More on Metapad

[Carl Distefano cld@xxxxxxxx]

Here are a couple of items that you may find handy if you use the
Metapad text editor for Windows.

1) Since it didn't already exist, I compiled a list of keyboard
shortcuts, which I've named metakeys.txt (reproduced below). For
ready reference, it can be added as a Favourite (Open metakeys.txt
in a new Metpad window, hit Alt+A, select Add to Favourites). It
displays best with a fixed-width font.

2) Metapad's hyperlinks feature can be used to make a text file into
a launching pad not only for Web pages -- the obvious use for this
feature -- but also for programs resident on your own computer.
Here's how. Create a text file that lists your desired Web links and
programs. For programs, use the URL indicator for a local file
(file:///); copy the full path and filename from the Properties
dialog for the program in question. (Substitute "%20" for spaces in
long filenames. Paths have to be hard-coded; environment variables
like "%systemroot%" don't work). Here are some examples:

Firefox			file:///x:/wk/cldmain.htm [<== My Home page]
Foxit Reader	file:///F:/FoxitPDF/Foxit%20Reader.exe
Picasa				file:///C:/Program%20Files/Picasa2/Picasa3.exe
SharpReader	file:///F:/Sharp/SharpReader.exe		
Thunderbird	file:///F:/Mozilla%20Thunderbird/thunderbird.exe
XyWrite			file:///x:/xy4/xy4.bat

With hyperlinks enabled (toggle Ctrl+K), click on the link to launch
the program. Note that clicking on a file of a type associated with
a program will launch the program. Thus, on my system, clicking on
file:///X:/wk/SemFest07.out.pdf launches Foxit Reader and loads that
file, while clicking file:///x:/wk/cldmain.htm, my Home page,
launches Firefox.

Here's the list of keyboard shortcuts:

-- Start metakeys.txt --
Metapad Keyboard Shortcuts
==========================

Top-Level Menus
---------------
Alt+F		File
Alt+E		Edit
Alt+A		Favourites
Alt+O		Options
Alt+H		Help

File
----
F5			Refresh/Revert
F12			Calculate file size
Ctrl+N		New file
Ctrl+O		Open file
Ctrl+P		Print
Ctrl+S		Save
Ctrl+F2		Save As
Alt+F4		Exit
Escape		Quick exit (if enabled in Settings)

Launch
------
Ctrl+D		Launch default viewer
Ctrl+I		Launch new window
Ctrl+J		Launch secondary viewer
Ctrl+L		Launch primary viewer

File Format
-----------
Ctrl+1		DOS text (Cr+Lf)
Ctrl+2		UNIX text (LF)
Ctrl+3		Unicode
Ctrl+4		Unicode (Big Endian)
Ctrl+5		UTF-8 w/BOM (Cr+Lf)

Edit
----
Tab			Indent
Shift+Tab	Unindent
Ctrl+A		Select All
Ctrl+C		Copy
Ctrl+D		Insert file
Ctrl+G		Go to line
Ctrl+M		Smart select
Ctrl+V		Paste
Ctrl+X		Cut
Ctrl+Y		Redo
Ctrl+Z		Undo
Ctrl+Space	Select word

Block
-----
F9			Unwrap lines
Alt+F9		Unwrap lines (with space)
Tab			Indent
Shift+Tab	Unindent
Alt+Q		Quote
Alt+W		Strip trailing white space
Alt+Z		Strip first character

Convert Selected
----------------
Alt+L		Lower case
Alt+I		Inverted case
Alt+Q		Quote
Alt+S		Sentence case
Alt+T		Title case
Alt+U		Upper case
F8			Tabified
Ctrl+F8		Untabified
F11			OEM format
Ctrl+F11	ANSI format

Insert
------
F6			Insert date/time, long format
F7			Insert date/time, short format
Alt+[0-9]	Quick buffers (save selected text to buffer with
Alt+Shift+[0-9])

Find/Replace
------------
F3			Find next
Shift+F3	Find previous
Ctrl+F3		Find next word
Ctrl+F		Find
Ctrl+H		Replace

Options
--------
Alt+O		Options menu
Alt+Enter	Settings

View
----
F8			Tabified
F9			Unwrap lines
Ctrl+B		Show status bar (toggle)
Ctrl+K		Show hyperlinks (toggle)
Ctrl+R		Primary font
Ctrl+T		Show tool bar (toggle)
Ctrl+U		Transparent mode (toggle)
Ctrl+W		Word wrap (toggle)
Alt+Home	Always on top (toggle)

Help
----
Alt+H,A		About Metapad

-- End metakeys.txt --

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx