Setting Up Hot Keys
and Hot Key Actions
The Software Wedge allows you to
define up to 50 hot keys that can be used to control several serial
I/O functions and also to control the operation of the Wedge.
When you select "Hot Keys and Hot
Key Actions" from the Define menu the following dialog box appears.
Each hot key that you can define has a number from one to fifty and
you can select a particular hot key by choosing its hot key number
from the list box with the caption "Hot Key" in the upper left
corner of the dialog box.
Selecting Hot Key Actions
You define a hot key by first
selecting a Hot Key Action from the list of available actions
and then you specify the keystroke that will be used to invoke each
desired action. The Software Wedge supports the following 13 hot key
actions:
1. Transmit String Transmits
a character string out the serial port.
When you select "Transmit String",
a text input box will appear in the bottom of the dialog box with
the caption "Output String". This is where you enter the character
string that you want transmitted out the serial port when the hot
key is pressed. When editing the output string, a button with the
caption "ASCII Chart..." will also appear in the dialog box so that
you can choose control codes (or ASCII characters that cannot be
typed on your keyboard) that you want to place in the output string.
2. Issue BREAK Signal Issues
a serial BREAK signal
3. Toggle DTR for 100ms Toggles the serial port DTR line for
100ms
4. Enable Timer Enables timer controlled outputs
5. Disable Timer Disables timer controlled outputs
6. Raise DTR Raises the
serial port DTR line
7. Lower DTR Lowers the serial port DTR line
8. Raise RTS Raises the serial port RTS line
9. Lower RTS Lowers the serial port RTS line
10. Reset WinWedge Resets the Wedge. When you perform a
reset, the serial input buffer is flushed and the Wedge is reset to
the state it was in when first activated.
11. Suspend WinWedge Suspends the Wedge. While suspended, the
Wedge continues to collect serial data and store it to a serial
input buffer however the data will not be transferred to another
program or to a disk file until you resume the Wedge.
12. Resume WinWedge Resumes the Wedge if it is currently
suspended
13. Resume for 1 Data Record Resumes the Wedge for a single
data record only
If the Wedge is suspended and you
resume it for one data record, the next data record available in the
serial receive buffer will be processed after which the Wedge will
automatically suspend itself again. The Resume for 1 Data Record
action thus allows a greater degree of control over where and when
data is entered into an application because it lets you accept data
specifically when you are ready to receive it.
Selecting Hot Key Keystrokes
To select a hot key keystroke that
will invoke a particular hot key action, place the cursor in the
text box labeled "Hot Key Keystroke" and then press the key or key
combination that you want to use. A description of the keystroke
will appear in the text box after you press the keystroke. When the
cursor is in the "Hot Key Keystroke" text box, a button will also
appear with the caption "Keystroke List...". Clicking this button
pops open a list box so that you can choose your hot key keystroke
from the list.
Notes: Hot keys defined in the
Wedge are system wide hot keys and thus are always detected by the
Wedge no matter what application has the input focus. All hot key
keystrokes are also discarded after they are detected by the Wedge
and thus are not passed through to the application you are working
in when you press the hot key. You may also define multiple hot key
actions for the same hot key keystroke. If you do this, all actions
assigned to the common hot key keystroke will be invoked when you
press the hot key. In this situation hot key actions with lower hot
key numbers will be invoked before those with higher numbers.
Tech Tip: When using the Wedge in "Send
Keystrokes" mode, it is possible for the Wedge to send itself hot
key keystrokes. This interesting side effect could be taken
advantage of to cause the Wedge to suspend or reset itself if a
certain character is received. (Use the Pre-Transfer Character
Translation Table to translate the character to a hot key keystroke
whose action is to suspend or reset the Wedge). You could also
continuously poll an instrument by having the Wedge issue a "Field
Postamble Keystroke Macro" that contains a hot key that invokes the
"Transmit String" action. |
