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E A S Y D I A L
Daniel Collier
Norm Patriquin
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?Users Guide and Reference?
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Version 3.5
December 1990
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? ??????????? ? Association of
? ? ??? Shareware
????? o ? Professionals
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??????????? * Member *
Patriquin's BBS 714-369-9766
Copyright 1990 by Patri-Soft
Portions Copyright 1987, 1988, Information Technology, Ltd
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 1
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About EASYDIAL
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EASYDIAL is a program which allows you to easily use your
computer's modem to dial your telephone for normal voice
communication. For those of us who have too many numbers to
remember, and want them easily accessible, then EASYDIAL is for
you. Some people use EASYDIAL to call their banks - the number
contains both the bank phone number and their account number. A
few keypresses is all you need. Therein lies the beauty of
EASYDIAL, not too simple, yet not too complex.
EASYDIAL was developed out of need. Recently Patri-Soft, (Norm
and I) purchased a hands-free type office headset. To dial the
phone, we had to turn on the headset, lift the handset, dial the
number and then hang up the handset. This was a lot of trouble to
dial a number - especially when we make a lot of phone calls.
Thus began the search for a good telephone dialer. After
searching several major BBS systems and not finding a suitable
program, Norm decided to write his own for personal use. Just for
the fun of it, we posted it on our BBS. Since it was so well
received, I decided to enhance and upgrade it. EASYDIAL 3.5 is
the product.
Quick Start
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1. Place the ED.EXE file in any directory on your system.
EASYDIAL.DIR is automatically created in the same directory as
ED.EXE.
2. Start ED.EXE without parameters and configure it to your
needs. (Press 'C' in the directory listing.)
EASYDIAL was written for ease and speed. If this is the first
time you have run EASYDIAL, a sample entry has been provided in
the dialing directory.
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 2
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Some General Information
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EASYDIAL stores its phone numbers in an external data file called
EASYDIAL.DIR. This file is automatically created in the same
directory as ED.EXE. It is a standard text file, and can be
edited with any DOS text editor. However, no editor is necessary,
as EASYDIAL can perform full maintenence from within the program.
The format of EASYDIAL.DIR is fairly simple: You can only have
one name and number per line and the combined length of that line
cannot exceed 70 characters. The number of entries allowed is
unlimited, but EASYDIAL becomes slow to load the entries into
memory when the number of entries approaches 1500. I have had my
EASYDIAL.DIR up to 3000 entries (about 271K), but I haven't fully
tested it.
The EASYDIAL entry:
EASYDIAL.DIR contains one number per line. EX:
TIME 555-1212
Pizza 555-1234
EASYDIAL, when dialing a number, scans the entry backward looking
for either a space, letter, or other "illegal" character. When
it finds it, EASYDIAL knows which is the number and which is the
name. So as a consequence, the actual number cannot contain any
spaces or letters. For example, "555 1212", "555-ABCD" is not
allowed. The string CAN contain the following characters:
#*;,()-?. (The period is not allowed) Valid numbers are 555-1212
or 555;1212*;?
EASYDIAL can be driven from a menu or the command line. Some
people who are using EASYDIAL for extended periods of time prefer
to use the menu, where they can see what they are doing. Others
who are just making quick phone calls prefer to use EASYDIAL from
the command line. I have attempted to write EASYDIAL to be
flexible enough to accom modate many different styles of users.
You of course, are the judge.
EASYDIAL does support BUSY, RINGING, NO DIALTONE, etc. These are not
configurable, but can be controlled by adjusting the modem initilization
string to fit your needs.
EASYDIAL SYNTAX:
EASYDIAL can be started by issuing the command:
ED [optional name or number] [optional switches]
This manual explains first the menu and then later the command line.
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 3
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MAKING THE CALL:
If at any time during the actual dialing sequence, if you press
ESC, EASYDIAL will abort the call and will NOT log or time it.
After the number is dialed, a message appears in the dialing
window,
Dialed...pick up handset...press any key when ringing.
Pressing any key will hang up the modem and return EASYDIAL to
either DOS or the menu. If a busy signal is detected, EASYDIAL
will display,
Busy (Attempt x)
Redial pause: x seconds. (Any key cycles, ESC aborts redial)
EASYDIAL will keep dialing until either you press ESC or the call is completed.
EASYDIAL will also detect RINGING. This is useful if your modem
is not quite loud enough to hear. The word RINGING will appear
accompanied by a short beep.
OPERATING EASYDIAL FROM THE MENU
When starting EASYDIAL with no parameters, you are placed in a
full screen menu with all of your EASYDIAL.DIR entries on the
screen. You may then use your arrow keys to scroll through the
listing and find the number you wish to dial. Simply press ENTER
on the found entry and EASYDIAL goes off and dials the number.
The following commands are available to use:
Configue To configure EASYDIAL, press C. A screen appears,
and it is here where you custom EASYDIAL to fit
your needs.
Modem Initilization String: This is the string
which controls your modem and how EASYDIAL
interacts with it. Modem strings can be
confusing, so if you're not sure, it is better not
to change it. The initilization string must
always start with AT. For some reason or other, a
string of ATZ does not reset the modem and
consequently cannot be used. However, AT works
fine for those who do not want EASYDIAL to change
any of their modem settings. The string breaks
down as follows:
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 4
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E0 -- Do not echo commands back to EASYDIAL. If
it was set to E1 then EASYDIAL would interperte
the echoed commands as errors. (Try it to see
what would happen)
Q0 -- This tells the modem to send it responses
back to EASYDIAL. Otherwise if it was Q1,
EASYDIAL would have no idea of the modems status.
M1 -- Speaker on. If set to M0, you could not
monitor the call.
X4 -- This is the command that EASYDIAL depends on.
Below is a chart detailing the uses of the X commands.
X0 X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7
OK o o o o o o o o
CONNECT o o o o o o o o
RING o o o o o o o o
NO CARRIER o o o o o o o o
ERROR o o o o o o o o
CONNECT 1200 o o o o o o
NO DIAL TONE o o
BUSY o o o o o
NO ANSWER o o o o o
reserved
CONNECT 2400 o o o o o o
RINGING o o o
VOICE o o
If you want EASYDIAL to detect RINGING then a value
greater than X4 needs to be set. Looking at the chart,
X5 seems to fit the need. However X5 detects voice,
which could hang the modem up on your call with nothing
more than a "Hello?" This could be useful if you want
EASYDIAL to automatically hang up, assuming that you
have already picked up the phone. It turns out, that to
optimize your calling, X7 is the best setting, however,
some modems do not support values above X4.
V1 -- This tells the modem to give return verbal
responses. EASYDIAL depends on full, verbal responses,
so if you set this to V0, EASYDIAL cannot process the
responses.
L1 -- This controls speaker volume. L1 is the quietest,
while L3 is the loudest.
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 5
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If at any time you need to restore the old defaults,
press F9.
ACTIVE COM PORT: If you are not operating on COM1, you
need to change this to reflect the correct port. Valid
ports number from 1 - 4. EASYDIAL does not currently
support nonstandard IRQs, but it will in the future.
(Provided that people express the need)
REDIAL PAUSE LENTH: When EASYDIAL detects a busy
signal, it will wait this amount of seconds before
trying to redial.
TIME CALLS: EASYDIAL can time the calls. The advantage
of this is that you can monitor how much time a call is
requiring, or you can keep track of the duration for
tax/office purposes. The disadvantage is that you
cannot use your computer during this time.
LOG CALLS: EASYDIAL will log the person, time, number,
and duration of each phone call if this flag is set to
Y. A file called EASYDIAL.LOG is created in the same
directory as ED.EXE.
COMMENT IN LOG: You can leave a one line description in
the log at the time of the call if this option is set to
Y or A. If you set it to A, EASYDIAL will ask you if you
wish to enter a comment at the end of each call. If it
set to Y, it will automatically request the comment.
PULSE OR TONE: Some houses (still) have pulse dialing
and need to set this flag to P. (Useful for outside of
the U.S. also.
COLOR OR BLACK/WHITE: On Toshiba and similar laptops,
the color scheme of EASYDIAL can be difficult to
understand. However, with this flag, EASYDIAL can be set
so it is much more clear and understandable.
SAVING THE SETUP: Press F10 to save, or ESC to abort.
If at any time, things get too mixed up, press F9 to
restore the values that EASYDIAL was shipped with.
Add Pressing A in the menu will scroll all entries below the
highlight bar down and pop up a window where you can
enter the new data. Pressing ESC aborts the add,
ENTER saves it to disk.
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 6
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Revise To revise an entry, position the highlight bar on the
desired entry. Press R, and a window pops up with the
entry to be revised. Pressing ENTER accepts the change,
ESC aborts. NOTE: While revising the entry, you also
have a few options available. Pressing ALT-X restores
the unchanged line. Pressing ALT-U converts the line to
upper case, ALT-L changes it to all lower case, ALT-C
capitalizes it.
Delete To delete an entry, position the highlight bar on the
desired entry and press ALT-D. This will scroll all the
other entries up one to replace the deleted one.
Manual Dial To manually dial a number, press M. EASYDIAL will then
pop up a window requesting the number to dial. ESC
aborts.
Find Find an entry. With large EASYDIAL.DIRs, finding an
entry can be difficult. Pressing F in the menu will
allow you to enter a search pattern. EASYDIAL then
searches FROM THE TOP DOWN for a matching string and
highlights it.
Last Repeat the Last find. Pressing L will cause EASYDIAL to
search FROM THE HIGHLIGHT BAR DOWN and highlight any
found entries.
Pick (NEW!!) If you have a large EASYDIAL.DIR and want to
look for an Acme, but aren't sure of the exact name,
press P in the menu. EASYDIAL will prompt you for a
search string and then find all entries that match
that string. It puts them in a secondary scrolling
window where you may then find your entry among all the
Acmes. Pressing return will dial it.
Justify (NEW!!) In an effort to provide some sort of format to
the EASYDIAL.DIR, I have provided J in the menu. After
pressing it, EASYDIAL separates the name and the
number, and puts the number flush with the right
margin. It takes an entry like:
TIME 555-1212
and makes it
TIME 853-1212
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 7
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Tag (NEW!!) EASYDIAL can now tag numbers. To tag a number,
press the Right arrow key. EASYDIAL will scroll the
screen and the tagged number will appear blue and have
a "?" on the right margin. CTRL-RA tags all, CTRL-LA
untags all, Left arrow by itself untags only the entry
the highlight bar is positioned on. Then, when you are
ready to dial the tagged numbers, press T. EASYDIAL
counts the tagged numbers and asks you if you want to
dial them. Answering Y causes EASYDIAL to dial them
one at a time, with a pause at the end of each call.
At the completion of each call, the number is untagged
and the next one is dialed.
Sort Pressing S in the EASYDIAL.DIR will tell EASYDIAL to go sort
your directory in alphabetical order. The sort algorithm
is not very fast, so it may take a few seconds. (A
faster sort will hopefully be included in the next
version).
F3 Issue any DOS command. EASYDIAL will return to the
menu after the completion of the command.
OPERATING EASYDIAL FROM THE COMMAND LINE:
ED [name/number] [-] [aumfdltbr]
Dialing from the command line:
Issuing the command ED Acme will dial the number associated with
the first entry which matches ACME. This is the fastest
and easiest way to use EASYDIAL. You can also just dial a
number from the command line, i.e. ED 555-1212.
ED -A [OPTIONAL NAME/NUMBER]
Add an entry from the command line. If no name and
number are supplied than you will be prompted for one.
ED -F [NAME/NUMBER]
EASYDIAL will find all matches to the the supplied name
and number and display them on the screen.
ED -D [NAME/NUMBER]
EASYDIAL will delete all files which match the string provided
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 8
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ED -M:x Specify an alternate COM port to use. It is better just
to set the active com port in the configuration, but if
you don't want to, you may specify an alternate by using
-M:2 or whichever com port you desire.
ED -U Pulse Dial the call
ED -T Time the call
ED -L Log the call
ED -R:xx Specify a redial pause length for the call. Ex: ED PIZZA -R:10
ED -B Specify black and white operation
DIALING STRING MODIFIERS
The actual dialing string can contain several special
characters: ? , ; W.
? -- Place this AT THE END of your dialing string if you
want to dial the number from you keyboard. For example,
when calling our voice mail number, we have a dialing
string like this:
PAGER 555-1212;*1111?
EASYDIAL dials the string and then waits for user input. I can then
listen to my messages by using my keyboard to dial the numbers.
The letters on the keyboard are automatically changed to their
numeric counterparts, just as on the telephone keypad.
NOTE: Manual dialing is SLOW. Wait to hear the modem send the
number before pressing another!
; -- Place a semi-colon anywhere in the dialing string to make
EASYDIAL pause and wait for a keypress before dialing the
remainder of the string. In the previous example, the ; is used
to wait for my voice mail service to answer the phone. As soon
as it does, I can dial the remainder of the string. Another
application is credit card calls - I place the ; between my
credit card number and the actual number. I wait until I hear
the tone to enter my card number and then press a key to dial
the remainder of the sequence.
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 9
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, -- Places a two second pause in the string where ever this is located.
Some people use a , instead of a ; when they know that only a
short delay is needed. (i.e. If you are dialing out of an
office and you need to dial 9 to get out, set up your dialing
string as such:
HOME 9-,555-1212
W -- Placing a W in the dialing string will make EASYDIAL Wait
for a second dial tone before dialing the rest of the number. I
have no idea what to use this for, but people asked for it.
CREDIT CARD CALLS
EASYDIAL supports use of a switch which will automatically append
your credit card number to the number you are calling. To use
this, you have to have an entry in EASYDIAL.DIR which has a name
of CREDIT and the number is your credit card number. For
example, to make a credit card number, start EASYDIAL with the
-C parameter. Your EASYDIAL.DIR looks like this:
HOME 555-1212
PIZZA 555-1213
A WAY OFF PLACE 555-123-9999
CREDIT 123-454-1234-1234
You position the highlight bar on "A WAY OFF PLACE" and press enter.
EASYDIAL gets the number attached to credit, and appends it to
the number of "A WAY OFF PLACE." A 0- is placed on the front of
the string. The number ends up looking like:
0-555-123-9999;123-454-1234-1234
The semi-colon is placed in the middle in order to wait for
the tone which signals me to dial the credit card portion of the
call.
[NOTE: You can use -C from the command line by using a command
like ED PLACE -C]
APPENDING A PREFIX
The same concept as credit cards can be applied to a PREFIX
call. EASYDIAL will search it's directory for an entry named
PREFIX and will put that number at the beginning of the number
you are dialing. To use this, start EASYDIAL with the -P option.
I'm not really sure what this is useful for, but if you can find
a use for it, let me know.
EASYDIAL Users Guide/Reference Copyright 1990 Patri-Soft Page 10
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Program Maintenance:
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Version 1.0 April 1990
Version 1.1 May 1990
-Enabled EASYDIAL to log and/or time calls
Version 1.5
-Fixed manual dial mode
-Added windows
-Added -C and -O option enabling EASYDIAL to append a credit card
or optional number to a dialing number.
Version 2.0
--Removed -C & -O.
--Added a scrollable directory enabling full EASYDIAL.DIR
maintainance from within listing.
Version 2.0A
--Fixed time-call problem
Verion 2.2
--Fix command-line dialing problems. Dialed first match of
first word instead of first match of entire string
--Added a Find option for the directory listing.
Version 2.5
--Enabled all parameters to be used either in the directory
listing or the command line
--Enabled all eviroment commands to be able to be set from the
commannd line
--Changed all modem routines to more reliable and smart routines
--Added busy detect and automatic redial
--Total Parameters added:
-M:x Specify comport
-R:x Specify redial pause
-L Log the call
Version 3.0
--Added an internal configuration file to control all options
internally.
Version 3.1
--Added ability to leave comment in log
--Fixed directory listing problems
Version 3.2
--Fixed bugs with adding
--Changed way add and revise work
--fixed manual dial problem
--added alpha-order sort
--Enabled "W" modem command
--Now can include numbers in name field
--Protect comment-in-log
Version 3.3
--Improved configuration
--Created bigger stack size to enable large EASYDIAL.DIRs.
--Changed add/revise. (again)
--Added black and white operation
Version 3.5 December 1990
--Did more work than I care to recall
--Added Pick, Tag, and Justify
--Added delays for people with FAST machines
--Upgraded comm routines
--Loads of little things.
Registering EASYDIAL
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EASYDIAL is distributed under the Shareware concept. This allows
users to evaluate software for a short time to determine if it
is useful to them. If you decide the software is of value to
you, you are required to register it.
This concept allows for quality software to be distributed at a
reasonable cost. Many of hours of my time has been invested in
EASYDIAL. Continued registration will justify the continued
upgrading of this utility to insure it remains up to date with
current technology. In any case, I do greatly appreciate all
users that care enough to register. I try to provide the best
possible software for all you faithful supporting users.
Send registration requests to:
Patri-Soft
P.O. Box 8263
San Bernardino, CA 92412
The registration charge is a one time fee that entitles you to
all future versions of the product. These may either be
obtained from normal Shareware sources or from me. I do not
automatically send product updates to registered users. It is
impossible to provide automatic upgrades at the low costs of
these utilities.
Register EASYDIAL 3.5 Order Form
VISA/Mastercard orders are only accepted through telephone orders.
Call the Public (Software) Library at 800-242-4775 to order TODAY!
_______ SPECIAL OFFER!!! Register EASYDIAL and get the full set of
the Patriquin utilities for only $30 more! For a total of $50.00
you received your registered copy of EASYDIAL plus the full Patriquin
utility set with manual. This is a $15 savings!
_____ EASYDIAL -- Good basic telephone dialer..............$20.00
_____ PCOPY -- File Copy, Move, Backup, Update, more!...$20.00
_____ PSEARCH -- Locate files on your disk. Outstanding!..$20.00
_____ PALERT -- Warns you of low disk space..............$15.00
_____ PATTR -- Manage attributes of DOS files...........$10.00
_____ PDAILY -- Automatically execute commands once/day..$10.00
_____ PDELETE -- Save space with automatic disk cleanup...$20.00
_____ PPRINT -- Advanced file print w/special formats....$20.00
California Residents add sales tax....................@ 6% $______
Total amount of my order is: $________
Disk Size (circle one)? 5 1/4 3 1/2
Name: __________________________________________________
Company: _______________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
City: ________________________ State: ________ Zip: __________
Please register the software under the following name:
____________________________________________________________
I received EASYDIAL from (Optional):_____________________________
Send order to: Patri-Soft P.O. Box 8263 San Bernardino, CA 92412
Reporting Problems (EASYDIAL 3.5)
I welcome all comments or enhancement suggestions. Please
document each item clearly and provide printed examples, if
possible. Please be sure to include this form with all
requests. It will help to make sure we can provide you with the
best possible service.
Name: __________________________________________________________
Company: _______________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
City: __________________________________ State: _______________
Zip: ______________________________
Telephone: _______ / ________________________ (Home / Work)
Date: _________________________ Machine Type:_______________
Modem Type (IMPORTANT) ________________________________________
Name of Utility: _______________________ DOS Level: ____________
Description of problem or enhancement:
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Suggested solution:
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________