDIAL's powerful incremental search capability to find the
record in a flash.
Let's assume you want to find John Smith in your database. First
you need to check the upper right corner of the screen to see if
dbDIAL shows "Person" as the current sorting order. Choose the
"File/Sort/Person" option from the main menu if you need to reset
the database to the correct sorting sequence.
Now comes the easy part: just start typing "SMITH". dbDIAL
doesn't care if you type uppercase or lowercase letters; it will
immediately move toward the closest match to your input. The
program will beep at you if it can't find a match while you type.
Chapter 8, "Dealing with a dbDIAL record" 39
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a record Sort: Person
/-------------------------------|KEY "SMITH JO"|---------------------|09:26:26|\
|Last name Company City St Last call Next call N |
|Scott, Tom telecomputing magazi Albuquerqu NM 11-01-90 v/ |
|Shaw, Richard Hale PC Magazine Ann Arbor MI |
|Sheedy, Sean 11-24-91 12-20-91 |
|Shiffrin, Irv Land And Sea Securit Milford CT 09-22-90 |
|Siebenaller, David PKware, Inc. Brown Deer WI |
|Simon, Barry Assn. Shareware Prof CA 04-16-91 |
|Simon, Paul Washington DC 03-27-90 |
|Simondi, Tom Computer Knowledge Los Angele CA v/ |
|Siros, Willie Austin TX 10-08-90 |
|Smith, Charles Shareware Journal Omaha NE |
|Smith, John Widget Software Corp Robins IA 01-16-92 v/ |
|Smith, Roger California MO 03-24-92 v/ |
|Smith, Tom Datastorm Technologi Columbia MO |
|Spado, Wanda San Franci CA 07-05-91 |
|Spuhler, Andree Winter Fal ID |
|Stanley, Floyd Wave Technologies Tr St. Louis MO v/ |
|Ste. Marie, Paul Huber Heig OH |
|Steverson, Lee USPA & IRA Belleville IL 03-08-91 |
|Storey, Glenn C. Numeric Systems 06-26-92 v/ |
|Storm, Skip Amdahl Corporation O'Fallon IL |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|409 records|/
F1=HELP F2=Add F3=Edit F4=Kill F5=Find F6-F9=Grab F10=Menu ESC=Quit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 8.2: Incremental search in progress
Watch the top center of the window frame for a message to appear
telling you what you typed.
If you make a mistake while typing, press the backspace key. It
will erase the last character and reposition the database once
again to the closest match.
Now, you could very well have a lot Smiths in your database. If
you reach the end of the last name, just press the spacebar and
begin typing the person's first name. In our example, you would
locate John Smith by typing "SMITH JOHN" at the record selection
screen.
You can, if you wish, search even farther by specifying the
company John Smith works for. Press the spacebar when you finish
typing the first name, and start typing the company name. If
John worked for the Acme corporation, you could find him by
typing "SMITH JOHN ACME".
If you need to search by company name rather than by the person's
name, switch to the company sorting sequence -- then start typing
the company name. In this example you would find Smith by typing
"ACME CORP. JOHN SMITH".
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 40
You can switch back & forth between the arrow keys and the incre-
mental search function to find the record you want. In our
example, you might press "SMI", press the down arrow key a few
times, type "TH JOH", use the arrow keys again, and follow up
with "N ACME" to finally discover the record you want.
The incremental search function automatically resets for another
search whenever you perform an action with the current record.
This includes calling up the main menu or pressing any of the
shortcut keys available to you.
8.4.2 Regular searches
Choose "Record/Find/Regular" from the main menu or press F5 if
you want to perform a regular field-based search. dbDIAL will
present you with the same data entry screen as if you were
editing a record, but now you'll be searching.
Enter data you know exists in the record(s) you want to locate.
Each field helps isolate a database search. The search begins as
soon as you press CTRL-ENTER. Some notes:
* The search starts just after the current record (the one
designated by the highlight bar).
* dbDIAL doesn't care if you type uppercase or lowercase
letters. "Widget" is the same as "WIDGET" or "widget".
EXCEPTION: the tag field recognizes "b" and "B" as different
characters. If you search on the tag field, use the correct
uppercase/lowercase character(s).
* Search data must start in the first position of the given
field. If you specify one or more values to search for the
"tag" field, dbDIAL will search the entire tag field for
occurances of those values. This way you can find a record
with "abCDe" in the tag field even though you entered
"C " as the search criteria.
* If you search on one or more of the "sort" fields (last
name, company, zip code, last call date, next call date, or
optionally the social security number), dbDIAL will switch
sorting methods to greatly speed up its work.
* dbDIAL doesn't care if you type uppercase or lowercase
letters. "Widget" is the same as "WIDGET" or "widget".
* Search data must start in the first position of the given
field.
* If the program reaches the end of the database, it will
"wrap around" and continue searching from the beginning.
* dbDIAL remembers your previous search criteria so you can
hunt for the next matching record. Press CTRL-F5 to con-
tinue searching.
Chapter 8, "Dealing with a dbDIAL record" 41
8.4.3 Abstract searches
The regular search method is good, but sometimes you may not
remember what field contained a given string. Or worse, you
might not recall the house number of a person you know who lives
on a street named "Delmar."
Press ALT-N or choose "Record/Find/Abstract" from the main menu
to perform an abstract database search. Abstract searches aren't
limited by specific fields or character positions: everything in
the record is viewed as a single unit of information.
When you choose to perform an abstract search, you'll be asked
for a search string. Each character in the record -- even the
notes -- will be compared to the string for a possible match. A
search string of "Delmar" will match a record with an address
field of "136 Delmar Drive", a company field of "Delmart Inc.", a
note containing the string "Riddelmartio", and so on.
The search begins as soon as you press CTRL-ENTER to accept the
string. Press ESC if you want to abandon the search. Some
notes:
* Searching starts just after the current record (the one
designated by the highlight bar) and searches through the
records in the currently sorted order.
* dbDIAL doesn't care if you type uppercase or lowercase
letters. "Widget" is the same as "WIDGET" or "widget".
* dbDIAL remembers your previous search string if you perform
consecutive searches. This makes it easy for you to hunt
for the next matching record.
* If the program reaches the end of the database, it will
"wrap around" and continue searching from the beginning.
* Abstract searches may take awhile if you have a large data-
base with a lot of notes.
8.4.4 Note searches
The regular search method is good, and of course abstract
searching can be a godsend, but sometimes you may know the string
you want is contained in the notes for a particular record. It
would be a waste of effort to check the rest of the record.
Press CTRL-N or choose "Record/Find/Notes" from the main menu to
perform a notes search. In many respects it works the same as an
abstract search (see above), but of course only the notes apply.
8.5 GRABing an envelope
Many professionals follow up a telephone call with a letter.
Letters look even better if the envelope shows a professionally
printed address. ZPAY's GRAB Plus program prints addresses on
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 42
envelopes. dbDIAL works seemlessly with it so you can print them
while still on the phone with someone.
Press F6 or F7 or F8 or F9, or choose the "Record/Grab" item from
the main menu, to pick the address format you want. dbDIAL auto-
matically calls GRAB Plus if you loaded it in memory. If not, it
gives you the opportunity to call up the TSR envelope program of
your choice. If you run under Microsoft Windows, the program
will ask if it should place the envelope address in the Windows
clipboard.
Note to GRABDB users: the F7, F8, and F9 keys in the GRABDB data-
base application serve an identical purpose in dbDIAL and, best
of all, they're always available on the record selection screen.
They apply to the current record (the one covered by the high-
light bar). Each function key brings up an address you can send
to the printer. dbDIAL also offers the F6 key if you want to
print an envelope without the company name.
See chapter 19 if you want to convert GRABDB databases to the
dbDIAL file format.
8.6 TSR keyboard playback
When you run dbDIAL as a TSR, you might want to type the name &
address of a person into your word processor. The program lets
you "playback" the current record into the keyboard so the under-
lying program thinks you typed it yourself. ALT-F6, ALT-F7,
ALT-F8, and ALT-F9 work much like the comparable keystrokes in
chapter 8.5, but they feed the envelope-formatted address
directly into the keyboard buffer as if you typed it yourself.
The ALT-F10 key feeds only phone numbers into the keyboard
buffer.
See chapter 7.1 for details on how you can customize the way
ALT-F6 through ALT-F9 operate on the keyboard buffer.
8.7 Killing a record
Press ALT-K or F4, or choose the "Record/Kill" item on the main
menu, to delete a record from the database. dbDIAL displays the
record and asks for confirmation before deleting it.
WARNING: This does NOT reduce the physical size of the database,
nor is it a secure method for deleting sensitive information.
See chapter 12 for details on the "pack-purge" option.
Chapter 8, "Dealing with a dbDIAL record" 43
8.8 Moving records to another database
Sometimes you may need to copy a record to another database. The
"Record/Move" item on the main menu takes a snapshot of the
current record, asks you for the name of the target database, and
copies the record to that file. The highlight bar positions
itself on the new record in the target file.
If you choose the "Record/Move/Copy" menu item, the record in the
original database remains. If you choose "Record/Move/Move,"
dbDIAL deletes the record from the original database.
The target database will be created if it doesn't already exist.
8.9 Printing a record
The "Record/Prnt" menu option lets you print a verbatim copy of
the data shown in the highlight bar for the current record. You
will then be asked if you want to eject the output page from the
printer.
This option is affected by the "File/Change/Config/Database
options" item on the main menu. Notes for the record will be
printed only if the "Print the notes:" field is set.
8.10 Utility options
You can execute several utility functions on the current record
by choosing the "Record/Util" item from the main menu:
The "Case notes" option lets you convert the notes for the
record to mixed case or to upper case. Visually impaired
users, for example, might use UPPERCASE letters to improve
readability. This lets you make changes to suit your
preferences.
The "Kill notes" option is the quick way to delete the notes
for the current record. dbDIAL confirms your request before
it actually deletes the notes. This does NOT reduce the
physical size of the database, nor is it a secure method for
deleting sensitive information. See chapter 12 for details on
the "pack-purge" option.
"Mailmerge" lets you print form letters for the current record
based on a "blueprint file" you specify. Blueprints are
explained in detail in chapter 14.2.3.
"Name split" isolates the first name from the last-name field.
This is useful if you import records where the whole name
comes as a single field. This function only works with
records with blank first-name fields. The program knows
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 44
enough to leave suffixes like "Jr", "II", and "Ph.D" in the
last-name field.
The "Zipkey" option checks to see if the city & state fields
are blank in the current record. If so, dbDIAL queries ZIPKEY
in an attempt to fill them with default values. This option
is protected from selection unless the ZIPKEY TSR is loaded.
Chapter 9, "Dialing a phone number" 45
____________________________Chapter 9____________________________
Dialing a phone number
9.1 Dialing from dbDIAL
dbDIAL dials phone numbers stored in any record if you have a
Hayes compatible modem. Choose the "Dial" option from the main
menu, or press ALT-D, to dial a number in the current record.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a menu item Sort: Person
/------------------------------|KEY "MAYER PAUL"|--------------------|09:29:26|\
|/------------------------------- Paul Mayer -------------------------------\N |
|| File Record Dial Time Ended Help Quit Shell |v/ |
|\------------------------------------------------------------ version 1.02 / |
|Malone, Mike | Work 813-866-8233 |04-12-91 v/ |
|Manes, Steve | Home <NONE> | |
|Margelis, George | Fax 813-866-8034 | |
|Marks, Vic | Other 800-468-4188 |12-03-90 |
|Marshall, Dave |------------------------------------| v/ |
|Martins, Joel | Edit |12-12-90 v/ |
|Marty, Charles \------------------------------------/ v/ |
|Mayer, Paul ZPAY Payroll Systems St. Peters FL 11-12-91 v/ |
|McBayer, Jeff McBayer & Co. Santada KY |
|McCabe, Bette MENU Publishing Pittsburg PA |
|McIndoe, Margaret ComputerWorld Framingham MA 03-01-91 v/ |
|Mendelson, Edward New York NY |
|Merit, Richard E. Seattle WA v/ |
|Metcalf, Royce GenericWare Dothan AL 02-18-91 v/ |
|Meyer, Marcia Public Brand Softwar v/ |
|Michie, Trevor Papua New Guinea Pro Boroko NG v/ |
|Milland, Pam PC Magazine New York NY |
|Miller, Karen Shadow Armory Bolingbroo IL 04-11-91 |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|409 records|/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 9.1: Dialing from a database record
Note: If you press ALT-D and only one phone number appears in the
record, dbDIAL will immediately dial it for you. If multiple
phone numbers exist in the record, the main menu will present you
with a list of valid numbers so you can choose one.
Choose the number you want to dial. The program will send the
necessary commands to dial the phone number. Pick up the tele-
phone and press a key when the last digit has been dialed: dbDIAL
hangs up the modem so you can have the line all to yourself.
NOTE: PICK UP THE PHONE BEFORE PRESSING A KEY! Otherwise the
call will disconnect and you'll end up talking to a dial tone.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 46
dbDIAL will then ask if the call connected. Press "Y" if someone
answers the phone; press "N" if the line is busy or no one
answers. The program will ask if it should redial the number if
the call didn't connect.
When the call connects, the program will remind you to press
ALT-H when you hang up so it can log the time the call ended.
(This assumes you keep a log of calls, of course.)
9.2 Dialing numbers on the screen
If you load dbDIAL as a TSR, it also lets you dial telephone
numbers displayed on the screen by other programs. The program
pops up when you press the "plucker hotkey" (normally ALT-[) so
you can dial phone numbers displayed on the screen. ALT-[ also
designates the end of a call if you keep a log of your calls.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Index: LAST_FIRST ascending F
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>--------------- Dialing from screen ----------------\
| dbDIAL lets you dial telephone numbers directly -----------------\
| from the screen of another application. (dbDIAL # |
| must be loaded as a TSR to do this.) Press the | |
| hotkey (ALT-J by default) so a reverse-video |----------/----<>----\
| shadow box appears. You can move the box with the | |Command: |
| arrow keys, and you can make it grow/shrink with | |------------|
| the "+" (plus) and "-" (minus) keys. Don't worry | |Add a record|
| if the phone number starts on one line and ends on | |Delete |
| another -- the shadow box is intelligent enough to | |Modify |
| "straddle" the line break. | |Find (cont.)|
| | |Search (new)|
| Press ENTER when you cover the telephone number. | |End of file |
| This tells dbDIAL to dial it. It's that simple! |----------|Beginning |
| NOTE: any letters appearing in the shadow box will | |Next record |
| be converted to numbers. This means you can dial |----------|Prior record|
| "vanity" phone numbers like (800) 2424-PSL. | |Rcd# get |
| |one bill a|+ browse dwn|
| dbDIAL always looks at the length of the phone |- browse up |
\|F1 for more help|--------------| PgDn for more|/ng phone l|Quit finding|
\------------/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 9.2: dbDIAL working with a PC-File screen
9.3 Dialing a phone number
With dbDIAL loaded in memory as a TSR, you can press ALT-[ (or
whatever hotkey you defined) when you want to dial a phone number
displayed on the screen. A highlight bar appears so you can
Chapter 9, "Dialing a phone number" 47
"pluck" the phone number. The following keys perform various
functions:
Table 9.1: dbDIAL screen-dial keyboard commands
-----------------------------------------------------------------
+,- increases/decreases length of highlight bar
TAB jump to next phone number on the screen
Up Arrow
Down Arrow
Right Arrow
Left Arrow moves highlight bar one character in the chosen
direction
PgUp
PgDn moves highlight bar to top/bottom of screen
Home
End highlight bar to far left/right side of screen
F1 brings up context sensitive help
F2 time of day for any area code
F3 time of day for any area code (sorted by state)
*
F4 time of day for any area code (sorted by zip)
ENTER dial the highlighted phone number
ALT-E edit the highlighted number first, then dial it
ESC never mind, return to the other program (or
optionally dial the previous phone number)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Don't worry if the phone number starts on one line of the screen
and ends on another. Just position the highlight bar on the
first digit and increase its length (with the "+" key) until it
"straddles" the rest of the number on the next line.
And don't worry about dialing a "vanity" phone number like
800-2424-PSL. dbDIAL converts highlighted letters to numbers
when it dials for you.
_________________________________________________________________
* You must have previously loaded the ZIPKEY TSR from Eric
Isaacson Software, version 1.91 or later, for this command to
work. See the advertisement at the end of this manual.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 48
If you press ESC at this point, and you had previously dialed a
phone number (whether or not it connected), dbDIAL will ask if
you want to re-dial the number. This is handy if you failed to
connect earlier because no one was home or you got a busy signal.
If you choose not to dial the previous number, dbDIAL gives
control of the computer back to the program you were using.
Press ENTER to immediately dial the highlighted number on the
screen, or press ALT-E to edit it before dialing takes place.
The program will send the necessary commands to dial the phone
number. Pick up the telephone and press a key when the last
digit has been dialed; dbDIAL will hang up the modem so you can
have the line all to yourself.
NOTE: PICK UP THE PHONE BEFORE PRESSING A KEY! Otherwise the
call will disconnect and you'll end up talking to a dial tone.
dbDIAL will then ask if the call connected. Press "Y" if someone
answers the phone; press "N" if the line is busy or no one
answers. If you answer no, the program will ask if it should
redial the call for you. If you answer yes, the program will
remind you to press the ALT-[ hotkey again when you hang up so it
can log the time the call ended. (This assumes you keep a log
of calls.)
9.4 When the call ends
With dbDIAL on the screen, you can either choose the "Ended"
option on the menu when you hang up on a call, or press ALT-H --
it means the same thing. dbDIAL records details about each call
in a log file.
If you loaded dbDIAL as a TSR and haven't called it up on the
screen, you can use the plucker hotkey (ALT-[ by default) to
designate the end of the call, assuming you keep a log of calls.
If you press ALT-[ and the plucker highlight bar pops up, it
means the program didn't keep track of the call you made. Just
press ESC at this point and answer "no" if it asks to redial a
previous phone number.
Chapter 10, "Current time for area code" 49
____________________________Chapter 10___________________________
Current time for area code
It often pays to know the current time of day for the person you
want to dial, and dbDIAL gives you the power to see the current
time for any area code in the U.S., Canada, and territories with
U.S.-style area code phone service. You can view the current
time of day for each area code, sorted by area code or by state.
If you use the popular ZIPKEY TSR, you can see the time of day
for each zip code as well.
dbDIAL looks for a data file called TIMEZONE.INF when you choose
to view the current time of day for each area code. See
chapter 16 for details about modifying TIMEZONE.INF to suit your
needs.
10.1 Viewing by area code
Press ALT-T or choose "Time/Area code/Area code" from the main
menu to see the current time of day for each area code. dbDIAL
will present you with a screen much like this:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a menu item Sort: Person
/----------------------------------|INCR KEY|------------------------|09:38:52|\
|Last name Company City St Last call Next call N |
|/- AC ST TIME -\ 375 MAW/PA Scott AFB IL |
|| 609 NJ 09:38am 800 Directory Assist 02-20-91 v/ |
|| 612 MN 08:38am | ABC Television Headq New York NY |
|| 613 ON 09:38am | Altex Electronics 08-29-90 v/ |
|| 614 OH 09:38am | American Express Cor 08-24-90 |
|| 615 TN 09:38am | AT&T Billing Dept. Orlando FL v/ |
|| 615 TX 08:38am | AT&T Business Office Itasca IL |
|| 616 MI 09:38am | Avery Schaumburg IL |
|| 617 MA 09:38am | B.Dalton Bookstore Fairview H IL 11-21-90 |
|| 618 IL 08:38am | Boatman's Bank O'Fallon IL |
|| 619 CA 06:38am # Business One Irwin Homewood IL |
|| 701 ND 08:38am | Call Management Prod Broomfield CO 09-04-90 v/ |
|| 702 NV 06:38am | Capitol Advantage McLean VA 11-01-90 v/ |
|| 703 VA 09:38am | Capri Sun, Inc. San Mateo CA 05-21-90 v/ |
|| 704 NC 09:38am | Caseyville R&P, Inc. Fairview H IL |
|| 705 ON 09:38am | CBS Television Headq New York NY |
|| 707 CA 06:38am | Central Bank & Trust Fort Worth TX |
|| 708 IL 08:38am Channel 1 BBS 12-01-90 |
|\----- for more / Charge-It System North Subu IL v/ |
|<None> Circus Circus Hotel Las Vegas NV 07-06-90 v/ |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|409 records|/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 10.1: Time of day by area code
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 50
You can quickly locate the area code you want to see simply by
typing it at this point. For example, type "803" to see the
current time for the 803 area code. (The lower left corner of
the area code window will display what you type.) You can also
use the PgUp/PgDn and cursor keys to move the highlight bar until
you find the area code you want.
Press either CTRL-ENTER or ESC when finished. dbDIAL will return
you to the record selection screen.
10.2 Viewing by state
Choose "Time/Area code/State" from the main menu to see the
current time of day sorted by state. It works much like when you
view the current time sorted by area code (see above).
You can quickly locate the state you want to see simply by typing
the two-character code for it at this point. For example, type
"FL" to see the current time for Florida area codes. (The lower
left corner of the area code window will display what you type.)
You can also use the PgUp/PgDn and cursor keys to move the high-
light bar until you find the state you want.
10.3 Viewing by zip code
If you loaded the popular ZIPKEY TSR from Eric Isaccson Software,
you can also view the current time of day for each zip code in
the U.S. Choose "Time/Area code/Zip code" from the main menu.
It works much like when you view the current time sorted by area
code (see above).
You can quickly locate the zip code you want to see simply by
typing it at this point. For example, type "33712" to see the
current time for the particular zip code. (The lower left corner
of the zip code window will display what you type.) You can also
use the PgUp/PgDn and cursor keys to move the highlight bar until
you find the state you want.
In some cases you may see "???" for the current time of day in a
given zip code. It means one of two things: the zip code desig-
nates a location outside the U.S. & territorial boundaries (i.e.
military APO/FPO zip codes), or the post office has not yet
assigned the zip code to a location.
Chapter 11, "Stopwatch timer" 51
____________________________Chapter 11___________________________
Stopwatch timer
dbDIAL keeps track of the time you spend on the phone when it
dials a call, but sometimes you may need to time something else.
The program offers a simple "stopwatch" in case you need it.
Choose the "Time/Lap timer" item on the main menu to access the
stopwatch function. You can selectively "Begin", "Pause", and
"Stop" the stopwatch as needed. The lap time will replace the
current time of day function in the upper right corner of the
record selection screen.
When you "Stop" the stopwatch, it displays the total elapsed time
in a status message and then resets the time counter.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 52
____________________________Chapter 12___________________________
Dealing with every record
Sometimes you need to perform a function on every record in your
database. The "File" submenu gives you this capability:
"Before" changes to the previous database you were using.
This option is protected from selection until you switch to
another database sometime during the session. The CTRL-F3 key
is a shortcut for this menu item.
"Change" to a different dbDIAL database, or change the config-
uration for this database. The CTRL-F4 key is a shortcut for
changing to another database. See chapter 7 for information
on how to change the program's configuration.
The "Export" and "Import" commands let you store and retrieve
dbDIAL database information in formats recognized by other
database applications. See chapter 14.
"Filter" lets you temporarily ignore records not meeting your
criteria, much like a subset database. See chapter 13.
"Print" does just what you expect: it prints a verbatim copy
of each record as it would appear on the record selection
screen. You will then be asked if you want to eject the
output page from the printer. This option is affected by the
"File/Change/Config/Database" item on the main menu. Notes
for each record will be printed only if the "Print the notes:"
data entry item is set to "Y".
The "Sorts" submenu lets you choose a different sorting
sequence for the database. You can sort on:
1. Person's name
2. Company name
3. Zip code
4. Date of last call
5. Date to call again
2
6. Social Security number
The "Utils" submenu lets you perform the following functions
on the dbDIAL database:
_________________________________________________________________
2. Allowed as a sorting option only if you run the SixSorts
utility. See page 71.
Chapter 12, "Dealing with every record" 53
The "Case notes" option converts the notes for every record
to mixed case or to uppercase. Visually impaired users,
for example, sometimes use UPPERCASE to improve reada-
bility. You can make the necessary changes on a global
scale with this option.
"Details" displays statistics about the dbDIAL database.
See chapter C for advanced user information.
The "Kill notes" option is the quick way to delete the
notes for every record in the database. The program will
confirm your request before it actually deletes the notes.
WARNING: This does NOT reduce the physical size of the
database, nor is it a secure method for deleting sensitive
information -- use the "File/Utils/Pack" option instead
(see below). dbDIAL asks if you want to pack the database
after it deletes all the notes.
"Mailmerge" lets you print a customized form letter for
each record based on a "blueprint file" you specify. Blue-
prints are explained in detail in chapter 14.2.3. See
figure 14.2 on page 62 to get an idea of what a blueprint
file might look like.
"Name split" separates the first & last name from the last-
name field and stores the first name in its appropriate
field. This is most often useful if you import records
where the first & last names are stored in a single field.
The program only works with records if their first-name
field is blank and one or more spaces exists in the last-
name field. And it's intelligent enough to leave suffixes
like "Jr", "II", and "Ph.D" in the last-name field.
"Pack-purge" the dbDIAL database whenever you want to
reduce its physical size to an absolute minimum, or if you
delete anything for security reasons. See chapter C for
advanced details about the dbDIAL database.
The "Zipkey" option searches every record in the dbDIAL
database for blank city & state fields. If it comes across
any, dbDIAL queries ZIPKEY in an attempt to fill them with
default values. It is extremely useful in situations where
you get a file that contains only a zip code field for each
record. This option is protected from selection unless the
ZIPKEY TSR is loaded.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 54
____________________________Chapter 13___________________________
Filtering out certain records
Dealing with an entire database is nice, but sometimes you may
need to "filter out" some records. Suppose you only want to deal
with the people who live in Illinois. Obviously, you could
switch to sorting by zip code and search for the first Chicago
entry... but filtering gives you a better way to do the same
thing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a menu item Sort: Person
/----------------------------------|INCR KEY|------------------------|09:41:03|\
|/------------------------------- 375 MAW/PA -------------------------------\N |
|| File Record Dial Time Ended Help Quit Shell | |
|\------------------------------------------------------------ version 1.02 /v/ |
|<N| Before | ABC Television Headq New York NY |
|<N| Change | Altex Electronics 08-29-90 v/ |
|<N| Export | American Express Cor 08-24-90 |
|<N| Filter/----------\T&T Billing Dept. Orlando FL v/ |
|<N| Import| Activate |T&T Business Office Itasca IL |
|<N| Print | Criteria/----------------------------\rg IL |
|<N| Sorts | Disable | Abstract <not active> | H IL 11-21-90 |
|<N| Utils |---------| High key "R" | IL |
|<N\-------| Hidden | Low key "MAYER" | IL |
|<None> | Visible | Notes <optional> |ld CO 09-04-90 v/ |
|<None> \---------| Regular <not active> | VA 11-01-90 v/ |
|<None> \----------------------------/o CA 05-21-90 v/ |
|<None> Caseyville R&P, Inc. Fairview H IL |
|<None> CBS Television Headq New York NY |
|<None> Central Bank & Trust Fort Worth TX |
|<None> Channel 1 BBS 12-01-90 |
|<None> Charge-It System North Subu IL v/ |
|<None> Circus Circus Hotel Las Vegas NV 07-06-90 v/ |
\|813 is local area code|-----------------------------------------|409 records|/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 13.1: File filtering submenu
Choose the "File/Filter/Criteria" option from the main menu so
you can choose the filtering method(s) you need. You may mix &
match filtering options as needed:
The "File/Filter/Criteria/Abstract" item on the main menu
works much like the "Record/Search/Abstract" menu item. It
searches records for a given string of characters as the
filtering criteria. WARNING: this function greatly reduces
the speed at which dbDIAL processes commands. Use this option
with caution.
Chapter 13, "Filtering out certain records" 55
The "File/Filter/Criteria/High key" and "Low key" menu items
dictate the range of records to work with based on the current
key field. If you currently sort by person and wish to work
with people whose last names begin with "R", just type the
letter "R" for both the high & low keys. dbDIAL will narrow
its view of the database to only the chosen records.
The "File/Filter/Criteria/Notes" menu item determines if a
record must have text in the notes field. WARNING: this func-
tion reduces the speed at which dbDIAL processes commands.
Use this option with care.
The "File/Filter/Criteria/Regular" menu item lets you specify
acceptable data for any field in the database (other than the
notes). You can filter out all but the people who have "Dr."
as a personal title, or who live in Chicago, IL. The data
entry screen works the same as if you wanted to find a record
with the "Record/Find/Regular" command, including the way
dbDIAL recognizes values in the tag field. The program will
ignore any blank fields when it applies your filtering
criteria. WARNING: this function reduces the speed at which
dbDIAL processes commands. Use this option with care.
Choose "File/Filter/Activate" to turn on selective filtering. If
you failed to specify any filtering criteria, dbDIAL will assume
you want to perform regular filtering and will present you with
the appropriate data entry screen. All commands from this point
on will ignore filtered records.
Choose "File/Filter/Disable" when you want to turn off database
filtering. You can always turn it back on at a later point if
you wish.
The "File/Filter/Hidden" and "Visible" options control how the
filtering process works. By default, records meeting your
criteria appear on the screen while the rest temporarily hide
from sight. If you choose the "Hidden" menu item, the records
meeting your criteria will hide from sight and all the rest will
appear on the screen. CAUTION: this capability has no effect on
the high/low key fields. High/low fields always work in the
visible state.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 56
____________________________Chapter 14___________________________
Importing & exporting
Every good database program can import & export records in
various formats, and dbDIAL is no exception.
14.1 Importing data
14.1.1 ASCII delimited
"ASCII delimited" is a universal format for transferring data
between applications. Each field of a record is stored on a
single line, surrounded by quote marks and separated by commas.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"John","123 Abbey Rd.","Anytown","IL","60440","555-1212"
"Paul","234 Apple Ln.","Hometown","IA","50613","555-1234"
"George","345 Holy St.","Ghosttown","NV","75662",""
"Ringo","44 Drummer Ct.","Pepper","SC","33216","555-1357"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 14.1: Simple ASCII delimited file
If you choose the "File/Import" item from the main menu, you will
be confronted with the following data entry screen:
Chapter 14, "Importing & exporting" 57
-----------------------------------------------------------------
\MSDOS\DATA\MY-DATA Choose a menu item Sort: Person
/----------------------------------|INCR KEY|------------------------|09:43:02|\
|Last name Company City St Last call Next call N |
|<N/-------------|ASCII delimited imports|-------------\ |
|<N| Import file: *.* | 02-20-91 v/ |
|<N| Has notes: N | |
|<N| /----- C:\SPRINT\DOCS\*.* -----\ v/ |
|<N| DATA POS | ..\ linswtch.inc | |
|<N| Mr/Mrs/etc. 0 | analyzer.spr oldcats.spr | v/ |
|<N| Last name 0 | appendix.spr operator.spr | |
|<N| First name 0 | callwait.inc others.spr | |
|<N| Company 0 | catalog.spr pcfdapp.spr | |
|<N| Address #1 0 | dbd.spr pcfdial.doc | |
|<N| Address #2 0 | dbdial.asc pcfdial.spr | |
|<N| City 0 | dbdial.dat pcfdial.ttl | v/ |
|<N| State 0 | dbdial.ix sitelic.spr | v/ |
|<N| Zip 0 | dbdial.spr slashx.inc | v/ |
|<N| Work 0 | dialer.spr stuffy.bak | |
|<N| Ext. 0 | hayescmd.inc timezone.inc | |
|<N| Prefix 0 | hotels.inc tollnmbr.inc | |
|<N| Suffix 0 | hotkeys.inc tsr-qna.inc | |
|<N\-----------|Press CTRL-ENTER | key-text.tct tsr-size.inc | v/ |
|<None> Circus Circ| legalese.pcf utility.spr | v/ |
\|813 is local area code|--------\DBDIAL.AS---------------------/-|409 records|/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 14.2: ASCII delimited import screen
This screen contains more information than you can see at one
time; the window scrolls so you can gain access to all the
fields. A scroll bar on the right side of the window frame gives
you a relative idea of where you sit in the data entry screen.
Each ASCII delimited field is represented by its field POSITION,
and dbDIAL must know each one so it can create a corresponding
dbDIAL record. The above figure shows us the person's title is
stored in field position #1, the last name is stored in field
position #2, the first name is stored in field position #3, and
so forth.
If there is no corresponding data for a particular field, set the
field POSITION to zero. dbDIAL will leave it blank for each
imported record.
If the file contains a note for each record, you must set the
"Has notes" option to "Y". This is where dbDIAL deviates
slightly from the standard ASCII delimited format. A note
conforms to the following characteristics in a modified ASCII
delimited file:
* It starts on the line immediately after the ASCII delimited
record;
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 58
* It can be any length and can contain any ASCII value
except #0 or #26;
* It "ends" with ASCII value #0, followed immediately by a new
line which contains another ASCII delimited record.
The "Import file" data entry field tells dbDIAL the name of the
ASCII delimited file you just described.
The program will begin importing records when you press
CTRL-ENTER. Press ESC if decide not to import records from an
ASCII delimited file.
14.1.2 GRAB Plus
Please use the GRAB2DBD program described in chapter 19 to import
records from a GRAB Plus GRABDB database. You don't need to con-
vert them to ASCII delimited records before importing them.
14.2 Exporting data
14.2.1 ASCII delimited
Choose the "File/Export/Ascii" item from the main menu to export
database records in standard ASCII delimited format. dbDIAL will
ask if it should export the notes for each record. An ASCII
delimited file is then created in the same directory as the
dbDIAL database, with the same filename and ".ASC" extension.
Note: if a file already exists with that filename, it will be
overwritten.
dbDIAL stores each field in the following order:
1. Person's title (Mr., Mrs., 15.
Dr., etc.) Home extension
2. Last name 16.
3. First name Home phone prefix
4. Company 17.
5. Address #1 Home phone suffix
6. Address #2 18.
7. City Fax phone
8. State 19.
9. Zip code Fax extension
10. 20.
Work phone Fax phone prefix
11. 21.
Work extension Fax phone suffix
12. 22.
Work phone prefix Other phone
13. 23.
Work phone suffix Other extension
14. 24.
Home phone Other phone prefix
Chapter 14, "Importing & exporting" 59
25. 27.
Other phone suffix Date to call again (MM-DD-
26. YY format)
Last date called (MM-DD-YY 28.
format) Social security number
29.
Tag fields
dbDIAL writes the ASCII delimited file in the currently active
sort sequence.
If you chose to include the notes field with each record, then
there is a slight deviation to the standard ASCII delimited
format. (This is necessary to accommodate free-format notes.)
dbDIAL will go to the next line of the file and begin writing the
notes in verbatim. When the notes are written, the program
writes ASCII value #0, goes to the next line, and starts writing
the next record.
dbDIAL writes the ASCII delimited file in the currently active
sort sequence.
14.2.2 dBASE III
Choose the "File/Export/Dbase3" item from the main menu to export
database records in the dBASE III file format. The newly created
file will appear in the same directory as the dbDIAL database,
with the same filename and ".DBF" extension. Note: if a file
already exists with that filename, it will be overwritten.
dbDIAL stores each field in the following order:
1. Person's title (Mr., Mrs., 16.
Dr., etc.) Home phone prefix
2. Last name 17.
3. First name Home phone suffix
4. Company 18.
5. Address #1 Fax phone
6. Address #2 19.
7. City Fax extension
8. State 20.
9. Zip code Fax phone prefix
10. 21.
Work phone Fax phone suffix
11. 22.
Work extension Other phone
12. 23.
Work phone prefix Other extension
13. 24.
Work phone suffix Other phone prefix
14. 25.
Home phone Other phone suffix
15. 26.
Home extension Last date called
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 60
27. 29.
Date to call again Tag fields 1-5
28.
Social security number
dbDIAL writes the dBASE III file in the currently active sort
sequence. It does not create any dBASE index files for it.
14.2.3 Freeform
You can dictate the exact specification for your export file (or
any mailmerge form letter file for that matter) if you choose
"File/Export/Freeform" from the main menu. dbDIAL will construct
a database of records based on the "blueprint file" you specify.
Each definable field (and command) in the blueprint file is
spelled in capital letters and surrounded by "$". dbDIAL
replaces the identifier with the contents of the corresponding
field. Certain commands are executed when detected.
The following fields can be specified in a blueprint file:
$PERTITLE$ Personal title (Mr/Mrs/etc.)
$LNAME$ Last name
$FNAME$ First name
$BUSTITLE$ Business title (Chairman/Owner/etc.)
$COMPANY$ Company's name
$ADDRESS1$ Address line #1
$ADDRESS2$ Address line #2
$CITY$ City
$STATE$ State
$ZIPCODE$ Zip code
$WORKPHONE$ Work telephone number
$WORKEXT$ Work extension
$HOMEPHONE$ Home telephone number
$HOMEEXT$ Home extension
$FAXPHONE$ Fax telephone number
$FAXEXT$ Fax extension
Chapter 14, "Importing & exporting" 61
$OTHERPHONE$ Other telephone number
$OTHEREXT$ Other extension
$LASTCALLED$ Date last called the person
$NEEDTOCALL$ Next date to call the person
$SSN$ Social security number
$NOTES$ Verbatim notes. No reformatting takes
place.
The following commands can be specified in a blueprint file:
$CONDCOMMA$ A comma and a space are written only if both
the previous and next variable or command
generate output. This is useful for people
who write both address lines on a single
line, for example.
$CONDCRLF$ A next-line command (ASCII #13 & #10) is
issued only if both the previous and next
variable or command generate output. This
is useful for people who want the second
address line to be on a line by itself, but
who don't want to generate a blank line.
$CONDSPACE$ A space is written only if both the previous
and next variable or command generate
output. This is useful when titles or first
names have no information. (Note: a space
is automatically tacked onto the $CONDCOMMA$
command.)
$CURRTIME$ Replace with the current time (in HH:MM:SS
format).
$NEXTRECORD$ Use the next record. Useful for people who
put multiple records on the same page of
output. Generates no output. See note
below.
$PREVRECORD$ Use the previous record. Useful for people
who put multiple records on the same page of
output. You can "back up" a maximum of
eight records. Generates no output.
$TODAY$ Replace with today's date (in MM-DD-YY
format).
If you use the $NEXTRECORD$ command, there is a chance you might
run out of records before you reach the logical end of a blue-
print file. dbDIAL will submit blank records to your blueprint
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 62
file if this happens and will display a status message so you
know what's going on.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$FNAME$ $LNAME$
$ADDRESS1$
$CITY$, $STATE$ $ZIPCODE$
Dear $PERTITLE$ $LNAME$,
Thank you for registering your copy of dbDIAL! We're glad you
like our program. Please feel free to....
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 14.3: Sample mailmerge blueprint file
14.2.4 GRAB Plus
Exporting from dbDIAL to GRABDB is relatively simple. First
create an ASCII delimited file (see above), making sure you
respond with "N" when asked if you want to write the notes for
each record. Next, invoke the GRABDB database program and tell
it you want to import records. Then set up the GRABDB import
options screen as shown below:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
GRABDB Database Utility
YOU SHOULD MAKE A BACKUP OF THE TWO FILES, GRABDB.DAT
AND GRABDB.IXN BEFORE IMPORTING OF DATA IS ATTEMPTED.
Title: 1 Make your selection as to the order that your
Last Name: 2 items are in your ascii file. It is import-
First Name: 3 ant that the items are written in the comma
Company: 4 delimited format in order to be properly im-
Street Address 1: 5 ported. Failure to have a properly prepared
Street Address 2: 6 file may result in corrupting your GRABDB file.
City: 7
State: 8 Enter a number after each field starting with
Zip: 9 a number 1 up to the last item in your ascii
Phone No: 10 file. Then hit the F10 key to accept your
Ext: 11 tagged items. If you elect not read in a file
at this time hit the Esc key to abort.
Up-Arrow for Previous Field, Down-Arrow or Return for Next Field,
F1 for Help on Edit Commands, <Esc> Abort, F10 Save the Changes
Insert
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 14.4: GRABDB import screen
Chapter 14, "Importing & exporting" 63
ASCII field positions #10 & #11 contain the work phone number &
work extension. GRAB Plus will begin importing records when you
press the F10 key.
14.2.5 SprintMerge
Those who use Borland's Sprint word processor can export in the
SprintMerge format. Choose "File/Export/Sprint"; a SprintMerge
file is created in the same directory as the dbDIAL database,
with the same filename and a ".REC" extension. Note: if a file
already exists with that filename, it will be overwritten.
The following variables are defined in the export file:
1. Title 11.
2. LastName Address (using the "-
3. FirstName multiline" option)
4. Company 12.
5. WorkPhone City
6. WorkExt 13.
7. HomePhone State
8. HomeExt 14.
9. FaxPhone Zip
10. 15.
FaxExt LastCall
16.
NextCall
Consult your Borland Sprint manual for details on how to use a
SprintMerge file.
dbDIAL writes the SprintMerge file in the currently active sort
sequence.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 64
____________________________Chapter 15___________________________
The TOLLNMBR.INF file
dbDIAL looks for a special TOLLNMBR.INF file whenever it dials a
local number. Normally, the program understands a phone number
to be local or long-distance. Yet sometimes local numbers must
be dialed as "toll" calls. (Normally this means dialing a "1"
before the number.) TOLLNMBR.INF tells it what local three-digit
exchanges should be treated as toll calls.
TOLLNMBR.INF is a simple ASCII text file. Each three-digit
exchange appears on a line by itself, like so:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
233
555
578
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 15.1: Sample TOLLNMBR.INF file
Exchanges don't have to be in any order, but there must be NO
blank lines, nor can there be any blank spaces at the beginning
or end of a line.
If you tell dbDIAL to dial a local call, it checks to see if
TOLLNMBR.INF exists and looks for the three-digit exchange. For
example, if the number you want to dial is 233-7215 and 233 was
listed, it dials the call using the default toll prefix & suffix.
The program reads TOLLNMBR.INF file each time you dial a number
in your area code. This means you can update it on the fly with-
out having to unload the program from TSR status.
Special note: some people may have so many toll exchanges, it
might be easier just to list the local ones as exceptions. You
can do this if you follow this example:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
EXCEPTIONS
739
759
982
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 15.2: Sample TOLLNMBR.INF exceptions
"Exceptions" must be on the first line of the file. It doesn't
matter if you use uppercase or lowercase letters -- you just have
to spell it right.
dbDIAL includes a sample TOLLNMBR.INF file with "555" as a toll
exchange. Please feel free to add more toll exchanges (or
exceptions).
Chapter 16, "The TIMEZONE.INF file" 65
____________________________Chapter 16___________________________
The TIMEZONE.INF file
dbDIAL looks for a special TIMEZONE.INF file whenever you want to
see the time of day for an area code or state. This file is
simply a list of the area codes for each state and the time zones
they fall under. It is a simple ASCII file with the following
general layout:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CO Colorado
303 MT 719 MT
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 16.1: Sample TIMEZONE.INF file
Each state gets two lines. The first line contains the state
abbreviation and the full state name. The second line lists each
area code in the state followed by a two-letter designator for
the time zone:
Table 16.1: Time zone designators
-----------------------------------------------------------------
AT Atlantic Time
ET Eastern Time
CT Central Time
MT Mountain Time
PT Pacific Time
KT Alaska Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Each item in the list is separated by a space. There must be NO
blank lines, nor can there be any spaces at the beginning or end
of a line.
dbDIAL includes a generic TIMEZONE.INF file. You may notice some
area codes cover two time zones, but the file only lets you
specify one. We struggled to list the zone with the most phone
numbers in a given area code, but please feel free to alter it if
you like.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 66
______________________________PART 3_____________________________
Included utilities
Chapter 17, "dbDMerge utility" 67
____________________________Chapter 17___________________________
dbDMerge utility
DBDMERGE.EXE appends the records from one or more dbDIAL data-
bases to a master database file. The syntax for using dbDMerge:
DBDMERGE masterfile dbdfile [dbdfile...]
masterfile the name of the dbDIAL database which will absorb
records from other databases. You can specify a
drive & path if you wish. dbDMerge will create
the file if it doesn't already exist.
dbdfile the name of a dbDIAL database file to append into
the master database file. You can specify a drive
& path if you wish.
The program displays a copyright notice and various status
messages while it works. The total time for the program to run
depends on the number of records in the secondary database
file(s).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
c:\dbdial 16:04:59 Thu 12-19-91
C>dbdmerge dbdial dir-asst congress press
dbDMerge Copr. 1991, Barn Owl Software
Created database C:\DBDIAL\dbdial.DAT
Master database contains 0 records right now...
REBUILDING DbDIAL indexes. Key -> 5 Read -> 130 Written -> 130
Appending records from dir-asst
REBUILDING DbDIAL indexes. Key -> 5 Read -> 430 Written -> 430
Appending records from congress
REBUILDING DbDIAL indexes. Key -> 5 Read -> 740 Written -> 740
Appending records from press
Records left: 10 Time left: 00:00:04
Master database contains 1317 records right now...
Thanks for using dbDMerge!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 17.1: Sample dbDMerge session
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 68
____________________________Chapter 18___________________________
Find-Dup utility
FIND-DUP.EXE reads dbDIAL databases and generates a corresponding
filename.DUP report about suspected duplicate records in the
file. The syntax for using Find-Dup:
FIND-DUP dbdfile
dbdfile the name of the dbDIAL database file. You can
specify a drive & path if you wish.
The program displays a copyright notice and various status
messages while it works. The total time for the program to run
depends on the number of records in the database file.
An ASCII report file is stored in the same directory as the
dbDIAL database, with the same filename and a .DUP extension.
(Older report files will be overwritten.) When the program ends,
you can use a text editor to study the ASCII report for suspected
duplicate records.
Find-Dup searches for duplicate first & last names and writes a
line in the report file for each match. When a match occurs, the
program further reports if the company, address, city, state, and
zip code also match. Records are specially flagged if they prove
to be identical right down to the notes field. Here's what a
sample CUSTOMER.DUP report file might look like:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
C:\MSDOS\DATA\CUSTOMER.DAT
Database contains 776 records...
<No last name>, <No first name> <-- Same Name
Complo, Michelle <-- Same Name Company City State Zip
Editor, Letters <-- IDENTICAL RECORD
Lennox, Dave <-- Same Name
Smith, John <-- Same Name City State
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 18.1: Sample Find-Dup report
Chapter 19, "GRAB2DBD utility" 69
____________________________Chapter 19___________________________
GRAB2DBD utility
GRAB2DBD.EXE reads GRAB Plus database files (in GRABDB format)
and stores them in a dbDIAL-format database. The syntax for
using GRAB2DBD:
GRAB2DBD grabdbfile dbdfile [/S]
grabdbfile the name of the GRABDB database file. You can
specify a drive & path if you wish. The file must
exist.
dbdfile the name of the dbDIAL database file. You can
specify a drive & path if you wish. The file will
be created if it doesn't already exist.
/S Database save mode. See the same option on page
14.
The program displays a copyright notice and various status
messages while it works. The total conversion time depends on
the number of records being processed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
c:\tp\dbdial\stuffy 18:37:58 Fri 12-20-91
C>grab2dbd grabdb dbdial
GRAB2DBD Copr. 1991, Barn Owl Software
Opening grabdb...
Opening dbdial...
Created database C:\TP\DBDIAL\STUFFY\dbdial.DAT
Records left: 0 Time left: 00:00:00
Thank you for using dbDIAL!
c:\tp\dbdial\stuffy 18:38:13 Fri 12-20-91
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 19.1: Sample GRAB2DBD session
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 70
WARNING: Both filenames must end with a .DAT extension, and you
must use different filenames for the two databases. You could
irreparably corrupt your data if you use the same filename for
both databases.
Chapter 20, "SixSorts utility" 71
____________________________Chapter 20___________________________
SixSorts utility
SIXSORTS.EXE modifies dbDIAL so it sorts databases six ways
instead of five.
By default, dbDIAL sorts on five key fields: name, company, zip
code, last date called, and next date to call. Social security
numbers are included in the database but few people need to sort
on them. SixSorts is for those who do need this capability.
Special note: Index files increase 14% in size if you sort by
SSN. Specifically, every 62 records (or fraction thereof) gene-
rates 1624 more bytes in the index file.
Move to the directory with DBDIAL.EXE, GRAB2DBD.EXE, and
SIXSORTS.EXE and type:
SIXSORTS
at the DOS prompt. The program displays a copyright notice and
various status messages while it works. The whole process takes
less than a minute.
SixSorts may abort if a file has its read-only attribute set or
if it doesn't reside in the current directory.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 72
-----------------------------------------------------------------
c:\dbdial 16:38:46 Fri 12-20-91
C>sixsorts
dbDIAL SSN sort initializer utility
Copr. 1991, Barn Owl Software
Opening DBDIAL.EXE file
Searching for SSN key ID string
Modifying DBDIAL.EXE
Closing DBDIAL.EXE
Opening GRAB2DBD.EXE file
Searching for SSN key ID string
Modifying GRAB2DBD.EXE
Closing GRAB2DBD.EXE
Opening DBDMERGE.EXE file
Searching for SSN key ID string
Modifying DBDMERGE.EXE
Closing DBDMERGE.EXE
Thanks for using dbDIAL!
c:\dbdial 16:38:56 Fri 12-20-91
C>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 20.1: Sample SixSorts session
WARNING: Delete all *.IX index files so dbDIAL can rebuild them
from scratch. NEVER use a five-sort index file if your copy of
dbDIAL is set up for six sorts, and NEVER use a six-sort index
file if your copy is set up for five sorts.
73
______________________________PART 4_____________________________
Appendixes
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 74
____________________________Appendix A___________________________
Status & error messages
The following is a list of all status & error messages. In some
cases there may be an obscure reason why the message would come
up, and we've tried to list those reasons to help you out. (We
left out obvious possible causes like an unformatted disk or an
open drive door.)
Are you sure?
Auto-capitalization is ON/OFF.
Bad parameter or filename on the command line.
* An invalid command-line option was specified.
* The /K option was specified but the program could not find
the configuration file.
Be sure to press xxx when you hang up!
* This information message reminds you the call is being
logged. Press the hotkey xxx (normally ALT-H) when you hang
up so dbDIAL can log the end of the call.
Call logging feature has been turned OFF.
* A disk error occurred; dbDIAL recovered from it but was
forced to turn off the CDS call logging feature. CALLS WILL
NO LONGER BE LOGGED FROM THIS POINT ON! You can re-activate
this feature by choosing "File/Change/Config/Database" from
the main menu and resetting the "Log calls:" option.
Can't accept wildcards in TSR mode unless you use /M option.
* The "TSR mode" message goes away if you use the /M option
when loading dbDIAL.EXE into memory as a TSR.
Clipboard error occurred!
Clipboard text too lengthy for the memo field.
* Applies to people who run dbDIAL under Microsoft
Windows 3.0.
Config saved to xxxxxxxx.
Couldn't find a phone number on screen.
* You told dbDIAL to dial a phone number from the screen and
then pressed the TAB key to move to the next phone number,
but the program couldn't find any phone numbers on the
screen. (This sometimes happens with vanity phone numbers
like 800-RSNBRGR.) Move the highlight bar with the cursor
keys and +/- keys until it covers the phone number you want
to dial.
Appendix A, "Status & error messages" 75
Couldn't recognize xxxxxxxx.
* Multiple command-line options were listed without a space or
tab to separate them. "/I/N" is not acceptable, you must
say "/I /N".
* An invalid command-line option was specified.
* The specified dbDIAL configuration file doesn't exist.
Created database xxxxxxxx.
dbDIAL already loaded in memory.
dbDIAL has been unloaded.
dbDIAL loaded in memory.
dbDIAL not resident in memory.
Remember, hotkey1 and hotkey2 invoke dbDIAL!
* DBDIAL.EXE displays these general status messages when it
loads or unloads from memory as a TSR.
dbDIAL can't unload at this time.
* One or more TSRs were loaded into memory after DBDIAL.EXE.
TSRs must be unloaded in reverse order, last to first.
* You tried to unload DBDIAL.EXE from inside a standalone
application or while operating in a secondary DOS shell.
dbDIAL database corrupt, unable to reconstruct.
Error importing/exporting dbDIAL records.
Error reading/writing the xxxxxxxx file.
Error trying to locate or read the help file.
* The file is not a valid dbDIAL v1.0 configuration file,
dbDIAL database file, help file, or dbDIAL record import
file. (You may be trying to read a file generated by a
later version of dbDIAL.)
* The identified file is corrupt.
* The disk has become full.
* Tried to write or erase a read-only file.
* Tried to write or erase a file on a write-protected disk.
Default config file located. Use it?
* dbDIAL located a DBDIAL.CFG file while switching to the
database you specified. The database has no special config-
uration file of its own, so the program wants to know if it
should use its current internal defaults or override them
with the default configuration file.
Did the call connect?
* Unfortunately, dbDIAL can't tell when someone picks up the
phone at the other end -- modems just don't return that kind
of data. You must tell the program if your call connected.
Did you just hang up on the current call?
Do you really want to quit the program?
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 76
Do you want to pack/purge the database?
* dbDIAL asks this after performing certain global database
actions. You should answer yes if you deleted anything for
security reasons, or if you believe you can reclaim a lot of
disk space. Read chapter 12 and appendix C for further
details.
Do you want to redial the number?
DOS says today is Tue 1-1-80! That's not right!
* The DOS date is not set properly. It won't affect dbDIAL,
but it could mean a bad call history file. See chapter 2.3
for more information.
Eject page from printer?
Elapsed time hh:mm:ss.
* This information message displays whenever you halt the
stopwatch function.
Encountered database error: nnn. Attempt rebuild?
* dbDIAL encountered an unexpected error when it tried to open
a database. The program wants to try to rebuild the data-
base to correct the error. Answer yes ONLY IF you have
adequate backups, and please call ZPAY to report the
specific error number.
Error occurred trying to access modem.
* You failed to turn on an external modem.
* You specified an improper COM port.
Error writing a report to the printer device.
* The printer has gone off-line for some unknown reason.
* The disk has become full or is write-protected (assuming you
decided to redirect printer output to a disk file).
* You declared an invalid printer device handle.
* You declared a printer initialization (or exit) string which
somehow shuts down the printer so no more text will be
accepted.
* Too many files open at once. Check your CONFIG.SYS file to
see about increasing the FILES= entry. (Consult your DOS
manual if you are unfamiliar with this.) If you use a
program that can remove TSRs from memory, it may not have
closed the files used by those TSRs.
Export the notes for each record?
Failure occurred in TSR handler logic.
* DBDIAL.EXE failed its attempt to go resident as a TSR. Call
ZPAY for assistance.
Appendix A, "Status & error messages" 77
Let me know when to dial the next portion...
* A semicolon ";" character appeared somewhere in the string
sent to the modem. dbDIAL sent everything up to the
semicolon and is now waiting for you to press a key so it
can send the rest. This is useful if you want the program
to dial your credit card number, for example. Read appen-
dix B.4 for detailed information.
Low key cannot be greater than high key.
* You enter a low key value greater than the corresponding
high key value for filtering database records. Please enter
a valid key range.
nnn new records were added.
No call is in progress.
No data in the Windows 3.0 clipboard.
* Applies to people who run dbDIAL under Microsoft
Windows 3.0.
No matching notes string found.
No matching record found.
* These information messages appear if dbDIAL finds no records
matching your abstract or rigid criteria.
Not a valid abbreviation.
* You failed to enter a valid two-letter state/country
abbreviation in the state field of a dbDIAL database record.
Press F1 to see a list of valid abbreviations.
Not enough memory to continue.
* dbDIAL "grows" while it works, and grew too large to fit in
memory. Remove memory-resident programs and try it again.
If you use multitasking software, increase dbDIAL's memory
allotment or remove other programs from the queue.
Not enough memory to drop to DOS.
* dbDIAL has too little memory available to open a "DOS
shell". You must terminate the program if you need to do
something at the DOS prompt.
Paste address into Microsoft Windows clipboard?
* Applies to people who run dbDIAL under Microsoft
Windows 3.0.
Pick up the phone AFTER the modem finishes dialing.
* This information message appears when dbDIAL finishes
sending the phone number to your modem. Wait for the modem
to completely dial the number, pick up the phone, and THEN
press a key. DON'T press a key before picking up the phone
or you'll wind up talking to a dial tone.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 78
Runtime error nnnn at xxxx:yyyy
* This "catch-all" error message means a problem occurred that
dbDIAL wasn't programmed to handle. Please tell ZPAY if you
get this message and give a detailed description of what you
did that led up to it.
Send output to printer?
Shelling to DOS. nnnK available. Type "EXIT" to return to
program.
Sorry, couldn't find TIMEZONE.INF file.
Sorry, couldn't find TOLLNMBR.INF file.
* Some functions need the TIMEZONE.INF or TOLLNMBR.INF files
to work properly. See pages 65 and 64 for details.
Sorry, you need ZIPKEY v1.91 or later.
Sorry, ZIPKEY not loaded in memory.
* Some functions need the ZIPKEY TSR to work properly. See
the advertisement at the back of the manual.
That file doesn't exist.
That file is labeled as "read-only".
The key you pressed is not valid here. Press F1 for help.
Warning: a DOS 3.20 bug can corrupt log files!
* This information message appears whenever dbDIAL runs on a
computer using DOS version 3.20. See chapter 2.3.
Windows 3.0 not active; cannot copy from clipboard.
* Applies to people who run dbDIAL under Microsoft
Windows 3.0.
You don't need to call anyone today.
* You pressed ALT-S to see who needs to be called today, but
no record in the current dbDIAL database has been flagged
for a call in their next-call field.
You haven't made any calls yet.
You need to call some people today (press ALT-S to see them).
* Each time dbDIAL opens a dbDIAL database, it checks if you
need to call someone today (as listed in the next-call
field) and lets you know if so. You can turn this option
off when you create a configuration file.
You talked for nn minutes.
Appendix A, "Status & error messages" 79
A.1 Exit codes
The various programs which make up dbDIAL generate an exit code
that tells how the session went. This code is known as the
"ERRORLEVEL" in batch files. (Consult your DOS manual if you are
unfamiliar with it.) The possible exit codes are:
Table A.1: dbDIAL exit codes
-----------------------------------------------------------------
0 : Normal termination
1 : Bad parameter or filename on the command line
2 : Not enough memory to continue
3 : Error reading/writing the configuration file
4 : RESERVED
5 : RESERVED
6 : Error reading/writing the dbDIAL database
7 : Error importing/exporting dbDIAL records
8 : dbDIAL database corrupt, unable to reconstruct
9 : Error trying to locate or read the help file
10 : Error reading/writing a CDS log file
11 : RESERVED
12 : RESERVED
13 : RESERVED
14 : Cannot send report to a read-only file
15 : Cannot send report to an invalid filename
16 : Error writing a report to the printer device
17 : Error occurred trying to access modem
18 : Error occurred while trying to load as a TSR
-----------------------------------------------------------------
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 80
____________________________Appendix B___________________________
Helpful hints
B.1 Invoking dbDIAL
Here are a few visual aids for dbDIAL's start-up options:
DBDIAL
Starts the program with no special instructions.
DBDIAL /I/N
Wrong! You must put a space between each option. The program
will only see the /I option in this case.
DBDIAL /N
The program starts up in silent mode.
DBDIAL /I /E
Orders the program to use its internal defaults instead of
looking for a configuration file. It will also ignore LIM EMS
memory if present.
DBDIAL /KC:\DOS\DATA\MY-DATA.CFG SALES /R /S
Tells dbDIAL to load as a TSR using the configuration file MY-
DATA.CFG, overriding the configuration file with a special
database called SALES.DAT in the current directory. Database
save mode will be in effect.
DBDIAL /R /XX /X1
Tells the program to load as a TSR and use XMS instead of EMS
for its memory swap file if it has a choice. It will also use
minimal disk space or XMS memory to store the swap file.
B.2 Common questions & answers
"How can I create my own 'blueprint' or 'mailmerge' files so I
can generate form letters?"
See chapter 14.2.3 for full details. Fig. 14.2 on page 62
will give you an idea of what your own form letters might look
like.
"I told dbDIAL which COM port to use but my modem won't dial.
What's wrong?"
See page 89 for possible fixes.
"Why can't I get dbDIAL to sort on Social Security numbers?"
Few people need this capability, so we disable it to reduce
the size of database index files. You can easily re-enable it
with the SixSorts program. See page 71.
Appendix B, "Helpful hints" 81
"Why doesn't F4 show me the current time of day for each zip
code?"
You must have the popular ZIPKEY program from Eric Isaacson
Software, it must be version 1.91 or later, and it must be loaded
before dbDIAL.
"How do I get dbDIAL to run as a TSR?"
See page 14.
"I need dbDIAL's default hotkey for some other program. Can I
change it?"
Certainly. See pages 35 and 13.
"I don't have expanded memory. Can dbDIAL's TSR portion use
extended memory?"
The program can use extended memory directly if you load
Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS device driver (available free from Micro-
soft) or some other LIM XMS device driver as part of your
3
CONFIG.SYS file. dbDIAL can use extended memory even if you
don't have a LIM XMS device driver: consult your DOS manual for
information on a device driver usually known as RAMDISK.SYS or
VDISK.SYS. Set up a RAMdisk in extended memory and tell dbDIAL
to use it like a regular disk drive.
"I can't get dbDIAL to unload from TSR status."
You may be running another application, or you may have loaded
other TSRs after dbDIAL. Exit to DOS from any program you may be
running at the time, unload any "later" TSRs, and try again.
"My system locks up when I press the dbDIAL hotkey while using a
DOS application under Microsoft Windows."
You loaded dbDIAL before starting Windows. Load it from a
batch file used to run a DOS application under Windows, and make
sure Windows calls the batch file instead of the DOS application
itself.
"The program takes about 11k of memory instead of 8k when I load
it. How come?"
You used the /X1 command line option (and possibly /XX as
well). See page 15.
"The program loaded as a 500k TSR! What happened?"
First off, we can assume you either have no EMS/XMS memory or
you used command line options to ignore it. This means you
either loaded the program from a floppy drive or used the special
/D! option.
* you loaded the program from a computer with no hard
drive; or,
_________________________________________________________________
3. Most 286/386 memory managers programs provide LIM XMS support
in lieu of HIMEM.SYS.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 82
* you loaded the program from a floppy drive without using the
/D option to tell dbDIAL where to store its memory swap
files; or,
* you loaded the program from a floppy drive without using a
configuration file to tell dbDIAL where to store its memory
swap files; or,
* you used the /D! option to make the program load everything
in regular memory; or,
* you entered a "!" in the "TSR disk default" field of your
configuration file.
See page 13 for potential solutions.
"Sometimes dbDIAL can't find files when I load it as a TSR from
my AUTOEXEC.BAT file. It works fine if I reload it into memory.
What gives?"
Your AUTOEXEC.BAT file loads the program before it sets the
DOS PATH. dbDIAL looks for files across the DOS PATH if it
doesn't find them in the directory from which you loaded the
program. However, a quirk in DOS itself forces you to load TSRs
after setting the PATH if the TSRs need the PATH. Most of them
don't need to look at the PATH so they have no problem with it.
"I can't get my mouse to work with dbDIAL when I load it as
a TSR."
You're probably loading dbDIAL as a TSR before you load your
mouse driver. Load dbDIAL after the mouse driver.
B.3 Special calling problems
There are a number of cases where people dial local, toll, and
long distance numbers that confuse dbDIAL. In Maryland for
example, you have to dial your own area code to make a toll call.
In Los Angeles, you never dial a "1" prefix to reach a toll
number. Brookville, Indiana residents don't have to dial all
seven digits for a local call (they can get away with five). The
list goes on.
dbDIAL has to draw the line at some point -- it can't handle
every possible dialing anomaly. But there are a few ways you can
fool dbDIAL into handling these cases so the phone numbers are
dialed correctly. The methods shown here have their pros & cons,
and this is by no means a complete list. We hope they will spur
your imagination to find a solution for your dialing anomaly.
If you must dial your own area code to make a toll call, you can
change the default toll prefix string so it contains a "1"
followed by the local area code.
Suppose you don't need a "1" prefix to call a toll number but you
want it to appear in CDS log files like a toll number. (Some
people need to do this if they generate phone bill reports using
a CDS-compatible phone bill analyzer.) In this case, choose a
Appendix B, "Helpful hints" 83
prefix code with no information in it (we recommend the "Z" pre-
fix code) and use it to override the default prefix code.
If you don't need to dial all seven digits, just put the whole
phone number in the phone number field anyway. Two digits won't
make a difference to dbDIAL when it dials the call for you.
B.4 Hotels & credit cards
Unfortunately, phone service varies widely between cities and
even between hotels in the same city. Some systems may require
you to dial "9" to get an outside line; others may force you to
dial something like "88" or "02".
If you use a credit card, you may have to dial a toll-free
number, wait for a tone, dial the number you want, wait for
another tone, and then dial your card number.
The worst case is when you find yourself in a hotel with a credit
card! But luckily, dbDIAL can be configured to make your life
simpler when you travel. It takes some tinkering, though, to get
it right.
If you're in any of the newer hotels (especially ones with the
convenient RJ11 phone jacks), chances are you'll dial "9" to get
an outside line. dbDIAL's /9 command may be all you need to deal
with the hotel phone system.
Some hotel phone systems may force you to pause briefly before
you can dial out. Most Hayes compatible modems accept a comma as
a command to pause for two seconds, and dbDIAL's /9 command sets
the default prefixes to "9,-" (local) and "9,1-" (long distance).
Dialing a number can be tricky if you don't know how long of a
pause to insert. Most Hayes compatible modems accept a semicolon
";" character as a return-to-control-mode command, and dbDIAL
takes advantage of this fact. If you include a semicolon in the
string, dbDIAL will:
1. send everything up to and including the semicolon
2. wait for you to press a key
3. send the rest of the string
You can insert more than one semicolon: the program will keep
pausing until it reaches the end of the string.
Many Hayes-compatible modems accept the "W" character as a "wait
for dial tone" command. If all you need to do is pause for the
next dial tone, the modem can do all the work for you. You and
dbDIAL will never know the difference.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 84
Practically all credit card users dial their card number after
the phone number. Your best bet is to change the default local &
long distance suffix codes to include your card number. Be sure
to put a semicolon (or enough commas) at the beginning of the
prefix string if you must wait before dialing the card number.
WARNING: KEEP YOUR PHONE CREDIT CARD NUMBER CONFIDENTIAL! Be
careful if you store it in a dbDIAL configuration file -- someone
could gain access to it if you aren't careful.
Example: John Smith wants to dial his wife from his hotel phone.
He will dial "9", pause briefly, then dial his MegaBell access
node; wait for a second dial tone, then dial his wife's number
with a "0" instead of a "1"; wait for a special ring tone, then
dial his credit card number. Smith's Hayes compatible modem
recognizes ";" as a return-to-control-mode signal and "W" as a
"wait for dial tone" command. Here's what his settings might
look like:
Default prefix: 9,1-800-555-6789W0-
Default suffix: ;312-345-6789-0123
Mrs. Smith ph#: 708-987-6543
Smith's modem is Hayes compatible and recognizes the comma, semi-
colon, and "W" as commands. dbDIAL doesn't care about the comma
or "W" but it does recognize the semicolon as a pause-for-key-
stroke command. The program will:
1. send the prefix string, his wife's phone number, and the
semicolon in the suffix string;
2. wait for Smith to press a key
3. send the rest of the suffix string
CAUTION: many Hayes-compatible modems fail to execute a command
longer than 40 characters! Check your modem manual for important
details on the maximum number of characters you can send in a
single command. If necessary, use the semicolon command capa-
bility to split large dialing strings into smaller parts.
Hint: it pays to check the phone rates before you use a credit
card in a hotel. Sometimes it's cheaper, and sometimes it
needlessly adds money to the cost of the call. This is a sad
fact of life and it depends on the phone service at each hotel.
B.5 Disable call waiting
Homes and small businesses often pay for a "call waiting" feature
so they can have the equivalent of two lines on a single phone.
However, people sometimes find it offensive if the person at the
other end takes time out answer another call.
Appendix B, "Helpful hints" 85
Most (but not all) people can temporarily disable call waiting so
they aren't interrupted during an important conversation. You
just dial "*70" before the number. Your call waiting feature is
re-enabled when you hang up.
dbDIAL makes it easy to implement this feature. Change the modem
dialing command from "ATDT" to "ATDT*70," and you're on your way.
(Choose the Config/Hardware/Modem menu item to do this.) Note:
be sure to include the comma at the end of the dialing command!
But what if the other guy has call waiting? Can you turn it off
on his end, too? In some cases, YES -- but you must have three-
way calling as well as call waiting to temporarily disable some-
one else's call waiting, and your modem must recognize the "!"
character as a "flash hook" command.
Change dbDIAL's modem dialing command from "ATDT" to
"ATDT,!,*70,". Remember, you must have both three-way calling
and call waiting on your end for this to work. Note: be sure to
include the comma at the end of the dialing command!
B.6 One modem, two lines
Many users have two or more phone lines and wonder how they can
get the modem to work with them. Let's say John Smith's wife
works at home. They have two lines, one for personal calls and
one for her business. Can Mrs. Smith get the modem to dial calls
on both lines separately?
It's possible, but it can be tricky. The easiest method would be
to use a two-line switch for your modem. Radio Shack seems to be
the only major chain of stores selling one, though many outlets
don't carry it in stock. You'll pay $34.95 plus tax -- quite a
lot of money for a box with three buttons. Ask for part
number 43-380.
Altex Electronics, a mail order firm, sells an A/B line switch
for $18.95. They even have a tollfree number: 800-531-5369.
Do we use these devices? No. We built our own using $8.27 (plus
tax) in Radio Shack parts. It takes three minutes to assemble
with no messy soldering or stripping. You need a small flathead
screwdriver and these items:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PART # PRICE DESCRIPTION
275-1537 $1.99 DPDT knife switch
279-310 $4.99 12ft RJ14/spade cord
279-391 $1.29 12in RJ14/spade cord
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure B.1: Radio Shack parts for two-line switch
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 86
Assembly is easy. You'll notice the knife switch has six screws
in a pattern much like a pool table; the loose wires on each cord
have spade lugs for easy attachment.
1. Loosen the knife switch screws.
2. Attach the wires from the long and short cords to the screws
as shown in figure B.2.
3. Tighten the knife switch screws.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* * *
LONG SHORT LONG
red red & black
black
SHORT
LONG green & LONG
green yellow yellow
* * *
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Figure B.2: Diagram for two-line switch
Just flip the switch when you want the modem to dial on the other
line. That's all there is to it.
Look in the README.1ST file (included on the dbDIAL disk) for any
last-minute news on other sources for this type of product.
Appendix C, "Notes for advanced users" 87
____________________________Appendix C___________________________
Notes for advanced users
The dbDIAL database can store up to 2,147,483,646 records and
uses ISAM (indexed sequential access method) techniques to sort &
search them. Unlike dBASE III+ programs, dbDIAL stores records
and notes in the same file. Variable-length records make this
possible.
Each record you see on the screen is a logical record composed of
one to eight sections depending on the size of the notes field.
The notes field uses a 384-byte section for every 377 characters.
You can enter up to 2637 characters (7 sections, multiplied
by 377 bytes, minus 2 bytes) before running out of room.
The ISAM database automatically de-allocates sections if they are
no longer needed and flags them for future use -- but the data-
base never physically shrinks unless you pack-purge it. This can
be done by choosing the "File/Utils/Pack" option from the main
menu. CAUTION: you should pack-purge whenever you delete
something for security reasons.
When you add a record or write notes, the program searches for
de-allocated sections it can reuse. The database grows only when
no more de-allocated sections exist.
When should you pack-purge the database? You can make a decision
based on information provided by the "File/Utils/Details" item on
the main menu (see chapter 12). It gives you three key pieces
of data:
1. total logical records
2. total sections they consume
3. total de-allocated sections
Each de-allocated section consumes 384 bytes of unused disk
space. Multiply it by the total number of de-allocated sections
to learn how much space you would reclaim with a pack-purge.
dbDIAL reserves 23 bytes in the first section of each record for
possible future use.
4
Index files work with 11,716-byte blocks. Each block tracks 62
records. Like the database, the index file never physically
shrinks in size unless you pack-purge, and it adds a new block
only when the other blocks have no more room.
_________________________________________________________________
4. Sorting by SSN increases the size of a block to 13,340 bytes.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 88
Two indexes use the "null" character (ASCII #0) for accuracy. If
you sort by the last name or by company, in reality you sort by:
* Last name + null + first name + null + company
* Company + null + last name + null + first name
The program converts these index strings to uppercase and trun-
cates them if they exceed 20 characters. If you do incremental
searching by name or company, you can specify a null character by
pressing the spacebar. dbDIAL checks the database for matching
index strings first with a null, then with a space. Null charac-
ters appear on the screen as a regular space. Thus, you can
narrow your search for Roger Smith at Acme, Inc. by typing "SMITH
ROGER ACME". If the record you want has no first or last name in
it, you can find it by pressing " ACME".
By default, dbDIAL "buffers" all database disk writes to increase
the speed of the program (disk I/O is a slow process in computer
terms) and "flushes" the buffers at the end of each transaction,
which usually entails adding, editing, or deleting a single
record. The program accepts an optional /S command-line para-
meter indicating all files will be accessed in "save mode." No
buffering takes place; disk writes are processed immediately to
assure the integrity of databases and index files. This
eliminates reconstruction hassles associated with users who
reboot or shut off the computer before exiting from the program.
The speed degradation for /S is minor in most cases. However,
you probably won't want to use it if you import a sizable load of
data or employ one of the "File/Utils" global routines.
dbDIAL always closes files and flushes I/O buffers before it
actually pops down from TSR mode, meaning your database is "safe"
when the program lies dormant in memory.
Appendix D, "Troubleshooting" 89
____________________________Appendix D___________________________
Troubleshooting
D.1 Call history file problems
Remember to exit from dbDIAL before you shut off your computer!
Failing to do so may corrupt your call history file. Important
information will be lost before it is written to disk.
Some people visually check a .CDS file to see what it looks like.
It's basically an ASCII text file, but it conforms to a stringent
format imposed by the Call Data Standard. You will most probably
confuse dbDIAL if you make ANY changes to the file.
D.2 Modem problems
If you know you set your modem correctly, but it doesn't respond
to the commands dbDIAL is sending it, the problem may be in how
fast the program is talking to the modem. Some modems can't
accept commands at the same speed it accepts regular data. You
can slow down dbDIAL's command data transmission speed from the
main menu. Choose the "File/Change/Config/Modem" option (see
chapter 7.2).
D.3 DOS shell problems
dbDIAL uses a complex "swapping" technique when it opens a DOS
shell. Everything is stored on disk or in EMS so you have memory
to run other programs. All that's left is a small 16k kernel and
a secondary copy of the command processor.
If dbDIAL swaps itself out to disk, two files will be labeled as
"hidden" files. This is so you don't accidentally delete or
rename them.
There are some rules you MUST follow when you invoke a DOS shell:
1. Never load a TSR! You'll have to reboot your computer the
instant you type "EXIT". Terminate dbDIAL if you want to
load a TSR in memory.
2. Never reboot the computer! The swap files may become "lost"
on your disk in such cases. If you do reboot, immediately
run the CHKDSK program to make sure everything is okay.
(Consult your DOS manual if you are unfamiliar with it).
3. Never delete/alter/rename the temporary swap files! dbDIAL
marks them as hidden to keep you from doing this.
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 90
4. Never use a low-level disk modification utility! This
includes programs like CHKDSK, or any program that
physically defragments hard disks, or anything that changes
directory structures.
It is possible to violate these rules in certain cases and get
away with it, but you risk having to reboot your system.
D.4 If that doesn't help
Before you call ZPAY for help, please take the time to jot down
your answers to these questions:
* Did you install the program according to the instructions?
* Did you read the appendix on helpful hints?
* What brand/model of computer do you use?
* What brand/model of modem do you use?
* What does your CONFIG.SYS file look like (if you use one)?
* What does your AUTOEXEC.BAT file look like (if you use one)?
* Do you use multitasking or networking software?
* Do you have any experience with similar products?
* Did you modify any of the more advanced "misc. options"?
Index 91
_________________________________________________________________
Index
/1 13 E
/2 13 EGA 13
/3 13 ERRORLEVEL 79
/4 13 exit code 79
/8 13
/9 13 F
/[ 15 files 8
/A 13 4DOS 12
/D 13, 14, 18, 81, 82
/E 14, 15 G
/I 14, 80 GRAB Plus 7, 25, 41, 58
/K 14, 15, 74 GRABDB 9, 42, 58, 62, 69,
/M 14, 34, 74 See Also: GRAB Plus
/N 14
/Q 14 H
/R 14, 17 help
/S 14, 69, 88 context sensitive 11,
/U 14 20, 24
/X 15 highlight bar 20, 21, 22,
/X1 15, 17, 18, 81 47
/XX 15, 81 hints 80, 84
/Z 15
K
C kernel 17, 89
Call Data Standard See:
CDS L
cautions 55, 84, 87, See legal notices 1
Also: warnings Logitech 11
CDS 7, 9, 11, 28, 89
CompuServe 1 M
CONFIG.SYS 76 Microsoft 11, 12
configuration 14, 16, 74, Windows 7, 9, 12, 17, 42
75, 80 mouse 11
current record 22
N
D networks 1
dbDIAL notes 9, 11, 13, 15, 17,
limited license 3 24, 28, 29, 35, 40, 41,
support 4 42, 45, 48, 58, 59, 61,
syntax 15 63, 71, 85, See Also:
DESQView 12 cautions
disk vendors 3
distributors See: disk O
vendors OmniView 12
DOS 3.20 10
DoubleDOS 12 P
PIF file See: Microsoft
Windows
dbDIAL v1.0 User Manual 92
prefix 13, 14, 31, 32, 58, templates See: blueprints
59, 64, 82, 83, 84 trademarks 1
R V
registration 4 VGA 13
site 4 visual aids 80
volume discounts 4
W
S warnings 42, 53, 54, 55,
screens 70, 72, 78, 84, See
EGA/VGA 13 Also: notes
scroll bar 26, 33, 57 warranty 2
shareware 2
suffix 13, 14, 31, 32, 58, Z
59, 64, 84, See Also: ZIPKEY 7, 11, 44, 47, 49,
prefix 53, 81
ZPAY address 1
T
TaskView 12
