Copyright © 1996 Viêt-Tâm Luu.
This document may be freely distributed, but it may not
be modified (with the exception of conversion to other
formats) without the expressed consent of the author.
The BlackBook Dialer allows you to dial the a phone number from BlackBook. A dialer window is launched by one of the two action buttons, which are available if their associated phone numbers have been entered for the record.
Pressing on an action button opens the dialer window. The phone number to dial is displayed; if you are in the same area code as the number to dial, BlackBook automatically strips the area code. If this is not the correct number, or if you want to dial another number (in which case, why didn't you just pick up the phone and dial?), you can edit the displayed number.
Selecting the ``Dial'' button causes the dialer to initialize the modem and dial the number. At any time before or after dialing begins, you may pick up the receiver. After the dialer finishes dialing (you may also cancel the dial in progress), you should select the ``OK'' button on the displayed message window to put the modem on-hook (otherwise, it may try to connect if someone at the other end of the line answers).
The BlackBook Mailer is an RFC 821 (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)-compliant SMTP client that lets you enter an E-mail message and send it via the Internet. Note that it is a client; in other words, it must connect to a mail server (a.k.a. gateway). If you are on a network that is connected to the Internet, your network administrator can provide you with the address of your local mail server. If you are connected through an Internet Service Provider (ISP), they have most likely given you the name or address of their mail server. Note: this must be an SMTP server; BlackBook Mailer does not support POP (Post Office Protocol) servers.
The BlackBook Mailer window consists of several text fields, buttons to send or cancel the current message, a ``Settings'' menu, and a status bar at the bottom of the window.
The window can be resized and positioned to your liking. Using the ``Font...'' item in the Settings menu, you can choose the font used in the message window. Note that this only affects the way your message is displayed in BlackBook Mailer, not on whatever mailer the recipient of your message uses, so take care to format your messages accordingly.
The ``Signature...'' menu option lets you specify a signature file, which is appended to the end of the message (actually, it appears in the message window whenever you invoke BlackBook Mailer).
To save the Mailer settings (font and signature file, as well as the size and position of the Mailer window), select the ``Save Settings'' option. This saves the settings in your OS2.INI file. To reset the settings back to ``factory defaults'' and remove them from OS2.INI, use the ``Reset'' menu option.
The From: field contains your E-mail address, as specified in the BlackBook Configuration notebook. If no Reply-To: line is specified, this is the address to which replies to your E-mail will be sent. The E-mail address should be formatted in the following manner (according to RFC 822): either just the bare address itself, e.g. vtluu@uwaterloo.ca, or your name in double quotes followed by your actual address in angle brackets, e.g. "Viet-Tam Luu" <vtluu@uwaterloo.ca>.
The Reply-To: field is the return/reply address of your E-mail, if specified (otherwise, the From: field is used). The address specified here should be formatted the same way as in the From: field. Use the Reply-To: field if you wish to receive any replies at an address other than the one from which you sent the message; for example, if you send E-mail from different locations but wish replies to arrive in a single address.
Note that both the From: and Reply-To: fields cannot be edited (i.e. they are read-only); to set both the From: and Reply-To: lines, use the BlackBook Configuration notebook.
The To: field is the address to which the E-mail will be sent. It is set to the name and E-mail address for the record on which you selected the ``Send E-mail...'' action button. You can edit this field if the address is incorrect, or if you wish to send mail to another address.
The Subject: line, obviously enough, is where you enter the subject of the E-mail message.
The message window, the large multi-line text editing field that occupies most of the Mailer window, is where you enter your message. It may be initialized to contain the contents of your signature file, if you have specified one.
Pressing the ``Send'' button causes the message to be sent. BlackBook Mailer will attempt to connect to the mail server you have specified and transfer your E-mail message. If it should fail, you will be notified of the failure and its cause. The progress of the mail transfer is displayed on the status bar at the bottom of the Mailer window. Note: while a message is being sent, the fields in the Mailer window cannot be edited.
The ``Cancel'' button does one of two things: if a mail session is in progress (i.e. mail is being sent), it aborts the mail transfer. Otherwise, it will close the BlackBook Mailer window.
The ``Clear'' button clears the editable fields (To:, Subject:, and the message window) in the Mailer window. The ``Send'' and ``Clear'' buttons are unavailable when mail is being sent.
With BlackBook Search tool, you can search the current BlackBook database for records matching specific search criteria. For example, suppose someone tries to phone you while you are out, and woefully neglects to leave a message. Still, you have the phone number of the mystery caller (supposing you are subscribed to a ``call display'' service or use your phone company's ``call return'' feature). Using the search tool, you can search all records to find the person with that number (try that with an actual address book filled with many entries!).
The controls enclosed in the ``Query'' group box represent your search (query) criteria (or keys). Each record field has corresponding controls here. To specify a field as a criteria for the search, select the checkbox labelled with the field name, select the match type (i.e. whether the field must contain the search text or whether it must exactly match the search text in order for a match to occur), and enter the search text in the entry field next to the match type control.
For example, to search for our mystery caller based on his or her phone number, you would check the ``Curr. phone1'' (primary phone number at the current address), select ``Contains'' in the match type control, and enter the phone number (or a significant part of it, say the last four digits). (You could also do the same for all phone number fields, to widen your search.)
Note that all searches are not case-sensitive, so for example ``BLACKBOOK'' and ``Blackbook'' would both be considered perfect matches for ``BlackBook''. A ``contains a blank'' criterion is valid, but questionably useful; it matches all records for that criterion. Also, doing a search with no criteria is allowed, but matches no records (as opposed to all).
The pane labelled ``Results'' on the right-hand side of the window contains the results of the search. The records matching at least one search criterion are listed, along with their match scores (how many criteria a record was matched for), in order of their scores (highest scores, i.e. most matches, appearing at the top of the list) and record names. Double-clicking on a listed record brings up that record in the BlackBook main window. The number of records matched (corresponding to the number of records listed in the results) is displayed below the listbox.
At the bottom right-hand corner of the BlackBook Search window are four buttons: ``Reset'' clears all the search criteria (but not the search results); ``Search'' starts a search for records matching the specified criteria; ``Help'' is not implemented (in other words, it does nothing); ``Close'' closes the BlackBook Search window.
Ever forget about somebody's birthday? BlackBook Birthday Notification is a utility that makes these embarrassing lapses of memory a thing of the past. It monitors your BlackBook database file, and reminds you of upcoming birthdays. You can configure it to play any MMOS/2-supported files (MIDI music files, sound clips, video clips, etc.); for example, the MIDI files included with BlackBook (HappyBirthday.mid, a good piano arrangement of ``Happy Birthday to You,'' and Birthday.mid a MIDI rendition of the Beatles' ``Birthday Song'').
Regardless, you must specify as the first parameter to BlackBook Notify the full path and name of your BlackBook database file. BlackBook Notify will otherwise refuse to start up. For example:
The BlackBook Notify program is designed to be left running at all times, and has been designed in consequence. The program is compact, having a memory footprint of around 60 kilobytes (plus memory used for data), and being understanbly sparse in features. Two versions of BlackBook Notify exist and were installed into your BlackBook directory: BBNotify.exe, the normal version of BlackBook Notify, and BBNotif.exe, the version of BlackBook Notify that does not require MMOS/2 (the OS/2 multimedia subsystem) to be installed in order to run. Both versions are the same size, and have the same features (with the exception of multimedia playback, which doesn't work in the latter version).
Each list entry is preceded either by a green check mark, signifying that notification is enabled for that record (BlackBook Notify will notify you of the upcoming birthday) or by a red ``X'', meaning that notification is disabled for that record (BlackBook will not notify you). The list is updated within a minute of any date change.
A checkbox at the bottom of the screen lets you enable or disable all notification. If notification is disabled, the check marks and X's become small bullets (dots), to remind you that notification is no longer in effect.
A brief description of each configuration option follows:
Startup options govern the behaviour of the BlackBook Notify window when the program is started. Selecting ``Minimize BlackBook Notify window'' causes the program window to become minized on startup. Selecting ``Hide BlackBook Notify window'' causes the program window to become hidden on startup.
Notification Options control what BlackBook Notify does when it comes time to notify you of a current or upcoming birthday. If you do not wish to be notified until a certain time, enter it in the ``No notification before:'' field. Select the ``Display message box'' checkbox if you wish a message box window to pop up on notification. Select ``Bring BlackBook Notify to front'' if you wish BlackBook Notify to unhide and/or restore itself on notification, and appear on top of other windows. The ``Play file:'' field is where you specify what multimedia file to play on notification (leave the field blank to not play anything); the ``Test'' button next to it lets you test the playback, to ensure the path and file that you have specified are valid.
On Birthday options affect notification on a person's birthday. The ``File:'' field contains either the pathname of a multimedia file (as above) or the pathname (and arguments, if any) of a program you wish BlackBook Notify to launch when a person's birthday arrives. If you are specifying a multimedia file, select the ``Play'' checkbox; if you are specifying a program, select the ''Run'' checkbox. Use the ``Test'' button to test the playback or program execution. Note that on a birthday the specified file is played/run instead of the usual notification file, rather than in addtion to the notification playback.
You can specify on which days you wish to be notfied using the Notify Days. The controls correspond to days with respect to the birthday; for example, ``6 days before'' means notification on the day exactly six days prior to the birthday.
Certain video cards and drivers set the default colours for the list incorrectly. Specifically, this problem has been reported with some Cirrus Logic cards and drivers. Selecting the Hardwired colours works around this problem (although if you have customized your listbox colours, those colours will be overridden).
Finally, selecting the ``Okay'' button commits all the settings tl OS/2.INI . The ``Cancel'' button discards any changes made to the configuration, and the ``Defaults'' button resets all options to ``factory defaults.''