Focus ContactManager is a personal information manager (PIM). It allows the user to store information such as name, address, and up to three phone numbers for each contact. Furthermore, any of the phone numbers can be dialed in two ways. Namely, using the internal speaker of the computer or an attached modem. Using the Find and Find Again features user can locate previously recorded contacts instantly.
Minimum System Requirements
The minimum system requirements for the Focus ContactManager are as following:
1) Macintocsh® Plus or newer. (i.e. all models of Macintosh except the 128K, 512K, 512KE)
2) A modem (optional).
3) System 7 or higher.
4) 300 K of free memory.
Using The Online Help
To activate the on-line help, select the Help (command-H) from the apple menu. The on-line help module consists of two lists. The list on the left, is the topics. User can select a topic by scrolling up or down and click in the desired subject. The list on the right would display the help text associated list item selected. The help window is a standard window which can be dragged around by click-dragging in the title bar. User can quit the help module by clicking the go-away box on the top left corner.
Menus
Certain features of the ContactManager can only be accessed through the items in the menu bar. The following is a description of those and other features available to the user through the menu bar.
Apple Menu:
• About Focus ContactManager: This menu item would activate the introductory screen which displays information such as a brief description of the program and address to which comments and suggestions can be sent.
• Help: Detailed description of the features available to the user are described in the on-line help module which can be activated using this menu item.
File Menu:
• New Entry: This menu item can be used to create a new contact in the currently open phone book. After selecting this item, Contact Manager creates a new enter and fills the name field of the entry with "New Entry".
• Save Entry: After any changes made to the current record this menu item can be used to save all changes. If there are unsaved changes for the current entry and the user attempts to move to another phone book or entry, a dialog will be presented asking if the changes are to be saved.
• Delete Entry: This menu item can be used to permanently remove a contact and all associated field from the current phone book. upon selection, user is presented with a dialog which asks the user to confirm the deletion request. This feature must be used with caution since once a contact record has been deleted all related data is deleted and the process is irreversible.
• New Phone Book...: Selecting this menu item would bring up a dialog which asks the user to enter a name for the new phone book. After pressing the OK button, a new phone book is created and added to the phone book list.
• Delete Current Phone Book...: Selecting this menu item would Delete the currently selected phone book and all of its record and the phone book is removed from the PHONEBOOK pop-up menu.
• Dial Audio: If a phone number has been entered for the current contact and is selected, selecting this menu item will dial the phone number through the internal speaker of the computer. The phone receiver must be held closely against the speaker before selecting this item.
• Dial Modem: If a phone number has been entered for the current contact and is selected, selecting this menu item will dial the phone number through the modem which is attached to the modem port or the internal modem. The phone receiver must be lifted (off hook) before selecting this item. Contact Manager will reset the modem, dial the number and release control to the phone.
• Quit: Selecting this menu item would cancel any ongoing file transfer and release the modem so it can be used by other applications.
Edit Menu:
• Undo/Cut/Copy/Paste/Clear:
The Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear items can be used to edit and modify entries and corresponding fields in the phone book dialog.
• Find:
This item can be used to begin searching for occurrence of a particular phrase in all the entries in a particular phone book. Upon selection, user is presented with a dialog asking for the phrase to search for.
• Find Again:
After a search has been initiated, selecting this item will cause the ContactManager to look for the next occurrence of the search phrase.
Windows Menu:
• Phone Book/Help: These menu items and their corresponding key commands can be used to easily navigate through the open windows. When either of the aforementioned windows become active or is selected, the corresponding menu item becomes active and available to the user.
• Iconize: If the user wishes to hide all windows temporarily in order to move to another application or view the desktop, selecting this menu item would hide all open windows and remember their order and location. When the icon window is expanded, all windows would reappear and they are returned to their original state.
• Tile: If all open windows of the ContactManager are cluttered and are covering one another, user can tile them so they are more readily accessible on the desktop.
Windows
The following Sections describe various windows and dialogs of the ContactManager application and their respective components.
Main Window
The Focus ContactManager allows the user to create and maintain on-line phone books in which the user can store related information about the individuals. These information such as address and telephone number can be created when the individual is first contacted. After the above information is saved in a phone book, the user can refer to them thereafter when the individual needs to be contacted again. The following is the description for various sections of the phone book window and their function.
• Phone Book Popup Menu: This popup menu to create or delete a phone book, or optionally select a previously created phone book to search in or view. The phone book contains various field in which the user can store pertinent information about each individual. If a phone book is currently selected, the name is displayed in the popup menu.
To create a new phone book, user can select the "New Phone Book..." item. Upon selection, the user is presented with a dialog asking for a name for the new phone book. After the name is entered and the OK button is pressed, the new phone book is created and made the current phone book. The process of creating a new phone book can be canceled by pressing cancel. If the Cancel button is pressed, the ContactManager would return to the phone book which was selected prior to the new phone book dialog.
To delete a previously created phone, user can select the "Delete The Current Phone Book..." item. If the phone book that is to be deleted different than the currently selected phone book, user must first select the desired phone book before selecting this item. When this item is selected, the user is presented with a dialog asking to confirm whether or not to delete the currently selected phone book. To go ahead and delete all records in the phone book, user would select the YES button or NO to cancel the deletion process.
All of the available phone books are listed in alphabetical order at the end of the phone book popup menu. When a phone book is created or deleted the ContactManager sorts the list automatically to reflect the changes made.
• Entry List: This list appears below the phone book popup menu and contains all individuals recorded for the currently selected phone book. The name of individuals are listed in alphabetical order. When a new contact is added or deleted, the list is adjusted automatically to reflect the changes made. The data entered in the name field of the individuals is used for the sorting of the data in the entry list. Therefore, if the user wishes the list to be sorted using the last name, the name of an individual must be entered as Last Name, First Name Initial (i.e. Smith, John H.). To help locating contacts more efficiently, user is encouraged to group contacts together in different phone books. For example, all contacts involved with a particular project, all contacts in a particular company, all personal contacts, etc. can be placed in separate phone books. The aforementioned grouping method and subsequent phone books can be used to search and retrieve contacts more effectively.
• Description: The description field dynamically displays brief help text for various parts of the phone book window. To view a brief description user can simply move the mouse on top of the desired item.
• Current Selection: This portion of the phone book window consists of 11 sections. The user can store a name or title, an address, and up to 3 phone numbers for each entry in the phone book.
The first field is used for the name of the individual. This information in this field would be used to sort (alphabetically) and display in the Entry List. Therefore, if the user wishes the list to be sorted using the last name, the name of an individual must be entered as Last Name, First Name Initial (i.e. Smith, John H.). To help locating contacts more efficiently, user is encouraged to group contacts together in different phone books. For example, all contacts involved with a particular project, all contacts in a particular company, all personal contacts, etc. can be placed in separate phone books. The aforementioned grouping method and subsequent phone books can be used to search and retrieve contacts more effectively.
The second field of the current selection can be used for storing any address or special notes the user wishes to attached to a particular entry. The information in this section is not used when the ContactManager is used to establish a connection with a remote user and is only used for reference purposes by the user.
The remaining fields of the Current Selection portion of the phone book window are the actual phone numbers that ContactManager uses to dial and connect to the remote individual. Each of the three phone numbers consist of three fields. First, is a circular button which is used to select the preferred phone number user wishes ContactManager to use for dialing. Second portion, an editable text field, is the label for the phone number . User can edit this field and enter a label to describe the type or location of the phone number (i.e. Home, office, Night, Day, etc.) Finally, , an editable text field, which can store the phone number to use for dialing the remote location. All necessary area codes and long distance access codes must be entered along with the phone number. For example, in United States, 1 is the long distance access number, a three digit area code followed by the actual 7 digit phone number (i.e. 1 (XXX) XXX XXXX). Blank spaces, parentheses and dashes can be used to format the phone number for better appearances and readability and are ignored by the ContactManager when dialing the phone number.
• New Entry: This button is used to create a new entry in the currently selected phone book. Upon selection, a new record is created and the label new enter appears in the name field of the Current Selection field. At least one phone number must be entered for each individual before attempting to create another entry, moving to another phone book, or going back to the main window.
• Delete Entry: This button can be used to permanently remove an entry for an individual from any phone book. Upon selection, user is presented with a dialog to confirm that the record is to be deleted. After confirmation, all related data for the current selection would be removed from the database of the phone book it resides in. Since once a record is deleted it can never be recovered, therefore, this button should be used with care.
• Help: Detailed description of the features available to the user are described in the on-line help module which can be activated using this button.
• Find:
This button can be used to begin searching for occurrence of a particular phrase in all the entries in a particular phone book. Upon selection, user is presented with a dialog asking for the phrase to search for.
• Find Again:
After a search has been initiated, pressing this button will cause the ContactManager to look for the next occurrence of the search phrase.
• Dial Audio: If a phone number has been entered for the current contact and is selected, pressing this button will dial the phone number through the internal speaker of the computer. The phone receiver must be held closely against the speaker before selecting this item.
• Dial Modem: If a phone number has been entered for the current contact and is selected, pressing this button will dial the phone number through the modem which is attached to the modem port or the internal modem. The phone receiver must be lifted (off hook) before selecting this item. Contact Manager will reset the modem, dial the number and release control to the phone.
• Iconize: If the user wishes to hide all windows temporarily in order to move to another application or view the desktop, selecting this button would hide all open windows and remember their order and location. When the icon window is expanded, all windows would reappear and they are returned to their original state.
• Save: This button can be used to force all changes made to the current record to be saved to the disk. It is recommended that changes be saved frequently to avoid data loss due to power failure or system crashes. All changes to any record must be saved before moving to another record. When the dialog is presented asking whether the changes should be saved, user can press the Cancel button to discard any changes.
•• Miniature Window:
From the main window, user can activate this window which allows the user to save precious desktop space. Furthermore, since other application can be used concurrently with ContactManager miniaturizing the main window would give other applications more processing time. User can return to the main window by clicking in the expand button located on the upper right corner of the miniature window. User can drag the miniature window around by click-dragging anywhere in the display area except the expand button.
•• Help Window:
This window contains all the on-line help text available for the application. The window is a standard Macintosh application window with two sections. First section is the topics and the second is the text associated with the topic. User can activate the on-line help module by selecting the "Help" menu item from the Apple menu. See the "How to use the On-line help module" section on more details on the usage of this feature.
ContactManager Database
The first time the ContactManager application is started, a folder named ContactManager Database is created in the same folder as the application. The database folder contains all files used by the Focus ContactManager such as on-line phone books. It is advised that only one copy of the ContactManager application be installed since having several copies may cause ContactManager to place files in different databases and therefore can not find them the next time the aforementioned files are needed.
How To Contact the Author
The Focus ContactManager has been thoroughly tested on numerous computer and modem combinations. However, it is almost impossible to test every conceivable combination of extensions, programs, computers and modems for conflicts. To report any conflicts encountered during usage, or perhaps to suggest an improvement you can contact the author of the ContactManager program directly by Email at: latifi@aol.com or by paper mail at: Afshin Latifi, Focus Softworks, P.O.Box 2401, Santa Clara, CA 95055-2401. You can also call (408) 247-4135 8 AM to 6 PM PST or fax you comments to (408) 247-7770 24 hours a day. Your comments and suggestions are extremely valuable and greatly appreciated since many other users may benefit from your suggestions for improvement.
•• How to order a full version of ContactManager
Focus ContactManager is released as shareware. If you use it after the one week trial period, please register it by mailing or faxing the order form 24 hours a day or call the phone number on the form. Visa and Mastercard are accepted.
To order ContactManager, select the print order form option from the introductory screen. For fastest delivery please print clearly and fill all appropriate fields. Registration for the full version entitles the user to FREE phone support. Additionally , registration would give you access to lifetime FREE updates and revisions of the application when you download it from any Bulletin Boards, America Online, or the Internet.
Warranty & Liability
This software is released on an "AS IS" basis. The author and Focus Softworks provide no warranty of any sort. The user of this software assumes complete responsibility for any direct or indirect damages due to use or misuse of this software. This program including but not limited to the code is copyrighted by Afshin Latifi and Focus Softworks and is NOT public domain (strictly enforced). It may not be disassembled copied or modified or otherwise reduced to human comprehensible form. The Focus ContactManager program or any portion of the program may not be distributed for profit or renamed or resold for any purpose and should be considered propriety asset own solely by Afshin Latifi and Focus Softworks.
•• Commercial and Shareware Distribution
This or any of other works of this author and Focus Softworks shall not be distributed for profit without prior written consent of the author (strictly enforced). Requests for commercial distribution can be submitted to the address displayed in the introductory window.
•• Other Focus Softworks products
The following are the list of products at the time of release of this version of Focus Comatose™:
• MicroRecorder™-
- Is a sound player which allows background sound playback on any Macintosh with color capability in AIFF format. It features unlimited record and play back time, repeated playback, on-line help, volume adjustment, and audio selection. The audio selection allows the user to play back a portion or the entire sound. This program has three dimensional controls, animation, and digital display featuring playback time, audio selection, volume level.
(20 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
• MicroRecorder Pro™-
- Based on the popular MicroRecorder, the pro version has the same features with the addition of pitch control, REAL TIME! display of the sound, Stereo capability, and left/right channel control. Furthermore, MicroRecorder Pro supports AIFF, system 7 sound file, and PC/Windows wave format. The support for PC/Windows format allows the user to import their favorite sound from the other platform.
(32 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
• AudioClock™-
- Is a digital Alarm Clock. It is a Clock for people who appreciate efficiency. It allows the user to enter daily messages by specifying the time, occasion, recording the voice message and save with clicks of mouse all without typing a word!. User can also preview the messages using their mouse.
(25 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
• VoiceCalendar™-
- Is a digital calendar. First of its kind, it is a calendar for people who hate to type! or people who appreciate efficiency. It allows the user to enter daily messages by specifying the date, time, occasion, recording the voice message and save with clicks of mouse all without typing a word!. User can also view the entire month, select any date and play back any messages using their mouse.
(32 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
• Focus DictationMachine™-
- is functionally equivalent to a transcribing device. It allows continuous background recording and playback of sound from hard disk. This would allow you to work with other programs while the sound is being recorded or played in the background. Among the key features of the DictationMachine are:
*- Full asynchronous Record and playback of sound.
*- 100 percent user configurable voice activated recording (VOX).
*- Support for 3:1 and 6:1 compression of the recorded sound.
*- Fast forwarding and rewinding of sound being played.
*- Volume adjustment.
*- Pitch adjustment.
*- Threshold adjustment.
*- Delay adjustment.
*- Quick Skip feature allowing to instantly to jump to any section of tape.
*- Insert and remove any portion of tape with a click of mouse.
*- Excellent 3D graphical interface and animation!
*- Full utilization of the notification manager.
*- Real-time sound display for record and playback states!!
(37 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
• Focus Comatose™-
- Is an application which will help you prolong the life of your computer and save on the electricity bill while doing so!! It allows the user to put their computer to sleep rather than shut down the entire system. Before Comatose this feature was only available to Powerbook users. It works with all Macintoshes Plus and later running system 7 or later and 100K of memory. Comatose would spin down all hard drives (SCSI and IDE) and turn the screen off. If you have an energy star compliant monitor, the blacking of the screen allows the monitor to power down internally, thus adding to the savings in electricity.
(25 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
• Focus TeleContact™-
- Is the Mercedes of file transfers!! It was created with the following goals in mind:
1) To make sending and receiving files as effortless as a simple telephone call. This task is achieved by automatically configuring and adjusting the parameters transparently such that the user is relieved of the cumbersome task of setting baud rate, bit parity, compression method, auto-answer and maximum transmission, etc.
2) Provide an elegant yet simple and intuitive interface to the file transfer process. As it would be described later in this manual, user can simply drag and drop any file on to the TeleContact and have it send the contents to any location in the world!
3) Combine the functionality of a modem protocol and the ease of use of a fax machine with some added features not offered by either methods of communication. For example, when a document is faxed, a picture of the document is sent to the target location. Should the recipient of the faxed document wish to make changes to the document, The have to retype the text or use some sort of OCR program to extract the text which often leads to loss of formatting. Using TeleContact, the recipient can simply use their word processor or graphics program to edit or print the document at a higher resolution that of the 200 dpi offered by a fax machine.
(42 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
• Focus ContactManager™-
- Focus ContactManager is a personal information manager (PIM). It allows the user to store information such as name, address, and up to three phone numbers for each contact. Furthermore, any of the phone numbers can be dialed in two ways. Namely, using the internal speaker of the computer or an attached modem. Using the Find and Find Again features user can locate previously recorded contacts instantly.
(25 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
• Focus EmailTool™-
- Focus EmailTool is an application which allows the user to sign their emails and other documents in the most elegant way possible. The program allows for up to 32,000 digital signatures and an additional 32,000 quotes! It comes with ready built in quotes by famous people as well as capability of adding your own. It features a floating window which stays on top of all windows for easy access.
(15 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
• Focus Majestic™-
-The Focus Magestic screen saver and its associated plug-in modules provide a robust and pleasant way to protect your screen from inevitable burn in when left unattended. The Magestic and all of its plug-in modules are Fat Binary applications which means they run super fast on both older Macs and the newer PowerPC Macs and compatibles.
Majestic is an ordinary application working transparently in the background. It is NOT and extension or control panel. It does NOT patch system resources, will NOT modify your system file. It will NOT slow your system down and will NOT cause incompatibility with other extensions and system resources. Additionally, you can set Majestic up to run automatically at start up and you can quit it any time you wish to release memory if you are strapped for memory. You can NOT quit a control panel or an extension! You can only disable such programs and restart your computer to claim the memory and CPU time they use.
Last but not least, you can password protect your computer with Majestic stopping access to your computer when you are not there!
(22 USD + 5 USD Shipping & Handling)
Look for these and our new products on America Online, your favorite bulletin boards and the Internet.
For latest version information or questions see "How to reach the Author" section.
AudioClock, MicroRecorder, MicroRecorder Pro, VoiceCalendar, TeleContact, Comatose, ContactManager, DictationMachine, EmailTool and Majestic are trademarks of Focus Softworks.
