.BEGIN-FISH-DESCRIPTION .name DFA .fullname DFAddress .author Dirk Federlein .type Database .short Address database with many features .description DFA is the ultimate address utility for every AMIGA computer that runs at least Workbench 2.0. Native languages are supported as soon as one has installed Workbench 2.1 and above; Workbench 3.0 will be supported, if is available. DFA is not like any other address tool. It is an ideal combination of a lot of features and an easy to use program. Inspite of this combination it tries to use even less RAM than former versions of DFA DFA has an Arexx port that understands many commands. They give you full access to DFA out of every other programm with an Arexx port. Especially import and export of addresses can be done very easily using the Arexx port. Arexx scripts may be called directly out of DFA. You may assign an Arexx script to every function key. DFA supports up to three email addresses - you can even call an external mail editor and DFA gives the desired email address to it (using Arexx). DFA can dial the stored telefone numbers - even more than one number per entry is possible. DFA can print the addresses using different formats: Long list, short list, telephone list, address labels and address cards. DFA's windows are all fully font sensitive and the main window is adjustable via the sizing gadget! All functions can not only be invoked by mouse but by keyboard also. DFA supports the locale library that is included in Workbench 2.1 and above. Supported languages are English, French and German up to now. All shortcuts are localized as well! DFA supports some new "features" if running under OS 3.0 and above ("New Look" menus, scaled MX/Checkbox gadgets, nicer listview,...). DFA supplies context sensitive online help, which gives you the proper help text out of every DFA related window. DFA comes along with comprehensive AMIGAGUIDE and TEX documentation; both english and german Registered users will get a keyfile that enables saving of the DFA-Preferences, which is disabled in the public release. DFA should be installed using the provided install script. The installer program ((c) Commodore) is included! NEW FEATURES - Extended client server mechanism. DFA consists of a server, an editor and a preferences program. - All program parts that are used by more than one of the programs mentioned above have been exported into a shared library, the 'dfa.library'. - Every address can get up to 8 group flags, which makes it possible to select the addresses you want to get displayed. - The Arexx port has been rewritten from scratch, using the Arexxbox V1.12 by M. Balzer. Several new functions have been added and some of the existing ones have been improved. - The main window is no longer closed and opened again, if you resize it. The layout calculation in this window has been optimized as well, so it looks much better now. - The buttons at the right side of the main window (V1.2x) have been put into Windows like icon row in top of the window containing very nice MagicWB images. Alle these icons can be reache by gadget shortcuts as well. - The listview that displayes the address list can be configured in several ways: You can not only tell DFA which fields you want to get displayed, but you may even tell how much of the available space you want to use for this field AND and in which of the up to 8 columns this field has to be displayed - The text gadgets near the buttom of the main window (V1.2x) have been replaced with a listview, called the panel listview. This solution is much more flexible than the text gadgets. You can not only tell DFA which fields you want to see within the up to 16 lines, you may even change the lines' title to fit your needs. - Two new fields have been added: c/o and state. Especially the state field may be very useful in countries that either need this particular information OR are used to place their ZIP/PC behind the city name. - Every address item now may have one external file attached to it! This may be used to store additional information that would not have enough space within the usual address fields. - The search function got improved funtionality: Now you may toggle each field to be searched through. - The dial function was rewritten from scratch and has much better functionality now: You may dial the active or all marked entries, you may use programs like the 'getty' at the same time, as DFA now supports the 'OwnDevUnit' library, The dial function got its own window (no longer a simple requester) that give you much more information. You may set the number of retries and a redial delay. The modem status as e.g. 'BUSY', 'NO DIALTOME', etc. is detected as well. - The load and most of all the save routine have been rewritten from scratch and are much faster now. - The internal memory usage for the storage of address data has been optimzed, which means that you now need less RAM to store your addresses than in DFA V1.2x, in spite of the new address fields! - The usage of memory pools sped up some parts of DFA noticably and decreases memory fragmentation. - DFA is able to supply a simple network mechanism that makes sure that several people that use the same address file within a LAN do not overwrite each other's changes of the address file. - The one preferences window of DFA V1.2 was replaced by a separate DFA preferences program (10 windows). This does not only mean that you may start this program seperately (even if no other part of DFA is running), but there are much more settings you may change: -*- Autosave behaviour -*- Icon generation can be toggled -*- The address listview (see above) -*- The panel listview (see above) -*- The groups' names and shortcuts -*- The fonts, i.e. you may either use the system's default fonts or select the fonts of your choice. -*- Additional modem settings, incl. the possiblility to toggle the usage of the 'OwnDevUnit' library. -*- Important path and file names used by DFA: I.e. the default address file, the directory for the external files as well as the ASCII editor and the ASCII viewer used for the external files. -*- The arexx commands that are bound to the function keys. -*- The sorting. I.e. your address can be sorted by any field you wish now. - Last but not least the complete DFA distribution comes along with 8-color MagicWB icons by Martin 'XEN' Huttenloher. DFA V2.1 ======== - DFA is an SASG product now. According to this fact you may enjoy all advantages that come along with the SASG. For detailed information, please see the registration/information programm that comes along with this distribution. - The quite ugly, seperate toolbox is gone. Instead of this you'll find a beautiful gadget panel inside the DFAEditor main window. - New "secret" mode for the status texts of the DFAEditor. - French locale support - Several bugfixes, especially the "bug" that caused DFA to crash on some systems (68000/Kickstart 37.xxx) is removed. By the way this problem was caused by a bug in the gadtools.library! .version 2.1 .date 1994.07.17 .restrictions Program preferences may be changed, but can't be saved in the unregistered version. .requirements Requires Amiga-OS 2.0 (V37). Runs on all Amiga comuters (500+, 600, 1200, 3000, 4000) with this OS (or a newer one) installed. A harddisk is strongly recommended. .reference FreshFish-Mar94:BBS/AmigaLib/D700-799/Disk782/DFA.lha 1.1 FreshFish-Mar94:BBS/AmigaLib/D800-899/Disk874/DFA.lha 1.23 FreshFish-Dec93:Old/AmigaLibDisks/Disks860-879/Disk874/DFA/ 1.23 FFMCD01:Old/UnArchived/AmigaLibDisks/Disks860-879/Disk874/DFA/ 1.23 FFMCD01:Old/Archived/AmigaLibDisks/Disks800-899/Disk874.lha 1.23 FFMCD01:Old/UnArchived/AmigaLibDisks/Disks780-799/Disk782/DFA/ 1.1 FFMCD01:Old/Archived/AmigaLibDisks/Disks700-799/Disk782.lha 1.1 .distribution Shareware .price $20(US), DM30. .address Brunnengasse 11a 63741 Aschaffenburg Germany .email dirkf@alcmy.franken.de dirk@alcmy.adsp.sub.org .exectype 68000 .construction SAS/C 6.51 .tested A1200, A2000, A3000 and A4000 with various amounts of Chip and Fast RAM, with and without MMU or FPU. Found to be free of Enforcer and Mungwall hits. Compatible with Picasso-II and Piccolo software. Also tested under V37 through V40 system software. .described-by Dirk Federlein (dirkf@alcmy.franken.de) .submittal Directly submitted by mail by the author. .END-FISH-DESCRIPTION