@database "UniDial.guide" @node Main "UniDial table of contents" UniDial 1.2 Written by Tor Ringstad (c) 1994 AmPro Creation TABLE OF CONTENTS @{"Copyright " link Copyright} @{"Installation " link Install} @{"Introduction " link Intro} @{"The gadgets " link Gadgets} @{"The config file " link ConfigFile} @{"Todo " link Todo} @{"Bugs " link Bugs} @{"Contacting the author " link Contact} @endnode @node Copyright "Copyright" COPYRIGHT This program is NOT public domain. All rights is reserved for the author and AmPro Creation. However, I hereby grant anbody the right to freely distribute and use this program as long as the documentation and the program itself is not changed. The fee for the program must under no circumstances be higher than the costs of the duplication and the medium itself. Hobøl, 10.07.94 - Tor Ringstad @endnode @node Intro "Introduction" INTRODUCTION UniDial is a configurable telephone dialer with the ability to dial text. It dials by playing DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) tones, and can of course only be used on telephone lines intended for touchtone phones. UniDial is not mainly intended to dial phonenumbers (that is much easier to do with the phone keypad or a pocket dialer). UniDials strong side is the ability to dial text the way that several phone services require. Each alphanumeric letter is then entered as a combination of numbers (for instance a=10, b=11 and so on). If you have a lot of text to enter, this is both cumbersome and timeconsuming. But that was before. Now is UniDial. Just enter the text at the keyboard, hold the mouthpiece of your phone up to the speaker and let your Amiga do the job! @endnode @node Install "Installation" INSTALLATION As this program doesn't consist of very many files, I didn't bother to make an installation script (lazy eh?). Just copy all the files to whatever directory you might find suitable. @endnode @node Gadgets "The Gadgets" THE GADGETS @{"Volume " link Vol} @{"Tone length " link Len} @{"Pause " link Pause} @{"Configure " link Config} @{"Load " link Load} @{"Save " link Save} @{"Scroll window " link Scroll} @{"Nr " link Nr} @{"Dial " link Dial} @{"Text " link Text} @{"Send " link Send} @{"Btt/Imm cycler " link BttImm} @endnode @node Vol "Volume" VOLUME Adjusts the output volume on all 4 channels simultanously. @endnode @node Len "Tone Length" TONE LENGTH Adjusts the length of each DTMF tone. If the telephone line is noisy or you get lots of errors, try to increase this value. @endnode @node Pause "Pause" PAUSE Adjusts the length of the pause between each number dialed. @endnode @node Config "Configure" CONFIGURE Not implemented yet. If you want to alter the configuration of the program you have to use your favourite editor and edit the @{"configuration file" link ConfigFile}. @endnode @node Load "Load" LOAD Brings up a file-requester where you can choose which @{"configuration file" link ConfigFile} you want to load. The new configuration totally overrides the old one. That is, you can NOT (for instance) have one config file for alpha characters and one for numerical characters, and then load both of them to get a complete alphanumerical characterset. @endnode @node Save "Save" SAVE Brings up a file-requester where you can enter the name of the @{"configuration file" link ConfigFile} you are about to save. @endnode @node Scroll "ScrollWindow" SCROLL WINDOW While @{"sending" link Send} @{"text" link Text}, the text is scrolled through this window character by character. @endnode @node Nr "Nr" NR Here you enter the numbers you want to dial unencoded. UniDial supports the digits 0-9, the symbols '#' and '*', and the characters 'a', 'b', 'c' and 'd'. The last four characters is not in common use, but I added them for the sake om completeness. The case of the letters does not matter, and all other characters than the one mentioned above is ignored. To dial the number you've entered, click on @{"Dial" link Dial}. If @{"Imm" link BttImm} (Immediate) mode is selected, the number will be dialed as soon as you leave the string gadget (i.e. press ENTER). @endnode @node Dial "Dial" DIAL When this button is pressed, the number entered in the @{"Nr" link Nr} gadget is dialed. @endnode @node Text "Text" TEXT Here you enter the text you want to send. Before it is sent, every character is translated into a sequence of DTMF symbols (0-9, #, *, a, b, c, d) according to the translation table in the configuration file. The case of the letters does not matter. The internal upper-to-lower-case convertion is locale dependant, so even special characters like the norwegian 'æ', 'ø' and 'å' is handled correctly. Characters which is not in the configuration file is ignored. To send the text you've entered, click on @{"Send" link Send}. If @{"Imm" link BttImm} (Immediate) mode is selected, the text will be sent as soon as you leave the string gadget (i.e. press ENTER). @endnode @node Send "Send" SEND When this button is pressed, the number entered in the @{"Text" link Text} gadget is sent. @endnode @node BttImm "Btt/Imm cycler" BTT/IMM CYCLER These cycle gadgets has to options; 'Btt' (Button) and 'Imm' (Immediate). When 'Button' mode is selected, @{"numbers" link Nr} or @{"text" link Text} is only sent when the @{"Dial" link Dial} or @{"Send" link Send} button is pressed. When 'Immediate' mode is selected, numbers or text is send immediately when you press ENTER in the string gadget. This is useful when you are to send lots of short messages. @endnode @node ConfigFile "The config file" THE CONFIG FILE The configuration file tells UniDial how to translate @{"text" link Text} into a sequence of DTMF symbols (0-9, #, *, a, b, c, d). The file is saved as plain ASCII, so it is editable with any editor. A '#' on the beginning of a line indicates a comment. All other lines should be of the format =, where CHAR is any character and STRING is the string of DTMF symbols which CHAR should be substituted with. A short example: # This is a comment a=10 b=11 c=12 Allthough it is possible to define a substitution for every ASCII character, it is useless to define uppercase letters. The text in the @{"Text" link Text} gadget is always converted to lowercase before it is converted to DTMF symbols. WARNING: The config file parser isn't too clever, so don't try any smart tricks. If you have to fiddle with it, make sure the format is just as in the original file. TIP: Instead of making new configuration files from scratch, save the default configuration to a file and make changes you need. @endnode @node Todo "Todo" TODO There's still a lot of features that could be added to this program. However, UniDial suits my own basic needs, and whether new versions appear depends a lot on YOU! Highest on the wish list is: o Load files from disk to Text window. o A button to interrupt dialing. o Automatic loading of a config file on startup (e.g. from a tooltype). @endnode @node Bugs "Bugs" BUGS As far as i know, UniDial has no bugs. However, there is ONE thing that might cause some trouble with other programs using audio: The audio routines were written in assembler, using pretty low-level access to the audio-hardware. I hope this won't turn out to be a real problem (in that case i promise to fix it). @endnode @node Contact "Contacting the author" CONTACTING THE AUTHOR I would be very happy to receive any kind of feedback on this program, that could be bug reports, suggestions on improvements or just a note telling how useful you think the program is. The probably easiest way to reach me is by email at the following address: torhr@alkymi.unit.no Or if you prefer (?) snail-mail: Tor Ringstad Muruåsen 1827 Hobøl NORWAY @endnode