DIRCOPY VERSION 1.0 by Marel Software




CONTENTS

1. Why DIRCOPY?
2. Files contained in the archive.
3. Files NOT contained in the archive.
4. How to install and use DIRCOPY.
5. Additional benefits/uses of DIRCOPY.
6. The ASCII directory format.
7. Registration Information.
8. Notes about using DIALER and RCOMM
together.
9. Where to find the latest DIRCOPY.


WHY DIRCOPY?

We at Marel Software believe PROCOMM to be a good
communications program. And now that PROCOMM PLUS
(PCPLUS) is available, a good communications program
has become excellent! But even so, we feel there are
two key features missing even from PCPLUS. These
features are BACKGROUND UPLOADING/DOWNLOADING and
BACKGROUND CIRCULAR DIALING OF MULTIPLE BUSY NUMBERS.
Well two shareware programs perform these functions.
RCOMM by Thomas Duller will upload or download in the
background while running other DOS applications. And
DIALER by Michael Nagel Jr. will call up to five (5)
busy telephone numbers in sequence while running other
DOS applications until one of the numbers answers. At
that time it sounds an alarm to let you know to jump
into your communication program. (It should be noted
that RCOMM has the same feature, but can only redial a
single busy number.)

RCOMM however is not a replacement for PROCOMM or
PCPLUS as it does not have nearly as many nice
features for a serious communication session, but it
does come in handy for large uploads/downloads. So
what's the problem? -- Integrate RCOMM and/or DIALER
with PROCOMM and PCPLUS.

DIRCOPY is our solution! It provides a quick and easy
method of converting a PROCOMM or PCPLUS dialing
directory into a dialing directory compatible with
RCOMM and DIALER. The dialing directory for RCOMM is
PC-TALK compatible, but not PROCOMM/PCPLUS compatible.
And DIALER has its dialing directory built into its
executable file.


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DIRCOPY VERSION 1.0 by Marel Software



FILES CONTAINED IN THE ARCHIVE:

Included in the distributed archive file should be
three files as follows:

DIRCOPY.DOC -- this file you are reading!

DIRCOPY.EXE -- the executable DIRCOPY file.

DIALER.COM -- the executable DIALER program by Michael
Nagel Jr. We are including this in the
archive since it is small and because
this was the version of DIALER we used
to develop DIRCOPY. Other versions of
DIALER have a different directory
format. Instructions for DIALER are
presented in its opening screen.



FILES NOT CONTAINED IN THE ARCHIVE:

RCOMMVxx.ARC -- This file can be found on many BBS'
including the DEFENDER (312) 390-6594
in the Chicago metro area. This
archive is about 48K bytes. We used
RCOMMV22.ARC for development, but it
may be a mislabeled version of
RCOMMV21.ARC. Anyway, the dialing
directory has not changed, so the
version you use should not matter.



HOW TO INSTALL AND USE DIRCOPY:

To start, place DIRCOPY.EXE into either a directory
found in your DOS PATH variable or into your PROCOMM
or PCPLUS directory. DIRCOPY must be able to find
PROCOMM.DIR or PCPLUS.DIR, PC-TALK.DIR, and DIALER.COM
in your current working directory. NEXT MAKE A
BACKUP COPY OF YOUR PRESENT DIALING DIRECTORY (i.e.
PCPLUS.DIR or PROCOMM.DIR) BECAUSE THEY WILL BE
OVERWRITTEN! Now go to your PROCOMM or PCPLUS
directory and start DIRCOPY by typing:

DIRCOPY

You will see two windows on your screen. The top
window is incomplete and will be filled in after you
read the message in the lower window. The lower
window presents a reminder to make backup copies of
PCPLUS.DIR and/or PROCOMM.DIR (whichever you use) and


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DIRCOPY VERSION 1.0 by Marel Software


also indicates the only limitation of the shareware
version of DIRCOPY. The limitation is that the
PCPLUS, PROCOMM, PC-TALK (i.e. RCOMM), and DIALER
dialing directories which DIRCOPY creates is limited
to 10 phone number entries. To receive a fully
functional version of DIRCOPY on floppy disk follow
the directions below or follow the directions found in
the last window when exiting DIRCOPY.

After reading the "backup" message in the lower
window, press once to begin the program. The
upper window will now become a menu. Use the arrow
keys to move the highlight (yellow on color monitors)
to the task you wish to perform and hit the
key. The menu items are shown and described below.

PCPLUS.DIR --> ASCII DIR
PCPLUS.DIR <-- ASCII DIR
PROCOMM.DIR --> ASCII DIR
PROCOMM.DIR <-- ASCII DIR
PC-TALK.DIR --> ASCII DIR
PC-TALK.DIR <-- ASCII DIR
DIALER DIR <-- ASCII DIR
Add a dial prefix to ASCII DIR

First let's take the case where you use PROCOMM PLUS
and wish to create compatible dialing directories for
RCOMM and DIALER from the file PCPLUS.DIR.

Step 1: Create the ASCII directory by choosing
PCPLUS.DIR --> ASCII DIR. Provide a name for the
ASCII directory when prompted to do so. This file
will be created in your current directory and cannot
include a path. Do not use the name of an existing
file, for it will be overwritten.

Step 2: Create your RCOMM directory by choosing PC-
TALK.DIR <-- ASCII DIR. When prompted for an input
filename, use the name of the file you just created in
step 1 above. You will also be prompted for what
default baud rate to use. Enter your baud rate and
press . Another window will open up to show
you the processing as it takes place. All windows but
the menu window will close when processing is
completed.

Step 3: Create your DIALER directory by choosing
DIALER DIR <-- ASCII DIR. When prompted for an input
filename, use the name of the file you just created in
step 1 above. DIALER does not store the baud rates
with each entry, so no baud rate prompt is presented.
The processing window will show the numbers and names
as in step 2 above.



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DIRCOPY VERSION 1.0 by Marel Software


That is all there is to it! You may look at the ASCII
directory and see that it contains all of the entries
from your PCPLUS directory. Now try using DIALER and
RCOMM. You will see that the first 10 entries from
your PCPLUS directory are now the first 10 entries of
the RCOMM dialing directory and the first 10 entries
of DIALER's dialing directory. Again, this limitation
is removed by registering DIRCOPY. The registered
version of DIRCOPY will provide 88 entries into DIALER
and 60 entries into RCOMM dialing directories.

To create DIALER and RCOMM directories for PROCOMM
follow the same directions as above, except choose
PROCOMM.DIR --> ASCII from the main menu to begin.

The last selection in the main menu provides a way to
quickly add a dialing prefix before all the telephone
numbers in the ASCII directory. The most common use
for this is to add the characters "9," before each
telephone number to provide for dialing through a PBX
telephone system at a place of business.



ADDITIONAL BENEFITS/USES OF DIRCOPY.:

DIRCOPY also provides for some additional useful
features. The following two main menu selections:

PROCOMM.DIR <-- ASCII
PCPLUS.DIR <-- ASCII

provide a method of maintaining one master dialing
directory in ASCII format to be used by all of the
above communication programs. Using the above menu
selections make it possible to dump the ASCII
directory back into PROCOMM or PCPLUS. (Note that
currently only 1200 and 2400 default baud rates are
supported by DIRCOPY for PCPLUS. Additional baud rates
will be forthcoming provided there is user interest.)
The ASCII directory may be maintained by any word
processor or editor. Also, it may be sorted by any
sort program which works on ASCII files.

Additionally, by dumping your PROCOMM or PCPLUS
directory to an ASCII directory and then dumping the
ASCII directory back as a PROCOMM or PCPLUS directory,
you will eliminate any deleted entries which were in-
between valid entries in the original dialing
directory. This makes for a fast and easy way of
cleaning up a dialing directory.





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DIRCOPY VERSION 1.0 by Marel Software


THE ASCII DIRECTORY FORMAT:

The ASCII dialing directory has the simple format that
follows:

555-1212 Mark Ellis BBS
1-312-999-9999 The Loser Line

Place the first digit of the telephone number into the
first column. Any number of spaces or tabs separate
the phone number and name.



REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

As mentioned above, the limitation of the shareware
version of DIRCOPY is that it will create dialing
directories for PCPLUS, PROCOMM, RCOMM, and DIALER
which contain a maximum of 10 entries, although the
ASCII directories which it creates are unlimited in
length. The registered version will create working
directories for the above programs up to the limit of
the individual programs capabilities. (In other
words, 200 entries in PCPLUS.DIR, 100 entries in
PROCOMM.DIR, 60 entries in RCOMM (although RCOMM is
distributed with only 55 entries), and 88 entries in
DIALER.)

To register, send $10 (or if you are a registered
CHIFONE user send $7.95 -- see the end of this
document) to the address below. Make checks payable
to :

Mark Ellis

465 Mitchell Ave.

Elmhurst, IL 60126

For your $10 you will receive a registered copy of
DIRCOPY on floppy disk, SO BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR
RETURN ADDRESS! Orders generally are shipped within
24 hours of receipt of order.



NOTES ABOUT USING DIALER AND RCOMM TOGETHER:

We have successfully used DIALER and RCOMM together by
loading DIALER into memory first, directly followed by
RCOMM. These two programs together make a nice
communication package when included with DIRCOPY.
Also, for this configuration our modem initialization


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DIRCOPY VERSION 1.0 by Marel Software


strings for DIALER and RCOMM were as follows:

DIALER INIT. STRING: ATE0 S11=35 V1 X3 L0 S0=0{
RCOMM INIT. STRING: ATE1 S7=55 S11=30 V1 X3 S0=0

Note that the '{' at the end of the DIALER
initialization string indicates a carriage return.
Also, the two strings do show some contradictions
which probably not necessary, but we just want to show
what works for us. The simultaneous test of DIALER
and RCOMM was performed upon an 'AT' clone and using
an EVEREX 2400 internal modem.



WHERE TO FIND THE LATEST DIRCOPY:

We hope you find DIRCOPY beneficial for tying together
other good communication products. To find the latest
shareware version of DIRCOPY please call the DEFENDER
BBS at 312/390-6594. Comments, suggestions,
questions, and requests are gratefully received there.
Direct your messages to Mark Ellis.

Look for other Marel Software products on your local
bulletin boards. CHIFON11.ARC is a shareware version
of the CHICAGO FONE program used to calculate the cost
of any phone call place in the '312' area code and
provides other information for Chicagoland prefixes.
The registration cost of CHIFONE is $10. Registered
users of CHIFONE may receive their registered copy of
DIRCOPY for only $7.95.


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