ZIPKEY Frequently Asked Questions

updated March 9 ©1998 --- Eric's home page --- ZIPKEY main page --- A86/D86 --- Other authors and sites --- E-mail Eric

  • Has ZIPKEY been updated recently?
  • Why doesn't ZIPKEY work with my Windows app?
  • I am having problems with ZIPKEY in my DOS app when I switched to Windows 95.
  • Can I give ZIPKEY a street address in a big city, and have it give me the zip code?
  • Do you have ZIP+4 codes?
  • Do you have ZIPKEY for Canada and for other countries?

    • My version is some years old. Has ZIPKEY been updated recently?

    Yes, I update ZIPKEY's database each and every month. Yes, I have all the latest area codes -- whenever a new area code goes into effect (the beginning of "permissive dialing"), that month's ZIPKEY database gets the new area code.

    Why doesn't ZIPKEY work with my Windows app?

    Popping up windows and feeding keystrokes work completely differently under Windows, than they do under DOS. The DOS version of ZIPKEY works only with DOS applications.

    I am now shipping a preliminary test copy of the Windows version of ZIPKEY on the registered diskette, that will work with your Windows applications. Everyone who purchases ZIPKEY from me will henceforth receive both the DOS and Windows versions, and can use either or both on all computers for which they have licensed ZIPKEY.

    The Windows version is not presently available as a free evaluation version. You must purchase ZIPKEY from me to get it.

    I am having problems with ZIPKEY in my DOS app when I switched to Windows 95.

    If you are seeing lockup or sluggish response after ZIPKEY has popped up, and if your version of ZIPKEY is 3.11 or less, then you should get the new version of ZIPKEY. There was a problem seen with some (but not all) DOS applications running under Windows 95, and I have fixed it. This was a bug in DOS-under-Win95, but Microsoft was interested neither in hearing about it, nor in fixing it. ZIPKEY starting with V3.12 works its way around this Microsoft bug.

    Can I give ZIPKEY a street address in a big city, and have it give me the zip code?
    Do you have ZIP+4 codes?

    Sorry, no, that is too much data for a product that comes on a floppy disk: the 5-digit street-level data occupies dozens of megabytes, and the ZIP+4 data occupies hundreds of megabytes. That kind of data is available from other companies on CD-ROM (check in the larger software stores). CD-ROMs are economical to publish only in relatively large quantities, and I am not big enough to do so.

    Do you have ZIPKEY for Canada and for other countries?

    Sorry, no. Looking at a Canadian add-on has been on my to-do list, but it has never come close to bubbling up to the top of that list -- don't hold your breath. (ZIPKEY is, both externally and internally, heavily geared towards the 5-digit format of US zipcodes. It would be a major rewrite to accommodate another format.)

    There is a text file of over 3600 Canadian cities, their postal codes, and area codes, contributed by someone in my GO ZIPKEY forum on Compuserve. The file was last updated in September, 1997. Click here to download that file.

    Trying to do any other countries would, I think, stretch me a bit thin; and I am not willing to license my "engine" to others.

    Eric's home page --- ZIPKEY main page --- A86/D86 --- Other authors and sites --- E-mail Eric