The PC-SIG Library 10

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Text File | 1989-05-06 | 25KB | 578 lines

_______________ / _________ \ /___/ \___\ / \ | | | | ----------------- PHONE VERSION 1.0 MAY 1989 A telephone dialing program By: Jose Pico 29 Sweetwater Creek Circle Oviedo, Florida 32765 TABLE OF CONTENTS SOME LEGAL STUFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 INSTALLATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 THE FIRST TIME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 THE 'F KEYS'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 F1 HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 F2 SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A. ADD A NEW ENTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 B. BRING IN NEW COLORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 C. CHANGE AN ENTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 D. DELETE AN ENTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 E. ERASE **ALL** ENTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 F. FIX SOUND ON/OFF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 G. GO TO OTHER COMM PORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 H. REDIAL SETUP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 I. IGNORE CHANGES AND EXIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 I. JUST RIGHT, SAVE CHANGES. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 I. KILL A DATABASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 F3 ABOUT PHONE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 F4 OTHER LIST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 F8, F9, F10 QUIT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 THE DATA FILES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 REGISTRATION FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 PAGE 3 SOME LEGAL STUFF This software is provided without any warranties as to merchantability or fitness for a particular use. About all I can guarantee is that when I wrote this program, it contained no viruses or anything that, to my knowledge, would damage your equipment or data. This software is distributed as Shareware. You are free to copy and distribute to your friends. If you find PHONE useful, your registration fee of $10.00 will be appreciated. Even if you are not in a position to contribute financially, you can contribute in two ways: Pass this program along to your friends, acquaintances, Bulletin Boards, etc., that they may enjoy and maybe even contribute themselves. In fact, if you upload this program to at least five different Bulletin Boards and send me a note listing the five BBS's, then you will get a $5.00 discount on your registration. Simple as that. Send me a note with suggestions, bug reports, areas where this documentation could use improvement, etc. Of course, registered users get a lot more attention with problems and special requests. I can also understand that if the software is not working for you in its current version because of some bug, you might be hesitant to sink money into something that doesn't work. In that case I will work with you to fix the bug. INTRODUCTION Why did I write phone? Most telephone dialing programs are part of integrated programs which not only have a dialer, but also some applications which you might not need. Some are memory resident, which can lead to RAM conflicts if you have several RAM resident programs installed in your computer at the same time. The one I used in the past had a dialer, a calculator, notepad, the works. It took lots of my valuable RAM and I was having RAM WARS in my computer. The only parts of it I used were the dialer and the calculator, so I decided to replace the program with non-resident software. I replaced the calculator software with Radio Shack hardware for about $10.00. I could not find a telephone dialing program to my liking, so I wrote my own. PHONE is a non-memory-resident telephone dialing program. It is intended to dial the telephone for voice conversations. PHONE can also be of great help when calling banks and other services that require touch- tone dialing. PHONE will remember all the access codes, account numbers, transaction codes, etc. Your transaction will be reduced to pressing buttons on your computer without having to look up and dial all those long codes. PHONE is not a telecommunications program for file and message transfers between computers. I tried to make it: -fast -simple -versatile -easy to use -fun -useful -colorful PAGE 4 The following files should be in the distribution diskette: PHONE.EXE - The executable program PHONE.DOC - This documentation The database files, with the extension .CLL, will be created by PHONE. The default data file is, sure enough, PHONE.CLL. You don't have to worry about the extension. Whenever PHONE asks you for a filename, the extension .CLL is understood. To run PHONE you need an IBM PC, XT, AT, or compatible with at least 250kB of RAM, and a HAYES or compatible modem. PHONE can be used either from a menu or at the DOS prompt. To call the program up, enter PHONE at the DOS prompt. The program shows you a list of all the names in your database and gives you the opportunity to dial any of them. To dial a number you just press the letter to the left of your choice (<ENTER> not required), or you use the arrow keys to move the cursor bar to your choice and then press <ENTER>. The arrow keys scroll through the list. If you are at the top of the list and press the up arrow, you will be taken to the bottom of the list. <HOME> takes you straight to the top of the list, <END> takes you directly to the bottom of the list. When you select someone to call, PHONE will inform you that it is dialing and will instruct you to press any key when the other party answers or to stop the calling sequence. If your modem has a speaker, you will hear the dialing sequence. Pressing <ENTER> before the modem is finished dialing will interrupt the dialing sequence. If you know the name you want to dial and the database it is contained in, then you can use that name at the DOS prompt by entering PHONE followed by the name to be dialed and the name of the database, separated by a "/". For example, if RICK is one of the names in my FLORIDA database, at the C:\> prompt I can enter: PHONE RICK/FLORIDA <──┘ to dial Rick, whose number is in my FLORIDA database. Uppercase, lowercase or ALLCAPS have the same effect. The program will then dial the indicated person and return to the DOS prompt, without showing the menu. You must type the name and database exactly or PHONE will not recognize them. If you misspell the name or enter a name that is not in the requested database, PHONE will warn you to that effect and deliver you to the Main Menu with the requested database. If you misspell the database or enter a nonexistent database, PHONE will warn you to that effect and deliver you to the Main Menu with the default database (PHONE). If there are two entries with the same name in the requested database, PHONE will pick the first on the list. If the name of the data file is omitted, PHONE will assume PHONE as the filename. If you want PHONE to display the Main Menu but to start up with a database other than PHONE, use the desired name at the command line, preceded by a slash. For example, at the C:\> prompt I can enter: PHONE /FLORIDA <──┘ to start up PHONE and display the Main Menu for the FLORIDA database. PAGE 5 To summarize: PHONE - will display the Main Menu for the default file PHONE RICK (or PHONE RICK/) - will look up RICK'S number in the default file and then dial that number. PHONE RICK/WORK - will look up RICK'S number in the WORK file and then dial that number. PHONE /WORK - will display the Main Menu for the WORK file. INSTALLATION Program installation is simple. Copy PHONE.EXE to the root directory of your hard drive. PHONE can also be used from a floppy disk. Before you start dialing numbers, make sure you set up the correct Comm Port using the Setup Menu. Unpredictable things happen when you try to dial a number with the wrong Comm Port selection. THE FIRST TIME The first time you run PHONE, type PHONE and press <ENTER>. Because no data file (PHONE.CLL) has been created yet, PHONE will alert you to that and then go directly to the Main Menu. Notice that only one choice (A.) is available and that it is blank. If you tried to dial this empty option, the program will warn you that you need at least one choice, and return you to the Main Menu. Use the Setup option (F2) to create the data file that contains all the numbers you plan to dial, (up to a maximum of 21), the correct Comm Port, plus your personal preferences as to colors, sound, etc. THE 'F KEYS' F1 HELP - Press F1 to display Help. In this case it is a very austere Help because the program is self explanatory. F2 SETUP - Press F2 to display the Setup Menu, which gives you 9 options: A. ADD A NEW ENTRY - Press 'A' (<ENTER> not required) to show the complete 'phone book' database. This option allows you to add more items at the bottom of the list, up to a maximum of 21. First fill in the name to be added. It doesn't matter if you type it in caps or not, PHONE will change it to all caps. This is the name to match if you invoke PHONE with a name at the DOS prompt. The maximum length of this name is 28 characters. It can include spaces, but not quotation marks. One scheme that has worked for me is to use the person's initials followed by a 'W' if it is a work phone number and an 'H' if it is a home phone number. For example my brother, Rick Pico, has two entries: RPH for his home phone number and RPW for his work phone. Then from the DOS prompt I can enter "PHONE RPH" to call my brother at home or "PHONE RPW" to call him at work. PAGE 6 Normal editing keys can be used when entering the new information. - The right and left arrow keys move the cursor one character in the indicated direction. - The <HOME> key moves the cursor to the first character of the input field. - The <END> key moves the cursor one space past the last character of the input field. - The <DEL> key deletes the character under the cursor. - The <CTRL><RIGHT> and <CTRL><LEFT> arrow combinations move the cursor one word at a time in the indicated direction. - <CTRL><END> deletes from the cursor to the end of the input field. - <INS> toggles insert on or off. The cursor changes size accordingly, big cursor indicates insert on. - Backspace deletes the character to the left of the cursor. - <ESC> aborts the input. After entering a name, you can enter an optional comment. An entry here is not required, but it comes in handy if you have used a cryptic code for the name as I did above. The comment can be 27 characters long. It can include spaces, but not quotation marks. Next you enter the phone number that will be dialed (up to 17 digits). The modem ignores most punctuation such as spaces, parentheses or dashes. A comma will cause the modem to pause for two seconds. This is used to access an outside line after dialing 9 or to delay before dialing an outside number. Such delays may not be necessary, so experiment to find out. After you enter the number, PHONE opens another slot to allow you the opportunity to add another name to your list, up to a maximum of 21 names. When you have no more names to enter, press the <ESC> key, which will return you to the Setup Menu. Any additions you make are kept in a temporary database until you select "JUST RIGHT, SAVE IT" from the Setup Menu. You can change or delete names in the temporary database. B. BRING IN NEW COLORS - Press 'B' (<ENTER> not required) to customize the color scheme of your screen. If this is the first time you run PHONE, the default colors are the ones I chose, but you can change them all. You will see a sample screen so you can get an idea what your new colors will look like. You will also see the Colors Menu which gives you 5 options: A. WINDOW TEXT - Press 'A' to display the choices you have for the window text. The cursor is at the current color. B. WINDOW BACKGROUND - Press 'B' to select a color for the background of all the windows. Don't confuse this with the SCREEN COLOR (Option 'D') which is the background for the whole screen. C. WINDOW BORDER - Press 'C' to change the color of the borders, the little double lines that go around the windows and that also may include words. PAGE 7 D. SCREEN COLOR - Press 'D' to change the background color for the whole screen. Selection of the background color is important because the cursor bar uses the screen color as its background color and the window background color as its foreground color (got it?). E. EXIT - When you are satisfied with the colors you have selected, press 'E', which returns you to the Setup Menu. You might notice that the window that shows under the Setup Menu does not reflect the changes you just made. Don't panic. Any additions you make are kept in a temporary database until you select "JUST RIGHT, SAVE CHANGES" from the Setup Menu. C. CHANGE AN ENTRY - Press 'C' to show a listing similar to the one you saw when you added items. This time you must select the item to be changed, using the same keys as you would use to select a number to dial. The editing cursor will first appear under the NAME. If this is not the field you want to change, just press <ENTER> to move to the next field, and so on. Use the <ENTER> key to move to each field, making changes as necessary. When the Bar Cursor appears, you can use the arrow keys to move to a different entry to be changed or you can press the letter to the left of an entry to change that entry. When you have no more entries to change, press the <ESC> key, which will return you to the Setup Menu. Any changes you made will be incorporated when you select "JUST RIGHT, SAVE CHANGES" from the Setup Menu. D. DELETE AN ENTRY - This option gives you the opportunity to erase an item from the list. Press 'D' to show a menu similar to the Change an Item Menu. In this case, when you put the cursor on an item and press <ENTER> or when you press the letter to the left of an item, that item will be selected for deletion. You will be asked once again to verify that you do want to delete that name. If you press "Y" or "y" the name will be deleted. Any other answer will cause the deletion to be aborted. In either case you will be returned to the Delete Menu. When you have no more entries to delete, press the <ESC> key, which will return you to the Setup Menu. Once again, notice that the phone list that shows under the Setup Menu does not reflect the changes you just made. E. ERASE **ALL** ENTRIES - This option allows you to erase all items from your database and start with a clean slate. It does not reset the colors, sound option, Comm Port or Redial options. It is intended to be used when starting a new database using the same options as a old database. This option is not to be confused with option 'K', (KILL A DATABASE), which completely deletes a file from disk. F. FIX SOUND ON/OFF - PHONE has sound effects built in, from R2-D2 to a foghorn if you press a key that is not an option. The default setting is SOUND OFF. Experiment with SOUND ON. After you select sound on or off, press <ESC> to go back to the Setup Menu. G. GO TO OTHER COMM PORT - This option allows you to tell PHONE which Comm port your modem is connected to. The default is Comm 1. If you attempt to dial a number with an empty Comm Port, the program will let you know if it cannot find the modem where it thought the modem would be. Then your computer is "likely" to lock up and do some other things you have never seen it do. Just reboot and try the other Comm port. Once you have selected the appropriate Comm port press <ESC>, which will return you to the Setup Menu. PAGE 8 H. REDIAL SETUP - When you tell PHONE to dial a number it really goes into a cycle. It dials the number and waits a certain amount of time for you to pick up the phone and press any key. If you have done nothing when this time expires, then PHONE hangs up the phone and waits a certain interval before dialing the number again. This cycle is repeated as many times as you wish. You have three decisions: NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS - This means how many times PHONE will repeat the calling cycle. The default is three. To disable REDIAL, set the NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS to 1. DURATION OF EACH ATTEMPT - This refers to how long the phone will stay off hook before PHONE hangs up. The default is 10 seconds, but for some long distance calls you might want to make this at least 20 seconds. Otherwise PHONE will hang up before the other telephone even has had a chance to ring. INTERVAL BETWEEN ATTEMPTS - This is the waiting time between the end of one attempt and the beginning of the next. The default is 20 seconds, which when added to the 10 second default for DURATION OF ATTEMPT means the number will be dialed every 30 seconds. I. IGNORE CHANGES AND EXIT - If after adding, deleting, changing, and generally rearranging your database with the options explained above, you decide that you don't want to change anything after all, press 'I' to leave everything the way it was before you went to the Setup Menu. This gives you one last chance to change your mind. Pressing <ESC> from the Setup Menu has the same effect as pressing 'I'. You will be returned to the Main Menu. J. JUST RIGHT, SAVE CHANGES - Press 'I' to put all the changes you made into effect to and return to the Main Menu. After you press 'I' you will see another window that asks you what name you want to give your database. The default name is PHONE. This is the name of the file that will be read when PHONE first starts up, it is also the file that will be used when you access PHONE with just a name in the command line, without /DATABASE. If you want to keep this name, just press <ENTER>. Pressing <ESC> will return you to the Setup Menu without saving the changes. You could, however, create a second database by typing a different name in this window. The extension .CLL is not required, but a drive and directory are allowed. You are allowed 20 characters for this name, which is just enough for a drive, an eight character directory and an eight character filename with separators (for example C:\TELEPHON\ALLPHONE). The names and phone numbers, as well as color, sound, Comm port and redial options are saved with the database and can be different from one database to another. Why would anyone want to create a second database? If several individuals use PHONE, each could have a different database reflecting their own often-called numbers as well as their choice of colors, sound, etc. A file that you create with this option can later be retrieved with F4. Remember though, when you start PHONE it will call up the database PHONE.CLL unless you specify otherwise at the DOS Prompt. If that database is not present, you will get the message "I CANNOT FIND THE DATA FILE..." K. KILL A DATABASE - This is the same as the DOS DELETE command. It erases a file from the disk. CAUTION. This command is excluded from the IGNORE CHANGES AND EXIT protection. Once you select a file to be killed and answer 'Y' to the prompt 'ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO KILL...' that file will be 'GONE'. The only way to get it back would be to undelete it using a file management program. PAGE 9 F3 ABOUT PHONE - Press F3 to show a window containing some very important information about PHONE. F4 OTHER LIST - With this option you can retrieve a secondary data file. Press F4 to show a list of all the possible PHONE database files (all those with the extension .CLL). The list will accommodate up to 19 database files, for a total of 399 different phone numbers that can be accessed with three keystrokes. Select a file the same way you select a phone to be dialed: either press the letter to the left of your choice or use the arrow keys to place the bar cursor on your choice and then press <ENTER>. If the desired database file is in a different drive or directory (a floppy, for example) a different drive and directory can be selected using the next-to-last option in the window. F8, F9, F10 QUIT -Press F8, F9 or F10 to terminate PHONE and make A:, B: or C: the default drive, respectively. There must be a diskette in the selected drive in the case of A: or B: drives. THE DATA FILES The procedures described above allow you to customize PHONE to your needs, and update the data files to reflect your choices. There is no need to go into the data files. But if you are bound and determined to explore the data files... here's some useful information. The data files are delimited ASCII files. A typical data file looks like this: 14,1,4,3,2,0,2,3,10,20,0,0,0 "RPH","MY BROTHER","123-4567" "RPW","CONTINENTAL TEST LABS","765-4321" The numbers in the first line represent respectively: - The window foreground color - The window background color - The window border color - The screen background color - How many phone numbers on the database - Sound (0=OFF, 1=ON) - Comm port number - The number of redial attempts - The duration of each redial attempt - The interval between redial attempts - The last three numbers are spare parameters for future use. That way if I make some changes to the program which require more parameters, then your data files won't be obsolete and my code will be simpler. PAGE 10 The other lines are the entries, (name, comment and number). As long as your file is an ASCII file and has the right items in the right place you can make your data file with a text editor or a word processor. If you are going to change things around, remember this: - Experiment only with a copy of the file - Foreground colors range from 0 to 15 - Background colors range from 0 to 7 - If the fifth item on the first line (number of items on the database) does not match the number of data lines, you will get unpredictable results. _________________________ ╔═════╗ ║PLACE║ _________________________ ║STAMP║ ║HERE ║ _________________________ ╚═════╝ Jose Pico 29 Sweetwater Creek Circle Oviedo, Fl 32765 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (fold back) ┌─┐ └─┘ $10.00 registration included. (please do not send cash in the mail) ┌─┐ └─┘ I have uploaded PHONE to the following Bulletin Boards $ 5.00 registration included. NAME CITY PHONE NUMBER __________________________ _______________________ ____________________ __________________________ _______________________ ____________________ __________________________ _______________________ ____________________ __________________________ _______________________ ____________________ __________________________ _______________________ ____________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (fold up) Comments: