In the beginning, I wrote this stack for my personal use. The address stack that comes with Apple are just not powerful enough for me so I wrote one myself. Over the years I've been working this stack off and on and finally got it working well. Although the version number is 1.0, it has gone through years of planning and debugging and perfecting. I cannot say that I am satisfied with this version and I am certainly going to improve and update this stack. But for now, it is a perfectly working stack with a number of feature which might be appealing to some users.
Using the stack
One of the major difference between this stack and the Apple's address is that this is an index page. Suppose you have 100 entries and you want to examine all of them, it is time consuming to go through every single card. So I created an index page which will let you scroll through all of the entries and jump to the specified card at the touch of a button.
Index page
On the top right corner is the Re-index button. Its functions are to update the list and check for notes and upcoming birthdays. If you have a note entry for the person, there will be a * right before the telephone number. If a person's birthday is within 15 days, there will be a * right before the birthday. The Re-index function is not automatic and you should be the judge of when to use it. You should use it every time you do a sort or add an entry. Future version will make this process automatic. Press on the name of the person to jump to that card.
AddrePhone page
This is the main working area, there are several fields and buttons on this page. There is a Lock input switch that allows you to lock fields to prevent accidental change of your data. Press to lock and unlock.
Right below the phone field is the date field. When you create a new card, it generates two different dates in the date field; since this is done automatically, you don't really have to worry about it. The bottom date means the date of creation and the top date means the modified date╤kind of like the finder.
Name and address
As soon as you press the New Card button, you can start typing in the name. Press return and you can type in the phone number, then press the tab to the address section and enter the address. Press tab again to enter the birthdays. You don't have to have any of this information except for the name. Make sure you unlock the fields first; if you don't, you will hear a beep and/or see the menubar flash.
Phone number
There is an automatic phone number format built into this field, all you have to do is enter the first 7 digits for the phone number or enter 10 digits with area code. The computer will take the number and turn it into (xxx)xxx-xxxx format. You can type, for example, "3424484 Work phone" and when you tab out, it will read "(206)342-4484 Work phone". If you live outside of 206 then you need to go into the script and change line 7 of the phone field. You can also use your modem to dial the first number for you. The little phone icon right next to the phone number field is just like the one with Apple, it looks for the Phone stack and dials it from there. So if you don't have the phone stack handy, you can't use it.
Birthday
Another feature of this stack is that you can keep track of your friends' birthdays. Have you ever forgotten a friend's birthday and later regretted it? Well, this stack will let you enter the date and check it for you. Press the little eye right next to the Birthday and it will go through all the cards and see if anyone's birthday is within 15 days. And if you lock the input and press on the birthday field, it will tell you how many days are left until his or her birthday. There is also an automatic formatting here.
*Note: If you input "11271", the computer will assume it's Jan. 12 1971. Enter "110271" if you mean Nov. 2 1971. Once the birthday is entered, the age will be calculated based on todays date. If for some reason it is incorrect, press the age field for re-calculation.
Notes
Press note button to display note field; press enter or the button on the bottom right corner to exit. If you have a note, the button will be hi-lighted. Hold the option key and press the left or right icon to skip to the next card with note entry. If you lock the input, there will be icon changes when you press the option key. If you want to delete a note entry, you can open it, delete it then exit. Another way of doing it is to hold option then press the note button; it will ask you if you want to delete this note entry.
Reserved spaces
I left some blank spaces on the right of the stack open for digitalized pictures. The empty spot on the bottom is intended for later use and/or user fields.
Credit
The script for this stack is written 100% by me and if you want to add any of it to your stack then PLEASE let me know. These scripts and XCMD took me a lot of time and energy to develop, and I'd like to share it with the Mac community provided that I have a general idea of what you are going to do.
Part of the XCMD code is copyrighted by THINK C. I also used some sounds and icons from the magic stack, copyrighted by MacUser (I think?).
Future updates
There are a number of things that I am working/planning on this stack: A preference page, automatic index, more user fields, multiple index, import and export of data, a tighter and speedier code. The preference page alone will contain several useful features: user-specification of what goes on the index, change your area code, turn off sound, turn off auto phone number formatting and many others.
Programmer's note
If you are interested in HyperTalk, this is a great source for learning. unfortunately, I didn't write the script to be readable and there are some tricky programming techniques are being used. If you have any question on the script, E-mail to me or write to me US mail. (I much prefer E-mail)
Shareware info
This a shareware and that means you can play around with this stack for a while, and if you find it useful, then you have to send in the user fee or delete it. You can distribute this stack only if you include the original stack with no alteration and this document. If you plan to make money off of any part of this stack then you MUST get my permission.
Please also send in your name, home address, and a telephone number so I can put you in my registration list and also notify you for future updates.
The next major version will be $20 and will be free to those who registered.
I will also consider writing custom code for those who registered.
