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Amigadex Version 1.0 Copyright 1988 Mind's Eye SoftWyrks, Inc. P.O. Box 1253 Westport, Massachusetts 02790 Written by Ray Lambert [tel. (508) 672-8232] o Overview: Amigadex is a disk-based 'address book.' It is intended to be used as a personal data base for the names/addresses/phone numbers of all your friends and/or business associates. The fields are pre-set for this purpose. It may be used to maintain a small mailing list, but it is not designed for heavy 'industrial' usage; it may be found to be somewhat limited for this sort of use. The data base is setup on the idea of 'cards.' Each entry into the 'card file' has it's own separate card. Using Amigadex, you can view and/or edit the cards that are in your card file. Also, a flexible print utility is provided for labels, or if you just want to make a print-out of certain entries in the data base. The print utility can also write cards to a text file, permitting mail-merge type operations. The program is completely mouse-driven. Most of the gadgets that appear will be in the shape of file cards, and will be referred to as 'card gadgets.' Most of the options available to you at any time will be presented as card gadgets along the bottom of the Amigadex window (which is also in the shape of a card :^) . o Getting Started, The Card File: Since the job of Amigadex is maintaining the card file, Amigadex will not execute if there is none available. Therefore, you must supply the name of a card file. If the file that you indicate doesn't exist, Amigadex will create it for you, after verifying this action with you. There are a number of ways to indicate a card file to use when invoking the program. The simplest method is to NOT indicate a card file. When this happens, Amigadex will display a requester asking you to enter the name of the card file you wish to use. The default card file name is 's:Amigadex.Cards', and this name will appear in the requester for you to select or change. The remaining methods are available either only from Workbench or only from the CLI. o Getting Started, Workbench: From the Workbench you may put the name of your card file in the 'Tool Types' field of the Amigadex icon. You may do this by clicking once on the gadget, and then selecting the 'Info' item from the 'Workbench' menu. The format for the icon command is: 'CARDFILE=cardfilename' where 'cardfilename' is the name of your card file. As an example, the default name would be entered into the icon as such: 'CARDFILE=s:Amigadex.Cards'. Note that it is desirable to use a specific path to the card file because you never know what disk directory your Amiga will be logged-into when you invoke Amigadex. Example: 'CARDFILE=Workbench/Amigadex/My.Cards'. Two other parameters, 'SEARCHFLAGS=' and 'PRINTFLAGS=', can also be defined as Tool Types. They will be discussed later. o Getting Started, CLI: From the CLI you may pass the card file name on the command line when invoking Amigadex. Example: 'RUN AMIGADEX S:AMIGADEX.CARDS'. This will use the card file 'S:AMIGADEX.CARDS'. One additional option is to use a text editor to create the Amigadex.Config file with the name of your card file in it. o Amigadex.Config file: To save you the trouble of going through the steps just mentioned to start Amigadex (especially from the CLI), one additional method of supplying Amigadex with the information it needs is described here. If no card file is specified on the command line (from the CLI) or if no card file is specified in the icon (from Workbench) then Amigadex will attempt to find a file called 'Amigadex.Config'. It will first look in the currently logged directory for this file. If it doesn't find it there it will look in your S: directory. (If it still can't find the file it will resort to the requester mentioned earlier). The config file contains the same information as the icon. If you're using Workbench, the only benefit you gain from using the config file is that you can directly modify it from within Amigadex via the Config Window (see below). To modify the icon, you must use Workbench's 'Info' menu option. The config file is just a text file with three lines in it. The first line contains just the card file name, the second contains the Search Flags (see below), and the third line contains the Print Flags (also see below). This file can be edited using any text editor that doesn't add any binary codes to the file. Amigadex will optionally create this file for you from the Config window (see below). An example Amigadex.Config file with all the default information in it is as follows: S:Amigadex.Cards YYYYYYY YYYYYNN o Search Flags: When browsing through your card file, Amigadex will allow you to enter a Search String for selective viewing and/or printing of entries in the file. Amigadex will search in all the fields that are indicated by the Search Flags for the Search String that you supply. First, a list of the available fields.. 1. Name 2. Address 1 3. Address 2 4. Address 3 5. Address 4 6. Phone # 7. Comment From the Config window (see below) you may set/clear any of the search flags. You may also set the initial flags either from the Amigadex icon or in the Amigadex.Config file. If a flag is ON then that will tell Amigadex to look in that field when searching. o Print Flags: The Print Flags are very much like the Search Flags except in their usage by Amigadex. The Print Flags indicate to Amigadex which fields should be printed in Print Mode (see below). For example, if you are printing mailing labels, you most likely would not want the Phone # field to be printed. You also may not want the Comment field to be printed. Therefore, you would clear the Print Flags for these two items, and they would not be printed. o Setting Flags: Search Flags may be defined in the Config Window (see below) and Print Flags may be defined in the Print Set-up Window, (also see below) once Amigadex is running. If you wish to define them either within the icon or within the Amigadex.Config file, you must understand how they are coded. A simple string of seven 'Y' and/or 'N' characters are used to define the Flags in the icon or in the config file. Each position in the string corresponds to one field. Position #1 corresponds to field #1, position #2 with field #2, etc. The default Search Flags are all on, and therefore the string would look like this: 'YYYYYYY' (without the quotes). The default Print Flags have all fields set except #s 6 and 7. The resulting string would look like this: 'YYYYYNN'. Within the icon, these strings must be preceded by the commands 'SEARCHFLAGS=' for the Search Flags, and 'PRINTFLAGS=' for the Print Flags. For example, the default Flags would be defined as such: SEARCHFLAGS=YYYYYYY PRINTFLAGS=YYYYYNN o The Card Window: When Amigadex executes it will display a window which appears like a giant file card. This window is affectionately referred to as the 'card window' throughout this documentation. :) At the very top of the window is a blank area which is used for quick messages. Below that area is the card itself. Within the card are the field names and a line for each field where information contained in that field will be displayed and edited. Below the fields is an area which will be used to display various card gadgets which give access to Amigadex's various features. In between the message line and the top of the main card, and to the left of the card's 'index tab', is found two displays which will report the current card number and the total amount of cards in the current card file at all times. o Amigadex System Gadgets: Amigadex uses custom imagery for all it's rendering in the card window, including the normal system gadgets. The drag gadget is in the 'index tab' of the card window and works exactly like a normal drag gadget. The depth gadgets are located in the upper right corner of the window, as is normal with other windows. They look similar to Intuition's depth gadgets, except they contain little images of file cards. (What? MORE cards??? :^) From the 'main menu' a Quit card gadget is available in the lower right corner of the window which does the job of a close gadget. One addition to the system gadgets is found just below the depth gadgets in the upper right corner of the card window when the Main Menu is active. This is an 'Iconify' gadget. It looks like a file card with a fancy letter 'I' in it's center. When clicked, it will remove the card window from the Workbench Screen and replace it with a single tiny card which behaves similar to a Workbench icon. It can be dragged around the Workbench screen, and, when double-clicked, it will disappear and replace Amigadex's card window on the Workbench Screen. 'Iconifying' puts Amigadex 'to sleep' until you need it next. It will also free-up about 16k of memory for system usage. o The Main Menu: 'Menus' here refers to the lower area of the card window where you will normally find up to five card gadgets that allow you to do certain functions within Amigadex. The 'main menu' is what you will first see once you've gotten into Amigadex. The options available are: Add: Allows you to add a new card to the card file. Amigadex will first search through the card file looking for deleted cards. Pressing Esc during this searching process will abort it and return you to the main menu. If no deleted cards are found then a new card is added to the file. Either way, you will be placed into 'Edit Mode' (see below) to enter the information for the new card. Browse: Allows you to look through and/or edit/delete cards in the card file. This is referred to as 'Browse Mode' (see below). Print: Allows you to print the contents of cards. This is known as 'Print Mode' (see below). Config: Allows you to define Search Flags, select a new card file and/or save a config file via the Config Window (see below). Quit: Quits Amigadex. o Edit Mode: Edit mode allows you enter/edit information for any card. If you are editing an existing card the information for that card will be placed in the card window. A cursor will appear on the first field and you may edit that information. Pressing RETURN will move the cursor down to the next field. These are standard Intuition string gadgets so you may also click anywhere in any of the fields to move the cursor there to edit. Right-Amiga-X will clear all the text on the line where the cursor is. Right-Amiga-Q will replace the original contents of the line as it was when the cursor first was placed on that line. If the cursor should disappear, simply use your mouse to click on one of the lines and the cursor will return. Two card gadgets will be found on the card window at this point. File: Saves the card as it appears on the screen to the current card file. Toss: Aborts the edit process. If changes have been made you will be asked to verify this operation first. o Browse Mode: Before entering Browse Mode you will be presented with the 'Enter Browse Parameters' requester. Two string gadgets and two card gadgets will be found in this requester. The string gadgets allow you to enter the card number to begin searching at, and a Search String for selective browsing. Leaving the 'Card Number' gadget blank will assume that you wish to start at card number one. Leaving the 'Search String' gadget blank will display all cards in the file. Pressing RETURN when the cursor is in the 'Search String' gadget is the same as clicking on the 'Okay' card gadget. Clicking on the 'Okay' card gadget instructs Amigadex to continue and to use the information in the string gadgets to browse with. Clicking on the 'Cancel' card gadget tells Amigadex to forget what you just did and return you to where you last where. If you haven't actually entered Browse Mode yet you will be returned to the main menu. Once clicking on 'Okay' Amigadex will search for the first card to display. If it cannot find a card for whatever reason, a requester will appear informing you that no cards where found and it will wait for you to click on an 'Okay' gadget. When a card is found you will then actually enter Browse Mode. When in Browse Mode you will find five card gadgets and two special 'Arrow gadgets'. The information for the current card will be displayed in the card window. Amigadex allows you to enter information for each field which may not completely fit in the card window. The information will scroll left-right when you type in Edit Mode. In Browse Mode however, if you wish to view a piece of information which doesn't quite fit on a line, you will need to use the Arrow Gadgets. These two gadgets are found on the left border of the card window whenever you are in Browse Mode. They will scroll the card information currently being displayed left or right. The top gadget scrolls right, and the bottom gadget scrolls left. The arrows found in the imagery will remind you which is which. The five card gadgets are as follows: Next: Moves forward through the card file. The search information you specified is used to continue the search to show you the next card in the file. When the end of the card file is reached Amigadex will re-position to the beginning of the card file. Last: Moves backwards through the card file. The search information you specified is used to continue the search to show you the last or previous card in the file. When the beginning of the file is reached Amigadex will re-position to the end of the card file. Edit: Enters Edit Mode (see above) to allow you to edit the current card. Delete: Used to delete the current card. You will always be asked to verify your intentions. Done: Exits Browse Mode and returns to the main menu. One additional gadget is available in Browse Mode which is invisible. This invisible gadget is located on the Card Number which is displayed on the top of the card window (under the message line). Clicking on the card number will bring-up the 'Enter Browse Parameters' requester to allow you to either jump to another card in the file, change your Search String or both. o Print Mode: Print Mode is where you will be allowed to print the contents of cards in your card file. The 'Print Set-up Window' allows you to enter all the information you will need to configure the printing process, and you will always see the set-up window when you click on the 'Print' card gadget from the main menu. There are two modes of printing available, 'normal' and 'continuous', which are explained below. o Print Mode, The Print Set-up Window: This window is separate from the card window, with normal system gadgets, etc. The information is arranged in two columns within the window. On the left is a series of toggle gadgets which allow you to set/clear the Print Flags. These toggle gadgets appear as three-dimensional cubes. When they are selected (turned on) a check-mark (which is a close relative to the Amiga check-mark :) will appear inside the cube. Alongside the toggle gadgets is text which identifies which field each gadget represents. All fields which are selected here (when the cube contains a check-mark) will be printed on your labels, etc. The ones that are not checked, will not appear in the printed output. The status of the Print Flags may be saved to your 'Amigadex.Config' file from the Config Window (see below). The right column contains several string gadgets that allow you to set search parameters, media size and output device. The search parameters that you enter here work exactly like those set in Browse Mode. The media size parameters are specified in character positions. The 'Media Height' parameter is of most use when printing labels as it allows Amigadex to calculate how many lines to insert between labels in order to advance properly to the next label. Your Media Height must be large enough to fit all the fields that you select to print. The 'Media Width' parameter is used to truncate any lines of text that are too long to fit on the media. The default values for the Media size parameters are suitable for standard size mailing labels. The 'Output Device' is where the printed output will be sent to. This can be any valid AmigaDOS device. The default device is PRT:, your Preferences printer. It could also be a file in case you need to write the contents of some of your cards to a text file to import the information into another program; a mail-merge for instance. Below the 'Output Device' string gadget you will find another toggle gadget with the words 'Continuous Mode' beside it. When this item is checked, printing will take place in 'Continuous Mode' (see below), otherwise, printing will be done in 'Normal Mode' (also see below). Finally, there are two card gadgets on the bottom of column two of the set-up window. The 'Okay' card gadget will accept all the input in the set-up window and begin the actual printing activity. The 'Cancel' card gadget will exit the set-up window and return you to the main menu, aborting the print operation. o Print Mode, Normal Mode: The Normal Printing mode is very much like the Browse Mode (described above). All the gadgets and options that are available in Browse Mode are available in this mode, with the exception of the 'Edit' and 'Delete' options, and one additional card gadget for printing. The 'Print' card gadget will send the currently displayed card to the Output Device that you specified in the set-up window. This approach to printing gives you full control over which cards get printed. You may browse through your card file and print only the cards that you wish. When you are done, click on the 'Done' gadget. o Print Mode, Continuous Mode: Continuous Mode offers you a way to quickly print a large batch of labels with as little intervention from you as possible. All cards which are found to match the Search String that you specify in the set-up window will be sent to the Output Device. Note that the Search Flags that you define in the Config Window (see below) or that you set either in the Amigadex icon or in the Amigadex.Config file will determine which fields are examined for the Search String; just as in Browse Mode. While printing is taking place in this mode, two card gadgets are available for you to click on: Pause: This will suspend the printing process until further instructions are given by you via a 'pause requester', which will appear after clicking 'Pause'. The 'pause requester' will contain two card gadgets to click on: Okay: Will resume the printing process exactly where it left off. Cancel: Will abort the printing process and return you to the main menu. Done: This will abort the printing process and return you to the main menu. o The Config Window: This window is a separate window like the Print Set-up Window. It will allow you to set the Search Flags and to change the card file that you are working with. It will also allow you to save this information in an Amigadex.Config file. Two columns of information will be presented to you. The left column will appear almost exactly like the left column of the Print Set-up Window (described above). A series of toggle gadgets, each one representing a field, will be displayed with the field name to the right of the toggle gadget. When the gadget is toggled on, searching in that field is enabled. The right column contains a single string gadget and three card gadgets. The string gadget is used to enter the name of the card file that you wish to work with. The name of the card file that you are currently working with will be displayed by default. Below this string gadget are the three card gadgets: Save: This option will attempt to create an Amigadex.Config file. Saved within the Config file will be the name of the card file which is displayed in the Card File string gadget, and the current state of the Search Flags as well as the current state of the Print Flags. This information will be used the next time you start-up Amigadex, assuming that you save it properly. A simple file requester will be displayed before Amigadex actually tries to write the Config file out. This requester will allow you to change the file name that Amigadex will use to save the file. Note however, as described above, when Amigadex runs it will only look for a file called 'Amigadex.Config', first in the current directory, and then in the S: directory if not found in the current directory. After saving the Config file, the information you defined in the Config Window will be used by Amigadex to continue it's operation. It will try to access the new card file that you enter (IF you enter a new card file of course :), and will prompt you to create the new card file if it doesn't already exist. Use: This option will put the newly defined configuration information into use without attempting to save it to a Config file first. Cancel: This will cancel any changes you make to the configuration information. If you actually have made changes you will be asked to verify the operation. All three of the above options will close the Config Window and return you to the main menu. o Product Status: Amigadex is ShareWare. Anyone may distribute it freely as long as all it's support files (including this .DOC file) go along with it. It is illegal to collect any fee for Amigadex, other than disk copying fees as normally charged by user-groups. It is illegal to distribute Amigadex as part of any commercial product without permission from Mind's Eye SoftWyrks, Inc., or the author. If you find Amigadex to be a useful product, you are asked to send a moderate fee to the address listed at the top of this document to become a registered user. Checks should be made payable to the author. The author and Mind's Eye SoftWyrks, Inc., assume no responsibility for any damage or loss that may occur as a result of using Amigadex. !PLEASE SUPPORT SHAREWARE! Enjoy the program! Ray Intuition, Workbench, CLI, Preferences, Amiga and AmigaDOS are trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc.