Copyright 1991 Sudden Incorporated, Rod Coleman Selecting Functions There are a couple of different ways of selecting functions and lots of ways of escaping. You are probably already using a left mouse click to select the functions in the Power Menu, but the real power in the Power Menu is in the keyboard. This section describes these and other aspects of controlling Sudden View. Power Menu Once you get beyond low-level editing functions, popular word processors and text editors handle program control in several different ways. Some have drop-down or pop-up menus that are selected using a mouse. These are easy to learn, but slow to use. This is especially true once the choices become complex and menus become nested. Since the menus drop down over your text, you cannot have menu functions that interact with the text repeatedly, unless you keep dragging the menus down. This can quickly become very clumsy. Most GEM and Macintosh editors use this slow but easy to learn approach. Another approach is to define lots of power keys, even if it means using a couple hundred combinations of Control, Alternate, Shift and Functions keys. This type of interface is very fast, and can use interactive functions, but learning it can become a nightmare. An entire industry has been created to produce templates to help us with this problem. Word Perfect is the best known example of this type of interface. Still other programs do both; they have menus with little hints about the power key combinations to use. This is an improvement, since you can do it the slow way until you learn the power tricks - but you still must learn them. Sudden View combines the speed of power keys, with the convenience of menus. I call it a Power Menu. You don't have to remember any key combinations; just keep your fingers on the home row of the keyboard, and select your functions from the menu which is always visible. This approach can therefore have functions that interact with the text window dynamically. You have probably already noticed the Power Menu at the bottom of the screen. It's made up of two lines of four menus each, giving a total of eight choices. The bottom four choices respond to the four keys of home row for the right hand when the Control key is held down. The four choices displayed in the line above this, respond to the keys directly above home row using the Control key. This is always true no matter what level of menu you are in. Let's try an example, so you'll get a feel for it. Place the fingers of your right hand over home row (index finger over J, etc.). Now while holding the Control key with your other hand, select "Filer" with the little finger of your right hand. You will notice that the Power Menu changed content and color. Gold means that you are in the root menu; blue is for all subsidiary menus. Now without moving your right hand, select "Filer Options" using your index finger on the key above home row. Again you have a new set of choices. Select "Key Repeat Rate" using the same finger on the same key. At this point, select your favorite speed using the proper finger. After you chose, Sudden View returns to the root menu. Most Power Menu operations are not this long, but this example does show how these menus can lead to your selection without memorizing power keys. More importantly, you will notice that we did not once refer to a key combination. It was all presented visually. If you don't know which key you are pressing, you don't have to memorize it. After a while, your fingers do tend to learn sequences, but it happens naturally and you can always refer to the menu, if your fingers forget. It's true that it may take a little while to learn about the organization of the menus, but this is the case for any menu system. The advantage is that you don't have to learn multiple key combinations; no charts, no templates. The real trick to using Power Menus, is selecting choices visually from home row, rather than memorizing function keys. Try it a little, you'll see what I mean. Now for the exception to the rule. Since the Escape function is used to get out of just about everything, I thought you might need one in the Power Menu. If at anytime you need to escape from any menu, the escape key is Control M. This allows you to keep your right hand on home row during this often used function (see Escape, below). So now you know how to become a power user without really trying. Once you get used to this type of menu system, the only time your right hand will leave home row is to position the cursor or arrange text blocks. It will probably cut down on your coffee consumption. Menu Chart The following is a description of each of Sudden View's Power Menu entries. They are arranged as they occur. If the description ends with " - Root", control returns to the Root menu after activation. Find & Replace - Select menu for locating and replacing strings of text Find Next - Find the next occurrence of the search pattern Case Sensitive - Toggle the Case Sensitive search function Imbedded Search - Toggle the Imbedded Search function Top of File - Go to top of file and set up for new search Search Patterns - Display previous search patterns Include Character - Include next character in search pattern Include Word - Include next word in search pattern Replace - Select menu for replacing text string Find Next - Find the next occurrence of the search pattern Top of File - Go to top of file and set up for new search Replace - Replace the find string with replace string Replace & Find Next - Replace and find next occurrence Replace All - Replace & Find Next until end of file Last Change - Rotate to location where text was last changed of 4 - Root Next File - Rotate to next file buffer of 4 - Root Word Wrap - Select wrapped or un-wrapped or root menu depending on field Re-wrap All - Re-wrap all similar paragraphs to new format Adjust Left - Adjust right margin to the left Adjust Right - Adjust right margin to the right Last Paragraph - Move cursor to top of last paragraph Set Wrap - Word Wrap field and select wrapped menu Clear Wrap - Set field back to a normal and select un-wrapped menu Re-Wrap Paragraph - Re-wrap current paragraph to adopted format Next Paragraph - Move cursor to top of next paragraph Display Buffer - Select paste buffer menu and display paste buffer in blue Last Block - Rotate paste buffer back to last block of 20 Hide Buffer - Hide buffer display - Root Paste Block - Paste current block of buffer into file - Root Next Block - Rotate paste buffer forward to next block of 20 Highlight Block - Find and highlight existing block and select block menu Cut to Buffer - Copy block to buffer and cut if from file - Root Copy to Buffer - Copy block to buffer and leave it in file - Root Start New Block - Select new block menu Start New Block - Select new block menu, reset block definition Select Field - Select current field as block and select block menu End Block - Accept block definition and select block menu Start New Block - Select new block menu, reset block definition Select Line - Select current line as block and select block menu Filer - Select Filer menu Filer Options - Select Filer Options menu Key Repeat Rate - Select key repeat rate menu CR After LF - Toggle export CR after LF function Export Tabs - Toggle export Tab function Auto-Save - Toggle Auto-Save function Clear File - Abandon file if changed, clear it from the workspace - Root Next File - Rotate to next file buffer of 4 Open File - Select GEM Item Selector, open indicated file - Root Quit Sudden View - Abandon files if running as .PRG, then exit program Insert Form Feed - Insert line with form feed character in file - Root Save All Files - Save all files using their current names - Root Save File - Select GEM Item Selector, save indicated file - Root Mouse Selection As you have probably already noticed, the menus defined above can also be selected using a left mouse click, but it's not as fast as using the Power Menu unless your hand is already on the mouse. It's also useful for casual editing during lunch. Again, since escape (Esc) is used to get out of just about everything, I have provided a convenient way to do it using the mouse when the mouse cursor is over the Power Menus. Just like when the mouse cursor is over any blank area in the text window, a right click of the menus will always escape. See the section below for a complete explanation. Mouse Control Summary Left Click Right Click Left Drag Right Drag -------------------------------------------------------------- Root Menu | Place Cursor/ Select Field Position Select Block | Display Buffer Text | Buffer Menu | Hide Buffer Paste Block * Scroll Buffer | Block Menu | Cut Block Copy Block/ Position Move Block/ | Hide Block Text Select Block | Wrap Menu | Select Toggle Position * Dynamic | Paragraph Wrap Text Re-wrap | Scroll Bar | Position Window * Fast | in file Dynamic | Scroll Power menu | Select Escape | Function * Personalized version only Escaping You've been reading about different ways of escaping ever since you first read the A_README.1ST file. That's because it's one of the most often used features in Sudden View. Almost everything that Sudden View does can be escaped from, and with many functions it's the normal way to exit. This section is the definitive treatment of escaping. Escaping, as is implied from its name, allows you to exit whatever you are doing, and return to the normal condition or Root menu. It always leaves the text file in its current condition. If the Paste Buffer is displayed, it will be hidden. If you have just moved a block of text, it will be left where it is. If you have deleted some text by accident or messed the file up in some other way, you may still need to Undo or otherwise recover text after escaping, but at least escaping will get you back to a known point. The most obvious way of escaping is to use the Escape Key (Esc) in the upper left hand corner of the keyboard. If all else fails, this button always works. In most cases you will only need to hit the Esc key once; but with a few nested menus, you may need to hit it twice or more times. Each hit will take you out one level until you reach the Root menu (displayed in gold). If your hand is on the mouse and the mouse cursor is in the text Window, just place the mouse cursor in any blank area and do a right mouse click to escape. This is real handy when doing text arrangement. Note that this won't work if you are on the leading or trailing spaces of a word wrapped line (they are not really blank). Another mouse shortcut for escaping was mentioned in Mouse Selection above: just do a right click anywhere in the Power Menu or Status Line. Again this is handy if you are selecting menus. The final way of escaping is for when you are using the Power Menu from the keyboard. Just do a Control M. It's quick to drop down from the "j" key if you have been selecting menus. One last note on escaping. It also works during a Replace All or Re-wrap All if you have the personalized version of Sudden View, but you've got to be fast. These functions scoot through the file pretty quickly.