1.0b2 fixes a bug that caused small blocks of memory to be allocated and never released, thus slowly filling up the respective application's heap (programmers call this a memory leak). Thanks to Francois Pottier for tracking down this bug.
1.0b3 has a new feature that lets you exclude certain applications (especially for those of you who have problems with Compuserve Information Manager). This feature requires System 7, and has to be configured with ResEdit (see below for details).
1.0b4 fixes a serious bug that would cause crashes in certain circumstances. I suspect this was also the reason for the problems that some people were having with PrintMonitor, though I could never reproduce this myself. Unfortunately, I have to require System 7 now. Also fixed a minor problem where some alert boxes wouldn't have their default button framed (e.g. in SimpleText). And my email address has changed again.
*** What is it? ***
Keys! is a control panel/system extension that adds command key shortcuts to dialog items in modal dialog boxes (buttons, radio buttons, and check boxes). It underlines a letter (generally the first one, as far as possible) of the name of each button or check box; if you hold down the command key and type that letter, it will be as if you had clicked on the button.
If the dialog box doesn't contain an editable text field (e.g. most alert boxes), you needn't even hold down the command key - just type the letter. However, scrollable lists count as text fields in this regard; for example, in the standard open dialog box there isn't any text field, but you still have to hold down the command key there because you want to use the plain letter keys to select filenames.
The letters C, V, and X are never used, because they are already assigned to the standard editing commands, which must be available in dialog boxes. This means of course that if a button is named "C" (like in the preferences dialog of Think Reference), it won't be assigned any shortcut. Sorry. On the other hand this assures that the cancel button is almost always command-A, regardless of whether it is named Cancel or Abort or Abbrechen...
*** How much does it cost? ***
Keys! is free. (I mean, if you really want to pay something for it, I don't mind, of course...)
You may freely copy Keys and give it to anybody you like, as long as
- you don't modify anything, neither Keys! itself nor this readme file
- you keep the original archive together
- you don't charge anything for it
- you ask me before you include it in a shareware collection, for example on CD ROM.
*** What problems are there? ***
Keys! only works with modal dialog boxes that are implemented the standard way (those that use the _ModalDialog trap, in case you care). There are programs out there that implement their dialog boxes differently, for example MS Word and Quark XPress. In these programs no underlined letters will appear (and the shortcuts won't work, of course) but otherwise there is no problem with them. And don't ask - no, I can't do anything about it.
There seem to be certain problems with MacSlip, 4th Dimension, and CompuServe Information Manager, none of which I can check myself, because I don't own any of those programs. Sorry. (Some of these problems might have been solved with the 1.0b4 bug fix, I don't know.)
But you can now disable Keys! for certain applications. To do this, you have to open the Keys! control panel with ResEdit and open the EXCL resource. You will see nothing but five stars. Click on these stars to select them and choose "Insert New Field" from the Resource menu (or press command-K); this will create a new text field labelled "Signature". Into this field, type the four-letter signature (creator code) of the application that you want to exclude. You can find out an application's signature by using ResEdit's "Get File/Folder Info" command on it. For example, Compuserve Information Manager has the signature "CIM " (note the space at the end). It's best to copy & paste the signature into the EXCL resource, rather than typing it in. Save changes and restart, and from now on Keys! will be inactive whenever that application is frontmost.
You can exclude more than one application by simply adding more fields to the EXCL resource.
Some day I'll have to make a nice user interface for this feature, but I don't have the time at the moment, and I thought it's better than nothing for now.
*** What macs does it run on? ***
It now requires System 7; otherwise I have no idea. I have tested it on my LC III with System 7.1, and it _should_ work on other machines as well. Please notify me if it doesn't.
*** What is still to be done? ***
A lot - but at the moment, I won't do anything, because I've got other things to work on, which are more important to me right now.
Next time I work on it, I'll first have to rewrite everything from scratch, in C probably. The current version is entirely in assembler, horribly unstructured, and it has become more or less unmaintainable. I hope I didn't create new bugs with the 1.0b4 version ╨ could very well be╔
I really would like to have shortcuts for movable-modal and modeless dialog boxes too, but this is much trickier.
It would be good to be able to have a preference setting for which modifier key(s) are used for the shortcuts, instead of always using the command key. This could help resolve conflicts with certain applications. It would also be good to be able to exclude specific applications.
Sometimes, certain menu commands are enabled even when a modal dialog is in front (like command-A for Select All). It should be possible to check for this and not to use the keys that are already in use by menu commands.
Someone suggested to have two different colors of underscores, depending on whether the command key is needed or not. I like the idea, and I'll probably implement it when I have some time to work on Keys. Don't ask me when that will be...
*** How can I be reached? ***
Internet:
stk@berlin.snafu.de
Postal mail:
Stefan Kurth
An der Wasserfurche 15
38162 Destedt
Germany
(I'm afraid I can't promise to answer by postal mail. Email highly preferred.)
