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1992-05-23
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==============================================================================
AltMenu V1.0
© J.Tyberghein Sat May 23 16:48:40 1992
==============================================================================
Preface
-------
There aren't many things I like about MS-Windows(TM). There is however
one big exception: I very much like the ability to do everything with
the keyboard instead of the mouse. The Amiga operating system only
provides shortcuts for some of the menus (program dependant) and some
of the gadgets (also program dependant). This commodity tries to solve
at least one of these shortcomings. When ALTMENU is running you can use
the left-alt key (or another key if you like) to go to menu mode (just
like in Windows). When you are in menu mode, you can use the arrow keys
to move in the menu's. Pressing enter will activate the highlighted
menuitem. ALTMENU does not force you to use this method. You can still
use the menus in the old way. ALTMENU uses less than 9K of your precious
memory (if you are already running another commodity).
This program (ALTMENU V1.0) is public domain.
If you want to use this program for commercial purposes please write
for permission !
If you have any suggestions or remarks you can write to (Bug reports are
welcome too)
Jorrit Tyberghein
Hepmansbossen 31
2450 Meerhout BELGIUM
NOTE
----
If you want to use this utility you must have AmigaDOS 2.0 (or later :-)
To recompile ALTMENU you need SAS/C 5.10 (or higher).
ALTMENU uses no dirty tricks and no patches to the system to implement
the menu walking. ALTMENU works by installing an input.device handler
(with commodities) and substituting several input events by other
mouse moving input events.
Cli Usage
---------
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Commandline template: |
| LALT/s,RALT/s,CTRL/s,LCMD/s,RCMD/s: |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
The default key for ALTMENU is the left-alt (LALT) key.
Choose LALT, RALT, CTRL, LCMD or RCMD for left-alt, right-alt, control,
left-amiga or right-amiga respectively.
To minimize memory usage I recommend that you start ALTMENU from the
Workbench (in the WBStartup directory for example). Otherwise you will
loose some memory for the larger CLI stack.
Workbench Usage
---------------
Use LALT, RALT, CTRL, LCMD or RCMD to choose the right key.
Use the DONOTWAIT tooltype if you want to start ALTMENU from
your WBStartup directory.
Terminology
-----------
First some terminology:
- LMB is the left mouse button.
- RMB is the right mouse button.
- Sh-<key> is equivalent to pressing shift together with <key>
- A menu represents the first level in the menu tree. For each
name in the menu titlebar you have a menu (for example: the
'Project' menu, the 'Edit' menu, ...)
- A menuitem represents the second level. Each menu has one or more
menuitems (for example: 'Load', 'Save', ...)
- A subitem represents the last level. Some menuitems can have
one or more subitems.
- An item is one of the following: a menu, a menuitem or a subitem.
- A selected item is the item on the highest level in the menu tree
that is highlighted (or selected).
- The selected level is the number of the highest selected item
in the menu tree (1 for menus, 2 for menuitems or 3 for subitems).
An example (the Workbench screen):
-----------------------------------------------
Workbench WINDOW Icons Tools
------------+---------------+------------------
|New Drawer |
|Open Parent |
|Close |
|Update |
|Select Cont+-------+
|Clean Up |WINDOW |
|SNAPSHOT |All |
|Show +-------+
|View By »|
+---------------+
All capitalized names are highlighted. In this example, the selected
menu is WINDOW, the selected menuitem is SNAPSHOT and the selected
subitem is also WINDOW. The selected item is the subitem WINDOW because
it is the item that is selected with the highest level (level 3).
The selected level is equal to 3.
How does it work?
-----------------
The following explanation is rather technical. But it's the only way
I could think of to explain the exact behaviour of ALTMENU. I hope you
can understand this information. If not, don't panic. I think the program
is easy to use. You can experiment on your own with the arrow keys, the
space bar and the enter key (the only keys you really need to navigate
in the menus).
When ALTMENU is running your Amiga can be in one of the two following
modes: menu mode or normal mode. You can go to menu mode with the
left-alt key (in this section I assume that you use the default key.
If this is not the case you should 'think' some other key when you read
'left-alt'). Note that ALTMENU will only go to menu mode when you release
the alt key without doing something else in the meantime. This means that
you can still use the alt key in combination with some other key (or
in combination with a mouse button). In summary, to go to menu mode, you
must press and release the alt key with no other actions.
When you press the left-alt key, you will see that the mouse pointer moves
to the upper left corner of the active screen (this only happens if there
are menus attached to the active window) and the first menu will open.
You are now in selected level 1 (menu level) and the first menu is
selected (the selected item is equal to the first menu).
When you are in menu mode you can use the following keys:
left-alt : Leave menu mode and cancel the menu operation. Note that all
menu actions indicated with the space bar will not be
canceled. After you have canceled menu mode, the mouse pointer
will return to the original position before menu mode was
entered.
RMB : Leave menu mode and cancel the menu operation (like the
left-alt key). There is one exception: if the selected
menu or menuitem has submenus the mouse pointer will move
to that menu or menuitem. After that you will still be in menu
mode.
Left : Go to the menu left of the current selected menu. If the
current selected menu is the leftmost menu, ALTMENU will
go to the rightmost menu (wrap). After this operation the
current selected level will be 1 (menu level). There is
one exception to this behaviour: if you are in level 3
(subitem level) pressing the left arrow key will cause ALTMENU
to go to level 2 (menuitem level).
Right : Go to the menu right of the current selected menu. If the
current selected menu is the rightmost menu, ALTMENU will
go to the leftmost menu (wrap). After this operation the
current selected level will be 1 (menu level). There is
one exception to this behaviour: if you are in level 2
(menuitem level) and the selected menuitem has subitems,
pressing the right arrow key will cause ALTMENU to go to
level 3 (go in the subitem level).
Up : Go to the previous menuitem or subitem. If you are in
selected level 2 and the current selected menuitem is
the highest possible menuitem, pressing the up arrow key
will cause ALTMENU to go to level 1 (menu level).
Down : Go to the next menuitem or subitem (if there is one).
If you are in level 1 (menu level) pressing the down arrow key
will cause ALTMENU to go to level 2 (menuitem level).
Sh-left : Go to the leftmost menu (level 1).
Sh-right : Go to the rightmost menu (level 1).
Sh-up : Go to the hightest menuitem or subitem.
Sh-down : Go to the lowest menuitem or subitem.
Enter : Activate the selected item and go back to normal mode
(leave menu mode).
Space : Activate the selected item but remain in menu mode (this is
useful to multiple select some items). With this key you can
select more items at the same time (if the program is
properly written and supports this feature (it should!)).
A letter : When you press a letter, ALTMENU will search in the current
selected level to the next item with a name starting with
the letter. If this item is found, it will be selected. If
the item has menuitems or subitems the selected level will
increase by one (ALTMENU will go in this menuitem or subitem).
Pressing the left-alt key when you are in normal mode is not the only
way to go to menu mode. If you 'walk' the menus in the old way (with
the RMB) you can select an item by releasing the RMB. However, if the
selected item has subitems (if the item is a menu or a menuitem with
subitems) ALTMENU will enter menu mode and choose the selected item
as the current item. Using this technique you can start walking the
menus with the arrow keys at a later time.
When you are walking the menus with the arrow keys (in menu mode) you
must be careful when you move the mouse pointer manually. ALTMENU will
not know that you haved moved the mouse and will assume that the mouse
pointer is still located above what ALTMENU thinks is the selected
item. In general there is no problem if you don't use the arrow keys
after you have moved the mouse pointer manually. If you want to use
the arrow keys again there are two possibilities: either you position
the mouse pointer back on the original selected item or you choose
another starting position by releasing the RMB on a menu or menuitem with
subitems. In an earlier version of ALTMENU I tried to solve this
problem by scanning the menu tree to see which items were selected. But
I discovered that the menu tree is in an inconsistant state when
multiple select is used (space bar): more than one item was selected
according to the flags in the menu structures!
To quit ALTMENU you must use the 'Exchange' program.
==============================================================================
End of ALTMENU 1.0 document
==============================================================================