Address Book Help

Name:	Address Book
Version:	1.3
Last update:	2019-08-06 20:22:35

This package inserts an Address Book submenu in the Tools menu, allowing for the management of a user modified address book which can be used to create customized mailing lists. Activate this package by using the Alpha ↣ Global Setup ↣ Features menu item or click here to display the Features Preferences dialog.

Creating an Address Book Database

Use the Tools ↣ Address Book ↣ Add Entry menu item to create new entries. If any e-mail address is selected in the current window, you have the option to use this for the Email field.
The Collect All Emails menu item will scan the current window for all e-mail addresses, and allow you to create a new entry for each one. You can easily experiment with this by opening the Installed Packages help file (Help ↣ Installed Packages) and using this menu item.
The entries in the database can be modified at any time using the menu items Tools ↣ Address Book ↣ Edit/Rename/Remove Entry.
The default entry fields used to create the database can be modified by using the Tools ↣ Address Book ↣ Add/Remove Entry Field menu item, or rearranged to suit your tastes. Note that a Comments field will always be appended to the end of the default entry fields list. (It's probably easiest to compose the comments field in a regular window and then paste it into the dialog if it is multi-line ...)

Custom Mailing Lists, Searching

Once a database of entries has been created, you can use it to create a customized mailing list (including only those fields that you specify), or to search the entries or specific fields for specific text or a regular expression. New mailing lists and search results are always displayed in a new window, while the Insert Mailing Label menu item will place the selected entry in the current window.
Database entries selected using the menu item Insert Mailing Label and Create Mailing List will be listed like this:

Craig Barton Upright
Department of Sociology
Princeton University
Wallace Hall, # 127
Princeton NJ  08544
<cupright@alumni.princeton.edu>

while search result entries will be displayed like:

Entry: cbu

Name:               Craig Barton Upright
Organization:       Department of Sociology
Address Line 1:     Princeton University
Address Line 2:     Wallace Hall, # 127
Address Line 3:     Princeton NJ  08544
Email:              <cupright@alumni.princeton.edu>

although you are also given the option to return the search results using the first style (Mailing List Format) if desired.
The item Tools ↣ Address Book ↣ Display All Entries will list all fields for all entries (using the second style) in a new window.

Interaction with the Mail Menu

This package provides limited support for the Mail Menu.

All entry names can be automatically added as Mail mode electrics, so long as the entry name does not contain any spaces. Set the Mail mode flag preference for Auto Update Mail Electrics (available when the current window is in Mail mode ...) to create these electrics on start-up, or whenever a new entry is added.
These electrics can be updated at any time using the menu item Address Book ↣ Update Mail Electrics.
Alpha's Alpha ↣ Preferences ↣ Global Preferences ↣ WWW preference for Email Using determines if the menu item Address Book ↣ Email ... and the mailing list hyperlinks will attempt to compose the e-mail using the Mail Menu or the default OS composing application.

Click here to display the WWW Preferences panel

Known problems

Please report any problem or bug you encounter to Alpha's Bug Tracker.

License and Disclaimer

Copyright (c) 2001-2019, Craig Barton Upright.
All rights reserved.
The addressBook package is free software and distributed under the terms of the new BSD license:
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of Craig Barton Upright nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL CRAIG BARTON UPRIGHT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.