Cardiris 3.5 for Plustek

Contents

· Software distribution

· Registering your license

· Novelties of release 3.5

· Managing card databases (creating backups etc.)

· The software documentation

· The on-line help and Microsoft Internet Explorer

· Testing your PC’s USB support

· Platform issues

· Synchronizing contacts with Pocket PC handhelds

· Getting technical support

· Contacting I.R.I.S.

· Visiting the I.R.I.S. web site

1. Software distribution

This release of the Cardiris software is contained on a CD-ROM.

To install the Cardiris 3.5 software, simply insert the autorunning CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive and follow the on-screen instructions.

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2. Registering your license

Don't forget to register your product! There are many good reasons for doing so:

· Registering allows us to keep you informed of future product developments and related I.R.I.S. products.

· Registering entitles you to free product support and special offers.

You can register in many ways. Send in your registration card, access the Cardiris registration form (http://register.irislink.com/register/index/index.html) on the I.R.I.S. web site (www.cardiris.com and www.irislink.com) or call I.R.I.S. during the working hours:

USA: 1-561-921-0847 / 800-447-4744

Europe: 32-10-45 13 64 (all major languages)

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3. Novelties of release 3.5

You have acquired release 3.5 of the Cardiris software. Cardiris 3.5 is not a new version, not a major “overhaul” of the Cardiris software! But this interim release does have some (minor) extra features that were not included in the Cardiris 3.0 software. The novelties mainly concern the availability of new export filters.

Export filters

· NEW – XML.

Cardiris 3.5 exports contacts in the XML format.

The card images can be included in the XML file (in which case base 64 encoding is used) or “attached” as external JPEG files (collected in a subfolder). Including the images inside the XML output file is slower than linking external images. (Click the “Configure” button of the Cardiris export routine to indicate your choice; using external, linked images is the default value.)

Unfortunately, we also have some highly technical details that we need to discuss. (Yes, XML files can be displayed with your web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and by Microsoft Word 2003 (at least in the “Professional Edition” of Microsoft Office 2003), but it takes a custom routine to process, “parse” them efficiently…)

For one, all text is encoded as UTF-8, which allows us to cope with all countries and languages (read: codepages) covered by Cardiris.

Secondly, the XML output uses an XML schema; look for a file named contacts.xsd. (“XSD” stands for XML Schema Definition”.) This file determines the structure of an XML file. It defines the legal building blocks of XML files: which elements can appear in an XML document? in which order can these elements appear? etc. Disposing of an XML schema makes it easier to develop a custom routine that imports the contacts of the Cardiris XML files in a database.

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· ENHANCED - Export to vCard file: you can now add the card image when exporting your contacts to a vCard file.

Click the “Configure” button to find the option “Include Card Images in Export”.

*** WARNING ***

Do not include the card image when you want to import the contacts into Microsoft Outlook!

The vCard gets imported, but Outlook struggles for many seconds before the job gets done and the card image doesn’t show up anyway! (That’s just how Outlook behaves, there’s nothing we can do about it…)

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· ENHANCED - Export to vCard file: you can now export several contacts by creating many vCard files that each contain a single contact.

Click the “Configure” button to find the option “Create One File per Contact”.

Example: you export 3 contacts. The vCard file that contains contact 1 gets sent to your colleague Joe, the file that holds contact 2 to your aunt Ginny who’s looking for a new gardener etc.

*** WARNING ***

Use this export method when you want to import the contacts into Microsoft Outlook!

Outlook only imports vCard files that contain a single contact. (That’s just how Outlook behaves, there’s nothing we can do about it…)

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· ENHANCED - Export to HTML: you can now customize the HTML output using a XSL layout file.

When you select the layout option “Custom”, a sample XSL file named SAMPLE.XSL becomes active. Click the “Browse” button to select your own XSL file.

The XSL file is the “style sheet” of your HTML output, it defines how the data will be displayed on-screen with your web browser. (You may for instance even “hide” certain fields by not displaying them.)

The file SAMPLE.XSL is supplied - you’ll find it in the subfolder “xsl” under the Cardiris installation folder – as a comprehensive example. (The layout is actually virtually the same as the standard, non-editable layout Phone list.) Don’t hesitate to edit the XSL file!

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· NEW - Export to e-mail: you generate a vCard file of the selected contacts, create a new mail message and insert the vCard as attached file.

All MAPI mail clients are supported.

This is the fastest way of distributing cards to other people quickly! (vCard files were actually developed to allow the exchange of contact data by e-mail!)

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· NEW - Export to Innomatix InfoContacts II – InfoBusiness.

There are no settings to be configured, the export is fully automatic for the user.

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Other novelty

You can now change the card status (in the card view) by pressing a shortcut!

New card | F10
Indexed card | F11
Verified card | F12

Or click the card status buttons as you used to do… (A color code is used to indicate the card status clearly!)

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4. Managing card databases (creating backups etc.)

You may be wondering how to create backups of your business card databases. Easy enough!

Copy the card database (with the extension *.dat) to another location (say, on a network drive) and you’re done!

Any data - text or image - is stored inside that single file! (Actually, a secondary file with extension *.idx is created alongside the *.dat file, but it’s of no consequence. When this minor file is missing, Cardiris simply rewrites it quickly.)

(Nor should you worry about the file size of your card database as you store more and more business cards in your electronic Rolodex. Cardiris only loads the necessary portions of the database into memory when you open a card database.)

The command “Compact Database” (under the “File” menu) allows you to reduce the file size of databases to a minimum. Compacting databases only has effect when you’ve deleted cards previously.

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5. The software documentation

Whether you receive a paper manual for Cardiris depends on the version-bundle of the software. In all cases, the software documentation is supplied in electronic format - hence the Adobe Acrobat PDF files on the Cardiris CD-ROM.

The Cardiris installer installs the “User’s Manual” in the Cardiris folder and creates a program icon under “I.R.I.S. Applications - Cardiris” that allows you to access the manual directly.

Depending on the language, the Adobe Reader 6.0 software or the Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.1 is used to view and print the electronic documentation. The Cardiris installer again proposes to install that software for you. (The installer selects the same language as the language you selected for Cardiris.)

However, know that the Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.1 software comes with a reduced manual (and on-line help) of just a few pages. To download the full manual, click the hot zone on the first page of the on-line help/manual. Or don’t bother doing that: you’ll find the appropriate files on the Cardiris CD-ROM!

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6. The on-line help and Microsoft Internet Explorer

Cardiris is equipped with an HTML based on-line help system. The HTML Help Viewer, part of the Windows operating system, uses portions of the Internet Explorer software. In other words, a version 4.x or higher of Internet Explorer must be installed if the Cardiris on-line help system is to display correctly! (The browser is included automatically in all recent versions of Windows.)

I.R.I.S. is entitled to ship the Microsoft web browser Internet Explorer free of charge. Depending on the software version you received, you may find the English version of this software under the folder “IE60” of the Cardiris CD-ROM. Feel free to install it!

Run the installation program IE6SETUP.EXE to install the web browser on your PC. Version 6.0 of Internet Explorer is supplied, so, we recommend you not to install the web browser if a more recent build is already installed on your PC. Follow the on-screen instructions to install Internet Explorer 6.0.

Other files needed by the Windows component HTML Help Viewer are verified-installed by the Cardiris installer. Which files get installed depends entirely on the version of Windows you dispose of. In any case, the Cardiris installer handles all these issues for you!

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7. Platform issues

Cardiris is a 32 bit application that runs on Windows 2003, Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows 98.

Evidently, it takes Windows 2003, XP, ME, 2000 or 98 to use the USB-based I.R.I.S. Card Scanner (“IBCR-II”)!

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8. Synchronizing contacts with Pocket PC handhelds

The Cardiris software exports and imports contacts, and synchronizes the Cardiris database with the address books of a large number of applications - on your PC or your PDA. Amongst others, office software such as Microsoft Outlook (Express), contacts managers such as Symantec Act!, workgroup applications such as Lotus Notes and handheld computers such as Palm and Pocket PC devices are supported.

It takes the software Microsoft ActiveSync to synchronize your Cardiris database with the address book stored on your Pocket PC device.

Due to a bug in the Microsoft ActiveSync software, it takes a manual step in a number of cases to ensure the correct transfer of data. (This phenomenon may occur when you’ve reinstalled the Windows software and when you’ve installed the ActiveSync software on another PC...)

The ActiveSync software indicates the progress and state of the synchronization with a color button: green indicates the “ready” state, yellow that there are data to be synchronized or that data are being transferred.

However, in some cases, the ActiveSync software remains blocked on the yellow transfer mode for too long when you synchronize with the Cardiris database!

To solve this problem, you must manually erase the file BUFFER.IO (located in the folder Program Files\Cardiris) from your Pocket PC handheld computer before you try again! (You can do this from your PC or with the Explorer application on your Pocket PC device.)

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9. Getting technical support

Free technical support is offered to all registered customers in many ways.

Europe

Hotline: 32-10-45 13 64 (working hours) (all major languages)

Fax: 32-10-45 34 43

USA

Hotline: 1-561-921-0847 / 800-447-4744 (working hours)

Fax: 1-561-921-0854

WWW

Consult the troubleshooting info on the I.R.I.S. web site.

E-mail

support@irislink.com

support@irisusa.com

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10. Contacting I.R.I.S.

Contact I.R.I.S. for more information on the full version or related I.R.I.S. products.

I.R.I.S.

Image Recognition Integrated Systems

Rue du Bosquet 10,

1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium)

Tel: 32-10-45 13 64

Fax: 32-10-45 34 43

I.R.I.S. Inc.

Image Recognition Integrated Systems

Delray Office Plaza

4731 West Atlantic Avenue Suite B1-B2

Delray Beach, FL 33445 (USA)

Tel: 1-561-921-0847 / 800-447-4744

Fax: 1-561-921-0854

E-mail info: info@irislink.com

E-mail sales: sales@irislink.com

E-mail support: support@irislink.com, support@irisusa.com

I.R.I.S. home page: http://www.irislink.com

Readiris web site: http://www.readiris.com

Cardiris web site: http://www.cardiris.com

On-line shop: http://shop.irislink.com

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11. Visiting the I.R.I.S. web site

Scanner users can benefit from special offers on related I.R.I.S. products!

Visit the I.R.I.S. web site at www.irislink.com/plstk to find out more about it!

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Monday, December 20, 2004