Double Quick: A Review of QuicKeys v2.1.3



Author: Joe Duroux

Date: July, 1993

Keywords: software utility program macro macros

Text:
QuicKeys is one of those neat things that makes life a little easier
for computer users. You can perform a wide variety of complex
activities with ''shortcuts.'' They can be activated by keystrokes
(function keys or keys with modifiers), which is how QuicKeys got its
name. Now there are additional ways to activate them, as I'll describe
later.
One of QuicKeys' nice little things is called Buttons. A shortcut can
produce a mouse click on any button with a certain name, 
regardless of its location in the active window. In almost any dialog
box, the 'Enter' or 'Return' key clicks the highlighted button, but
that isn't always the OK button. With QuicKeys I have programmed
another keystroke to click a generic button labeled OK, located
anywhere in the active window, highlighted or not. And another to click
a generic button labeled 'Cancel,' whether the 'Command-Period' or
'Escape' keystroke works or not. But there are still exceptions. It is
difficult to make shortcuts compatible with all interfaces used by all
application developers, in spite of the Mac guidelines. One exception
to 
remember is that keystrokes don't always work in the QuicKeys
programming environment. In some cases, they are interpreted as
keystroke entries. In other cases they are just not recognized because
of the nature of the environment. It doesn't make sense to use
keystrokes while programming keystrokes, but one can forget, especially
when they sometimes work. Perhaps there should be some sort of warning
or reminder.
In addition to clicking labeled buttons, a shortcut can be program-med
to produce a mouse click, a multiple click, or a drag at any desired
location(s). Each location may be specified relative to the screen, to
any corner of the active window, or to the cursor location. A drag can
either go from point to point quickly or follow the actual path in real
time. A shortcut can also select a menu item by name (in case you
change the position) or by position (in case the name changes when
selected). Or it can type a stored piece of text, or open a specified
document, application, or control panel. There are ten special
shortcuts that do things like Restart and Shut Down the computer and
call up some of the QuicKeys programming functions. Others can
manipulate windows in twelve different ways, including zooming and
scrolling. At the bottom of the main QuicKeys window is a palette for
selecting different categories of shortcuts to view and edit (Figure
1). The Define menu is used to select a category and initiate its
unique dialog procedure to define a new shortcut.
The shortcuts are organized into keysets, one for each application
(including the finder) and a universal keyset that works in all
applications. Shortcuts can be copied between application keysets if
limited duplication is desired. Or the same keystroke can represent
different shortcuts in different keysets. If a universal keystroke is
duplicated in an application keyset, the application keystroke
overrides the universal keystroke in that application. But a universal
keystroke overrides a duplicate internal application keystroke (not
generated by QuicKeys). I can't find these priorities in the book, but
they seem to work that way.
Some shortcuts don't work in my Microsoft applications, namely Word and
Excel. But these applications have their own keystroke programming
capabilities for their listed commands. I have programmed the same
keystrokes to do the same things within Word and in the universal
keyset. Horizontal scrolling has no listed command, and using mouse
clicks to scroll left is inconsistent. Vertical scrolling works, but
much more slowly than with Word's own keystrokes. But QuicKeys can make
alias keystrokes that perform other keystrokes. I have duplicate
keystrokes in the Word keyset that operate Word's internal scrolling
keystrokes with little loss of speed.  And I have duplicate keystrokes
in the Excel keyset that operate Excel's equivalent macro keystrokes
where QuicKeys shortcuts don't work.
In addition to performing an individual function, a shortcut can
perform a sequence of functions. A sequence can be created by recording
user actions that produce all or part of the sequence, or by importing
existing individual functions, or any combination of the two. It can be
edited by importing or deleting functions or recording additional
functions (Figure 2). A sequence can't be imported as an identifiable
unit into another sequence, but all, or any subset, of its functions
can be copied and pasted into another sequence. Or a sequence can be
copied, and one copy can be renamed and edited to make a new one. A
sequence can be very long, and may take a long time to run, but it will
normally be faster and easier than performing the same operations by
hand.
Another neat characteristic of QuicKeys 2.1.3 is a provision for
incorporating 'extensions,' provided by contributing developers.
Extensions can create shortcuts that perform unique tasks, some of
which can't otherwise be accomplished with QuicKeys and others that
would require long sequences. These shortcuts are individual functions
and can be imported into sequences. Thirty extensions were provided
with my version of QuicKeys. New extensions are expected in the future
as a way of improving QuicKeys without having to revise the basic
application. QuicKeys includes an Extension Manager which can install
or remove extensions or turn installed extensions on or off.

Here are some examples of extensions and their corresponding shortcuts:
A 'Choosey' shortcut switches to a specified available printer without
opening the Chooser dialog box. It can also turn background printing on
or off for printers using the LaserWriter driver, but not for my
DeskWriter. I have to use a sequence that opens the chooser, clicks on
the driver icon, and selects the On or Off button. (In Figure 2, I turn
off background printing to avoid an awkward envelope interface.) A
'Display' shortcut stores and displays editable text items, like a list
of addresses or phone numbers or a set of reminders. The Grab Ease,
Paste Ease, and Type Ease extensions provide a sort of scrapbook that
works directly like a clipboard. Grab is the equivalent of Copy, but it
can store many items. Type can replace Paste, with text only, in
environments that do not support pasting. The Paste or Type shortcut
can bring up a pull-down menu of stored items, or an individual item
can have a separate shortcut that works directly. A ProcessSwap
shortcut makes a specified open application active (in System 7),
hiding the one that was active if desired. Other extension shortcuts
can change the number of colors or gray scales on the screen, produce a
sound, or change the volume of sounds, without opening control panels.
A special sub-application called CEIAC can enable shortcuts that work
with Inter-Application Communication under System 7. And much much
more, as the ad writers like to say.
In addition to keystrokes, there are many other ways to activate
shortcuts. There is a QuicKeys menu, which is actually a submenu of the
Apple menu. Certain standard items are on this menu permanently, but
any shortcut can be added to it. There is also a SoftKeys extension
that can produce a palette of numbered and labeled buttons, and each
button can produce a similar sub-palette of shortcuts. Clicking a
button, or using a corresponding numerical keystroke, activates the
sub-palette or shortcut labeled above the button. Also, a shortcut can
by turned into a mini-application represented by an icon. Thus a
shortcut can be activated in all of the ways that an application can be
opened. And another variation allows a shortcut to be activated at a
specified time. The time can be relative to startup, at a specified
date and time, or periodically at any desired interval with any
starting point.
My only important negative comments about QuicKeys have to do with the
documentation that came with my package. It was obviously in
transition, to be replaced by a new version. There were five booklets,
although one of them is almost trivial. Its two plus pages describe CE
Toolbox, which just supplements the Apple Menu. In addition to the User
Manual, there are separate booklets for Extensions and for Instant
QuicKeys, which is a mini-application for quickly generating a set of
common shortcuts. Then there is a booklet called Read This First. There
is also an eight page read file on one of the floppy disks. Only the
User Manual has an index. The Read First book contains new installation
instructions and a warning not to use the installation instructions in
the User Manual. It also describes many new features and new
extensions, and it mentions some changes in nomenclature since the
printing of the User Manual. One significant change is that the
''shortcuts'' were previously called ''QuicKeys'' and are still called
by the old name in the User Manual.
Getting started was a bit confusing. The Read First book recommends
looking through the other books, starting with the Instant QuicKeys
book, before trying to use the software. It implies that the best way
to start is to use Instant QuicKeys first to generate an initial set of
shortcuts, some of which already exist upon installation. So I fooled
around for a while with the instant variety and had some problems. The
shortcuts that I generated didn't seem to work, and I even had the
computer freeze on me a few times. So I decided to try the regular
QuicKeys application. When I turned it on, it requested my name and the
serial number of my copy of the software. I filled it in, and from then
on things worked much better, including Instant QuicKeys. This
registration procedure is mentioned in the installation part of the
User Manual (the part that I was told to ignore in the Read First
book). Hopefully, by now, the literary transition period is over and a
new manual has been published.
Notwithstanding the disorganized documentation and the few
inconveniences with certain applications, QuicKeys appears to be a
stable and effective program. I like it because I'm lazy, and because I
like to do things in efficient, elegant, ways. Others like it because
it increases productivity. I think the vast majority of Mac users would
enjoy using QuicKeys. At its mail order price of about $89.00
(Suggested retail $149.95), not everybody would be willing to buy it,
but I think most sophisticated users would. It requires a Mac Plus or
better with System 6.0.4 or later. CE Software, Inc., 
P. O. Box 65580, West Des Moines, IA  50265-9852.

Copyright © july, 1993 by Joe Duroux