Address, Postcode and Bank solutions

Insert

Pocket Names & Numbers can pass address information to almost any Windows programs by simulating the typing of keystrokes into that program. You have full control over the order in which fields are typed into your program, and Pocket Names & Numbers includes a very powerful keystroke 'macro' language which enables Pocket Names & Numbers to control everything that happens during Insert - including the precise position of where each field will be typed.

A special Insert menu is provided to carry out the insert process, and when Pocket Names & Numbers starts up, it examines all the other programs currently running, and provides an entry in this menu for each one, along with a menu hot key 1-9.



If your application was started after Pocket Names & Numbers was loaded, it will be necessary to refresh the Insert menu by selecting Insert Refresh. Note that it would be unhelpful to type addresses into some types of Windows programs - and Pocket Names & Numbers tries to ignore many of these.

To Insert an address, first select it from the Results List, then choose the target program from the Insert menu - and the address will be typed in according to the current Pocket Names & Numbers settings.

Once you have carried out the first Insert, Names & Numbers remembers your target program, and makes a new entry at the top of the Insert menu, for speed of selecting the application.

The behaviour of Pocket Names & Numbers during Insert is controlled by the current Names & Numbers Settings. Full details of these settings are contained in the section below.

Insert Settings

When Pocket Names & Numbers is first installed, it should Insert into most common Pocket PC programs - like Pocket Word or Pocket Excel - correctly. Pocket Names & Numbers has a very powerful keystroke 'macro' language, which can be made to control your target program, and the precise position of where the data will be typed, and this is set up from the Names & Numbers Insert Settings window.

From the File menu, select the Insert Settings option.



You will see listed the setting sets currently stored on your device. Default settings are provided for inserting an address into Pocket Word, Pocket Notes and Pocket Excel). You can add settings for additional applications as desired from here as well as modifying the existing ones.

The Fields of data which Pocket Names & Numbers can supply to your application are listed in the drop-down fields under Field.

Changing the Fields Inserted
To change the Pocket Names & Numbers fields which are inserted into your application, simply use the drop-down box for each field.

Force Upper Case
For most address fields (but not for data expected always in capital letters - like Postcodes, Ward & NHS Codes), Pocket Names & Numbers will attempt to provide properly capitalised fields. (The databases from which Names & Numbers is compiled is held in Capital Letters only, so this feature may not be perfect in every case, especially where a company name consists of an abbreviation, for example.)

If you prefer for one or more fields to be inserted only in Capital Letters, check the "Case" check box for this field(s). A Royal Mail approved address prints the Town field in this format - though many typists prefer not to use this format when typing letters.

Line Squeeze
When typing addresses into programs like Word-Processors, you can instruct Pocket Names & Numbers to remove blank address lines by using the Line Squeeze option: a check-mark (tick) indicates that this setting is in use. When typing addresses into spreadsheets or databases, it is more likely that you wish blank lines to be included - so that data ends up in the correct field or column of your table or form.

Keystrokes Before & Keystrokes After
Names & Numbers is able to send not only address data to your application, but to simulate almost any combination of keystrokes before or after each field of the address. To easily select keystrokes to use for this, click the '...' button next to the Before or After field you are entering keystrokes for. The following dialog will then be displayed:






Clicking on any item in the list of possible keystrokes will add the selected item to the keystrokes to use text box. You can also type any normal keyboard key, for example letters, numbers in that box yourself. When you have entered the relevant keystroke's you can press OK to update the text field on the Settings screen.

If you need to press a key with the Alt, Ctrl or Shift keys also pressed down you can select the symbols for this from the end of the keystrokes list on the keystrokes dialogue to apply them to the keystroke following the symbol.

To specify repeating keys, use the form {key number}. You must put a space between key and number. For example, {LEFT 4} means press the Left Arrow key 4 times; {TAB 3} means press the Tab key 3 times.

Several other Pocket Names & Numbers settings affect the way that data is inserted into other programs and these are accessible by tapping the 'Properties' menu item from the 'File' menu:

Initials Only
The 'Use Initials Only' option restricts Pocket Names & Numbers to typing only the initial letter of a person's first name.  

List Surname First When Displaying Results
The 'List Surname First When Displaying Results' option causes the surname to be displayed before the rest of the address details in the results list.

Default Settings
This is the settings that will be used when inserting into any application which does not otherwise have insert settings configured for it.

County Type

As the Postcode is included, the Royal Mail no longer require the inclusion of the County for the delivery of mail. Indeed, for many large towns - like London, Manchester or Edinburgh, the county is never used as part of the mail address.

Nevertheless, many organisations use counties for their own regional structures, so Names & Numbers offers five county options on the Edit menu:

Omit County
Never include the county in the address

Administrative Counties
Include the predicted county for Local Authority Administration purposes

Postal Counties
Include the county indicated for postal purposes

Traditional Counties
Include the traditional county name.

Abbreviated Postal Counties
Uses the Royal Mail approved abbreviated form of the Postal County where applicable.

Dynamic Link Libraries

Full access to all the data within Pocket Names & Numbers is available to programmers through the Pocket Names & Numbers DLLs. This means that for developers name and address lookup can be entirely automatic and invisible.

Using the DLLs will require some programming ability - but AFD supply fully working examples, with free source code, showing how this can be done, in a variety of popular programming languages - like like Microsoft Visual Studio .NET C# and VB as well as eMbedded Visual Basic and Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++.

For more details, see the section on the Pocket Names & Numbers API