P H O N E T E X T

version 1.0
















Conceived and Created by:

TONY MARTIN
1611 Harvest Green Court
Reston, VA 22094

April 1, 1990















Software and documentation (C) Copyright 1990 by
Tony Martin







T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
---------------------------------------------------------------

What is Phone Text? . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Installing Phone Text . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Starting Phone Text . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Using the Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Quitting Phone Text . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Using Phone Text - General Info . . . . . . 8

Entering a Phone Number . . . . . . 9

Generating a Phone Text List . . . 10

Browsing the List . . . . . . . . . 11

Printing the List . . . . . . . . . 12

The Ouput File . . . . . . . . . . 13

Text to Number Function . . . . . . 15

End Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
























page i





What is Phone Text?
---------------------------------------------------------------

Ever notice how the business world seems to
have a plethora of mnemonic phone numbers that
make words? Reach a diet center by calling
1SKINNY. Or a seventies-throwback dance club
by calling 75DISCO? Or perhaps your neighbors
by dialing BOBJANE? These text-based phone
numbers make it easier to remember both the
number and who it will reach if happen to dial
it.

The Phone Text program will accept any phone
number you like, and then proceed to generate
all 2,187 possible letter combinations for it.
You can do this with your own number, your
office, the local pizza delivery place, your
in-laws, or any number you need to remember. It
will also print the list of possibilities, save
it to disk, or let you just browse throught it
on-screen.

You can also enter a text-based phone number
and get a numerical one in return. This is
handy if you have a company of your own and
want to request that special phone number.
Perhaps you run a fast-food place and want the
number BURGER8. Enter BURGER8 and Phone Text
will return 237-4378.

Phone text is a program that falls fairly close
to the entertainment category, brushing a
tangent with the utility category, and then
landing in an somewhat lonely spot mostly to
itself. It has a menu interface and lots of
pretty colors. Is this overkill for such a
silly and pointless program? Yeah, but it's
lots of fun, so there you have it. Besides,
why shouldn't even absurd software be easy to
use?











page 2





Installing Phone Text
---------------------------------------------------------------

The Phone Text program consists of only one
file (aside from this documentation), so
installation is very simple.

To install the program, simply copy the file
PT.EXE to any diskette or hard disk directory.
Examples include

COPY A:PT.EXE C:\SILLY

The above DOS commend would copy the Phone Text
program from a floppy disk in drive A: to a
subdirectory on hard disk C:.

COPY PT.EXE B:

The above DOS command would copy the Phone Text
program from the current disk/subdirectory
(whatever it was at the time) to the diskette
in drive B:.

To run Phone Text, you need only a standard PC
with 256K of memory, a single diskette drive,
and monitor of any kind. If your computer can
display colors, then Phone Text runs in color.
Otherwise, Phone Text runs in a very usable
monochrome color set.






















page 3





Starting Phone Text
---------------------------------------------------------------

To start the Phone text program, simply make
sure that you are on the drive and/or
subdirectory that the file PT.EXE is located.
Once this is taken care of, enter the command

PT

If this is too complex, go back and reread this
section again three or four times.

After this has been accomplished, you will be
greeted by the Phone Text Screen. On it you
will see the following:

1. The program header at the top of the
screen. This contains the name of
the program, my name and copyright,
as well as nothing else. Where the
nothing else is currently located is
where you may later see the name of
an output file, if you decide to
specify one at some time.

2. The program menu in the upper left
corner of a predominantly empty
area of the screen. The menu is a
device by which you tell the program
what to do. The mostly empty area
is where the program tells you what
it thinks.

3. A single line of instructions
located at the bottom of the screen.
These instructions will change over
the course of using the program,
depending on what you happen to be
doing with it at the time.

We'll go into each part of the screen as we
need to. For now, turn the page and the real
meat of the instruction begins.








page 4





Using the Menu
---------------------------------------------------------------

The Phone Text menu contains seven choices.
Each performs a different function. In
summary, they are

1. Enter Phone Number. This allows you
to tell the program what phone
number it should be concerned with,
until you use this function again,
to tell it a different one.

2. Generate Phone Text. This function
causes the program to begin the gen-
eration of the 2,187 possible letter
combinations from the seven-digit
phone number entered via the Enter
Phone Number function, mentioned
above.

3. Output File. This function allows
you to enter a filename to which the
Phone Text generated with the
Generate Phone Text function will be
saved. You can use the same
function to close any existing
output file.

4. Browse Text. Use this function to
scroll through an already generated
list of Phone Text combinations.

5. Print Text. This function will send
the currently active list of Phone
Text combinations to the printer.

6. Text To Number. This function will
generate from a text-based number
you enter, the actual numerical
phone number it represents.

7. Quit. Terminates all phone number
related processing and returns you
to DOS.

There are two mechanisms available that allow
you to select and execute any of these
functions.



page 5





One. The Highlight Bar. Notice that one of
the choices (when the program first comes up,
it will be the first choice) is a completely
different color than the others. This is so
because it is highlighted. The premise is to
move the highlight to the choice you want use,
and then hit ENTER. This will cause the program
to begin executing your function. The
following keys are used when moving the
highlight bar:

Highlight Movement... ...Key(s)
-------------------------------------
Up one choice . . . . . . . Up Arrow
Down one choice . . . . . Down Arrow
Top of list . . . . . . . PgUp, Home
Bottom of list . . . . . . PgDn, End
Execute highlighted choice . . Enter

Move the highlight to the function of your
choice and hit ENTER. It will execute
immediately.

Two. Quick Access Keys. Notice that one
letter of each choice is a different color than
its companion letters. This letter is the
Quick Access key. By hitting the key that
corresponds to the uniquely colored letter, you
will cause the function to execute immediately.























page 6





Quitting Phone Text
---------------------------------------------------------------

When you are finished using Phone Text, you
will probably want to return to DOS, whereupon
you may begin abusing your computer in some
other fashion. There are two ways to go about
this.

To quit, you must be at the menu level. If you
are in the middle of one of the Phone Text
operations, you must first leave it and return
to the menu. This can usually be accomplished
by hitting the ESC (Escape) key.

Once at the menu, you may either select the
Quit function from the menu by highlighting it
and hitting ENTER or hitting the Q key, or you
can take the easy way out and hit ESC. Either
will dump you to DOS straight away.
































page 7





Using Phone Text - General Info
---------------------------------------------------------------

There are a couple of things to know about how
Phone Text (and hence, you) goes about its
business.

The general operating procedure for Phone Text
is as follows:

1. Enter a phone number.

2. Specify an ouput file (OPTIONAL).

3. Generate phone text for the number.

4. Browse and/or print the phone text.

5. Quit

This is a very generalized and easily mutable
list, but the following items stand out:

1. You must enter a phone number before
you can perform the Generate Phone
Text, Browse, or Print functions.

2. You must generate phone text before you
can perform the Browse or Print
functions.

Other function-specific idiosyncracies will be
pointed out later in the manual. For now,
remember the two above-listed items.


















page 8





Entering a Phone Number
---------------------------------------------------------------

Entering a phone number is as easy as typing it
in. Select the Enter Phone Number option from
the menu. You will be greeted by a window with
some information and a text entry field. In
this field you will see the cursor, and in this
field is where you enter a phone number.

Type in a seven-digit phone number. The hyphen
is optional. If it makes you feel more secure,
put it in. If you're in a hurry, leave it out.
While you are typing in the number, the
following editing keys will be useful to know:

Editing function... ...Key(s)
-----------------------------------------------
Move one character left . . . . . . Left Arrow
Move one character right . . . . . Right Arrow
Move one word left . . . . . CTRL + Left Arrow
Move one word right . . . . CTRL + Right Arrow
Move to beginning of line . . . . . . . . Home
Move to end of text . . . . . . . . . . . . End
Delete character at cursor . . . . . . . . Del
Delete character left of cursor . . . Backspace
Delete word right of cursor . . . . . CTRL + T
Erase entire line . . . . . . . . . . CTRL + Y
Accept entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enter
Abort entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Esc

Once your phone number has been entered, hit
Enter to accept it, or Esc to abort the
process.

You are now ready to generate phone text.
















page 9





Generating a Phone Text List
---------------------------------------------------------------

Once you have entered a phone number into the
system, you may generate phone text. This will
cause the program to create and display all
2,187 possible combinations of letters with
your phone number. Note that there are no
letters for the numbers 0 and 1.

To generate phone text, select the Generate
Phone text option from the menu (It's a good
thing I've provided this documentation, or
you'd never figure out these cryptic commands
on your own). Phone Text will then generate a
screenful of phone text combinations. You may
perform any one of three operations while the
program is generating phone text. They are as
follows:

Operation... ...Key(s)
-----------------------------------------------
Obtain another screenful of text . . . Spacebar
Abort the Phone Text Generation . . . . . Esc
Continuous display - no pauses . . . . . . . C

As Phone Text pauses after each screenful, the
Spacebar will cause the generation of the next
screenful. You can return to the menu by
hitting Esc, and hitting C will cause the
continuous display and generation of phone text
until all possibilites are generated.





















page 10





Browsing the List
---------------------------------------------------------------

Once you have generated a list of phone text,
be it complete or not, you may browse it. That
is, you can use the program to scroll back and
forth, looking at it until bored or your eyes
pop, whichever comes first.

To browse the list of phone text, select the
Browse Phone Text option from the menu. Note
that you have to have generated a phone text
list prior to choosing this command, otherwise
a small window will appear and axe your head
off. If you have already generated a list, you
can move through the list using the following
commands:

Operation... ...Key(s)
-----------------------------------------------
Move up one line . . . . . . . . . . . Up Arrow
Move down one line . . . . . . . . . Down Arrow
Move up one screen . . . . . . . . . . . . PgUp
Move down one screen . . . . . . . . . . . PgDn
Move to top of list . . . . . . . . . . . Home
Move to bottom of list . . . . . . . . . . End
Abort browsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Esc

When you have finished peering at your list,
you can return to the menu by hitting the Esc
key.





















page 11





Printing the List
---------------------------------------------------------------

Once you have generated a list of phone text,
you can send it to a printer attached to the
LPT1: port of your computer. Note that you
must have generated a list prior to selecting
this function, or a small window will appear
and tell you in no uncertain terms that you are
doing things completely wrong.

To dump your phone list to the printer, select
the Print List from the menu. A small window
will appear telling you that you can hit any
key to begin printing. Once you do, a status
message will replace this and will inform you
as to how much of this list has been printed so
far. At any time you may abort the print by
hitting the Esc key.

Once the print operation has completed, you
will be returned to the Phone Text menu.






























page 12





The Output File
---------------------------------------------------------------

You can have Phone Text send your phone text
list to a file on disk. Select the Output File
function from the menu to do this.

You will be greeted by a small window with an
editing field. In this field will be a cursor
with a habit of impatience. Here you will
enter a name for the output file. While you
are typing in the file name, the following
editing functions will prove useful:

Editing function... ...Key(s)
-----------------------------------------------
Move one character left . . . . . . Left Arrow
Move one character right . . . . . Right Arrow
Move one word left . . . . . CTRL + Left Arrow
Move one word right . . . . CTRL + Right Arrow
Move to beginning of line . . . . . . . . Home
Move to end of text . . . . . . . . . . . . End
Delete character at cursor . . . . . . . . Del
Delete character left of cursor . . . Backspace
Delete word right of cursor . . . . . CTRL + T
Erase entire line . . . . . . . . . . CTRL + Y
Accept entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enter
Abort entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Esc

Once your file name is entered, hit Enter to
accept it. If the file already exists on disk,
Phone Text will ask you to confirm the
overwriting of this file. If you want to
overwrite the existing file, hit Y for yes. If
not, hit N for no (or any other key, actually).

At this point, if you have already generated a
phone text list, the program will ask if you
want to write the current list to the output
file. If you do, enter a Y for yes. If not,
then enter an N for no (or any key other than
Y).

Whatever the outcome, you will see a message
indicating the current output file at the top
right of your screen.

If you wish to close an existing output file,
select the Output File function from the menu



page 13





and clear out the existing filename from the
editing field using the CTRL-Y command. Once
the editing field is empty, hit Enter. The
program will ask if it's OK to go ahead and
close the existing output file. If you want
to, hit Y for yes. If you don't hit N for no.














































page 14





Text to Number Function
---------------------------------------------------------------

This function will perform a reverse Phone Text
function - give it a text-based phone number
and it will return the actual number.

To do this, select the Text to Number function
from the menu. A small window will appear
asking you to enter a text-based phone number.
Go ahead and type it in. The following editing
function will prove useful:

Editing function... ...Key(s)
-----------------------------------------------
Move one character left . . . . . . Left Arrow
Move one character right . . . . . Right Arrow
Move one word left . . . . . CTRL + Left Arrow
Move one word right . . . . CTRL + Right Arrow
Move to beginning of line . . . . . . . . Home
Move to end of text . . . . . . . . . . . . End
Delete character at cursor . . . . . . . . Del
Delete character left of cursor . . . Backspace
Delete word right of cursor . . . . . CTRL + T
Erase entire line . . . . . . . . . . CTRL + Y
Accept entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enter
Abort entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Esc

Once you have entered the number, hit the Enter
key. The actual number will appear right under
the text-based number you just entered.





















page 15





End Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------

Phone Text was a quick little project that got
a bit out of hand. The original version was a
fast command line utility. It evolved over two
days into what you have now. I hope it will
entertain you; even for a moment is good
enough.

If you are a QuickBASIC programmer, and this
was written in QuickBASIC 4.5, it may interest
you to know that all the display routines,
including the menus, were taken from the QBSCR
Screen Routines package. This is a wonderful
library of display-oriented routines for
QuickBASIC 4.0+. It provides menus, editing
routines, scrolling lists, windows, fancy
display methods, and lots more. It even has a
screen designer program called Screen Builder.
I happen to have written the whole package.
So if this interests you, drop me a line and
I'll send you a brochure. You may also find
them on a bulletin board somewhere. You can
also order them from PC-SIG, disk numbers 1712,
1713, and 1714.

Anyway, I had some fun, hopefully you'll have
some fun. If you have any questions about BAD
SOFTWARE, you can write to me at this address:

Tony Martin
1611 Harvest Green Ct.
reston, VA 22094

I'll do my best to answer all correspondence.

















page 16