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********************************************************************* * * * The Amiga Phone Book * * w/Concert Dial * * * * written by: Jeff Hoag * * * * Copyright - 1990 Jeff Hoag All Rights Reserved World Wide * * * ********************************************************************* SHAREWARE: The Amiga Phone Book is Shareware. You may upload this software to any bulletin board or electronic service provided: 1. That service does not claim copyright on uploaded software or does not charge above it's normal access rates for download of this software. 2. No organization may charge more than handling costs for this software with out the express written permission of the author. 3. All files included in this archive remain intact inside the archive, including this licensing notification. The Amiga Phone Book is Shareware. This means that you may try the software first and see if you like it or use it frequently. If you do, shareware asks you to send $20.00 (Twenty dollars) as a registration/usage fee to: Jeff Hoag 615 10th Ave So. Safety Harbor, FL 34695 Doing so will give you a warm feeling inside, knowing you have helped support a starving Amiga developer. Also I plan on releasing more titles in the future as shareware and as a registered owner you will be entitled to two things: 1. A $5.00 rebate in the form of paying $5.00 less shareware fee's on the next software program released (on a $10.00 piece this means half off) and 2. Notification of upgrade availability or new title releases as they occur. If you enclose an extra $5.00 (twenty five dollars total) I will send you the latest version of APB that has a much smaller information window. This will cut almost 20k from the size of the program, for all you memory concerned people out there. Please specify that this is what you wish. INTRODUCTION The Amiga Phone Book is exactly that, an Amiga Phone Book. APB catalogs names, phone numbers and comments for you and then dials the numbers you choose. It is easy and convenient to use. APB shrinks itself down to a small bar yet can still control your modem and the Concert Dial option redials repeatedly busy numbers until a connect is made. This option is great for getting through to very busy numbers. A lot of work has gone into making APB a great Amiga phone book. Please see the enclosed APB_Read-Me file or look at the info requestor inside the program. Thanks. Program Overview: The Amiga Phone Book is like a Rolodex for your Amiga with the added advantage of being able to hook that Rolodex up to the telephone and letting it dial the numbers for you. This often is very convenient, especially if you spend a lot of time in front of your computer like I do. APB allows you to have multiple phone books, gives you a choice of a start-up phone book and one of the nicest features, APB detaches from the CLI that called it. Of course APB will also run from the WorkBench, simply by clicking on it's Icon. Defaults Two of the files that are included inside this lzh archive should be put in your S: directory. These files are: APB.config - Configuration Info for the modem. AP.Book - A demo phone book. You can edit these or delete them from within APB. These are the only default assumptions APB makes however even if you do not have these files in the S: directory this is OK. APB will simply configure itself to it's own internal values, which are set for a Hayes compatible modem. Starting APB from the CLI. The recommended way of using APB is to start APB up in your Amiga's startup-sequence. As this is a form of CLI start it will be covered here as well. A tiny script is provided that you can use as a model to modify your startup-sequence for APB. APB is taylored for use from the Amiga CLI or Shell. Flags are provided for use in start-up that allow you to customize how your phone book starts up. A list of these options are provided below. Another large advantage of APB is that it detaches from it's calling CLI or Shell. This means you can start APB and then close down the window from which it started. This makes APB ideal for use in your startup-sequence. To start APB from the CLI simply change directory (cd) to the directory the program is in and type APB. The phone book will load and you should notice that your CLI prompt returns. This signals that the program has detached. Flag options for start-up are as follows: -s or -S Brings APB up in shrink mode. Default location for the shrunk bar is at x = 0 (zero), y = 0 (zero). -x or -X Only useful with shrink mode. Specifies the X coordinate on the screen to initially place the shrunk APB title bar. Other examples are -x100, -x400, -x0. Please notice there is no spaces between any of the characters in the command. APB also is smart enough to recognize a value that it cannot use and will adjust accordingly. Default is location 0 (zero). -y or -Y Same as -x but for the y axis coordinate. Other examples are -y40, -y190, -y0. Default is location 0 (zero). -b or -B Allows you to specify a default phone book to load when APB starts up. This feature used in conjunction with those given above are very useful for running APB from the startup-sequence. A full path must be used if you wish APB to look outside the current directory for a phone book. Examples are: -bS:AP.Book, -bdh0:PhoneBooks/AP.Book, -bAP.Book (looks in current directory). -m or -M Manually sets a number into the dialer and dials it on start up. This is nice for a quick dial of a number without having to bring up the main Phone Book window and add the number. Examples are -m555-1212, -m1-211-555-1212, -m5551212, -m12115551212. Other combinations are recognized as well. After dialing the number the -m option also starts APB in shrink mode, placing the number in it's manual dial buffer. Thus the number can be re-dialed etc from the controls on the shrink bar. -c or -C Manually sets the Concert Dial flag to on. This allows Concert Dial to be used with a manual dial phone number. These flags can be used in any combination, allowing you the ultimate freedom of control over your phone book. Some example start-up's that you might choose to use are illustrated below: APB -s [RETURN] APB -s -x50 -bs:AP.Book [RETURN] APB -s -x50 -y100 -bs:AP.Book [RETURN] APB -s -x50 -y100 -bdh0:PhoneBooks/AP.Book [RETURN] APB -m555-1212 -c [RETURN] APB -m555-1212 -x50 -y100 -c [RETURN] APB -m555-1212 -x50 -y100 -bs:AP.Book [RETURN] Starting APB from the WorkBench. APB is started from the workbench like any other Amiga program, by double clicking on the APB icon. Many of the above CLI options are not available through the Workbench start at this time. The S: directory default remains true however. The Main Phone Book Window. After starting APB, assuming you did not specify the -s or -m start-up options you will be shown the main phone book window. It consists of a large black window for phone book entries, a slider gadget and up and down arrows and 3 rows of control gadgets at the bottom. The very bottom area is a system status message area. The following will list these gadgets and features beginning with the phone book window. Phone Book Entries Window This is the window where your phone book entries are displayed. There is room for 11 (eleven) entries, after this the drag bar to the right and the up/down arrows will begin to function, to allow you to scroll through your phone book. Clicking on any entry in the phone book once will highlight that entry. Clicking on it again (not too fast) will un-highlight the entry. Clicking on an entry twice relatively fast (DOUBLE CLICKING an entry) will cause the FIRST HIGHLIGHTED entry to be dialed. You may cycle through the highlighted entries from the dialer window. To deselect multiple highlighted entries use the None option button. Dial Clicking on the Dial button has 2 possible responses. If there are no entries highlighted or no phone book loaded, APB will do nothing. If you have an entry or entries selected APB will go to the dialing window, automatically dialing the first highlighted number. Please see the section titled Dialer Window for more information. D or d Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Dial. Info Clicking on the Info button will display APB's information window. Please take a moment and consider supporting APB if you haven't yet done so. Thanks. To exit the Info window click the left mouse button anywhere inside the Info window. I or i Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Info. Quit Clicking the left button on the Quit button will quit APB. If a phone book has been changed you will be asked if you wish to quit APB before saving changes made to your phone book. Q or q Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Quit. Load Clicking the left mouse button on the Load button will open the file requestor window and present you with either the default phone book and directory (s:) settings or with your last used settings. For more information please refer to the section titled Loading a Phone Book. L or l Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Load. Save Clicking the left mouse button on the Save button will open the file requestor window and present you with either the default phone book and directory (s:) settings or with your last used settings. For more information please refer to the section titled Saving a Phone Book. No keyboard equivalent currently implemented. Config Clicking the left mouse button on the Config button will open the Modem Configuration Window. The default location that APB will look for the APB.config file is in your s: directory. If APB does not find this file it will assume it's own internal modem defaults which are currently set for a Hayes compatible. Please refer to the section titled Configuration Editor for further information. C or c Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Config. Add Clicking the left mouse button on the Add button will open the New Record Entry Window, clearing any old information. Please refer to the section Titled Adding a New Record for more information. A or a Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Add. Edit Clicking the left mouse button on the Edit button will give one of two results. 1. If there is no phone book open or no entries highlighted APB will inform you of this and do nothing more. or 2. If you have one or more highlighted entries APB will open the Record Entry Window for you with the information for the highlighted entry displayed. If you have more than one entry highlighted, APB will cycle through them, un-highlighting entries as it goes. E or e Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Edit. Delete Clicking the left mouse button on the Delete button will give one of two results. 1. If there is no phone book open or no entries highlighted APB will inform you of this and do nothing more. or 2. If you have one or more highlighted entries APB will delete these entries from the displayed phone book starting with the first highlighted entry. Each mouse click will delete another entry. No keyboard equivalent currently implemented. Sort Clicking the left mouse button on the Sort button will cause APB to re-sort itself. Sorting is done in a straight across the entry sequence that is NOT CASE SENSITIVE. This seemed to work the best to me. While sorting APB will flash a message telling you it is Sorting and then Finished Sorting your phone book. The sort used is a Non-Recursive Quick Sort written by Timm Martin and modified to sort structures for APB by myself. S or s Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Sort. Print Clicking the left mouse button on the Print button will cause APB to display a requestor telling you to 'Align Your Paper, OK Prints'. What this means is that if you click your left button on the OK button APB will dump your phone book as semi-formatted to your PRT: device. By dumping to PRT: the Amiga automatically loads your preference driver and APB prints through that. If you choose ABORT at the requestor APB will not print. APB will also give you status messages telling you that it is printing and when it is done printing. No keyboard equivalent currently implemented. Time Clicking the left mouse button on the Time button will display the current System Time on the APB info line. T or t Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Time. None Clicking the left mouse button on the None button tells APB to un-highlight all currently selected entries. N or n Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for None. Shrink Clicking the left mouse button on the Shrink button tells APB begin operation in shrunk mode. APB will close it's main window but will not forget any of it's current status. Please see the section titled Operating in Shrunk Mode for further information. No keyboard equivalent currently implemented. New Clicking the left mouse button on the New button causes APB to respond in one of two ways. 1. No phone book loaded, nothing happens. 2. Phone book loaded, APB presents a requestor asking if you wish to delete this phone book. If you click the left button on OK APB will delete the current phone book from memory. Abort aborts this. APB will also display appropriate status messages. No keyboard equivalent currently implemented. Manual Clicking the left mouse button on the Manual button causes APB to display a requestor with a string entry gadget in it that asks you to enter the number you wish to manual dial. Entering a number and pressing return causes this number to be dialed from the phone book window. Space Bar Hangs Up The Modem. The number is also stored in the current active number buffer so it may be accessed from the shrunk window as well. If you decide not to dial the number click your left button on ABORT in the requestor instead. M or m Keyboard Equivalent - The keystroke equivalent for Manual. Date Clicking the left mouse button on the Date button will display the current System Date on the APB info line. No keyboard equivalent currently implemented. Dialer Window The dialer window is reached by highlighting a phonebook entry and clicking the left mouse button on the dial button or by pressing either 'd' or 'D'. Once you are in the dialer window you will see a black window with a blue window in it's middle. This blue window is for dialer status reports to you. You will see at the bottom two columns (sort of) of 3 lines each. Each of these is a command that you may give to the dialer either by pressing the letter shown on your keyboard or by placing your mouse pointer over the line you wish and clicking your left mouse button. See below for an explanation of each of these options. This arrangement of controls is one of my experiments in alternative entry formats. These are not gadgets at all but rather text strings and mouse clicks. I am not sure I love the way they look however and may change them in a future release of APB. r - repeat last number This option re-dials the last number that was dialed and then aborted either by a busy signal or through manual hangup. n - next selected number This option dials the next number that you highlighted in the phonebook window. This allows you to select multiple entries in the phone book and not have to returnfrom the dialer to the phonebook to select the next number to dial. c - Concert Dial Concert Dial is probably one of the most important, powerful and easy to use features of APB. Concert Dial is the auto re-dial feature of the Amiga PhoneBook. When Concert Dial is activated you will see the words Concert Dial plus two little musical notes displayed in the upper left corner of the dialer window. Now a word about modems and etc. Concert dial depends on your modem to hang up the phone and return either a BUSY command string or a NO ANSWER command string. If either of these responses is returned Concert Dial will resend the last number dialed, immediately. To abort Concert Dial just re-click on the sentence or press your 'c' key. Hanging up the modem (space bar) should abort Concert Dial as well, then re-dial will start Concert Dial again (as long as the Concert Dial logo is still showing in the dialer window). q - quit back to APB Quits the dialer window and returns you to the APB PhoneBook window. Hangs up modem as well. Space Bar to Hang Up The space bar sends out the Hang-Up string to the modem. This feature is enabled in almost all the windows of APB. s - Shrink Closes the dialer window and puts you in the shrink mode. The current phone number is retained and Concert Dial if enabled remains enabled in shrink mode. What this means is you may select a number for dial, engage Concert Dial and then shrink the window and put it out of the way. Your modem will continue to dial it's number while you use your Amiga for other things. Ahh the joy of TRUE MULTITASKING. Please see the section titled Operating in Shrunk Mode for further information. One final note. When re-enlarging the window from shrunk mode you will be returned to the PhoneBook window even though you chose shrink in the dialer window. This was done to maintain compatibility across windows and to provide a memory refresher as to what numbers you are working with. Configuration Editor The Configuration Editing window has three text entry gadgets (string) and four buttons across the bottom of the window. Each of these text entry gadgets and buttons will be explained below. This window is yet another experiment in alternative look and feel for data entry. Please let me know what you think. The file APB.config will be looked for in your S: directory. If it is not found APB will initialize these values to it's own internal defaults which are for a Hayes compatible modem. SetUp String - This is the string that APB will first send to your modem to initialize it. This string comes up active for entry. See your modem documentation for further information. IMPORTANT - You must have VERBOSE result codes enabled ( V1 ) for APB to work correctly. This is the default for most Hayes compatible modems. Prefix - This is what APB sends to the modem before sending a phone number to dial. The two values that could be here are: 1. ATDT for Attention Dial Tone (default) or 2. ATDP for Attention Dial Pulse if you have a rotary dial telephone. HangUp - This is the string which APB will send to your modem to hang-up the modem. Please refer to your modem documentation for further information. A last note here: APB has the waits and the Attention codes (+++) built into it internally so these are not necessary to include in any setup string. Load - Loads the configuration information from the file S:APB.config. This is useful if you are experimenting but have not saved and you wish to get back to your original configuration. If all else fails, delete the the file S:APB.config and then start APB. Enter the Configuration Editor and you will be shown the internal defaults. You may save these and you will be back at the start. Save - Saves the configuration information shown above. reInit - Sends out the SetUp String to the modem. This is useful if you wish to change a setting on the modem and have it take effect immediately. An example would be turning off the modems speaker (NOT RECCOMENDED). reInit also closes the Configuration Editor window and returns you to the phonebook window. Because of the built in waits etc to insure a complete initialization of the modem reInit takes approximately 3 seconds to complete. Status information will be shown at the bottom of the phonebook window. Abort - Closes the Configuration Editor window and returns to the phonebook without sending any information to the modem. Loading a Phone Book The phonebook loading window is a very simple file requestor. My goal was to talk to the modem not the disk drive in this version and so there is nothing fancy about this window, other than the fact it gets the job done. Defaults are the S: directory and AP.Book for a phonebook to load. If you change this, APB will remember what you changed to and will present that information to you. Look for improvements (maybe someday) in this window. At a bare minimum I am aware the window needs a Parent button. Saving a Phone Book The phonebook saving window is a very simple file requestor. My goal was to talk to the modem not the disk drive in this version and so there is nothing fancy about this window, other than the fact it gets the job done. Defaults are the last phonebook loaded or the S: directory and AP.Book for a file name. I recommend you follow this protocol for your main phonebook. If you change this, APB will remember what you changed to and will present that information to you. Look for improvements (maybe someday) in this window. At a bare minimum I am aware the window needs a Parent button. Adding a New Record This window is where you can add a new phone book entry. It is also another experiment in alternative data entry. What appear to be regular string gadgets are really Smartfields. Smartfields are a set of routines written by Timm Martin and placed into the Public Domain by Timm Martin. All editing commands are the same in these fields except that instead of using the RIGHT AMIGA key you use the CTRL key. All alpha-numeric keys are the same as a regular Amiga string gadget. This is a trade-off situation. Notice please the background colors of the smartfields. A normal Amiga string gadget cannot do this, also there is a lot more control over a Smartfield than an intuition string gadget. Still I am not 100% on these either. Please - let me know what you think! Editing a Record Please see above - Adding a New Record. All changes to a record will only be saved if you choose the OK gadget or press return in the Comments field. Pressing Abort cancels any changes made. Operating in Shrunk Mode Shrunk mode is one of the most useful aspects of the Amiga PhoneBook. When APB is shrunk you will see a small title bar that displays a title, the normal system gadgets ie: close, drag and depth arrangement plus 3 (three) letters 'R' | 'H' | 'E'. These letters are gadgets that allow you to control your modem and APB from the shrunk title bar. The function of each of these is discussed below. Also note that if Concert Dial is activated then it will be active in shrunk mode as well. This is very handy for rapidly re-dialing a number. An example would be: Assume you are trying to get into a radio station for a contest but the number is busy. You know that someone will have to hangup soon and you want to be the next one in. Select the number to dial, set Concert Dial, tell the dialer to dial the number and then shrink the window. The modem will dial and if a busy signal is detected will hangup. APB will send to the shrunk bar the busy message and the dialing message then redial the modem. APB will continue this re-dial procedure until you tell it to stop. In the meantime you can be working with your Amiga doing other things, APB is shrunk and out of the way yet still controlling the modem. This same effect can be obtained through manipulation of the CLI StartUp procedures outline previously. R - Re-dials the current selected number. If the modem has been hung-up manually and the Concert Dial flag has been set then R will re-start the Concert Dial process as well. H - Hangs up the modem. If the Concert Dial flag is set this button also stops Concert Dial but does not change the state of the Concert Dial flag. This allows 'R' to restart the Concert Dial process. E - Expands the shrunk window back to the Amiga Phone Book. Other Notes about Shrunk Mode: APB will remember the location of all of it's windows. In other words if you place the shrunk bar in a certain location and then re-enlarge the bar the next time you shrink the window back to the bar, the bar will be in the same location it was in previously. This only holds true assuming you have not stopped and then re-started APB. APB in shrunk mode also monitors the modem. If the phone rings it will send the RING notification to the shrunk bar. All of the system gadgets will perform as normal. The close gadget on the left hand side of the bar will quit APB. Use 'E' to return to the phonebook. A manually entered number through the -m flag will be in the manual buffer when the shrunk bar is expanded back to the phonebook. This is useful for a re-dial later on in expanded mode if APB was started with the -m option. /*****************************************************************\ Thanks for using The Amiga Phone Book. Please don't forget that it is Shareware and that I am depending on you to help support APB. I can be reached at the Shareware address provided in the Info requestor. Please feel free to pass APB along to other bbs's or friends, only PLEASE keep all the files included in this LHarc together. Thanks. Jeff Hoag. 1.14.90