Keyboard

The Configure Keyboard command provides the ability to assign key sequences to any of Boxer's commands. With over 450 editor commands, and over 400 key sequences, it's easy to think that keyboard configuration might be a complex undertaking. Not so. Boxer's Configure Keyboard dialog automates the process by providing lists from which Commands, Assigned keys and Unassigned keys can be selected, and by allowing key assignments to be typed directly from the keyboard.

A thorough coverage of the features of the Configure Keyboard dialog box is presented further below. In the paragraphs that immediately follow, a sample configuration session is presented which illustrates how several common changes can be made to the default keyboard layout.

Create a new keyboard layout which duplicates the default layout, but with a few selected changes.

Rather than making changes to a pre-defined keyboard layout, it's always advisable to create a new layout with the Copy or New button. Future upgrades to Boxer will overwrite the default keyboard layout BOXERWIN.KBD and other pre-defined layouts. Custom changes should not be made to these files. The New button will create a nearly empty layout, but that's not what we want now. Instead, click Copy to create a copy of the active keyboard layout, and then click Rename to provide the new layout with a name of your choice. You might choose to simply use your first name.

The Auto-Number command has no key assignment in the default keyboard layout, and you'd like it to have one. Click on the Auto-Number entry in the Commands listbox. The Assigned keys listbox is updated to show 'No Assignment'. Find a suitable key sequence in the Unassigned keys listbox, and click on it. The name of the key sequence selected appears in the edit box beneath the Commands listbox. Click the Change button to change the assignment for Auto-Number from 'No Assignment' to the selected key sequence.

The Align Right command is assigned to Ctrl+F9, but you'd like to use that key for another command instead. Click on the Align Right entry in the Commands listbox. Click on the Clear button to relieve the command of its key assignment. The Assigned keys listbox is updated to show 'No Assignment', and the Ctrl+F9 key is added to the Unassigned keys listbox.

The Calculator command is assigned to F11, but you'd like it to also be available using the Ctrl+F9 sequence, which was just freed by Change Two above. Click on the Calculator entry in the Commands listbox. Its current assignment of F11 is displayed in the Assigned keys listbox. Click in the edit box beneath the Commands listbox to give it focus. Press the Ctrl+F9 key sequence from the keyboard, and watch its name appear in the edit box. (Whenever you prefer, a key can be pressed in the edit box as an alternative to locating it in the Unassigned keys listbox.) Finally, click the Add button to create this additional assignment for the Calculator command. A duplicate entry is created for Calculator in the Commands listbox, reflecting the fact that there are now two distinct key assignments for this command.

The Active Layout listbox displays a list of the available keyboard layouts, and highlights the active layout. Boxer comes with several pre-defined layouts which can make Boxer more closely match the key assignments of another editor or word processor.

If you develop a keyboard layout that matches the key assignments of another popular program, please consider sending it to us at info@boxersoftware.com so that we can make it available to other Boxer users. Keyboard layout files are kept in Boxer's home directory, and are given a .KBD file extension.

Use the New button to create a new keyboard layout. The new layout will contain only the most fundamental key assignments, such as Up, Down, Left, Right, etc. The new layout is created with the name 'New'; use the Rename button to supply the name of your choice.

Use the Rename button to change the name of the selected layout to a name of your choice.

Use the Copy button to make a copy of the active keyboard layout. The new layout will be given the name 'Copy of', prefixed to the name of the active layout. Use the Rename button to supply a new name, if desired. Use of the Copy button is recommended when you will be making a small number of changes to an existing layout.

Use the Delete button to delete the selected keyboard layout. A confirmation is required before the layout will be deleted. Once a layout is deleted it cannot be recovered, even if Cancel is later selected.

The Make List button creates a file in a new editor window which lists all of the command key assignments in the selected layout. This file could be printed to create a command chart, or saved to disk for later reference.

The Command listbox displays an alphabetical list of all commands which can be reassigned. Clicking on an entry in the Commands listbox displays its current assignment in the Assigned keys listbox. When the listbox has focus, pressing the first letter of a command will jump the selection bar to that command.

When a command has multiple key assignments, an entry will appear in the Commands listbox for each such assignment.

The number of commands displayed in the listbox is shown in parentheses at the top of the list.

The Assigned Keys listbox displays an alphabetical list of all key sequences which are currently in use. Clicking on an entry in the Assigned Keys listbox displays the associated command in the Commands listbox. The 'No Assignment' entry does not normally map to a single command, and therefore will not display its associations.

When the listbox has focus, pressing the first letter of a command will jump the selection bar to that command.

The number of key sequences displayed in the listbox is shown in parentheses at the top of the list.

This is the edit box where a new key sequence is entered. The edit box can be filled by clicking on an available key sequence from the Unassigned Keys listbox, or by pressing a key sequence from the keyboard while the edit box has focus. When a key sequence is entered, its disposition is reported in a message just above the edit box. It might be reported as available, not available, in use, or as being used by the System.

The Change button is used to change the key assignment for the currently selected command to the key sequence displayed in the edit box. The Change button will remain disabled until a key which is eligible for assignment has been entered into the edit box.

The Force button is used to change the key assignment for the currently selected command and simultaneously remove its assignment from another command.

The Add button is used to create an additional assignment for the selected command. The Add button will remain disabled until a key which is eligible for assignment has been entered into the edit box. There is no limit to the number of duplicate key assignments that a command may have.

The Clear button is used to release a key assignment from the currently selected command. The Clear button will be disabled when the current command has no assignment.

This option can be used gain access to the Alt+letter key sequences which would otherwise be used to activate the main menu entries. When this option is selected the key sequences Alt+F, Alt+E, Alt+B, etc. become available for assignment to other commands. When the Configure Keyboard dialog is dismissed, the main menu will be redrawn without its hot letters underlined.

Alt+letter sequences which are not otherwise assigned will remain assigned to their respective menus. For example: if this option is selected, but Alt+F is not otherwise assigned, it will remain as the key assignment for dropping the File menu.

Regardless of the state of this option, the main menu hot letters will remain functional when the main menu has been activated by tapping the Alt key.

When loading a keyboard layout file, Boxer will look for key assignments which conflict with the main menu hot letters in order to determine if this option needs to be checked. If you select this option, but fail to assign any of the Alt+letter sequences to other commands, Boxer will sense this when the layout is next loaded, and the option will revert to unchecked. Conversely, if you load a layout which contains one or more key assignments which conflict with the main menu hot letters, Boxer will force this option to checked.

The Unassigned Keys listbox displays those key sequences which are available for assignment. Clicking on a key within this listbox causes the key to be displayed in the edit box beneath the Commands listbox.

The keys which are to be shown in the listbox can be controlled with various checkboxes:

Use this option to include the F13-F24 keys, in all their various shift states. Some new keyboards are now offering these additional functional keys.

Use this option to include the keys from the cursor motion pad, in all their various shift states.

Use this option to control whether or not key sequences with multiple shifts should appear in the list.

You might notice that the controls in this dialog box do not have hot letters, as do other dialog boxes. This is because the edit box into which key sequences are typed must be able to receive all possible key sequences without losing focus to another control.

Assigning a key sequence to run a macro is a two-step process. One step is to make the desired assignment to the Run Macro n command using the Configure Keyboard dialog. The other step is ensure that the macro itself is numbered accordingly. See the Macros topic for further information.

When a given command has more than one key assignment it will have multiple entries in the Commands listbox. The first assignment that appears in the Commands listbox is called the primary command assignment. Additional entries for that command are referred to as secondary command assignments. The key sequence associated with the primary command assignment is the one which will be displayed in the main menu next to the command.

When an Alt+Letter sequence is used as a secondary command assignment, you will likely notice a beep when that key sequence is pressed. The beep occurs because the Alt+Letter sequence does not map to an underlined hot letter on the main menu bar, and it does not appear as a shortcut key in any of the main menu entries. The beep can be silenced by making the Alt+Letter sequence the primary command assignment, and letting the existing assignment become the secondary assignment. To do this, the existing primary assignment must be cleared, so the Alt+Letter assignment becomes the primary assignment. Then, the other assignment can be added back as the secondary assignment. The only effective difference between a primary assignment and a secondary assignment is that the primary assignment is displayed in the main menu.

Because they appear in the main menu, primary command assignments are available whenever Boxer is running. Secondary command assignments do not appear in the main menu, and are therefore available only when a child editor window is open. Since most commands are meant to operate on text, this rarely poses a problem. But there are instances where trouble can arise. For example: assume that Ctrl+N is the primary command assignment for the File | New command, and Shift+Alt+N is its secondary assignment. If all child editor windows are closed, the Shift+Alt+N assignment will be non-functional. The primary assignment, Ctrl+N, would need to be used.

The Configure Keyboard dialog recognizes the numeric keypad keys as distinct keys in all of their shifted and unshifted states. These keys appear in the Unassigned keys listbox as Keypad 1, Keypad 2, etc.