Appendix C - Detailed description and operating instructions for the high-fidelity prototype

Introduction

The address book is a high performance electronic address book prototype created in the BeOS operating system using the C++ programming language and the BeOS API. This appendix provides detailed descriptions as well as instructions of how to operate the address book.

A screen of the final prototype.

The main window

This chapter presents the main window. Each main part is printed in red below and those will be the chapters in this appendix. The main window is designed to be a natural map of an ordinary address book and easy to use. The menu bar is placed at the top of the interface as usual and all

search functions are placed in the search field. Below the search row we have two fields that displays search results and who to contact with e-mail or telephone. All buttons that handles functions are placed between the previous mentioned fields and the register that stores persons and groups. In the bottom of the interface there is an information bar. A deeper description of these main parts will be presented in the following chapters.

Address register

This chapter provides a general introduction to the address register and descriptions of how to operate and maintain it. The layout of the register is similar to an ordinary address book with tabs for each letter and one tab for groups.

A person is a single unique entry that holds the information for an individual person and is represented with a yellow person icon. A group is a collection of users that have been assembled together for easy reference and access. The A-Ö register is sorted by last name. In each tab there are the following header column information, last name, first name, nickname, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and group. The last & first name fields are used to store the real name of the person. The nickname field is used to store a nickname that distinguishes one person from another with the same name. The address field is used to store addresses and can for example be used to print direct to an envelope. The e-mail & telephone fields store the primary and alternative e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of the person. Finally the group field stores all groups the person is added to. The user can dynamically adjust these columns so that all fields or just a few can be viewed. It is also possible for the user to decide in which order the fields shall be displayed. If for example one person have more than one telephone number it will be represented with a triangle to the left of the person icon. To view this information the user has to click the triangle. If one person is selected in the register the user can choose to delete him with the "Remove" button, add him to contact list with the "Add to contact list" button. Other actions are, add to a group with the "Add to group" button and get all information about the person with the "Info" button.

It is also possible to drag and drop persons into or from the register. If the "Info" button is pressed the person attribute window above will appear.

In this pop up window the user can see and edit all information about a person. The name tab includes first name, last name and nickname. The address, telephone and e-mail tabs include dynamically expanding number of input-fields for primary and alternative data.

The misc. tab is simply a text window where the user can write own personal information about a selected person. If the user uses key words in this window it will be ease to do text search for a certain category of persons (see the search chapter). The misc. field can look like this.

The group tab

In the group tab the groups are sorted by group name and the header column information includes last name, first name, telephone number and e-mail address of persons in the selected group and of course the group name. All groups are represented with an icon consisting of two yellow persons. By clicking on the triangle to the left of the group icon all persons in that selected group will appear. If one group is selected the user can delete it with the "Remove" button, add it to the contact list with the "Add to contact list" button and get all information about the group if the "Info" button is pressed. It is also possible to drag and drop a group into the contact list directly from the group tab.

If the "Info" button is pressed the following floating window will appear.

In this window the header column information are last name, first name, telephone and e-mail. All persons included in the group are listed with the mentioned header information. The reason for this window is that the user can easily drag and drop new persons directly into the group from the A-Ö register or from the search result field. He can also select and remove a person from the group directly.

The button field

The address book button field is used to operate the register and get a quicker access to functions. This chapter provides a general introduction of the buttons and descriptions of how to operate functions with them.

The new button

The "New" button is used for creating new persons and groups. When clicking it the following pop up window will appear.

The user has to choose if he wants to add a person or a group. When he has made he's choice a pop up window will appear.

If the "New person" button was pressed this person attribute window will appear.

The user can add information about a person under each tab. In this case he has added last and first name under the name tab. When the "OK" button is pressed all information is stored in the A-Ö register.

If the "New group" button was pressed this window will appear.

The user has to type the name of the group he wants to create. In this case the user wants to create the MDI-group. When the "OK" button is pressed the group window will pop up.

The user can drag and drop persons direct into the window from the A-Ö register, select from the A-Ö register and chose add to group button or use the key board shortcut. When the OK button is pressed the group will be stored in the group register.

The remove button

The "Remove" button is used for deleting selected persons, groups or search results. It will work in the register, in the search result field, in the contact field and in an active search-input field. Before deleting something there will be a pop up window where the user has the opportunity to cancel or to fulfil the deletion. If a keyboard is connected backspace and delete will have the same function as the "Remove" button.

The update button

The "Update" button is used for updating a selected person. This is a function that searches in the Campus server database for a person and if found downloads information stored in that database. The information can be addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. All information is added into the register. The user has to edit the data in the address book since the application will not overwrite already stored data in the address book. The user must also have feedback of what has been changed if any. The person will be marked in the A-Ö register with the downloaded attributes marked. If he doesn't want the new attributes he can simply press the remove button to remove the downloaded attributes. The following pop up window will be presented when update is in process.

The Info button

The "Info" button is used for displaying or editing all information in the attributes for a person or a group. When editing a person the person attribute window will pop up (see the button chapter; New button) and if editing a group the group window will pop up (see the Group tab chapter).

The print button

The "Print" button is used for printing data from the address book. The following pop up window will appear when the button is pressed.

Within the print function the user has the possibility to chose which attributes he wants to print out on paper. Clicking in the check boxes makes the selection. In this case the user wants to write all attributes except for the misc. data.

He has also the possibility to choose where the information shall be fetched. Only one radio button can be active at the sane time. If he has marked some persons he can choose to click the "Selected person/group" radio button. If he wants to print all selected persons and groups from contact list he can click the "Contact list" radio button. Maybe he wants to print a search result. Clicking the "Search result" radio button can do that. The last radio button is for printing the content in a whole tab. This function can be useful when filing the address book on paper.

"Configure page" button is for the usual print set up functions. It will also contain set-ups for printing letter headers and envelopes. It is comfortable for the user to have those opportunities in an address book application. He can make letter headers automatically for each person. Printing addresses automatically direct on envelopes can also be useful. The "Cancel" button is to undo and close the window and the "Print" button is for performing a print operation.

The phone button

The "Phone" button is used to call persons and groups that have been selected into the contact list. The phone function is actually a shortcut to the phone application that handles the ordinary phone functions.

The mail button

The "Mail" button is used to e-mail persons and groups that have been selected into the contact list. The e-mail function is actually a shortcut to the e-mail application that handles the ordinary e-mail functions.

The add to address book button

The "Add to address book" button is used for adding persons from search results when searching the Campus server. The user can mark one or several persons in the search result field and add them into the A-Ö register.

The add to group button

The "Add to group" button is used for adding a person into a group. First the user selects a person in the search result field or in the A-Ö register followed by clicking the "Add to group" button. A pop up window appears where the user has to choose in which group he wants to add the selected person.

When he has made the choice and clicked the "OK" button the group window shows up (see group tab chapter) with the new selected person marked. The ordinary group editing functions can be made as described in the button chapter.

The add to contact list button

The "Add to contact list" button is used to add persons or groups to contact list. The user has to mark a person or a group in the register or in the search result field and then click the "Add to contact list" button to copy them into the contact list. Drag and drop is also possible. The contact list is a selection of persons and groups that the user wants to e-mail or call.

The search field

This chapter provides a general introduction to the search input-fields and a description of how to operate the search functions.

There are three input fields, "Last name", "First name" and a pull down person attribute-field. There is also a pull down menu to choose where to do the search and a "Search" button to perform the search.

All fields can be erased with the "Remove" button when the information is marked but also backspace and delete on the keyboard will work.

The last name input-field

The "Last name" input-field has a direct manipulated search function that will do last name matching letter by letter when searching the address book. The application "jumps" to and marks the first matched person in the A-Ö register when typing a letter. For example when typing "a" the first person with last name beginning with "a" will be marked. If the next typed letter is "n" the first person with last name beginning with "an" will be marked. This function does only work in the last name field because the A-Ö register is sorted by last name and it is no meaning to have it in the two other search-input fields. This function in the last name field enables easy and fast search for persons in the address book. If the user search the Campus server with thousands of persons stored, the "Search" button has to be used. The search result will be displayed in the search result field. It is also possible to use combinations of the input-fields to get a more exact search result when doing a search.

The first name input-field

The "First name" field has no direct manipulation and must be activated with the "Search" button. The main idea to have this input field is, as mentioned above to get a better search result when searching the Campus server. If for example a search is made for Svensson there will be hundreds of search hits but when searching for the combination Arne Svensson there will only be some search hits. It will also be comfortable to search the address book for just a first name. There will not be too many search hits because the address book usually doesn't contain thousand of persons.

The person attribute search input-field

The person attribute search input-field has a pull down menu with several possible search attributes. It has no direct manipulation and the "Search" button must be used.

The user has to choose a person attribute before he performs the search. Searching for a Nickname, E-mail address or a Telephone number is straightforward and will therefore not be further explained. Searching for an Address without for example street number will give all persons registered with that street. This can be good when the user only know in which street a person lives. Doing a search using the Misc. field-input corresponds to a text search for key words and categories in the misc. field in the address book. This kind of search will be useful if for example the user wants to know which persons who own a boat. He can simply search for boat in the misc. input-field. All persons with a boat will be listed in the search result field. When searching for a Group, the search result window will show all persons included in that group. It can be very useful to search the group attribute together with first or last name. For example, if the user has forgotten the person's last name and wants to limit the search he can write the group name and first name to find the wanted person.

The search button and where to search

Before clicking the "Search" button the user has to decide if he wants to search in the Address book or in the Campus server. The choice is made in the pull down menu shown here below.

The default setting will be the address book so that no searches will be performed by mistake in the Campus server.

The search result field

This chapter provides a general introduction to the search result field and a description of what information it displays and what the user can do with it.

All search results is displayed in the search result field and the info bar will give the user information of the search status. The header column information is the same as in the A-Ö register, last name, first name, nickname, address, telephone and group. The order of the columns will depend on what the user search for. The third column will always display the information searched for in the person attribute input-field. The default setting is the same order as in the A-Ö register if searching for last or first name. The user can dynamically adjust the columns so that all fields or just a few can be viewed. If for example the user has made a search for last name Karlsson all persons with that name will be displayed but also alternative spelling results. Karlsson can be spelled as follows, Karlson, Carlsson and Carlson. All alternatives will also be displayed in the search result field with the same information as in the A-Ö register. The search result field is static. That means that all information from a search will always be displayed until the user removes them or performs a new search. If the user marks a person he will also be marked in the A-Ö register if he is stored in it. Marking gives the user a possibility to detach one or several persons from the search result with the "Remove" button. The functionality of a double click in the search result field is to mark all persons in it. All persons can then be detached from the field with the "Remove" button as mentioned before. It is also possible to get all information of a marked person if "Info" button is pressed (see the button chapter; New button). That would be useful when searching in the misc. field because the misc. field is not displayed in the search result field. The result of a misc. search is displayed in the same usual way as a normal name search. It is possible to drag and drop persons from the search result field into the A-Ö register or to the contact list.

The contact list

This chapter provides a general introduction to the contact list and a description of the functions it supports.

The layout of the contact list is similar to the search result field. The header column information is different and is the following, group, last name, first name, telephone and e-mail. The user can organize the order of the fields and it is possible to dynamically adjust the columns so that all fields or just a few can be viewed. The contact list is static. This means that all persons and groups selected to the field will be displayed until the user removes them. That is comfortable for the user if he wants to call or e-mail the selected persons or groups several times. Marking gives the user a possibility to detach one or several persons from the contact field with the "Remove" button. If double clicking in the search result field all persons will be marked and can be removed with the "Remove" button. When selecting persons and groups from the A-Ö register or from the search result field the "Add to contact list" button is used. The marked persons and groups will then be copied into the contact list field. It is also possible to drag and drop persons into or from the contact list. If a person for example has several e-mail addresses the user has to select the wanted e-mail address. It is also possible to send the message to all of the person's e-mail addresses. Selecting all of the persons email addresses can perform this. The person will then be shown in several rows with different e-mail addresses in the Contact list. All persons and groups in the contact list will be called or e-mailed when pressing the phone or the mail button. It is therefore possible to combine persons and groups to contact.

Menus and shortcuts

This chapter provides a general introduction to the menus and a description of the functions they support and how to operate them with shortcuts. Shortcuts are implemented for advanced users that want to use the keyboard instead of a button in the main window.

The file menu

The "File" menu consists of the following fields.

New has the same function as the "New" button, creating a new person or a group. The shortcut is Alt + N.

Import person and Export person is used to transfer person data between two address book applications. The sender marks one or several persons and chooses export in the file menu. The address book creates a file with the selected persons that can for example be e-mailed to the receiver. The receiver can then import the file with persons to his address book. It is also possible to drag and drop the file into the address book. Import person has the shortcut Alt + O and Export person has the shortcut Alt + S. Print has the same function as the "Print" button. The shortcut is Alt + P. Configure page is for setting up a document for printing. The shortcut is Shift + Alt + P. Close is for closing the address book application. The shortcut is Alt + W.

The edit menu

The "Edit" menu consists of the following fields.

Undo is used for regretting a certain action. The shortcut is Alt + U.

Cut is used for cutting out person attribute text, for example the last name Andersson. The shortcut is Alt + X. Copy is for copying person attributes. The shortcut is Alt +C. Paste is used to paste the content that was copied or cut out with the copy or cut function. The shortcut is Alt + V. Remove has the same function as the "Remove" button, delete one or several persons or groups. The shortcut is Alt + R.

The search menu

The search menu consists of the following field.

Search has the same function as the "Search" button, i.e. perform a search. The shortcut is Alt + E.

The person menu

The "Person" menu consists of the following fields.

Info has the same function as the "Info" button, get all information of a person or group. The shortcut is Alt + I. Update has the same function as the update button, update a persons attributes from Campus server. The shortcut is Alt + D. Add to address book has the same function as the "Add to address book" button, adding persons from search result field. The shortcut is Alt + A

The group menu

The "Group" menu consists of the following field.

Add to group has the same function as the "Add to group" button, i.e. adding a person to a group. The shortcut is Alt + G

The contact menu

The "Contact" menu consists of the following fields.

Phone has the same function as the "Phone" button, call persons or groups from contact list. The shortcut is Alt + K. Mail has the same function as the "Mail" button, e-mail persons or groups from contact list. The shortcut is Alt + M. Add to contact list has the same function as the "Add to contact list" button, adding persons or groups to contact list. The shortcut is Alt + T

The help menu

The "Help" menu consists of the following fields.

Help is for getting help about the application. It will be an electronic user manual where all functions and layout will be presented. It will look like this appendix but distributed electronically within the application. The shortcut is Alt + H. Contact Campus Helpdesk is an e-mail function to get help from the Campus engineers. The user can ask questions about advanced problems he can't understand. The shortcut is Alt + L. The About the address book is a proper credit to the developers of this application. The shortcut is Alt + B.

Error messages and alerts

There will be some alerts when the user tries to do an action that the application can't handle or to ensure that the user really want to do the activity he tries to do.

Some examples of such actions are;

Trying to call a person with no telephone number filled in. The user will encounter the following pop up window.

Trying to e-mail a person with no e-mail address filled in. The user will encounter the following pop up window.

Removing a selected person. The user will encounter the following pop up window.

When updating info and the Campus server isn't available the address book will inform the user with this message.

The info bar

The info bar presents information of buttons, fields and actions. For example if the cursor points at the "New" button the info bar will have this message; "The New button creates a person or a group". If the cursor points at the last name search field the info bar will have this message; "Fill in the Last name field to search the address book". If Jens Johansson is added to the address book, the info bar will have this message; "Jens Johansson was added to the address book".

Stylus input

This chapter provides a general introduction to the stylus-input window and a brief description of the functions available

When the user wants to write a name in the "Last name" field with the stylus pen. The following window will pop up. It appears when the stylus is put in the "Last name" field. Since the application might have problems interpreting the written text the user must be able to see the interpretation. The interpreted word can be viewed in the ordinary "Last name" field. If the interpretation is correct the "OK" button is clicked and the search is performed. The window will be closed if the user doesn't click "Clear" and writes in the field again.
(the stylus input window is the only interface component that wasn't implemented in the prototype)


Credits: We would like to thank Brian Tietz for the excellent ColumnListView in his "Santa's gift bag" and Be Inc. for the Be OS operating system which both have made this prototype fun and easy to develop. Thanks!

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