A new version of Keystroke became available around the time of the Harrogate show and, since then, has been raised to v3.03. Keystroke is available from NCS for £28 and the cost of upgrading from any version prior to v3.00 is £4.95, which includes a revised manual. The upgrade is available only from Quantum Software.
Keystroke v3.03 adds some valuable facilities which are outlined in the following paragraphs (this is not an exhaustive list).
One problem with previous versions was that, although it was generally possible to open menu dialogue boxes, on occasions they stubbornly refused to stay open! The manual suggested ways of getting round this but, to say the least, it was all a bit tricky and not always satisfactory. One new feature is the "Manual" option which, when set, causes dialogue boxes to stay open, allowing the user to enter data.
A very nice touch is that a simple user-modification to Executor's !run file will now allow !Executor to be loaded but then remove its icon from the icon bar, reducing the clutter. That used to affect !Keystroke as well but this has been corrected recently so that you can still load and control Keystroke via the icon-bar menu (eg to modify your Keydefs) without having to revert Executor's !run file to normal.
Finally, in the Extras folder on the application disc is a very useful library of BASIC programmes (!KeysLib) which can be used in conjunction with Keystroke. In part, this is an extension of the EVAL function described in Archive 7.4 p17. But whereas operations allowed by EVAL are limited to applying the 4 basic arithmetical functions, the BASIC programmes in the library open the door to allowing all manner of other good things such as changing the case of text, stripping out numbers, returning current date or time or 'reading' the screen mode. 19 sample BASIC programmes are included and clever users (not me) can write and add their own.
This upgrade demonstrates the need to keep an eye on what useful programmes Quantum Software often sneak in via the Extras folder and which are not always mentioned in the manual or Read_me files. The rather nice !Helper utility is a case in point.
With this upgrade, thanks mainly to the Manual option, I have finally run out of things I would ideally like Keystroke to do for me but which, for one reason or another, it didn't quite do before (this really is being hypercritical). In other words, Keystroke now gets an unqualified 110% from me. To put its productivity into perspective, I now load Executor during boot-up, with 23 'standard' hot-key definitions covering DTP, scanning and common macros (eg entering my credit card number). To input all these functions manually, even once, would require in excess of 400 key presses and mouse clicks. 'nuff said.
TableMate2
An earlier version of TableMate was reviewed in Archive 6.8 p59 and, since then, this invaluable table-making utility has been bundled with Impression Style and appears with Publisher. TableMate2 is now available; see the advert in Archive 7.8 p17. The full price is £32.50 inc P & P (no VAT) from Dalriada Data Technology while the upgrade price from Impression Style is £17.50. You will need to check with Dalriada what is the price for upgrading from other versions.
Any bugs in the new version have not stopped the programme being used and, once reported, have been cleared very promptly. For me, the ability of TableMate2 to import drawfile graphics into tables, simply by dropping them into the desired cells, has proved to be a tremendous bonus and that feature alone makes it well worth the cost of upgrade. TableMate will accept sprites but they have first to be dropped into Draw before importing to the table.
The other new and improved features of TableMate2, especially the automatic word-wrapping in columns and the complete colour control of text, data, lines and cell background, make it an extremely flexible and user-friendly facility which should satisfy all but the most exacting requirements. Although the new user-manual is a very well-written booklet, I've spotted a few features and bonuses which are not documented.
If you wish to modify an existing file, provided it has been saved as a Table, it can be re-imported into TableMate. However, if you haven't done this and the table exists only as a drawfile, the majority of elements (including text, data and most line styles) can still be modified in Draw in the normal way.
When you import drawfiles into a table, unlike DTP programmes where the drawfile size is adjusted to fit a frame, the TableMate2 cell height and width is adjusted automatically to the drawfile size. So, if you import different-sized graphics, you are going to get different cell sizes which can look very untidy. However, once the graphics have been imported, it is then possible to rescale them and/or change their aspect ratios so that everything looks balanced. An undocumented feature is that, having changed the size of a graphic in this way, it may finish up left or right-justified which, again, can look untidy. This is because its position is controlled by the column tab and, in this situation, setting the tab to Centre instead of Left/Right will recentralise the graphic.
Finally, once a graphic has been imported, you still have control over the cell background colour and this can be used to give very pleasing effects.
On the monthly disc is a drawfile ("TableMate2") illustrating the features described in the previous two paragraphs. Graphics have been rescaled/recentred and cell background colour added.
