                       'People' to VCard Converter
                       ===========================

This is a BeOS application that turns BeOS 'Person' files into VCard-format data.
The output is written to /boot/home/people/People.vcf (name is compiled in at
the moment -- sorry).  If the file already exists, the new data is appended.
Thge VCard format is an open interchange standard, so any application on any
platform that uses it should be able to accept the output of this app.

A Person file (or several at once) may be dragged onto the app's icon to do
the conversion, or it may be called from the command line with the pathnames of
Person files.

The app does a fairly straight conversion of the standard Person attributes
to appropriate VCard entries.  It tries to be reasonably smart with the Name
field: the attribute is assumed to be words separated by spaces or commas
(or semicolons); anything else is presumed to be part of the word.  If the
first word is terminated by a comma, it is taken as the Last Name, to be
followed by First, and possibly Middle.  Otherwise the order is presumed
'First (Middle) Last'; any extra words present will confuse it, and you'll
have to verify the results it generates.

A VCard address is a single line with all the components of the address in a
standard format.  The app builds this up from the relevant Person attributes.
It should always generate a proper line, but the correctness of the fields
will depend on the attributes being properly filled.

A VCard is text, so you can edit the output with a suitable program if
you wish.  Note, however, that each VCard line MUST be terminated with both 
a <return> and a <line-feed>.  Some editors -- such as Eddie -- assume the 
<return> is irrelevant and discard it.  Apps on other platforms may then be 
unable to read the file!  StyledEdit respects <return> characters properly.

                                       -- Pete Goodeve --
                                       pete.goodeve@computer.org

                                       May 2002


The VCard protocol is described at the Internet Mail Consortium's site:
             http://www.imc.org/
