ARM Club 3/TheARMClub_PDCD3.iso/hensa/keyboard/makro_2/!Makro/!Help

Text File | 1997-09-18 | 12KB | 298 lines

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                                “ M a k r o ”

                              Text macro system

                          by David Thomas, © 1993-6
                         version 1.52 (25 Nov 1996)
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 Introduction ______________________________________________________________

  Makro is a utility which allows you to define simple string sequences and
then ‘play’ them back, as if you had typed them in at the keyboard.  This
is most helpful in cases where a series of repetitive actions need to be
carried out.

  Makro allows you to maintain many different sets of macros and it allows
you to specify *Commands, so you can use it for, say, an e-mail address
book _and_ an application launcher.

  Version 1.50 is a complete overhaul of the way Makro works - it now
installs on the iconbar, has real window gadgets and you can now have named
macros.  For each macro, there is now ‘name’ and ‘string’ fields which are
edited via a dialogue box.  This makes it much easier to tell what each
macro does.  Many thanks to Bob Harding for suggesting these changes.


 Usage _____________________________________________________________________

  When loaded for the first time Makro will install its icon on the icon
bar.  Clicking SELECT on this icon will open Makro's main window which, at
this point, will in the bottom-left hand corner of the screen.

  The main window consists of a display and pop-up menu selector, left and
right bumper icons and twenty horizontal ‘slabs’.  Each of these slabs can
be programmed to contain a macro and each window's worth of slabs can be
saved - known as a ‘macro set’.

  The display icon shows the name of the current macro set, at the moment
it will be ‘Empty’.  Clicking on the pop-up menu selector next to the
display will open up a menu listing of the different macro sets you can load
(Makro is supplied with several).  Clicking on the left and right bumper
icons will take you through the macro sets available.

  To define a macro, click MENU over any of the slabs.  A menu will appear
with ‘Edit macro’, ‘Save set’ and ‘Clear set’ entries on it - ‘Edit macro’
is the one we're interested in - move the pointer right to open the ‘Edit
macro’ dialogue box.  The dialogue box consists of two writable fields and
two action buttons.  They are:

    • ‘Name’ writable
       Enter in here the name of the macro,

    • ‘String’ writable
       Enter in here what you want inserted when the slab is clicked on,

    • ‘Store’ button
       Will enter your macro into the slab you clicked over,

    • ‘Cancel’ button
       Cancel will shut the window without making any changes, or
       alternatively when clicked with ADJUST will restore the original
       text.

  When you've entered what you want into the writable fields, click on the
Store button (or press Enter) and your macro will be stored in the slab you
clicked over.  When you now click with SELECT on the slab, the string
associated with it will be inserted into whatever document or application
currently has input focus (signified by a cream-coloured surround.)  Also,
clicking with ADJUST will enter the macro name, rather than the string.

  Some strings, which contain special characters, may not be inserted in
exactly the same way you wrote them, see the ‘String Format’ section below
to find out how to avoid this.

  *Commands can be defined simply by entering the command you require in
the ‘String’ writable, with a preceeding ‘*’.  If you need to use a string
which starts with ‘*’, then enter ‘<42>’ instead (which will insert an
‘*’.)

  You can also press Ctrl when the pointer is over one of the slabs to
insert the associated string.  This is useful for menus and dialogue boxes
which would otherwise be closed.


  The ‘Save set’ dialogue box allows you to save your currently defined
macros to a named set, which will from then on be available from the Load
menu.  This dialogue box is also used to delete macro sets - load the
unwanted set into Makro and then save it with nothing in save box's ‘Name’
field - the set will be deleted.


  The ‘Clear set’ entry simply does that - wipes all the macros and renames
the current set ‘Empty.’


  There are also an entry available from the icon bar menu :

  • ‘Save’ will store to disc the current macro set and position of window.
    These options are automatically restored each time Makro is run.


 String Format _____________________________________________________________

  All strings are passed through the RISC OS string translator (OS_GSTrans)
prior to being inserted.  This enables you to easily insert control
characters and system variables.  So things like ‘<Sys$Time>|M’ will be
expanded into the form ‘19:51:42’ and then a newline.

  However, to facilitate this certain characters must be reserved, or take
on special actions.  Basically this means that strings enclosed in angle
brackets are turned into system variables (or characters) and characters
prefixed by ‘|’ are turned into control characters.

  To insert the actual characters (< and |) you must either enter their
ASCII codes in angle brackets or prefix them with the control character ‘|’.
For example:

                           Insert  String needed
                           ------  -------------
                              |          ||
                              <          |<

  Control characters you may find useful are :

                           String  Action
                           ------  ------
                             |M    Return
                             |C    Copy in most editors
                             |X    Delete/Cut in most editors
                             |V    Move in most editors

  You can also enter ASCII codes directly by enclosing the code in angle
brackets.  Base 10 is assumed, but other bases can be used by prefixing the
number with the base number and then an underscore.  For example, “<33>”
generates ‘!’ and “<16_7E>” generates ‘~’.


 Notes _____________________________________________________________________

 • The maximum string size is 255 characters, the maximum name size is 20
   characters.  The maximum number of characters which can be generated
   from a macro is 511 characters.

 • Dropping a text file on one of the slabs will load in the first string
   or the first 255 characters of the file, into the slab.

 • Any enhancements you want me to make then contact me, rather than just
   sitting there muttering to yourself. ;-)


 Example Files _____________________________________________________________

  A number of example files are provided to demonstrate Makro.  Load the
examples by selecting the appropriate entry from the Load menu.  They are:

  “HTML”  HTML Document Markup ___________________________________________

    This uses the standard RISC OS keyboard shortcuts to surround the
    currently selected text with HTML tags.

    It is slightly tricky to get these to work as HTML tags are surrounded
    by angle brackets ( < and > ) which means they will be interpreted by
    Makro as system variables.  The solution is to prefix the first angle
    bracket with a ‘|’ (Ctrl) character.

    For example :

      Name: “Bold”
    String: “|<B>|V|Z|</B>”

      Name: “Italic”
    String: “|<I>|V|Z|</I>”

  “E-mail”  Address Book _________________________________________________

    This demonstrates how Makro can be used as an address book.

      Name: “David Thomas”
    String: “[e-mail]”

      Name: “Justin Fletcher”
    String: “[e-mail]”

      Name: “Clares Sales Dept.”
    String: “[e-mail]”

  “Reports”  Report Creation Assistant ___________________________________

    “Johnny” is an excellent worker
             is a good worker
             is an average worker
             is a poor worker
             is a strange child... ;-)
             etc.

  “Buttonbar”  Application-Independent Buttonbar _________________________

      Name: “Copy”
    String: “|C”

      Name: “Cut”
    String: “|X”

  “Launcher”  Application/File Launcher __________________________________

      Name: “Start Paint”
    String: “*WimpTask Filer_Run Resources:$.Apps.!Paint”

      Name: “Start Configure”
    String: “*WimpTask Filer_Run ADFS::4.$.!Boot”

    etc.


 Macro Set Files _________________________________________________________

  The macro set files are stored within the Makro application directory
(although their location can be moved by altering Makro's !Run file.)  They
are contained in a directory called ‘Sets’.  The set files are plain text
with every two lines containing the Name and String for each macro.


 Versions __________________________________________________________________

1.00 - First version
1.01 - Improved the input routine due to discovery of OS_Byte 153! Text
       appears ‘instantly’ now!
1.02 - Increased amount of macros from 4 to 16.
     - Added bit which loads first string from a text file if is it dropped
       on an icon.
     - Adjust-drag-on-slab-shadow works properly now.
1.03 - Added *Command interface.
1.04 - Added save function, a-la recommendations in Arc World, saves window
       position too.
1.05 - Very odd bug, every 20th char was being missed out...

1.06 (20 Apr 1994)
     - Increased macros to 24.
     - Fixed messed up insert routine (control chars weren't being inserted)
     - Doesn't slab down on an empty slab anymore
     - Empty slabs don't cause insert anymore

1.10 - Intermediate 1.50 version.

1.50 (18 Aug 1996)
     - Just about everything changed.
     - Iconbar icon, ‘proper’ window.
     - Different macro system - with a name and associated string.
     - OS_Byte call now checks for buffer full, and polls if so.
     - Uses Wimp_ProcessKey depending on new ‘Slow’ menu entry; enables
       top-bit chars to get through. :-)

1.51 (05 Sep 1996)
     - Justin Fletcher pointed out how to get top-bit-set chars working.
       Cheers mate. :-)  ‘Slow’ mode removed.
     - I was doing the 1.05 bug *again* as the buffer-full check didn't
       actually work. :-(
     - Clicking SELECT on the Edit entry was opening the box without the
       text being updated.  Ditto for the Save entry.

1.52 (25 Nov 1996)
     - Fixed sets menu builder to only display up to 20 sets, as opposed to
       crashing.  It also now properly sets the menu width.
     - Bob Harding suggested having a pop-up set selector and display for
       the name of the current set, and bumper back/forward icons.  Also
       changed the main window style to have a gap around the edges.  The
       bumper icons are a bit nasty (internally), but hey ho. ;-)


 Copyright and Contact Addresses ___________________________________________

  This software is copyrighted work of David Thomas, it is supplied “as is”;
using it is entirely at your own risk.  I make no warranty as to the fitness
of this software for any purpose.  You are free to distribute this
application to anyone you please, as long as you are not supplying it for
personal gain and it is delivered with all the supplied files unaltered.

  If you have any comments, bug reports, suggestions for future versions or
anything else don’t hesitate to contact me at -

  Mail:  Mr D.P. Thomas
         20 Rosebery Avenue
         Waterloo
         Liverpool
         L22 2BH

  Email: [e-mail]

  WWW:   http://java.cms.livjm.ac.uk/cmsdthom/

  The latest versions of my applications will be available from my World
Wide Web pages, where term dates allow.
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