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-)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- A User's Guide (C) Copyright 1987, 1988 John B. Zuckerman. All Rights Reserved. -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- INTRODUCTION .......................................... 2 GETTING STARTED ....................................... 4 REPEAT VALUES ......................................... 6 THE OPTION FILE ....................................... 10 THE POP-UP MENU ....................................... 15 -1- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- 1. INTRODUCTION Hurry Key is a sophisticated keyboard turbocharger for the IBM Personal Computer. By using Hurry Key, you can realize a significant boost in your typing productivity. Hurry Key accomplishes this by giving you a toolbox of new keyboard features and properties that you can use to re-engineer the typing action of your computer's keyboard. Hurry Key belongs to that class of programs for the IBM Per- sonal Computer known as "TSR"s (for terminate-and-stay- resident programs.) Selecting from the Hurry Key toolbox, you may . . . o choose different repeating speeds for individual charac- ters. o adjust the repeat delay factor, and the acceleration rate. o select the Power Brake feature, to prevent cursor run- on. To super-energize your keyboard, you run the Hurry Key pro- gram from DOS just as you would any other program. Hurry Key will start running, and will quickly return to DOS. However, from that moment on, Hurry Key will be active and functioning, completely hidden from sight, just as DOS is when you are running a program. Now you are ready to . . . o type a letter or edit a document with a word processor such as Word Perfect. o update a spread-sheet model with a program such as Lotus 1-2-3. o write a program using IBM-PC disk BASIC. o run any of your favorite application programs. No matter which program you use, you will notice the amaz- ingly swift responsiveness and typing action that Hurry Key gives to your keyboard. -2- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- 1.1. Versions of Hurry Key This document describes the shareware version of Hurry Key. You may copy and distribute this shareware version to oth- ers, provided that you agree to abide by the following con- ditions: (1) No fee or other consideration may be charged for copying or distributing the program without the author's written consent. (2) The program and its startup message may not be modified in any way. If you find Hurry Key of value, you are encouraged to pur- chase a registered copy from the author (price $25.) In return you will receive . . . (1) the registered version of Hurry Key which occupies about half the memory taken up by this shareware version, and does not require an extra keystroke in order to proceed from the initial startup message. (2) a special subset version of Hurry Key which occupies even less memory, and is intended for use in tight memory situations. (3) a printed user's guide which contains additional useful information so that you can get the most out of your copy of Hurry Key. To order the registered version of Hurry Key, or to contact the author, write to: John B. Zuckerman P.O. Box 56713 Houston, Texas 77256-6713 1.2. Requirements and Limitations You may use Hurry Key with the IBM Personal Computer, PC/XT, PC/AT, and other 100% compatible machines which use IBM-PC DOS version 2.0 or greater. Hurry Key supports any IBM-PC display adapter: the -3- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- Monochrome Display Adapter, the Color Graphics Adapter, or the Enhanced Graphics Adapter. Some features of Hurry Key may not be used with a non-standard adapter such as the Her- cules graphics card, unless you are using it in an IBM com- patible mode. Hurry Key supports the standard keyboards of the IBM-PC, PC/XT, PC/AT, and compatible standard keyboards. Hurry Key may be used in combination with many keyboard enhancement products (or TSR's) from other vendors. How- ever, some limitations may apply. 1.3. Memory Consumption This shareware version of Hurry Key consumes about 45K bytes of memory when in use. This memory becomes reserved, and is unavailable for use by other programs. 2. GETTING STARTED Please read this section thoroughly, as it contains impor- tant introductory information. Hurry Key is provided as a number of files on the product distribution diskette. You should find the following files there: HK .COM The Hurry Key program. HK .OPT A general purpose Option File. HK .RV A general purpose Repeat Value File. HKBA .OPT An Option File for BASIC and BASICA. HKBA .RV A Repeat Value File for BASIC and BASICA. HK123 .OPT An Option File for Lotus 1-2-3. HK123 .RV A Repeat Value File for Lotus 1-2-3. HKWS3 .OPT An Option File for WordStar Version 3. HKWS3 .RV A Repeat Value File for WordStar Version 3. To start Hurry Key for the first time, insure that the fol- lowing is true for your computer: -4- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- (1) The files HK.COM, HK.OPT, and HK.RV are all in the current directory (that is, if you type, "DIR HK.*", while in DOS, these three files should appear in the directory.) If you do not have one or more of these files, copy them from your distribution diskette. (2) You should not be using any other ram-resident, installed keyboard modification, TSR or "macro" program at this time. Once you determine that Hurry Key runs successfully on your system, you should find that it is generally tolerant of other resident programs and TSRs. Consult the instructions for the other programs that you have concerning coexistence with other programs of this kind. The expanded Hurry Key user's guide available with the licensed version of the program contains specific details of the results obtained with certain TSR programs. Here are several hints: (1) You may find that the order in which you load Hurry Key and other TSR programs is crucial to correct operation of your system. Experiment by loading Hurry Key before, or after another TSR that you wish to use concurrently. (2) Try configuring Hurry Key so that the expanded typeahead buffer option is disabled. This option sometimes con- flicts with other keyboard modifying TSR's. Once you have added the Hurry Key program to your system type in the following DOS command: HK/O (That's a slash "Oh", not a slash zero. Also, be sure to press enter.) Hurry Key will now install and become resident in your system's memory. At this point, Hurry Key is displaying its startup message. Press any key to return to DOS. 2.1. Important Concepts and Terms You may select from among the many items in the Hurry Key toolbox by creating files of OPTIONS and REPEAT VALUES. You may also use DOS command-line SWITCHES or trigger the Hurry Key POP-UP MENU. -5- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- You may adjust the way Hurry Key works as a whole with options and switches, and the repeat action of typed charac- ters by assigning them repeat values. You may pop-up the menu by pressing the "Ctrl" and "Left Shift" keys simultaneously. This pair of keys is known as the MENU HOT KEYS. You can change the assigned hot key pair to another pair of keys, if you wish. The menu hot keys also activate the Hurry Key SCREEN SAVER which will prolong the life of your display screen (see the screen saver option, discussed below.) Instead of popping up the menu, you may specify options by creating an Option File, and placing your choices in it. Likewise, you may specify repeat values by creating a Repeat Value File and placing your repeat values in it. You instruct Hurry Key to use the Option or Repeat Value File by appending a switch to the Hurry Key DOS command line. 3. REPEAT VALUES Repeat values are at the heart of Hurry Key performance. When you supply Hurry Key with repeat values, the program keeps these values in its memory and uses them to turbo- charge your keyboard. Repeat values may be stored in a repeat value file, to retain them permanently. The easiest way to add or change a single repeat value is to use the Hurry Key pop-up menu. To make wholesale changes to repeat values, you may prefer to alter your Repeat Value File with a text editor. You can supply Hurry Key with two different kinds of repeat values for it to keep in its memory. One kind is called the set of Standard Repeat Values and contains a single list of performance values which is used for the entire keyboard. The other kind is called the set of Character Repeat Values. This set contains a large number of repeat value lists, one for each individual keyboard character. Since the Standard Repeat Values apply to the keyboard as a whole, this set is much smaller. If you like, you can supply Hurry Key with complete sets of both Standard Repeat Values and Character Repeat Values, although in practice this isn't necessary. You can supply any value you want, or omit any of them, from either set. Anytime you have omitted a Standard Repeat Value or Charac- ter Repeat Value, Hurry Key will find a backup value to use, according to a few simple rules. -6- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- You would find providing separate Character Repeat Value lists for every character a very tedious task as there are over 200 different characters you would have to provide values for. Since you could provide up to five values per list, that amounts to over 1000 values! It's much more practical to provide lists only for a few select characters. In order to boost keyboard performance whenever you type a character, Hurry Key searches its memory for the list of Character Repeat Values belonging to that character. What happens if you elected not to supply any? In that case Hurry Key will search its memory for the list of Standard Repeat Values and use them instead. Thus, the Standard Repeat Values act as reserves, ready to step in whenever needed Character Repeat Values turn up missing. However, you're not required to supply any Standard Repeat Values either. What happens in this case? Then Hurry Key falls back and uses a built-in predefined list of Standard Repeat Values. Thus, no matter which values you choose to omit, Hurry Key always has values available for use. In practice you'll only want to customize the performance of perhaps half-a-dozen or so of the characters that you can type, by giving each one of them its own Character Repeat Values. Simply omit values for the rest of the characters. Hurry Key can always get the Standard Repeat Values, which will work just fine for all of the remaining characters. A complete list of repeat values has six parts. (this is how a list of repeat values looks in a Repeat Value File): n,a,b,c,d,e n (Character Name) The Character Name value, "n", stands for a character such as "A" or "[" or "$", literally anything that you can type. When you place this at the beginning of a new line in the Repeat Value File, The Character Name tells Hurry Key that you are giving it a new list of repeat values for a character. The Standard Repeat Values are a special case. If you wish to specify these values you'll need to use "SRV" for the Character Name. SRV is one of the many Special Character Names. Example (a complete Repeat Value File list for the Stan- dard Repeat Values): -7- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- SRV,5,40,0,40,1 Other special character names correspond to special key- board characters such as control characters, function keys, etc. You can find other special character names by experimenting with the pop-up menu. a (Delay Time) This value controls the amount of time (measured in fractions of a second) before a character begins to repeat, when you are holding a key down. The Delay Time value, "a", stands for a number which must be at least one. The larger the value, the longer the delay. In practice, you will want to make the Delay Time value at least 4 or 5. Otherwise, the repeat action will begin too quickly, and your keyboard will be prone to typing several repeat characters unless you strike the keys very lightly. The smallest allowable value for the Delay Time is 1, and the largest is 30. If you omit this value, Hurry Key will use a value of 5. b (Repeat Speed) This value controls the speed of the repeat action when a character first begins to repeat. The Repeat Speed value, "b", specifies the repeat speed measured in the units, "repeats per second". For example, if you select 15, characters will begin to repeat 15 times each second, until you release the key. The smallest allowable value for the Repeat Speed is 1, and the largest is 60. If you omit this value, Hurry Key will use a value of 40, which is about four times normal speed. c (Accelerator) This value controls the change in speed of the repeat action. If you select an accelerator value, then char- acters will repeat faster and faster, as long as you hold down the key. The Accelerator value, "c", stands for the rate of change in speed measured in the units, "repeats per second". For example, if you select 10, character repeating will "go faster" by 10 characters per second, -8- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- until you release the key. The smallest allowable value for the Accelerator is 0, and the largest is 60. If you omit this value, Hurry Key will use a value of 0 (which means no acceleration at all.) d (Speed Limit) The Speed Limit value, "d", specifies the fastest allow- able repeat speed measured in the units, "repeats per second". The Speed Limit is used in combination with the Accelerator above. This value puts a limit on how fast the repeat rate is allowed to get. If you didn't use a Speed Limit with the Accelerator, your keyboard would continue to accelerate until characters were repeating too fast to be of any use. The smallest value allowed for the Speed Limit is 1, and the largest is 60. If you omit this value, Hurry Key will use a value of 40 for the Speed Limit. e (Power Brake) Determines whether or not Hurry Key should slow down for a little bit, while you are typing repeats, in order to allow your program to catch up. The Power Brake elim- inates the annoying phenomenon of "cursor run-on", com- mon to many popular programs, which is in fact caused by a program which isn't fast enough to keep up with your typing speed. When you are typing characters on your keyboard, the data first goes into a special holding area known as a "typeahead buffer". If your program is not ready to accept your typed input, then the characters you typed will accumulate in this holding area, and they will stay there until your program catches up with you and is ready for more data. If you select the Power Brake feature, then Hurry Key will apply braking in order to slow the repeat action whenever it detects that your program isn't presently accepting what you're typing. Instead of "e" you should put a number between 0 and 250. -9- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- If you select the value "0", Hurry Key assumes that you do not wish to use the Power Brake feature (i.e., this disables the Power Brake). The larger the positive Power Brake value that you choose, the greater the braking power that Hurry Key will use. Many programs require a Power Brake value of no greater than "1". However, a few programs such as Personal Editor, and some versions of WordStar, require greater braking power to bring repeating under control. 4. THE OPTION FILE You specify the option choices that you want by putting them into an Option File and starting Hurry Key with the /O switch. Each possible option will be discussed below. An option consists of a "Command" plus one or more "Choices" separated by spaces (or you may use a comma.) 4.1. Commands and Choices Commands always contain words linked together with the underline character, "_". Do not forget the underline, as spaces or dashes will not work. Here is an example: CLICKING_LOUDNESS Soft 4.2. Options You may put one or more of the following options into your Option File (put each one on a separate line.) The allowable command abbreviations are in brackets. [MHK] MENU_HOT_KEYS x y This option allows you to select a different pair of keyboard keys to activate the Hurry Key pop-up menu. The keys used for this purpose are called "hot keys". To activate the Hurry Key pop-up menu, you depress the pair of hot keys simultaneously. You may need to change the assigned hot key pair if you are having difficulty using the Hurry Key pop-up menu with other programs. In particular, other TSR programs have their own hot keys which could conflict -10- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- with those assigned to Hurry Key. You should then use this option to assign a pair of hot keys which does not the conflict with those of the other TSR. The hot key pair may be any two from the following set of keyboard keys: "Alt", "Ctrl", "Left Shift", and "Right Shift". Instead of "x y" you should put the names of the pair of hot keys you wish to use. The acceptable names are: ALT, CTRL, LEFT and RIGHT (for the "Alt" key, the "Ctrl" key, and the "Left" and "Right Shift" keys, respectively.) Example: MENU_HOT_KEYS ALT RIGHT This will set the menu hot key pair to the "Alt" and "Right Shift" keys. If you omit this option, Hurry Key assumes that you wish to use the "Ctrl" and "Left Shift" keys as the hot key pair. [SS] SCREEN_SAVER n When you include this option, Hurry Key will will turn off the display screen after a specified number of minutes if you haven't typed anything during that time. With this option, you can help your display screen last longer, since the screen coating can begin to wear away if you leave your computer on and unat- tended for long periods. Instead of "n" you should put a number from 1 to 60 (giving the number of minutes until the screen is to be saved.) When the time period elapses, Hurry Key saves the display screen contents, and puts this message in its place: ------------------ | Strike any key | ------------------ The message will move around the screen periodically, and will change colors (if you are using a color -11- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- monitor.) Once this happens, you may restore the screen by pressing any key (a shift key is recom- mended, since no character would be typed.) If you omit this option, Hurry Key assumes you do not want the Screen Saver. NOTE: you can start up the Screen Saver immediately by pressing and holding down the menu hot keys for about one second. The computer's speaker will chirp, and the screen will be replaced immediately with the Screen Saver display. [CL] CLICKING_LOUDNESS x If you select this option, then you will hear a clicking sound from the computer's speaker, whenever you are repeating characters. Instead of "x" you should put one of: Mute, Soft, or Loud. If you omit this option, Hurry Key assumes you want to mute (silence) the repeat clicker. [ETB] EXPANDED_TYPEAHEAD_BUFFER x By selecting this option, you may expand the typea- head buffer to a full 125 characters in size, which is more than large enough for just about any typist who likes to "key ahead". Instead of "x" you should put either YES or NO (you may also use Y or ON in place of YES; N or OFF in place of NO.) If you omit this option, Hurry Key assumes that you do not want an expanded typeahead buffer. You may not change this option's value after installing Hurry Key. [RRVF] READ_REPEAT_VALUE_FILE x Specifies a Repeat Value File. In place of "x" you should put a valid DOS file name (with or without a drive or a path name). For example: READ_REPEAT_VALUE_FILE A:HK.RV -12- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- This says that the Repeat Value File is called "HK.RV", and that Hurry Key can find it on disk drive "A", in the current directory. If you omit this option during installation (and don't use a /R switch), Hurry Key won't use any Char- acter Repeat Values. Instead, Hurry Key will use a built-in line of Standard Repeat Values for all char- acters. 5. SWITCHES: CHANGING OPTIONS AND REPEAT VALUES When you install Hurry Key, you may want option or repeat values which are different from the standard values. Hurry Key has several command-line switches which allow you to change values. Hurry Key has these command-line switches: /O - Use an Option File /R - Read a Repeat Value File /W - Write a Repeat Value File /T - Terminate Hurry Key With some switches, you may specify an associated filename. Example: HK/O XYZ.OPT Here, XYZ.OPT is the file associated with the /O switch. 5.1. /O Option File This sets Hurry Key options to the values found in the specified Option File. If you omit the /O switch, Hurry Key does not read an Option File. Instead, the program does one of the following: (1) During installation, Hurry Key uses standard values for all options. (2) If you are re-running the program, the option values in effect will not change. If you use the /O switch, but omit the filename, Hurry Key looks for the file, "HK.OPT" in the current directory. If you give the filename, but omit the extension, Hurry Key assumes, ".OPT". -13- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- 5.2. /R Read Repeat Value File This sets Character Repeat Values to those found in the specified file. Any previous repeat values for the same character are forgotten. The /R switch always overrides any occurrence of the READ_REPEAT_VALUE_FILE option in the Option File. If you omit the /R switch, Hurry Key does not read a Repeat Value File (unless you specified one in an Option File.) If you use the /R switch, but omit the filename, Hurry Key looks for the file, "HK.RV" in the current directory. If you give the filename, but omit the extension, Hurry Key assumes, ".RV". 5.3. /W Write Repeat Value File This switch is intended to be used after Hurry Key has been installed and you have altered repeat values using the pop- up menu. This switch creates a Repeat Value File containing the repeat values in effect within the currently executing ver- sion of Hurry Key. If you alter repeat values using the pop-up menu, you may save your changes using this switch. If you use the /W switch, but omit the filename, Hurry Key will create the file, "HK.WRV" in the current directory. If you give the filename, but omit the extension, Hurry Key assumes ".WRV". 5.4. /T Terminate Hurry Key If you wish to stop Hurry Key at some time after your have installed it, you may do so without re-booting your computer system. Restart Hurry Key with the /T switch like this: HK/T This will stop Hurry Key and release the system memory it was consuming. CAUTION! Make sure that Hurry Key is the last resident pro- gram that you have installed in your computer's memory, before you perform this step. Examples of other memory resident programs are: print unspoolers, memory disks, TSRs, and other keyboard enhancement programs. If Hurry Key -14- -)- Hurry Key - the Shareware Version -(- is not the last memory resident program when you terminate it, Hurry Key will stop running, but leave a gap of unused memory in your system. To reclaim this memory, you will then have to re-boot your computer. 6. THE POP-UP MENU The Hurry Key Pop-Up Menu has a number of selections which allows you to instantaneously change many Hurry Key values and options. The pop-up menu is always available to you, while you are using any interactive program. To activate the pop-up menu, simply press the pair of Hurry Key hot keys simultaneously. The hot keys are: "Ctrl" and "Left Shift", unless you reassign them within an option file. The pop-up menu will "pop up" on your screen, over- laying the screen image you have been working with. To navigate among the different pop-up menu options, press one of the arrow keys. The arrow keys will move you up, down, left, and right, around the pop-up menu (you may also navigate more rapidly by typing the first letter of a com- mand keyword.) The pop-up menu screens contain columns marked "Old" and "New". Values in the "Old" column are there for reference only. Only the values in the "New" column are retained after you leave the menu. To type in a new value, highlight the correct menu item with the cursor keys, then press the "enter" key (or, you may simply type the first letter of the menu item's first key- word). The cursor will appear in the "New" column, and you may type in the new value. To retain your changes, you must select the "Keep new values" item, and then press "enter". To discard your changes, simply press "Esc". Character Repeat Values may be omitted. Omitted values are simply shown as blank values. To change a value to "omit- ted", follow the procedure for entering a new value (see last paragraph), then press "enter" without typing a new value. To remove the pop-up menu when you are finished, press the "Esc" key. The pop-up menu will disappear, and the screen will be restored with its prior contents. -15-