═══ 1. 32 bit QwikSwitch for OS/2 2.1 ═══ Overview: 32 bit QwikSwitch for OS/2 2.1 allows you to assign your running programs to any of 72 key combinations, all with the ease of point and click or drag and drop. It can optionally record the location of your programs, so they can be started using the hot key combination, if not already running. A program settings page is provided for customized start-up options. QwikSwitch can hot key to and from any PM, Win-OS/2, OS/2 and DOS full screen. It can also start any PM, Win-OS/2 seamless or full screen, OS/2 or DOS program. If you have IBM's ICSS (IBM Tm) speech recognition software installed, you can use QwikSwitch by simply speaking into a microphone. Several files are provided for this purpose. Setup: To make effective use of QwikSwitch, you should create a program object for it in your start-up folder and make it 'hidden' when minimized. It then becomes a handy extension to your desktop, whenever your computer is started, and can be called up any time using the preset Ctrl+Shift+'Q' combination. Assigning hot-keys or QwikTalk words or phrases: You can assign programs to hot-keys or QwikTalk phrases in two ways. 1. While running. 2. Drag and drop from the desktop or drive folders. To assign programs to hot-keys at the time they are running, select the program in the QwikSwitch task list. Choose a shift key combination (Ctrl+Shift+ or Ctrl+Alt+) using the radio buttons. Select an alphanumeric key from the adjacent combo box, and click on the large button to the right. You should then see the task list entry transferred to the key selection. If you have speech recogniton installed, you can select the QwikTalk radio button to assign the application to any of the pre-defined spoken words or phrases. You can replace this list with your own, if you have the IBM ICSS development software. To assign desktop folders to QwikSwitch, you must drag and drop them in the area labled "Drop area for objects". The settings notebook is filled automatically and must not be changed. The other type of object that can be dragged and dropped onto QwikSwitch is an executable (.exe or .com) from the drives object. Do this to customize the DOS settings for any particular DOS app. Locate the executable object contained in the drives folder and use its object settings to change the startup info or special settings. This object can be dragged and dropped onto QwikSwitch to assign it to a hot-key or QwikTalk phrase. Auto record start-up info: If this option is selected (see Options), QwikSwitch will prompt you, asking whether or not you wish to record the fully qualified path name of the program being assigned to a hot-key. Dropped objects automatically fill in the details without prompting. Assignments from the QwikSwitch task list derive this information from the task list entry. You may optionally enter the settings page to change the current directory or provide command line parameters. You may also select a session type for OS/2 and DOS programs. If the settings were filled in from a drag operation from the drives folder, use the settings page for the object in the drives folder, to customize things like the current directory, parameters, or DOS settings. Do not alter settings in QwikSwitch for objects dropped from either the desktop or the drives folder. Tool bar explained from left to right: 1. Save to OS2.INI This saves your key assignments and options to the OS/2.INI. They are read in at the time QwikSwitch is started. 2. Restore settings. This retrieves the info store in the OS2.INI file. 3. Erase single entry. 4. Erase all entries. USE WITH CAUTION. 5. Brings up the Options dialog. 6. Brings up the program settings notebook for the selected hot-key entry. Operation notes: QwikSwitch uses the task list entry to set the focus to the program associated with the hot-key. Some programs alter their task list entry, by appending things like secondary file names (word processors) to their task list entry. For these type of programs, you must limit the character matching to that part of the entry that remains constant. Use the spin button to the right of the hot key assignment button to set the number of characters to match on. ═══ 1.1. Task list ═══ This is the QwikSwitch task list. It operates similar to OS/2's own Window List. It is generally used to select entries for assignment to a hot-key. ═══ 1.2. Save selections ═══ Saves hot key selections to user INI file. ═══ 1.3. Restore selections ═══ Restores hot-key selections from user INI. ═══ 1.4. Erasing single entries ═══ Erases the selected hot key entry. You must save to make the deletion permanent. ═══ 1.5. Erase all entries ═══ Erases ALL hot key entries. You must save in order to make the deletion permanent. ═══ 1.6. QwikSwitch preferences ═══ Displays dialog for changing user preferences. ═══ 1.7. start-up program settings ═══ Displays program settings notebook. ═══ 1.8. Assign from task list to hot key ═══ 1. Make selection in task list. 2. Select hot key from drop down list. 3. Press 'assign button' to transfer task list name to hot key. ═══ 1.9. Toggle hot keys ═══ Toggles hot keys on or off. You may also toggle the hot-keys from the keyboard by pressing Ctrl+Shift+'-' (key pad). A descending audible tone will be heard, when disabling and the opposite for enabling. The keyboard method operates like a hot-key and can be used from within other programs. ═══ 1.10. Hot key group ═══ Selects the Ctrl+Shift combination of hot keys. ═══ 1.11. Hot key group ═══ Selects the Ctrl+Alt combination of hot keys. ═══ 1.12. Hot key list ═══ Contains the list of assigned hot keys for the selected shift combination. ═══ 1.13. Task list matching ═══ The value displayed in this control specifies how many characters to match in the task list. This may be required for some programs (like the enhanced editor) that change their program titles by appending other information. A value of 0 indicates full title matching. ═══ 1.14. Toggling speech recognition ═══ Press the microphone button on the button bar to activate speech recognition. The recognition software (IBM ICSS) takes several seconds to load. This is accomplished as a background task. The QwikTalk monitor will indicate the system is initializing and displays a 'green light' when the system is ready to accept speech input. Pressing this button after speech recognition has been activated will stop and unload the speech recognition system. ═══ 1.15. Enable speech recognition on startup ═══ This box should be checked if you want speech recognition started as the default when QwikSwitch is first started. Although speech recognition takes some time to load, the keyboard hot-keys are available to use immediately on startup. ═══ 1.16. Displaying the QwikTalk monitor ═══ This box should be checked if you want the QwikTalk monitor window to be displayed. The monitor window displays the status of the microphone button, as well as the status of the speech recognition system. ═══ 1.17. Speech input device (microphone) timeout ═══ This slider determines the number of seconds the speech recognition system should listen for spoken input. Zero seconds indicates continuous listening; otherwise, the microphone will 'turn off' after the indicated number of seconds of silence. ═══ 1.18. Speech start and stop talking input thresholds ═══ Use this slider to control the level of speech required for speech recognition to occur. A higher value may be required in areas where there is a higher level of background sounds. This will avoid erroneous speech detection, and permit normal levels of talking when standing back from the microphone. The user will have to experiment to determine the optimal setting for their environment. ═══ 1.19. Program settings - program name ═══ Specify the name and location (if not in the OS/2 'path' statement) of the program you want started corresponding the hot-key selected. If starting a Win-OS/2 application, you must specify WIN.COM in this entry field. The name of the windows application should then be placed in the parameters entry field. ═══ 1.20. Program settings - command line argurments ═══ Place any command line arguments here, that should be passed on to the program specified in the program name entry field. ═══ 1.21. Program settings - working directory ═══ Specify the working directory for the program being started. ═══ 1.22. Program settings - prompt before starting ═══ Use this check box to specify whether QwikSwitch should prompt before starting any application. You may want to select this as a safety against accidentally starting very large applications. ═══ 1.23. Program settings - speech aware flag ═══ This setting only applies to the QwikTalk selection list and is available only if IBM's ICSS software is installed. Use this setting for programs that require the input device (sound card or microphone). The QwikTalk mircophone will automatically be turned off, allowing the starting application to gain access to it. ═══ 1.24. QwikTalk monitor ═══ The user may click on the monitor window microphone button to toggle microphone input on or off. An alternative method is to use the Cntrl+Spacebar combination on the keyboard, or simply speak the phrase "Turn mike off" while speech recognition is active. The microphone is automatically toggled off whenever the user presses Cntrl+ or speaks the phrase "lockup" to issue the OS/2 lockup command. ═══ 1.25. Number of monitors ═══ Specifies the number of full screen sessions to monitor. Each monitor has a separate thread, with some memory overhead.