This document describes changes made to ASAP since the manual's publication. While the disk-based manual is up-to-date, the recorded documentation reader should consult these notes for late-breaking news and features that were added since the last recording date. September 1991 ASAP's command character to enter the control panel has changed. It used to be Alt-Space. Now, it is Control-Backslash. This had to be done to maintain compatibility with future revisions to the program. If you don't like the new access character, see the "User Defined Key" section of the manual for instructions on changing it to something else. ASAP has a new command that lets you temporarily silence the keyboard. The command is CTRL-K. When you press keypad 0 followed with CTRL-K, ASAP no longer echos your keystrokes--but only until you press the Enter key. This command is most useful for entering information (like BBS passwords) you don't want other people to hear. ASAP now skips punctuation characters like parenthesis and brackets when they appear in the middle of a word and you've got Most Punctuation turned off. This means that words with those characters in the middle of them get pronounced correctly if you have punctuation turned off. Of course, if you have punctuation turned on, you'll still get to hear those characters just as you always have. ASAP now lets you assign a function to any key. This means you can make any key perform any task you want. This feature is called User Defined Functions and it is fully documented in the disk-based documentation. In addition to normal user defined functions, ASAP now supports a special user function definition that gets used whenever ASAP loads a new set file. With the User Function feature, ASAP requires a way to bypass a key that's defined if you need to use that key for an application. This is accomplished with the Pass Key function accessed with CTRL-Right Bracket. August 1991 You may now tell ASAP about punctuation characters to treat as exceptions for either mode of punctuation. See "Most Punctuation" in the disk-based manual for details. The Zoom Window feature was altered to recover the current cursor in the window you zoom into instead of the previous position you were at the last time you were in that window. It was also changed to ignore software cursors in any other defined window when you're zoomed in on a particular window. You can still monitor all defined windows at once by leaving your view to the full screen mode. ASAP now lets you assign labels to special keys. That means you can make the function and other keys say whatever you want them to say for each application you use. The key labels get saved right along with other settings with ASAP's Save Settings command. You assign key labels with ASAP's Alt-L command. See "Key Labels" in the disk-based manual for complete details. The Monitor Window capability now detects scrolling. This makes monitoring windows ideal for those programs that emulate BIOS but go directly to the screen like BASIC programs written with QBASIC or QuickBasic. Settings files were modified to contain both monochrome and color information. If you plan to share set files, please take the time to set up the screen for both color and monochrome. See the disk-based manual for complete details on this procedure. A command to aid in sharing settings files was added. It is Ctrl-T. It toggles what ASAP considers about your monitor. In other words, if you've got a color monitor, and you press Ctrl-T, ASAP switches to monochrome mode and visa versa. This is used to let you set up settings files for both types of monitors. Please refer to the documentation for more details on setting up settings files. July 1991 A feature to watch the screen for text or text of a specific attribute or color was added. When ASAP sees the desired text in the desired position, it loads up a new set file to handle a new situation. Examples for WordPerfect version 5.1 are included. See the documentation in the file WP.TXT for details about the function of the set files. The use of a software cursor was enhanced to check several windows for a cursor. The new features are documented in the disk-based manual. The Alt-U command was removed. It is no longer needed with the new capabilities of the Use of a Software Cursor feature. An extra level of activity checking was added to the extended activity checking facility accessed with Alt-X. The new level is called "super." Super activity checking is used for those rare programs that insist on disconnecting the keyboard from other programs. Some emulators do this and so do certain other programs. Consult the manual for complete details on its use. Along with super activity checking, ASAP adds a new means of entering the control panel. Holding down the alt key for about four seconds accesses the control panel. The old methods of accessing the control panel still work. This new access method is used for those programs that completely take over the keyboard. ASAP now supports those synthesizers that use the "Porttalk" interface or command set. This includes TSI's BrailleMate and a number of others. Note that while it is possible to use the PortTalk program with synthesizers like those from Artic Technologies, ASAP does not require it--that is, ASAP directly supports the VoTalker and Symphonix boards without the use of PortTalk. To use install with PortTalk synthesizers, use the following command: install portTalk com1 n Of course, "com1" can be any of the ports you like. June 1991 Dialer Modifications: The dialer now lets you dial your phone more flexibly than in earlier versions. In addition to using the system cursor to dial numbers, you can now point to the number to dial with the reading keys. The dialer now initializes your serial port, so you don't have to use the MODE command. The dialer now also assumes that you have touch tone capabilities. If you don't, just set one of your memories to the letter "P" (for pulse dialing) and turn on the corresponding dial prefix as described in the manual. ASAP now lets you redial the last number you dialed with the command 9D. This doesn't interfere with the [com port] D command, because most computers don't support 9 serial ports. Save Settings: CTRL-S ASAP lets you preserve any settings you may alter when using a program. All you have to do is make the appropriate adjustments, then press CTRL-S. (Don't forget that if you aren't in the control panel, you must precede the CTRL-S with keypad 0.) The next time you use that application, ASAP resets all the settings to the way they were when you saved them. See the documentation for more complete information. Setting Memory from the Command Line: [memory] M [text] ASAP now lets you set its memories from the command line. To set a memory, use the memory number followed by the letter "M" followed immediately with the text you wish to put into that memory. The text is considered terminated by a space. The manual contains complete details. Dialing Prefixes ASAP now lets you add sequences to numbers you dial with the [port] D command. The prefixes are contained in ASAP's 9 memories. You control which memories are added to the phone number by using the [memory] N command. This is used to add long distance and access codes to your phone numbers.