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 User's Guide

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Making Links
    1. Container-first
    2. Destination-first
  3. Using Proxies
  4. History
    1. Link History Hack
    2. Preferences

1 Introduction

LinkMaster is a method of linking data between different applications on PalmŪ Computing devices. An application which can be the destination of a link is called "link-aware". A "link container" is an application that can store links to other apps.

2 Making Links

You can make a link by starting from either the container or destination end of the link.

2.1 Container-first

In the containing application, there will be a command to create a new LinkMaster link, probably on a menu. Choose this command, and LinkMaster will be run. Tap the "New Link" button at the bottom of the screen, and you will see a list of all link-aware applications on your handheld. Tap one of the apps in this list to run it. In that app, there will be a command to publish a link, probably on a menu. Choose that command, and you will be returned to the containing application, and the link has been created.

2.2 Destination-first

It is possible to reverse the above steps to make a link by starting with the destination. If you publish a link from a link-aware application without requesting one from a container, that link will be stored in your LinkMaster bookmarks. You can then run the container and choose to create a new link. In LinkMaster, instead of choosing "New Link", you can pick one of the stored links from the list.

3 Using Proxies

Proxies provide a way to make links to applications that are not link-aware. The standard LinkMaster distribution includes the following proxies:
Date book:
Link to appointments in the standard Date Book, DateBk3, or Action Names
Address book:
Link to entries in the standard Address application
App launcher:
Link to an application, instead of to a specific record within an application
Find:
Link to a record in any applications that support the system Find command. NB: these links are based on position (e.g. the seventh record in a database), and therefore may not be reliable if data is added to or removed from the database

4 History

Some applications support the history-tracking feature of LinkMaster. This lets you display a list of things you have accessed recently (using the drop-down list in the upper right corner of the main LinkMaster window). These links can be sent to a container (as described in Destination-first) or followed with the "Go" button.

4.1 Link History Hack

The Link History Hack is a hack that lets you acces your LinkMaster history from any application. You can assign pen strokes to each of its three functions:
Back:
return to the previous item in the history list
Forward:
go to the next item in the history list (only works right after using the back command)
Popup list:
display a list of the most recent items in the history list
You can also have the hack track your application usage, so that each app you run shows up on the history list. This feature requires the Proxy App Launcher.

In addition, while the history popup list is displayed, you can tap the "History" label to switch to a list of your bookmarks.

4.2 Preferences

The "Preferences" menu command in LinkMaster lets you set some options related to the history:
History size:
is the maximum number of entries that will be stored in the history list
Minimum history duration:
lets you remove clutter from the history list by "forgetting" things you look at for less than this amount of time (in seconds)
Allow duplicates in history:
If this box is not checked, then only the most recent instance of a particular history entry will be kept.
Last modified 1 October 1999

Copyright © 1999 Ben Darnell