Alphanumeric pager codes
Posted by: kshmidheiser <kshmidheiser@...>
my Area Code Indexer and am working on another project.
I want to write a small application that can send a message from my Mac to
my alphanumeric pager. I realize there are commerical applications that do
this, but many of them are set for sophisticated systems such as SkyTel,
etc. which require PIN numbers and use 1-800 lines. I believe I can write a
simple application if I can figure out the communication protocol.
My regional pager company allows callers to dial a local access number
where they can manually enter their phone numbers for transmission to my
pager, or send written messages via computer.
Does anyone know how a pager interprets the alphanumeric code. I am
guessing that it somehow uses standard ASCII nomenclature, perhaps with
some type of flag to allow it to identify the ASCII number as a letter. I
have tried sending ASCII numerical values, but my pager responds with
numbers, not letters.
Anyone out there have any hints?
Concerning capturing keystrokes in an event loop, I want to extend special
thanks to Al Boyd who, with only a few lines of code helped me modify an FN
to capture 3-digit entries in an edit field. Notice the last few lines Al
added in this example:
LOCAL FN checkKeys
EFnum = WINDOW(_EFnum)
key$ = TEKEY$
SELECT WINDOW(_EFclass)/4
LONG IF ASC(key$) => ASC("0") AND ASC(key$) <=ASC("9")
TEKEY$ = key$
XELSE
FN errorWarning
END IF
END SELECT
inNow$ = EDIT$(EFnum) 'get string from EF
IF LEN(inNow$) = 3 THEN FN getCode$ 'if 3 numbers in do it
IF LEN(inNow$) > 3 THEN SETSELECT 0,255 'if more then 3 select all
END FN
By setting the length of the input field to three keystrokes, Al's
modification calls the main database search FN getCode$ each time 3-digit
entries are detected in the loop. A nice thing is that the code is easily
modifable for any length string. It's kinda like e=mc2, sweet, simple...
and smart.
Why couldn't I think of it?
Thanks again Al and company.
___________________________________________________________________
Ken Shmidheiser Systems Administrator/Publisher
Internet: kshmidheiser@som-uky.campus.mci.net Fax: 606.878.7400
Somerset, KY 42502-0221 Phone: 606.679.4266
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