Address, Postcode and Bank solutions

Transferring Addresses to Other Programs

Pocket Postcode offers a choice of powerful ways to transfer data easily to almost any Pocket PC application.

Adding Contacts to Pocket Outlook

To add the selected address as a new contact to Pocket Outlook, simply select 'Insert Into Outlook' from the Insert menu.  A new contact will be created for you in Pocket Outlook from the selected address.

Clipboard

One of the most basic ways to transfer data is to use the Windows Clipboard.

Simply find the address you require, select it from the Results List, then select the Edit menu Copy option. The selected address is copied to the clipboard and it is then available for pasting into your chosen program.

Move to your chosen program, then paste the address into position. Pasting will usually be carried out in your programs by using an Edit menu Paste option - but consult your program's documentation for further details.

Although this method requires almost no setting up - and may well be all you need for simple word-processing - there are more powerful methods of transferring addresses, which give you much more control of the process - including the format of the address.

Insert

Pocket Postcode can pass address information to almost any Windows CE program 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 Postcode includes a very powerful keystroke 'macro' language which enables Pocket Postcode 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 Postcode 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 and A-Z.



If your application was started after Pocket Postcode 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 Postcode 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 Postcode settings.

Once you have carried out the first Insert, Pocket Postcode 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 Postcode during Insert is controlled by the current Pocket Postcode Settings. Full details of these settings are contained in the section below.

Insert Settings

When Pocket Postcode is first installed, it should Insert into most common Pocket applications - like Pocket Word or Pocket Excel - correctly. Pocket Postcode 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.  This is set up from the Pocket Postcode 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 Postcode can supply to your application are listed in the drop-down fields under Field.

Changing the Fields Inserted
To change the Pocket Postcode 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), Pocket Postcode will attempt to provide properly capitalised fields. (The databases from which Pocket Postcode 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 Postcode 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
Pocket Postcode 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.

County Types

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 Pocket Postcode offers seven county options on the Edit menu:

• Omit County: Never include the county in the address

• Postal Counties: Include the county indicated for postal purposes

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

• Optional Counties: Include the county that can still be indicated for postal purposes where a county is not normally used.

• Abbreviated Optional Counties: Uses the Royal Mail approved abbreviated form of the Optional County where applicable.

• Traditional Counties: Include the traditional county name.

• Administrative Counties: Include the predicted county for Local Authority Administration purposes

Dynamic Link Libraries

Full access to all the data within Pocket Postcode is available to programmers through the Pocket Postcode API. This means that for developers postcode lookups can be entirely automatic and invisible.

Using the API will require 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 Microsoft Visual Studio .NET visual Basic and C# as well as Microsoft eMbedded Visual Basic and Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++.

For more details, see the section on the Pocket Postcode API