Keyboard Definition

If you often need to type the same word or number into a document, you can set it up on a key so that you can enter it with a single key press. You can likewise set up a frequently used sequence of commands as a single key press.

To Define a Text Sequence

1. Give the Define Key command:

Menu Command Ctrl-sequence Key
Caret Define key CDK

2. Click Select on the arrow icons until the key to which you want to assign the text appears in the right-hand box. The number in the left-hand box is the ASCII value of the key.

3. Type in the text string you want the key to produce.

4. Click the OK button or press Enter.

For example:

If you set the Key to define option to 121 y and the Definition option to PipeDream, then every time you press the y key the word PipeDream will be inserted into the current document.

To set the y key back to its original function:

1. Give the Define Key command.

2. Set the Key to define option to 121 y.

3. Leave the Definition option blank.

4. Click the OK button or press Enter.

To Define a Command Sequence

A command sequence is defined in exactly the same way, by listing what you would type to issue the commands.

The differences are:

If you want to include the Enter key in a sequence you should enter it as \CEN|M .

For example, if you set the Definition option to PipeDream\CEN|Mby Colton Software, when you press the y key now, the following will appear on the screen:

PipeDream

by Colton Software

CEN is the Ctrl-key sequence which is generated when the Enter key is pressed.

You can find the Ctrl-key sequences for other caret movements in this Reference Guide. All other sequences appear on the menus, some on long menus only.

For example:

\ESL|M\CEN|M

splits the line before doing a carriage return.

To Redefine a Function Key

The Define Function Key command enables you to redefine the effect of the function keys F1 to F12, with Ctrl-Fn, Shift-Fn and Shift-Ctrl-Fn variants. So, if you prefer a different function key layout, you can define your own.

As a simple example, give the Define Function Key command. You will see the Function key to define option in the dialogue box. Use this option to determine which function key you want to redefine. Click Select on the up arrow icon. PipeDream displays a list of the function keys F1 to F12, then Shift-F1 to Shift-F12, then Ctrl-F1 to Ctrl-F12, and finally Shift-Ctrl-F1 to Shift-Ctrl-F12. Release the Select button when PipeDream gets to Shift-Ctrl-F1. If you overshoot, do not worry; simply click Select on the down arrow icon until you get back to it.

Entering Strings

The Definition option is where you specify what you want PipeDream to do when you press Shift-Ctrl-F1. Type in

The cat sat on the mat

and click the OK button or press Enter.

Now press Shift-Ctrl-F1. You will see that PipeDream enters the string just as if you had typed it at the keyboard.

To Redefine a Ctrl-Key Sequence

The Define Command command enables you to redefine the key sequences. It is only useful for those of you using foreign language versions of PipeDream.

For example, if you want Ctrl-Q to perform an Edit Formula command (Ctrl-X), specify:

Command to define X

Define as Q

Now, when you press Ctrl-Q, the Edit Formula command is carried out.

Think carefully before redefining the Ctrl-key sequences in this way.

Remember that PipeDream uses the letters F, E, L, P, B, C and S as the first character of multiple key commands and so if you redefine any of these, you will be affecting a lot of commands. Note that redefining keys in this way does not affect the backslash sequences in command files or keyboard redefinition. Neither do the redefined sequences appear on menus.

Foreign Characters

As well as using keyboard redefinition to enable you to enter common strings, you can also use it to configure your keyboard for foreign character sets, although you will probably prefer to use the international keyboard modules.

As an example, redefine the character # to the produce the character ¢. Give the Define Key command. On the Key to define line, click Select on the down arrow icon until PipeDream displays 35 #. Set the Definition option to ¢ by holding down the Alt key whilst you type 162 (the value for ¢ in the Latin1 font encoding) on the numeric keypad. You should see ¢ appear in the Definition field. Click the OK button or press Enter to confirm the definition. Now press the # key and PipeDream will enter ¢ in the current cell. You may find it convenient to use the !Chars application. For the numerical values for particular characters consult your RISC OS User Guide.

Commands

As well as redefining keys to produce strings or other characters, you can also redefine keys to perform PipeDream commands.

Imagine that you want to delete every alternate line in a file which is a thousand lines long. One way to do this is to move to every alternate line and delete it by pressing and giving the Delete Row command repeatedly. But you would probably get rather tired of doing this after a while and start making mistakes, deleting the wrong lines. There is a better way. Load a file from which you do not mind deleting a few lines. Give the Define Function Key command and click Select on the arrow icons until the top line indicates Shift-Ctrl-F2. Type the following on the Definition line:

\Y|M\CCD|M

Now click the OK button or press Enter to confirm the definition. Move to a paragraph of text and insert a blank line between every line in the paragraph. This will probably give you an idea of just how tedious deleting 500 alternate lines would be. The definition we entered tells PipeDream to perform a Delete Row command (Ctrl-Y) followed by a Caret Down command (Ctrl-CCD).

Check this by looking at the Edit menu and this Reference Guide. This Reference Guide contains a list of all the command sequences which do not appear anywhere on the long menus. Now move to the first blank line that you have just inserted. Press Shift-Ctrl-F2 and you will see the line disappear and the pointer move down. Press Shift-Ctrl-F2 again and this time hold it down. You will see each blank line disappear. If you delete some text by mistake, you may be able to recover these lines by defining another function key to insert lines and paste.

Clearing Definitions

To redefine a key to its original definition, simply define the key with a blank definition string, or one composed entirely of spaces.

For information on See
Redefining your whole keyboard layout Command Files