Stars of Shareware: DFÜ und Kommunikation/SOS-DFUE.ISO/programm/dos/utility/tpc12/helpfile.hlp

Text File | 1993-10-31 | 19.3 KB | 364 lines

THE PHONE CENTER
Copyright 1993 Russell Holloway

Program Version 1.2

If you have questions, comments, or would like information on ordering call
Russell Holloway at 1-606-263-2687

Or Write: HollowSoft Consulting
          P.O. Box 54225
          Lexington, KY  40555-4225


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TO MOVE THROUGH THIS HELP FILE, USE THE CURSOR KEYS, THE PAGE-UP AND PAGE-DOWN
KEYS, AND THE HOME AND END KEYS.  TO EXIT, PRESS THE ESCAPE (Esc) KEY.
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┌──────────────────────────────┐
│Important General Information:│
└──────────────────────────────┘
To run The Phone Center, just type START and press Enter.  If you need to force
the program to run in color, type TPC12 /C.  If you need to force the program
to run in monochrome, type TPC12 /M.  If you are using a monochrome monitor and
some of the text is invisible, press 'X' from the main menu screen to bring up
the Setup Menu.  Then, repeatedly press F8 until the text appears.  Make sure
you save the new setup by pressing 'S'.  If you have trouble getting the modem
to respond properly, press 'X' from the main menu screen and then increase the
Command Delay by pressing '>'.  To get the program to respond quickly to your
modem, load the program using /300, /1200, /2400, or /9600.  Each of these
numbers corresponds to the highest allowable speed of your modem.  The program
defaults to using /300 for compatibility.  The program works best when you use
the highest bps rating your modem will support.  If you want to use the program
without a modem, load the program by typing TPC12 /N.  Call collect at
1-606-263-2687 if you have any other problems or questions.


┌──────────────────────┐
│Technical Information:│
└──────────────────────┘
The program has a limitation of 1000 Phonebook entries.  It can address any COM
port from 1 to 4.  However, it cannot handle any unusual interrupt settings.
The program will run using any video system from MONO to Hercules to SuperVGA.
The program will support modems at speeds up to 9600 Baud.  For dialing
purposes, 300BPS will work O.K., 2400BPS works very well, and 9600BPS works
best.  The program permits you to use a dialing prefix of 30 characters.  The
program will run most effectively on systems with 420K or more of free memory.
It is highly recommended that the program be run from a hard disk drive.  It
will run from a high or low-density floppy, but it will be verrrry slow.


┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Configuring The Program For Your Equipment.│
└───────────────────────────────────────────┘
To configure the program to your tastes, press the 'X' key when you get to the
Main Menu.  You will then be presented with a window that allows you to change
to program to suit your needs.

To change the program's colors, use the F2-F9 keys.  As you press these keys,
you will see the color changes taking effect on the Main Menu screen.  Be
careful, the program will allow you to set some really tacky color combinations!

For the program to talk to your modem, you will need to have the proper COM port
set.  Most modems will be set as COM 1: or COM 2:  (the program defaults to
COM 2:).  If you try to dial with the program and you get an error or no
response, try changing this setting.  To change this setting, just press the
number key of the port you wish to use.

If you want the program to make a disk record of each call you make, make sure
that the call log feature is set to YES.  This way the program will record both
manually dialed and automatically dialed calls.  If you have no need of this
feature, set it to NO.  To set this option to YES, press the 'Y' key.  To set it
to NO, press the 'N' key.

If you do not have the TONE option on your telephone system, make sure that Tone
or Pulse dial is set to PULSE.  Otherwise, use the TONE option because it dials
much more quickly.  To set the modem to TONE dial, press the 'T' key.  To set
the modem to PULSE dial, press the 'P' key.

If your modem is hanging up too quickly (before it finishes dialing for
instance), increase the Modem Wait time.  This option defaults to 10 seconds.
The maximum allowed time is 999 seconds.  This option is provided because some
modems take a while longer to start dialing than others.  You may need to
experiment with this setting.  Set it so that the modem has time to finish
dialing, but hangs up before you begin your voice conversation.

If the modem does not seem to respond to commands, but you do not receive a
"Modem Is Not Responding" error, increase the Command Delay.  This is the amount
of time the program will wait for the modem to respond.  Some modems respond
much more slowly than others.  The lower this number is, the more quickly the
program will respond to dialing requests.  However, if you set this number too
low, the modem will quit working.  The default for this option is 10.  This
number is multiplied by 10 milliseconds, so setting the number to 10 equals
100 milliseconds or 1/10 of a second.

In order for you to control the volume of the modem when you are making phone
calls, the Volume of Modem Speaker control is provided.  You can set the
volume to Low, Med, High, or Off.  Some modems have only 1 volume setting and
will make the same level of sound at Low, Med, and High settings.

The TAB key sets the speed the program uses to talk to your modem.  300 BPS is
the default since almost every modem will support that speed.  Almost all
modems will support 1200 BPS, most modems will support 2400 BPS, and some will
support 9600 BPS or more.  300 BPS works fairly well, but you may notice that
the modem does not always dial correctly unless you wait several seconds
between phone calls.  1200 BPS works much better and gives a more accurate
response to commands.  2400 BPS works better than 1200 BPS, and 9600 BPS is
optimal.  The rule here is to use as high a speed as your modem will support.
If you set this number too high, you modem will not work at all.  If your modem
stops working when you adjust this number, set it back to a slower speed until
it works again.  If the program locks up, just reload it using TPC12 /300, go
to the configuration, and then set the modem back to a slower speed.

The Dial Prefix allows you to set a prefix that will be used at the beginning of
every phone call.  This is the place to put your MCI or SPRINT prefix so that
you do not have to enter it for every phone number in the database.  The prefix
can contain any letter, symbol, or number found on the keyboard.  There are 30
characters available for the prefix.  Remember, you need to start the prefix
with an ATDT for Tone Dial, or an ATDP for Pulse Dial.  For instance, if you
need to have a prefix of 1606 put in front of every number, the Dial Prefix
would be ATDT1606 for Tone Dial, and ATDP1606 for Pulse Dial.

The Modem Setup allows you to enter a setup string for your particular modem.
Possibilities for a setup string are: ATL3 (for very loud modem speaker), ATM0
(to disable the modem speaker), ATZ (to reset the modem), or, you can have a
combination of possibilities.  For instance, ATM1L2 will turn on the modem
speaker and set it to medium volume.  There are 30 characters available for the
prefix.  The average user will just leave this entry blank.

When you are finished making changes, you can press 'S' to save your changes,
'U' to use the changes without saving (useful if you want to test them first),
or Esc to exit and restore the original settings you had before you made any
changes.


┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│Moving and Editing Database Entries:│
└────────────────────────────────────┘
This is the first screen you see after the introduction screen has disappeared.
This screen allows you to move through the telephone database, add new entries,
erase or edit existing entries, dial an entry, or access any of the many other
program features.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 - Up 1 Line,  - Down 1 Line, Page Up - Up 1 Page, Page Down - Down 1 Page,
Home - Top of List, End - End of List
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Most of the information you need is already on the screen.  To move up and down
through the entries one line at a time, use the cursor keys.  To move up and
down one page at a time, use the Page-Up and Page-Down keys.  The Home key takes
you to the first entry, and the End key takes you to the last entry.

───────────────────
Ins - Insert Entry:
───────────────────
To add an entry, press the Insert key.  When you press the Insert key, all of
the entries below and including the current entry will move down by one line.  A
new entry will be created at the current location.  You may then enter the data
to be used as the new entry.  You can move to the next entry window by pressing
the Enter key or the Tab key.  If you press the Tab key while you are editing
the Notes section of the entry, you will be taken back to the Name section.  If
you press the Esc key while editing, the current section you are editing will be
abandoned without making any changes.

It is important to remember that there is more space available in each section
than there appears to be.  Both the Name and the Notes sections have room for
one more character that they appear to have, and the Phone Number section has
room for seventeen more characters than it appears to have.  To handle this, the
program will scroll the information from side to side as you enter it.

───────────────────
Del - Delete Entry:
───────────────────
To delete an entry, press the Delete key.  The program will prompt you to make
sure that you really want to delete the entry.  If you do, press the 'Y' key.
If you do not want to delete the entry, press the 'N' key or the Esc key.

───────────────
E - Edit Entry:
───────────────
To edit an existing entry, use the E-Edit Entry function, or the N-Edit Notes
function.  E-Edit Entry begins editing at the Name field, while N-Edit Notes
begins at the Notes field.  Editing works the same way here as it does when
you insert an entry.  Remember, you can move from the Notes field to the Name
field by pressing the Tab key.

───────────────
F - Find Entry:
───────────────
To search for an entry, use the F-Find Entry function.  To use this feature,
just type in the first few letters of the name or phone number you are searching
for.  When the entry is found, just press the Enter key or the Esc key to exit
from the Find Entry feature.

─────────────────
S - Sort Entries:
─────────────────
If you would like to alphabetize all the database entries, use the S-Sort
Entries feature.  Sorting is not automatic because it is can be very slow when
there are a lot of entries to sort.  A status window is displayed during the
sort to tell you what percentage complete the process is.

─────────────
P - PrintDIR:
─────────────
This feature allows you to send your phone directory to the printer.  The
program sends a form feed to the printer before and after printing out the
directory.  Make sure your printer is ready and has enough paper before you
begin printing.


┌──────────────────────────┐
│Using the Program to Dial:│
└──────────────────────────┘
The Phone Center provides two different ways to dial the phone.  First, you can
highlight the entry you want to dial and press the Enter key.  You will then be
prompted to lift the telephone handset and press the Enter key when you are
ready to dial.  If you then press Enter, the modem will dial the number and then
hang up (you can control the time the modem waits before hanging up using the
X-Configure option from the Main Menu).  At this point the log file will be
updated with the name, number, and time of the call you just made.  You can
disable the log function using the X-Configure option from the Main Menu.

────────────────
M - Manual Dial:
────────────────
The next way to dial the phone is to use M-Manual dial.  When you press 'M' from
the Main Menu, you are given a window where you can manually enter a phone
number to dial.  This window gives you a great deal of flexibility in entering
the phone number to dial.  If you make a mistake when entering the number to
dial, you can press the Backspace key to erase the error.  If you decide to
start over, you can press the Del key.  If you need to add a two second delay
anywhere in the number (important for many PBX systems and non-AT&T carries),
just put a comma at the point where you need the delay.  It is important to
remember that if you have entered a prefix using X-Configure, the manual dial
feature will use the prefix in dialing the number.  To dial the number you have
entered, press the Enter key.  You will then be prompted to lift the telephone
handset and press the Enter key when you are ready to dial.  If you press Enter,
the modem will dial the number and then hang up (you can control the time the
modem waits before hanging up by using the X-Configure option from the Main
Menu).  Calls made using Manual Dial will be logged to disk if you have the call
logging feature enabled.

You may move the Manual Dial window left and right by using the cursor keys.

────────────────────────────
F10 - Clear Elapsed (Timer):
────────────────────────────
After initiating telephone calls, the program will display a call timer.  At
first, this timer is displayed in a window on the screen that appears right
after you start the call.  However, if you choose to go on and do something
else, the timer will be displayed beside the current time at the bottom of the
screen.  You can stop this timer by pressing the F10 key at any time.  The timer
will also reset whenever you make another call.  Pressing the F10 key will also
remove the H - Force Modem Hangup display.

───────────────────────
H - Force Modem Hangup:
───────────────────────
Some modems do not respond well to the hangup signal, espescially if they
receive it just before or during dialing.  If the modem does not hang up when
it should, press the H key and the program will try to hang up the modem again.
This key works at any time, even when the H - Force Modem Hangup notice is no
longer on the screen.


┌─────────────────┐
│Utility Features:│
└─────────────────┘
───────────────────
Z - Zippy Calendar:
───────────────────
The Zippy Calendar presents you with a calendar for any month from January, 1910
to December, 1999.  To move forward one month at a time, use the '+' key.  If
you move forward from December to January, the year will automatically advance.
To move backward one month at a time, use the '-' key.  If you move backward
from January to December, the year will automatically decrease.  To move forward
one year at a time, press the Page Up key.  To move backward one year at a time,
press the Page Down key.

You can move the Calendar Window around the screen by using the cursor keys.

───────────────
Q - Quick Memo:
───────────────
The Quick Memo provides you a way to take down notes quickly when talking on the
phone.  The window provides you with full editing features.  The window has two
toggles:  Insert On/Off, and Tab Move/Cursor.  To insert text before other text,
press the Ins key until the window displays Ins-On.  To typeover text, press the
Ins key until the window displays Ins-Off.  If you want to use the cursor keys
for text entry, press the Tab key until the window displays Tab-Crsor.  If you
want to use the cursor keys to move the window around the screen, press the Tab
key until the window displays Tab-Move.  To print what you have entered in the
window, press the F10 key.  The program will then print two lines of text to the
printer at LPT1:.  To exit from the window, press the Esc key.

───────────────
A - Area Codes:
───────────────
The Area Codes feature provides a quick way to find out the area code for a
particular city/state, or to find what city/state matches an area code.  To use
this feature, just type in the first couple of letters of the state/province
you are searching for, or the three digit area code.  You can erase characters
by pressing the backspace key.  Most states/provinces have only one or two area
codes, but states such as California have several.  The program will display all
of the area codes for each state or province.  You can move from state to state
by using the cursor keys or the Page-Up/Page-Down keys.  You can move to the
start of the list with the Home key, or the end of the list with the End key.
To exit from the window, press the Esc key.  You can move the window from left
to right by using the cursor keys.

───────────────
C - Calculator:
───────────────
The Calculator window acts just like a simple desktop calculator.  It provides
the four basic math functions along with a Pi function, a Square Root function,
an Exponential function, a Memory Function, and a Random Number function.  In
addition, it has several lines of display to hold previous entries.  Since this
function works the same way as almost every desktop calculator built, I won't go
into detail describing how to use it.  Just experiment with it a little and it
should be self-explanatory.  To exit from the window, press the Esc key.  You
can move the window around by using the cursor keys.

──────────────
D - Dos Shell:
──────────────
This feature provides you with a quick drop to the operating system.  When you
go to DOS, you can perform just about any function you normally would from DOS.
Remember, the available DOS memory will be greatly reduced when shelling from
this program.  To return to The Phone Center, type EXIT and press Enter.

─────────────────
G - Hangman Game:
─────────────────
This feature provides you with a simple Hangman game to play during those long,
boring phone conversations.  There are five topics: Names, Places, Books,
Movies, and Cliche's.  The game works the same way as the classic version.  For
each wrong guess, another piece of anatomy goes onto the rope.  After six wrong
guesses, you lose.  To solve the puzzle, just press the Enter key.  To go on to
the next puzzle, press the Enter key again.  To exit from the window, press the
Esc key.  You can move the window left to right by using the cursor keys.
Remember, it is very important to occassionally say "Yes", "Uhhuh", and "Sure
thing" into the phone so that they won't suspect you aren't listening.

───────────────
T - Time Zones:
───────────────
This feature works much like the Area Codes feature.  To find out what area code
a city or province is in, just start typing the first few letters of its name.
To erase characters in the name, use the Backspace key.  Most large towns in the
US and Canada are on this list.  To exit from the window, press the Esc key.
You can move the window left to right by using the cursor keys.

─────────────
V - View Log:
─────────────
This feature allows you to view the log file that is written each time you make
a phone call (if you have this feature enabled).  You can move up and down
through the list by using the cursor keys, the Page-Up and Page-Down keys, and
the Home and End keys.  To exit from the viewer, press the Esc key.