Get Those Letters Delivered
Right
by Mark Cheeseman
QUICK TAKE: An easy to use desktop utility that does
what you expect, and quickly.
Australia Post has spent a considerable amount of money
in recent years telling us that if we want our mail to get to our intended destination as
soon as possible, then it's in our interest to put the correct postcode on the article.
PostCode Express is an add-in to Word for Windows (as well as operating as a stand-alone
application) that looks up postcodes from text typed in to your document.
Installation is a two-step process, the first part of
which is the usual 'Setup' program run from the first distribution disk. After that,
PostCode Express is installed within Word by double-clicking on the appropriate icon in
the newly created group - one is for Word 97, the other for Word 2000.
Ideally, you should also copy the main icon to your
StartUp group, so that it's always sitting there in the background, ready for a moment's
notice. If you don't, the first postcode you look up will take a few seconds while the
program itself loads, after which postcode lookups are virtually instantaneous. (This is
now done automatically)
Once installed, a click on its icon is all that's
required to search for a postcode. Simply type in the city or suburb name, highlight it,
and then click on the PostCode button, and the PostCode Express application will fire up
(if it's not already running), and display a list of both perfect matches and Soundex
matches of the selected locale. Double-click on the one that you really want, and the
place name, state, and postcode will be pasted into the document where the highlighted text
originally was. You can also do a reverse search from the PostCode, to find the
associated locality names. Search results can be copied to the clipboard, so you can paste
them into any application you like.
In addition, PostCode Express has a table of Australian
and international postage rates, information on standard articles, and proper addressing
layouts on envelopes.
PC User Magazine
PostCode Express
by Stephen West
Ah, the wonders of the latest Windows wordprocessors.
You can shape your words into all sizes, lay them out pretty as you please, incorporate
graphs and charts - but when it comes to addressing a letter there's no escaping the need
to thumb through a dog-eared Australia Post postcode directory or the rear end of the
cumbersome White Pages.
That's why Melbourne programmer Greg Hudson developed
PostCode Express, a handy little postcode finder for Windows. Written in the versatile and
popular programming language Visual Basic, PostCode Express is blessedly simple in
execution.
All you need to do is enter a partial suburb name and
click 'search' to see all matching entries listed in Australia Post's preferred format of
suburb - state - postcode. Double-click the mouse on the desired entry and the whole line is
copied into the Windows Clipboard, ready to be pasted into your document. PostCode Express
also allows users to search by postcode to find the suburb - very handy for checking the
correct spelling of a suburb or deciphering a handwritten letter on which the suburb name
is scrawled, but the postcode is plain as day.
PostCode Express is a sterling effort, even if it does
break a few of the Windows conventions. Some of the buttons lack the handy Alt+ shortcuts
which are standard amongst Windows applications (now remedied), while the
copy-to-clipboard facility is only available to mouse users and not their
key - crunching
cousins. (also remedied) PostCode Express also lacks a control menu and the facility to
resize the window. (both features now available)
Overall, however, PostCode Express is proof that you
don't have to be a master programmer crafting a killer application in machine language to
create a eminently useful program for everyone. It is ideal for wordsmiths and
secretaries, and just the sort of Windows application you'd run from a customizable
ToolBar or SmartIcon.
Hudson claims PostCode Express to be 'network aware'
under Novell, Lan-Manager and Lantastic. Among the many commercial users of PostCode
Express are the NSW and Victorian Police, the Qld Dept of Transport, Melbourne Water,
Gillette, Bridgestone, and even Australia Post themselves! A point I find particularly
worthy of mention is that all the documentation for PostCode Express is printed on
unbleached and recycled paper. (Note: All documentation is now on-line. No printed manual
is supplied at all!)
PostCode Express is available in two versions. The 'try
before you buy' shareware release is based on Australia Posts public listing of 8000
codes. The commercial version boasts the latest register of some 13,000 codes, including
handy double entries (for example Doncaster East and East Doncaster). (Note: Shareware
version no longer available due to piracy, however a DEMO is available
on-line)
Windows World Magazine
Postcodes at a mouse click
by Jan Wikstrom
POSTCODE EXPRESS is a small
specialized database by
Victorian software developer Hudson Software. Like its competitors, it's meant to sit
on-screen ready for action as an icon, to be popped up at need. It can search for location
names and postcodes in its database, which is claimed to have some 7,000 more entries than
the booklet handed out by Australia Post.
I found it easy to install and use and would suggest
one small improvement: when a postcode has been copied to the Clipboard by clicking on the
neat clipboard button or double-clicking on the text, it is necessary to click the down
arrow button to put the program back down as an icon; I would suggest making the pop-down
automatic when a postcode has been put into the Clipboard. (this suggestion has
now been included as an option)
The program uses a non-standard window with a separate
'Quit' button to shut it down and has a home-brew help system that ignores the standard
Windows one. Both features work fine, don't get me wrong - but when we have a standard
user interface I think we should stick to it unless there are really compelling reasons to
deviate. (both now use the standard methods)
The search routine is very fast - mostly much less than
a second. When you're running close to the memory ceiling however, the data file is no
longer loaded into RAM and the search slows down. It's still plenty fast enough to make
the program a practical proposition though.
What is not practical is to restart it every time you
need it: PostCode Express was written in Visual Basic, using the new VBTools, which means
fairly large program files that load slowly. The solution is to keep to program loaded and
minimized, which requires 192kb of RAM and 9 percent of system resources. (Note:
The test machine only had 4mb RAM) If you do that, PostCode Express is quick
and convenient to use - especially if you use a seriously customisable word processor,
such as Word: you can easily tie PostCode Express to a button or menu option. (Installation
to a button in WinWord 97 and 2000 is now included)
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