******* Global Abbreviations (tm) ******* Copyright 1993, 1994 by George Tatgé Release 1.5 Readme file. ------------------------------------------------------------------ *** New in Vers. 1.5: 1. ˇFull support for Non-U.S. keyboards! 2. Auto Mode 3. Popup List ------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Attention! Attenzióne! ˇAtención! *** If you are using a NON-U.S. keyboard, you must also read the file named "non_us.txt" for essential information! ================================================================= This program will save you time. Global Abbreviations gives you instant access to anything you want to define. It gives you this access anytime and anywhere! To install, simply run the setup.exe file. That's all there is to it. The installation will create a new program group with Global Abbreviations, the Quick Tour, Readme and Help icons. The installation will not make any changes to your system files. Note: If you use PC Tools for your program mgr. you should switch back to the Windows Program Manager for installation. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you move the program to your STARTUP GROUP (or equivalent) since you will ALWAYS want access to your Global Abbreviations. We also heartily recommend that you spend 5 minutes to take the Quick Tour. That will show you some of the main features. ---- There are further notes below this line, but nothing ---- that you really have to read if you're in a hurry. Note: Global Abbreviations has an Uninstall feature so don't be shy about installing. You can always get rid of it if you don't like it (not much chance of that though). ---Release Notes: Version 1.5------- 1. Please remember! When you use a :Launch Abbreviation to launch a .hlp file, you MUST INCLUDE THE COMPLETE FILE NAME of the .hlp file. There is a reminder of this on the popup text you see when you begin to enter a :Launch abbreviation in the Edit Line of the Editor. Example-> :gabhelp c:\windows\globlabb\gabhelp.hlp 2. The gabhelp file and all other documentation says that you must enter :Launch and :Paste abbreviations completely (i.e., no partial recognition). You SHOULD always do this, however, if you enter a partial AbbrevPart, the first partial match in your Active List will be :Launched or :Pasted. 3. Here is some further information on the operation of The Immediate Hot Key. You will almost always get the "Added-> " message when you hit the Immediate Hot Key. You must realize that the program has no way of knowing if what it Added is what you "meant." The most common problem is if you have not delimited what you have typed with whitespace. This typically happens when you move the caret with the mouse or the arrow keys and YOU see some whitespace, but have never typed it on the keyboard. If you have any problems with recognition of an abbreviation defined in this way, you should go look at what it really Added, or else just quickly redefine it by typing it one more time (with the WHITESPACE!). 4. The documentation could be more emphatic regarding the recognition of keystrokes. REMEMBER that arrow keys and mouse activity mean nothing to the recognition sub-system. Normal printing keystrokes are all that it ever sees. This must be the case. There is no way for Global Abbreviations to know if the application you are using is in insert or overstrike mode. This makes it impossible to interpret arrow keys correctly. The backspace key IS always understood, because it always means the same thing to everybody. 5. The uninstall feature does not remvove the globlabb.exe file. This is printed on the list of files not removed. If you do uninstall, you should check the option to print the list and then remove the globlabb.exe file and the gabhelp.hlp file. ALL files that can be SAFELY removed from your system by uninstall are; the rest can be printed out and you can remove or rename at your own discretion. ----Installation Trouble Shooting---- Below are some notes about things that can go wrong when installing ANY Windows application. These are not specific to Global Abbreviations. 1. Bad Bits. It is possible to end up with corrupted files because of the nature of transmission systems. Most modern modems and transfer protocols do error checking, but are not fool proof. If you experience problems during install it may be that you have bad bits. One of the most common ways that people end up with bad bits is when using "ftp" and forgetting to set binary mode ("bin" command) before downloading. 2. Not enough space. You should have at least 1 MB of free space on your hard disk to install Global Abbreviations. 3. Corrupt File System. If there are problems with your file system, this can cause errors during the installation of any Windows application. 4. NETWORKS: If you are installing from a network you may get a message saying that the file "ver.dll" could not be found. The easiest work around for this is to look for the file named "ver.dl_" in the directory you are installing FROM (probably the directory you are reading this file from). Rename that file to something else, e.g., "ver2.dl_" and then try running setup.exe again. You can also try renaming the "ver.dl_" to "ver.dll". If this doesn't solve the problem, the best thing is to just copy all of the files to a floppy and run setup.exe from the floppy. Lots of different things can happen on a network, mostly having to do with what permissions you have for what drives/dirs. ----Startup Trouble Shooting---- If there were no errors reported during setup, you should have no problems running the program. As always, things can go wrong. These notes apply to any Windows application and are not specific to Global Abbreviations. 1. Old .DLL or .VBX files in the wrong directory. By convention, all non-proprietary .DLL and .VBX files should reside in your windows/system/ directory. Some applications incorrectly install .DLL or .VBX files in your windows/ directory instead of the windows/system/ directory. If you get an error message about an out of date version of some .DLL or .VBX file you should note the name of the file and then search to see if there is a version in any directory other than your windows/system/ directory. If so, rename the file with a different extension so that it does not interfere with the proper operation of any program. 2. Not enough resources. Even the smallest application can cause this message if you try to start it when you have many other applications running. Simply close down some application and try again. Note- when the abbreviations are turned ON, Global Abbreviations uses almost no system resources. Even when they are off and you are using the Editor or Importer it still uses few resources. ----This product is shareware and is not free---- You will find Global Abbreviations to be of the highest quality. It has been tested again and again before release. As of release 1.5, there are NO known bugs, only the help file clarifications listed above in this file. There IS a long list of future enhancements. Don't forget that your registration will entitle you to one free year of upgrades! Enjoy! George Tatgé Solid Software Inc. gat@csn.org