Contents
Welcome to Practical PhoneBook Help

by Gary Chizhevsky, 1993

Help Contents

Overview

Features

How to...

Menus

Registration

History of changes


Overview

Practical PhoneBook is ... hm ... a phone book.  To fill your phone directory, all you need to do for each entry is add a name and phone#, and specify what kind of phone# it is (work, home, car, etc.).  For any other information, like secondary phone# or address, you can use 'Notes' section.  All phone book entries are listed in alphabetical order, and consequently, are easy to locate by simple browsing.  There are, of course, more sophisticated methods available for searching for entries by name, phone#, or text from notes, should the need arise (see How to and Features sections).

Practical PhoneBook is meant to be very easy and fast to use.  Special care is taken to provide the program with an attractive and polished look.  The program's purpose is to help you organize and manipulate your telephone directory efficiently.  It strictly follows the best Windows user interface traditions, and thus, should take no time for you to learn if you know anything about Windows.  However, if you are a novice to the Windows environment, extensive on-line help, that you are reading now, will explain to you every detail of the program.  In addition, if you click the right mouse button on almost anything in the program, a context-sensitive info box will pop up and explain what that element of the program does or means.

Keep in mind that Practical PhoneBook is distributed as shareware.  Thus, you are obligated to register if you decide to keep using the program.  See Registration section for more information.


List of features
Features

Practical PhoneBook:

	Allows to store about 1,800 - 2,000 phone book entries with up to 32000-letter notes per each entry.  Names are 35 characters max., phone numbers - 29.
	Stores files as text, so they can be edited in any text editor if desired for some reason.
	Features array of graphical push buttons along the bottom of the main window.  The buttons are associated with the most commonly performed functions.
	Uses 3D libarary of controls to give dialog boxes slick 3D look.
	Presents a list of phone book entries that occupies most of the main window.  If the main window is resized, the list is resized accordingly.  To the left of each list entry is an icon that tells whether there are any notes attached to the entry.  If the icon is crossed out, there are currently no notes for the entry.  Only name and phone number are shown in the list.  Notes can be viewed in a separate window.
	Has search box that pops up automatically when a letter is typed and searches for a phone book entry as you type.  Also, has Alphabet box, and Quick List as alternative methods for searching by name.
	Provides several other search methods, including by phone#, and by text from notes.
	Allows to dial a phone number through a Hayes-compatible modem.  Redial if busy, and smart dialing (whcih automatically takes care of "1" in front of area codes) options are availalble.
	Loads file specified as the command line parameter, if any, when application is started, or if file is not specified as command line parameter, loads the last file used.
	Provides a context-sensitive Info box at the click of right mouse button.
	Allows to drag and drop entries onto buttons instead of selecting them first and then pushing a button.
	Allows viewing notes in a separate Notes window, while browsing through the list of phone book entries.
	Provides facility to reconfigure buttons.


How to register
Registration Info

Practical PhoneBook is a shareware product.  That means you are permitted to use it free of charge only for a trial period (about 1 month).  After that, if you like the program and would want to maintain friendly relations with the author, please, send me $15 to the following address:

Gary Chizhevsky

39639 Leslie St. Apt. 160

Fremont, Ca 94538

USA

Internet e-mail address: murlo@aol.com

America Online address: Murlo

phone# (510) 656-7039

Registration will entitle you to receive future free upgrades, technical support, and my gratitude.  Also, send me any comments about the program, suggestions and criticism.  I am eager to accommodate your reasonable requests and send you improved versions.


Menu choices
Menus

File
	New	Create new, empty phone book file.
	Open	Open existent phone book file.
	Save	Save currently open phone book file.
	Print All	Print all phone book entries.
	Printer Setup	Set default Windows printer.
	Exit	End program.
Entry
	Add	Add entry.
	Edit	Edit currently selected entry.
	Delete	Delete currently selected entry.
	Print	Print currently selected entry.
	Dial	Dial currently selected entry's phone #.
	Add to Quick List	Add currently selected entry to the quick list
	Find by Name	Search for entry by a part of name
	Find by Phone	Search for entry by beginning part of phone #.
	Find by Notes	Search for entry by a piece of text from notes.
View
	Alphabet Box	Show or hide Alphabet box.
	Quick List	Show or hide Quick List window.
	Notes	Show notes for currently selected entry.
Settings
	Dial Settings	Set dial parameters and phone information.
	Display Settings	Set viewing options in Display Settings dialog box.
	Print Settings	Set printing options in Print Settings dialog box.
	Button Configuration	Associate actions with push buttons and double-click event.
	Font	Set font of the phone book list.
Help
	Contents	Open help and display contents page.
	Registration	Display registration information.
	About	General program information.


Available operations
How to ...

The following operations are described in this section:

Add entry, edit entry, delete entry, print one entry or entire list, view notes, dial phone#, find entry by name, find entry by phone#, find entry by piece of text from notes, get help, select phone book entry, perform an operation of a phone book entry, keyboard tip.

Do what?	Here is what you use:
Add entry	Add button, or Entry/Add menu, or <Insert> key. Each phone book entry must have a name; phone# and notes are not required. Warning: When entering notes, make sure you do NOT put right square bracket character ']' in the end of line, since square brackets are used internally to identify end of notes.
Edit entry	Edit Button, or Entry/Edit menu.
Delete entry	Delete Button, or Entry/Delete menu, or <Delete> key.  Once an entry is deleted, the empty trash can picture on the Delete button changes to full trash can picture.  After the file is saved or closed, the trash can looks empty again.
Print one entry or entire list	Use 'Entry/Print' menu to print the currently selected entry. To print the entire list, choose 'File/Print All' menu. Use 'Settings/Print Settings' menu to set priniting options in Print Settings dialog box.
View notes	Notes button, or View/Notes menu, or double-click on the notes icon in the phone book list.  If the notes icon to the left of the entry is crossed out, there are no notes for the entry.  If Notes window is already open, it will automatically display notes corresponding to the currently selected phone book entry.
Dial phone number	Dial button, or Entry/Dial menu, or double-click on the entry.  You can also dial a phone# stored in notes by opening the Notes window, selecting the text to be used as a phone#, and pushing Dial button in the dialog box. To set dialing prefix, tone or pulse phone type, com port number, and other dialing options, choose 'Settings/Dial Settings' menu.
Find entry by name	Use Alphabet box, or simply start typing the name.  A search box will automatically pop-up and search as you type.  When desired entry is found, press <Esc> or <Enter>, or click outside the search box to close it.  This is the fastest method to find an entry by name.  Another method for searching by name is invoked by choosing 'Entry/Find by Name' menu, or <F5> key.  That opens a dialog box which conducts search for an entry by a part of name.  For example, search string "el" will find the entry whose name includes "el", like "Michael".  The search begins with the first entry after the one currently selected, and after it reaches the end of the list, continues with the first entry.  If no entry is selected, the search starts with the first item.  The search is case insensitive.
Find entry by phone#	Choose 'Entry/Find by Phone#' menu, or <F6> key.  You may enter a beginning part of a phone# (or the entire phone#).  The first phone# that starts with the same characters, will be found.  The search is conducted in the same (circular) fashion as search by name, described above.
Find entry by piece of text from notes	Choose 'Entry/Find by Notes' menu, or <F7> key.  This search is conducted in the same fashion as search by name or phone#.
Get help	Choose 'Help/Contents' menu, or <F1> key for extensive on-line help, or use pop-up Info box for quick help about items on-screen.

Selecting phone book entry.

Whenever an operation is performed on a phone book entry, the entry must first be selected, except when adding an entry.  An entry can be selected by clicking on it with left mouse button, or moving the selection bar to it by <Up> or <Down> arrow keys, or by using any one of the search methods described above.

Performing an operation on the selected entry.

To determine what operation to perform on the selected entry, see the table above.  Also, as an alternative to clicking on Edit, Delete, Notes, and Dial buttons, an entry can be dragged onto a button with the left mouse button to achieve the same effect.

Keyboard note.

To use buttons at the bottom of the main window to perform any of the actions described above with the keyboard, press <Left> or <Right> arrow keys, or <Tab> or <Shift><Tab> keys to move bold black border, indicating input focus, from button to button, and <Enter> or <Spacebar> to push a button.  If you press <Right> arrow key when you are on the right-most button, or <Left> arrow key when you are on the left-most button, the input focus will move to the list box containing phone book entries.  The next time you press the arrow key, the bold black border will reappear on a button on the other end.


 Display Settings

The following display options can be set:

	Show phone# type
Uncheck this option to remove phone# type (home, work, etc.) from the phone book listing.

	Show name & phone# in columns
Check this option to display names and phone numbers in two fixed-size columns.  The width of the first column is equal to the width of the widest name.  That means that if all but one names are 10 letters long, and 1 name is 24 letters long, there will a whole lot of empty space wasted in the list of entries.

	Show notes icon
Uncheck this option to remove notes icon that is located to the left of each entry in the phone list.  The icon provides several shortcuts: it shows if there are any notes attached to the correspondent entry, and double clicking on the notes icon opens Notes window; but removing it from display may save some space.


Print Settings

The following printing options can be set:

	Notes
Check this option to print notes along with name, phone#, and phone# type (home, work, etc.).

	Print Style: at most 1 entry per page
Check this option to print 1 entry per page.  If notes option is on and notes take more than 1 page, they will continue to be printed on the next page.  The next entry will start with a new page.

	Print Style: continuous
Check this option to print one entry after the other, separated by a horizontal line, with as many lines of text as will fit on a page.


History of changes from verson 1.0 to 2.0
History of changes

Version 1.0 to 1.1

Version 1.1 to 1.1a

Version 1.1a to 2.0

In a short period of time that Practical PhoneBook has been out, it has already undergone 3 upgrades.  This is the evidence that I continue working on the program, trying to make it even easier and more convenient to use.  A lot of changes and enhancements made from one version to another are the result of comments and suggestions of users like yourself.  I thank you for your support.  Also, I want you to understand that it is impossible for me to test the program's dialing features on all possible modem configurations of all posiible types of modems you may have.  So, if you have problems with dialing, please notify me and supply exact information about your particular modem and circumstances in which the problem occurred.


Alphabet Box

Alphabet box can be used to find an entry starting with a particular letter.  Choose 'View/Alphabet Box' menu, if Alphabet box is not shown on screen, then press or click on a letter button to find the entry starting with that letter.  If Alphabet box is shown, but not currently active (another window is active), then press <Alt><F6> to switch between the active window and Alphabet box, if you want to use keyboard. To close the Alphabet box, choose 'View/Alphabet Box' menu again, or select Close from the system menu (the usual way) of the Alphabet box, or press <Esc> when the Alphabet box is active.

Example:

Suppose, you have several names starting with 'H' stored in the phone book.  Open the Alphabet box by choosing 'View/Alphabet Box' menu, then click on or press 'H', and the first entry with the name starting with 'H' will be highlighted.


Context-sensitive information box
Info Box

Click right mouse button on almost any window, dialog box, or button in Practical PhoneBook to get info about the element of the program you clicked on.  The info box will pop up and explain the function or meaning of that element.  To close the info box, click on it using any mouse button, or press <Enter> or <Esc>.


Notes dialog box
Notes window

Notes window is used to view notes that correspond to a currently selected phone book entry.  To open it, push Notes button in the main window, or double-click on the little notes icon to the left of the entry whose notes you want to see, or choose 'Entry/Notes' menu item.  Besides viewing notes, you can edit the entry whose notes you are viewing by pushing the Edit button in Notes window.  Or, you can dial a phone# stored in notes by first selecting the part of notes text used as a phone# and then pushing Dial button.


Quick List

Quick List allows users to store up to 10 entries (presumably, those referred to most often).  When a name in the quick list is selected, correspondent full list entry is highlighted, and if Notes window is open, the entry's notes are also displayed.  Also, entry's phone# can be dialed directly from the quick list window.  As the Notes window, Quick List window is resizable, and its position is remembered between sessions.

To add an entry to the Quick List, drag the entry from the full phone book list (main list) to the quick list window, or select the entry in the main list, and then choose 'Entry/Add To Quick List' menu item.  To remove an entry from the quick list, select it first, then press Remove button in the Quick List window.

For those interested in accessing phone book files directly with a text editor, names of entries in the quick list are preceeded with the exclamation sign (!).


Changes from version 1.0 to 1.1

New features

1.  Alphabet box for searching entries by name.

2.  Pop-up info box for quick help about on-screen items.

3.  Dial function was not very smart in reporting results of dial operation (BUSY,  NO DIALTONE, etc.). Once the phone# was attempted to be dialed, the user was on his/her own.  There was no redial or time out feature.  Dialing is now improved.  A message box pops up if phone# is busy, or no carrier is  detected, etc.  There is a time-out set up in the modem automatically.  So, after  about a minute, the modem quits and posts "No carrier" message.  Redialing if busy feature can be set in the Dial Settings dialog box to repeat dialing a phone# until it's not busy.

4.  If no file is specified as command line parameter, the file that was used last is automatically loaded upon start-up.

5.  Drag 'n' Drop. Instead of selecting an entry from the phone book list and then clicking on a button to perform an operation on that entry, now user can click on an entry and then drag it onto a button and drop it to perform an operation.

6.  Font and size used to display the phone book list can be changed now.

7.  Display Settings dialog box, where user can set phone book list viewing parameters.

8.  Search by Notes allows to search for an entry by matching the text user enters to entries' notes.  Both search by notes and by phone# have been enhanced to be forward circular searches.  In the original version, search by phone# always resulted in the same entry found, if the user's input remained the same.  Now, the search starts with entry following the one currently selected, and after the last entry, wraps around and continues with the first one.  In addition, if search is successful, the user's input is remembered till the next search.

9.  Print Settings dialog box, where user can set printing parameters.

For additional information on how to use the listed features, see How to section.

Bug fixes

1.  When phone book entries listbox had the input focus and a letter was pressed to invoke pop-up search box, the search always resulted in the second matching entry found, if there were more than one matching entries.  Bug fixed.

2.  Sometimes modem stayed on-line after the conversation.  Bug seems to have been fixed.

3.  F1 - F12 and Ctrl+letter combinations caused search box to pop up.  Bug fixed.

4.  If notes were longer than about 250 characters, the program crashed when the user tried to edit the entry.  Bug fixed.

5.  If no entry had notes attached to it, the file did not load.  Bug fixed.

6.  After load file operation was aborted, certain operations caused the program to crash.  Bug fixed.


Changes from version 1.1 to 1.1a

New features

1. In dialing, modem init string can now be user-defined, which will make dialing more reliable.

2. Only one instance of the program can be run now, with the first instance automatically activated when the second instance is attempted to be run.

3. The user can enter anything in place of phone# type in "Add" or "Edit entry" dialog box.  Previously, only work and home phone# types were allowed.

Bug fixes

1. Find by Phone# and Find by Notes searches crashed if no item was selected.  Bug fixed.

2. Find by Notes search showed wrong notes if search was unsuccessful.  Bug fixed.

3. Sometimes modem would not initialize.  Bug fixed.


Changes from version 1.1a to 2.0

New features

1. 3D dialog boxes.

2. Better compatibility with colors selected via Control panel.

3. Notes dialog box can now stay open and display notes for each entry while the user browses through the phone book list.  Notes dialog box is resizable, and position is remembered between sessions.

4. Notes dialog box uses the same font as the phone book list.

5. Dial button is added to the Notes dialog box to allow dialing secondary phone#s stored in notes.

6. Next button is introduced in Add Entry dialog box.  When pushed, Next button adds the currently edited entry, and then clears the dialog box for the next entry to be added.

7. The number of entries per file is now only limited by the amount of available memory (very large usually) and amount of text a listbox can hold (rather small), as opposed to previous 64K limit.  Total amount of notes per file is also unlimited now; however, there is still 32K (a lot!) limit on notes per entry.  Practically, because of the listbox size limitation and my disinclination to deal with that unless urged otherwise, the maximum number of entries per file will be about 1800-2000.

8. Quick List window is new.  It allows users to store up to 10 entries (presumably, those referred to most often).  When a name in the quick list is selected, correspondent full list entry is highlighted, and if Notes window is open, the entry's notes are also displayed.  Also, phone# can be dialed directly from the quick list window.  As the Notes window, Quick List window is resizable, its position is remembered between sessions, and it uses the same, user-selected font, as the rest of the program.

9. Search by notes is now case insensitive (it was case sensitive before, so that "Clement" did not match "clement") .  When entry's notes are found, the matching text from notes is highlighted (previously, just the Notes window would open, but the matching text was not pinpointed to the user).

10. Find by Name menu option has been changed.  Previously, it simply invoked pop-up search box that would appear anyway when a letter was typed.  Now, 'Entry/Find by Name' opens a dialog box that conducts search for an entry by a part of name.  For example, search string "el" will find the entry whose name includes "el", like "Michael".

11. Pop-up info box has been extended to work in every window and dialog box of the program (except where it would be redundant).  Previously, it only worked in the main window.

12. Show notes icon option is added to Display Settings dialog box.

13. Printing now works correctly with lines of notes longer than page width, with text automatically wrapped to the next line.  Previously, the text that did not fit page width, was clipped out.

14. Smart Dialing checkbox has been added to Dial Settings dialog box to automatically handle addition of "1" to phone#s wiith area codes.

15. Configure Buttons dialog box is new.  It allows to reassign actions performed when graphical buttons at the bottom of the main window are pushed, and also the action performed upon a double click on an item in the phone book list.

Changes of existent features

1. Menus have been rearranged to accomodate new features.  View menu has been added.

2. Now, you can run several instances of Practical PhoneBook at once (it was prevented in version 1.1a); however, every time you load another instance, a message is posted to remind you that an instance is already running, and you have a choice of either to reactivate the running instance, or start a new one.

3. Use prefix checkbox has been removed from Dial Settings dialog box.

Bug fixes

1. If non-phonebook file was attempted to be loaded, the program was likely to crash.  Bug fixed.

2. If notes with more than about 250 characters per line were loaded, the program might crash or not function correctly.  Bug fixed.