Phone Dialing Assistant Desk Accessory for Palm-based phones
Download
Illustrated Guide
I. Introduction
PhoneDA is a phone number dialing assistant DA (Desk Accessory). PhoneDA dials highlighted text, or all text in a text field. Legal characters that PhoneDA can dial includes: 0~9, *, #, and , (comma). PhoneDA make easy the tasks like dialing extension numbers, calling cards, and interaction with an automated system. PhoneDA uses system clipboard to pass data around, so it will replace whatever content in the clipboard when you invoke PhoneDA. If this is not acceptable to you, please don't use PhoneDA.
II. Requirement
First, you need a phone-enabled Palm device. I don't have the chance to test PhoneDA on Palm devices other than my Treo 680, but I figure it would work on other phone-enabled devices, too. Please send me compatibility problems if you find any.
Second, since PhoneDA is a DA, you need a DA launcher. As a Treo user, I find PetitLauncher (http://pam-ya.com/) extremely useful in that you can launch an application or DA with very few keystrokes. So, it's recommended to use PhoneDA with PetitLauncher. However, other DA launcher should work well.
Above is all you need to get PhoneDA going. If you want more detailed usage, read on.
III. How to use
As mentioned in Introduction, legal characters that PhoneDA can dial includes: 0~9, * (asterisk), # (pound), and , (comma). You may highlight a specific range of text and launch PhoneDA to dial. Or you can have PhoneDA select all text for you and dial simply by launching PhoneDA while placing cursor in a text field. Either way, PhoneDA is given a string of characters to work with. PhoneDA will dial numbers appear before the first occurrence of pound or asterisk in this string of characters. When the phone line is connected, PhoneDA will just send out any remaining legal keys to the line. For example, if you send "123#456" to PhoneDA, PhoneDA will dial "123" first, and after the line is connected, dial "456" for you. Any subsequent asterisk or pound will be send out "as is" instead of acting as a dial symbol. PhoneDA interprets first pound or asterisk as a dial symbol when the line is not connected yet. Comma is interpreted as a three-second pause. Read on for more sample usages.
1. Simply dialing a phone number
Just highlight a phone number and launch PhoneDA. PhoneDA will dial the highlighted phone number for you. If there is no highlighted text, PhoneDA will try to dial all text for you. For example, if you highlight "03-5??-??30", PhoneDA will dial "03-5??-??30" for you. (The phone number is partially obscured for privacy reason.)
2. Dial extra numbers
While your phone is connected to a line, just highlight a phone number and launch PhoneDA. PhoneDA will send the highlighted phone number as dial tones for you. If there is no highlighted text, PhoneDA will try to send all text for you. For example, while your phone is connected to a line, and you need to dial extra digits "1,2,1". Simply highlight "1,2,1" and PhoneDA will send dial tones of "1", pause for 3 seconds, send "2", pause for 3 seconds, and send "1".
3. Dial phone number with extension numbers
Just highlight a phone number with extension numbers (formatted as {main number}#{extension number} or{main number}*{extension number} ) and launch PhoneDA. PhoneDA will dial the highlighted phone number for you. When the line is connected, PhoneDA will dial the extension numbers for you. For example, I have an entry in my phone book that is "036??????#??10". Place the cursor in a text field that contains "036??????#??10" and launch PhoneDA. (You can have a text field of a phone number in Contacts if you press
Center key while a phone entry is highlighted, as shown in the figure
to the left.) PhoneDA will dial "036??????" for you, and after the line is connected, dial "??10" for you. If the callee phone needs some extra time before start dialing extention numbers, insert so comma before extention numbers. For example, "123#,456". Remember that a comma represents three-second pause. (The phone number is partially obscured for privacy reason.)
4. Dial calling card numbers
Just highlight a phone number with necessary extra digits identifying your card and launch PhoneDA. PhoneDA will dial the phone number for you. When the line is connected, PhoneDA will send those extra digits for you. For example, the calling card requires to dial "0800080991" first, and "1123123" to identify your card. Place the cursor in a text field that contains "0800080991#1123123" and launch PhoneDA. Insert extra comma after # if necessary.
5. Get information of PhoneDA
Highlight any text that starts with character 'i' to show the copyright information of PhoneDA.
6. Terminate a PhoneDA dialing process
You can terminate a PhoneDA dialing process by launching PhoneDA again. For example, PhoneDA is in process of dialing a lengthy text, say "0800080991#,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,456". You can cancel it by launching PhoneDA again. An alert will be shown.
Note. PhoneDA will try to dial the first 128 characters in a text field if there is no currently selected text.
IV. Reversion History
1.0a 2007-5-27
- initial release
1.0a2 2007-5-30
- added more status messages
- added detection of dynamic expanding field
1.0a3 2007-6-4
- fixed the compatibilty problem with table
1.0a4 2008-5-16
- enhanced general compatibility