Professional Documents
Culture Documents
01
Copyright 1993,94 Robert D. Bouman
****************
February 4, 1994
Warranty:
While every effort has been made to ensure that this program, The
Cyber Punk's Address Book, is in perfect working order and that it
poses no threat to the computer system it operates in, the author
takes no responsibility for damage to property or data that may result
from the use or misuse of this software package.
Registration:
The Cyber Punk'sAddressBook isNOTfree. If you find this software
useful andcontinuetouseitformore than thirty days, you are
expected toregisteryourcopy. The cost of registration is $15.00
(US funds). See REGISTER.DOC for more information.
Table of Contents
Topic Page
---------------------------------------------------------
Introduction ..................................... 2
Main Menu ........................................ 3
Adding a record .................................. 4
Editing a record ................................. 6
Deleting a record ................................ 8
Printing a record ................................ 9
Command-line switches ............................ 10
Introduction :
A new concept in information managers, The Cyber Punk's Address Book
is to network mail what an address book is to a normal mailing
address. If you have ever found yourself buried with cryptic network
addresses stuffed here and there on little bits of scrap paper, then
you realize what a pain it can be to keep in touch with people through
e-mail message networks. If you have ever lost the FIDOnet mail
address to someone you needed to contact then you definitly have a
need for this program.
The Cyber Punk's Address Book (CPAB) is a database program designed
specifically to store, retrieve, and print information necessary to
keep track of network addresses so you never loose touch with an
important "Cyber Punk".
CPAB includes many features that make it unique even among other non-
related information managers. Functions such as autosave, undelete,
and the ability to print to a printer or to a disk file comprise the
most powerful features of CPAB.
The autosave feature of CPAB is an extremely handy feature in an
information manager. You'll never have to worry about whether or not
you saved the entries you just added or changed because your changes
to the CPAB's database are always saved for you!
Deleting an entry is never a potentially fatal operation with CPAB's
undelete feature. With one simple keystroke any record can be
undeleted! Also, in an effort to conserve disk space, when you exit
CPAB all deletions are made permanent. You don't have to worry about
unwanted data hanging around on your system taking up space.
All printing is done with one easy step. No matter if you're printing
one record or your entire database of records, printing is always a
snap with CPAB. In an effort for CPAB to work on the widest variety
of systems, CPAB can print to printer ports 1-4 or to an ASCII coded
file for later printing or editing.
It's easy to use! It's small! It's powerful! It's cheap! Register
your copy today!
Page 2
Main Menu:
When you first execute ADDRBOOK.EXE from DOS, you will be greeted by
the main menu screen. From this menu six functions are available;
View Record, Add Record, Edit Record, Delete Record, Print Record,
Exit Program.
The following key strokes are pertinent to the main menu;
<UP ARROW>, <LEFT ARROW>, and <SHIFT+TAB> will all cause the black
function highlighting bar to move one item upward.
<DOWN ARROW>, <RIGHT ARROW>, and <TAB> will all cause the black
function highlighting bar to move one item downward.
<ENTER> will launch the highlighted function. For example, pressing
<ENTER> while the "Add Record" item is highlighted will display the
field entry screen of the add function and the user can start entering
information for a new record.
<ESC> will exit the program all together and return the user to DOS.
**** This all sounds much more complicated than it really is. If you
are new to computing, the best way to understand how this works is to
run the program and experiment. Remember, I have designed this
program so as not to let you do anything that's dangerous to you or
your computer so feel free to experiment. :)
Page 3
Adding a record:
Unless you're only concern is how to contact me through network mail,
the first thing you're going to want to do is add a record of your
own. Adding is extremely easy. Just follow the few simple steps
below.
1) First you must select "Add Record" from the main menu. If the main
menu is not displayed on the screen, press the <ESC> until it is.
2} At this point, the "Add Record" screen should be displayed on your
computer screen. There are five fields in which you can enter
information. They are; User Handle (Some propriety networks allow the
use of handles in public posting areas), User Name, Network Address,
Network Type, and a general purpose Notes field. All fields are blank
and ready for input. The first field is highlighted in black and
contains a cursor.
2) You may leave any number of fields blank. It is entirely up to you
as to what information is important to keep. To enter data in the
highlighted field just simple start typing. However, there are a few
special keys you should be aware of. The keys and a description of
what they do are listed below.
- <DOWN ARROW>, <TAB> will both cause the field immediately below
the active field to become the new active field. Keyboard input
will now be added to the new active field.
- <UP ARROW>, <SHIFT+TAB> will both cause the field immediately
above the active field to become the new active field.
- <RIGHT ARROW>, <LEFT ARROW> will move the cursor right or left
within the active field.
- <HOME> will move the cursor within the active field to the
beginning of the field.
- <END> will move the cursor within the active field to the end
of the field.
- <INSERT> will toggle the insert/over-strike mode. When the
program is in insert mode, the cursor will be displayed as a
blinking underscore and when you type a letter or number on the
keyboard everything to the right of the cursor will be pushed
over one position. When the program is in over-strike mode, the
cursor will be displayed as a solid blinking cursor and when you
type a letter or number from the keyboard the character
highlighted by the blinking cursor will be replaced by the
character you typed from the keyboard.
- <BACKSPACE> will erase the character directly to the left of
the blinking cursor.
Page 4
- <DELETE> will erase the character that is currently highlighted
by the blinking cursor.
- <ENTER> will add the current record to the database file. If
you run CPAB from a hard drive, you probably won't even notice
the record was saved to disk but be assured that it did! The
fields will be cleared and User Handle field will become the
active field. A note of caution, if you hold the <ENTER> key
down while you are attempting to add a record, a number of
records could be saved to disk. Since even a blank field takes
as much room as a field that is completely full, it's a good idea
to make sure that you don't hold the <ENTER> key down. If you
accidently add a few blank records, they can easily be removed
with the delete function. See "Deleting a record" later in this
manual.
- <ESC> will exit back to the main menu WITHOUT saving the
current record to disk.
ADDRBOOK [/P=XXXXX]
/P=LPT1-4 will set CPAB to print to printer ports 1-4.
/P=filename will set CPAB to print to an ASCII file given by filename.
You must include the full path to the file and the file's name as part
of filename parameter. If the file's path does not exist, printing
will fall back to its default LPT1. If the file already exists, the
old file's contents will be erased in preparation for new data.
All command-line parameters are optional. By executing the program by
simple typing "ADDRBOOK", LPT1 will become the default printer port.
Only the first parameter will have an effect on CPAB's operation.
Page 10