Very Computer

        Can anyone who has used Address Book Plus of DynoDex or
QuickDex or whatever give their impressions of it/them?  I'm interested
in using one of them in conjunction with my DayTimer/FiloFax book, so
a smooth job at printing is important.  I also wonder if there are
notes fields, so that I can keep track of what I've sent to whom without
putting it into the address.

        Thanks

Steve Buyske                    uucp    : rutgers!lehi3b15!lafcol!buyskes

Lafayette College            
Easton, PA  18042

  When I called PowerUp! they said that Address Book Plus was not available
yet. They expected it to be out very shortly. I am also quite interested
in any responses to this question as I'm now lugging around a Portable
rather than my briefcase and DayTimer.

-David C. Kovar


        Ma Bell: 617-646-0428                   MacNET: DKovar

         "It is easier to get forgiveness than permission."

[All opinions expressed are my own. Noone else assumes responsibility for me.]

I have been using QuickDex ever since Cassady & Greene were kind
enough to send a copy of it to me for evaluation.  Additionally, I
have a copy of DAtabase from Preferred Publishers, though frankly
I haven't yet had the time to play with it.

My impressions so far are that for what I need, QuickDex is a great
solution.  Basically, it's an 'all words are key words' stack of cards
that you can use for just about any purpose you'd like.  It lives as
a DA so it's quite convenient, AND adding and deleting cards is very
straightforward.

My needs are quite simple; an easily accessed database of phone numbers
and addresses for personal and business contacts that I can move through
and find quickly.  Currently I would guess that I have over 130 entries
in the program, with a typical one being:

                Software Ventures
                2907 Claremont Ave
                Berkeley, CA  94705

                 (microphone II, version 2.0)

                  (415) 644-3232

With this type of information I can search by telephone number to
resolve strange phone bills, search by product name, or by the name
of the company...

The only problems I have with the program are that it doesn't allow
you to have more than one 'card' of information, though it seems to me
that adding a scroll bar and allowing scrolling on the card would be
quite simple.  The other gripe?  I like to use TAB characters in my
cards to indent things like addresses, but the tab immediately puts me
into the "search for" dialog box (and the second puts me back in the
card window)... it would be nice if I could change that.  Finally, the
printing feature is pretty lame.  They supply a separate program called
"PrintDex", but it is pretty much geared to one-page-of-info per sheet
of paper, which makes a printout of my database, at 130+ cards, a bit
prohibitive!  It would be much nicer if I could somehow specify that
eight cards per page, with borders, please, would be ideal..

Another nice thing about the package is that the designers realized
that many people might well have data files already existing that they'd
like to convert, so they include in the documentation exactly how to
create a "data file" for the program... quite simple... and sure enough,
with some help from a Unix "awk" script, I was up and running in an
astoundingly short period of time!

DAtabase, on the other hand, appears to be overkill for something as
simple as a phone list...

I'd be most interested in hearing about this Address Book Plus program
if someone can supply information.
                                                -- Dave Taylor
Intuitive Systems
Mountain View, California

A statisfied customer...
_______________________________________________________________________________
Dan Peterka                     S-CUBED                     3398 Carmel Mtn Rd.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Address Book is out, I've been told that some of the larger dealerships
have even re-ordered because they've sold out their first shipments.

Here are some of the data entry features:

17 text fields, each can hold up to 255 characters, many of which you
rename away from our suggestions to use for your own purposes. Two are
predefined as comments fields. Three are predefined as phone number
fields.

Pattern matching data entry, so, if you want to, you only need to type
a short, unambiguous prefix, and the program will look up the entry and
put it in the data entry field.

The "state" field has a predefined database of all the American states,
but you can add your own. The "country" field has a predefined database
of the world's countries.

Customizable popup menus on the data entry screen, so you can put
common items in the menu, to get at them quickly without typing.  (but
you can do data entry using only the keyboard, if you prefer.)

A "Yellow Pages" feature so that a single person's data entry record
can appear by name, by company, and by profession, if you so choose.

Import/Export features:  Import and export to tab or comma delimited
text files. You can merge files by importing into an existing file. You
can include/exclude fields from the import/export.

Here are some other features:  A dialer desk accessory. If you move the
same file between work and home, you can independently set up the
telephone parameters for each place.

A "Categories" feature that give you ten checkboxes that you can name
to divide your personal address book into groups. (When my wife prints
our Address Book, she excludes those people who are just in there
because they are my business contacts.)

The search command has a checklist of which fields to look in.

You can sort by most fields, ascending or descending. Address Book has
a predefined set of primary and secondary keys, so when you sort by
state, it uses the zip code as secondary key, and the city as a
tertiary key, then last name, then first name. You can sort birthdays
either by year, to find which of your contacts is oldest, or by month,
to find which have birthdays coming up.  (You can omit the birthday, or
just the year, of course.)

We include a file of the addresses of all the U.S. Senators and
Representatives, to make it easier to be more politically active.

We also include a directory of 800 numbers.

There is extensive on-line help.

It is really pleasant to use: there is cut/copy/paste & UNDO on every
dialog, including the "save as" dialog. You can work with multiple files
simultaneously.  If you've been following my writing in
comp.sys.mac.programmer, I recently wrote about more than one dozen user
interface features Address Book has, that make it more in accordance with
Apple's User Interface Guidelines. If there is interest, I can post that
list here.

But the best thing Address Book Plus does is print. I know from
personal experience that it will print on any printer Apple makes, and
the beta sites tell me it works fine on other brands, including
Hewlett-Packard.

You can define your own paper formats, though it comes with 12
predefined ones.  You can use it with a DayTimer/FiloFax book. In fact,
Address Book Plus is available in two  flavors, one with a leather
Daytimer book included, and one without. (At least the leather book I
have says "Daytimer" in small gold letters in the inside.)

You can set the font/style/size of each field. (I put my comments in
italics.) You can put the phone numbers after each address, or in a
separate column, to the right.

It comes with a very clever spiral binding system. The "Jr. Address
Book" size paper comes with vinyl binders in the paper package, so you
don't need a leather binder, and it produces a book half the size of a
standard checkbook, which is just right for a wallet pocket. A leather
binder is also available for this size.

In addition to Address Books, it also prints Phone Number Lists, rotary
cards, envelopes, and mailing labels.

--- David Phillip Oster            --  No, I come from Boston. I just work

Uucp: {uwvax,decvax}!ucbvax!oster%dewey.soe.berkeley.edu

1.) make a file with 1 entry in it, yourself, and give it a fairly large font.
Add a comment: "If found, please return to:"
Use this as a title page .

2.) If you are doing a mailing, you can save time by printing the return
address on the upper left corner of a large mailing label. This saves
printing the return address on the mailing itself, but does require
slightly larger labels than if you were printing just the address.  To get
get mailing labels with return addresses on them, define a sheet of custom
envelopes, where "each" envelope is label size.