OS/2 Shareware BBS: 11 Util/11-Util.zip/pma20.zip/TUTORIAL.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-16 | 8KB | 173 lines

                       Utilis Advanced P.O. Box 367
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5 Minute Tutorial

Take this brief tutorial to learn how to effectively use PM Assistant.

=====Hot-keys & applications
We first load the sample macros file and find out how hot-
keys work:
1.   Execute PM Assistant by double clicking on its icon.
  PM Assistant's program icon is placed on your desktop by the
  installation program.
2.   Choose the File Open menu command and load the file
  A_SAMPLE.PMA.
3.   Dismiss the Welcome message macro by pressing the
Done button.
4.   PM Assistant will display a list of macros.
5.   Notice that Ctrl+- (Control + hyphen) is the hot-key
  for the PM Assistant macro.  To use this hot-key you would
  press the Control key, hold it down, and then press the
  hyphen key.
6.   The PM Assistant macro is a Position Window macro
  which brings PM Assistant to the foreground.  The PM
  Assistant macro can be executed by typing "Ctrl+-"  -its hot-
  key- from any Presentation Manager application.
7.   Click on another applications window and drag the
  window to obscure the PM Assistant window.
8.   Type Ctrl+-, the hot-key for the PM Assistant macro.
9.   Notice that the PM Assistant window is now in the
foreground ready for use.

=====Creating Position Window macros
We now create a list of macros to move your applications
windows:
1.   Choose the Macro Build Arrangement menu command in PM
  Assistant.  To do this click the Macro menu, then click on
  the Build Arrangement menu command.
2.   Enter a macro name into the Name field, such as 'My
  Desktop'.
3.   Click the Done button.
4.   Notice the Compound Macro you just created, named My
  Desktop, is now selected in the macro list.  Just below
  this macro, within the brackets, is a list of Position
  Window macros which were automatically created.  Each macro
  moves one of your applications windows to their current
  position on the desktop.  Executing the 'My Desktop'
  Compound Macro executes all the contained macros, thereby
  restoring all applications to their current position.  You
  can also execute each Position Window macro individually to
  move a single applications window.
5.   Click with the right mouse button on one of the created
  Position Window macros to bring up the Macro Information
  dialog box.
6.   Enter a hot-key in the Hot-key field, perhaps
Ctrl+Space.  Hot-keys can be any combination of
Ctrl+Alt+Shift with any key, and can be more than one
keystroke long.
7.   Click the Done button.
8.   Notice the hot-key you entered is now displayed in the
leftmost column.
9.   Position Window macros can also be created with the
  Create Position Window Macro menu command.

=====Minimizing all your windows
We now create a Compound Macro to minimize all your windows:
1.   Select the 'My Desktop' Compound Macro you just created
  by clicking on it.
2.   Choose Edit Copy to copy the entire macro (i.e., both
  the Compound macro and the contained Position Window macros)
  to PM Assistants macro clipboard.
3.   Select the last macro in the macro list by scrolling
  down to it and clicking on it.
4.   Choose Edit Paste to paste a copy of the My Desktop
  macro at the end of the list.  Notice this new macro is
  automatically renamed 'My Desktop2'.
5.   Click with the right mouse button on the first Position
  Window (PW) macro listed in the compound macro My
  Desktop2.  It is the macro just below My Desktop2, and
  will be named mov<application name> or min<application
  name>.
6.   You now see the Macro Information dialog box describing
  the PW macro.  Click the Settings... button.
7.   You now see the Position Window dialog box.  Clear the
  Size window and Move window check boxes.  Set the
  Minimize window check box.  (Note: if that window was
  minimized when you created the 'MyDesktop' macro, you need
  not change the check boxes - they will be configured to
  minimize the window already).
8.   Click the OK button.
9.   Repeat this process for all the macros within the My
  Desktop2 macro.  You will want to use the supplied macro
  Make It Min, whose hot-key is Control+m.  This macro takes
  you directly to the Position Window dialog box and changes
  the settings for you.  The Make It Min macro is an example
  of a Keyboard Input macro automating PM Assistant itself.
10.  Execute the My Desktop2 macro.  Notice that all your
  applications have been minimized.

=====Executing menu commands with Keyboard Input macros
We now create a Keyboard Input macro to execute any menu
command:
1.   Type Ctrl+- to bring PM Assistants window to the
  foreground.
2.   Double click on the supplied Start Sys Editor macro
  to execute this Start Program macro.  This macro starts the
  OS/2 system editor application.
3.   Notice that the System Editor has no accelerator key
  for the File Open menu command.  Suppose you open different
  files frequently and would prefer not to click and drag the
  menus with the mouse every time you wish to open a new file.
  We will therefore create a macro to choose the File Open
  menu command for you.
4.   Choose the Create Keyboard Input Macro menu command in
PM Assistant.
5.   Fill in a name for the macro, say "FileOpen", and a hot-
key, perhaps "Control+o 1".  This is a two keystroke hot-
key, the first keystroke is Control+o, the second keystroke
is the number 1.
6.   Click the Settings button.
7.   Type "F10 fo" into the Keystrokes edit field.  The
function key F10 is the menu activation keystroke.  The "fo"
keys then select the File menu and the Open menu command.
8.   Click the OK button.  Notice your new macro FileOpen
with the hot-key Ctrl+o 1 is displayed in the macro list.
9.   Bring the System Editor application to the foreground
(use the provided System Editor macro whose hot-key is
"Ctrl+; s" if you wish).  Type "Ctrl+O 1".  Take care to
hold the Control key down while pressing the O key, and
release the Control key before pressing the 1 key.  Notice
that by executing our FileOpen macro with its hot-key, the
File Open menu command has been executed.
10.  Click the Cancel button in the File Open dialog box.

=====Manipulating dialog boxes with Keyboard Input macros
You can change any dialog box settings with Keyboard Input
macros.  Suppose you often switch to the file ômytext.txtö
while browsing files with the System Editor.  We now create
a macro to do that:
1.   Type Ctrl+- to bring PM Assistant to the foreground.
2.   We will now drag-n-drop a macro to copy it.  This is
the same as a Edit Copy /Edit Paste menu command, but is
much quicker.
3.   Click down on the macro 'FileOpen' with the Left mouse
button, and drag downward with the button still depressed.
Notice a small horizontal line appears below the macro name.
This line indicates where the macro will be inserted.
4.   Press and hold the control key while dragging the
mouse.  This signals PM Assistant to copy the macro rather
than just moving it.
5.   Release the mouse button and notice the new macro
'FileOpen2' is inserted in the list.
6.   Click on the new 'FileOpen2' macro with the right mouse
button to bring up the Macro Information dialog box..
7.   Enter "Ctrl+o 2" as the hot-key.
8.   Click the Settings button.
9.   Type the keystrokes "Home Shft+End mytext.txt Enter" at
the end of the Keystrokes edit field (do not erase the "F10
fo" keystrokes already there).  When this macro is executed
and the keystrokes played to the File Open dialog box, these
keystrokes select the contents of the Open filename edit
field and type in mytext.txt.
10.  Click the OK button.
11.  Bring the System Editor application to the foreground
  and execute the FileOpen2 macro by typing "Ctrl+O 2".
  Notice the File Open menu command is executed and
  "mytext.txt" is entered into the dialog box.

To learn more about PM Assistant experiment with the macros
provided in the A_SAMPLE.PMA file.