Invokes the OpenVMS Phone utility (PHONE). The Phone utility is
designed to simulate some of the features of actual telephone
communications. You can use the Phone utility to communicate with
other users on your system or with any other system connected
to your system by DECnet-Plus or DECnet for OpenVMS. To invoke
the Phone utility, enter the PHONE command at the DCL prompt and
press RETURN.
When entering the DCL command PHONE, you can supply qualifiers
that modify the characteristics of the simulated telephone.
Format
PHONE [phone-command]
1 – Parameter
phone command
Specifies an optional Phone utility command that enables you to
control your phone conversation. You can specify a PHONE command
parameter as part of the PHONE command line, or you can enter one
at any time during the phone conversation by typing the switch
hook character (%) and the desired command. The following list
summarizes the functions of each Phone utility command:
ANSWER Answers the phone when you receive a call.
DIAL Places a call to another user.
DIRECTORY Displays a list of the users you can call.
EXIT Exits from the Phone utility.
FACSIMILE Includes the contents of a file in your conversation.
HANGUP Cancels the current phone call.
HELP Displays information on how to use the Phone utility.
HOLD Places the other users in a call on hold.
MAIL Sends a message to another user.
PHONE Places a call to another user.
REJECT Rejects a call from another user.
UNHOLD Reverses the previous HOLD command.
For a detailed description of each Phone utility command, invoke
the Phone utilty and type HELP at the switch-hook prompt.
2 – Qualifiers
2.1 /SCROLL
/SCROLL
/NOSCROLL
Determines how new lines of text are displayed on the screen
when the viewport becomes full. If /NOSCROLL is specified, the
text lines are wrapped and new text appears on the top line of
the viewport. /NOSCROLL improves the response time for terminals
operating at slow speeds.
If /SCROLL is specified, the text is scrolled up one line each
time a new line of text is entered. The new line appears at the
bottom of the viewport. /SCROLL is the default.
2.2 /SWITCH_HOOK
/SWITCH_HOOK="character"
Specifies the Phone Utility switch-hook character (%). The
switch-hook character must be entered before each Phone utility
command that is entered during a conversation.
PHONE commands are terminated by pressing RETURN or by entering
the switch-hook character. Text typed without the switch-hook
character is considered part of the conversation. You can use
any nonalphanumeric character as the switch-hook character.
Enclose the character in quotation marks. The default switch-hook
character is the percent sign (%).
2.3 /VIEWPORT_SIZE
/VIEWPORT_SIZE=n
Specifies the maximum number of lines in a viewport, including
the heading line and the bottom line of dashes. The valid range
is 3 to 10 lines. Smaller viewports will improve the response
time on terminals operating at slow speeds. The default viewport
size is automatically reduced as more participants enter the
conversation.
3 – Examples
1.$ PHONE
The DCL command PHONE invokes the Phone utility. If you issue
the PHONE command without qualifiers or parameters, the Phone
utility prompts you for the name of the person you want to
call (or any other PHONE command) with the default switch hook
character, the percent sign. The Phone utility also displays
the title "VMS Phone Facility", and the date, and sets up your
viewport.
2.$ PHONE ANSWER
Use this command to answer a call.
3.$ PHONE DIRECTORY TAMPA::
The PHONE command causes the Phone utility to display a
directory of users available on node TAMPA.
4.$ PHONE /SWITCH_HOOK="\" /VIEWPORT_SIZE=5 EUGENE::MALCOLM
The PHONE command defines the SWITCH_HOOK character to be the
backslash (\), restricts the VIEWPORT_SIZE to five lines, and
places a call to user MALCOLM on node EUGENE.