MercuryNotes User Manual - Thorcom Systems Limited
Contents
1. Set high priority If the Outboxis congested with a large number of pend ing messages for example a large group message is in progress then you can set this option to push the message immediately to the front of the queue 3 4 2 Send New Status Message Click this button at any time when Messaging View is active to activate the Send Status Message Dialog as shown below Ta Make this a priority message Status Call Back 4 Where A LI Travelling Cancel More ptam Page 15 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM Status messaging is a service offered on most digital networks to allow very small very fast status signifiers to be sent on the network which have a system specific meaning These status numbers are then mapped at the mobile and HQ ends of the system into specific fixed messages for example the messages shown above include Call Back Where R U and Travelling which are very convenient for remote worker systems The details of selecting recipients for the message and the advanced options for status messages are similar to those for text messages above 3 4 2 1 Selecting the Status Message To select which status to send from the options available select the recipients for the message first then use the scroll bar to the right of the status buttons to scroll through the options available until the desired status is displayed Then simply click that button to send the status to the Outbox Cl2. Use this button to add an individual contact to your MercuryNotes ad dress book When you click this button the a f Contact Dialog will be displayed as follows Edit Address Joe Bloggs xi Recipient Details Enter the contact details in the fields below and check those entries you wish to appear in the Select Recipients Dialog You must select at least one entry to appear and note that the Name field is always displayed in the message logs v Name Joe Blogs V Telephone 07799521785 Company Name Bogssin E Mail fioe bloggs com Other Notes i a charismatic chap Provider Choose the Provider through which messages to this recipient will be sent Select Default to send the messages through whichever provider is set as default at the time the message is sent Select Provider Default Default Message Rules Some rules are available only on some provider types if some or all of the options below are disabled try selecting a different provider for this contact Report when messages to this recipient are received Report when messages to this recipient are read Page 21 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 4 4 1 1 Recipient Details This group of controls allows you to specify a selection of basic information about this recipient including their name telephone number used by MercuryNotes to send messages to the contact company name E mail wil
3. Windows functions and P are easily memorable Pressing one of these keys at any time when MercuryNotes is active on screen will activate the shortcut cause a brief confirmation dialog to be displayed and then send F the message to the recipients listed in this dialog To configure a shortcut enter its text in the appropriate edit field and then either enter the intended F recipients by hand into the recipi ents field or click the Aecipients button to display the normal Se lect Recipients Dialog and choose the contacts and or groups from your address book that should receive the message Once you have made your changes click App y or OK to make them permanent Page 31 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 6 1 1 Shortcut Recipients Many of the same caveats that apply elsewhere in MercuryNotes apply to the mes sage shortcut function The most critical is the entry of the recipients for each shortcut MercuryNotes will parse the recipient list each time the message is sent and will only add a recipient to the Outbox queue if either the recipient name is found in the current address book or a telephone number is manually specified Note No warnings are displayed if any of the recipients are in error You should be careful not to add a contact from your address book and then delete that contact at a later date without updating your shortcuts 6 1 2 Shortcut Activation and the SysTray MercuryNotes relies on m
4. encouraged to fully configure the status file for their application see section 6 for more details Time The time the message was sent or received Progress Applicable to outgoing messages only this column keeps you up to date on the progress of the message through MercuryNotes and on the network A single message can go through a wide variety of states as it is sent 3 2 The Messages Messages in the message list fall into two broad categories individual messages and group messages Individual messages are those where single recipients are selected from the contacts in your address book while group messages are those sent to groups in the address book in turn made up of one or more individuals Page 11 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM In terms of the display group messages will appear with a small expansion button in the leftmost margin of the list Clicking this button toggles the group message between collapsed and expanded views where all of the individual messages which make up that group delivery are displayed When expanded those child messages can be selected themselves and retried if desired In addition a small icon is shown with each message denoting its type individual text individual status or group message Ll r r Neil Burton Package has been delivered 17711 09 30 Simon Cliftan Message Recelwed 17711 09 32 4521910 Please call in immediately 1741 09 38 Test Mobile 1 Respond if r
5. entire group message again you must select individual messages from within that group Note also that only the root message of a multi message selection will be retried if you click this button with more than one message selected the root message appears as a darker selection than the other messages in the selection and is the first message selected Page 17 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 3 4 4 Delete Selected Message z Once a message is archived in one of the messaging views it must be removed manually by using the De ete Selected Message button Select ing a message or group of messages and clicking this button irrevoca bly deletes those messages from whatever message view is active MercuryNotes can be configured to display one or more warnings during this action see section 6 Note that you cannot delete a group message by deleting its child messages to delete the message you must delete the group header which appears in the message list with the expand collapse button If you select any children of a group message the Delete button is disabled Page 18 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 4 Address Book View Yi MercuryNotes xj Address Book EME Contacts Simon Clifton El amp Individuals 4 Neil Burton Number 4490009 EA Company Thorcom Systems Ltd Test Mobile 1 E Mail sales thorcom com L E Test Mobile 2 Notes X Mone 4 Groups Provider Default H A All At Thorcom 2 1 4 Neil Bu
6. have selected your bearer and network option you will be prompted to configure the physical connection to that provider serial port or LAN WAN and then asked for some further generic provider information as follows 5 3 1 2 Add Provider Wizard Bearer Options x General Provider Options Further data used by MercuryNotes to manage your providers m Message Attributes Some of these options may be grayed out if MercuryNotes is able to determine them based on the type of bearer you have chosen Maximum message size in bytes 120 v Apply a minimum time between messages of E second s General Attributes Name of provider e g Tetra SDS Dolphin Backup Additional notes if any u only if default provider fails r Default Provider Set this provider as the default MercuryNotes provider lt Back Cancel Help These options mark the final step in creating your provider and configure some basic information about the provider in your MercuryNotes database You will find that some of the options on this page for example the Message Attributes op tions in the diagram opposite may be greyed out depending on the type of pro vider you are configuring and the variant of the MercuryNotes application you have purchased In these cases those options are considered fixed for the new provider and not user definable 5 3 1 2 1 Message Attributes Maximum message size This is
7. intended to provide the first level of advice for users experiencing difficulties getting their copy of MercuryNotes to send and receive messages All users should make sure that they have carefully read this section and executed whatever suggestions seem appropriate before contacting their product vendor for further support 7 1 Providers Q m trying to configure a provider but MercuryNotes refuses to let me select the right bearer option A The current version of MercuryNotes only offers support for local Tetra connec tions although it has been designed and has much of the implementation needed for supporting many other bearers and networks Future free upgrades will incor porate additional provider types Q want to turn off the message delays but they re greyed out A You have a copy of the application specifically designed to incorporate fixed options for your provider Unless you choose a different provider type these op tions will remain inaccessible sorry Q I ve configured a local provider but the connection status in the Providers View permanently says Connection is down What can cause this A Many things Check the following You have selected the correct COM port and the right connection speed for your network device for all Tetra devices this is 9600 baud The device is plugged in and switched on e You are using an approved cable probably supplied with your device The device s extern
8. using a differ ent COM port or disabling your internal modem Ensure you have selected the correct type of device Some provider op tions Tetra among them require you to select which manufacturer and make of radio you have connected to your provider check the Providers View for information on which device you have selected While different kinds of hardware may operate on the same network the interfaces to them are quite different Q Every message that send fails with No provider found A You haven t configured any providers Either that or you have deleted a pro vider recently and one or more of your address book entries still refers to the old provider Check your address book configuration Page 38 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 7 2 Messaging Q lve configured the contacts in my address book to ask for one or both of the reports by default yet the New Message dialogs don t have those options checked A Because a single message can go out to multiple recipients via multiple provid ers the options in the Mew Message dialogs are used as over rides for all recipi ents to that message The options are only applied a ferthe message is sent Q didn t selected any reports in the Send New Message dialog but I still got them in A The recipient in question has those options checked in the address book con figuration Q The Select Recipients Dialog s t showing me the information need to choose who
9. 10838 Sent P A Test Mobile 1 Respond if receiving 17 11 09 39 Q E3 Test Mobile 2 Respond if receiving 17 110938 Sent E Simon Clifton Enter your message here 177 11 09 39 Received 88 Neil Burton Where A U 17 11 09 40 Sent E Simon Clifton Enter your message here 17 11 09 41 Failed To Test Mobile 1 Date Friday 17 Now 09 39 37 Msg Status Delivered to network Respond if receiving Elema Exit Hide Page 6 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM The MercuryNotes display is split into several identifiable areas and windows These windows are updated as the user interacts with the application General Toolbar This area contains functions which are permanently avail able including controls to activate all of MercuryNotes different views Inbox Outbox Sent Items Address Book and Providers as well as access to the configuration dialogs e View Tools This toolbar varies depending on which view is currently ac tive For example when either the Inbox Outbox or Sent Items views are displayed the Messaging Toolbar is displayed allowing the user to send retry or delete messages Work Area This is the main window of MercuryNotes and displays which ever view is currently selected e System Icon By clicking on this icon you can display the MercuryNotes About box and or update the software from a trial into a full version Control Buttons Using these buttons you can close MercuryNotes com plete
10. MercuryNotes User Manual For Version 2 00 Document Number 100 00190 lud Revision 1 00 fie ET EH S LTE MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM Copyright 2000 by Thorcom Systems Limited ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This document may not be copied in part or in whole stored on magnetic tape or disc or in an informa tion retrieval system or used in any way without permission from the publisher The information contained in this document has been carefully checked and is believed to be accurate and reliable however no responsibility is assumed for inaccuracies Thorcom Systems Limited reserve the right to make changes to this document and the associated product in line with its policy of contin ued improvement Thorcom Systems Limited does not assume any responsibility for direct or conse quential damage to or loss of property or income through the use or inability to use this product The equipment described in this document must be installed operated and maintained in accordance with the written procedures described herein and should not be used for any purpose that involves the safety of life or limb and should not form any part of a life support system Details and descriptions of the product methodology and design supplied in this documentation are considered part of the product and are covered by the manufacturer s Intellectual Property Rights Information provided in this documentation is to allow the customer to use install and main
11. Messaging archives Inbox Outbox Sent Items Address book and group membership data Provider details Other details such as run time configuration of MercuryNotes options are held either in local files or the Windows registry 3 Messaging View MercuryNotes makes the best use of available workspace by swapping the main window between multiple view types To change view types simply press the appro priate button in the General Toolbar the View Toolbar may change to reflect the tools offered by the new view and the main window will update to show you the new workspace Messaging View incorporates three separate displays These include the Inbox Outbox and Sent Items displays all sharing common workspaces and tools The main workspace is occupied by two windows the message list and the message view and is shown in the diagram below To Message Time Progress E3 Neil Burton Package has been delivered 17 11 09 30 Sent E3 Simon Clifton Message Received 17 11 09 32 Sent E3 4521910 Please call in immediately 17 11 09 38 Sent f Test Mobile 1 Respond if receiving 17 11 09 39 5 ES Test Mobile 2 Respond if receiving 17 11 09 39 Sent E3 Simon Clifton Enter your message here 17 11 09 39 Received 28 Neil Burton Where A U 17 11 09 40 Sent E3 Simon Clifton Enter your message here 17 11 08 41 Failed 104 Address Book To Test Mobile 1 Date Friday 17 Nov 09 39 37 Msg Status Delivered to network Respond
12. al interface is active For D700 s enter the Setup menu click 4 twice and make sure the External Dev Setting is On If it isn t set it to On then click Ok e If all else fails use Windows yperTerminal or a similar terminal program Page 37 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM to ping the COM port to which you have attached your network device Type AT then the enter key The device should respond with OK If it doesn t then you have one of the errors mentioned above or another hardware configuration problem outside of MercuryNotes control Q Pve configured a local provider but MercuryNotes keeps warning me that it was unable to open the connection with the selected parameters A This may be caused by a COM port conflict if another application has opened the COM port the provider is configured to use Make sure that MercuryNotes is not sharing the COM port with any other programs or that you have not accidentally tried to run more than one copy of MercuryNotes simultaneously Q My connection Is up according to the Providers View but every message I send times out or fails A Again many things can cause this problem MercuryNotes may have been fooled by another device into believing it has a connection If you have for example a modem attached internally or externally to your PC it will react in a very similar way to MercuryNotes link checking protocol as a network radio or hand held Try
13. applied to all messages directed to them These rules will over ride the advanced message options offered by the new message dialogs and are applied just before the mes sage is sent If you have selected a provider which does not support some or all of the options offered they will be greyed out Note that if you select the default provider for this Page 22 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM recipient the options will not be greyed out and yet may not be supported by the current default provider when the message is sent In these cases the message rules will be ignored 4 4 2 Add New Group add a new group based on the contacts in your address book This Pressing this button will display the a Group Dialog allowing you to dialog is shown below Edit Group Test Group 1 xj Details Mame Test Group 1 Mates is a best group ignore amp Hei Burton 4490005 Simon Clifton 4490009 amp Test Mobile 2 Test Mobile 144521910 Cancel 4 4 2 1 Group Details the group and incorporate whatever additional information you may feel Much like the individual recipient details these fields allow you to name is appropriate You must enter at least a name for the group 4 4 2 2 Members Similarly to the Select Recipients Dialog this dialog presents two windows with the one on the left showing the individual contacts in your address book and the one Page 23 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM
14. can view the full text and details of the message in the message window at the bottom of the view The message window will display the following details e To From Shows the same details as the message list above Date The full date and time of the message Msg Status The current state of the message in MercuryNotes or on the network This entry will show a lot more detail than its equivalent column in the message list for example while the message list may display Failed the message window may say Failed Unregistered destination Message text The full text of the message 3 4 The Messaging Toolbar The messaging toolbar is displayed when any of the message views are active and gives the user access to general text and status messaging 3 4 1 Send New Text Message Click this button at any time when Messaging View is active to show the Send Text Message Dialog as shown below To Neil Burton 4521 907 v Report when message s Please respond to this message received Report when message s read Set high priority 31 characters Cancel More Dptions This dialog can be considered split into two segments the basic functions on the left of the vertical divider and the advanced options shown to the right The ad vanced options are activated by clicking the More Options button in the bottom right of the basic dialog Page 13 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM To select the recip
15. eceiving 17711 09 39 Test Mobile 2 Respond if receiving 17 11 03 33 teo c3 n iD ur a tm Ln d Simon Clifton Enter your message here 1741 09 39 Received Neil Burton Where A LI 17711 09 40 Sent Simon Clifton Enter yaur message here 17 11 09 4 Failed All At Tharcam This is a graup message 17411 09 59 Complete Neil Burton Thiz is a group message 17411 09 59 Received El Simon Cliftan This is a group message 17411 09 59 Sent In the diagram above you can see a typical display including e Six successful text messages to various recipients e A multi message selection of four messages the top one of which is the root message this has an impact on the UI see later sections e A successful status message sent to an individual contact Where R U A failed text message sent to an individual contact An expanded group message consisting of two child messages one of which has been received These are typical of the kind of messages which will be shown in all of the messag ing views In general the following display rules are used e Text messages are shown in black e Status messages are shown in blue Failed messages any type are shown in red Group messages are shown in magenta Group child messages are highlighted in grey Unread Inbox messages are shown in bold Page 12 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 3 3 The Message Window By selecting any of the messages in the messaging views you
16. ent pertaining to any mes sage This includes the point the message was sent as well as any outcomes that MercuryNotes is configured to request Some messages therefore will have multi ple entries in the log file and can be matched by using the message id field as described below This is a necessary regime as the Tetra network only supports 255 unique sequence numbers and MercuryNotes leaves external developers the task of verifying a later message result against an earlier message Page 33 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM The format of a single message log record is as follows Where time of message ANSI gt time of message ASCll gt message ID gt lt destination source address gt lt message text gt message state gt time of message ANS is a time t value indicating the time of the mes sage in seconds since 1970 a familiar measure to most programmers e g 964540562 For any message this is always the PC time that the message was received time of message ASCI is a simple hhmmss record of the time of the message All times in this format are relative to the day of the log file e g 164501 is equal to 4 45 and 1 second pm of the day of the log file See the time of message ANSI field above for further notes on time logging message Dis a number in the range 0 254 indicating the network ID of the message this record refers to For status messages this is always zero 000 add
17. ercuryNotes clients the full range of options available with the likes of a Tetra connection above but in a client server architecture allowing multiple messaging terminals to use the same network equipment Providers of this type con nect to MercuryServer across a LAN local area network or WAN wide area network using the TCP IP protocol so you will be asked for the name of the messaging server or its IP address as well as extra login information used to authenticate users on the system GSM This is a well established European digital telephone network of fered by companies such as Vodafone Orange and British Telecom With a GSM provider you connect to a local GSM transceiver such as the Sie mens M20 in much the same way as with a Tetra device via a COM port and send and receive messages on the GSM network using that local device GSM providers don t offer as much functionality as Tetra providers however the scope and predominance of the network more than compen sates Other SNPP The Simple Network Paging Protocol is a publicly available protocol which defines the interaction between a generic messaging or paging server on a LAN or WAN and the clients that connect to it While a SNPP provider is the most limited of all the bearer options open to Mer curyNotes it is an open protocol offered by most messaging servers in cluding those run by PageOne Page 28 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM Once you
18. hown This will vary provider to provider but is generally a good indicator of whether or not messages can be routed through this provider In the diagram Operating normally indicates that the pro vider is ready to route messages Additionally other provider attributes such as maximum message size and mini mum time between messages and any other details configured through the Add Provider Wizard see section below will be displayed in short form 5 3 The Providers Toolbar Through this toolbar you can add a provider remove an existing provider and make any of the providers you have configured the default message route 5 3 1 Add Provider Use this button to add and configure a new provider option to Mer curyNotes You will need to add at least one provider to be able to send and receive messages through the MercuryNotes application Clicking this button will display the Add Provider Wizard a context sensitive se quence of dialog boxes that will vary depending on the options you choose for your provider For all providers the following information will need to be entered Network Bearer type for example Dolphin Tetra GSM Paging server Connection attributes for example COM port number and baud rate for serial connections or the host name of the server for LAN connections General provider attributes such as maximum message size and mini mum message delay Some of these option dialogs for example tho
19. icking on the status button closes the dialog and launches the message to the selected recipients there is no specific Send button of the type contained by the Send Text Message Dialog above 3 4 2 2 Configuring Status Messages By default MercuryNotes comes configured with a straightforward set of status numbers mapped to Dolphin Tetra specific status values However users are free to configure their status mapping to suit their own system This is achieved by means of the simple status ini file which can be found in the MercuryNotes installation directory The ini file is a very simple text file which can be edited with any text editor such as Notepad and consists of several blocks of keys one block per status which are read by MercuryNotes at initialisation and installed into the Send Status Dialog An example of a single status block is Statusl Val 36864 Desc Call Back Here you can see the following components Edit or replicate these components at your leisure to change the behaviour of existing status options or add new ones Page 16 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM to the file e Header Status1 Each status block must start with a header entry which is an incremental header for each status e Status Value Val 36864 Simply insert the appropriate status value here Description Call Back This is the textual description which will appear in the Send New Status Dialog and in the messaging lists
20. ients for your message you can either enter their names or numbers directly into the To field or alternatively click the 7o button to show the Select Recipients Dialog and select the entries from your address book see sec tion below Multiple recipients should be separated by a semi colon as shown in the earlier diagram 3 4 1 1 The Se ect Recipients Dialog This dialog is displayed at various points in the application when you need to de cide to whom a text or status message should be sent Select Recipients For Message x d Test Mobile 174521910 dh Neil Burton 4490005 amp Test Mobile 2 amp Simon Clifton 4490008 dh All At Thorcom 2 1 The leftmost window of this dialog will display all of the contacts individuals and groups in your address book The right hand window will display those recipients you have selected to receive this message The number of details displayed per recipient are configured in the corresponding address book entry for example some entries may show name and number others may show just name To move recipients from the left to the right use the Add Recipient Remove Re cipient Add All Recipients and Remove Al Recipients buttons in the centre of the dialog Alternatively double clicking any entry will move it to the opposite window Once you have decided on the recipients for your message click OK The names selected will then appear in the ofield of the message window from which you invo
21. if receiving Page 10 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 3 1 The Message List The message list is a freely scrolling list box which contains all of the messages currently residing in the selected view Messages remain in this view until they are manually deleted by using the Delete Message button in the Messaging Toolbar and may be updated automatically by MercuryNotes to reflect their most recent status For example messages in the Sent Items view may be updated when the recipient receives or reads the message if the appropriate options have been selected and if the provider supports the functions For more information on the options of fered by MercuryNotes providers refer to section 5 All three of the messaging views share the same message list layout split into several columns as follows To From This column shows either the recipient of the message if sent from MercuryNotes or alternatively the sender of the message if it has been received into the Inbox Note that MercuryNotes will automatically insert the address book contact corresponding to the message s tele phone number if it finds the number in its address book subject to certain limitations Message The message text If this is a status message MercuryNotes will insert the text configured in the status ini file which corresponds to this status number if it finds an entry otherwise it will display the status number as being unknown Users are
22. in your copy of MercuryNotes this option will automatically be checked and greyed out meaning that the default provider al ways exists if there are any providers configured at all Page 30 THORCOM MercuryNotes User Manual 6 Other MercuryNotes Features MercuryNotes has separate features aside from its core functions these are described below 6 1 Message Shortcuts In order to enable MercuryNotes users to send pre defined messages to any num ber of recipients a message shortcut system is implemented Such shortcuts are useful if MercuryNotes is installed for example in a system where emergency messages or signals to remote crews are needed without the user overhead of opening a new message selecting its recipients and entering the message text Message shortcuts are edited using the MercuryNotes Configuration Dialog which is accessed from the General Toolbar E er oue General Options Message Shortcuts keys available F5 through F8 These have been selected be MercuryNotes offers four quick shortcuts to predefined messages using the keys F5 F8 Configure these shortcuts below F5 Shortcut F6 Shortcut Recipients Test Mobile 2 Message Test Message 1 Recipients Nei Burton Message fT est Message 2 r F7 Shortcut Recipients fall At Thorcom Message Test Message 3 F8 Shortcut Mese 1 Recipients F cause they are not reserved by any critical
23. ked the Select Recipients Dialog In effect this is exactly the same process as typing those names manually into the ofield but far more convenient You are free to edit the names once they have been added to the ofield and remove or add further entries if you need to but you should be aware that MercuryNotes will re scan the recipients list when you attempt to actually send the message and any Page 14 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM changes you have made may cause those recipients to fail when they are not subsequently found in the address book database 3 4 1 2 Other Messaging Options When sending a text message you have several additional options open to you which can be accessed by clicking the More Options button and displaying the advanced options window Report when messages received If the network supports this option messages in both the Outbox and Sent tems will be updated in real time to reflect the fact that they have been received by their intended recipient Users should note that activating this option may have billing implications on certain networks and also that the options selected for the message as a whole may be over ridden by the attributes of the individual recipi ents Report when messages read The message is updated when the recipient reads or consumes the message This option is only available on some networks and is subject to the same caveats as the Report Received option above
24. l be a hot link in the Address Book View and any other additional notes you may wish to add about this contact The checkboxes to the left of the edit fields allow you to customise the display of these details in the Select Recipients Dialog Whichever items are checked will be displayed as part of the entry for that recipient This feature is included for exam ple to allow operators to perhaps specify the registration number of the vehicle this contact is assigned to and display only that detail in the Select Recipients Dialog You must select at least one item to be displayed Note also that the minimum details required for a single recipient are their name and telephone number 4 4 1 2 Provider Fach recipient in your address book must specify the provider option it is to use to send messages The default option is always Default which means that mes sages to this recipient will be sent to whichever provider is marked as the default at the time the message is sent note that this may mean that if you have multiple providers configured you cannot necessarily predict which provider will be used You will be able to add entries which use the default provider even if you haven t yet configured any providers into MercuryNotes However messages to such re cipients will fail No provider found until a default provider is added 4 4 1 3 Default Message Rules Individual contacts can also specify some default message rules which are
25. ly or alternatively hide it out of sight in the Windows SysTray until you need it Page 7 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 2 MercuryNotes Concepts MercuryNotes v2 introduces several new features above and beyond its predeces sor These are described in detail below 2 1 Providers Version 1 00 MercuryNotes was a standalone application that connected directly to a COM port and Tetra device This suited the initial needs of the product as a simple messaging terminal for Dolphin Tetra systems However as the application user base expanded it soon became apparent that there was a strong need to bring the program into a more scaleable model Much like accounts in standard e mail packages MercuryNotes providers are connection points into and out of the application through which messages can be sent and received These providers are network independent MercuryNotes will quickly support messaging on GSM internet paging trunking and other networks Providers should be considered the route through which messages are transferred to the radio network all address book contacts will then specify which of the avail able providers or alternatively the special default provider should be used to send messages to that recipient Any number of providers can be configured to run simultaneously in a single in stance of MercuryNotes Any and all messages received are routed into the Inbox for later viewing 2 1 1 Providers and Clien
26. messaging gateways including MercuryServer Thorcom s own messaging server GSM and legacy trunked radio networks Section 5 describes the configuration of multiple providers in MercuryNotes Page 5 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 1 3 The MercuryNotes Interface MercuryNotes is a dialog based application which can be minimised to the Win dows SysTray normally at the bottom right hand side of the screen near the clock on the start bar when not in use It can then be configured to pop back into the foreground whenever a new message is received The basic display remains consistent throughout although the main window will change to reflect the view which is currently selected by the user MercuryNotes supports several different views as follows Inbox showing received messages e Outbox showing pending messages which have yet to be sent Sent Items showing messages which have been sent or otherwise failed due to some error Address Book showing all of the individual contacts and groups which have been configured into MercuryNotes Providers showing an overview of the different connections available to MercuryNotes to send and receive messages The diagram below shows the basic display MEE E I x Sent Items S2 To Message Time Progress E E3 Neil Burton Package has been delivered 17 11 09 30 Sent E Simon Clifton Message Received 177 11 09 32 Sent E3 4521310 Please call in immediately 177
27. nd how many out of those are defined as critical members Expanding a group entry reveals the individual contacts which make up that group with critical members shown as having a red icon To edit a group or individual click the Edit Contact button in the Address Book Toolbar or alternatively double click the entry 4 3 The Information Pane Selecting any contact in your address book individual or group will display the contact details in this window Contact details are introduced or amended using the Edit Contact and Edit Group dialogs 4 3 1 Individual Information The following items are held in the address book for an individual contact Name of contact Telephone number of contact network dependent Company name e Common e mail clicking on this e mail will launch your default e mail package to send an e mail to this contact Additional notes Name of provider may be the name of a specific provider or alternatively default indicating that messages to this contact should use whichever provider is currently the default provider Page 20 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 4 3 2 Group Information The following information is displayed for each group Name of group Additional notes for that group Member information for that group 4 4 The Address Book Toolbar Using the functions on this toolbar you can add remove or edit contacts in your address book 4 4 1 Add New Contact
28. ntormation Pale yesh o aep i t Ov thre nents 25 5 9 Ihe Providers TOODA dana 26 6 Other MercuryMNotes Gat es idad 31 6l Message noia 31 0 2 Merry Notes LO aaa tad 32 7 INOUDIESINOO saab 37 Rupe m 27 AMES despide ttc tetto Prin duda adds 39 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 1 Introduction Welcome to Thorcom MercuryNotes the text and status messaging application for use on digital radio networks MercuryNotes offers users a concise and intuitive interface for sending and receiv ing text and where supported by the network status messages to and from remote handsets elsewhere on the network It uses a familiar messaging interface to provide comprehensive archive displays address book functions and multi provider services for messaging on a wide variety of networks and infrastructures and can operate as a background task notifying users only when a message has arrived 1 1 MercuryNotes Features MercuryNotes supports the following key features Two way messaging with remote recipients Comprehensive database managed message archiving Full address book functions Group call capability Multi provider services e Support for Motorola and Simoco Tetra devices 1 2 Initial Network Support MercuryNotes supports the new Tetra network out of the box but has been de signed to be easily extensible with multiple provider types over multiple networks Future free upgrades will add support for internet served
29. on the right displaying those contacts you have selected for this group Use the Add Group member Remove Group Member Add All Members and Remove All Members buttons to edit the contacts in the group The check button at the bottom of the dialog is the Make Critical Member toggle and applies to whatever members are selected in the right hand window By tog gling members as critical you force MercuryNotes to always check the status of messages sent to those recipients for completion Group messages which include critical members will always be marked as Incomplete until all critical members have received the message 4 4 3 Edit Contact Press this button when a contact or group is selected and you will be able to edit the details of that group using either the Edit Contact or Edit Group dialogs 4 4 4 Delete Contact This button will delete whichever contact or group is currently selected a from the address book This action is unrecoverable so take great care when using it a warning is displayed Users should note that selecting a group member in the contact tree and then deleting it will delete that contact from the database completely not just from the group Also note that any changes made to the tree are dispatched throughout the address book automatically for example deleting an individual contact will also delete that contact from any groups of which it is a member Page 24 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 5 Provider
30. onitoring certain hot keys to determine when a message shortcut should be activated However it can only monitor keystrokes if it is active on the Windows desktop If MercuryNotes is minimised to the SysTray as it can be when not in use message shortcuts wi not function Users who rely on the short cuts should ensure that operators are aware of this limitation 6 2 MercuryNotes Logging For customers who wish to monitor the throughput of messages via MercuryNotes the application implements several distinct logging regimes as described below Those records maintained in the MercuryNotes database see below are not kept in a human readable format although the information is contained in a fairly intui tive layout The exact format of these message records is outside the scope of this document but Thorcom may be able to offer assistance to external developers wishing to write their own analysis tools for this data 6 2 1 Database Logging This is permanently activated and logs all incoming and outgoing messages to the Message Logtable in the MercuryNotes database This logging does not include outcomes for those messages or reports delivered later from the network it is intended to include a one to one relationship between records in the table and Page 32 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM messages passed through MercuryNotes This is in direct contrast to the text logging facility described below Note also that the nbox Outb
31. ox and Sent temstables are an implicit message log in that they record the movement of messages and their states read re ceived failed etc through MercuryNotes However messages deleted from the messaging views are also deleted from these tables making them a less perma nent log Future upgrades to MercuryNotes will include several analysis tools allowing users to query the message logs 6 2 2 Text File Logging This facility is activated from the Genera tab of the MercuryNotes Configuration Dialog and causes MercuryNotes to maintain comma delineated text files of a simpler nature than those records in the database Customers who have imple mented logging analysis applications based on MercuryNotes version 1 should activate this facility for backward compatibility 6 2 2 1 Text File Format Journal files are maintained in separate directories in the MercuryNotes home directory specified at time of installation these directories are Inbox Log for incoming messages and Sent Items log for outgoing messages One file is main tained per day The active log file is labeled current log while all archived files are titled according to the day they represent for example the file 140400 log con tains messages for the 14th April 2000 Note that MercuryNotes will continue to archive files forever so periodic maintenance is recommended to remove old and unwanted logs The application adds a record to the log file for any ev
32. ress is the source or destination address of the message e g 4526352 message text is the full text of the message If the message is a status the text of the status map programmed in the status ini file is substituted for the status vale and an S prefixed e g Enter your message here or S Where R U message state describes the state of the message at the point of this record All outcomes are prefixed with a or indicating failure and success progress respectively see notes below Message states are prefixed by and to allow external parsers to examine as little of the outcome as possible before knowing whether it Page 34 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM indicates a positive or negative result whether they then wish to parse the entry for the textual description of the result is then up to them in most cases it will probably be unnecessary 6 2 2 2 Text Logging Configuration The MercuryNotes Configuration Dialog contains options for configuring the text file logger as follows Legacy Message Lagging In addition ta its database MercumNotes can log messages in a simple text file which external applications can parse Users taking advantage of this Facility in legacy versions of Mercunhotes should select these options v Log incoming messages Max lag file age minutes 1440 v Lag outgoing messages Max log file age minutes 1440 Using thi
33. rton ed Simon Clifton The MercuryNotes address book contains basic information on individual contacts as well as group definitions which can be used to generate group calls on net works which otherwise wouldn t support that functionality The Address Book View consists of a contact tree showing all of the contacts and groups in your address book coupled with an information pane which displays the information configured for each contact 4 1 The Contact Tree The contact tree is divided into two main branches Individuals which shows the individual contacts configured in your address book and Groups which shows the groups As you add contacts or groups to your address book they will be inserted in the appropriate place in the tree and as you update entries or change the data they contain this will also be reflected throughout the list Page 19 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM Selecting any of the entries in your address book will display the full address book data for that entry in the information pane to the right of the screen 4 2 Tree Display The information displayed for each contact varies depending on the configuration of that address book entry and the type of contact individual or group For individuals the contact tree entry shows the name of the individual only For groups the tree displays both the name of the group and extra information con cerning the members of that group number of members in total a
34. s View Wi MercuryNotes X Providers The list below shows the providers currently configured into your version of MercuryNotes Click on one of the providers to view its status or use the toolbar on the left to Add or Delete new providers Current Providers Dolphin SDS Dolphin SDS Default Port COMI Speed 9600 DICES Status Operating normally rn General Attributes Maximum text message size 120 bytes Minimum time between messages 4 seconds Tetra Specific Attributes b None Additional Notes Mone This view displays an overview of the providers you have configured in your copy of MercuryNotes as well as details on both the configuration of that provider and its current ability to pipe messages to the network 5 1 Current Providers Window This window displays one entry per provider configured in your system You can add any number of providers to your copy of MercuryNotes and each one will gain an entry in this window By selecting the provider you can view its details in the information pane 5 2 Provider Information Pane The contents of this window vary provider to provider however the same general data is displayed in all cases Page 25 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM In the previous illustration the parameters of the COM port through which the provider is operating are displayed In addition and more critically the current operational state of the provider is also s
35. s dialog you can specify whether or not to activate text file logging for both incoming and outgoing messages as well as specify the maximum age of any single journal file in minutes This latter value is set at a default of 1440 minutes 24 hours Once you have made your changes click App y or OKto make them permanent 6 2 3 SysTray Operation With limited space on a PC desktop it is often useful to be able to minimise an application and push it to background where it can run normally without other wise interfering with the display MercuryNotes offers the capability of hiding the application in the Windows SysTray which appears in the right hand corner of the standard task bar on Windows machines When hidden MercuryNotes appears as a small M icon in the SysTray If there are any outstanding messages in your Inbox which have yet to be read this icon is overlaid with a small envelope and the tool tip for the icon will change to reflect the details of the oldest outstanding message Page 35 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 6 2 3 1 SysTray Configuration The following options for configuring background operation are available to Mer curyNotes users Incoming Message Options Show MercurnNotes whenever a new message arrives Play a sound when a new message arrives Show MercuryNotes whenever a new message arrives Activate this option to have MercuryNotes pop to foreground whenever a new message arrive
36. s in the nbox The application will reactivate at the top of all the windows on your desktop Play a sound when a new message arrives Check this option to enable an audible alert when a new message arrives in your nbox You can change the sound played by replacing the notify wav file found in the MercuryNotes installation directory 6 2 4 Warnings MercuryNotes offers several options for warning the user when they are about to execute an operation which may have more serious consequences than they real ised These are as follows Warnings v Show a warning if attempting to delete unread messages vw Show a warning if attempting to delete more than one message M Show a warning if sending a message to more than 0 E recipients Show a warning if attempting to delete unread messages f activated a warning box will pop up whenever the user attempts to delete unread messages Show a warning if attempting to delete more than one message A warning box is displayed if the user attempts to delete a multi message selection Show a warning if sending to multiple recipients With the introduction of an ad dress book and the simple matter of sending a message to several people at once it is easy to dispatch many more messages to the Outboxthan was perhaps in tended The user can cancel such an operation if this warning is activated Page 36 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 7 Troubleshooting This section is
37. se used to configure serial COM port or TCP IP LAN connections are fairly self explanatory and will not be dealt with in detail here However there are various options which are common to all providers no matter what network or type are selected These are described be low Page 26 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 5 3 1 1 Add Provider Wizard Bearer Options CI x Bearer Options Choose the type of bearer which this provider is going to use a Tetra This provider will be connected directly to a Tetra unit such as a Motorola D700 or Simoco D110 Connection is through a COM port ml MercuryServer This provider will connect over a LAN or the internet to a remote MercuryServer host Other SNPP This provider will connect over a LAN or the internet to a messaging server which supports the Simple Network Paging Protocol SNPP1 lt Back Cancel Help All providers are defined most basically by the server or network device to which they must attach and this in turn decides the kind of parameters needed to bring up a connection to that provider In MercuryNotes there are two basic types of gateway onto a network Local connection to a network device for example COM port connected to Tetra D700 Client Server connection to a messaging server for example Thorcom SMG or MercuryServer When you start the Add Provider Wizard you must first decide what kind of con nection you need Fach of the bearer op
38. t Server Integration A fundamental change of approach with this release of MercuryNotes is to allow it connect to radio networks over an office LAN rather than be restricted to a one to one relationship between the user and their own directly connected radio This capability will be provided in the future by a new member of the Thorcom product family a messaging server These future provider options will allow multiple in stances of the MercuryNotes client to attach to the messaging server and send and receive messages as through a common gateway This gateway may be one of many options including but not limited to The Thorcom Unix Short Message Gateway SMG MercuryServer Page 8 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM Paging Internet gateways In addition to these specific options MercuryNotes also supports generic internet messaging protocols such as SNPP the Simple Network Paging Protocol to the published standard allowing the application to connect to any server supporting these protocols 2 2 Multiple Recipients and Group Calls MercuryNotes now supports the concept of a message being delivered to multiple recipients simultaneously The user can either select individual recipients by hand or alternatively configure Groups in the address book and send to multiple recipi ents via a single contact This feature is particularly useful for networks which do not support wide area group calls What MercuryNotes does instead is to em
39. tain the equipment described and does not transfer any rights to such Intellectual Property Rights Patents or Copyrights to the customer or any third party For further information on this product please contact Technical Support at Thorcom Systems Limited Unit 4 96B Blackpole Trading Estate West Worcester WR3 8TJ England U K Tel 01 905 756700 international 44 1 905 756700 Fax 01 905 755777 international 44 1 905 755777 Email support thorcom co uk Web Site http www thorcom co uk Part Number 100 001 90 Revision 1 00 Date December 2000 Reference Pendragon Documents Manuals Software MercuryNotes Mnotes 100 00190 pub Page 2 Document Revision History Page 3 Contents Vs MEE OCU CTO I ots ioci pet aea ooo tu et eot teo etus eint eos tua biet 5 T 1 Merc ryNot s FS atea 5 12lnitial Network SUPPOR associe tpe aa ctofesdibsun 5 1 35 Hie MercuryMotes tema nod 6 2 Mercuri Notes CONC EDL nicas 8 Z CIRTAEOVIGGES Str MO NTT MCC MENT TR OT ert nem DE ENS 8 2 2 Multiple Recipients and Group Callado 9 o Database Medr AUN aonn a CIO DRE 10 SESSA ING a 10 O aate ob Ret tfe 11 MEMES AGE Cd Meneame Cf are Ne RT er 11 359 INC Message WIN Wa 13 SA Ine Messaging Inrena 13 4 Address DOOK MEN 19 A sl he Contact Mee 19 A R ONN 20 2 5 The niormaton Pane raras 20 4 4 The Address Book Toolbar onse dolia Ras ss 21 ONES VIEW vocsmb iva ta dai 25 55 Current Providers WINCOW e blue ls 25 5 Provider I
40. the maximum size of any message sent to this provider in number of characters Any message attempted to this provider which is too large will fail with the appropriate error Users should be aware that if they are using MercuryNotes with a variety of providers messages sent to various recipi Page 29 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM ents will obey the rules of their selected provider Minimum time between messages Some networks insist that the radio channel is contended equally between all users and will impose a minimum message delay between outgoing messages You can enable this feature and set the delay in seconds using these options This factor will be especially obvious in group mes sages to many recipients you will be able to track the progress of the message by observing the message state in the Outbox when the minimum message delay has been imposed messages awaiting transmission will report Waiting in the message status column 5 3 1 2 2 General Attributes You must configure at least the name of your provider in these options and the name must be unique Try to enter something short and descriptive for the name and then embellish the use of that provider using the Additional Notes field 5 3 1 2 1 Default Provider While you can change any provider to the default at any time using the Providers Toolbar you can also set any new provider to the default by checking this option If this is the first provider configured
41. tions is described on the page for you to browse In the diagram above which may vary from that shown by your own copy of MercuryNotes three bearer options are displayed Tetra MercuryServer and SNPP Other options are available in different varieties of the software although only Tetra connections are currently supported you will be politely refused other types of connection until your software is updated with those facilities Page 27 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM Version 2 of MercuryNotes supports all the following bearers and networks plus some others for the future Tetra This is a local serial cable connection to your favoured Tetra de vice perhaps a Motorola D700 or Simoco D110 Your service provider will provide you with the appropriate cabling which should be plugged directly into a PC COM port If you select this option you will be prompted for your COM port selection and some other basic serial parameters such as baud rate Your equipment manual should provide you with such information although in the vast majority of cases the default speed of 9600 baud is appropriate In addition you will need to specify the make and model of the device you are using This provider offers you the full range of Mer curyNotes and messaging functionality including message read reports from the network MercuryServer Expected for release early in 2001 MercuryServer is a messaging server designed specifically to offer M
42. to send a message to A Go to Address Book View and click d f Contact on your address book entries The check boxes next to their details will determine what is displayed in the Se ect Recipients Dialog 7 3 Message Shortcuts Q m hitting the message shortcut keys and nothing is happening A You either have not configured any recipients for the shortcut you re trying to activate or MercuryNotes is currently minimised to the SysTray Check section 6 1 2 for more information Page 39
43. ulate a group call by firing multiple messages in quick succession The need for a new Outbox view which shows pending messages arose from this design since some providers will be automatically configured to execute a minimum delay between messages This means that large group calls can take a relatively long time to complete To allow users to circumvent the normal outgoing message queue and deliver important messages as quickly as possible a priority message type has also been introduced 2 2 1 Group Configuration Options Groups consist of one or more address book entries a group can only include contacts already added to the address book In addition any of the group mem bers can be flagged as critical members This means that the group message as a whole is never considered to have completed until messages to those critical members have a result either positive or negative In practical terms on networks which support such a feature for example Dol phin messages to critical group members always request a received report or outcome indicator Page 9 MercuryNotes User Manual THORCOM 2 3 Database Integration In line with other design decisions in the software MercuryNotes has now moved away from proprietary archiving formats and maintains a Microsoft Access tm compatible database as the main repository of messaging and address book infor mation The following information is held in the database
44. when the status is sent or received It is very important to note that both the sending and receiving parties of the status messages must have the same status configurations in their status ini file else the status may not appear to be consistent if two different descriptions are configured to the same status value Only the val element is transmitted on the network it is up to the terminal software in our case MercuryNotes to translate that value into a description which is relevant to the system being used 3 4 3 Send Selected Message Again When a single or group message fails it is sometimes convenient to Eh retry that message rather than create a whole new message with the same information The purpose of this button is to act as a convenient single press option for retrying a failed message simply select the message which has failed and click the button A new message is dispatched to the Outboxwith the same recipient and contents If you select a Group Header message to be re sent in the message view i e the message with the expand collapse button then whichever critical recipients in that group have not yet suc ceeded will be retried Note that retried messages are treated as new messages in MercuryNotes to alleviate problems with network sequence number rollovers and other considera tions The Send Again button will disable if the current selection is prohibited from being retried for example you cannot send an
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