.tel for Blackberry

Version 1.4
Copyright 2009, Telnic Ltd.
License Agreement

The .tel application for BlackBerry devices with OS 4.1 and later enables you to integrate .tel data into your Address Book. With this application, you can view contact information in .tel domains and save it to your address book; please see a list of available actions below.

After installing the application, you will see a new .tel icon on the home screen, and new options in your address book. From the main screen, you can launch the .tel application to do the following:

• Lookup .tels to view public contact details
• Import .tel data to your address book
• Synchronize your contacts with .tel data
• Manage friend relations
• Switch between profiles in your .tel domains
• Adjust .tel application settings

Note: after installing the application, you will need to log into your TelFriends account. If you don't have an account in TelFriends, skip this step; you will still be able to use the application. To sign up for a free TelFriends account, go to http://telfriends.tel.

Lookup .tel domains

When you select Lookup .tel and enter the .tel name (no need for the ".tel"), the application will show you any text published in the domain, as well as the location and all public contact items. As you roll over each contact item, you can see its description, such as "Work fax" or "Mobile Voice Call".For any contact item, you can choose to:

• Launch the approrpiate application: a call for phone numbers, BlackBerry Maps for a location, a text message for SMS (not in BlackBerry 4.1), and so on. For a link to a sub-domain or keywords, select Launch to go to that sub-domain or to see keywordss.
• Import this contact item or Multi-import all contact data from this .tel to your address book; see details below.
• Copy text of the contact item to the clipboard to use in other applications.

Import .tel data

When looking up a .tel domain, you get a list of contacts that you can use directly or save to your BlackBerry address book. To save the currently selected item, click Import in the menu; if you're browsing the .tel from the address book, the item is saved to the currently selected contact; otherwise, specify the contact where you wish this item to be saved. You can select the field you wish to import the result to, such as 'email' or 'work tel'. If the selected field is not empty, you will be prompted to overwrite the existing entry.

You can also import all contact items of a looked up .tel domain to a contact in one go - select Multi-import, select the contact where this information will be saved, and the fields where each contact item will use. You can multi-import to an existing contact or create a new one by selecting New Contact.

Note: with multi-import, you cannot overwrite non-empty fields or add more than one value in a field; if you need to use .tel data instead of your address book data, use the single Import option to merge contact details correctly.

Synchronize contact data

When you lookup a .tel domain, you can save it to a new or existing contact. This way, the domain is assigned to this contact in your address book, and you see the .tel enabled category in the list of options in the address book. This way, you can easily access all your contacts that have dynamic contact information in .tel domains.

The address book can store any contact items imported from a .tel domain, but you need to save the .tel domain first to perform lookups and synchronize data in future. If you need to change the .tel assigned to a contact, or send a friend request, go to the .tel options.

Manage friend relations

As explained above and on the website, TelFriends is a free and simple service for managing access to private data in .tel domains. If you have .tel domains, you manage your friend list through TelFriends, and if you don't have .tels, you use the website to send friend requests to see private .tel data. With the .tel application for BlackBerry, you can log into your TelFriends account to do both. The application will check for new messages periodically and display the number of unread messages. You can also check for new items manually:

• To start, log into TelFriends; the application will remember your details as long as you do not select Logout. When logging in, type in your username and password, then enter the answer to your security question.
• To see new friend requests for your .tel domains, add those domains first (go to Settings > Configure my .tel domains > Add), and then select Check Requests. You can accept or reject any new friend requests you receive.
• To check friending responses, select Check Responses from the menu. Any friend response messages will be displayed in the message list. Responses are automatic messages that notify you that you have been accepted as a friend.

Switch between Profiles

For easier updates to .tel data, set up ready profiles with sets of data in your .tel domains, such as 'work profile' or 'vacation'. This way, you can add your domains to the .tel application on BlackBerry and switch between ready profiles to publish a ready set of contact items to the DNS. From the main menu, go to Switch Profile, and select the domain name you wish to update. The application will get the list of profiles and show which one is active. Select the profile you need to activate, and select Switch Profile again.

Change Settings

The .tel application for BlackBerry has specific settings inside the application and uses some global options, both described below.

From the Settings menu, you can:

• Access TelFriends Settings - to log in and out of the TelFriends system. You will need to know your username, password and security question. After logging in, you can manage friend messages.
• Configure my .tel domains - to add, edit and remove .tel domains that you own. You need to know the link for accessing your .tel control panel, and the username and password you need to log into it. These credentials are independent of your TelFriends login details. If you do not have the link to your .tel control panel, select Auto-provision URL to get the link automatically from the domain name. After logging in, you can manage profiles.
• See the log file - to check for errors or warnings in the operation of this application.

The application can be further configured via the Options -> Access .tel Options menu, as follows.

• DNS Server - the IP address of the DNS server to query for .tel domains. When the application starts, it will attempt to automatically obtain this value from a web server.
• Lookup Timeout - the time, in seconds, to wait for a lookup response before giving up. If you are getting lots of timeout errors, you should increase this value.
• Connection Type - a direct TCP connection, or a connection via a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
• Auto Refresh Period - the duration, in hours, to wait before the application fetches the list of new friend messages from the server. 0 will disable the automatic update feature.
• Lookup History Size - the number of lookups to store in the lookup history list displayed on the lookup screen. 0 will disable this feature.
• Version Check Period - the number of days before the application attempts to automatically check for updates. 0 will disable this feature.
• Display LOC - the option to show/hide the location is the lookup results.
• PSD Missing - the ability to configure what the application does when you are removed from somebody's friend list and cannot see private data. For the application, this produces an error that a secret sub-domain with private information is missing. You can configure this setting to Ignore the error, Notify you of it, or Remove the domain from your list of friends. In all cases, the application will continue and lookup the public information in this domain.
• Logging Options - the message categories you wish to include in your log: network events for all DNS lookups; messaging for TelFriends requests and responses; application for internal data processing, or user interaction for your actions and selected menus.

Finally, you may need to define the TCP access point to use a direct TCP connection; for that, go to Options > Advanced Options > TCP. On older devices, the TLS setting needs to be configured via Options > Security Options > TLS > Handheld.

Other Options

From the main menu of the .tel application, you can access the help materials, check for newer versions of software, or exit. Hitting Exit quits the application, unlike selecting the back button, which will leave the application running in the background, this explicitly closes it.