Main Help Screen
Contact Manager Help

This file describes some of the features of the Contact Manager application. In addition, it includes some additional information regarding future developments, registration, etc.

This help file admittedly does not cover every possible topic regarding the use of CM. However it does give you an idea of how the application is designed, as well as a (short) description of most of the main features. You will probably find that the using CM is quite intuitive, and that you can use it without needing this help file. However, if you do need help, you will find enough in this help file to get you started. I hope you find this application useful.

Contents

Getting Started

A description of the application and the contents of each record.

Procedures

How to…

New Features for This Version

Additional Topics :

    Planned Features for Future Versions

    Disclaimer

    Copyright and Terms of License

    Registration


Getting Started

General Description

Contact Manager is a compact, convenient organizer for keeping personal information about people. It uses a tabbed, layered approach to (optionally) store a substantial amount of information about each person included in the database.

Each person’s information is stored in a card. The card is really a form with editable fields, which shows the contents of a record in the contacts database. Unlike a real card, CM has several tabbed layers for each personal record. Each tab accesses a set of information fields which give you information of a certain type, such as addresses, phone numbers, etc. This makes it easy to access any particular data field for a person, without requiring a lot of ‘real estate’ on the display by showing all of the information at the same time.

Information Content

Each person’s card contains the following categories of information:

� Phone numbers

� Addresses:

   ->Home Address

   ->Business address

� Internet related information (E-mail and Web page addresses for both personal and business use)

� Additional personal information, including two free note fields which can contain a large amount of information.


Procedures

-- Use the List Button  to display a scrollable list of names.

-- Use the Options Button to configure some aspects of security, display and sending e-mail.

-- Use the Navigating Buttons  to navigate from one record to another.

-- Use the Go to Record Button  to go to a specific record.

-- Use the Add Record/Delete Record Buttons  to go to add or delete a record.

-- Use the Update Button  to update, change or add data to the current record.

-- Use the Print Button  to print either the full records or a list of names for a set of records answering a search criterion.

-- Use the Reorder Button  to revert to the default sorting scheme, which sorts the records by last names.

-- Use Dial Buttons  to dial a number appearing in a field directly.

-- Use the Send E-mail Buttons  to send an e-mail message to an address appearing in an e-mail field.

-- Use the Browse Buttons  to launch your browser to a URL appearing in a Web  Address field.

As in all applications, use the Help button to get help (this is probably how you got here), and the Exit button to terminate the application.


New Features

This version of Contact Manger is a major upgrade of version 1.0, and includes many new features, the major ones of which are outlined in this section.

Overview

Security Features

Customizing Tab Order

List View Enhancements - see the List view help


Additional Topics

Planned Features for Future Versions

Disclaimer

Copyright and Terms of License

Registration


The List Button

The List Button opens the Name List window. The Name List displays only the Last Name and the First Name fields of each record in the database. You can scroll in the list to reach a desired name, using the scroll bars, or you can use the ‘type-and-search’ field. Type the first few letters of the last name, and the list will scroll to the proper place automatically as you type.

Note

To facilitate entering names into the type-and-search field, the first letter you type is capitalized, so you can type a name without bothering with the Shift key. If you have names in the list starting with a lower case letter, type the name and then move the cursor to the first letter and modify it to lower case.

The Name List enables you to quickly browse through the database, without looking at additional details.

To jump from the list to a specific record, double click on the last name of the desired person, or press Enter when the proper name is selected. The List window will close and the record for the selected person will be displayed in the main window. Double clicking on a first name has no effect.

Hint: You can select a name or a part of a name by clicking again on a selected field. You can then use the standard Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy the selected information and paste it to another application, etc.


The Options Button

The Options button opens the Program Options dialog. This dialog enables you to perform some configuration tasks for Contact Manager. Currently 3 configuration options are available:

Security Configuration

Tab Order

E-mail Options


Navigating Buttons

The Navigating Buttons allow you to navigate in your database:

⇒	Use the “Go to First Record” to return to the first record in the database.

⇒	Use the “Go to Last Record” to go to the last record in the database.

⇒	Use the “Next Record” button to go to the next record.

⇒	Finally, use the “Previous Record” button to go back one record.

Note: The Navigating Buttons act according to the current sorting order of the database. If the database, e.g., is sorted by Home City, the Navigating Buttons will follow the order of the Home City fields. Use the Status Bar at the bottom of the main window to see the current sort order, as well as the number of the current record in that particular order.


The Go to Record Button

This button enables you to go to a specific record in the database. When pushed, this button opens a dialog box, which lets you select a field in which to search for a string. You can then enter the string to look for in the designated field. You can look for a record by searching for the information in many different fields of the database. If an exact match is found, you are taken to the matching record. Otherwise, a message is shown, and you are taken to the nearest match. In both cases, the database is now sorted by the same field in which you performed the search. This way, you can now use the Navigating Buttons  to look at other records which may match or closely match your search criterion.

Example: Suppose you search in the Home City record for “Boise”. If you have a matching record, it will appear. The database is now sorted by Home City. If you have several acquaintances in Boise, they will appear right after the first match (sorted by last name), so you can use the Next and Previous Navigating Buttons  to navigate in this group. Also, if you have acquaintances in Boston, they will follow the ones in Boise, according to the alphabetical order, possibly with some more home cities in between.

To revert to the default sort order (by Last Name), use the Reorder Button .

If you use the List Button , sorting order will automatically revert to Last Name, as this is the sort order for the List.

Note: Boolean searches are not available in this release. You search in one field only.


The Add Record/Delete Record Buttons
The Add Record and Delete Record Buttons

These two buttons control the deletion of unwanted records and the addition of new ones.

Deleting a Record:

Navigate , Go to   or use the List Button  to reach the desired record. This is required! You cannot delete a record without first browsing it. Once you decide that you really want to delete this record, use the Delete button to delete it. A confirmation dialog will ask you to confirm or cancel. Warning: once you confirm a deleting operation, the deleted record is gone.

Adding a Record:

To add a record, press the Add button at any time when it is available. A new empty record is immediately created, and the database is put in Edit mode. You can then edit the new record. You do not have to fill all of the fields, since you can later use the Update Button  to edit, modify or update it. The database reverts to Browse state and stores the record when you use any Navigating Button , the Reorder button, if you Exit the application when a new record is being edited, if you go to the List Button , etc.


The Update Button

This button lets you edit an existing record so you can update addresses and telephone numbers, add new data or notes, etc.

To Update a Record:

Navigate , Go to   or use the List Button  to reach the desired record. Press the Update button. You are now in Edit mode and can modify/update the information in this record. Of course, you can use the different tabs to access different fields in the record. Any navigation out of the record, however, will cause the database to revert to the Browse state and update the modified record. This is designed to prevent inadvertent modification of records.


The Print Button

The print button activates a Print dialog box which enables you to print either full records or a list of names which are a result set of a search through the database. As in the case of the Go to Record Button , the search can access many fields in the database. Boolean searches, however, are not supported in this version. Once you choose the desired search field, you can enter two strings specifying the range of the search. If the result set is empty, a dialog box will notify you of this fact, and no printing will be performed.

Example: To print the full information about all of your friends in New Hampshire, New Haven and New York, you can use the Home City field, select a Full Printing, and enter “New H” and “New Z” in the “From” and “To” fields respectively. Of course, different ranges can be used to produce the same result.

Note: In this version, the two Notes multi-line memo fields are not printed in either printing mode. They can only be read on-screen.


The Reorder Button

This button re-sorts the database by the Last Name field and puts the database in Browse mode. The record displayed before the Update button was pushed will remain displayed after the operation. However, if the previous sort order was anything other than Last Name, the order of the records will change. Use this button if you want to revert to the default sort order after a Go to Record  operation.


New Features in This Release
New Features in This Version - Overview

This version of Contact Manager contains many new features, as well as many improvements of existing features. This overview lists these additions and improvements. You can get more information about some of the topics listed by jumping to the relevant section.

•	Some minor bugs have been fixed

1.	Installation bug: if you chose to let the Setup program install CM to the default directory, an error would occur. Fixed.

2.	List view bug: If you had several entries with the same last name, double clicking on any of them would put the main window on the first one. Fixed.

3.	Main window sizing problem was fixed.

4.	Printing problems were fixed.

•	A set of security features was added

•	Changes to tabs were made

•	A list-box is now included in the address tabs (both home and business), enabling you to browse or change any phone number. By default, the Home 1 phone number appears in the Home Address tab, and the Business 1 number in the Business address tab.

•	Scroll bars were added to the Notes 1 and Notes 2 text boxes in the Personal Info tab. This facilitates navigation if a lot of text is stored in a Notes box.

•	Other minor changes and improvements to field positioning and order have been made.

•	Numbers can be dialed directly

•	E-mail can be sent directly

•	Web pages can be browsed directly

•	An enhanced About dialog

The About dialog has been enhanced, and contains registration information, as well as the option to send comments (or any other e-mail) to the author directly.

•	Improved Help System

The Help system, while not yet fully context sensitive has been enhanced, and you can get help about several important topics in context. Use the ‘Help’ or ‘More Info…’ buttons where they are available.

•	Improved search in the List view

The list view now contains a ‘type-and-search’ field. Type the first few letters of a name to jump directly to this name. Pushing Enter, or double-clicking on a last name, will take you to the appropriate record.

•	More configurability

•	You can now configure (and save) the order of the tabs in the application. If, e.g., you use mostly the Internet information pages, you can configure them to come out on top when the application starts. This also applies to the Home/Business address sub-tabs in the Address tab.

•	You can configure the way e-mail is handled from CM. See ‘Sending e-mail directly’.

•	Finally, some speed and optimization improvements have been implemented.


Security Features
Security Configuration Options

CM now supports a reasonable set of password protections, including:

•	Password protection and garbling for the database

•	Password protection for deletion of records

•	Password protection for addition of records

•	Password protection for modification of records

•	Password protection for viewing/modifying personal information

•	Password protection for printing sections from the database

Passwords are kept garbled, and it would not be trivial to find and decode them. However, the security scheme used here does not claim to provide a very high level of encryption, but rather to prevent an unauthorized or unwanted browser from seeing confidential information. The security scheme also allows the user to grant access to his Contact Manager, at the same time preventing others from modifying, deleting or adding records, or browsing personal notes and information.

To provide a higher level of security, it is recommended that you use the database password option. This garbles the entire database, so that viewing it with an ASCII viewer will not reveal the contents of records. In addition, you can use any other combination of passwords and locks for any available option. However, you may omit the database password and use other passwords to lock various other abilities. Please remember that in this case, the database is not garbled.

To add a password:

1. Click ‘Options’.

2. Select the ‘Security’ tab, if not selected.

3. Click the appropriate checkbox for the password you want to add.

4. Click the ‘Set…’ button. Note that if you do not click this button, no password will be set, and the next time you open the Security tab, the checkbox will be unchecked. This is also true if you choose an empty password.

5. Enter and confirm your new password, and click OK.

6. If you have added a database password, it is immediately in effect, and you will be prompted to enter it to continue working. Otherwise, continue working normally, and the password will be required the moment you use the protected option.

To modify a password:

1. Click ‘Options’.

2. Select the ‘Security’ tab, if not selected.

3. Click the ‘Set..’ button for the appropriate option.

4. Enter your existing password in the appropriate field.

5. Enter and confirm the new password.

6. Click OK.

To remove a password:

1. Click ‘Options’.

2. Select the ‘Security’ tab, if not selected.

3. Uncheck the appropriate checkbox.

4. Enter the existing password when prompted.

Warning

As always with passwords, take care to keep them in a safe place or remember them. Forgetting a password will make the relevant option inaccessible! The author can (with some effort) recover passwords in emergency cases, but this will require work and sending parts of the database by e-mail. Please prevent emergencies by using reasonable precautions. Thank you.


Dialing the Number in a Field

Any number appearing in a phone number field can now be dialed directly from the application. TAPI is used to dial the number, so the Phone Dialer applet is called to dial the number. An error message will appear if no number appears in the relevant field.

To dial a phone number, click the Dial button adjacent to the field. The number will be dialed, and instructions will appear on-screen as to when to pick up the phone and click OK to begin the phone conversation.


Sending E-mail to an Address

E-mail can now be sent directly to the addresses appearing in both the personal and the business e-mail fields. This is done using  the ‘Send E-mail’ buttons attached to both fields. If no address appears, an error message is issued. E-mail can be sent through the registered browser in your system, or directly through the application registered as the e-mail service application.

To send e-mail to an address, click the Send E-mail button adjacent to the address field. Your preferred mail application will be launched, with the desired address already in the ‘To:’ field. Enter the subject, the message text and click Send to send the message.


Browsing a Web Page

Pushing one of the ‘Browse Web Page’ buttons attached to the Web address fields will automatically launch your Web browser and send it to this address. Please note, however, that if you are not connected to the Internet when you push the button, you must configure your system to automatically perform this connection when a WinSock service is requested. This note applies to sending e-mail as well.

To browse a Web page, click the Browse Web Page adjacent to the field. Your Web browser will be launched and the desired page loaded.

Note:

In this release of CM, pushing the Browse Web Page buttons repeatedly runs additional instances of your Web browser, rather than sending the existing running browser to the desired page. To avoid running multiple instances of your browser, either close the browser when done browsing, or use cut-and-paste to transfer additional URLs to your running browser.


Configuring the Tab Order

All tabs can now be reordered via the ‘Change tab order’ tab in the Options dialog. Any tab you click becomes the first (i.e., the topmost) tab. The rest of the tabs maintain their respective order. If you click the Address tab, it becomes the topmost tab and exposes its internal (Home and Business) tabs, which can also be ordered. After ordering these internal tabs, you can continue to order the tabs to your liking.

By default, the tab order you set is valid for the current session. If, however, you click the Save As Default button at the bottom of the tab order tab, CM will remember this setting and maintain it as the default setting for future sessions, until you save another setting as default.


Configuring E-mail Options

E-mail can usually be sent through several channels: you can use your HTML browser (with the mailto: URL modifier), or you can use an e-mail program (e.g., MS Exchange), or others. Contact manger allows you to choose whether to use your browser, or the application registered as your e-mail application. Your selection is kept across sessions, so you do not have to re-select it every time you run the program.

Choose ‘Use your browser to send mail’ if you want all e-mail sent from CM to go through your browser. Select ‘Use default mail application’ if you want the e-mail handled by default.

Note

If you use MS Internet explorer, both settings will actually bring up Exchange to handle your mail, so selecting the default application will save time by preventing the launch of MSIE. For other browsers, select the setting you prefer.


New Planned Features
Planned Features in Future Versions

Thank you for the response to the first version of CM. Future enhancements I am thinking of are:

---Enhanced searching capabilities: Boolean searches, searches on search results, etc.

---Enhanced, context-sensitive help

---Better printing, with an option to print mailing labels

---Better interaction with other applications, including better ‘dialog’ with Web browsers and e-mail applications.

---Database enhancements.

---User control over database location and the ability to work with multiple databases.

---More configurability and flexibility for answering the user’s needs.

Naturally, the author will be happy to receive more ‘wish lists’ from users, and try to implement at least some of these wishes. Please use the Comments button in the About box.


Disclaimer

Sorry, but this has to be said:

This program is provided “As Is”. No expressed or implied suitability for any particular purpose is claimed. The user of this software, whether registered or not, assumes the full responsibility for any problems or damages resulting from its use. Use (and hopefully enjoy) this software entirely at your own risk.


Copyright Notice
Copyright Notice and License Terms

Contact Manager Release 2 - Copyright © Dan Eylon, 1996.

All rights reserved.

This software is distributed as shareware.

The user of this software may use it for any legal purpose. He may not, however, modify it, reverse engineer it, change it, or re-distribute it for a charge. The software may be distributed freely, as long as it contains all of the files included in the original distribution kit. The user is entitled to use the software freely for the period of 60 (sixty) days. If, after that time, the user wants to keep using the software, Registration  is required. Using this software for more than 60 days without registration constitutes a breach of this license.

Note:

Contact Manager, R2, is not in any way limited in use or in features, nor does it have any expiration date or other time limits. You get the full, unlimited version. However, no commitment is made that this will hold true for future versions.


How to Register

Registration is simple. Send $25.00 to the address below. Please include your e-mail address (if you have one), and your name and mailing address. You will then receive confirmation of your registration by e-mail, or by regular mail if you do not have e-mail. You will also receive notice, by the same means, when a new version is available. Please support the considerable amount of work involved in designing and implementing this application by registering if and when you elect to keep the program.

If you are upgrading from Version 1.0, the upgrade registration fee is $5.00.

Mailing Address:

Send registration requests to:

D. Eylon,

10 Ben-Yossef St.,

Tel-Aviv 69125

Israel

Send comments, suggestions or any other communication to my E-mail address:

dan_e@netvision.net.il

Thank you for using Contact Manager Version 2.

Customized versions of CM

If you are interested in a special edition of CM for special needs or additional capabilities, e.g., photographs of the people in records, special fields, etc., please send me a message.