Address Overview

GIR Software is proud to announce a major new release of Address for Windows, a powerful and elegant database for business and personal use representing information esthetically and with unsurpassed clarity.

Address can do anything from professional printing to managing your data easily, safely and most effectively.  This is the complete on-line User's Guide containing in-depth and accurate description on the operation of Address written in a light and friendly manner.  And it was written especially for you!

Address is destined to be come the number one personal information manager for Windows.  It is our commitment to you.

Table of Contents

Technical Support and Suggestions

Getting Started

Tips and Other Information

Short-Cuts

Address Main Window

Index Window

Inter-field Text Dragging

Customizing Global Settings

Modem Setup

DataBase Specific Setup

DataBase Category Setup

Mark Window

Field Composer

Label Design Editor

Form Design Editor

Printing Guide

Importing Guide

Exporting Guide


Tips and Other Information

This section is a collection of details that you should be aware of; things to make your life easier.  They can otherwise be dug by reading this entire User Guide:

-	In order to save an existing file under a different name (Save As) click this [image] button while holding the control key down.

-	When you instruct Address to copy a record into the clipboard by clicking this [image] button.  Address applies the template currently loaded into Field Composer the and copies the resulting text into the clipboard.

-	It is often convenient to have Address automatically load a certain file when it starts.  To accomplish this, specify a  file name in the "Autoload File" in the Global Settings Window under the options menu bar.

In the same manner, name a Field Composer File as "default" to have it automatically loaded when Address starts.

-	When in doubt, always press F1 for friendly help.

-	Some people prefer somewhat different field names such as "Company" instead of "Organization" or "Street Address" instead of "Address."  You can change the field names in the DataBase Specific Setup.

-	The Dial button always refers to either the last selected text or last clicked field (see Functionality of the Main Address Window)

Note that the SmartDial feature, enabled through the Customizing Global Settings, thinks only in US Conventions.  If the SmartDial is enabled, it will also interpret characters as digits; that is, you can write something like 1-800-BOSTON1 and it would produce "1-800-267-8661."  The latter can cause a bit of confusion if you click on a field that contains just text and then click the dial button.  The SmartDial will interpret the characters and produce a very long string of numbers.  Address tries to detect this condition and beep.  Generally there shouldn't be more than 11 digits to dial (in the US) but Address does not enforce this.

-	People like to Index information differently, some prefer "LastName FirstName" and yet others like "LastName Organization FirstName."  You can completely configure the indexing fields in DataBase Specific Setup (see Index Window)

-	Pressing an enter in a field has the same reaction as pressing the TAB key.  Except when in the Address field or Note field for these fields actually accept the enter key into the text.

-	Tab moves to the next field, Shift-Tab moves to the previous field.  Control tab in the Note field actually inserts a Tab into the field.

-	When using any of the "Choice List Boxes," these are used in the Global Settings Window and the DataBase Specific Setup, double click an item in order to edit it or press the space bar.

-	Learn how to use the Field Composer The knowledge will put in your hands a great deal of power and flexibility.

See Also

Getting Started

Short-Cuts


Index Window

The operation of this window is very simple.  It works just like a common phone book index.

Each record is represented by an indexing string in the list box.  An indexing string is built according to the definition given in the DataBase Specific Setup.

 The Index Window can operate either as Hierarchical List or as Simple List.  In order to switch between the two modes, just click this [image] button on Index Window Vertical ToolBar.  Address will remember which mode you like to use, and next time you open that database it will already be in the right mode.

Although the Hierarchical List is more esthetic, it is also more computationally expensive to maintain and it does become messy over 100 records.  Hence, Databases with over 150 records can only use the Simple List mode.  The latter is very inexpensive to maintain and in practical terms becomes much clearer to use with larger databases.

An additional restriction of the Hierarchical List is that it can only index strings beginning with letters of the alphabet.  If you have configured an indexing string in the DataBase Specific Setup that can result with an indexing string beginning with a non-alphabet character on some records, then the Indexing string for such a record will switch to "Organization LastName FirstName" indexing which is guaranteed to begin with a letter of the Alphabet.

Other issues:

A convenient way to search records is just to click the Index Window into focus and start typing the search string.  The string will be shown in the Index Window Caption Bar.

Press Enter and Address will search for the next record containing the string.  If no match is found, a beep will sound.  You can backspace to correct the search string or press ESC to nullify the search string.  The search is case insensitive and is conducted on all fields.

You may mark or unmark the current record by pressing Control-S (See Mark Window).

See also

Address Main Window

Mark Window

Inter-field Text Dragging

Customizing Global Settings


Global Settings
Global Settings Window

This window enables you to configure address to your individual preference and taste:

In order to change an entry all you need to do is double click that entry or hit the space bar.  The following is description of some of the fields:

Field Name	Description and Notes
Deleting Records	Enable if you wish Address to confirm with you on record delete operations. You should generally enable this option in order to provide protection against data loss.  Note that you can recover upto to the last ten deleted records by clicking this [image] button or the menu item Record/Undelete Record.
Saving Files	Enable if you wish Address to get permission before saving changes to DataBase files.
Smart Dial and Local Area Code	When the Smart Dial is enabled, Address's Auto Dialer attempts to figure out the actual digits that need to be dialed in order to reach a number. For instance, if your local area code is 617, and the given phone number is 617-963-0823, then it is wrong to dial 617 or 1-617 when dialing this number.  Hence, Smart Dial truncates it to 963-0823.  As another example, if the marked phone number is 508-584-7112, then the Smart Dial will actually dial 1-508-584-7112, if your local area code is different then 508.   Smart Dial knows many more "tricks" to attempt at guessing the actual phone number.  However, before the phone is actually dialed, you are given the opportunity to edit Smart Dial's guess. Smart Dial puts up a good "fight" trying to guess what to dial.  However, if it cannot resolve the situation, It will display the selected digits as is without any processing (see also Address Main Window ) SmartDial only knows US telephone formatting conventions.  Hence, if you are not using US telephone numbers, disable this feature.
Quick Access Files	You can set up to four quick access files which Address provides as menu items under the File Menu Bar.  You can quickly access open these files by either clicking them in the menu or pressing the number to their left. You may also configure Address to change these files according to the last 4 opened files.  See below.
Autoload File	In the program manager's properties, one can set the command line parameters for any program when it starts.  In Address the command line parameters expected is an Address file to automatically load when starting.   If no command line is given, as is often the case, Address automatically loads the file given in Autoload File when it first starts.  If, however, no file is specified, then Address starts with no file loaded.
Save Layout	If this field is enabled, Address will save the layout of the main Address Window and the Index Window.   The next time Address will start, it will restore the respective windows dimensions and positions.  If this field is disabled, the last saved layout will be loaded.   Address records the layout each time a data file is closed, and restores it each time a data file is opened.
QuickAccess Files	Some people prefer to have the last 4 opened files listed under the File Menu; other like these files to be fixed.  With this option you chose either.
Auto-Backup	Enable this option if you wish Address to create a backup copy of your data by copying the *.ADB file right after it is saved to another file with the same name just with the extension *.ABB. In order to use any of the *.ABB files, just rename them to *.ADB files using the file manager and open them normally using Address.
Auto-Save	Schedule automatic saving.

See also

DataBase Specific Setup

Modem Setup


Address Main Window

This window is self-explanatory in many respects.  However, there are a few functionality issues that you should be aware of in order to take advantage of them:

Click this [image] button, and a Tutorial Window will pop up.  Then, when you position the mouse over objects of significance, Address will explain how they work.  Make sure to position your mouse over everything you see.  You will be surprised how much functionality is embedded into some objects.

If you wish to dial a number, either click on the field where the number is such as Phone and SecondPhone field or you can specifically select the actual digits to dial.  So for instance, if you have written a phone number in the Note field, you can select the text with the number and click dial.  The Auto Dialer always works with either the last text selected in the window, or if there is none, the last field clicked on in the window.

Note that the SmartDial features, enabled through the Customizing Global Settings, thinks only in US Conventions.  If the SmartDial is enabled, it will also interpret characters as digits; that is, you can write something like 1-800-BOSTON1 and it would produce "1-800-267-8661."  The latter can cause a bit of confusion if you click on a field that contains just text and then click the dial button.  The SmartDial will interpret the characters and produce a very long string of numbers.  Address tries to detect this condition and beep.  Generally there shouldn't be more than 11 digits to dial (in the US) but Address does not enforce this.

As far as editing issues go, you can move between fields by pressing the TAB key.  You can go backward in the TAB sequence by pressing SHIFT-TAB.  If you tab in the note field, you will find that the input focus will move to the next field.  If, however, you would like the Note field to accept the actual tab character, then press CONTROL-TAB.  Pressing the enter key has the same effect as pressing the TAB key, except when you are in the Address field or Note field where the tab key is an allowed character.

Of all the fields FirstName, LastName, ZipCode, Notes... and so on, you must fill at least one of the fields FirstName, LastName or Organization with some text starting with a letter of the alphabet.  In order to place the entry correctly in the Index Window one of these fields must be filled.  It's like writing someone in your Address book but not knowing that person's first name, last name or organization with which this person is associated.  How can you then decide where to write down his address and phone number?

All of Address' print, merging and exporting operations are applied only to records which are marked.  In order to mark a record you can use the Mark Window by either clicking this [image] button or clicking the menu item "Record/Mark Records...."  You may also mark or unmark the current record by pressing Control-S (See Mark Window).

See also

Mark Window

Index Window

Inter-field Text Dragging

Customizing Global Settings

DataBase Specific Setup


Export Layout Window
Field Composer

The Field Composer is an extremly powerful tool used to export, import and design labels:

Many times it is necessary to write the same type of information and in the same way just for different people; something like fill-in-the-blank.  As an example, when writing business letters, it is a custom to start in the following generic format:

FirstName  LastName

Organization

Address

City>, State ZipCode

Dear Title LastName,

These generic formats are refered to as templates in Address, and the Field Composer is your tool to define them.  These powerful templates are used to format records before they are copied to the clipboard and export to files.  They can also be positioned on a label using the Label Design Editor.  The following Composer Sequence creates the template illustrated above:

Other notes:

 The special field "Blank Field" is just a place holder used during comma delimited file importation (see Importing Guide).  The "Complete" command completes the previous field to the specified number of characters by appending white spaces.

When you instruct Address to copy a record into the clipboard by clicking this [image] button.  Address applies the template currently loaded into the Field Composer and copies the resulting text into the clipboard.

If there is a Field Composer file named "default" Address will load it automatically when it starts.

When exporting to files Address also formats each marked record according to the template present in the Field Composer (see Exporting Guide) before outputting the result.  In order to export comma delimited files, just define a template that exports a comma delimited format. As a side note, a comma delimited database files are simple text files with each record on a line, and fields enclosed in quotations and separated by commas.  For example:

"Judy","Pulter","(508) 584-7112"

"Lora","Weissman","(737) 453-2345"

See also

Importing Guide

Exporting Guide


Importing/Exporting guide
Exporting Guide

Notes:  When exporting, Address uses the currently loaded Field Composer template to format records.  Address only exports marked records (see Mark Window).

This section is a guide to exporting.  Specific technical notes can be found in the Field Composer topic.

The flexibility and power designed into the Field Composer is also there to help the user export information to other programs easily and on regular basis.  For example, it is a custom to type the recipient's address at the beginning of letters.  You can use your word processor such as Word for Windows, Amipro or WordPerfect to write the letter but instead of spelling out the recipient's address yourself, just once create a Field Composer template that matches precisely what you would otherwise type.  Then, bring up the recipient record using Address, click this [image] button, switch to your word processor and paste the text.

In our example, you would most likely tell Address (in the "Edit Import/Export" Window) to do the following:

- Take the organization name, capitalize it, and enter

- Add the First name, space, Last Name, and enter

- Add the address, and enter

- Add City, comma, space, state, space, Zipcode, and enter

- Add Country and enter.

One can be very creative with the powerful exporting mechanism implemented in Address.  Just use your imagination.

The Field Composer is so powerful that you can also create a comma delimited format.  Comma delimited databases have fields enclosed in quotations, separated by commas and every record on a separate line.  For instance, the following Field Composer template:

produces the following comma delimited file structure:

"FirstName","LastName","Phone"

"FirstName","LastName","Phone"

.

.

.

Also make sure that the information you export does not contain quotation marks nor enter keys for it would violate the format of a comma delimited file, and consequently the other program will not be able to import the information correctly.

See Also

Field Composer

Importing Guide

Label Design Editor

Form Design Editor

Printing Guide


Printing Guide

Address has an extraordinary mechanism to create anything from mailing labels to envelopes to business cards and even letter-heads.  All of Address's printing capabilities are based on two very powerful WYSIWYG visual editors internally tied to Address' DataBase.

The Label Design editor is used to design labels.  These can be anything from conventional mailing labels, Rolodex Cards to Business Cards.  In Address, a label is simply something with a rectangular shape.

The Form Design editor is where one takes the previously designed labels and positions them on a page according to the pre-printed paper or label sheets.

A typical scenario would be something like this:  first use the Label Design to create your label.  Take care of the details such as fields, positions, fonts and etc..  You can print a test sample of your label by clicking the print button in the Label Design.  Address will print the label using information from the current record.  Once you finished and satisfied with your label, save your work and switch over to the Form Design.

In the Form Design, create an instance of your label by clicking this [image] button.  Address will position only a single instance of your label at the upper left corner of the page.  Suppose that you are designing an Avery 5163 sheet.  Then you would position this label at 0.5" from the top and 0.25" from the left.  Next you want Address to duplicate the label twice across and five times down.  Select the label, and click this [image] button.  Specify 2 columns and 5 rows.  Enter the distance between columns and rows, for Avery 5163 its about 0.20" and the distance between the rows is 0.0".  Finally click the "Create" button.

Address now duplicated your label 10 times, 2 across and 5 times down.  Save your work and you are ready to print!

When printing you can tell Address to merge the records you have selected in three different ways, each with a different purpose in mind:

I.  Each marked record is merged with one label on a form.  This is the usual thing one has in mind when thinking of conventional mailing labels.

II.  Each marked record is merged with all the labels on a single form, and the next marked record is merged with all labels on a new form.  So you get a page for each marked record.  This option is excellent if you want to Address letters to people, you can position a label where the receipts' address usually goes, and have Address fill in the fields one letter per recipient.

III.  Finally you can tell Address to do no merging at all.  This option is just right if you want to print return address mailing labels, for instance.  You can create your return address label, which needs no merging, and print an entire sheet of labels.  You can also make title pages, letter-heads, business cards and whatever comes to your mind with this option.

Other Considerations:

More of often than not you will find that most sheets of labels have more labels than you really need to print.  For instance, you might need to print only 11 labels on a sheet of 33 labels.  In these cases you can simply instruct Address to skip certain labels when printing.  Click a label with the right mouse button.  You will see, in parenthesis, next to the label's type  "Skip".  This means Address will skip this label when printing/merging.  Click the label again with the right mouse button and Address will remove the "Skip" flag.

When you save forms, Address saves information telling which label to skip and which not to skip.

Although some printers will allow you to change the paper size through the control panel setup, which is also accessible by clicking the printer-setup button in the Form Design, it is better to use the standard 8.5x11 size all the time.

For instance, some printers will let you select envelope size paper but then the printer will annoyingly not feed any paper unless you plug in a special envelope feeder.  Hence, if you insist of selecting a special sized paper through the setup you may not be able to print at all.  A much better way is just to leave the paper settings at the standard letter-size settings and if you want to feed smaller paper just restrict your design to the area that falls on the smaller paper.

Some printers cannot print everywhere on the page.  There is a margin below which they cannot print.  The latter is typical of Laser Printers.  Address outlines this margin for you with dot-line-dot rectangle around the page.  If you try to print anything outside this range, depending on your printer, it may be truncated or it may cause a page feed.

See Also

Mark Window

Label Design Editor

Form Design Editor


Getting Started

Address has many capable features.  You can probably figure how to use most of them just by playing around with the software without having to read a line of this manual-- after all, that was the point in designing an intuitive interface.  However, pictures, buttons and any other visual information cannot portrait the details of operations, just hint them.

For example, to conduct a fast search on all fields for a certain text string, visually one would be tempted to click this [image] button to bring up the Search Window.  Yet it is much more convenient to click the Index Window into focus and start typing the search string.  When you are done, press the Enter key,  Address will search for the next record that contains the typed string.  Pressing additional Enters just continues the search from that point, and pressing the ESC key empties the search string.

Frankly, we weren't able to imagine how to explain the above paragraph just with pictures and without words.  Hence, you should set a side some time to read this manual.

Address's major screens have this [image] button at the upper right corner of every window.  When you click this button Address will pop a floating tutorial window.  Then all you have to do is position the mouse over areas of interest, and the tutorial will provide you with a brief summery of that object's operation.  Be sure to position the mouse over everything you see, you will be surprised how much functionality is embedded into objects.

After playing for a while with the software be sure to understand how to use the Field Composer, Label Design Editor, and Form Design Editor.  The knowledge will put into your hand a great deal of power.  Also take a look at Tips and Other Information and Short-Cuts.

Finally, if you have ideas or just comments, please don't hesitate to contact us and let us hear what you have to say.  You can reach us by phone at 1-800-390-7112 or (508) 580-2404 or send an electronic message to the CompuServe ID: 72603,666 or to the Internet address "72603.666@CompuServe.Com"

See Also

Tips and Other Information

Short-Cuts

Field Composer

Label Design Editor

Form Design Editor


Label Design Editor

The Label Design Editor is a powerful WYSIWYG visual editor to work the look and feel of your labels:

In Address, a label is simply something with a rectangular shape like a business card, Post-Card or just the rectangle of a windowed-envelope.  You can select fonts, position DataBase fields, Text Laterals or even the Field Composer's templates.

A brief ToolBar overview

 	Adds a DataBase field.

Adds a Text or edits the currently selected Text.

Adds a Field Composer's Template or edits the currently selected Field Composer Template.

Changes fonts of all the currently selected objects.

Erases all the currently selected objects.

 	Undoes the last move operation.

Left align an object

Center align an object

Right aligns an object

Top align an object

Middle align an object

Bottom align an object

Prints a sample of the currently designed template using the current record for data merge.

Label Design Setup.  Various Label Design configuration options.

Also direct your attention to the Description Edit Box immediately underneath the ToolBar.  It is somewhat important to edit a meaningful description of your design for in the Form Design Editor it will be displayed next to the label's file name when creating instances of your labels.

You can select an object by simply clicking it.  To add or remove objects from the current selection click objects while holding the control key down.

You can also select a group of objects by clicking a white area of the label and dragging a rectangle that encompasses the group.  In the same style as before, to add a group to the current selection of objects hold the control key down and encompass the group.

Other Considerations:

The Field Composer templates play an important role in designing good behaving labels.  When positioning DataBase field on a label, each field is an independent object of the other.  The latter is a desirable behavior for many situations.  However, for other situations it is a difficult problem for the size of these fields change after merging and at worst overlap producing text over text.

The solution is to make related objects one object, so that one would "push" the other and make space for itself instead of printing text-over-text .  The latter is accomplished using the Field Composer templates for it contains all the necessary relational information.

See Also

Form Design Editor

Printing Guide


Form Design Editor

The Form Design Editor (FDE) is where you design your actual forms for printing:

Quick operational notes:

 	Creates an instance of the previously designed labels, or edits the currently selected label.

 	Duplicates the currently selected label in a tabular format.

 	Re-assigns label type to all the currently selected labels.

 	Enables you to change the order in which the labels are merged and printed.  After clicking this button, each label will show it's order in merging.  Drag any label and drop it on any other label in order to swap their order of merging and printing.  The default order is the creation order.

 	Undoes the last move operation.

Click labels to select;  hold the control key down and click labels to add them to the current selection or select a group of labels by encompassing them with a rectangle.

Click labels with the right mouse button in order to tell Address to skip them when printing and merging.  The later is useful when printing mailing labels, for instance, on label sheets with missing labels.

Merging and Printing Order:

There are two sequences to consider when printing and merging information.  The first is the order in which labels on the form actually get printed.  The default order is the creation order; i.e., a label that was created before another will be processed during a print/merge operation before a label that was created later.

If you click this [image] button, each label will display its order by a number.  The first label in the order will display 1, the second label will display 2 and so on.  In order to swap the order of two labels, just click and drag one of these label and drop it on the other.  When you are finally done and satisfied, click this [image] button once more to resume normal editing mode.

The second sequence to consider in printing/merging operations is the order in which Address merges records with labels (only marked records are considered for mergining; See Mark Window).  Address starts with the first record in the Index Window and traverses the list all the way down to the last record merging only marked records.  So if you have been indexing records according to the ZipCode field, you will get labels sorted according to ZipCode.  If you index according to the Phone field, you will get labels sorted according to the Phone field.

Other Considerations:

The Form Design editor holds pointers to Labels.  The latter means that the actual information describing the details of the labels is not stored in the Form Design editor, they are retrieved from the Label Design editor each time the From Design editor loads an instance of a label.

So if you design a form, position a certain label, save your work and then change the dimensions of that label using the Label Design editor and finally go back into the Form Design, the label size will change.  In the same token, if you erase a label using file manager and load a Form Design file containing a pointer to that label, Address will complain that the label does not exists.

See Also

Label Design Editor

Printing Guide


Importing Guide
Import Guide

Address can merge records into an existing Address database from comma delimited files, Windows' Card Files and Address's own files.

A record is considered valid when at least one of the FirstName, LastName or Organization fields contain text starting with a letter of the alphabet.  Upon importing any record, Address validates the record to see if it contains proper indexing fields (one of FirstName, LastName or Organization).  Any invalid records are not imported.

Comma Delimited DataBases

Comma delimited DataBases are simple text files with each record on a line with fields enclosed in quotations and separated by commas.  When importing comma delimited files, Address uses the current template loaded into the Field Composer to make a one-to-one matching between Address' fields and the comma delimited database fields.  Consider a comma delimited file with the following structure:

"FirstName","LastName","Address","Phone"

"FirstName","LastName","Address","Phone"

"FirstName","LastName","Address","Phone"

.

.

.

In order to import such a file, all you need to do is create a template using the Field Composer that has only the following definition:

You must be careful to create an exact one-to-one matching between DataBase fields in the comma delimited file and DataBase fields in the currently loaded Field Composer template,  failure to do so may results in loss of data and error generation.

Note that the "Blank Field" placed in the Field Composer tells Address to skip the comma delimited field corresponding in position.  Thus, if you got a comma delimited file with the following structure:

"FirstName","Middle Name","LastName"

In the Field Composer template you would place "FirstName, Blank Field, LastName" since Address has no middle name field.

Window's Card File program

The user enters information free-style (without field names) into Windows'  Card File program,  while information in Address is distributed among fields.  Because of this Address cannot determine how to distribute the block of text being imported from a Windows Card File.  Windows Card File therefore is imported as follows:

The index lines from the Card File are copied to the Organization field in Address.  All other information goes into the Note field.  Pictures and OLE objects are omitted. The user can then select text in the Note field and drag it with the right mouse button to the appropriate field (See Inter-field Text Dragging).


Inter-Field Text Dragging

You can drag and drop text between Address's fields using the right mouse button.  This feature can save a lot of time and energy.

Simply click a field with the right mouse button and continue to hold the button down, drag the text to the destination field and release the button.  Address will copy the text from the source field and append it to the destination field.

If you press the control key before pressing the right mouse button, Address will cut the text out of the destination field instead of copying the text.  If you drop text while the control key is held down, Address will replace the entire field contents with the dropped text.  Finally, you may hold the shift key down while dropping the text, Address will remove any leading and trailing spaces in the dragged text.

You may also drag and drop text between fields and the Address' Notepad. If the Notepad is not opened, you can drop text onto the Notepad icon [image], and Address will open the Notepad and append the dropped text.

Unless the control key is down while dropping text, if there is any text selected in the destination field only that text will replaced with the dragged text.  If the source field has any selected text, then only selected text is dragged.

See also

Index Window

Address Main Window

Customizing Global Settings


Modem Setup

The Modem Setup Window allows you to tell Address exactly how to "talk" to your modem in order to make it dial for you:

Virtually all modems connected to PCs are Hayes compatible.  Hence, it should be rarely the case that you would have to do anything more than double click the "Modem Configuration" and select "Hayes Compatible."  Address also has pre-defined modem settings for some of the larger brand manufactures.

In case you do have difficulties getting Address and your modem to become "friends." You will need to tell Address what commands to issue your modem to dial, hang-up and what to expect when your modem has a busy line signal.

You can find answers to all these questions in your Modem's Manual Book.  However, if you do have some software that works with your modem, take a look at that program's initialization and dialing strings, hang-up string and copy them into Address.

If you want Address to send a control-{letter}, just prefix the letter with "^".  For instance, the hang-up string on Hayes compatible modems is "ATH^M".  The latter means, send "ATH" and then control-M.

As an aside note, usually the command string to hang-up a Hayes Compatible modem is "+++ATH^M".  However, in this case, the modem never talks to another modem and hence, the modem never changes mode to Data; i.e., the "+++" prefix is not needed.  Also, some modems, although Hayes compatible, do not send "OK" as a result of "AT^M".  So if you have problems, take a look at the "OK Modem response" as well.

See also

Customizing Global Settings

DataBase Specific Setup


DataBase Specific Setup; Field Names; Indexing
DataBase Specific Setup

Each of Address' DataBase files (*.ADB) has it's own settings which you can configure using this setup:

You can define an Indexing String used to Index records in the Index Window using any of Address' DataBase fields (see Index Window).

You can also rename fields according to your taste.  For instance, you may prefer "Company" instead of "Organization" and "Street Address" instead of "Address."  However, note that this change is only visual, when referring to any of these fields in the Field Composer or Label Design Editor, Address will still use the original field names.

See also

Index Window

Customizing Global Settings

Modem Setup


Tehnical Support and Suggestions

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you experience any difficulties with the software or just have suggestions, comments or ideas.

It is important that we will hear from you, otherwise we can be completely unaware of your difficulties with the software or whatever wonderful ideas you may have.  Let us know what you think, be free and honest; after all this software was written for your convenience.

You can call 1-800-390-7112 or (508) 584-7112; EMail to 72603.666@CompuServe.Com or to CompuServe ID 72603,666.  You are also welcome to write to:

GIR Software

P.O.Box 680

Randolpha, MA 02368

USA


Database Categories

You can divide one database into several categories.  Every Address Database can have up to 9 different categories and every record is always a member of at least one category.

Address is completely focused only on records which are members of the current working category, which by default is all categories.  In otherwords, aside from remaining in memory, records which are not members of the working category are completly invisible and otherwise cannot be affected by any operation.

Operational Notes:

In order to setup categories for your database, do the following:

1.  Open your Database file.

2.  Click Options/Database Category Setup.

3.  Give meaningful names to categories.

4.  Click "OK"

To assign a record to some categories, click this long [image] button at the bottom of Address' Main Window.

To change the working category click this [image] button.  The working category is always displayed in the Index Window's Caption bar.

When you add a new record, it automatically becomes a member of all the categories composing the working category.


Keyboard Short-cuts
Short-Cuts

Hold the control key down while clicking this [image] button to get a full category selection window, which allows multiple categories selection as opposed to the quick category menu, which selects only one category.

Hold the control key down while click this [image] button to "Save As" rather than just "Save."

Control-S marks/unmarks the current record.

Control-U unmarks all records.

Control-Z toggles focus between Address's Window and the Index Window.

DEL key erases the current record.

Click this [image] button to quickly load a Form Design and print.  In effect, this button simulates having to open the Form Design, Load a Form, and printing all in one click.  It may also be helpful here to remember that Control-U unmarks all records, and Control-S marks/unmarks the current record.

To conduct fast searches just clock the Index Window into focus and start typing.  The search string you type is displayed in the caption bar.  BackSpace key erases the last character, ESC key removes the search string entirely and the enter key searches for the next occurrence.

Hold the Control-Key down before starting a right-mouse button Inter-Field text dragging in order to cut the text out of the source field rather than copy it.

See Also

Tips and Other Information


Mark Window

There are a number of operations that work on all marked records such as Delete, Copy to Clipboard, Change Category, Append to another Address Database file, Write to Text file and etc..  In addition, when printing, only marked records are considered.

Although you can mark or unmark a record by pressing control-S,  the Mark Window allows you to mark records more massively.  You can either click individual records marked, ranges of records, or search and mark/unmark records.

The search mark/unmark feature brings up a dialog box much like the normal search dialog box except that matching records get marked or unmarked rather than become the current record: