ButtonPad is an improved version of the NotePad desk accessory that comes with the Macintosh. ButtonPad lets you categorize your notes into up to sixteen separate “Quick Access” pads that can be quickly accessed via push buttons. Each pad can be up to 32K in size. This makes ButtonPad ideal for storage of text that is frequently accessed such as telephone numbers, customer information, etc. The quick access push buttons augment the normal open, select, close dialog procedures. You may assign your own labels to each push button and the name of the pad file to be retrieved. The pads are automatically saved if modified. In addition to the quick access pads, you may also access any text file via the normal open command. There is a find command to access specific information, a variable line sort command, and tools for cleaning up text files such as replacing spaces with tabs. ButtonPad supports true tabbing and will also dial the phone via tones or modem for phone numbers found in the current line. You can print out your pads, adjusted to fit pocket organizers. There is an "icon" bar for quick access to common commands. ButtonPad is a cross between standard notepad, minieditor, and telephone dialer/index card type applications.
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ButtonPad is able to categorize, find, sort, cleanup text files. Because it customized to the particular task it is faster than Hypercard and consumes very little memory. Under MultiFinder it can be kept running all the time and accessed like a DA when needed. A DA version is available, however, for an extra $5 (for a total of $15) for those who send in their shareware fee. This DA version is not shareware and cannot be passed on to others.
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ButtonPad differs in its file access from other Mac programs. When a file is opened by a Quick Access Button or with the Open... Menu item, the file currently in the window (ButtonPad always has a current file) is automatically first written back out to the disk if it was modified. The file indicated by the pressed button or the Open... dialog is then opened, read completely into the current window, and closed. This is a much faster method than normally used and appropriate to a notepad type of application. In general, much of this operation will be invisible. One difference will be with the New... Menu item. New... is used to defined a new pad and you will be asked for a name upfront rather than when you first save the pad. There is never a need to explicitly Save a pad except if you choose to save intermediate results. The current pad will be saved automatically when another pad is accessed or if you quit ButtonPad. The Close Menu item functions exactly like the New menu item saving the current pad if changed and then asking the name of the new pad to be opened. The GoAway box is provided for compatibility and functions like the Quit Menu item. The Save As... Menu item lets you save the current pad under a different name. The new name becomes the current name. The Revert Menu item lets you select another file without saving the contents of the current window. This is only way you can prevent the current window from being saved back onto the original file. The current window, if modified, is always saved when you Close, Quit, New, Save As, or press a Quick Access button.
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There are up to sixteen Quick Access Buttons that are used to quickly load predefined text files. The file to be loaded and the button label are defined by the user via the Define Buttons... command in the Edit Menu. For each button to be used, you would define an existing text file or create a new file and then specify a label for that button. Each button used must have a label. If you do not specify a label, ButtonPad will attempt to use the filename defined. To erase or deactivate a button, clear the label in the Define Buttons dialog box. There also must be a file and label defined for Button 1. Button 1 is automatically activated when the program is started. The buttons will be automatically sized to the label and placed in the button area under the text area. It should also be noted that the name in the title bar is the name of the file of the current pad, not the button label. They are the same only if the filename and the button label are the same (they normally are unless you specify otherwise). The filename and the button name aer specified separately in the Define Buttons... menu command.
Different pads are accessed by just pressing the appropriate button. Holding down the shift key will place the insert point at the end of the pad text. You may switch quickly between pads by just pressing the quick access buttons. Pads that have been modified are automatically saved. Buttons that are not defined are not displayed.
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ButtonPad is installed like a normal Mac application and can be placed in any folder. ButtonPad does require a Preference file in the System Folder. This Preference file contains the button and other information and will be created for you automatically if the Preference file cannot be found. In this circumstance, ButtonPad will ask you for the name of the default or Button 1 text file name via a normal Open... dialog box. This file will be assigned to Button 1 and the filename will be used as the Button 1 label. You may change the file and label via the Define Buttons... command in the Edit menu later. There must be a file defined for Button 1 as it is the default pad. There are no “untitled” pads in ButtonPad due to the autosave feature. If you rename, move or delete the Button 1 file, ButtonPad will ask for its new name and location. Preference files are upward, but not downward compatible across ButtonPad versions. While the Preference file must be in the Systems Folder, the button "pads" can be placed anywhere. See below on how to install the DA Version (and how to get the DA version).
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ButtonPad has a number of special text transformation functions that can be found in the Special... menu item under Edit. These functions operate on the current pad and are as follows:
Sorting requires some further explanation. Lines in a pad may be sorted either ascending or descending via the appropriate command in the Special... menu. The field "lines per record" may be used to group lines together. Only the first line in a group will be used as the sort key. A line is a line according the current window. The number of lines per record specified must divide evenly into the number of lines in the pad in the current window, i.e. if 3 lines per record are specified, there must be 9, 27, 90, etc. lines in the pad. Also be sure to have a return after the last line (but only one). That last empty line does not count in the total. The number of lines per record is not saved with the pad so it must be entered each time you do a sort. The default lines per record is normally one although the default can be changed with RESEDIT. The ability to specify lines per record allows ButtonPad is act as a simple data base system. You might have a phone directory where the first line is the name, second line the address, and the third the phone number. In this example, you could also use the Dial command to dial the phone. To sort this directory, you would then specify lines per page as three. Be sure to make each entry three lines and you should end each line with a return so that the pad will not rewrap if you change window width.
All the above functions are “undoable” by Reverting (in File Menu) to a copy of the file on disk.
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There is a series of find and replace commands residing in a section of the Edit menu:
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ButtonPad will “dial” the phone for you by producing the appropriate touch tone sounds through the Macintosh speaker or via a Hayes compatible modem attached to the serial port. The touch tone sounds may be used either by holding the phone receiver up to the speaker or by using a product such as “HyperDialer” that couples the speaker output electronically to the phone set (HyperDialer is available from DataDesk International, 7651 Haskell Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91406, (818) 780-1674, $39.95). Those with modems may prefer the modem dial option (touch tone or pulse) which uses the modem as a dialer. The desired option is selected via the Configure... menu item. When the Dial command is envoked via Cmd-D or the Dial menu item, ButtonPad will search the current line from the cursor forward looking for a phone number. A phone number is defined as a string that begins with “{“ and ends with a “}“. The number itself may contain “1234567890*#(),-” and the space. The characters “(),-” will cause a 100 ms delay rather than a tone and thus may be inserted when delays are needed for special dialing situations. The braces are used in case there is an address on the line. The entire phone number may be up to 32 characters and may not wrap onto the next line. In the Configure... Dialog you may specify a dialing prefix that will be appended to the beginning of each number. Holding down the shift key while envoking the Dial command will inhibit the dialing prefix. When dialing via the modem, you will be presented with an alert after the number is dialed telling you to pick up the phone. You will need to press "OK" or return. This function is to signal the modem to hang up and get itself off the line. If you press "OK" or return before picking up the phone, the call will be terminated.
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Under the title bar in the ButtonPad window is an "icon" bar. These are command push buttons to activate commonly used menu commands. The function of each icon button is shown in the diagram on page one. The first two icon buttons are special. Pressing either of these buttons will insert either a checkmark or diamond character at the cursor. This function is useful for dealing with to-do or similar lists. The best way to use these commands is to construct your list with each line starting with a tab. This will leave space for the checkmark or diamond. Since ButtonPad supports true tabbing, the checkmark or diamond will be inserted without upsetting the alinement of text. The icon and character(s) inserted can be modified by using Resedit.
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There is a menu item called Configure... where you can change ButtonPad's window width, font, font size, a dialing prefix, and print margins. These settings will be remembered in the Preferences file. The window width is specified in characters. The width in pixels will be the number of characters specified times the width of the "M" so the width will only be correct for monospaced fonts like monaco or courier. In the font popup menu, you will find a special font called "AltMonaco". AltMonaco is just like Monaco except that the control characters for tab, linefeed, and return will be identified in the text. ButtonPad's defaults are a width of 40, a size of 9 points, the normal Monaco font, and zero print margins. You will notice that the width will change if you change the font or size. The print margins (top, bottom, left) are specified in picas where there are 72 picas to the inch. A value of 72 for one of the margin will provide a one inch margin. These margins will be in addition to the device physical margins (the Laserwriter has a .25-.5 inch mechanical margin). The ButtonPad preference file will be called "ButtonPadPrefs" and will reside in the System Folder.
The ButtonPad defaults and certain other parameters may be changed using ResEdit. You can change the tab increment, the icons, the text inserted by the checkmark and diamond buttons, etc. None of these changes should be attempted by those who are not familar with ResEdit. If you do make changes, keep a copy of the original program.
To change the Preferences Filename, double click on the STR resource entry and then double-click on the resource that is labeled “Prefs Filename”. You will then see a Dialog box that looks like the one below. You may change the name in the “TheStr” text box to something else. Leave all other entries alone. When done, save the results.
The default size of the text window, font, default record size for sorting, character size, and print margins may also be changed in a similar manner. The default text window must be between 40 and 132, the font name must be spelled correctly, the font size must be 9, 10, 12, or 14, and the print margins must be between 0 and 1000. Given that everything can be changed through the Configure... dialog, ResEdit would only be used to change the Prefs filename or the default record size for sorting.
You may also change the default upper top left corner of the window and the window height. The upper top left corner and height are expressed in pixels.
Again be careful when you change any of these values since the program does not necessarily check for correctness.
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The DA version of ButtonPad is obtainable by sending by sending in the $15 shareware fee. The DA is almost exactly the same as the application version. All files and configuration setups are compatible. Both may be used where one or the other might be more convenient at a given point. The ButtonPad DA is installed with Font/DA Mover or something like Suitcase™. To install the ButtonPad DA under System 7 you must drag out the DA app from the suitcase file and place it in the Apple menu item file in the System Folder. To do this double click on the DA suitcase file. A window will open and you will see the DA app file. Drag this file into the System Folder. The operating system will ask you if you wish to place the file in the Apple item folder, say yes. The ButtonPad DA will now appear under the Apple menu. Note this procedure is for System 7 only. The menu arrangement of ButtonPad DA is somewhat different with all the menu items under a ButtonPad menu. Of particular note is that the normal items found under the File menu are under the ButtonPad menu item. Remember the DA version of ButtonPad is not shareware or freeware. It is licensed to the individual who sent in the shareware fee.
Thank you for supporting the shareware effort. Remember, if you find yourself using ButtonPad, a shareware fee of $10 would be appreciated. $15 will get you the latest version of ButtonPad plus the DA version. At any point, you may send $3 to get the latest version. I will try to keep everyone informed of major upgrades.
The use of ButtonPad is subject to the following terms and conditions:
ButtonPad is copyrighted material, protected by the copyright laws of the United States. You may not make any changes or modifications, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise reverse-engineer the software in any way.
ButtonPad can be used on a trial basis provided the user does not violate the protection afforded the licensed software by the copyright laws, and the user agrees to the terms of the license agreement. If the user continues to use ButtonPad past a 30 day evaluation period the user is obligated to purchase a license.
ButtonPad can be used on a Local Area Network provided that a license is obtained for the number of users that may concurrently use the software.
A license for the user of ButtonPad can be obtained by sending the appropriate fee to:
Jeffrey L. Ehrlich
810 Fox Glen Drive
St. Charles, IL 60174
Title to the licensed software is NOT transferred to the end user. The end user is granted an exclusive license to use the software on one computer at any given time.
DISTRIBUTION
Users are granted a limited license to copy ButtonPad only for the trial use by others subject to the terms of this software license agreement described herein, and the conditions described below are met:
ButtonPad MUST be copied in an unmodified form and MUST contain the following files:
ButtonPad ButtonPad Doc
No fee, charge or other compensation may be accepted or requested by anyone without our express written permission..
Public Domain Disk Vendors, Shareware Disk Vendors and Distributors of public domain and user supported software may not charge a fee for ButtonPad itself. However, you may include ButtonPad on a diskette for which you charge a nominal distribution fee. The purchaser of said diskette must be informed in advance that the fee paid to acquire the diskette does NOT relieve said purchaser from paying the registration fee for ButtonPad if said purchaser uses ButtonPad.
Operators of electronic bulletin board systems may post ButtonPad for downloading by their users without written permission only as long as the above conditions are met. A fee may be charged for access to the bbs as long as no specific fee is charged for downloading ButtonPad files.
LIMITED WARRANTY
ButtonPad is not warranted such that the licensed software will meet any requirements or that the operation of the software will be uninterrupted or error free. The warranty does not cover any media or documentation which has been subject to damage or abuse by you or others. The software warranty does not cover any copy of the licensed software which has been altered or changed in any way.
ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE LIMITED TO THE TERM OF THE EXPRESS WARRANTIES. Some states do not allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts, so the above limitation may not apply to you.
The warranties set forth above are in lieu of any and all other express or implied warranties, whether oral, written, or implied, and the remedies set forth above are the sole and exclusive remedies.
The author or distributing agents of ButtonPad are not responsible for any problems or damages caused by the licensed software that may result from using the licensed software. This includes, but is not limited to, computer hardware, computer software, operating systems, and any computer or computing accessories. End user agrees to hold the the author and/or distributing agents harmless for any problems arising from the use of the software.
The author or distributing agents SHALL NOT IN ANY CASE BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT OR OTHER SIMILAR DAMAGES ARISING FROM ANY BREACH OF THESE WARRANTIES EVEN IF the author OR ITS AGENTS OR DISTRIBUTORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.
In no case shall the author's or distributing agent's liability exceed the license fees paid for the right to use the licensed software.
