Copyright: Copyright© 1999 Symantec Corporation.  All rights reserved.
Citation: Copyright© 1999 Symantec Corporation.  All rights reserved.


Accessing the Meta Key Editor

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You can access the Meta Key Editor directly in one of two ways:

•	By pressing <Alt><M> in the Procomm Plus Terminal window.

•	By selecting Meta Key Editor... from the Terminal window’s Options menu.

You can also access the editor by selecting Options | Data Options | Setup Files... in the Terminal window. Within the Setup dialog, select the .key file you want to modify, then click on Edit... to open the editor.

The Command Buttons

The editor provides a group of six command buttons to control file operations. These buttons are:

OK

Closes the editor window, saving any changes you may have made. to the current Meta Key file.

New

Creates a new .key file, using a filename you provide.

Save As

Saves an edited .key file to disk, using a new filename that you provide. The original .key file is left unchanged.

Cancel

Closes the editor without saving any changes you may have made.

Open

Opens an existing .key file.

Help

Opens the on-line Help system for the editor.


Editing Meta Keys

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You can select a Meta Key group for editing by clicking on one of the Meta Key Select buttons, located at the top of the editor window. You can also select a Meta Key group by pressing the appropriate <Alt>-key combination, such as <Alt><1> for the first group, <Alt><2> for the second, and so on, or by highlighting it with the <Tab> or cursor keys and pressing the space bar.

Each of the four possible key combinations has its own Action drop-down list, Contents field and Labels field. The combinations are:

•	Alt-key.

•	Alt-Shift-key.

•	Alt-Ctrl-key.

•	Alt-Shift-Ctrl-key.

After you’ve selected a group to edit, the value of the Action, Contents and Label fields for each of the four combinations is displayed in the center of the editor window. The current Meta Key is also indicated in the Current Meta field at the lower left corner of the editor window.

Action Lists

There are seven actions that can be performed by any Meta Key:

Unmapped

An Unmapped Meta Key performs no function.

Send Text

When you press a Send Text Meta Key, Procomm Plus automatically transmits the characters you’ve entered in the Contents field. A host or remote computer connected to your machine "sees" these characters just as though you’d actually typed them yourself!

Control codes can be included for special purposes; for example, you can represent the <Enter> key being pressed with the characters ^M, or the <Ctrl><C> sequence with the characters ^C.

You can also pause the transmission of the key’s text by embedding a pause character within the text. Each pause character inserts a half-second delay in the Meta Key’s text. The tilde (~), or "curly dash" is the default pause character.

If you’re entering text that includes control sequences for a mainframe host, you may find it useful to edit a Meta Key’s Contents field in either decimal or hexadecimal format. You can select Character, Decimal or Hex in the Entry Options group to display characters as ASCII, decimal values or hexadecimal values, respectively. For more information, see Entry Options Group.

The maximum length of the Contents string is 80 characters.

Text w/Echo

A Text w/Echo key works much like a Send Text key. However, if your port setting is half-duplex, the text will be echoed to the Terminal display as it is sent to the host.

Run Script

A Run Script Meta Key will execute an ASPECT file. Enter the name of the script you wish to run in the Contents field. If the script is not located in the default script directory, you’ll need to specify a drive and path as well as a filename.

An extension is optional, but note that Procomm Plus’s handling of the script depends on how you specify the filename!

If you do not specify a file extension, Procomm Plus will search the default script directory for a compiled .wax file with the filename you entered. If the .wax file is found, its compile date and time are checked against that of the corresponding .was source file. If the source file is newer, Procomm Plus will attempt to re-compile the source file before executing the script.

If you specify a .wax file extension, Procomm Plus will load and run the compiled script without checking for a newer .was source file. However, if a .wax file is not found, Procomm Plus attempts to load and compile the corresponding .was source file.

If you specify a .was extension, Procomm Plus will recompile your script each time it’s run from the Meta Key, regardless of the date and time stamps on the respective files.

Run Program

A Run Program Meta Key can execute external Windows applications or DOS programs. If the program you wish to run is an .exe file, you don’t need to specify an extension. For other file types, such as .com, .bat or .pif, an extension is required. Also, if the program or application is not in your DOS PATH, you’ll need to specify a drive and path name.

Some DOS applications may require .pif files to operate properly under Windows.

Menu Command

You can configure a Menu Command Meta Key to execute any item from the Terminal window’s menu system. When the key is pressed, the associated menu item executes just as though it had been selected from the menu normally.

When you specify Menu Command in a key’s Action field, its Contents field becomes a drop-down list box. Click on the list box, and scroll through the displayed selections to find the menu item you want. Highlight it and press <spacebar>, or click on it with the mouse to select it.

Terminal Command

You can use a Terminal Command Meta Key to make "special keys" for certain terminal emulations more accessible.

When you specify Terminal Command in a key’s Action field, its Contents field becomes a drop-down list box. Click on the list box, and scroll through the displayed selections to find the command you want. The table below lists the emulations and their respective special commands:

Emulation	Command #	Default Key	Meaning
IBM 31xx	0	<Ctrl><F8>	SEND
IBM 31xx	1	<Ctrl><F9>	SEND LINE
IBM 31xx	2	<Ctrl><F10>	SEND MESSAGE
Wyse 50	0	<Alt><Shift><F9>	SEND
Televideo  and Wyse	1	<Alt><Shift><F10>	FUNCT
AT&T 605/ 4410	0	<Alt><Ctrl><F9>	User F-Key  Mode
AT&T 605/ 4410	1	<Alt><Ctrl><F10>	System F-Key  Mode
Meta Key Labels

Each Meta Key combination includes a Labels field. Procomm Plus displays the key’s Labels on its Meta Key button in the Terminal window, making it easier to recognize. The width of a key’s button is determined by your screen resolution and the Terminal window size; for best results, keep your labels as short as possible.

Entry Options Group

You can modify any of the four Contents field values by clicking on them, or by moving the input focus to them with the <Tab> key. If you’re editing a Send Text or Text w/Echo Meta Key, you may find it useful to take advantage of the editor’s alternate display modes. Selections in the Entry Options group allow you to specify how character values are entered and displayed in the editor.

The Entry Options settings also affect the Run Program and Run Script Meta Key types. However, the Decimal and Hex modes are really intended only for editing Send Text and Text w/ Echo keys.

You can switch between the three Entry Options settings without affecting the actual values of the various Meta Key fields. They are:

Character

If this option button is selected, the editor displays the Contents and Labels field values in their normal character form, and allows you to type ASCII characters and control codes directly into a field.

To specify a character value of less than ASCII 32 in this mode, enter it as a control code. The caret character (^) indicates to the editor that the character following the caret will be part of a control code. For example, the characters ^S represent the keystroke <Ctrl><S>, ASCII value 19 decimal, while the characters ^@ represent a null, ASCII value 0.

See ASCII Table for a complete ASCII Table, including the various control codes.

If you need to insert a literal caret into a string where it could act as a control, use the vertical bar character, ’|’, ASCII 124, to separate the caret from the character following it. For instance, the string ^|C would send a caret followed by an uppercase C.

Normally, if you need to insert a vertical bar in a string, type one as you would any other character. However, if you need to insert a literal vertical bar into a string after a caret, include a second vertical bar. For example, the string ^||C would transmit a caret, a single vertical bar and an uppercase C.

To insert character values greater than ASCII 126 in character mode, hold down the <Alt> key and then type the three-digit decimal value of the character on the keypad. Characters between ASCII 32 and 126 can also be entered in this fashion. Be sure you type the leading zero when it’s required or Windows will not return the correct character!

For your convenience, Procomm Plus translates a lowercase control code into its equivalent uppercase code. For example, the codes ^a and ^A are both transmitted as ^A, ASCII value 1 decimal.

To override this translation, insert a vertical bar between the caret and the lowercase character. For example, the string ^|a forces Procomm Plus to send the codes for a caret (^) and a lowercase letter a, decimal 094 097.

If a vertical bar is placed between two characters that cannot act as a control string, it’s removed. For instance, the vertical bar would be stripped from the string ^|3 since ^3 is not a valid control character.

Decimal

If this option button is selected, the editor accepts and displays the Contents and Label field values in three-numeral ASCII decimal values. For example, the value for a carriage return is 013, while the British pound symbol has a value of 156.

Terminal or host system user manuals sometimes list terminal function key codes as decimal values. The editor’s Decimal display mode can simplify the task of entering such codes in the Contents fields.

Hex

If this option button is selected, the editor accepts and displays the Contents and Label field values in two-digit ASCII hexadecimal values. Terminal or host system user manuals sometimes list terminal function key codes as hexadecimal values; the editor’s Hex display mode can simplify the task of entering such codes in the Contents fields.


Step-by-Step: Customizing a Meta Key

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When you log on to a BBS or host system, you're usually asked for your name or some other ID. It's easy to create Meta Keys to transmit these values for you! In the following procedure, you'll create two Meta Keys that send your first and last name:

1.	Open the Meta Key Editor.

From the Terminal window, press <Alt><M>, or select the Options | Meta Key Editor menu item to open the Meta Key Editor.

The editor opens the .key file currently used by the Terminal window. Notice how the name of the .key file is indicated in the title bar of the Meta Key Editor. If you want to create a new .key file, click on the New button, and specify a name for the new file. If a .key file is not specified for the Terminal window in the Data, Setup Files panel in Setup, the Meta Key Editor opens a new, untitled .key file.

2.	Select the Meta Key button you want to edit.

When the editor opens, the "1" key is selected in the Meta Key Select group at the top of the editor window. We will use this key for our example.

To select a different key, click on the appropriate Meta Key Select button, or press <Alt> in combination with the numeric key displayed on the button. You can always determine which key is selected by looking at the Current Meta Key field in the bottom left corner of the editor window.

3.	Specify Send Text in the key's Action field.

Since your Meta Key must send your name, select Send Text from the Action list that is located next to the Alt indicator. This will specify that the <Alt><1> Meta Key sends text.

There are four sets of Meta Keys in each .key file, and each set contains 10 buttons. These sets are indicated in the Meta Key Editor by the Alt, Alt Shift, Alt Ctrl, and Alt Shift Ctrl labels next to the Action list boxes.

4.	Specify the text to send, and a label for the button.

Click once in the <Alt>-key's Contents field, and type your first name, followed by the characters ^M. The ^M indicates the control code for a carriage return. The <Enter> key is mapped to this control code for most terminal emulations, so this Meta Key will transmit your name, and then send the code for <Enter>.

Click in the <Alt>-key's Label field, and enter a label for the button. For our example, type 1 - First.

5.	Select the key for your last name.

Select the appropriate Meta Key Select button. For our example, click on the 2 button. Remember, you can always determine which key is selected by looking at the Current Meta Key field at the bottom left corner of the editor window.

Note that you could easily use one of the other combinations, such as <Alt><Shift><1> to send the last name. However, by using the <Alt><1>and <Alt><2> Meta Keys, both of the buttons will be displayed in the same set of Meta Keys in the Terminal window.

6.	Specify Send Text in the key's Action list box.

Select Send Text in the Action list box. This will specify that the <Alt><2> Meta Key sends text.

7.	Specify the text to send, and a label for the button.

Click once in the <Alt>-key's Contents field, and type your last name, followed by the characters ^M.

Click in the <Alt>-key's Label field, and enter a label for the button. For our example, type 2 - Last.

8.	Save your changes.

To save your changes in the current file, click on OK; the editor will save your changes and close, returning you to the Terminal window.

To save the .key file as a new file, click on Save As, and specify the name of the Meta Key file in the File name field. After you've specified a filename, click on Save to accept it, and then click on OK within the editor window to return to the Terminal window.

You've now created two new Meta Keys! If you created the Meta Keys as described above, you should see these buttons at the bottom of your Terminal window. If you don't see your Meta Key buttons, select Meta Keys from the View menu to display them. You can activate these keys by clicking on the buttons with your mouse. Additionally, you can activate these keys by pressing their corresponding key combinations. For example, press <Alt><1> to activate the 1 - First key.


The Meta Key Editor

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Procomm Plus offers 40 Meta Keys that you can use from its Terminal window to send a text string, run an ASPECT script, initiate a selection from the Terminal window’s menus, transmit a special terminal command or execute a Windows application or a DOS program.

Accessing the Meta Key Editor

Editing Meta Keys

Step-by-Step: Customizing a Meta Key