Shorthand for Windows^TMNew Features in Version 8

Click here for a Revision History.

Improved Compatiblity with More Windows Applications:
- Works with on-screen keyboards.
  Shorthand now supports the on-screen keyboard that comes with Windows 2000 and Windows Me.
- Works with WordPerfect's AutoCapitalization.
  Long forms that start with the same character as their keywords will now work with WordPerfect's AutoCapitalization feature.
- No more parTIAL caps.
  Shorthand now compensates if you press the SHIFT, ALT or CTRL keys before Shorthand has completed an expansion. This means that you will no longer get parTIAL caps if you press SHIFT before Shorthand has finished an expansion. (IMPORTANT: Shorthand only compensates for the SHIFT, CTRL and ALT keys; pressing or releasing system keys such as CAPS LOCK, NUM LOCK and the WINDOWS key in the middle of an expansion will still affect the appearance of expanded text and cause unpredictable results.)
- Support for repeated keystrokes.
  Shorthand can now detect repeated (i.e. a characters generated when you hold down a key for an extended amount of time) keystrokes.
- Improved international character support.
  The Suggestion Window now correctly displays keywords that contain international or special characters.

New Timesaving Features:
- TAB key expands keywords
  Pressing the TAB key now immediately expands a keyword. For example, typing "asap" followed by TAB results in Shorthand typing "as soon as possible" with the text cursor placed immediately after the last "e" (i.e. there is no SPACE inserted). If you need to insert a real TAB character, just press TAB again.
- Keystroke Recorder.
  There is a new RECORD button in the Dictionary Text dialog window. After you click on RECORD, Shorthand will record all your keystrokes (note: this applies to keystrokes only; mouse actions are not recorded). Click on the STOP button (or the Shorthand icon in the system tray) to stop recording; all your keystrokes will then be appended to the text to type field (click the UNDO button if you need to cancel). The RECORD feature is especially useful in generating {@KEY} sequences to automate navigating through menus and windows.
  NOTE: Only recognized keystrokes are recorded; mouse functions are NOT recorded nor are the system keys such as the Scroll Lock, Print Screen, Windows key and Caps Lock. See the Shorthand on-line help for keystrokes that are supported in Shorthand.
- "Duplicate" command.
  You can now quickly duplicate a dictionary entry by choosing Duplicate from the Dictionary menu or pressing the Alt+Ins key.
- Block copy and paste.
  You can now select, copy and paste a block of entries. This is useful if you want to split a large dictionary into smaller ones. You select a block by holding down the Shift key and clicking a list entry with the left mouse button. For example, to copy all the entries that start with "a" to another file:
  1. Select the first entry that starts with "a" by clicking on it.
  2. Click on the scroll bar to navigate the list until you see the last entry that begins with "a".
  3. While holding down the Shift key, click on the last entry. All the entries that start with "a" should now be selected.
  4. Choose Copy from the Dictionary menu. All selected entries are now copied to the clipboard.
  5. Open the dictionary you want to copy the entries to.
  6. Choose Paste to insert the contents of the clipboard into the current dictionary.
- Keyboard shortcuts for editing dictionary entries.
  You can now conveniently invoke the Dictionary | Add function by pressing the Ins key anywhere in the Main Window. Pressing F2 will invoke the Dicitonary | Modify function. You can delete a dictionary entry by pressing Del in the Dictionary list box.
- Automatic file saving.
  Shorthand can now automatically save your dictionary when you click the HIDE button. To enable this feature, Choose Preferences from the File menu, choose the "2.Display" tab and check the "AutoSave" checkbox.
- Hot key jumps to nearest keyword.
  When you invoke Shorthand by pressing the hotkey (F10 by default) from within your word processor, Shorthand will now position the Dictionary list box to the nearest keyword that matches the word that you last typed. You can then use the Up or Down Arrow keys to scroll through the list box.
- "Run File Converter" command.
  The SHCNV.EXE file converter utility can now be started by choosing "Run File Converter" from Shorthand's File menu.
- Option to skip Description box.
  The Description box in the Dictionary Text dialog has a new Enable TabStop feature. If TabStop is enabled (the default), the Description box can be reached by pressing the TAB key. If TabStop is disabled, pressing TAB in the Text to Type box will jump immediately to the OK button; this saves you time if you do not wish to enter a description. To enable/disable the TabStop, click the RIGHT mouse button inside the Description box and check/uncheck the Enable TabStop option.
- Option for quitting Dictionary Text dialog window
  The Text to Type box in the Dictionary Text dialog window has a new option to use the ENTER key to exit the dialog. To enable this feature, click on [OPTIONS] and UNCHECK the "[ENTER] Key = New Line" option. This can be a timesaver if your word list consists primarily of one line entries. (Note: To create a new line, you can always press Ctrl+Enter.)

New Tcl Scripting Engine:
Shorthand can now execute scripts written in the popular Tool Command Language (Tcl). This gives you the ability to perform powerful text manipulation (such as text parsing and string formatting) in Shorthand. See the description of the new {@INPUTTCL} tag below.

New Tags:
- {@NOSPACE} tag.
  There is a new {@NOSPACE} tag which prevents the SPACE character from appearing after a word expansion. For example, if you type "asap" followed by SPACE, Shorthand would expand this to: "as soon as possible" followed by a SPACE. If you want to suppress the SPACE, put the {@NOSPACE} tag anywhere in your Shorthand definition; for example: asap = as soon as possible{@NOSPACE} NOTE: Since pressing the TAB key now expands keywords without the space, you rarely would need to use the {@NOSPACE} tag in your text.
- {@INPUTMSG} tag.
  The new {@INPUTMSG } tag allows you to display a message to the user. Whenever Shorthand encounters an {@INPUTMSG} tag, Shorthand pops up a dialog box with the message and waits for the user to click the Next button. This is useful if you want to display comments or instructions to the user.
- {@KEYDOWN}, {@KEYUP} tags.
  There are new {@KEYDOWN} and {@KEYUP} tags to simulate pressing down a key and releasing a key. For example, you can simulate Ctrl+A,D (that is, while holding down the Ctrl key, type 'A' then 'D') using the following code: {@KEYDOWN Ctrl}ad{@KEYUP Ctrl} We use lowercase 'a' and 'd' above since using uppercase 'A' and 'D' would insert an extra SHIFT keystroke which may produce the wrong result. That is:
  {@KEYDOWN Ctrl}AD{@KEYUP Ctrl}
  is equivalent to the following code:
  {@KEYDOWN Ctrl}{@KEYDOWN Shift}ad{@KEYUP Shift}{@KEYUP Ctrl}
  Warning: Every {@KEYDOWN} must have a corresponding {@KEYUP} or else a key may be left in a "stuck down" position. You rarely need to manually insert the {@KEYDOWN} and {@KEYUP} tags in your text; these tags are primarily used to support the RECORD feature.
- {@INPUTTCL} tag.
  There is a new {@INPUTTCL} tag for running scripts written in the popular Tool Command Language (Tcl). Tcl is a powerful scripting language that supports If..then.. branching, looping, mathematical computations, powerful string manipulation and other commands. For example, the following Shorthand code:
  {@INPUTTCL run notepad c:/docs/myfile.txt}
  will open the file c:\docs\myfile.txt in NOTEPAD.
  See the DEMO-TCL.SPF file for other examples.
  If you are not familiar with Tcl, please read the TclReadme.txt file for more information on this extremely powerful scripting language.

Miscellaneous:
- New File Protection Feature
  You can now protect your Shorthand (.SPF) files by choosing Protect from Shorthand's Dictionary menu and specifying a Shorthand LICENSE ID. Once the file is protected, only the user with the specified LICENSE ID can read (but not modify) the file. Only the author of the file has full read/write privelege over the file. To allow any user to read and modify the file, specify a blank string in the LICENSE ID field.
  Tip: You can choose Info from the Dictionary menu to view the protection settings.
  Warning: Since the protection scheme is based on your Shorthand Registration ID, it is extremely important that you do not lose your Registration ID! You can view your Registration ID by choosing About from the Help menu and clicking on the REGISTER button. Losing your Registration ID may result in your inability to access your file.
- Customizable Suggestion Window Fonts
  You can now choose a separate font for the Suggestion Window. To do this, choose Preferences from the File menu, select the Display tab and click on the Suggestion Font button.
- New Multi-user Support.
  A user's configuration and preferences files can now be saved in a different directory by specifying the directory name through the /cfg option in the Shorthand command line. For example, the command line:
  sh8.exe /cfg="c:\john"
  will run Shorthand and tell Shorthand to look for and save the user's configuration files in directory c:\john instead of the Shorthand program directory. This is useful for sharing Shorthand among several users on the same PC. See the Shorthand on-line help for a more complete description.

Revision History

http://www.pcshorthand.com

Shorthand for WindowsTM New Features in Version 8

Shorthand for Windows^TMNew Features in Version 8