PopPhone v2.05 May 24, 1993 Copyright 1993 Russell Hildreth _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER PopPhone 2.0 Page 2 Introduction & Features: PopPhone 2.0 is a simple RAM resident (TSR) phone book program which you can quickly access from within most applications. It uses very little memory and takes up very little disk space. You can learn how to use PopPhone in only a few minutes. It is easy to install. Now you can finally have all of your frequently needed telephone numbers at the tips of your fingers, only a keystroke away. NEW! PopPhone 2.0 allows you to store as many numbers as you wish. The only limit is the size of your hard drive. NEW! PopPhone 2.0 allows you to store address information as well as comments, in addition to the names and phone numbers of your contacts. NEW! PopPhone 2.0 uses less memory than earlier versions. If you have extended or expanded RAM on your system, PopPhone will load itself high and use as little as 5k of conventional memory. PopPhone alphabetizes entries by name, as you input them. You can search for an entry by simply pressing the first letter of the name. PopPhone features an automatic modem dialing function so that you can place calls without dialing yourself. PopPhone includes a print feature so that you can generate a list of all of your phone numbers. PopPhone allows you to easily edit names and numbers as they change. PopPhone pops up over WordPerfect, Lotus123, and just about every other application program there is. Unlike other TSR programs, PopPhone can be quickly removed from memory if you need to free up some extra space. PopPhone is designed to be efficient and easy to use. It is aimed at users who want a product that works simply and intuitively, and does what it is intended to do, without the high price of most commercial applications. PopPhone is a product dedicated to one job the organized storage and fast retrieval of your telephone numbers. You don't have to pay extra for features you will never use. PopPhone 2.0 Page 3 PopPhone's ideal place is on a computer system that is constantly turned on during your working day, so that your phone numbers are always ready for you. PopPhone 2.0 Page 4 Definition of Shareware: Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it is commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are also low. Shareware has the ultimate money- back guarantee if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. PopPhone 2.0 Page 5 Disclaimer - Agreement: Users of PopPhone 2.0 must accept this disclaimer of warrant: PopPhone is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, director or consequential, which may result from the use of PopPhone. PopPhone is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using PopPhone and continue to use PopPhone after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $25.00 to Russell Hildreth. The $25.00 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it is being used at another, just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Commercial users of PopPhone must register and pay for their copies of PopPhone within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Russell Hildreth at the address below. Anyone distributing PopPhone for any kind of remuneration must first contact Russell Hildreth at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the ASP as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering PopPhone immediately (however Russell Hildreth must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of PopPhone). You are encouraged to pass a copy of PopPhone along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. PopPhone 2.0 Page 6 PopPhone is not crippled in any way. All features are fully functioning in the shareware release. There are no nag screens or commercials asking you to send registration money. I believe that these things serve only to annoy, so I leave them out of my programs. I trust that if you like the program, you will register. PopPhone 2.0 Page 7 ASP Ombudsman: This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. PopPhone 2.0 Page 8 Registration and Support: Registration entitles you to receive a copy of the current version of PopPhone on disk, as well as a printed copy of the documentation. Once you have registered, you are perpetually licensed to use all future versions of PopPhone, from wherever you may obtain them. You are entitled to order any updates for a handling charge of $10. The author will provide unlimited lifetime support to registrants. If you have any questions before registering, please write to Russell Hildreth at the address below, send CompuServe e- mail to 71041,2132, or call (916) 753-2359 [evenings/weekends]. Please use the PHONE.REG form and specify your desired disk size. Send check or money order for $25.00 payable to: Russell Hildreth PO Box 72431 Davis, CA 95617-6431 PopPhone 2.0 Page 9 Installation: First, decide which directory on your hard drive you wish to use for PopPhone. This can be an existing directory, such as C:\UTILS or you can create a new directory, such as C:\PHONE. If the directory does not exist, use the DOS MKDIR command to create it. Second, copy the PHONE.EXE file into that directory. PopPhone will use that directory exclusively for all of its functions and related files. Third, edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to load PopPhone when you reboot your computer, so that PopPhone is always available (you can remove PopPhone from memory at any time by invoking it [ALT-LeftShift-P] and pressing F8 or by entering PHONE -R at the command line). Using a text editor such as EDIT, add one line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to run PHONE.EXE. For example, if you placed PHONE.EXE in a new C:\PHONE directory, you would add the line "C:\PHONE\PHONE" to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You should add this line prior to any SET or PATH statements you might have in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file [this is a good practice for any TSR program, since each TSR loaded gets a complete copy of all active environment variables (PATH is an example of an environment variable), which ultimately means that more memory is needlessly used by your TSRs, and less is available for other programs]. After modifying your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, reboot your computer. PopPhone will automatically be loaded each time your computer is turned on or rebooted, so that it will always be available for you. To access PopPhone, press ALT-LeftShift-P at the same time. The first time you run PopPhone in this manner there will not be any numbers on file, and you will have to begin adding entries (use the F2-Add function to do so). NOTE that you MUST use the LEFT shift key on your keyboard. The right shift key will not work in the above combination. Finally, if you wish to use the modem dialing feature of PopPhone, be sure to select option F7-Conf and answer the questions about your communications port and dialing prefix (if you have one). If you do not use the Configure option, PopPhone defaults to COM 1 and no dialing prefix. The communications port can be 1-4 (but PopPhone has not been tested with COM 3 or COM 4). The dialing prefix can be anything you need to dial out on your line (e.g., some office lines require dialing "9" to get an outside line). PopPhone 2.0 Page 10 You can enter up to 60 characters. If you do not require a dialing prefix, just press on the blank line. The information you provide will be saved to a file called PHONE.INI and will be automatically loaded each time you re- run PopPhone. PopPhone 2.0 Page 11 Upgrading to PopPhone 2.0: If you have already installed and been using an earlier version of PopPhone, you will need to run the UPGRADE.EXE program to convert your old PHONE.DAT file to the new format. Copy the UPGRADE.EXE file to the same directory as PHONE.EXE and PHONE.DAT. UPGRADE.EXE looks for PHONE.DAT in the same directory. If you were using PHONE500, rename the PHONE500.DAT file to PHONE.DAT. Type UPGRADE. Wait a minute. Copy the new PHONE.EXE file over the old one. Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: PopPhone 2.0 does not require any command line parameters, as did some earlier versions. The line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file which loads PopPhone needs to be changed to remove any command line parameters required by the older versions. To run PopPhone 2.0 all you need is the complete path and "PHONE", with nothing following, e.g., "C:\PHONE\PHONE" is sufficient. Reboot your computer. Invoke PopPhone with ALT-LeftShift-P, as in the past. If you will be using the modem dialing feature of PopPhone, be sure to use the F7-Conf option to Configure your communications port and dialing prefix. See the discussion under Installation, above. Gather up all of the address information you wish to include with your entries. Use the F4-Edit key to make any desired changes. You can now add as many new entries as will fit on your hard drive. If you run out of room on your hard drive, you can install a bigger hard drive and continue adding more entries. PopPhone 2.0 does not place any arbitrary limit on the number of allowable entries, as did earlier versions. You should back up your PHONE.DAT file whenever you make changes or additions, to avoid having to re-enter all information in the event of a hard drive accident. PopPhone 2.0 Page 12 Using PopPhone: After you have installed PopPhone 2.0 you can always access it by pressing ALT-LeftShift-P. Pressing the three keys together will cause PopPhone to pop up for use, no matter what other program(s) you might have currently running. PopPhone will also pop up over the DOS command line. The following keys are available for your use when PopPhone has been invoked: F1-Quit: Returns you to wherever you were when you activated PopPhone. PopPhone remains in memory and can be repeatedly called up with ALT- LeftShift-P. F2-Add: ADD a name, phone number, etc. to the database. This option will clear the display window (the background color will change from light blue to purpose on color video systems) and allow you to enter the information for the new entry. The fields available are for the name of the individual or company, the phone number, a three line address block, and a two line comment block. See Appendix A for a complete list of the keys available in the Add and Edit modes. When you have entered all of the desired information, press CTRL-ENTER to save (or press ENTER on the last field). The new entry will be sorted in alphabetically, based on the first field (name). Press ESC to abort without saving. Note that the fields are not specifically labelled name, number, address, and comment. You can put any information you wish into any of them, such as inventory data. Remember, however, that the database is sorted according to the information in the first field, and the dial feature uses the number in the second field. F3-Del: DELETE the current entry. Use this option to remove an entry you no longer want to keep on file. Bring up the offending party and press F3. You will be prompted to verify the deletion. F4-Edit: EDIT the current entry. This works much like the Add operation, but allows you to modify an existing entry or add more information to an existing entry. See Appendix A for a complete PopPhone 2.0 Page 13 list of the keys available in the Add and Edit modes. If you decide you do not wish to make any changes, press ESC to abort. F5-Dial: DIAL the number of the current entry. If you have a modem connected to your computer, you can use this feature to quickly dial the phone number, without having to do so manually. Without picking up the handset on your telephone, press F5. If your modem is equipped with a speaker, you will hear the dial tone and the number being dialed. You can wait for someone to answer before picking up the handset, if you wish. Press any key when you have connected or you are otherwise finished. If your modem is installed on COM 1 and/or you need a dialing prefix, see the installation instructions for information on creating a PHONE.INI file. PopPhone defaults to COM 2 and no dialing prefix if there is no PHONE.INI file. F6-Print: PRINT a list of names and numbers. The list will be sent to the printer on LPT1/PRN. Currently, the list contains only the name and number fields. The next release of PopPhone will allow you to generate either a short or long list. The latter will be useful for printing mailing labels based on the phone database. If your printer is not connected directly to LPT1, use the DOS MODE command to reroute your ports. For more information, see your DOS manual. F8-Remove: Unloads PopPhone from memory. Use this option if you need to free up some extra RAM memory. F8 will permanently release PopPhone 2.0, so you will no longer be able to access it with the ALT-LeftShift-P hotkey combination. If you wish to use PopPhone after removing it from memory, you need to either run the program manually or reboot your computer. Letterkey: Pressing any letter key (A..Z or a..z) will cause the program to search the entire database for the first entry starting with that letter. For example, if you press "g", the first entry starting with the letter G will be displayed. You can then use PgDn to look at entries following that one. If there is not entry beginning with the letter G, the PopPhone 2.0 Page 14 program will beep at you in an annoying fashion. PopPhone 2.0 Page 15 Memory: PopPhone 2.0 only stores one database entry in memory at a time, to keep memory usage to a minimum. Also, if you have more than 640k of RAM installed on your system, PopPhone will load itself into high memory (provided that there is enough room). In such a case, PopPhone will use only 5k to 12k of conventional DOS RAM. You need extended or expanded memory for this feature to function properly, and you must be running an appropriate high memory manager. For extended memory, you should be using HIMEM.SYS and DOS=HIGH in your CONFIG.SYS file. For expanded memory, you should be using EMM386 in your CONFIG.SYS file. For best performance, you should be using DOS 5.0 or higher. Some systems that have some, but not enough high memory, may cause PopPhone to lock up in certain situations. If this happens to you, either remove some other programs to give PopPhone more room to work in, OR try the -d command line parameter, which forces PopPhone to swap itself to disk. This will slow PopPhone down a little bit when popping up, but on systems with hard drives, the wait will be negligible. The actual resident size of PopPhone 2.0 will depend on the configuration of your computer, the operating system version, and other variables. Large Databases: When you have established a large database of phone number entries, you will notice that the add, delete, edit, and sort functions may take some time to be completed. This is because the database entries are being rearranged on your hard drive. Obviously, the greater the number of entries, the more time this will take. Older, slower hard drives will slow the program down even more. Nothing is wrong with the program, just be patient. Speeding up these functions would require too much memory for a TSR type program. PopPhone 2.0 Page 16 Troubleshooting: Most problems with PopPhone relate to memory. If you cannot get PopPhone to function properly on your machine, try running it from a bootable floppy disk [ FORMAT a: /s ]. If PopPhone works in a "clean" DOS environment, your problem relates to something in either your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file (or both). Try removing other programs one at a time until PopPhone functions on your system. In general, the less you at boot time, the better. If you continue to have memory troubles and PopPhone is locking up, you can try using the "-d" command line parameter. This will force PopPhone to swap itself to disk. This will slow down PopPhone a little bit when popping up, but on systems with hard drives, the wait will be negligible. PopPhone will swap to a file called PHONE.SW1 in the startup directory. Do not delete this file while PopPhone is active. PopPhone 2.0 will now automatically pop-up over programs running in graphics modes of CGA, EGA, VGA, XGA and other video cards. PopPhone does not support popping up over Hercules graphics modes or Windows. DOS 3.0 or later is required for correct operation. PopPhone 2.0 Page 17 Et cetera . . . PopPhone has been tested with numerous application programs, and will pop up over just about anything, including but not limited to: Word Perfect, Lotus123, Procomm Plus, etc. The only requirement is that you have 59k of free RAM, whether conventional or expanded/extended. PopPhone will run from a floppy disk drive, but it is not recommended that you try this at home. Phone numbers are stored in a file called PHONE.DAT, which is placed in the same directory as the PHONE.EXE file. Back it up every now and then and you won't have to re-enter everything if your hard drive crashes. The author of PopPhone can be contacted on CompuServe at 71041,2132 or by sending U.S. mail to: Russell Hildreth PO Box 72431 Davis, CA 95617-6431 Your comments and criticisms are welcomed and appreciated. Every effort will be made to address your suggestions for improvements to the program (though actually doing so may take some time). If you have any problems running the program, please contact the author so that steps may be taken to resolve your difficulties. Please feel free to copy and distribute the original PHONE2.ZIP file or the shareware distribution disk. Be sure that ALL of the original files are included with the copies you distribute. PopPhone 2.0 Page 18 Appendix A -- Add/Edit Mode Keys: Key Action --- ------ LeftArrow cursor left RightArrow cursor right UpArrow cursor up DownArrow cursor down Ctrl-LeftArrow word left Ctrl-RightArrow word right Tab field right Shift-Tab field left Enter process field Ctrl-Enter process all fields (finished editing) Decimal (.) move to right side of decimal point Home beginning of field End end of field line / end of field Ctrl-Home beginning of first field Ctrl-End end of last field Ins toggle field insert mode Del delete character at cursor BackSpace delete character left Ctrl-BackSpace delete word left Ctrl-R restore field to original contents Ctrl-T delete word right Ctrl-U delete to end of field Ctrl-Y delete to end of last field Esc abort data entry