No-Keys is a program designed to allow a person to input text into any Windows application without using the keyboard. It allows a mouse, trackball, or similar device to input text to Windows applications such as Write or Terminal. It is designed for people with disabilities who cannot use a keyboard because they have limited motion of their arms, but can still make small motions with their hands or fingers. In the scan mode, it can even be used by people who can only move their chin or foot, or otherwise press a mouse button.
Shareware Notice
No-Keys is distributed as shareware. This means that you can try it for one month to see if it fits your needs. If it does, you are required to pay for it by sending the registration fee of $25.00 to
David Leithauser
Leithauser Research
4649 Van Kleeck Drive
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169-4205
If you do not pay the registration fee within 60 days of the time you start using it, No-Keys will stop functioning until you pay the registration fee. For further instructions, click on the Register button on the opening title page. This will show the Register page with further instructions, and a Print button that will print a form you can mail in to register No-Keys. When you pay for No-Keys, you will receive the unlock code, which you can then input in the Register window.
Installing No-Keys in Windows
To install No-Keys on your disk, put all the files that come with No-Keys in one place (a floppy disk or a directory on your hard disk). Then run the Setup program by using the Run option on the Start menu, or double clicking on the Setup program icon in explorer.
Moving and resizing the No-Keys keyboard
You can move the No-Keys keyboard by putting the mouse pointer on the blue title bar, holding down the mouse key, and moving the mouse cursor. You can change the width of the keyboard by placing the mouse cursor on the left side of the keyboard (where it will turn into a double arrow), holding down the mouse key, and moving the mouse cursor horizontally. You can change the keyboard height by putting the mouse cursor on the bottom of the keyboard (where it will turn into a double arrow), holding down the mouse button, and moving the mouse cursor vertically.
Selecting the program to send keys to
To select what program you want to send keys to, just click on that program with your mouse. To send the keys to a particular part of that program, such as a particular text box, click on that text box with the mouse. This will cause this input box to have the focus, which means that this is where Windows would send any keys you typed on a real keyboard. This will be where No-Keys will send the keys you type in No-Keys, until you select another program to have the focus.
Typing with No-Keys
You type using No-Keys by clicking on the key on the No-Keys virtual (on-screen) keyboard that you want to type. That is, move the mouse cursor so that its tip is on the key and press the left mouse button briefly. No-Keys will send that key to the program that has the focus. No-Keys will briefly obtain the focus as you "type" on the virtual keyboard with the mouse, but No-Keys will always return the focus to the original program when you release the mouse button. Note: Due to timing problems, No-Keys may occasionally fail to send the key you type to the other program. If this happens, simply retype the key.
Keyboard layout
The top row of keys on the No-Keys keyboard contains all the capital letters. The second row contains all the lower case letters. The third row contains numbers and related symbols. It has the number keys from 0 to 9, followed by the point (period) key. It then has the math operators " + - * / \ ^ = > <". This is followed by the left and right parenthesis symbols "(" and ")". Then it has the percent and dollar sign and the pound (#) and at (@) symbols.
The fourth row has a collection of miscellaneous symbols and control keys. The first key on the four row is the space bar (not really much of a bar, since it is the same size as the other keys). This is followed by the quotation mark and the left hand single quote mark (the symbol that appears at the bottom of the key to the left of the number on the top row of most real keyboards). The next key is the apostrophe, followed by the exclamation point, question mark, colon, and semicolon. Then comes the left and right square brackets followed by the left and right curved brackets. The next key is the pipe symbol, which looks like a vertical bar. The next symbol is the underscore (underline) symbol. This is hard to see on the No-Keys keyboard, and unless you look carefully it looks like that key is blank. The next key is the & symbol. The last normal sized key is the comma.
After these normal keys, the bottom row has a few control keys. These are Enter, BkSp (Backspace), Tab, Del, and Esc. To help you study the keyboard in case you have trouble seeing it on the screen, here is a map of the keys.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
" ` ' ! ? : ; [ ] { } | _ & , Enter BkSp Tab Del Esc
There are some other keys that you can type using No-Keys. The top menu bar contains a selection that is normally labeled "Upper ANSI". Clicking on this causes all of the keys on the keyboard except the control keys to switch to upper ANSI characters, which mostly consists of non-English letters and a few mathematical symbols. When these are displayed instead of the standard English letters, the menu item on the to menu bar changes from "Upper ANSI" to Lower ANSI". Clicking on this will restore the keys to their normal, English characters. You can also click on the KeyType selection on the No-Keys menu bar. When you click on this, the top two rows of keys (the letter keys) disappear and are replaced by some seldom used keys. The first row becomes the F-keys. The first four keys of the second row become the cursor keys (Up, Down, Right, and Left). The next four are the Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys. The last two keys on the new second row are the Ins and Break keys. All these keys are seldom needed when you are using No-Keys in Windows, so they are kept hidden until you click on the KeyType selection on the menu bar. When you click on KeyType again, the top two rows go back to being the letter keys.
The No-Keys menu bar also has the words Shift, Ctrl, and Alt. If you click on one of these, an asterisk will appear next to that word. The next key you click on will be combined with the indicated key. For example, to send the Ctrl-B combination to a program, click on Ctrl on the menu bar and then click on the B key (either capital or lower case). To send Alt-F4 to a program, you would click on KeyType to show the F-keys, click on Alt on the menu bar, then click on the F4 key.
Macro
Some parts of some programs have trouble inputting keys from No-Keys. The problem is that some programs have input boxes that automatically clear themselves when they either get or lose the keyboard focus. When you type with No-Keys, No-Keys briefly acquires the focus as you press the key and then returns it to the other program you are running. This means that as you type each key, the input box on the other program clears itself. Some typical examples of this problem are the URL input boxes on Web browsers. To solve this problem, No-Keys has a Macro feature that allows you to input an entire string of characters at once to another program.
To use this feature, click on Macro on the top menu bar. A form will appear with an input box. Type your message on the No-Keys keyboard in your usual manner. What you type will go to this Macro input box, instead of your other program. When you are finished, click on the Send button on the Macro form. The Macro box will disappear, and the entire string will be sent to your other program. (You can click on the Cancel button on the Macro form to abort the process.) Instead of clicking on the Send button on the Macro box, you also can click on the input box of the program you want the macro sent to. This will cause the Macro box to close and send the string in the Macro box text box to this program.
In some cases, any attempt to have No-Keys send keys to a particular part of a program can cause problems with the program. In that case, you can bypass having No-Keys send the keys at all by clicking on the Clipboard button on the Macro form. This will cause the contents of the Macro form text input box to be copied to the Windows clipboard. The Macro form will disappear. You can then click on the text input box on the program where you want the text to go and use the Edit Paste function of that program to paste the text from the clipboard to the program.
Note: In most cases where you would use the Macro feature, you want to include the ENTER key in your macro itself, so that when you click on the Send button, the other program acts on the string you have sent it. Otherwise, you might still lose what you have sent the other program when you try to use No-Keys to send another character, such as the ENTER key. Typing the ENTER key on the No-Keys keyboard will not activate the Macro form Send button. The ENTER key will simply be added to the macro string.
Programs that No-Keys will not work with
Despite all the features of No-Keys, there are still a few programs that still refuse to work with No-Keys. These are usually programs that automatically do something, like clear their input boxes when they lose the focus. For programs that absolutely will not work with No-Keys, you can use an intermediary program such as Notepad. TO do this, you would run Notepad and have No-Keys send the text you want to it. Then you would copy the text from Notepad by marking the text and using Edit/Copy, and then paste it directly to the program you want to receive it.
Loading and Unloading programs with No-Keys
You can use No-Keys to load an application into Windows. To do this, click on Files on the No-Keys menu bar. Then click on Load. You will see a standard file directory window. The file list box contains a list of EXE files in the current path. This will normally be your WINDOWS directory. In the unlikely event that you need to change directories, you can do so with the directory box. Just double click on the directory you want to move to or click on it once and then click on the OK button.
Once you are in the proper directory, scroll the file list up and down until you see the EXE file for the application you want to run. For example, if you want to run Write, scroll the file list until you see WRITE.EXE. Even if you do not know the EXE file name for the application you want to run, it is usually easy to figure it out. The EXE file usually has a file name that matches the program name, like TERMINAL.EXE for Terminal and NOTEPAD.EXE for Notepad. Once you see the file you want, either double click on the file name or click on it once and then click on OK.
Once you have selected the file you want to run, No-Keys will load it in the normal mode. No-Keys will regain the focus for itself once the application is displayed, but this will be the program that No-Keys will send the keystrokes to.
There are two other options in the Files menu. Unload will close the other application that No-Keys is connected to. That is, it will unload it from Windows memory. Once you have done this, you would need to go through the process of loading the application again. Unloading the program clears it from the screen, which is a good idea if you are finished with that application.
The final choice in the Files menu is Exit. This closes No-Keys down entirely (unloads it from Windows memory). You would use this only if you are finished with No-Keys.
Pop-Up Option
No-Keys has a feature that causes it to retain the focus and always appear in front of any other applications that you have running. This is especially important when you are first loading programs, to make sure that No-Keys is always available (doesn't get hidden by the programs you load). It does have some drawbacks, however. It can hide parts of some programs that you need to see. This is not normally much of a problem. You can minimize No-Keys, and you can also resize it or move it.
If No-Keys is really getting in the way, you can turn off the Pop-Up feature of No-Keys once you have the Windows setup ready to go. To do this, first load the program you want to use. Make sure that the program is not running in the maximized mode, where it takes up the whole screen. Then reduce its size by grabbing its bottom and pushing up so that it the program and No-keys do not overlap. When you are finished doing this, you should have No-Keys and your other program on the screen with no overlap.
Once you have done this, you can safely turn off the No-Keys Pop-Up feature. Click on Options on the menu bar. You will see Pop-Up as one of the menu choices, and it will be checked. Click on Pop-Up to turn off the pop-up feature. You can turn Pop-up back on whenever you want to by clicking on Options and Pop-Up again.
Scanning Option
If the user is unable to move the mouse at all, No-Keys provides a scanning option. When the scan option is turned on, one of the No-Keys keyboard keys will be depressed and will be labeled in red, rather than black. Which button is selected (depressed) will be constantly changing (scanning). Which button is selected will scan up and down the first column of characters in the window until you press either the left mouse button while the mouse cursor is on ANY key on the No-Keys keyboard. It will then scan horizontally across the row it was on when you pressed the mouse button until you press the left mouse button again. No-Keys then sends the character of the selected button to the other application. The selected key will then resume scanning vertically on the first column of the window, and you can repeat the process.
The scanning option can even be used by a person who has no use of their hands at all. The mouse can be placed where the person can press the mouse button with their chin or foot.
To use the scan option, click on Options on the No-Keys menu bar. Then click on Scan. A box will appear asking you for the desired delay time. This is the amount of time the frame spends on each key. The allowed range is .25 seconds to 5 seconds. I recommend about .75 to 1 second. A delay shorter than this makes it hard for you to press the mouse button or enter key while the frame is around the proper key. Below .5 seconds, the frame is moving so fast that No-Keys sometimes does not always register the mouse button press at all.
There are several ways you can input the desired delay type. You can type the amount into the text box, using either the No-Keys keyboard or your actual keyboard. A better way is to move the vertical scroll bar on the form. You can click on the arrows at the top and bottom of the scroll bar, click on the scroll bar above or below the scroll bar button, or drag the scroll bar button with the mouse cursor. The value in the text box will change as you change the position of the button in the scroll bar.
Once you have the desired delay value in the text box, you activate the scan by pressing the OK button. You can turn off the scan by clicking on Options and Scan again.
To use the mouse button to select a key when the scan is active, the mouse cursor must be somewhere on the No-Keys keyboard, below the menu bar. It does not matter which key it is on, or even if it is between keys. Clicking the left mouse button will always select the key that the frame is around if the scan is turned on, regardless of which keyboard key the mouse cursor is on. If the person using the mouse button sometimes accidentally moves the mouse cursor off the No-Keys keyboard, you may want to disable the mouse by removing the ball from the mouse.
No-Keys saves the Pop-Up, Scan, and Scan Time options between runs. That is, it will come up with whatever setting you had for these options when you exited No-Keys. I recommend setting Pop-Up on before exiting the program to make it easier to find when you first run it.
Bug reports and suggestions
Reports of problems or suggestions for improvement are welcome. Send such reports or suggestions to:
David Leithauser
Leithauser Research
4649 Van Kleeck Drive
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169
You also can leave EMAIL on America Online, addressed to Leithauser, or on Compuserve to 74046,1556. You also can send internet EMAIL to Leithauser@aol.com. In cases of emergency, you can call Leithauser Research at (904) 423-0705 between the hours of 10 AM and 6 PM ET.
If I feel that the improvement would be of interest to most users, I will make it for free and send you the improved version. If the improvement is unusual and suited only to your specific needs, I can give you a price quote for a customized version of No-Keys (see below).
Custom programming
The primary function of Leithauser Research is custom programming. If you would like a custom program of any type written, please contact me at the above address for Leithauser Research. Describe the program you would like written in as much detail as possible and I will give you a price estimate. Programs can be DOS, Windows, or TSR.
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