---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Address Keeper V1.0 (c)1996 Alex Mills Written In Blitz Basic V2.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quite simply Address Keeper is a utility which allows you to keep track of names, addresses and telephone numbers on your amiga. I am one of those people who are completely 'C' and 'Assembler' illiterate and have only found success when writing programs in 'Basic'. I realise that writing programs in basic is not exactly glamourous, but you show me 'any' programmer who looks glamourous anyway! This program has only been possible thanks to the amazing Blitz Compiler which produces basic software which executes blindingly fast, compared to other basic packages I have used before. This is being released as 'Public Domain', so it may be copied or sold (at a minimal price) through PD libraries. All I ask is that it remains 'my' software release and is not hacked and subsequently distributed under another authors name. For distibution purposes this doc file must be included. Anyway, now the boring stuff is out of the way, let us look at how to use this utility. Instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The program can be placed wherever you like, it is self contained and therefore requires no particular libraries. File Op Gadgets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEW - This allows the user to input a new file. The surname string gadget will activate and the user can then input the file details. NOTE - if mistakes are made but you have already moved onto the next field, they will have to be corrected using the UPDATE gadget once finished inputting this file. REMOVE - This removes the currently displayed file item from the file list. If you want to get it back, you'll have to reload the entire file, as long as you haven't saved over it! (Oh, no) SEARCH - Pretty obvious this one. Enter the string to search for and it will search through all the files and fields until it finds it and will then display the file item it was found in. UPDATE - Need to update a file ? Made a mistake in a previuos entry ? Then use this to go back over the file item to correct it. NOTE - Each field must be updated, if you don't want to change the field then just hit return. SORT - Another obvious one. Yes, this will sort all of the files out into alphabetical order. Remarkable. NEXT - Will display the next file in the file list, allows forward movement through files. PREV - Will display the previuos file in the file list, allows backward movement through files.(impressive, eh!) Disk Op Gadgets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LOAD - Use this to load in a previuosly saved file. A standard file requester will appear allowing you to choose the file to load. NOTE - Only files with the '.ADM' suffix will be accepted. SAVE - Use this to save your current file. A standard file requester will appear allowing you to choose where to save your file. NOTE - This will save your file with the suffix 'ADM' if you haven't done so already. DELETE - Very obvious this one. A standard file requester will ask you to choose a file to delete and then do so. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SELECTED THE CORRECT FILE TO DELETE !! (Unless of course you like using UNDELETE tools !) Misc Items ~~~~~~~~~~ ABOUT - Usual boring 'About' pop-up window. Completely unnessessary but very self-gratifying. QUIT - Well here's a tough one, whatever could this be for? Lower Prop Gadget Window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basically, this area of the window displays a list of currently held files. Surname, first name and phone number are here for all those who just want the phone number in a quick look up list. The user can operate the slider gadget to scroll up and down through the list to get that number in a hurry! Useful Display Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For all those people out there who didn't know which CPU they had in their amiga, this will tell you. (Any sad people who didn't know this are hereby banned from using this software !) Todays date will be displayed for all those folks with a clock fitted. All those who haven't got a clock may experience a timeslip. The messages are purely progress indicators, which let you know if an operation was successfully completed or not. Status tells the user which file is currently in use and how many are held in total. Limitations ~~~~~~~~~~~ FONTS - Try to stick with size 8 fonts when using this, otherwise the display will look awfull. Propartional fonts do work, but the user will need to play around with sizes to get the desired effect. FILE SIZE - At present this software will allow the user to enter up to 1000 files, which should be enough for most users. SEARCH - This will stop at the first file it finds a match with at present. I am working on a routine to allow all files which match the search criteria to be displayed for the user (next version). SORT - I had to drop the Blitz Sort() command as I found it temperemental. It was very fast, but prone to crashing (anyone know how to get around this ?). I've had to write my own alpha-sort routine which deliberately only sorts correctly up to the first five characters of the surname for speed purposes. Generally the results are satisfactory but not 100% perfect. I will revise this in the next version. Compatability ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So far I have only tested this on a bog standard A1200 and an accellerated '030' A1200 and experienced no problems. It should work on kickstart V2 machines (A500+ and A600) but I can't guarantee this 100%. Bugs ~~~~ I haven't found any so far after extensive testing, but as is always the case, someone else is bound to. So if you have found a bug, please let me know and I'll get on to it. Thanks ~~~~~~ Thanks go to:- Siobhan, my wife, for the many drinks, meals and cigarettes she got for me while I wrote this. Tim Todd, for not coming up with the idea for this program, but keeping me entertained anyway. Acid Software for producing the excellent Blitz2. Englands Prime Minister John Major, for being the most boring man on the planet. Legal Disclaimer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I believe this software is system safe, BUT I do not accept any responsibility for any damage it may incur (however unlikely), such as system crashes, floppy/hard disk crashes, CPU burnout (very unlikely), brain tumours, diarrhoea or terminal boredom. This software is 'as is' and the user, uses it at their own risk. About The Author ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is my first release of any software so I would be grateful for any feedback that you may wish to give (as long as it is not too rude). I've been a keen computer user ever since the first home computers were made available (remember the ZX81 ?) and have dabbled with programming ever since. Any Blitz users out there who would like to see the source code for this program, just send a self addressed envelope (with postage) and I will send you the listing. If you think you could optimise the code or do a better version, let me know how. After all I'm still a novice. Here's my address for any correspondance. 28 Sea King Crescent Colchester Essex CO4 3QT England Bye. /| |-\ |\ /| / | | \ | \ / | /__| | \ | \/ | / | | / | | / | | / | | / | |_/ | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~