Category : Databases and related files
Archive   : CONTACT.ZIP
Filename : CONTACT.DOC

CONTACT version 4.0

You can learn to use the system simply by entering F1 at each prompt
where you have a problem or a question. Thus the following text is very
brief.

INSTALLATION NOTES:

CONTACT version 4.0 expects to see at least the following files in
the current directory.

FILES
PROGRAM FILE
contact.exe - the CONTACT program

HELP FILE
contac40.hlp - where CONTACT help text lives

DATA FILES (FILE SYSTEM)
contact.dt - main CONTACT data file
contact.nx0 - CONTACT index files
contact.nx1
contact.nx2
contact.hdr - system parameter file

FORM FILES (custom form files)
contact.lbl - mail label FORM ASCII FILE
contact.1 - form 1 FORM ASCII FILE (mail/merge)
contact.2 - form 2 " " " "
contact.3 - form 3 " " " "
contact.4 - form 4 " " " "
contact.5 - form 5 " " " "

All DATA FILES and FORM FILES need to be in the current directory.
If you want on-line help, the HELP file must also be in the current
directory. If the HELP file is not in the current directory, you
will not get help messages.

NOTE:
Make sure that your "config.sys" file has at least FILES=20. Otherwise,
many features may not work.

If you want to start up CONTACT with a different file system, perhaps,
a file system already existing called "friends", enter

> contact friends

Otherwise CONTACT expects to see the files: "contact.dt", "contact.hdr",
"contact.nx0", "contact.nx0", and "contact.nx0" in the current directory.

HARD DISK USERS:
Simply create a subdirectory called "\CONTACT" on your hard disk
and copy all files into it. Call up CONTACT by the command
"contact".

FLOPPY DISK USERS:
Copy the DATA FILES and FORM FILES onto a separate floppy. If you

want online help, also copy the HELP FILE onto the DATA and FORM
floppy. Copy the PROGRAM FILE onto a separate floppy.

Place the PROGRAM floppy into drive A. Place the DATA & FORM floppy
into drive b: Make the B drive current by entering "b:". Call up
CONTACT by entering "a:contact".


COLOR/MONO MONITORS

Some mono monitors act like color monitors by using scales of
gray/green, yet the effects somehow are hard to read. I noticed
this on some mono Compaq and ATT 6300 computers. Choose the MONO
option on the SYSTEM PARAMETER PAGE if you have problems viewing
the screen.

HELP FILE

CONTACT reads its context sensitive help from "contac31.hlp".
Please do not modify the help file as CONTACT'S internal pointers
will point to the wrong help information. Thus making the
help system useless.

AUTODIAL/PHONE CALL LOGGING

If you have a Hayes compatible modem attached to COM1 or COM2,
you can use the autodial feature.

Even if you don't have a modem attached to your computer, you may
still log telephone calls by pressing F3 or F4. Then you can
manually dial the phone and CONTACT will record the date and time
of the call in the PHONE LOG page.

If you wish to make a log of incoming calls use F9. As soon
as someone dials in, call up that person's record and press
F9. CONTACT will then record the date and time the person called.

If you have a modem connected to your system, make sure that the
"modem port number" is set to either 1 or 2 under the System
Parameter Menu. CONTACT currently only works with HAYES compatible
modems. Also make sure that "TONE" or "PULSE" dial is set.

CONTACT will append a line of information each time you
initiate a phone call. If the line is busy after pressing F3 or
F4 press 'b', a "BUSY" will be added to the LOG PAGE. If there
is no answer press 'n' which will mark "NOANS" to the LOG PAGE.
Press any other key will mark an "OK" to the log file

For those that wish a phone log for each call, use the
"set PLOG=filename" facility built into the file
"cont.bat". If PLOG is set from the DOS prompt, each outgoing
and incoming call is recorded in this file in addition to being
recorded on the PHONE LOG PAGE.


CORRESPONDENCE/LETTER TRACKING

Correspondence will be tracked automatically. Both sent and
received letters will be kept track.

ADDING, MODIFYING, DELETING CONTACTS

All addition, deletion and modification to contacts is done via
the CONTACT MENU. To add a contact enter "a", to delete enter
"d" and to modify press the ENTER key. A highlight bar will
appear over the field to modify.

The CITY, STATE and ZIP fields will be set to the corresponding
fields of the first contact added on the current session. If you
want to change the default CITY, STATE and ZIP fields do this from
the SYSTEM PARAMETER MENU. This feature speeds up the entry of
names to the system.

FIRST, LAST AND NEXT MEMO FIELDS

CONTACT has a built-in mini editor which allows limited changes
to each memo field. Press ENTER two times to change a memo field.
Once in the memo field, press the HOME key then press the LEFT ARROW
to change the memo date.

To quickly copy the information from the NEXT MEMO field to
the LAST MEMO field, enter "c" at the Option prompt.

USING THE FORM FILES

CONTACT has a mail/merge capability for use with ASCII files.
In the current directory are the files "mail.lbl", "form.1",
"form.2", "form.3", "form.4" and "form.5". You will want to
change these files as necessary. If you want to enter special
printer effects such as "bold", "italics" etc. You can do this
by entering the appropriate printer control code done by entering
"*p0", or "*p2", etc. into the ASCII form file. *p0 corresponds to
printer code 0 in the PRINTER PARAMETER MENU. See the example
file "form.3"

The form files should NOT contain TABs. CONTACT currently doesn't
work very well with TABs. Use spaces instead.

Create an ASCII file using your word processor and place the following
fields into the file. If you want to do some justification you can
with any field by signaling to CONTACT:

*fn%20 - first name RIGHT justified padded with space
*ln%-20 - last name LEFT justified padded with space

The following fields are filled in by CONTACT:

*d1 - current date (format - 31 Oct 87)
*d2 - current date (format - October 31, 1987)
*d3 - current date (format - 11/31/87)
*t1 - current time (format - 15:23:43) military
*t2 - current time (format - 15:23) military
*t3 - current time (format - 03:23:43 pm) standard
*t4 - current time (format - 03:23 pm) standard
*sa - salutation *fn - first name *ln - last name
*a1 - address line 1 *a2 - address line 2
*st - two letter abbrev for state
*ST - spelled out state *ci - city name *zi - zip code
*hp - home phone *wp - work phone *co - company name

*fc - first memo date *nc - next memo date *lc - last memo date

*f1 - first line of first memo field
*f2 - second line of first memo field
*f3 - third line of first memo field
*f4 - fourth line of first memo field

*l1 - first line of last memo field
*l2 - second line of last memo field
*l3 - third line of last memo field
*l4 - fourth line of last memo field

*n1 - first line of next memo field
*n2 - second line of next memo field
*n3 - third line of next memo field
*n4 - fourth line of next memo field

*p0 - printer code 0 *p1 - printer code 1 *p3 - printer code 3
*p4 - printer code 4 *p5 - printer code 5 *p6 - printer code 6
*p7 - printer code 7 *p8 - printer code 8


SAVE SCREENS

Press F2 to make a copy of the current screen for later printing.
This has an advantage over pressing SHIFT-PRTSC, in that using
F2 screens are properly paginated on the printer for 66 lines.

Special graphics like the line drawing characters will be saved
as standard dashes '-'.

CODES

Set up the codes any way you wish. You have 15 different ones to
choose from. These are useful for categorizing your contacts.

FILE SYSTEMS

For those that don't wish to classify their contacts simply by
codes, you may also separate your contacts into different file
systems. One file system may contain "FRIENDS", another may
contain "VENDORS", and another may contain "CLIENTS".

Create new file systems using the CREATE FILE SYSTEM option. After
creating the new FILE system, you may open it or copy records from
another file system. Experiment with this option.

One restriction in place is that each file system must be on the
current directory. Floppy users may store separate file systems
on different DATA/FORM disks. Be sure to copy the appropriate FORM
files to the separate disk.

Hint: If you want to "pack" your file system by removing all empty
space not reclaimed from deleted records do the following:

0. Make sure you have enough disk space.
1. Create a new file system, call it "pack".
2. Copy your file system to the "pack" file system using the
COPY FILE SYSTEM MENU.
3. Exit CONTACT.
4. Make a backup of your old file system. (optional step)
5. From DOS do:
copy pack.* .* (copy "pack" on top of old)
del pack.*

This shouldn't be necessary unless you are cramped for disk space
and you have done many deletions without corresponding adds to the
file system. This will NOT increase performance, but may save
some disk space.

DO'S AND DONT'S

Do make regular backups of your DATA FILES. Do not exit CONTACT by
turning off the computer or pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL. You may
mistakenly destroy a data or index file. Exit CONTACT only by pressing
the ESC key several times and answering 'y' to the Exit prompt.

SUPPORT

I will not send future enhancements over the bulletin boards, they will
be sent to registered users only.

To register send $30 to:

Ed Trujillo
P.O. Box 23052
Albuquerque, NM 87192-1052

Registration entitles you to the following:

o one free update disk (specify 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 disk)
o printed documentation
o notification of new updates/products
o ASCII import program
o program to automatically convert older versions
of CONTACT to newer version 4 files.
o limited telephone support

You can reach me on on Compuserve 73700,277 if you have questions.