Re: Using Xy to dial your phone

[Norman Bauman nbauman@xxxxxxxx]

Harry,

I will be looking forward to the answer.

I used an XPL program which passed the phone number to the following batch
file. As I recall it worked in Win95, but when I moved to a new computer
with Win98, and a Windows modem, it didn't work any more. My understanding
was that as a cost-saving feature, the Windows modem relied on Windows for
some of the functions, and so wouldn't work directly from DOS.

I thought that if I installed one of my old non-Windows modems, and fed the
signal to its own COM port, it should be able to work. But I never got
around to it. (Now I'm moving to DSL and it should be easier, because I
won't be using a modem for the web any more.)

The way it worked was, in Xy 3.55, I would type a phone number into a file
on a single line, then define that line, then run an XPL macro that would
parse the phone number and pass it on to the batch file, and dial the
number. I'd hit another key to date- and time-stamp the phone call.

It was a tremendously useful program, since I basically spent my life
calling people on the phone. It was much more accurate than manual dialing,
and kept an audit trail. When I tried it on my new Win98 computer, and it
didn't work, my heart sank. I mean, imagine typing a phone number, and
having to key the exact same number into a keypad *again*.

I started from Robert's DIAL.PM, figured out how it worked, and wrote my
own program based on his. It's a lot easier to write a program that does
just what I want, than to write a program that meets the needs of every user.

I don't really remember the details of how it worked, but fortunately I
documented it obsessively. I hope I can figure it out again.

Norman


REM DIALOUT.BAT
REM
REM Created 5 May 95, revised 27 Jul 95, revised for Boca 9 Oct 96
REM
REM This batch file will set the modem in COM3 to 2400N,8,1
REM and transmit any phone number to the modem.
REM
REM USAGE: DIALOUT [phone number]
REM
REM The 3 variables %1 %2 %3 below will accept 1 + area code + phone.
REM
ECHO AT&F&C1&D2&R1
MODE COM3 BAUD=24,PARITY=N,DATA=8,STOP=1
ECHO ATDT%1 %2 %3 >COM3
REM ECHO ATH0>COM3
REM ATH0 puts modem off-hook (disconnected)
REM ECHO ATZ>COM3
REM ATZ software reset of registers to default. Cancels ATA auto answer
REM ATZ worked with 2400B modem, but Boca 28,800 uses ATZ0
REM ECHO AT&F>COM3
REM AT&F Powerup reset of registers and commands to default. (Not used)
REM ECHO AT&C1&D2>COM3
REM &C1 looks for carrier, &D2 looks for DTR signal (Not used)


At 12:31 AM 3/26/06 -0500, Harry Binswanger wrote:
>
>Under Win9x, I could use Xy to shell out to run the little DOS program
>ADT.COM to dial my phone. ADT doesn't seem to work with the simulated DOS
>of XP.


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Norman Bauman
411 W. 54 St. Apt. 2D
New York, NY 10019
(212) 977-3223
http://www.nasw.org/users/nbauman
Alternate address: nbauman@xxxxxxxx
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