A simple network utility for sending instant messages and audio to other users.
• Send the same message to many users. • Supports multiple zones.
• Save groups of users. • Audio/voice messages!
• Send several different messages at the same time. • Simple.
Distributed as Shareware by:
Tad Woods, T&T Software, P.O. Box 1210, Salem, VA 24153
70312,3552 on CompuServe, Tad Woods on America Online
tandtsw@roanoke.infi.net on Internet, 703/389-0764 fax (24 hour)
703/389-0889 voice (10AM-5PM EST as someone is available)
Announce User and Announcer (a system extension) are fully-functional Shareware. You may install the programs on up to ten Macintoshes for up to 30 days. After 30 days you must purchase an unlimited users license or remove the programs from all Macintoshes in your building.
If you purchase an unlimited users license you will receive a disk containing the most recent versions of Announce User, Announce Administrator, and Announcer. In addition to sending messages, the Administrator application has the added abilities to Set Clocks, Restart, and Shut Down. The “welcome” screen does not appear each time you open the licensed version of Announce.
One unlimited users license covers an unlimited number of zones and users for one business in one building. You must purchase an additional license for each business and/or building. One unlimited users license is $39.00 (U.S.). For convenience, print the following order form:
Announce Order Form
Mail to: T&T Software, P.O. Box 1210, Salem, VA 24153. Please send U.S. funds only. Overseas orders add $2.00 for shipping. Tax-payer ID furnished upon request. You may also fax questions and orders to 703-389-0764.
Send the latest version of Announce User, Announce Administrator, and Announcer on disk.
Number of unlimited user licenses: ______
(One license covers unlimited zones and users for one company in one building.)
Price is $39.00 per license. Total amount enclosed: ______
__Check, cash, or money order
__Purchase order P.O.#___________________
__Visa __MasterCard
Card #_______________________ Exp. Date _______
Cardholder’s name______________________________
Signature_____________________________________
Your Name:
Company Name:
Address:
City, State, Zip:
Country:
Comments:
What is Announce?
Announce User (or Announce Administrator)
An application that sends messages.
Copy the application to your hard drive. Open it to send a message.
Copy Announce User for the majority of Mac users on the network.
Copy Announce Admin only for network administrators.
Announcer
A System Extension/Control Panel Device that receives messages.
Copy Announcer into the System Folder or Control Panels folder.
Make sure AppleTalk is Active in the Chooser, and a valid Chooser name (System 6) or Owner name (System 7 Sharing Setup control panel) is set up.
Restart the Mac to enable receiving messages.
Copy Announcer to every Mac on the network that will receive messages.
Important! If you are upgrading from version 1.0 or 1.1 remove the old Announcer extension from the System Folder or Extensions folder.
How to Send a Message
1. Start Announce User or Announce Admin.
2. A window titled Announcement will appear. If no window appears, select New Announcement from the File menu. You may open many Announcement windows at the same time.
3. Select a Zone. Only one zone may be selected, however you may open additional Announcement windows to select additional zones. If there is only one zone, the default zone * is automatically selected.
4. Select one or more Users who will receive your message. User’s names that remain highlighted will receive your message. Select your own name if you wish to receive a “carbon copy.”
5. Type a Message. The message will automatically be tagged with your name and the time of day.
6. If you wish the receiving users’ Macs to “beep” just before the message appears, check the box Play Alert Sound.
7. If you wish to add voice or sound that will play as each user acknowledges the message, check the box Add Audio....
See How to Add Audio on the next page.
8. Press the Send button.
9. The status “Delivered” appears by each name to verify that your message is displayed on that Mac. Each user will see your message and press OK.
10. You know that a user has pressed OK when the status “Acknowledged” appears by that user’s name. Leave the window open if you wish to monitor acknowledgments. Select New Announcement from the File menu to send a new message while you monitor an old message.
How to Add Audio
To add audio to a message, click the Add Audio... box at the bottom of the Announcement window. A dialog box appears. Audio can then be added from one of two sources: a microphone or a sound embedded as a 'snd ' resource in a file.
If your Mac has a built-in microphone, or you have added the necessary MacRecorder™ hardware and software (a Macromedia product), you can press Record from built-in microphone....
Or you can select a pre-recorded sound from the pop-up menu. To add additional sounds to this menu press Use a 'snd ' resource... and select a file that contains 'snd ' resources. If you have pre-recorded sounds that are saved in formats other than 'snd ' resources, you may be able to use software such as SoundEdit™ (part of the MacRecorder package) to re-save sounds in the necessary 'snd ' resource format.
Size indicates how much memory the audio requires. You want to keep audio messages small to minimize the amount of network traffic and the time it takes to deliver an audio message.
Press Play to test play the sound you recorded or selected.
The Volume menu sets the audio volume on both your Mac and the receiving Mac. 1 is the quietest.
Cancel Pending Messages
Sometimes you may want to remove from users’ Macs a message that has been “Delivered” but not yet “Acknowledged.” Press Cancel to take the message off of those users’ screens. Messages canceled this way will not be logged (see How to Configure the Announcer Control Panel).
Sound When Acknowledged
If this option is “checked” the alert sound will play each time a user “acknowledges” the message.
Poll Zone for More Users
Often on a slow and/or large network all user names will not appear at first. Use this option to immediately search the selected zone for more users.
Save & Save As...
Saves the contents of the active Announcement window, including the selected zone, users, message, and any added audio. Use this option to save groups of users.
How to Configure the Announcer Control Panel
You may configure basic options dealing with receiving messages. Open Control Panels and double-click the Announcer icon in System 7, or select the Announcer icon in the System 6 Control Panel.
Check boxes indicate which Announcer features are enabled/disabled. Initially most features are enabled.
Log Messages to File saves incoming messages to a text file named Announcer Log in the System 7 Preferences folder, or the System 6 System Folder. View the log with TeachText or any word processor. To view the most recent log entries, close and re-open the file. The log file remains “locked” in the Finder. To clear and reduce the size of the log file, press clear in the Announcer Control Panel.
Message Queue Size determines the maximum number of unacknowledged messages the Mac will “hold.”
Remove Msg After determines the amount of time an unacknowledged message will remain on the screen before it is automatically removed. Normally messages remain on the screen until they are acknowledged or canceled, but administrators may want to use this feature because pending messages may block some scheduled processes from running. If the Log Messages to File option is on, messages will be logged when they are automatically removed.
Restart the Mac for changes to Announcer’s settings to take effect.
Additional Features in Announce Administrator
Announce Administrator is provided with the unlimited user license.
WARNING: The additional features provided by the Announce Admin application should be used with caution. Only give network administrators copies of this application.
NOTE: Users can individually disable these features from the Announcer Control Panel.
Set Clocks... is useful for synchronizing every Mac’s clock to the same time, such as after Daylight Savings Time.
Restart... is useful for remotely restarting a Mac after remotely installing new software that requires a Restart. WARNING: Any unsaved data on the restarted Mac will be lost.
Shut Down... is useful for remotely turning off a Mac. WARNING: Any unsaved data on the shut down Mac will be lost.
How Announce Works & Tips
For compatibility and reliability Announcer uses Apple’s Notification Manager to display messages.
The Announcer Control Panel is highly efficient. It requires only 8.5K to 13K of System Heap RAM (depending on the Message Queue Size), and never consumes CPU cycles “polling.” Announcer allocates temporary memory for audio as needed.
Announcer will queue up delivered and un-acknowledged messages until the Message Queue is full. Additional messages will replace one of the pending messages if at least one of those messages does not contain audio.
Announcer installs code at startup. If Announcer is unable to install due to an error, the message “Announcer not installed” followed by an error code appears. Possible errors include:
-00028 AppleTalk is not active in the Chooser.
-01027 Duplicate network name. Do all of your Macs have unique
names in Sharing Setup or the Chooser? Are there two
copies of Announcer in the System Folder?
If you receive a message that may contain audio, but you do not wish to hear the audio immediately, hold option as you press OK or return to acknowledge the message. The audio will not play and the message will re-appear in 10 minutes.
Administrators who do not wish users to have the capability to add audio to messages, may easily create a version of Announce User without the Add Audio button. Use Apple’s ResEdit program to remove the 'Qual' resource from Announce User. Announce User will not display an Add Audio button if it cannot find a 'Qual' resource.
Error Messages
Normally the messages “Delivered” and “Acknowledged” appear beside user names after sending a message. Some other messages that might appear include the following.
“TIME OUT - NO RESPONSE” The user’s Mac is not responding. Usually that user’s Mac has been turned off or no longer has the same name or network address. Possibly the network is very busy.
“UNSUPPORTED VERSION” The version of your Announce User or Announce Admin program is incompatible with the user’s responding Announcer version.
“UNSUPPORTED REQUEST” The responding version of Announcer does not support the request.
“USER DISABLED OPTION” User disabled the option in the Announcer Control Panel.
“MESSAGE QUEUE FULL” User has too many unacknowledged messages.
“NOT CANCELED” You are trying to cancel a message that is in the process of being acknowledged.
“OLD NET NAME OR ADDRESS” The user name no longer matches the user name at that network address. Open a New Announcement and look for the user under a new name or in another zone.
“REMOTE ERROR - TIME OUT” An audio message was not delivered in time. When sending an audio message to multiple users, avoid sending a copy to yourself.
Disclaimer
T&T Software has spent a great deal of time ensuring the reliability of this product. However, T&T Software will not be responsible for any damage or loss cause by the use of this software. If you have comments regarding Announce please contact T&T Software at the address given in this document.
Version History
1.2.3 - January 1995. The number of zone names that can fit in the zone lists of the Announce User and Announce Admin programs is increased. Fixed a bug in the Announcer Control Panel that could cause Powerbooks to freeze when coming out of sleep. Updated T&T Software’s mailing addresses.
1.2.2 - April 1994. Added a Volume Limit menu to Announcer Control Panel. Audio messages play at the lower of the volumes selected by the sender or this volume limit.
1.2.1 - February 1994. Added log file option for incoming messages in the Announcer Control Panel. Announce User and Announce Admin did not change and remain at version 1.2.
1.2 - October 1993. Add Audio... added. Select All Users added to the Edit menu. Sound When Acknowledged added to the Announce menu. Shut Down feature added to Announce Admin. The Message Box now exactly matches the dimensions of the received message dialog. Announcer gets re-enabled on Powerbooks after Sleep. Announcer is now a Control Panel with user selectable options. Other minor enhancements. Version 1.2 is fully network compatible with version 1.1.
1.1 - Minor update to Announce User and Admin fixed a problem with the applications on 68000 based Macs. No change to the Announcer INIT; only the version number changed for consistency with the applications.
