About Tap-it Software
tap-it software products are designed for use by electrical contractors,
health and safety personnel and others who carry out inspection and testing.
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tap-it software products run on handhelds from a range of
manufacturers, which run the Palm OS® operating system. Rather like
Windows for PCs, Palm OS sets a standard so that a program which runs
on one handheld model will also run on others using the same operating system.
Although most tap-it products consist of one program for a handheld
and a companion which runs on a PC, some have no PC module.
All tap-it products use the same screen formats and procedures so
that familiarity with one product reduces the learning curve for
all subsequent tap-it applications.
As a handheld is designed for data collection on the move, our
products provide, primarily, for data collection to be carried out using a handheld - although Electrical Inspector now provides for data entry on the PC as well as the handheld..
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Data Entry It may be daunting to be faced with a handheld which apparantly has no way of entering data. This may be one of Palm's best kept secrets! By removing the need for a keyboard, Palm have been able to reduce the size of handhelds so that they slip into a pocket.
This page shows how easy it is to enter information into a handheld. The image at the top of this page illustrates one of the on-screen keyboards: the one used for the entry of letters. This keyboard is very similar to the normal QWERTY layout, the functions of each of the keys being identical with those on a PC keyboard.
At the bottom of the keyboard are three boxes, labelled abc, 123 and Int'l. These allow switching between the three keyboard layouts.
Above the keyboard is the text which has been entered so far. When the Done button is tapped, the information is placed on the screen of the application (program) which is being used - in this case the creation of an email.
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To display the letter or number keyboards it is only necessary to tap the abc or 123 at the bottom of the main handheld screen. This is called the graffiti area.
There's no doubt about it, Graffiti is brilliant!
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 | Making the simple, intuitve, keystrokes illustrated on this screen in the abc, or 123 parts of the graffiti area is as fast as writing information in a legible fromat. This screen is probived as part of the Palm OS Help facilities: whernever an application requires the entry of data, a simple movement of the stylus displays this (and several other) screen illustrating the correct strokes for the full range of characters. |
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Those who are familiar with Windows on a PC will recognise
these methods of data entry on a handheld. |
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 | Drop-down: by clicking the arrow head on a screen, a selection list is displayed. Tap the required item to make a selection. |
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 | Calendar: this is a simple and fast way of entering a date. There can never be any confusion about date formats - UK or US. |
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 | Tick boxes: this is a very fast method of selecting from a number of
options. Just tap the ones you want. |
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Mobile keyboard This is an optional extra, obtainable from the Palm web site, and would be particularly useful if a large amount of text has to be entered - a written report, for example.
Note that the keyboard has a concertina design so that it can be folded when not in use. When closed, its overall size is about that of two cigarette packets.
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Multiple handhelds Many users will only require the software to run on one handheld. For
situations in which more than one handheld is to be used, for example
where several electricians are carrying out PAT testing, tap-it software products provide for the PC to exchange data selectively with the handhelds.
On delivery, the software supports just one handheld. On payment of a
small additional charge, support for additional handhelds can be enabled.
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HotSync Overview HOTSYNC is the name given to the operation which transfer data between PC and handheld. This may be carried out my means of a cradle, in which the handheld is placed, by direct connection using a simple cable, by infrared link, by modem or by mobile phone.
When HotSyncing tap-it data between handheld and PC, the tap-it HotSync program must be running on the PC .
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The standard HotSync operation When HotSync is run, the Palm OS software on handheld and the HotSync software on the PC exchanges data between programs which have been configured to send/receive information. Not all handheld software has this ability.
A program which is configured in this way must be running on the PC at the time of HotSync so that it can insert its data in the outgoing data stream and extract information from the incoming data stream.
The simplest method of linking handheld and PC is with a direct connection using the cable or cradle which was supplied with the handheld. Illustrated at the right of this page, the cradle has a connector which mates with one at the bottom of the handheld. The cradle cable is connected to the PC's serial or UBS port - depending upon handheld model. Low cost handhelds do not have a cradle but are supplied with a cable which connects to the bottom of
the handheld and to the PC's serial/USB port.
The accessories and facilities provided vary from model to model and manufacturer to manufacturer.
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Remote HotSync There are several ways of carrying out a remote HotSync. All of these use an SD card inserted into the top of the handheld.
On the handheld program's Export/Import menu there is an option Export to SD card. This is used to copy the information held for a test certificate or a site's PAT test results to a file on an SD card. This file is in CSV format, an international format which can, if required, be read by Excel or other programs.
Once on an SD card the file can be sent to the Office by handover, by post or by email.
The third of these would use ar arrangement similar to that described under HotSync by Infrared, the handheld being configured to send emails via the mobile phone. The file holding the data would then be sent as an attachment to a message.
A neater arrangement would use a SmartPhone, such as the Palm Treo650 which combines handheld and phone with facilities for sending and receiving emails.
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HotSync by Infrared All PalmOS handhelds have an infrared port which is found in the top edge of the device. If the PC has an integral infrared port, HotSync can be carried out by pointing the handheld's IR port to that on the PC and then initiating HotSync.
Guidance on local Hotsync by infrared will be found in the manual which was installed on your computer when the Palm software was installed.
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About tap-it software The ability of the handheld program to copy a certificate's data, or a site's PAT testing results means that the user has a simple method of creating a security backup of the data on which he is working. This is in addition to the Archiving operation provided by the companion PC module.
The Export/Import menu on the handheld has an Import certificate from SD card option, in addition to Export certificate to SD card This means that there is a simple methpod of taking a backup and of restoring it - into the same handheld or another one.
This quick procedure can save many hours of repeating a certificate - as happened to one user who washer his jeans with his handheld in the pocket!!
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