                Card Print, by Matthew J. W. Ratcliff

There is a program called Card File that comes with Microsoft Windows.
It is a very nice utility for keeping an electronic address book, with
the ability to dial phone numbers for you through the modem.  The
problem is that Microsoft Windows MUST be loaded before the address
book may be accessed.  That is when my brother turned me on to an
MS-DOS, TSR utility by the same name, published in an earlier issue of
PC Magazine. Now my address book is only an Alt-Right-Shift away.

Aside from its inability to configure the communications port from the
command line, Cardfile has only one limitation; its inability to print
your address book.  Of course you may perform a Print-Screen of the
currently displayed address from Cardfile, but this is not a very
efficient way to output an entire address book.  This is where Card
Print comes in.

Card Print will print part or all of any address book generated with
Cardfile, continuously or interactively, to disk or the printer.  All
its features may be configured from the command line, or entered
interactively.  The following command:

C:\>cardprin addr.dat ratcliff q prn:

will list all addresses from the ADDR.DAT file, with the name
Ratcliff, in query mode (you are prompted for verification for each
one on the display), to the printer.  If you want to print the entire
address book with a single command line use:

C:\>cardprin addr.dat * c addr.out

The asterisk tells Card Print to output EVERYTHING.  The program does
not support asterisk and question wild cards, similar to MS-DOS,
however. The parameters must be in this sequence: filename, search
string, 'q' or 'c' for query or continuous, and output filename.  If
any is missing, the program prompts you for each as follows:

C:\>cardprin

CardPrint - a print utility for CARDFILE from PC-MAG
By M. Ratcliff, 05-AUG-88, Rev. 1.02

CARDFILE data file to print ? addr.dat
Search string (return for ALL addresses) ? ratcliff
[C]ontinuous or [Q]uery mode ? q
Output file for printing ?
(Return only for default PRN:)
? temp.dat

The query mode comes in handy when you wish to print just an address
or two from a rather long list.  The output format of each address is
as follows (the search string was "631", part of the zip code):

      +---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
      | ACE St. Louis                   | Block, H&R, Taxes               |
      | P. O. Box 99999                 | 99999 Florissant Rd.            |
      | St. Louis, MO 63144             | Ferguson, MO 63135              |
      |                                 |                                 |
      |                                 | 555-2751                        |
      |                                 | Best price in town.             |
      +---------------------------------+---------------------------------+

The neat frame makes it easy to cut out and paste onto an envelope, if
you would like to use them as address labels.  The address book is
neatly pagenated, formatted for printer output.  A page number and the
name of the address book file are displayed at the top of each page.
Fourteen addresses per page are printed, followed by a form feed
character before beginning the next page.  The output can easily be
hole punched and placed in a three-ring binder.

Cardfile is a very handy utility.  I think you will find that Card
Print makes it just a bit more friendly.



Article and program by:

Ratware Softworks
Matthew J. W. Ratcliff
32 S. Hartnett Ave.
St. Louis, MO  63135
(314) 524-1627

