Helpful Info (?) on Chapura's Key Contacts and 3rd party applications....

[Paully_girl]

I have been considering getting Key Contacts from Chapura and DateBk5 from Pimliclo, but I heard that most if not all 3rd party apps (I guess DateBk5 is a 3rd party app) can't read all the contact fields generated by Key Contacts.

Thats a real bummer, so I contacted both Chapura (by phone) and Pimlico (by email)...both did qualify the fact that there was a conflict between the two products, being that DateBk5 is not able to (as stated above) read all the contact fields created by Key Contacts.

However, I did recieve an interesting email from Pimlico that may prove helpful for others here:

Here is my email (please excuse the formatting):

I've read and heard that DateBK5 can't read all of the fields that are
used
by Chapura's Key Contacts 1.3.
I use and love Key Contacts and would also love to use your program as
well.
But if DateBK5 can't co-exist with Key Contacts in a functional way,
then I
am not sure what DateBK5 could do for me.
Please let me know whether your program is usable with Key Contacts in
any
way shape or form.


Here was their response:

KeyContacts from Chapura software uses a proprietary database that is
totally separate from the built-in addressbook application and not
accessible by any third party software that supports the addressbook
application, and there are compatibility issues with dialing on some
models
of SmartPhones.

The database format has not been published (publicly) and reverse
engineering is not really practical. I am now currently discussing this
very
issue with Chapura, and if this information can be made available, it
MIGHT
be possible to support it from within DateBk5.

However, it seems that having been hammered by users on this precise
issue,
they are responding and have recently added dialing support for Kyocera
phones, and also come up with a method which will update BOTH the
addressbook database AND Key Contacts. A copy of a response from
Chapura's
tech support to a DateBk5 user follows below. Hopefully this will prove
useful to you.....

Their reference to the "Standard Palm Lookup Feature" is applicable to
the
Phone Lookup command in DateBk5 which DOES use the standard Palm look
up
feature and would therefore work fine with Key Contacts.

Cheers!
CESD, Pimlico Software, Inc.


Here is the info they are referring to:

I use KeyContacts by using the following workaround from Chapura's
tech support.........

"If the applications you are referring to use the Standard Palm Lookup
feature it will now look at KeyContacts instead. However if they are
programmed to just look at the Standard Palm Address Book they will
not be able to see KeyContacts.

Here is a possible work around you may be interested in.

In order to allow you to keep the standard address book updated with
the data that is in you Outlook Contacts folder while synchronizing
with
KeyContacts. You will need to do the following steps. After doing
these steps it is important to note that you will not want to make
changes
in the Standard Palm Address Book, but make all your changes into
KeyContacts
instead.

The following steps will reset the priority so KeyContacts is listed
above the Outlook Contacts in the HotSync Manager/Custom window:

1 Exit the HotSync Manager, click on the red and blue HotSync
Manager Icon. (Which is normally in the bottom right hand corner of
your
screen.) and click on Exit.
2 Go to "Start/Run", type in "regedit", and click "OK".
3 Go to "Hkey_Current_User/Software/US Robotics/Pilot Desktop".
4 Under "Pilot Desktop" click on the "Application" folders one
at a time and look on the right side of the screen under the "Data"
column
to see which folder corresponds to the KeyContacts application.
5 Right-click on the correct KeyContacts "Application" folder
probably "Application 3" and click on "New/DWORD Value".
6 On the right side replace the "New Value" name with "Priority"
(without
the quotes) and press "Enter".
7 Double-click on the "Priority" DWORD value and in the "Value Data"
field replace the 0 with the number 1 and click "OK" and close the
Registry
Editor.
8 Restart the HotSync Manager (Start/Programs/Palm Desktop/HotSync
Manager) and go to "Custom" and confirm that KeyContacts is listed
above Outlook Contacts.
9 Then double-click on Outlook Contacts, Select "Desktop
overwrites Handheld" and place a check mark where it says, "Set as
default".
Then click on OK and Done."


That's it...I haven't tried this yet and I don't know if I will, but I figured, it would be nice to share the info and if anyone successfullly pulls it off it would be nice to here about it.

However....becareful when messing with your registry..always back it up, somewhere else then your computer, before you start making changes to it. There are allot of registry programs out there that make backing up your registry easier to do. Whatever you do, before you start messing with your registry, make sure you know what you are doing.

Anyway, I am still investigating all this stuff and any help anyone has on Chapura products or Pimlico products would be greatly appreciated if they threw in their two cents on the subject(s).

Thanks,
Paully_girl

[Nate1749]

wow, I'm having this exact same problem except with Agendus (and happydays, but I think once KeyContacts is the default then HappyDays will be fine)... I'm going to try this tonight!

-nate

[Paully_girl]

changing things in there can be disasterous if you don't know what your doing.

At least back a copy of your registry up before you make your changes, so you can restore it if something goes wrong.

Good Luck and let us know who it works out!

Paully_girl

[Nate1749]

I'm not some windows master, but I am definitly proficient enough to use regedit =)

It's actually quite helpful in getting rid of applications which tend to hide themselves on your computer (ie gator.com stuff, anything annoying that loads on startup)..

Question about KeyContacts (im new to it, just installed today); does it support assigning a picture to a person? That was one feature I saw on the default address book that I liked (I'm bad at remembering faces, have even listened to an audiobook on it)... Thanks,

-Nate

[Nate1749]

Well, it works GREAT!!~!~!!~!~!!!! Well... sort of...

I did four tests.
#1 Adding a contact in outlook and checking it in keycontacts/agendus

#2 Modifying that contact in Keycontacts and checking it in Outlook

#3 Adding a contact in Agendus (which uses the default address book) and viewing it in KeyContacts

#4 Modifying a contact in Agendus and viewing it in outlook.

#1 & 2 worked perfectly.
#3 & 4 worked, however, you are still limitied by the compatibility to view the additional fields/options that KeyContacts provides.

Also with #3&4, if you add/modify a contact in Agendus (which uses the default address program), then go to KeyContacts, it will not actually show up in KeyContacts until you do two HotSync's.

And if you add a contact in KeyContacts, it will not actually show up in agendus (default address viewer), until you do one hotsync.

The reason for this is because on the first hotsync keycontacts goes first, then regular address book (where the new contact will be if you added the individual in agendus/datebook), this means keycontacts goes first, sees no changes in outlook, then regular address book goes, it adds one contact to outlook. Now you've successfully added a contact to your contacts in outlook, and it's in agendus (default address book), but not keycontacts (because it went before the regular address book). So you hotsync again, keycontacts now sees the new contact and adds it... See the train of thought?

However, if you add a contact in Keycontacts, it only takes one hotsync because it goes first, adds it to outlook, then agendus (regular address book) goes, and it sees that theres a new/modified entry and it makes that change.

The only way to make it so you don't have to hotsync twice, would be to have KeyContacts go again AFTER the datebook went (not sure if this is possible). Or to avoid it completly just always make your contacts in either KeyContacts or Outlook, that way only one hotsync is neccesary.

In conclusion if you add/modify a contact in outlook or keycontacts you only need to do one hotsync, but if you add/modify a contact in agendus you will only need to do one hotsync for the change to appear in outlook, and then another (so a total of two) hotsync for the change to appear in Keycontacts.

Back to what I said awhile ago.... What I meant by being limited by the default address book was I added 3 emails which are both viewable in Outlook and KeyContacts, however, only 1 is viewable in Agendus since it's still using the default address book.

So if you want to view the additional info on a contact your still going to have to go to KeyContacts, but hey I can live with that (I dont need someone's anniversary date or 2nd email that often!)...

Hope this helps, if you have any questions just let me know. And this post makes it sound much more complicated than it is (sorry just wanted to be through)

Also, the word Agendus can be replaced with Datebook in this post. Addtionally, on the last step the Word "Outlook Contacts," for me was "Intellisync Address."

-Nate

[Paully_girl]

It wasn't to complicated at all to follow, as a matter of fact, stating things thoroughly is the best way for someone to understand.

Of-course, it was allot that I understood, so I have to chew on it for awhile and digest it to my brain...hehe

As for the picture thing and key contacts, I am not sure. I haven't used it nor Datebk, or as a matter of fact PocketMirror yet .....I am about to, but I wanted to clear some things up before I started investing my time and capital in their products.

Please post any other discoveries you find when using the info I posted, I'll read with great interest.

Also, if I find any other info about this type of stuff, I'll make sure to post it as well.

THanks again,
Paully_girl

[Nate1749]

Allright, I personally use IntellisyncLite, but I'm sure this theory goes the same for any program of it's type. In IntellisyncLite if you go to "Intellisync Configure," then "Advanced," then, "Field Mapping," you will be able to choose which fields are assigned to what...

As you will see on the Left side is the Sony Clie, and there are not arrows next to each one.... Well, I for instance, dragged up e-mail address 2 & 3 on the right side and matched them up on the left side with E-Mail 2 & 3. Now the additional two e-mails appear in Agendus (and the default address book since that's where the data is coming.) I was not aware that the default address book had more options, but from the looks you will not get nearly as many choices as with KeyContacts, but there are enough available to at least take a look at (can add an additional address or simply drag items from outlook and put them as notes on the clie)...

I'm still trying to match up the Birthday field on MS Outlok with Custom 1. For some reason this field is not coming over. I thought it maybe because I named it Birthday on the Clie, but I even tried putting it on Custom 2 and still Nothing. I have the birthday entered in outlook, it's assigned to go to field "Custom 2," but it's not... hmmmm, I'll keep working on this one because I really like that HappyDays program. The other alternative would be for the developer to support KeyContacts, but from the sounds of the datebook author, it's easier said than done (plus happydays is freeware)....