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Chapter 2

Learning Be Application Basics


The BeOS comes with a number of applications, some that you use to create documents, some that you use to configure how you prefer to work, and others that demonstrate the potential of the BeOS.

Most applications are in the /apps folder, but you can also find applications in the dock, in the /preferences folder, and in other locations. The applications in the /apps folder are described in Chapter 3 of this guide; the applications in the /preferences folder are described in Chapter 4.

You start applications, open files, type and edit text, save files, quit applications, and perform many other tasks the same way in most applications. This section introduces you to these basic techniques.

Starting an Application

You can start an application by double-clicking its icon. Other ways to start an application include selecting its icon in the Browser and choosing Open from the File menu, and selecting an application icon and pressing Enter.

You also start an application when you open a file—if the application you use with the file isn't already running.

When an application is running, its name is added to the application list—the menu at the top left of the screen that lists all running applications.

Getting Information about an Application

You can get information about an application by choosing the About command from the application's main menu (the menu with the application's icon, to the right of the application list at the top-left corner of the screen). About commands usually appear in the main menu as "About" followed by the name of the application. For example, "About Edit" is in Edit's main menu.

Switching Applications

You can run many applications at the same time. The BeOS and the applications themselves understand how to share processors, memory, and other resources, so many applications can do many things simultaneously.

While all running applications are "active," in the sense that they're all doing whatever you told them to do, only one application has its main menu to the right of the application list in the top-left corner of the screen—the main menu has the application's icon as its title. This is the application that responds to what you type on the keyboard, and if it has windows open, one of its windows is the active window.

There are a number of ways to switch among applications. The simplest is to click in a window belonging to the application you want to work in. Another simple way is to choose an application from the application list—the menu with the Be logo icon at the top-left corner of the screen. You also switch applications when you open a file.

You can press Command-Tab to open the application list from the keyboard (the Command key is either key labeled "Alt" on most PC keyboards; it's the key labeled on Mac keyboards). Then use the arrow keys to select an application and press Enter, or type the trigger for an application in the menu. (For more information, see "Navigating Menus from the Keyboard".)

Quitting an Application

When you're done working with an application, you can quit it. To quit an application, choose its Quit command. In most applications the Quit command is in the main menu.

In many applications, closing all an application's windows causes it to quit.

It's a good idea to quit an application if you're not going to be using it for a while. Quitting an application frees up resources for the applications you're still using.

Creating a New File

When you start some applications—such as Edit—they open a blank, unnamed file in a window. You can do work in this file and then save it (as described in "Saving a File"). In most applications, you can create and open another new file by choosing the New command. The New command is in different locations in different applications, but in most applications it's in the application's main menu or in the File menu in the application's windows.

It's important to save a new file as soon as you create work that you don't want to lose.

Saving a File

When you work in a file, your changes aren't stored permanently until you save them. If you experience a power outage, if the BeOS crashes, or if you accidentally press "Control-Alt-Delete," any changes you haven't saved are lost. Saving a file puts a copy of the file with your latest changes on a disk, where it's stored permanently—until you change the file and save it again.

If you make changes to a file that already has a name and location on a disk, you save changes by choosing the Save command. The Save command is in different menus in different applications, but it's most often each application window's File menu.

If you create a new file or make changes to a file that doesn't already have a name and location on a disk, choosing Save the first time opens the Save As panel, where you can give the new file a name and pick the folder and disk where you want to save it.

The central portion of the Save As panel is a list view of Browser items. You can work in this list view in much the same way as you work in a folder or query window in list view in the Browser: You can select items, rename them, change how they're sorted in the list, and choose fields you want to view in the panel, and use the secondary mouse button to open context-sensitive menus (for more information on list views, see "Changing Views").

To view the contents of a folder that contains the folder listed in the Save As panel, choose a folder name from the pop-up list in the upper-left corner of the Save As panel.

You can use the keyboard to navigate the controls in the Save As panel: Press Tab to select the list view or the name field as the target for what you type (a gray rectangle surrounds the area your typing will affect). When the list view is selected, you can select an item in the list by typing the first few characters in its name, use the arrow keys to select items, and open a selected folder by pressing Enter (the Save button changes to Open when a folder is selected). You can also open the folder that contains the current folder by pressing Command-up arrow (the Command key is either key labeled "Alt" on most PC keyboards; it's the key labeled on Mac keyboards). To close the panel without saving anything, press Escape or Command-W (this is the same as clicking the Cancel button).

When you name a file, select the folder where you want to save it, and click Save, the file is stored safely on the disk you selected and the title of the file in its window's tab shows the name you gave the file.

You can also use the Save As command to save a copy of a file with your latest changes under a new name or in a different folder or disk. When you do, the original file remains unchanged on disk, and the new file with the new name is displayed in the window you were working in.

Opening a File

There are many ways to open files. The simplest is to double-click a file's icon. You can also select a file's icon in the Browser or the dock and choose Open from the File menu, or select the file and press Enter.

Most files have an application they're associated with, usually the application they were created in. When you double-click a file, it opens in this application. A file's icon usually resembles the icon of the application it's associated with, so you can usually tell what application a file will open in by looking at its icon. If a file doesn't have an application associated with it, you're asked if you want to use Edit to open the file when you double-click it.

You can drag a file onto an application icon to open the file in that application—even if the file isn't normally associated with that application. This is a good way to open a file in an application it normally isn't associated with: For example, you can use this technique to open a script file you want to read or edit in the Edit application—if you just double-click a script file, the script runs, instead of opening in a document window. (Of course, the application has to know how to open the file, so you can't, for example, drag an ImageViewer file onto the PlaySound icon.)

If you're working in an application, you can open a file with the application's Open command. The Open command is in different menus in different applications, but it's most often in an application's main menu or File menu. When you choose Open, a panel opens where you can select the file you want to open.

The central portion of the Open panel is a list view of Browser items. You work in this list view in much the same way as you work in a folder or query window in list view in the Browser: You can select items, rename them, change how they're sorted in the list, choose fields you want to view in the panel, and use the secondary mouse button to open context-sensitive menus (for more information on list views, see "Changing Views").

To view the contents of a folder that contains the folder listed in the Open panel, choose a folder name from the pop-up list in the upper-left corner.

You can use the keyboard to navigate the controls in the Open panel. You can select an item in the list by typing the first few characters in its name, use the arrow keys to select items, press Tab or Shift-Tab to select the next or previous item, and open a selected folder by pressing Enter. You can also open the folder that contains the current folder by pressing Command-up arrow (the Command key is either key labeled "Alt" on most PC keyboards; it's the key labeled on Mac keyboards). To close the panel without opening anything, press Escape or Command-w (this is the same as clicking the Cancel button).

When you double-click a file's icon in the panel (or select the file and click Open), a window opens that displays the contents of the file.

Printing

If you have a LaserJet IIp or compatible printer connected to the BeBox parallel port, you can print documents in Edit, messages in BeMail, and soon, other kinds of documents in other applications.

This first version of printing offered by the BeOS is simple and effective: Choose Print. In the panel that opens, type a scale for the pages if you want. Then click Print.

Undoing

In many applications, you can undo your most recent action by choosing Undo from the Edit menu. For example, if you delete text in an Edit file accidentally, choose Undo to undelete it.

Working with Text

You use the keyboard and mouse to create and edit text in a lot of locations in the BeOS: You edit file names, text files, settings in panels, and so on.

You edit text by selecting the place you want to type and then typing. You can also copy text from one place and move it to another, or delete text.

The location on screen where what you type (or text you move) will be entered is indicated in two ways. The first is by a blinking vertical bar, called the insertion point. The second is by highlighted text you want to replace.

Selecting Text

There are a number of ways to select text.

Do This To
Click Select an insertion point
Double-click Select a word
Triple-click Select a paragraph
Drag across text Select a character at a time
Double-click and drag Select whole words at a time
Triple-click and drag Select whole paragraphs at a time
Hold down the Shift key Extend or reduce a range of selected text

In many applications, you can choose the Select All command to select all the text in a window or document; the Select All command is usually in an application's Edit menu.

Typing Text

You type text in documents, when you name or rename files in the Browser or the Open and Save panels, and in many other places.

To type text, click to select an insertion point or select text you want to replace. Then type what you want. If you select text, what you type replaces the selection.

Typing Special Characters

You type accented characters, symbols, and other special characters by holding down the Option key (the key labeled "Ctrl" on the right side of most PC keyboards; the key labeled "Option" on Macintosh keyboards) while you type one or more other keys. You type most accented characters by typing a dead key with the accent you want, followed by the letter you want accented. Dead keys are keys that when you press them, don't place a character on the screen until you type another character. For example, to type é, you press Option-E and then you type e.

In the Keymap application, dead keys are indicated by a checked border. The keymap application is a good tool to use to find the accents and other special characters you want. For more information, see "Keymap".

Copying and Moving Text

You can copy selected text and then paste (insert) it someplace else. Select the text you want to copy and choose Copy from a window's Edit menu. Then select an insertion point or text you want to replace and choose Paste from the Edit menu. You can paste text in the same document you copied it from or in any other application where you work with text, including the names of items in Browser windows and text fields in panels.

If you want to move text rather than copy it—that is, remove the text you select and paste it elsewhere—choose Cut from the Edit menu instead of Copy.

Tip: When copying or moving text, be mindful of the spaces before and after what you copy, and where you intend to paste it.

Text you cut or copy is stored in a special part of memory, called the clipboard. What you last cut or copied remains on the clipboard until you cut or copy something else, so you can keep pasting what you cut or copied repeatedly, without having to cut or copy the original again.

Moving Text with the Mouse

You can use the secondary mouse button to move selected text by dragging it. When you start to drag selected text, the cursor changes shape to help you position the text exactly where you want it.

Initially, the right mouse button is the secondary mouse button on a three-button mouse, but you can change which button is the secondary mouse button with the Mouse preferences application. For details, see "Mouse".

Deleting Text

You can delete text in a number of ways. The simplest is to press the Delete key to erase the text to the left of the insertion point letter by letter. (Depending on the keyboard you're using, the Delete key may be labeled "Delete," "Backspace," or just have a left-pointing arrow. See "Using the Keyboard" for more information on identifying keys on the keyboard.)

If you select text, you can delete all of it at once by pressing the Delete key. Many applications also have a Delete command in their windows' Edit menus. The Delete command acts on selected text just like pressing the Delete key.


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BeOS User's Guide, DR8.2 for Power Mac Edition, 1/16/97.

Copyright © 1997, Be, Inc. All rights reserved.

Please send corrections, suggestions, and comments to userdocs@be.com.