Hot Buttons 0.9 Copyright 1993 Cesar Maiorino Shareware: $5.00
This application is a floating palette of user - programmable buttons to lets you, with a single pen tap, access almost all Newton built-in applications as well as any user-installed applications. This let's you bypass the Extras Drawer and Preferences/Formulas Lists and should save you many pen taps.
It's pretty easy to use: a button labelled "???" is unassigned. When you tap it, you get a popup list with choices to assign to it. Assigned buttons are labeled with the first 3 letters of the application name (the one that shows up in the extras drawer), or in some cases, for the built-in stuff, something more intelligible. Once assigned, the button will open the application when you tap it.
It remembers button assignments after you close it.
The little smiling button lets you clear any or all buttons, so that you can reassign them (and also gives you a not-so-subtle reminder to pay up).
You can drag the palette around by the top "lobe" (Actually, by any part of the
palette not containing a button, but the top is easiest). Dragging the palette or just tapping a non-button area will also cause the palette to pop to the front.
Notes:
Opening stuff in the Preferences or Formulas is pretty slow. If there is interest in this thing, this will be one of the first fixes in the next version. The good news is that when you click the close box from a Preference or Formula Item, you get right back to what you were doing before (instead of getting the Main Preference/Formula List - closing that - getting the Extras Drawer and closing that.
When you clear all the buttons, you may see the Extras Drawer open and close quickly.
Don't Panic. Hot Buttons needs to "peek" into the Extras Drawer to see what is there,
and it can't see in there if the drawer is closed (really).
It only checks button assignments against user-installed packages when you start-up the Hot Buttons application or when you clear all buttons, so if you remove a package that has a button assigned to it, you will get an error (but it won't crash, and you can just clear the button). If you restart Hot Buttons (close it and reselect it from the Extras Drawer) after removing the application, it fixes itself somewhat.
Here are a couple of examples:
- Install package A then package B then start Hot buttons and assign buttons to A and B. Remove B and restart hot buttons-> button assigned to A is unchanged, button assigned to B is unassigned.
or
- Install package A then package B then start Hot buttons and assign buttons to A and B. Remove A and restart hot buttons-> button assigned to A is now
assigned to B (and labeled correctly) and button assigned to B is unassigned.
In general if you add or remove packages often, it's a good idea to restart Hot Buttons every once in a while.
Also you cannot access the Card (in the extras drawer) function directly,
although you can access any applications on a card. I tried this with the Getting
Started card (it's the only one I have) and it worked.
Things that you open don't necessarily come to the front, although most of the time, they do.
The application stores a small amount of data in memory (<<1K), which in this version is not removed when you remove the application from your Newton. This should not cause any problems other than wasting a few bytes and will be fixed in the next version.
Plans for next version:
Speed up access to Preferences and Formulas.
Add actions (like "Remove Software", "Set to Guest Mode", "Review my word list")
Clean up stored data after removal of Hot Butttons package.
Improve handling of added/removed applications.
Any suggestions???
Remember, this is shareware. If you like and use the application, please send in your $5.00 (less than the sales tax on your MessagePad! - In MA at least). Your $5.00 will
- give you a clear conscience (or at least clearer), and
- motivate me to continue development of this and upcoming cheap shareware products for the Newton.
Send fee to:
Cesar Maiorino
17 Kendall Street
Lawrence, MA 01841
Send comments, bug reports, suggestions for new features or suggestions for shareware applications you would like to see, to the above address or via email to:
Cesar_Maiorino@bcsmac.bcs.org
Feel free to post and distribute the application to your friends and significant others. I ask, however, that you keep this readme file with it, and do not change the application or the readme file. Thanks.
