Sure, there are several caller ID applications on the market, but what fun would that be? Armed with this tutorial, a copy of REALbasic, an old modem, and an even older Mac, you can read the caller ID information yourself and do with it whatever you wish.

Tutorial Schedule

Since this tutorial is somewhat technical in nature and requires both hardware and software knowledge, we will split it up over three articles. The weekly schedule for the tutorial:

1. Project Preparation - This week's tutorial
2. Building the Resex caller ID software
• How to use the REALbasic Serial control.
• Understanding the CID spec.
• Using caller ID data in a REALbasic application.
3. Advanced Features
• Useful applications for the Resex caller ID
• Extend the Resex caller ID
• And more!...

What You'll Need

To complete this project, you will need the following:

1. A copy of REALbasic
2. A Mac
3. A caller ID compatible modem
4. Modem documentation

A copy of REALbasic. If you are reading this tutorial, you are probably already a REALbasic user, but if you aren't, download a copy from REAL Software.

A Mac. This part of the project is wide open. You can use one of many different kinds of Macs for this project. This project lends itself nicely to old machines. Caller ID data doesn't require much processing power at all and old Macs have the necessary serial inputs for interfacing with a modem. In fact, even a 68K machine would be right at home for this application. Now would be a good time to go dig that old Performa or Quadra out of your closet and give it a new life. For example, I will be using a 6360 and a 5260 as test machines for this tutorial.

A caller ID compatible modem. This may be the trickiest part of preparing for the tutorial. You will need a modem that is capable of receiving caller ID data. Not all modems have this feature, but many do. The bad news? iMac modems and most modems in New World Macs do not sport this feature. The good news? Many old (and slow) modems do have this feature. The speed of the modem does not make any difference here, since the amount of data being transferred is minimal and the caller ID specification provides for data tranfer speeds that are many times slower than even 14.4 modems. Check your modem's documentation to learn about its caller ID abilities (or lack thereof). For example, I will be using a USRobotics 33.6 Sportster modem as the test modem for this project.

Modem documentation. Although not absolutely necessary, it is often helpful to have your modem's documentation on hand. There are standard commands for communicating with modems, but you may find subtle differences in the implementation of these standards. The documentation for your modem will clear up any discrepancies. If you managed to toss your documentation in the trash, look around on the web. Many companies post the documentation for their equipment in electronic formats (usually pdf).

Now what?

Once you have collected the necessary hardware and software for this project, take a glance at some of the caller ID information available on the web.

Caller ID FAQ
Beating Caller ID

Don't worry if some of this information doesn't make sense just yet. We will talk about it in more detail next week. This information is really just to get your feet wet. See you next week!

6-26-01

REALbasic News by Erick Tejkowsi

Secret function revealed! REAL Software released REALbasic 3.5a3 and with it unleashed its new secret control on the world. The new control is called RBScript and it gives you the ability to run intrepreted REALbasic code in your RB apps. How will this help you? It means that you can run REALbasic "scripts" dynamically in your own applications. There isn't much documentation about this new feature yet, but we will cover the topic here on ResExcellence someday soon. Stay tuned!

Time to bulk up. RBulk Builder has been upgraded to version 1.2. The latest version adds an intriguing feature called Poor Man's version control. The creators would like input about this new feature, so download it if you'd like to help.

SSL Sockets. Essentrix recently announced SSL Socket 2.0 plugin for REALbasic Classic and Carbon. From their site:

Add Secure Socket Layer communication to your REALbasic applications, allowing them to connect to and download data from any secure server on the web. Meant to mimic REALbasic's own Socket control, SSLSocket seamlessly integrates secure sockets for an easy and transparent implementation.

Beta Testers needed. HiddenField Software has posted a Beta version of their new offering: AspWrite. If you've ever had to suffer through ASP programming using BBEdit, make sure to check this out. HiddenField Software would appreciate any help or suggestions you could offer about this Beta version.

Game Console. Noah Desch has posted an interesting project for download called Game Console 1.0

GameConsole is a system to implement a QuakeIII like console (you know, the thing that pops down when you hit the tilde key). It allows a background image, customizable text color and background color, it can animate opening and closing of the console, and even scroll the background picture beneath the text just like in Quake! It completely handles text entry [with a handleKey(Key As String, Update As Boolean) method] and it automatically looks up the commands you enter in a hash table for fast access.

Need a REALbasic Consultant? If you ever need to hire a REALbasic programmer, don't forget to check the REALbasic Consultant Exchange. There are nearly 60 registered consultants spanning the globe.

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