Launch a phone call
LanceAppel
This is the presentation of a version issued in 2006, that is only adapted for France. Please do not hesitate to have a look at the international version, issued in January 2009. A few points of the documentation still refer to this page, but the program allows you to display it in English, and to adapt the phone number format.
The "LanceAppel" program first simulates the «Ctrl C» keys to catch the selection to the clipboard, and then presents the information in a dialog box, to allow you to compose a phone number via the modem.
A correction is planned to deactivate the Ctrl key when starting the program, until there, if the keyboard shortcut that launches the program contains the Ctrl key, please use the remanent keys function of Windows, and pay attention to release the Ctrl key before depressing the letter that goes with it. The other solution is that you copy the information yourself to the clipboard before calling the program.
As other programs that execute an action on the window that was active when launching them, this program has the basic VB icon - but the dialog box that opens then has its own icon.
"LanceAppel" can receive one or two data, separated by a column (";"), a tabulation character, or a line feed character.
If one data is received, it will be considered as a phone number. It is supposed to respect a certain format, a + sign at the beginning, some figures for the country code, a zero between parenthesis to represent the default phone operator, and then the local phone number of the correspondant.
For example, for France you will have
: +33(0)1 4444 4444
(33 is the code for France, 0 for your phone operator, and your correspondant is at number 01 4444 4444)
This format is adapted for Windows XP. For Windows 98 it is accepted that the 0 is before the parenthesis, in case of problem feel free to contact me.
For the United Kingdom, the country code is 44. The city code is supposed to be placed between the parenthesis, but I had only occasions to test this on Windows 98, so this program was not yet written.
If two data are received, the first one is considered as a name, and the second one as a phone number with the format that has just been indicated.
If the number is in the form of ten digits, the format will be automatically applied. Before a further update of the program, the format will be applied with the french code. You can edit the results in the dialog box.
| Horloge parlante |
| 08 99 70 05 67 |
| Horloge parlante ; 08 99 70 05 67 |
Launching the program on this selection will give the following results :
When you click on "Appel" (dial), the Windows dialer is called, and the number is dialed.
The advantage, compared to a direct opening by the user of the Windows dialer window, is an easier management of the diary, as it is possible to spread the numbers on several calculation sheets, or even several files, allowing you to group them by categories. You can place the names on the first column of the sheet and the number on the second column. Please select the two cells before calling the program.
Attention, a version of McAfee Privacy Service prevents you to use the Windows dialer, so is not compatible with this program. The Windows dialer cannot close properly, so it cannot be opened again. If you meet this problem, please contact McAfee's support, they have a solution. In such a case, please be so kind as to inform me, otherwise I shall consider that version is not used any more, and this paragraph will disappear.
You will note the presence of three other buttons :
The Esc button closes the window, it allows you to close it with the Esc key of the keyboard.
The 4 and 9 keys aim to dial with alternative phone operators, but at present time they are not adapted to be used to call outside from France.
Once the number is sent to the composer, a chronometer is displayed.
As "surclassing" was not yet applied, the chronometer starts when you click on "Appel" and not when you click on "Speak" on the Windows composer. So, the displayed time includes the time the composer opens, and the time the correspondent takes to answer.
| LanceAppel.exe | This program requires the VB execution kit, that is available on Microsoft's site. Alternately, you can install another program from this site, which has an installation program, and then simply download LanceAppel.exe to its directory.
Sorry, the English support to this program is not ready yet. For example, GestTaches improves the support of the Windows planed tasks manager. |
| Wonderkeys | This program will be much easier to use to launch an action than the standard shortcuts of Windows. |