Chapter 2．
Basic Operation Guide
This book explains about basic operations of ALTAIR. By mastering this book, you will be able to read and write text files by ALTAIR.
In this book, from 1 to 10 of function keys are written as F1 to F10, and the shift key + 1 to 10 function keys are written as shift + F1 to shift + F10.
1．Starting and Quitting the Application
1） Program Name
ALTAIR's program name is WINAL.EXE.
2） Startup
To run ALTAIR, open "start" menu and click ALTAIR in the ALTAIR group.
After starting ALTAIR, turn off the screen reader.
3） Quitting
F2 twice to save and quit
F2 three times to quit
(1) Quit after writing the edited content
Press the F2 key twice to quit ALTAIR after writing the edited content. When the "save and quit" message is spoken or displayed, press the enter key. When you are asked a file name, enter the name of the file you like to write the content. When the save is successfully done, ALTAIR quits promptly.
(2) Quit immediately
When you wish to quit without saving the document, press the F2 key three times. When the message "quit" is spoken or displayed, press the enter key. When you are asked "Do you wish to quit?", type Y or just press the enter key if it is OK to quit. If you wish to cancel, type N or press the escape key.
4） Current folder setting
You can change the current folder by -E option of AL.CFG.
The default setting is the folder ALTAIR was installed in.
Example:
-EC:\TMP
2． Loading, Inserting, and Opening Files
F1 to load a file
1） Loading
F1 once to load a file
To edit an existing file, select "load" by the F1 key.
If you press the F1 key, the message "load" is spoken or displayed. Press the enter key so that the message "file name" is spoken or displayed. Enter the name of the file you wish to read, with correct full file name with the drive name and the folder names (i.e. with its full path), and then press the enter key. (If the file is in the current folder, you do not need to enter the drive name and the folder names.) The message "period" tells you that the file is loaded. In addition, when you do not remember the file name, you can search it using wildcards. (Please refer to 2-4.)
If you press the space key instead of typing a file name, a list of maximum 10 files you have edited in the past is read aloud or displayed. (A file name is read or displayed at a time.) Selecting by up and down cursors and pressing enter, you can resume the edit from the cursor position you finished editing last time
2） Inserting
F1 twice to insert
When you wish to insert an existing file into the document you are editing, press the F1 key twice and select "insert". If you press the enter key, you are asked a file name. Enter the name of the file you wish to insert, by a full name including the drive name and the folder names, and then press the enter key. (If the file is in the current folder, you do not need to enter the drive name and the folder names.)
If you press the space key instead of typing a file name, a list of maximum 10 files you have edited in the past is read aloud or displayed. (A file name is read or displayed at a time.) If you select one by up and down cursors and then press enter, the applicable file is inserted.
3） Opening
F1 three times to open
When you wish to make a new file with a new name (without deleting an editing document from the file buffer), press the F1 key three times and select "open". If you press the enter key, you are asked a file name for the new file. Enter the name of the file you wish to make and press the enter key. When a file with the same name already exists, the content of the existing file is loaded.
F1 five times to clear and open
You can open a new file with a new name, and delete the editing document from the file buffer. When a file with the same name already exists, the content of the file is loaded.
4） Searching an input file
You can use the search function of input file when loading (F1 once) or inserting (F1 twice) an input file.
When you are asked a file name, if you use wildcard or enter a folder name, ALTAIR tells or displays the file name at the beginning of the file list while telling or showing the number of the files to be searched.
"Wildcard" is a single-byte * character to be used in place of a character string that you do not remember clearly. For example, *.TXT means all the files with the filename extension "TXT".
When the file retrieval is done, look for the file using up and down cursor keys or alphabet keys. When a file name of the list is read aloud or displayed, if you enter an alphabet key, the cursor moves to the file name starting with the letter. When you come to the file you want, press the enter key, so that the loading or inserting of the input file becomes complete. If you cannot find the file you want, press the escape key. ALTAIR asks for a file name, so you can start a search again.
5） Importing Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF, RTF files
When loading or inserting a file, if you specify one of the following data types, you can load or insert the file by converting it into text and extracting it.
- Word V6/V7(95)
- Word 97/98/2000/2001/XP(2002)/2003
- Excel 97/98 for Macintosh/2000/2001/XP(2002)/2003
- Adobe PDF 1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5(Acrobat 3/4/5/6)
- Powerpoint 97/2000/2001/XP/2003
- Rich text file
6） Loading a file by using a history
When loading a file, if you press the space key instead of entering a file name or of pressing the enter key for searching a file name, ALTAIR tells or displays a history list of the files edited so far. (A file name is read or displayed at a time.)
When you select a file from the list, the file is loaded and the cursor is set at the position where you finished editing last time.
3．File Save
F2 to save a file
1） File save
F2 once to save a file
F2 twice to save and quit
When you wish to save the edited document as a file, select "save" or "save and quit" by the F2 key, enter a file name and press the enter key.
In case of "save and quit", ALTAIR quits when the save is successful. When you select "save" or "save and quit", ALTAIR tells or displays the file name it remembers. If it is OK as it is, press the enter key. When you wish to change the file name, delete the characters one by one using the back space key or clear all the characters using the up cursor, and then enter a new file name. The file name ALTAIR remembers is the one that was loaded or saved just before. The file name inserted by "insert" using F1 is not remembered.
2） Saving a part of a file
F2 four times to save a block
If you wish to save a part of the file you are editing, select "block save" by pressing F2 key four times. When you enter a file name and press the enter key, only the block previously specified is saved as a file. The method to specify a block is explained in 11 of Chapter 2 'Basic operation guide'.
3） Saving all files
F2 once and right cursor to save all
F2 twice and right cursor to save all and quit
When you wish to save at once multiple documents you edited, press the F2 key once, press the right cursor once and select "all save", or press the F2 key twice, press the right cursor once and select "save all and quit". You are asked file names in turn, so enter each file name. In the case of "save all and quit", ALTAIR quits when all the saves are successfully done. Handling of multiple files is explained in 16 of Chapter 2 'Basic operation guide'.
4） Saving additionally
F2 five times and right cursor to append
It is to append a file you are editing. When you press the F2 key five times and press the right cursor, the message "append" is spoken or displayed. If you press the enter key and enter a file name, the content of the file you are editing is appended to the file you entered the name.
5） File back-up
You can make the back-up function for editing files valid by specifying -K option in the configuration file AL.CFG.
If you put -K option, the content before the renewal is saved with a filename extension .BAK in the same folder as the editing file.
If you specify after -K a folder name to keep back-ups, the content before the renewal is saved in the specified folder by the same name as editing file.
4．Selecting Function Commands
1） Basics for function commands
With ALTAIR, almost all the commands are assigned to function keys and shift key + function keys. Most of those commands are not executed immediately after the keys are pressed, but the function assigned to the keys is announced or displayed first and waits for the confirmation.
With this status, if you press the enter key, the command is executed. If you press the escape key, the command is cancelled.
2） Toggle type selection
With several function keys, you select a command from multiple commands that toggle. For example, if you press the F1 key once, ALTAIR speaks or displays "load", twice "insert", three times "open", four times "clear", five times "clear open", six times "batch", and seven times "load" again. With this toggle type selection, press the same key repeatedly until the command you need is told or displayed, and, when the command is told or displayed press the enter key.
The toggle type selection can be done by the up and down cursors as well, instead of pressing a function key continually.
3）Selection by the up and down cursors
Once a menu is open by pressing a function key, you can select a function command also by pressing the up and down cursors instead of pressing the same function key continually.
4）Selection by the left and right cursors
For F2 "save", F3 "search", and F4 "replacement", the toggle type selections are divided into two rows as there are many selection items. With the toggle type selections using function keys or the up and down cursors, you cannot move to an item of next row. When you wish to move to an item of next row, use the right or left cursor.
5） Cancel
Almost all the operations can be cancelled by the escape key. For example, you can cancel a selected function or you can break off a text reading.
5．Character Input and Cursor Movement
1） Character input
Character input can be done by pressing character keys. With every input of a character, the cursor moves right and indicates the position next character is to be entered. When there is a character or characters after the cursor, if you press a character key, the character is inserted at the cursor position. The character string after the cursor is pressed right for one character position per one character insertion. This status is called "insert mode".
With ALTAIR, the insert mode is a default setting. You can change it to "replace mode" by the control key + "-" key command. With the "replacement" mode, the written characters are replaced with newly typed characters.
2） Cursor movement
up cursor to go one line up
down cursor to go one line down
left cursor to go one character left
right cursor to go one character right
The cursor indicates the position where a character is to be input next. A cursor is generally moved by cursor keys. ALTAIR supports the following cursor movements according to a general specification:
When the cursor is at the beginning of a line, if you press the left cursor key, the cursor moves to the end of the previous line.
When the cursor is at the end of a line, if you press the right cursor key, the cursor moves to the beginning of the next line.
When you press the up or down cursor key, if the line above or under is shorter than the original cursor position, the cursor moves to the end of the line above or under.
For an efficient editing, ALTAIR has the following cursor jump functions:
SHIFT + up cursor to move to the beginning of the document
SHIFT + down cursor to move to the end of the document
SHIFT + left cursor to move to the beginning of the line
SHIFT + right cursor to move to the end of the line
There are more advanced cursor jump functions which are explained in 13 of Chapter 2 'Basic operation guide'.
6． Deleting Characters
1） Deleting one character before cursor
When you noticed you just mistyped, press the back space key so that you can delete one character you have just entered, that the cursor returns one character left and becomes ready for the next input.
2）Deleting the character where the cursor is positioned
When you noticed you mistyped several characters back or several lines back, move the cursor to the position and press the delete key so that you can delete the mistyped character. As its result, the whole character string after the cursor moves left for one character position. When using the insert mode, at the position you deleted the character, when you enter the correct character, the correction is done.
3） Restoring deleted characters
CTRL + N to restore deleted characters
You can restore the characters you deleted by the delete key up to 20 characters retroactively.
4） Deleting the characters from the cursor position to the end of the line
SHIFT + CTRL + J to delete the characters from the cursor position to the end of the line
You can delete all the characters from the cursor position to the end of the line and leave the linefeed code.
7． Deleting Lines and Full Text
1） Deleting lines
F5 to delete one line
You can delete the line the cursor is currently positioned. When you press the F5 key, "delete" is spoken or displayed. If you press the enter key here, the line in which the cursor is currently positioned is deleted.
2） Deleting full text
F1 four times to clear the editing document
When you press the F1 key four times and press the enter key, the whole document you are editing is cleared from the memory.
8．Search
F3 to search
1） Search
F3 once to search
The F3 key is used for a search. When you press the F3 key, the message "search" is spoken or displayed. For a downward search which you search downward from the cursor position, press the enter key here. You are asked to enter a character string to search, so enter the string and press the enter key. If the character string is found, the message "period" informs you the search hit and the cursor moved to the position of the string. When the character string is not found, the message "question mark" informs you that the search didn't hit.
2）Upward search
F3 twice to search upward
When you wish to search upward from the cursor position, press the F3 key twice. When the message "upward search" is spoken or displayed, press the enter key. You are asked to enter a character string to search, so enter the string and press the enter key. If the character string is found, the message "period" informs you the search hit and the cursor moved to the position of the string. When the character string is not found, the message "question mark" informs you that the search didn't hit.
3） Case incentive search
F3 once and right cursor to do case incentive search
F3 twice and right cursor to do case incentive upward search
"Case incentive search" is the search you do not distinguish between upper and lower cases of English letters. For a case incentive search, after pressing the F3 key and before pressing the enter key, press the right cursor and change the mode to "case incentive search". For the next procedure, follow the above 8-1 or 8-2.
4） Continuing a search
SHIFT + CTRL + down cursor to continue the search
SHIFT + CTRL + up cursor to continue the upward search
These are the hot keys to be used when you wish to continue to search the same character string after searching one.
9． Replacement
F4 to replace
1） Whole replacement from the cursor position
F4 once to replace
The F4 key is used to replace character strings. When you press the F4 key, the message "replacement" is spoken or displayed. When you wish to do replacements from the cursor position to the end of the document downward at one go, press the enter key here. When you are asked to enter the character string you wish to replace, enter the string and press the enter key. Next you are asked for new character string, so enter the new string you wish for replacements and press the enter key. When all the replacements are done, the number of the replacements is informed. When there is no applicable character string, the failure is informed by the message "question mark". Please keep it in mind that replacements are done downward. Therefore, if you wish to replace all the applicable words, move the cursor to the beginning of the document before you begin the replacements.
2） Partial replacement
F4 twice to replace partially
When you press the F4 key twice, the message "partial replacement" is spoken or displayed. If it is OK, press the enter key. When you are asked to enter the character string you wish to replace, enter the string and press the enter key. Next you are asked for new character string, so enter the new string you wish for replacement and press the enter key. When all the replacements are done, the number of the replacements is informed. When there is no applicable character string, the failure is informed by the message "question mark". Partial replacement is a downward replacement done to the next mark. You shall decide the end of the replacements by putting the mark previously following the method explained in 12 of Chapter 2 'Basic operation guide'. When there is no mark, the failure is informed by the message "question mark".
3） Case incentive replacement
F4 once and right cursor to do case incentive replacement
F4 twice and right cursor to do case incentive partial replacement
"Case incentive replacement" is the replacement you do not distinguish between upper and lower cases of English letters. For case incentive replacement, after pressing the F4 key and before pressing the enter key, press the right cursor and change the mode to "fuzzy replacement". For the next procedure, follow the above 9-1 or 9-2.
4） Whole replacement from the beginning of the file
F4 three times to do whole replacement
Regardless of the cursor position, it does replacements from the beginning of the file. When you press the F4 key three times, the message "whole replacement" is spoken or displayed. If it is OK, press the enter key. When you are asked to enter the character string you wish to replace, enter the string and press the enter key. Next when you are asked to enter the new string you wish for replacements, enter the string and press the enter key. When all the replacements are done, the number of the replacement is informed. When there is no applicable character string, the failure is informed by the message "question mark".
5） Cursor position after replacements
After doing replacements, the cursor is positioned at the beginning of the character replaced lastly.
However, if you set -' option in the configuration file AL.CFG, the cursor does not move.
10． Reading
1） Current line reading
HOME to read the current line
When you press the home key, ALTAIR reads the whole line where the cursor is positioned currently. When you wish to break off, press the escape key. When you wish to read the line above, press the up cursor key. When you wish to read the line below, press the down cursor key. By doing so, you can break off the reading of the current line and start the reading of the line you specified.
2） Continuous reading from the current position
SHIFT + HOME to read continuously from the current cursor position and move the cursor following to the reading
When you press the home key while pressing the shift key, ALTAIR reads out from the cursor position and the cursor moves right. If the escape key is pressed, the reading is interrupted. The cursor stops at the beginning of the phrase the reading was interrupted. If you press the up or down cursor key while reading, the reading line goes up or down. If you press the home key, the reading starts from the beginning of the line again.
3） Toggle between character reading and line reading
END to toggle between character reading and line reading
Whenever you press the end key, the message "character" or "line" is spoken or displayed and you can toggle the method for the reading that is performed when the up or down cursor key is pressed. With the character reading mode, ALTAIR reads the character above by the up cursor key and the character below by the down cursor key. With the line reading mode, ALTAIR reads the whole line above or the one below.
With the line reading mode, when you wish to interrupt the reading, use the escape key. When you wish to read one line up or down while ALTAIR is reading a line, press the up or down cursor key, so that ALTAIR stops reading the current line and starts reading the line specified.
Furthermore, using the control + X keys, you can change the starting point of reading from the beginning of the line to the cursor position. If you press the control + X keys again, the starting point of reading reverts to the beginning of the line.
In addition, using the shift + control + X keys, you can skip an empty line when you press the up or down cursor. To reinstate, press the shift + control + X keys again.
4） Reading the previous line and the next line
(1) Line reading (one line above)
Up cursor to read one line above
With the line reading mode, when you press the up cursor key, the cursor moves one line up and ALTAIR reads the line.
(2) Line reading (one line below)
Down cursor to read one line below
With the line reading mode, when you press the down cursor key, the cursor moves one line down and ALTAIR reads the line.
5） Line break display
CTRL + C to display the line break
The line break is informed at the column specified by -. option in the configuration file AL.CFG. However, in case of braille display, the line break is at the column specified by -, option.
The line reading by up and down cursor keys or by the home key is done by the line width with this line break. Also, the beginning of the line by the shift + left cursor keys and the end of the line by the shift + right cursor keys become correspond to this line width.
6）Status information
(1) Telling cursor position
PAGE-UP to speak or display the current cursor position
When you press the page up key, ALTAIR speaks or displays the current cursor position by the order of the "line number" and the "column number".
(2) Telling a block range
PAGE-UP to speak or display a block range
When you press the page up key, the range specified as a block is told or displayed.
(3) Document size
SHIFT + PAGE-UP to speak or display the length of editing document
When you press the page up key while pressing the shift key, ALTAIR speaks or displays the size of the current editing document by the byte.
(4) Telling a file name
SHIFT + DEL to speak or display the editing document name
When you press the delete key while pressing the shift key, ALTAIR tells or displays the file name of the document you are editing.
7）Reading the current character code
CTRL + END to read character code
When you press the end key while pressing the control key, ALTAIR reads the character code of the character the cursor is currently positioned.
8） Detailed reading of the current character
CTRL + PAGE-DOWN to read in detail
When you press the page down key while pressing the control key, ALTAIR does the detailed reading, i.e. reads the character the cursor is currently positioned.
9） Line break skip
SHIFT + END to toggle on/off of the line break skip
You can toggle whether or not to skip the line break during a continuous reading.
With the default setting, the skip is off. If you specify -{ option in AL.CFG, the default setting for skip is changed to "on".
10） Read-inhibit function
SHIFT + CTRL + H to toggle on/off of the read-inhibit function
It may be bothersome when a text with a lot of symbols are read aloud. If so, you can skip the reading of previously specified symbols when doing a smooth line reading by switching on the read-inhibit function with the shift + control + H keys.
Example of NOREAD.DAT (the file to previously specify the symbols not to read)
---------file starts here
,.;:?[]{}()
---------file ends here
11） Line break echo and empty line echo
If you put -@ option, when the cursor is moved to the position of a line break code, or when you enter a line break code with control code input mode, ALTAIR sounds "line break".
In addition to the above, if you put -@2 option, when a line reading comes to an empty line, ALTAIR sounds "empty line".
11． Block Edit
1）Specifying a block
F9 or SHIFT + CTRL + END to specify a block top
F10 or SHIFT + CTRL + PAGE-DOWN to specify a block end
One of ALTAIR's features is its block-by-block editing. A block is a set of continuous lines, which is defined by the first line specified by the F9 key and the last line specified by the F10 key. To specify a block, move the cursor to the line you wish to specify and press the F9 or F10 key. The cursor can be in the middle of the line. You do not need to move the cursor to the beginning or to the end of a line to just specify a block. With a specified block, you can perform a block delete, a block copy, a block move, a continuous block copy, a block save, and so forth.
2） Deleting blocks
F6 once for a block delete
The F6 key is to delete a specified block. When you press the F6 key, a specified block is deleted regardless of the cursor position.
3） Block copy
F7 once for a block copy
The F7 key is to copy a specified block. When you press the F7 key, a specified block is copied to the point immediately before the line where the cursor is positioned.
4） Block move
F8 for a block move
The F8 key is to move a specified block. When you press the F8 key, a specified block is moved to the point immediately before the line where the cursor is positioned.
5） Continuous block copy
F7 twice to copy a block continuously
When you press the F7 key twice, the message "How many times?" is spoken or displayed, so specify a number of times. The specified block is copied the specified number of times to the point immediately before the line where the cursor is positioned.
6） Block restore
F6 twice to restore a block
It is to restore the block deleted by the F6 key (block delete) and the line deleted by the F5 key (line delete).
When you press the F6 key twice in succession, all the blocks and lines deleted after starting ALTAIR are restored. The restored blocks are written in the editing file in the order they were deleted. Usually, using a multiple files editing function that is explained later, you open a new file and do the restoration work there.
7） Block save
F2 four times for a block save
It is to save the range specified as a block. When you press the F2 key four times, the message "block save" is spoken or displayed. If you press the enter key here and enter a file name (with full path), the content of the file is replaced with the range of the block.
8） Block append
F2 five times and the down cursor twice to append a block
It is to append and save a range specified as a block. When you press the F2 key five times, the message "block append" is spoken or displayed. If you press the enter key here and enter a file name (with full path), the range of the block is appended to the file.
12． Marking and Copy and Paste
1） Marking
shift + F10 or SHIFT + CTRL + HOME to mark
ALTAIR has a marking function. You can put a mark to the position you wish to come back later, by the shift + F10 keys or the shift + control + home keys.
A mark is treated as a kind of character during an edit, so when it becomes unnecessary, delete as an ordinary character. However, even if a mark remained in an editing document, it is not written in the file.
2） Jumping to a mark
CTRL + up cursor to jump to the previous mark
CTRL + down cursor to jump to the next mark
When you wish to return to the previous mark, use the control + up cursor keys. To jump to the next mark, use the control + down cursor keys.
Marks are not written in files, and you don't need to bother to delete them. However, if you wish, you can delete unnecessary marks by the delete key just like ordinary characters.
3） Copy
F8 twice or SHIFT + CTRL + left cursor to copy a character string
By using marks, you can copy and paste character strings. At first, put marks at the beginning and at the end of the string you wish to copy. Next, press the shift + control + left cursor keys (or the F8 key twice and the enter key). Thus, the string between the marks is set in the paste buffer. When copying, the cursor must be on the string between the marks or on the mark at the end of the string.
4） Cut
F5 twice or SHIFT + CTRL + PAGE-UP to cut a character string
By using marks, you can cut and paste character strings. At first, put marks at the beginning and at the end of the string you wish to cut. Next, press the shift + control + page up keys (or the F5 key twice and the enter key). Thus, the string between the marks is deleted and it is copied in the paste buffer. When cutting, the cursor must be on the string between the marks or on the mark at the end of the string.
5） Automatic save in a paste buffer
In addition to copying and cutting, all the character strings which you enter in various situations, such as a searching character string, a new string you wish for replacement, and a file name, are saved in the paste buffer.
In other words, in addition to the character strings you save in the paste buffer by copying and cutting, ALTAIR automatically saves in the paste buffer the character strings which you enter for a character string search/replacement and for a CD-ROM dictionary search.
6） Paste
F8 three times or SHIFT + CTRL + right cursor to paste a character string
It is to paste to the cursor position the character string copied in the paste buffer by copy, cut, search, or replacement. If you press the shift + control + right cursor keys (or the F8 key three times and the enter key), the character string saved recently in the paste buffer is read aloud or displayed.
If you continue pressing the down cursor key, the strings saved previously are read aloud or displayed. When you find the character string you wanted, press the enter key.
When there is a character string in the clipboard, the content of the clipboard is spoken or displayed as the first option. However, when the character string or strings in the clipboard is very long, all of them may not be handled.
Furthermore, if you set -] option by AL.CFG, a paste operation targets only the latest string and the operation is immediately executed without asking about selection.
7） Search, replacement, and paste
If you press the down cursor key when you are asked to enter a character string such as when doing a search, replacement, or CD-ROM dictionary search, you can append the string of the paste buffer to the entering character string. If you continue pressing the down cursor key, the strings saved previously are read aloud or displayed one after another. To select one, press the enter key.
8） History buffer for file names
If you press the down cursor key when you are asked to enter a file name, you can paste to the entering character string the content of the history buffer which records file names entered in the past. If you continue pressing the down cursor key, the file names saved previously are read aloud or displayed one after another. To select one, press the enter key.
Furthermore, if you set -] option by AL.CFG, a paste operation using the history buffer targets only the latest string and the operation is immediately executed without asking about selection.
9） Quick copy
SHIFT + CTRL + L to copy quickly
It is to copy and save in the paste buffer the range that characters continue (excluding a space) when the character at the cursor position is (excluding a space).
10） Saving marks
SHIFT + CTRL + Z to save marks
With the default setting, when saving the file ALTAIR deletes all the marks you enter. If you wish to save the marks, change the setting to save marks by the shift + control + Z keys.
Also, if you specify -| option by AL.CFG, the setting at startup is changed to save marks.
11） Copy into clipboard (clip-copy)
F5 three times to copy into clipboard
It is to copy the range between the marks into the clipboard.
With the copy described in 12-3 and with the cut described in 12-4, the character strings copied or cut are automatically copied into the clipboard.
12） Paste from clipboard (clip-paste)
F6 three times to paste from clipboard
It is to paste the content of the clipboard into the file.
With the paste described in 12-6, when there is a text in the clipboard, the content of the clipboard is set as an option. In such a case, however, there is a limit to the manageable string length.
13． Cursor Movement
How to move the cursor is explained as well in 5 of Chapter 2 'Basic operation guide'. In this chapter, including the basic commands explained in the 5 of Chapter 2, all the commands for cursor movements ALTAIR supports are listed or explained.
1） Left and right cursor keys
Left cursor key to move the cursor one character position to the left
SHIFT + left cursor keys to move the cursor to the beginning of the line
CTRL + left cursor keys to move the cursor one English word position to the left
Right cursor key to move the cursor one character position to the right
SHIFT + right cursor keys to move the cursor to the end of the line
CTRL + right cursor keys to move the cursor one English word position to the right
2） Up and down cursor keys
Up cursor key to move the cursor one line up
SHIFT + up cursor keys to move the cursor to the beginning of the document
CTRL + up cursor keys to move the cursor to the previous mark
Down cursor key to move the cursor one line down
SHIFT + down cursor keys to move the cursor to the end of the document
CTRL + down cursor keys to move the cursor to the next mark
3） Moving cursor to a specified line
shift + F8 to jump cursor
You can jump the cursor to an optional line or an optional column by the shift + F8 keys.
Specify the position to jump to by a line number and a column number putting a comma in-between. When you omit a column number, you do not need a comma. If you omit a column number, the cursor jumps at the beginning of the specified line. When you wish to jump to left or right on the current line, omit a line number in front of a comma.
4） Automatic cursor movement
SHIFT + HOME to read continuously from the current position and to move the cursor following to the reading
When you press the home key while pressing the shift key, ALTAIR read out from the cursor position and the cursor moves right. If the escape key is pressed, the reading is interrupted. The cursor stops at the beginning of the phrase the reading was interrupted. If you press the up or down cursor while reading, the reading line goes up or down. If you press the home key, the reading starts from the beginning of the line again.
5） Word jump
CTRL + left cursor to move cursor to the previous English word or the previous Japanese phrase
CTRL + right cursor to move cursor to the next English word or the next Japanese phrase
It moves the cursor one phrase or word position left or right. After moving the cursor, ALTAIR reads the word or the phrase of the new position.
6） Jump between '{' and '}'
CTRL + V to jump between "{" and "}"
It is to jump the cursor to the corresponding "}" or "{" when the cursor is on "{" or "}". It is a function for C and/or C++ programmer.
14．Input Mode
1） Toggle between insert and replace modes
CTRL + "-" to toggle between insert and replace
You can toggle between insert mode and replace mode by pressing "-" key while pressing the control key. The default setting value and mode for character input is "insert".
2） Specifying input data
shift + F3 to specify input data
ALTAIR can automatically distinguish the type of input data by examining the filename extension of the file to be imported. (The files with file extension BRF are classified as "Braille".) However, the manual selection function is supported as well. By entering the F3 key while pressing the shift key, the input data types toggle. As an input data type, select either text or English braille.
The default setting is text. The change of default setting can be done by the configuration file al.cfg.
-O0 text, -O2 English braille
3） Input of control code
CTRL + L for control code input mode
When you wish to enter a control code in the editing document, change the mode to the control code input mode by the control + L keys. Then, you can enter, for example, a change of page code with the control + L keys. Control code input mode is switched off automatically after you enter a code.
You may wish to include a line break code when doing a search or replacement. To do so, press the control + J keys. When you wish to enter a change of page code, press the control + L keys.
4） Deleting extended ASCII characters
CTRL + \ to delete extended ASCII characters
It is to delete all the character codes above 0X80.
It is the function to prevent garbage characters of the homepages in English that contain extended ASCII characters.
It works only when the data type is text.
5） Swapping function keys
If you specify -# option in the configuration file AL.CFG, the F9 and F10 keys are swapped with the F11 and F12 keys.
Also, if you specify -#2 option, only the F10 key is swapped with the F11 key.
15． Braille Files
1) Braille-to-text conversion
CTRL + \ to convert braille to text
It is to convert the loaded braille file to text (English characters and figures).
This function works only when the data type is English braille.
16． Editing Multiple Files
1） Editable number of files
With ALTAIR, you can open and edit 10 files at a time.
2） Toggle between file 1 and file 2
PAGE-DOWN to toggle editing files
When you press the page down key, you can toggle between file 1 and file 2.
3） Toggle among file 1 to file 10
SHIFT + PAGE-DOWN to toggle editing files
When you press the page down key while pressing the shift key, the message "to where" is spoken or displayed. This message means "To which file?". The keys from F1 to F10 are assigned to file 1 to 10 respectively, so press the function key corresponding to the file number you wish to edit. Immediately, the editing file is changed.
Also, you can select a file by numerical keys or up and down cursors. When there is an already opened file, the name of the file is read. If a specified number is vacant, only the file number is read. When you wish to select a file, press the enter key.
4） Block edit between files
With a specified block, you can do a block copy, block move, or continuous block copy to another file. At first, specify a block you wish to handle. To do so, move the cursor and specify a block top by the F9 key, then move the cursor again and specify a block end by the F10 key.
Next, you change the editing file. By the page down key or the shift + page down keys, change the editing file to a new file. Move the cursor and place it on the line to which you wish to paste the block you specified in another file.
Now you can execute a block copy (copy the specified block and paste it here) by the F7 key, a block move (cut the specified block and paste it here) by the F8 key, or a continuous block copy by pressing the F7 key twice.
17． Folding
1） Folding
CTRL + B to fold
It is to place linefeed codes in an editing document at the columns specified by -" option in AL.CFG. However, when the editing document is in braille, -? option is to be used to specify the column. The first line a linefeed code is placed is the current line. A line boundary character check is not performed.
2） Wordwrap
SHIFT + CTRL + B to wordwrap
It is to make valid or invalid the function to wordwrap the single-byte character strings when folding a line.
When the document to fold is in braille, whether or not it is specified, the wordwrap is always valid.
When you specify -[ option in AL.CFG, the wordwrap function becomes valid as a default value.。
18．Setting of Speech Engine
1） sapi.cfg
By changing sapi.cfg in the ALTAIR folder, you can perform various settings for a speech engine.
2） Specifying a speech engine
6 of Chapter 3 'Advanced operation guide'-e option
-e1Mike
-e2Mary
;-e1ATT 1.4 DTNV crystal16
;-e1ATT 1.4 DTNV mike16
;-e1English-American: Reed (Adult Male)
;-e1English-American: Shelley (Adult Female)
;-e2ATT 1.4 DTNV crystal16
;-e2ATT 1.4 DTNV mike16
;-e2English-American: Reed (Adult Male)
;-e2English-American: Shelley (Adult Female)
3） Specifying a speech engine speed
-s option
10 levels from 0 to 9 are used for the setting.
After s option, set an engine number and a speed value.
-s16
-s26
4） Specifying a speech engine pitch
10 levels from 0 to 9 are used for the setting.
h for high pitch, m for middle, and l for low.
The number after h, m, l is a pitch.
1 to 2 after p is an engine number.
; high pitch
-p1h9
-p2h9
; middle pitch
-p1m6
-p2m6
; low pitch
-p1l2
-p2l2
5） Beep
With the default setting, the beep of the main unit sounds.
If you put -BW option in SAPI.CFG, the ordinary warning beep of the Windows sounds.
6） mysapi.cfg
If you put mysapi.cfg file in the ALTAIR folder, it takes priority over the setting of sapi.cfg.
Description in mysapi.cfg is same as that of sapi.cfg. |