**** GLOBAL ABBREVIATIONS QUICK TOUR **** **** Release 1.5. **** Copyright 1993,94 by George Tatgé. **** All rights reserved. *** Attention! Attenzióne! ˇAtención! *** If you are NOT using a U.S. keyboard, you are in the wrong Quick Tour file! First, read the "non_us.txt" file! This is IMPORTANT! ----------------------------------------------------- You're busy, so let's get down to business. WHAT GLOBAL ABBREVIATIONS DOES FOR YOU: Global Abbreviations has only one purpose-- to SAVE YOU TIME! You save time by typing less, and you save time by not having to jump around in different windows to find things or do things. It's a very simple concept. You can abbreviate words, or sentences, or commands, or many other things. Then, you can ALWAYS have INSTANT ACCESS to them from ANYWHERE in Windows! You've probably used macro facilities in word processors or spread sheets. They can be big time savers. But, they only work in that one application. Global Abbreviations gives you that functionality and MUCH MORE in EVERY APPLICATION. And it works EXACTLY the same whether you are working in a spread sheet or a word processor or a data base or ANYWHERE! Let's try it right here in the Windows Notepad.exe application. You probably use this Windows program for fast editing jobs. It's the same program, but now, Global Abbreviations is listening in to help you. Try the examples below. This assumes that Global Abbreviations is ON (green "GA" icon). Don't worry about changing this file, it's a copy. Whenever you see, ";" in the instructions, hold down the CONTROL KEY and type the SEMI-COLON KEY (;). By the way, don't worry, you can change the Control Key assignments later if you don't like the defaults. See Help- Hot Keys for details. TRY IT RIGHT HERE! Put your cursor in the empty line below, and type a couple of spaces followed by: " wow ;" (without the quotes!) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you typed it as shown, you should have seen the "wow" replaced with "This program can save me lots of time!" Now just realize that you can define any abbreviation to be whatever you want! Note-- this Quick Tour assumes that the sample set of abbreviations is active and that Global Abbreviations is running (green icon). A brief note before we continue. All abbreviations must be delimited (separated from other words) by a Space or a Carriage Return (Enter key). SO START EACH EXAMPLE BY TYPING A SPACE! Try This One!-> in the line below type: " ssi ;" (without the quotes!) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ But what if you have several abbreviations that all start the same? (note: this is common for programmers when several variables or constants start with the same few letters.) No problem, if you aren't happy the first time, Global Abbreviations will keep trying, circling through all possible matches. You simply keep hitting the same hot key again and again. To see this, Type: " g ;;;;;" (w/o quotes) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Now you begin to see how easy this can make typing things that you can't exactly remember, without having to leave where you are and go look them up someplace else!! Reminder-> Start with a SPACE or the ENTER key! Easy isn't it? Now try this one: " 1234 ;" (w/o quotes ) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Amazing. Anytime you send nothing but numbers, Global Abbreviations will spell them out for you in English. Apologies to our international friends. Remember, you could be doing this in any Windows application. You could move to another Editor or WordProcessor or Programming Environment or DataBase or ANYWHERE. Now you can have some consistency, no matter where you are! Ok, here's another one that will come in handy once in awhile. Type in: " (34 * tan 30) '" (without the quotes, Note the single quote!) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This example shows two things. One is the FULL EXPRESSION EVALUATOR. And the other is the use of The Append Hot Key instead of The Replace Hot Key. Your results should have looked like this: (34 * tan 30) = -217.781260685974 Now try this: " ;today ;" (remember the SPACE) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You should have seen today's date returned. When I do it I get Saturday, December 18, 1993. Abbreviations that begin with a semi-colon are special commands or ;Macros to Global Abbreviations, see Help for details. Ok, another feature you'll come to rely on. This is the program launcher. It is going to call up the Windows File Manager. After you do it, just close (or minimize) the File Manager and come back here. Type this: " :fm ;" (w/o quotes) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Welcome back! You can use Global Abbreviations to launch any windows app you want. " :fm" is just an example built into the sample abbreviations list that launches File Manager. Remembering abbreviations is MUCH EASIER than trying to remember separate hot keys assigned to each app! Abbreviations that begin with a colon (:) are used to launch other programs. They can also be used to put bitmaps or text files onto the clipboard so you can immediately paste them into the application you are using. See Help for details. **** New for Version 1.5 **** 1. Support for Non-US keyboards! 2. Optional Auto Mode so you don't even need to use the Replace Hot Key for expansions. 3. Optional Popup List. ** See Help for details on these new features. ** Now, the only thing left is to find out how to enter your own abbreviations. There are LOTS of ways. One we can sample from right here. The Immediate Hot Key is especially useful for programmers and others who type in LongSingleWordsWithoutASpace. You can teach these to Global Abbreviations on the fly!!! Remember: (w/o quotes and note the "/") Try this: " ThisIsALongWord /" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You should have had a little message flashed back saying " ADDED-> This ThisIsALongWord" Well let's see if it did. Now type: " thi ;" (without the quotes!) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ and you should see: ThisIsALongWord This is just a fast way to put in single abbreviations without having to slow down what you're doing at the time. The Editor and Importer will give you powerful ways to build sets of abbreviations from your existing documents and Visual Basic Ascii files. This brings us to the end of the quick tour. (Reminder- this is a temp file you are in so don't worry about saving it when you close notepad.) You should go to the Editor now to explore some more. The last of the four Hot Keys can be helpful here. All it does is popup the Global Abbreviations Edit Window. Type "=" (w/o quotes) and you'll be there. ENJOY!!!!!! George Tatgé Solid Software Inc.