Bluetooth phone book transfer using a laptop

[ryogajyc]

Wes,

I don't use the Business Card Exchange to transfer phone entries, b/c that's limited to one by one transfer. I use that to pair, since the pairing is much more straight-forward than using the wizard. No going back a dialogue box and whatnot; you just detect the Prius handsfree and install it.

The Start Using Bluetooth is only on a fresh install. I listed it to clear any confusion by people who have just installed the WIDCOMM software and right-click the BT tray icon and don't see Quick Connect.

I guess from my instructions, I did indicate that it was the initial setup and how to go about transferring entries later. I'll update my post.

I'm just going through all this in my typically thorough fashion. My setup is now pretty satisfactory. I just wanted to post what I've found to be the the quickest most straightforward laptop Bluetooth transfer method from my hours of experimentation so others hopefully won't go through the same frustration I did.

Since I don't use BT for anything other than handsfree and phone transfer, the vulnerabilities don't really bother me. It sounds like a bit of mucking around is required to get the DBT-120 to work, so I'm gonna pass on that for the time being. Maybe I'll mess with them when I get the TrueMobile 350 BT adapter which installs internally on my Dell laptop. Thanks for the link to the new drivers.

[mbarrows]

Originally posted by NuShrike
Get the latest Widcomm 4 BT stack software from |here| and follow the instructions on patching it to disable the license check.

There seems to be an even newer version |available here|.

This will work for almost ALL BT usb adaptors out there which use the Widcomm software/drivers, and for some reason (at least for D-Link) whom haven't updated the driver software for a year+ since after Widcomm got bought by Broadcom.

There are KNOWN BT security vulnerabilities (hijacking, inserting viruses, etc) that's in the ~1.4.2 software which the 4.x will fix too.

I haven't tested it, but there's supposed to be more profiles available which might help with the bt transfers to the Prius.

Personally I don't consider the Prius to have good enough BT or phonebook software to even bother.  My phone is so much better for hand-held or voice dialing, AND doesn't lock me out when I'm driving.

I have patches to the .inf file for the D-Link DBT-120 so it 'names' the device properly when installing the driver, if you need it.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayfinke\";p=\"104267)</div>

That's exactly how I did it with my Motorola v600. I didn't see that 'Send Business Card' message(it was something else),but otherwise it was pretty much as you described, which I,like you, discovered by trial and error.  BTW I have a new BMW 330i, and the whole phonebook transfers automatically, without any input from me, each time I get in the car. Go figure. The BMW's nav system is a disgrace, and the Prius has the Lexus system which is as good as it gets. Ya win some and ya lose some.
[/b]

Jay,

Had to do it the same way. Took a long time. I wish there was a way to get the entire phonebook into the Bluetooth from the V600 but I couldn't figure out a way.

Mike :x

[ryogajyc]

If it's possible to change the title of this, I think "laptop" should be somewhere in the title so that it stands out when people search for it.

[kpauley]

Has anyone done a laptop transfer from a Dell with the built in Dell Bluetooth software? I didn't get to spend a lot of time with it. I was able to see the car in the search / browse of devices. Tried the quick connect, didn't find anything to connect to when doing the Business Card Exchange.

I'll mess with it more later, just wondering if anyone has been down this road....

Ken

[kpauley]

OK, I worked on this a little last night. Got the Laptop thing to work somewhat. After reading things closer I finally grasped the concept that your phone (my Blackberry) must be paired and connected with the car, then you bring your laptop on line, start the transfer from the Prius but instead of sending from my phone I send from the laptop. Trick the Prius...

I need to mess with my laptop, I'm not able to do the bulk send from within Outlook, the Bluetooth menu is there but the sub-menu is not so it isn't working.

So I was able to transfer one at a time, which is a pain in itself. But for some reason I was also losing my BT connection with the phone after a single transfer. Had to turn the car off, then back on to reset. Pain.

I'll mess with that more and see if I can get some instructions together.

Another option I came up with though is to just use another phone. My wife has a BT phone (RAZR) that does support transfers. Could just borrow one from someone as well. Just swap SIM cards in the phones to move your addressbook over, then do the transfer.

Ken

[fmickey]

Here's my two bits (well, maybe a few more than two...) -
I need to delete the HANDSFREE definition from my laptop and re-pair the Prius to the Laptop every transfer, but once it's paired, I can re-initiate the transfer if I just wait for the phone to reconnect after each attempt -- about 10 seconds.

I have a Motorola e815, which doesn't do the whole-phonebook transfer. therefore, I wrote a program in VBA for Microsoft Access that will work with an exported contact list from Microsoft Outlook to create a multi-entry .VCF file, allowing the contact list to be loaded all at once. The ground rules are:
1. The User1 field in the Outlook database is used to indicate which Outlook entries to include in the converted VCF file. You can either add it to the Phone List View by clicking "Customize Current View" in the Contacts screen, or you can add it to the data table in the export.
2. The export .MDB file is created in the Contacts section of Outlook by using File/Import and Export to export to a file, and selecting Microsoft Access as the destination. The default file name of Outlook.MDB should be used, and my program expects it to be stored in the C:\ folder.
3. The program is in Converter.MDB, which will usually cause Access to ask if you really want to load this file due to the dangers of virus infection. If you choose "No", you're on your own.
4. Selecting Tools/Macro/Run Macro/DumpVCF will run the program to create file Contacts.VCF in the C:\ folder. All non-numeric characters are stripped from phone numbers, and only entries with a value in the USER1 field are included in the output file. There are some decisions embodied in the program; e.g., it uses business phone first, home phone second, and mobile phone third as the riority to convert phone numbers. VBA aficionados can customize to their hearts' content.
5. I delete the phone from the PC device list, turn on the PRIUS, select ADD PHONE on the PRIUS setup screen, and then have the laptop scan for devices. The protocol doesn't complete for me, so once the laptop has submitted the 1212 key for pairing, I have to cancel the PRIUS side to continue.
6. After waiting 10 seconds for my phone to re-bond with the PRIUS, I can then start the phone book transfer. Right-clicking on the Contacts.VCF file brings up a context menu that provides "Send To.../Bluetooth Device", which does just fine. Any problem that occurs with the transfer is probably due to unusual characters in the phone number or name, and you can edit the .VCF file to see which might be the case.

Hapy Transferring!

[fmickey]

Here's my two bits (well, maybe a few more than two...) -
I need to delete the HANDSFREE definition from my laptop and re-pair the Prius to the Laptop every transfer, but once it's paired, I can re-initiate the transfer if I just wait for the phone to reconnect after each attempt -- about 10 seconds.

I have a Motorola e815, which doesn't do the whole-phonebook transfer. therefore, I wrote a program in VBA for Microsoft Access that will work with an exported contact list from Microsoft Outlook to create a multi-entry .VCF file, allowing the contact list to be loaded all at once. The ground rules are:
1. The User1 field in the Outlook database is used to indicate which Outlook entries to include in the converted VCF file. You can either add it to the Phone List View by clicking "Customize Current View" in the Contacts screen, or you can add it to the data table in the export.
2. The export .MDB file is created in the Contacts section of Outlook by using File/Import and Export to export to a file, and selecting Microsoft Access as the destination. The default file name of Outlook.MDB should be used, and my program expects it to be stored in the C:\ folder.
3. The program is in Converter.MDB, which will usually cause Access to ask if you really want to load this file due to the dangers of virus infection. If you choose "No", you're on your own.
4. Selecting Tools/Macro/Run Macro/DumpVCF will run the program to create file Contacts.VCF in the C:\ folder. All non-numeric characters are stripped from phone numbers, and only entries with a value in the USER1 field are included in the output file. There are some decisions embodied in the program; e.g., it uses business phone first, home phone second, and mobile phone third as the riority to convert phone numbers. VBA aficionados can customize to their hearts' content.
5. I delete the phone from the PC device list, turn on the PRIUS, select ADD PHONE on the PRIUS setup screen, and then have the laptop scan for devices. The protocol doesn't complete for me, so once the laptop has submitted the 1212 key for pairing, I have to cancel the PRIUS side to continue.
6. After waiting 10 seconds for my phone to re-bond with the PRIUS, I can then start the phone book transfer. Right-clicking on the Contacts.VCF file brings up a context menu that provides "Send To.../Bluetooth Device", which does just fine. Any problem that occurs with the transfer is probably due to unusual characters in the phone number or name, and you can edit the .VCF file to see which might be the case.

Hapy Transferring!

PS - Okay, so the Board won't upload .MDB files. Here's the zipped version.

[kpauley]

Originally posted by fmickey@Oct 27 2005, 07:14 PM
  1. The User1 field in the Outlook database is used to indicate which Outlook entries to include in the converted VCF file.  You can either add it to the Phone List View by clicking "Customize Current View" in the Contacts screen, or you can add it to the data table in the export.

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Boy thanks for doing this. I'll give it a try this weekend, I hope this works for me as well.

You mention the User1 field is used to indicate which entries are included. What do you put in that field, what is the syntax? What I was thinking was that you would put a 1 or something in there indicating to include it in the export?

Would be good if the other user fields could be used to put the "short name" and phone number format for the Prius. For example, I may have an entry in Outlook called Doe, John. But then in User2 I specify John-W which is what would be exported for the display name on the Prius. This way I could have one record in Outlook for the different formating.

Not sure if that makes sense or not.....

[jbd3]

I get an error message on running the macro:

Microsoft Access can't find the name 'DumpContacts' you entered in the expression

Am I doing something foolish?

[PSean]

I must be foolish too. I got the same error. Any ideas?