Shorthand for Windows^TMVersion 8 Revision History

Version 8.70b (Released: January 20, 2004)

'sh_debug msg $text' displays $text in the Run Tcl Script message pane. This only works when running a script through File | Run Tcl Script and is useful for debugging.
'sh_set keyword_typed' returns the word typed by the user that triggered Shorthand; this can be an empty string if Shorthand was triggered through a keyboard shortcut (e.g. F12).
'sh_set onTransferDone $script' will evaluate $script after Shorthand has inserted a long form. This example show how to define a keyword that will insert another keyword that can be expanded by Shorthand:
t1 = {@INPUTTCL sh_set onTransferDone "update"; after idle "sh_screen key a s a p "; return ""; }{@NOSPACE} asap = as soon as possible
If you type "t1", Shorthand will delete "t1" and replace it with "asap" with "asap" appearing in the Suggestion Window (if it's enabled). Typing a SPACE will therefore expand "asap" to "as soon as possible".

Version 8.70a (Released: November 24, 2003)

Bug fix: If the "Remember Last Expanded Word" option is enabled, a keyword typed immediately after a keyword that ends with a non-alphanumeric character is now expanded correctly.

Version 8.70 (Released: October 28, 2003)

BUG FIXES:

Garbage text may appear if an {@DELETELINE} command appeared in the last line of the Text to Type and the line did not end with an ENTER.

Shorthand was not tracking a word correctly if you type the word followed by a punctuation mark then a comma and backspace.

NEW FEATURES:

The prompts and input fields in @INPUT windows can now be changed: choose File | Preferences, select "2. Display" and click the EDITOR FONT button to change the font.

Added documentation for @GROUP and @AUTONUMBER qualifiers for @INPUT pick lists. If "@GROUP" is specified, items that begin with an asterisk "*" are non-selectable. If "@AUTONUMBER" is specified, each item will be prefixed with a number. These commands were available in previous versions of Shorthand but were undocumented; to find out more about these commands, search for "@GROUP" in the on-line help.

Shorthand now tracks the last simulated word if you hit BACKSPACE after an expansion. By default this option is ON, to disable this option: choose File | Preferences, select "4. AutoReplace" and unselect "Remember Last Expanded Word." Enabling this option is useful for having Shorthand type out the first part of an abbreviation for you. For example, if you have the following entries:
    tp=the patient is a g     g1=male.     g2=female.
If you now type:
    tp<SPACE><BACKSPACE>1<SPACE>
you will end up with:
    the patient is a male
Note: This works only with simple long forms and the remembered word is restored only after you hit BACKSPACE after the expansion. Entries with @Tags may not be tracked correctly; if you plan on using this feature a lot, we recommend you turn on the Suggestion Window to view how Shorthand tracks your keyboard input.

The Suggestion Selection Shortcut is F1..F9; there is now an option to add Ctrl, Alt and/or Shift specifier to the shortcut. To do this, choose Preferences, "4. AutoReplace", and click on the "[Options]" next to "Show Suggestion Window".

Added support for 'PC Licenses'.

Version 8.61 (Released: July 24, 2003)

Added "save session" and "restore session" buttons in Preview window for saving/restoring an input session.
Added "sh_input show" tcl command to show/hide the Input dialog window. This is useful if you need to temporarily hide the Input dialog window when running a Tcl script.
You can now specify whether the Hint window tracks the text caret or appears at the bottom of the window; to do this, go to File | Preferences | AutoReplace and check/uncheck the Track Caret box. By default, the box is checked (Track Caret is enabled).
Bug fix: The Hot Key is now recognized correctly after an attempt to launch a second instance of Shorthand.

Version 8.60 (Released: March 29, 2003)

BUG FIXES:

Specifying the decimal point on the numeric keypad as a shortcut now displays "NumPad." instead of NONE in the Shortcut box.

The @INPUT picklist tag now correctly recognizes the @SEP parameter if no prompt string was specified.

Disabled the flashing of the Shorthand icon in System Tray when you pass your mouse cursor over it. This prevents the icon from flickering on some systems.

Pressing SPACE in an Input Picklist dialog window now correctly toggles the current selection even if there is an item label that starts with a space (in the previous version, pressing SPACE was incorrectly jumping to the first item that begins with a space).

Windows XP/2000/NT only: The SHIFT key was getting stuck in the down state if you try to simulate a SHIFT+ keystroke and NUMLOCK was on. To avoid this problem Shorthand now uses the "gray" version of HOME, DEL, INS, PGUP, PGDN, END, UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT keys. You will still get a stuck SHIFT key if you attempt to simulate a shifted NUMPAD number key (note: a shifted numpad number key with NUMLOCK enabled doesn't really do anything so it's unlikely you will encounter this problem!). For example, {@key shift+numpad7} will leave your SHIFT key in the down state if your NUMLOCK is on. To restore your keyboard to its proper state, press and release the SHIFT key on the left side of your keyboard. To avoid this problem, disable NUMLOCK or use the {@key numlock} command to temporarily disable NUMLOCK, for example:
{@key numlock}{@key shift+numpad7}{@key numlock}

MODIFIED FUNCTIONS:

The Shorthand License can now be registered on non-administrator accounts on Windows XP/2000/NT.

Updated these tcl commands:

The command: sh_window show 1; , if called as a File Shortcut (i.e. called from Shorthand's Shortcut menu), will now leave the main window visible after the script exits. This means you can use this command to create a keyboard shortcut to do things like display the Dictionary Add window:
sh_window show 1; sh_screen key ins; return;
Note: Shorthand is a single threaded application which means Shorthand cannot evaluate a Tcl command while a dialog window is visible. In the above example, sh_screen key ins simulates an Ins key which will open the Dictionary Add window and pause the Tcl script until you close the Dictionary Add window.

The sh_screen key command can now take multiple arguments. For example,
sh_screen key "h" "e" "l" "l" "o"
will simulate "hello". Note that the keycodes must be separated by spaces.

The sh_input memo command now has a "Spell Check" button. Pressing the Esc key will close the dialog box.

The Hint window (the small yellow window that pops up whenever you type a recognized Shorthand keyword) now appears at the caret position. However, there are some applications (notably Microsoft Word) which do not allow the caret to be tracked; in this case, the Hint Window is displayed at the bottom of the window.

NEW FEATURES:

Added these new Tcl commands (see Shorthand on-line help for details):
sh_screen iskeydown $keycode sh_screen enumwindows $proc $clientData sh_input spellcheck $prompt $text sh_window main_handle sh_window active_handle sh_window activate

The {@PAUSE value} tag now accepts fractional values. For example, {@PAUSE 1.5} will pause one and a half seconds. The maximum value that can be specified for a single {@PAUSE} tag is still 10 seconds.

The sh_input open and sh_input save tcl commands have a new -filter option to specify filename filters. This is useful for displaying only certain file types (e.g. *.DOC) in the Open and Save dialog boxes. See the on-line help for details.

When you launch Shorthand, Shorthand will automatically hide itself. To disable this behavior (i.e. if you want to see Shorthand's Main Window after you launch Shorthand), deselect the new "Hide on Start Up" option in the "2. Display" tab of the Preferences window.

The Input dialog boxes can now be maximized by double-clicking on the window's title bar.

When you press Alt+Ins to add a keyword, Shorthand automatically adds a " ." suffix to the keyword. You can now change the suffix string to anything you want (including a blank string) as well as specify a an optional prefix string to be added to the beginning of the keyword. To do this, go to the "4. AutoReplace" tab of the Preferences window and click on "[Options]" next to the "Use Alt+Ins ..." option.

You can now select text in the Main Window's Text to Type box, click the right button of your mouse (inside the Main Window's Text to Type box) and select "Copy to Keyword Box". This will copy the selected text to the Keyword Box.

There is a new "Copy to" function under the File menu which will copy the active dictionary to another folder or disk. This is useful for backing up your dictionary. Only the active dictionary is copied; linked entries are not copied. To backup a linked dictionary, make it the active dictionary by choosing File | Open then make the copy by choosing File | Copy to.

Version 8.52 (Released: May 18, 2002)

Added the sh_window pause value tcl command which will pause a tcl script by value milliseconds. Note that all tcl commands are evaluated when Shorthand reads the Text to Type and not when the text is expanded to your word processor; this means the sh_window pause command will have no effect if you place it between {@KEY} tags; you should use the {@PAUSE} tag if you need to add delays during expansion.
Fixed the following Tcl script bugs:
- Main window remained iconized if the sh_input tcl command was used in the File | Tcl Scripts window.
- sh_window show 1 tcl command may generate a "cannot focus an invisible window" error under Win95.
- sh_file save was also closing the file.
- sh_set links would display the Preferences dialog if the links list was empty.

Version 8.51 (Released: October 29, 2001)

Added the sh_screen Tcl command for simulating keystrokes in real-time and managing windows in other applications. See the on-line help for more info.
The sh_input Tcl command now correctly grabs input focus when displaying dialog boxes.
Choosing Tcl Script from the File menu may display a disabled Suggestion Window. This has been fixed.

Version 8.50 (Released: October 15, 2001)

This version now works correctly with the SHIFT/CTRL/ALT keys on the right side of Windows NT/2000/XP keyboards.
The Dictionary | Search function is now much faster.
Added these new Tcl extension commands:
sh_window, sh_list, sh_input, sh_set, sh_file.
Please refer to the on-line help (Tcl Extension Commands) for a description on these new commands.
New demo files: The tcl1.spf demo dictionary has examples on how to use the new tcl extension commands to create shortcut keys to toggle the AutoReplace and Suggestion Window on/off. The xywrite.tcl demo script is an example of how to use the new tcl commands to import a 3rd party word list into Shorthand.
Added a "Tcl Script" command in the File menu as a convenient way for running or testing Tcl scripts.
Added support for running Tcl scripts from the Shortcuts menu. You can use this feature to create keyboard shortcuts for scripts you may use often--such as the demo toggle_autoreplace.tcl script file for turning AutoReplace on/off.
To add a new shortcut: Choose Edit from Shorthand's Shortcut menu then add the .tcl file to the list.
Keywords are now truncated to 32 characters when you use the Ctrl+Ins keyboard command to add keywords.
Text with '&' characters are now displayed correctly in the Suggestion Window.
The INPUT DATE dialog box now follows the Short Date Format specified in the Windows Control Panel and will now work with date separators other than "/".

Version 8.01 (Released: January 31, 2001)

Shorthand sometimes did not expand keywords if you type very fast in Microsoft Word. This has been fixed by using a stricter check for duplicate keystrokes.
The Dictionary Edit dialog box has a new status label that displays the number of lines in the Text to Type box when Word Wrap is turned off. Word Wrap is enabled/disabled by clicking on [Options].
Clicking the BACK button of an Input form while the NEXT button was disabled would sometimes display an error message. This has been fixed.

Version 8.00 (Released: January 1, 2001)

Click here to see what's new in this major revision.

Revision History for Versions 7.x and earlier

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Shorthand for WindowsTM Version 8 Revision History

Shorthand for Windows^TMVersion 8 Revision History