Overview:

ActiveKey(TM) is a richly featured *touchpad* memo editor for the Palm Computing(R) platform. It offers the convenience of creating and editing memos by tapping alphanumeric characters on three selectable soft overlays. Two different keypad layouts are provided—a simpler layout in which the letters are arranged alphabetically; and a full-bore, high-efficiency letter layout that’s designed to minimize finger/thumb travel and maximize editing speed. Hardkeys provide common editing functions such as scrolling, and menu options (including full cut/copy/paste editing tools) can be accessed through the pull-down menus or through menu shortcuts. And get this: in either layout, you can select two overlays at any time that automatically display your first 40 Graffiti shortcuts for super-fast text entry. And switching between using ActiveKey and Memo Pad is no problem at all. ActiveKey is tightly coded in Quartus Forth(TM)—with all of its features, it occupies an amazingly small 28K of RAM on your PalmPilot(TM). And it runs on all PalmPilot models running OS2.0 and above, i.e., PalmPilot Personal/Professional, PalmIII, PalmIIIx, PalmV and PalmVII – all (TM).

There’s no need to use Graffiti or the tiny built-in keyboard. And though it’s designed for two-finger/thumb operation, you can use the stylus for fast entry instead if you want. It’s ideal for jotting memos on the run. And it’s a lot more fun than scratching out Graffiti characters!

Through the main Preferences setup of the unit, ActiveKey can be mapped for fast access to any hardkey or the Calculator softkey as well as the main icon. Tap the icon and the Graffiti area and you’re instantly editing a new memo! It has a number of novel uses for the display and Graffiti areas, as well as for the buttons, so please have a look below to acquaint yourself with the powerful features of ActiveKey.  The Appendix displays a graphical quick reference as well for ActiveKey.

 
Operation:

ActiveKey consists of two different screen types: a Memo List screen for selecting a memo to be edited or created (Figure 1), and a Memo Edit screen of some set of characters for performing the actual editing process (Figure 2). These are discussed in detail below.

   Figure 1. Memo List Screen   Figure 2. Memo Edit Screen
 

Memo List Screen:

In this screen the user can view existing memo titles and select one for editing, or create a new memo for editing. It is similar to the standard Memo Pad editor list. When the screen is first entered, all memos (the All category) are listed— later sessions start with the category last viewed. Other categories can be queried sequentially by pressing the Cat. hardkey, which is the 4^th hardkey unless the buttons are swapped in the menu function described later. A highlighted memo can be selected for editing by pressing the Select hardkey, normally the 3^rd hardkey. The memo selection highlight can be scrolled up or down with the other pair of hardkeys, and can be paged up or down with the center scrollkeys. The mapping of the hardkeys is shown along the bottom of the display at all times in the List Screen. All hardkeys except the Select hardkey have auto-repeat capability.

A memo can also be selected for editing by touching a memo shown in the list page. The highlight will follow the touch as it is moved on the display, and the memo that is highlighted when the finger (or stylus) is lifted will be the one selected for editing. Note: if a pen-tap did not call ActiveKey, as if a button was mapped to it, the first pen-tap will not register. Try it again.

A new, blank memo of the category being displayed can be quickly created and chosen for editing by tapping anywhere in the Graffiti input box, which has been disabled for text entry. This is a convenient, fast alternative to the menu option described below for creating a new memo.

Pressing the menu softkey displays the pull-down menus for the List Screen. All options are separated by a blank menu option to avoid accidentally selecting the wrong menu option when using a finger. The following are the List Screen menu options:

Record:

• New Memo – opens the Edit Screen with a new, blank memo. The category assigned to the new memo is that of the memos in the current list, with the exception that if the current category is All, the new memo will have a category of Unfiled. NOTE: The evaluation version allows the creation of only 10 new memos, which should be sufficient to get familiar with the operation of ActiveKey and use it for a bit. There are no other restrictions on the evaluation version.
• Delete Memo – deletes the highlighted memo. The standard confirmation dialog appears, with the option to mark the memo for archiving at the next Hotsync.

• Volume On/Off – toggles the ActiveKey sounds off or on. This does not affect system sounds. The setting is preserved between ActiveKey sessions.
• Swap Buttons – swap the functions of the left and right pair of hardkeys. This allows the user to move, for example, the left/right scroll hardkeys to the other side if it is deemed more comfortable. This may vary according to personal preference, hand size, or left/right handedness. The new legend is shown along the bottom of the display for reference. The swap of the scroll hardkeys also applies to the Edit Screen. The setting is preserved between ActiveKey sessions.
• Backlight – toggles the backlight on models that sport that feature.
• About ActiveKey – information about the program.

Memo Edit Screen (KeyPad Layout 1):

In this screen the actual editing of a memo is performed. There are two keypad layout sets of three character overlays apiece. The text below describes the functions of the default, simpler alphabetic layout, KeyPad 1. The differences for the high-efficiency layout, KeyPad 2, which are significant, are described later in this manual.

If you were editing a memo when you last exited ActiveKey, you will be returned to this screen when you call ActiveKey again, and the cursor will be positioned where you left off (This assumes the memo was not left empty, as empty memos are deleted on exit). When the screen is first entered, the display appears as in Figure 3, which shows the first soft overlay of the KeyPad 1 layout. The memo category is temporarily shown near the top of the display, but disappears as editing begins. The memo text begins just below a double line of dashes, and the blinking cursor appears.

Figure 3. Initial Edit Screen with First Soft Overlay—Keypad Layout 1.

A 5x5 key grid, easily fingered, contains the alphanumeric characters in each of the three soft overlays of the keypad layout. To minimize interference with reading the memo text, the outside key characters are shown along the edge of the screen, but you should tap in the center of the grid cells nonetheless. The key grid is delineated by short, thick lines also located along the edge of the screen. The interior key characters are overlaid in bold on top of the memo text, which can interfere a bit with reading the text. For this reason, these interior characters disappear during vertical scrolling (when reading of the text is most likely), and they can be made invisible at all times through a menu option. On all soft overlays, the interior key characters are easily deduced by the layout of the characters along the edge, so it is a straightforward exercise to eliminate their display once ActiveKey has been used for awhile. Note that the character Q has been moved off the first overlay to allow the more common character U to be included in the first overlay, which contains the more common letters of the alphabet.

Unlike the traditional Memo Pad editor, the cursor line (or text line) is always located in the same vertical position in the display. The text scrolls automatically to maintain the text line in this position, which was chosen to allow the user to look back at the previous nine lines and the subsequent two lines without scrolling.

The key characters on the text line are the same for all of the soft overlays. The leftmost key is the backspace character, and it will auto-repeat. The rightmost key is the carriage return. The three middle keys represent the spacebar.

Left and right scrolling is performed with a pair of hardkeys, the left pair if the Swap Buttons menu option has not been selected. The center scroll-buttons perform page up and page down functions. These keys all have auto-repeat capability.

The alphabetic characters are shown on the key grid as uppercase letters for clarity—they are by default displayed as lowercase when tapped. However, if a key is pressed for a short period of time, the lowercase letter that appears will convert to uppercase. Pressing the key still longer will result in caps-lock being turned on, and a caps-lock icon will be displayed in the upper right corner as shown in Figure 2. Letters will by default then appear as uppercase unless pressed for a short period of time, when they will be converted to lowercase. Pressing still longer will turn off the caps-lock and erase the caps-lock icon.

Another icon in the upper right corner, the black square, indicates that the block select is on (see Figure 2). This is toggled by a hardkey, the 3rd one if the Swap Buttons menu option has not been selected. Once this is on, left/right scrolling and up/down paging will extend a highlighted region from that character position. Standard cut and copy operations can be performed on the highlighted text by either accessing the pull-down menu with the menu softkey, or by toggling the menu command hardkey, the 4^th by default. Pressing this hardkey displays a menu shortcut (slash) icon in the upper right corner of the screen (see Figure 2). Touching a character that is a menu shortcut will then perform the menu operation. The menu shortcut icon will then disappear, or it can be toggled off by pressing the hardkey again.

The default hardkey layout is then:
 

If the Swap Buttons menu option has been selected (an odd number of times), the hardkey layout is:
 

The 2^nd and 3^rd overlays are called by pressing the two main areas of the Graffiti entry box. Normal Graffiti entry has been disabled.

This is a good place to discuss the ways that the PalmPilot can be held while using ActiveKey. One method is to cradle it in the fingers of both hands. One thumb, say the left one, selects the needed overlay from the Graffiti box, scrolls the text using the hardkeys and scrollkeys, selects the menu and application softkeys, and perhaps exercises the backspace key. The other thumb selects all other characters and exercises the block-toggle and menu hardkeys. Another method has become my favorite, however, partly because it takes some pressure to generate a pen-tap with the fleshy part of a finger. For this, the unit is cradled in just one hand, say the left, and that thumb (using the edge of its fingernail) selects the overlay, scrolls the text, selects the menu and application softkeys, and exercises the backspace as above. The forefinger nail of the other hand (or the stylus or click eraser) pokes at the keys (much like the touchpads used on Star Trek Voyager) and exercises the block-toggle and menu hardkeys. Using the stylus in that hand is another fast option, and wrapping it with a small piece of cloth and turning off the sound makes for truly silent note-taking in a meeting. Again, personal preference or handedness may also lead the user to swap the hardkey halves for comfort. Distribution of functions between the two fingers/thumbs will vary somewhat between users.

  Figure 4.  Second Soft Overlay—Keypad Layout 1.

The 2^nd soft overlay is shown in Figure 4. It is selected by pressing the left half of the Graffiti input box. Pressing the left half again returns the 1^st overlay. The 2^nd overlay is composed of the letters of the alphabet that could not fit in the 1^st overlay, the digits, and the end-of-clause characters. The digit layout allows the interior characters to be easily deduced if it is preferred that they be invisible. Again, pressing a letter for a short while will cause the uppercase letter to appear, and then caps-lock if pressed even longer. Pressing a non-alphabetic character for a short time may produce a different character, and these shifted characters are chosen to aid memorization. For this 2^nd overlay, the shifting is:

2 goes to ½
3 goes to ¾
4 goes to ¼
, goes to ;
. goes to :
! goes to -

  Figure 5. Third Soft Overlay—Keypad Layout 1.

The 3^rd soft overlay is shown in Figure 5. It is selected by pressing the right half of the Graffiti input box. It is composed of punctuation and arithmetic symbols. Since it is unlikely to have a string of such characters, this overlay is replaced after character selection by whichever overlay existed prior to switching to this 3^rd overlay.

The interior characters are again laid out so that they can be deduced fairly easily if they are set to be invisible. Pressing a character for a short time may produce a different character, and these shifted characters are chosen to minimize memorization. For this 3^rd overlay, the shifting is:
 

@ goes to (degree sign)
# goes to (British pound sign)
$ goes to (cents sign)
& goes to | (think: AND goes to OR)
* goes to ^
/ goes to \
+ goes to (+ over – )
- goes to ~
= goes to _

As a powerful feature, you can also invoke two overlays that automatically map up to 20 Graffiti shortcuts each onto the key grid. Swiping from the bottom row (actually, any part other than the backspace character) of any character overlay into the left half of the Graffiti area reveals the first 20 shortcuts found in your PalmPilot, as shown in Figure 6. All text except that in the cursor row area (which is not used in this overlay) is erased for ease of viewing. Tapping any populated key inserts the expanded shortcut text into the memo at the cursor and returns to the first character overlay. Date and time stamps are expanded correctly as well.

  Figure 6. First Shortcut Overlay.

Swiping from the bottom row (actually, any part other than the backspace character) of any character overlay into the right half of the Graffiti area reveals the second 20 shortcuts found in your PalmPilot. Again, tapping a populated key inserts the expanded text into the memo and returns to the first character overlay.

For both shortcut overlays, tapping the opposite Graffiti half switches to the other shortcut overlay. Tapping the same Graffiti half, or tapping an empty key, or tapping a key in the cursor row, returns to the character overlay.

If you don’t see all of your shortcuts and there are less than 40 shown in the two overlays, you are probably running OS 3.0 and have had many soft resets. A bug in the operating system duplicates three "dot" shortcuts after every soft reset (.t, .s, and .i). To ensure that the shortcut initialization is fast enough to be invisible to the user, only the first 200 possible indices are queried for the 40 non-dot shortcuts to be displayed, and the accumulated extras may push some of your shortcuts past 200. Download a freeware utility called dbScan(TM) to clean up your shortcuts in this event. Only software developers should have this many soft resets, though...

Pressing the MENU softkey reveals the pull-down menus for the Edit Screen. Dragging the fingernail or stylus down the list highlights each selection. Alternatively, most menu options can be executed by first pressing the Menu hardkey (which displays the menu shortcut icon in the upper right corner of the screen) and then pressing the character from the screen overlays that is the shortcut for the menu option. The following are the Edit Screen menu options:

Record:

• New Memo (N) – saves the current memo and opens the Edit Screen with a new, blank memo. The category assigned to the new memo is that of the memo that was being edited when New Memo was selected. NOTE: The evaluation version only allows 10 new memos to be created.
• Delete Memo (D) – deletes the memo being edited and returns to the List Screen. The standard confirmation dialog appears, with the option to mark the memo for archiving at the next Hotsync.
• Memo List (L) – saves the current memo and returns to the List Screen for selecting another memo to edit. The saved memo is sorted, or deleted if empty.

• Undo (U) – undoes the last cut or paste command.
• Cut (X) – cuts the text selected with Block On to the clipboard. The Block On is not toggled off after the cut because the Undo will not work if it is, so remember to toggle the Block Off before continuing (the Block icon will indicate this).
• Copy (C) – copies the selected text into the clipboard. The Block will toggle off.
• Paste (P) – pastes the clipboard contents into the text at the position of the cursor. The Block will toggle off.
• Select All (S) – selects all the text of the memo and turns on the Block.

• Go To Top (T) – go to the beginning of the memo.
• Go To Bottom (B) – go to the end of the memo.
• Display Mode (M) – makes the interior key characters invisible to aid in reading the text. They are invisible during vertical scrolling in any event, however. The setting is preserved between ActiveKey sessions.
• Backlight (O) – toggles the backlight on models that sport that feature.
• Alternate KeyPad – toggles to KeyPad 2 (the high-efficiency layout) if in KeyPad 1, and vice-versa. The setting is preserved between ActiveKey sessions.

• Volume On/Off (V) – toggles the ActiveKey sounds off or on. This does not affect system sounds. The setting is preserved between ActiveKey sessions.
• Swap Buttons – swap the functions of the left and right pair of hardkeys. This allows the user to move, for example, the left/right scroll hardkeys to the other side if it is deemed more comfortable. This may vary according to personal preference, hand size, or left/right handedness. The new legend is given in the information window that accompanies the popup dialog confirming the swap. The setting is preserved between ActiveKey sessions.
• About ActiveKey – information about the program.

Memo Edit Screen Differences for KeyPad Layout 2:

Hang on to your hat! Selecting KeyPad 2 through the menu option "Alternate KeyPad" results in three major differences in the operation of ActiveKey that are designed to significantly increase the speed of entering text. After you have played a bit with the simpler default, KeyPad 1, you may find the second keypad more to your liking.

  Figure 7. Initial Edit Screen with First Soft Overlay—Keypad Layout 2.

The differences are:

1. The alphabetic characters in the three character overlays are re-arranged to minimize finger movement, based on the frequency of letters and letter combinations (Figure 7). It is unlike other such arrangements primarily because of the two-finger/thumb operation and because of the 5x5 key grid. You will quickly learn the locations of the letters as you use this layout, and even become comfortable toggling the Display Mode to make the interior characters invisible for ease of text viewing.
2. The new arrangement does not affect digits or punctuation, with one exception. The interior characters along the cursor row are no longer simply a three-key spacebar. Now they represent:

 
period      space      k
so you have to be more exact when pressing the space key. The "k" is a convenient duplication and enters the lowercase letter only--the period and "k", with their shifted values, also appear on the second character overlay where they were before, but their presence on the first overlay minimizes switching.
3. The top half of the Graffiti area serves the same functions as the entire Graffiti area in KeyPad 1, i.e., character and shortcut overlay selection. However, the bottom half of the Graffiti area is now a spacebar! This more than makes up for the shrinking of the spacebar on the cursor row, as the thumb not tapping keys can tap the lower half of the Graffiti area as spaces occur. Also, the space is added when the thumb is lifted. Because of this, a finger can swipe from any character (other than backspace) down to the bottom of the Graffiti area to enter that character followed by a space. It is for this reason that the characters often found at the end of words--d, y, and g (as in "ing")--are located in the lower left corner of the first overlay: the left thumb can swipe from them right down to the bottom to add a space to the end of such a word.

Conclusion:

With the features given above, ActiveKey offers a powerful and user-friendly way of creating and editing memos on the Palm Computing(R) platform. It’s ideal for jotting memos on the run, and for those who find Graffiti and the tiny built-in keyboard to be too slow or error-prone. And it’s a definitely a more enjoyable experience.
 

Version History:

Version 1.0: 06/23/99 First Release.
Version 1.1: 06/30/99 Fixes conflict with registered IrLink
Version 1.2: 07/05/99 Added support for German, French and Spanish PalmPilot versions
Version 1.3: 07/06/99 Fixed error if rightmost display pixel were pressed

 
Where to Get ActiveKey:

ActiveKey can be obtained by visiting www.eddiesoft.com, or for on-line purchase visit www2.viaweb.com/pilotgearsw/eddiesoft.html.  Questions or comments can be sent to the author (Ron Doerfler) at activekey@earthlink.net.
 

Standard Disclaimer:

The software (ActiveKey) is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. The entire risk arising out of use or performance of the software remains with the user. In no event shall the author or any other party be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use the software even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such damages. The author expressly disclaims any liability for errors or omissions in the content of the software. The user accepts full responsibility for any damages, consequential or otherwise resulting from using the software.

 
Appendix--Quick Reference: