Switcheroo for Palm OS Version 1.3.3 Copyright ©2000, Lonnon Foster All rights reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS 1. What Is Switcheroo? 2. System Requirements 3. Files Included 4. Installation 5. Configuring Switcheroo 6. Using Switcheroo 7. Source Code Notes 8. Revision History 9. Copyleft Information ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What Is Switcheroo? Switcheroo is a HackMaster utility program that allows you to rapidly launch applications from any program, without using the Palm OS launcher application. A quick activation stroke, followed by the character you have assigned to a particular application, is all that is required to launch a new program. Switcheroo is similar to RunWrite by Dove Software (http://www.dovcom.com/runwrite.html), but it also allows you to activate applications using a Palm Portable Keyboard. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. System Requirements Switcheroo is designed to run on any Palm OS device running Palm OS version 2.0 or later. In addition, Switcheroo requires either HackMaster or EVPlugBase be installed in order to run. HackMaster and EVPlugBase are programs that manage system extension programs ("hacks"). HackMaster is shareware and may be downloaded from http://www.daggerware.com/hackmstr.htm. EVPlugBase is free and may be downloaded from PalmGear H.Q.; just type "EVPlugBase" into the Search text box and click the Search link. If you have never used HackMaster or EVPlugBase before, I strongly recommend you read the documentation for whichever hack manager you are using before installing or using Switcheroo. Hacks are a wonderful addition to a Palm OS handheld, but they do have some pitfalls which can trip up an inexperienced Palm user. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Files Included README.TXT The file you are currently reading. LICENSE.TXT A copy of the GNU General Public License; see Copyleft Information, below. switcheroo.prc The Switcheroo program itself. src This directory contains the source code for Switcheroo. None of these files are needed to install and run Switcheroo, but they may be of interest if you are a programmer who wants to see how Switcheroo works or use my source as a starter for your own project. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Installation To install Switcheroo onto your Palm OS handheld, run the Palm Install Tool that comes with the Palm Desktop software. This program will allow you to specify .prc files which will be downloaded to the handheld during the next HotSync operation. Click the Add button, then locate and select the file d666.prc and click Open. Click the Done button, then the OK button, and perform a HotSync operation to install Switcheroo onto your Palm OS handheld. Note that either HackMaster or EVPlugBase must be installed before installing Switcheroo. Once Switcheroo is installed, run HackMaster or EVPlugBase and activate Switcheroo by tapping the check box next to Switcheroo in the list of installed hacks. IMPORTANT NOTE FOR INSTALLING UPDATED VERSIONS OF SWITCHEROO: If you are installing a new version of Switcheroo over an earlier version of the hack, you must first disable Switcheroo in HackMaster or EVPlugBase before installation. Failure to disable a hack before installing a new version of the hack can cause your Palm OS handheld to crash, possibly resulting in data loss. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Configuring Switcheroo To configure Switcheroo, you need to open Switcheroo's Configuration dialog, which may be accessed from HackMaster or EVPlugBase. To open the dialog in HackMaster, tap the "+" button beside Switcheroo; to open the dialog in EVPlugBase, tap the icon beside Switcheroo, or tap the down arrow next to Switcheroo and select "Config" from the popup list. The Switcheroo Configuration dialog lists all the applications currently installed on your handheld. To assign a launch character to an application, select that application in the list, then enter the desired shortcut character into the field labeled "Launch charcter." Selecting another application from the list or tapping the "Done" button saves the character you've assigned. The "Done" button also exits the configuration dialog. Note that a character may only be used once; if, for example, you assign "A" to launch the Address application, "A" may not be used to launch any other application. When you assign a character that is already in use to another application, Switcheroo will remove that character from its earlier assignment to prevent duplicates. For example, if "A" is assigned to launch Address, then you select Date Book and enter "A" for its launch character, Switcheroo will remove the "A" assignment from Address and use it for Date Book, instead. Also, keep in mind that letters assigned to launch applications are not case-sensitive. For example, Switcheroo treats "a" and "A" as the same character. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Using Switcheroo To launch an application using Switcheroo, draw a space character (a straight line from left to right) just beneath the line at the upper edge of the Graffiti area. This is Switcheroo's "activation stroke." After drawing the activation stroke, an indicator labeled "App:" appears in the lower left of the screen, which indicates that Switcheroo is waiting for you to enter a launch character. Enter the character you have assigned to a particular application, and Switcheroo immediately switches to that program. If you enter the activation stroke by accident, simply enter a character that you don't have assigned to any application to cancel out of Switcheroo (backspace is a good choice). Alternatively, if you intend to write an actual space character, but you make it high enough in the Graffiti area to activate Switcheroo, simply enter another space character, and Switcheroo cancels and enters a space for you. If you use a Palm Portable Keyboard, you can activate Switcheroo by holding down the Fn key and pressing the space bar. The "App:" indicator appears, at which point you may enter the desired launch character from the keyboard, causing Switcheroo to launch the program you assigned to that character. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Source Code Notes The source code included with Switcheroo in the src directory compiles with the Palm PRC-Tools version 2.0, using the Palm OS 3.5 SDK header files. If you have your development tools configured properly, you should be able to run make, and the included Makefile will take care of compiling Switcheroo for you. I have only built Switcheroo under Windows 98 and Windows 2000, but the source should also build under Unix with little or no modification. (If you do build it under some flavor of Unix, let me know how it goes; I want the source code to be as cross-platform and developer-friendly as possible.) Feel free to look through my source code and use it as a model for your own HackMaster projects. I only ask that if you use my source code, please give me credit (along with all the folks whose code I borrowed from). More importantly, send me a link to your own application; I'd love to see what you've built! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Revision History 1.3.3 Bug fix; entering a character that starts and stops at the top of the Graffiti area (e.g. 'o', 'u', '8'), followed by a space character, brought up the "App:" indicator. Thanks to Mike Golden for finding this extremely elusive and annoying bug. 1.3.2 No changes to Switcheroo itself, just a minor Makefile change to remove a reference to a nonexistent file. Thanks to Dr. Michael Klug for finding this. 1.3.1 Bug fix for incompatibility with McPhling, reported and fixed by Andrew Ray (rayae@yahoo.com). Thanks, Andrew! 1.3 Initial release to the public. 1.0-1.2 Various bits of trial and error. Never released. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Copyleft Information Copyright ©2000, Lonnon Foster All rights reserved. Switcheroo is based on code from Phlegm Hack by Mitch Blevins , which was based on code from LinkHistoryHack by Ben Darnel , which in turn was based on code from SampleHack by Roger Chaplin . This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program (see LICENSE.TXT); if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.