Copyright 1996-2000 Michel MARIANI - All Rights Reserved
Contents
• Introduction
• Feature Overview
• System Requirements
• Installation
• Support for Mac OS 8.5 or later
• New Features
• Directions for Use
• Standard Customization (Control Panel)
• Known Problems and Shortcomings
• Planned Improvements
• Contacting the Author
• Web Site
• Credits
• Copyright
• Disclaimer
• Distribution
• Acknowledgements
Introduction
• With Switch-It, you can use the keyboard to switch between applications.
• Switch-It is yet another application switcher. It has been mainly developed to suit my needs, but I guess it shall be useful to anyone who is looking for a user-friendly, reliable, simple yet powerful piece of software.
• Switch-It works under System 7.0 or later, and is distributed as freeware.
Feature Overview
• Switch-It lets you switch between running applications using the keyboard. Several view modes are available.
• Switch-It allows you to request the termination of any number of running applications, either individually (quit) or globally (kill-all).
• In a similar way, Switch-It allows you to request the hiding/showing of running applications, either individually (hide/show) or globally (conceal-all, display-all).
• Many parameters can be easily customized, including: hot keys, font name and size, text and background colors, view mode (plain, icon list), ordering of applications, etc.
System Requirements
Switch-It works under Mac OS System 7.0 or later (System 7.5 or newer is recommended), and is compatible with Mac OS 8.5 and later. It has been successfully tested on: Macintosh Classic, PowerBook 520C, Power Macintosh 7200, and iMac DV SE .
Installation
To use Switch-It's feature, place the file in the Control Panels folder and then restart the computer.
Warning:
The version number at the end of the control panel's file name has been dropped soon after version 1.4.2. Now, under the improved naming scheme, a new version simply overwrites the previous one. In case your last installed version is "Switch-It 1.4.2", don't forget to throw (or hide) it away before installing the new version.
Support for Mac OS 8.5 or later
Mac OS 8.5 introduces its own built-in Application Switcher, which provides the user with an optional floating palette of running applications (brought up by "tearing-off" the Application system menu), and with a basic keyboard-based application switching feature (Command-Tab by default).
As the key combination used by the new built-in Application Switcher (Command-Tab) interferes with Switch-It's own default, it is advised to turn it off. This has to be done only once and for all, and can be achieved in a certain number of ways, for instance from the Mac OS Help browser, or by writing and running an adequate AppleScript.
For your convenience, Switch-It's control panel now includes a menu item which lets you toggle on and off the current system setting. Please refer to the document entitled "Support for Mac OS 8.5 " for more detailed information.
New features
• Extra Keys
Switch-It 3.0 introduces an extensive set of "extra" keys to perform directly some often-used application-related actions, without displaying any dialog window on the screen. These actions are assigned to key combinations involving a function key and an optional modifier key. The following table lists all the provided actions and their assignment by default:
Please note that you can reassign a different key combination to (or even disable) any action, as well as enable/disable entirely the extra keys feature, from Switch-It's Control Panel (see the description of the "Extra Keys" panel below for more details).
• Application Exclusion List
Switch-It 3.0 manages a list of applications which the user wants to be excluded from any global actions involving quitting or hiding. This is typically useful for applications such as screen-savers.
• Conceal-All / Display-All
In addition to the extra keys described above, Switch-It 3.0 introduces two new, more sophisticated, shortcut keys to control the visibility of running applications: "Conceal-All" ('C') and "Display-All" ('D'), parallel to the "Kill-All" feature ('K').
Warning:
F1, F2, and F3, previously assigned to the simulation of the first three items of the Application system menu, are no more used from the switching window, for several reasons:
- equivalent extra keys are now provided: "Hide Front Application", "Hide Other Applications", "Show All Applications", plus two more powerful shortcut keys "Conceal-All" and "Display-All",
- the simulation of the Application menu items cannot handle the excluded applications,
- the function keys are now reserved to the new extra keys, in order to avoid any kind of confusion.
I admit that I shouldn't have documented these shortcut keys in the first place, as they were just intended to be temporary work-arounds. Sorry for any inconvenience...
• Auto-Hide Switching
You can now select an alternate activator key (Option by default) which allows you to automatically hide the front application before switching to the selected one. It is somehow similar to the present system behaviour that you get when you hold down the Option key and either select another application in the "Application" menu (on the right side of the menu bar) or click in a window belonging to another application.
From Switch-It 3.0, the "auto-hide switching" feature has been extended, and you can choose among two "strategies":
- hide the front application then switch to the selected application, or
- switch to the selected application, then hide all the other applications.
You can still change your mind at any time and toggle from one activator to the other one, as long as you don't release both activators simultaneously, as it is what actually performs the switch.
Also, there is a quite inconspicuous visual clue (a small 3-D dot at the upper-right corner of the switch dialog window) which lets you check in which switching mode you're currently in (standard or auto-hide).
Finally, a new shortcut key ('A') lets you temporarily toggle the auto-hide switching feature. This is specially useful if you prefer to define only one activator key (the alternate one being set to "None").
• Hide-on-Request
You can now request the hiding/showing of any application by typing the letter 'H', or 'S', just in the same way you would already request the quitting by 'Q'. A diamond-shaped white icon appears on top of the application name or icon, and the meaning of the request depends on the current state of visibility: if the application is currently hidden, its name and icon are dimmed (grayed out), and the "Hide" request turns into a "Show" request.
Note that quitting, hiding and showing are mutually exclusive (you can't have at the same time the red cross and the white diamond).
Note:
I eventually made up my mind and decided to use the "infamous", undocumented, unsupported so-called Layer Manager in order to implement the new "Hide" features, although this part of the Toolbox is supposed to disappear in a near feature, possibly after Mac OS 9.0.
I am perfectly aware of the fact that is it possible to use instead a "safer" method involving AppleEvents (actually, Switch-It will automatically use it if it detects that the Layer Manager is not available at start-up time), but it has several drawbacks:
- the frontmost application must be AE-aware,
- the Finder must be running,
- confusion arises whenever two applications have the same name,
- hiding is always performed later, after switching,
- it is painfully slow on 68k Macs,
- in the switch dialog, it is not possible to display the current state of visibility of each application.
Warning:
If it is the first time you install Switch-It on your system, the Auto-Hide feature will be enabled by default. Otherwise, in order to update your previous settings, you'll have to open the control panel and explicitly select an appropriate Auto-Hide activator key in the "Hot Keys" tabbed panel (Option is recommended if the standard activator is already Command).
Directions for Use
• Hold down the activator key (Command) and press the switch key (Tab) to cycle through the running applications. Release the activator key to select an application.
• Having also the Shift key depressed at switch time reverses the direction of cycling.
• Switch-It action can be canceled by pressing the cancel key (Escape) before releasing the activator key (Command).
• While holding down the activator key, it is possible to request running applications to quit by pressing the key labeled 'Q' or 'X'. The application icon (or its name, if the display of the icon has been disabled) is then marked with a red cross, in a toggle way. All the terminate requests of the selected applications are actually performed when the activator key is released (which means that the whole process can be aborted using the cancel key).
• Starting from Switch-It version 3.1, requesting the Finder to quit is not allowed, as it is generally considered to be a "bad idea" anyway (especially when the File Sharing is currently on), unless you are a "power user" and know exactly what you are doing... Still, if you really want to have the Finder quit, select it and press the quit key while holding down the mouse button outside the switch window area.
• While holding down the activator key, it is possible to request running applications to be hidden/shown by pressing the key labeled 'H' or 'S'. The application icon (or its name, if the display of the icon has been disabled) is then marked with a white diamond, in a toggle way.
• Provided 'Enable Auto-Step' has been enabled in the Control Panel, it is possible to cycle automatically through all running applications by keeping pressed the switch key (Tab). After an initial delay of one second, the auto-step mode starts (the next application is displayed every half a second) and can be stopped by releasing the switch key.
• While holding down the activator key, it is possible to select directly the Finder (provided it is running) by pressing the key labeled 'F'. Note that it is just a convenient short cut, as if you had cycled through running applications until you reach the Finder. Similarly, you can select the frontmost application by pressing the Return key.
• You can also select the next "pending" application by pressing the key labeled 'P'; a pending application is an application in the background which has put a diamond mark next to its name in the Application system menu, to attract the user's attention. Such an application is visually identified by Switch-It in the switching window, and can also be automatically selected by default, by checking "Auto-Select Pending" in the "Special" panel.
• It is also possible to select directly one of the first ten applications displayed in the switch window by typing the number representing its position on the numerical keypad ('1', '2', '3', '4, '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '0').
• While holding down the activator key, it is also possible to request all running applications but the Finder to quit, by pressing the key labeled 'K'. This convenient shortcut is functionally equivalent to cycling through all running applications, except the Finder, marking each one with a red cross, then selecting the frontmost application (note that it used to be the Finder, but this has been changed in Switch-It 3.0 to take the exclusion list into account). Applications belonging to the exclusion list will not be marked, but can still be marked individually right after.
• Parallel to the "Kill-All" feature, it is also possible to request all running applications but the frontmost one to be hidden/show, by pressing respectively the key labeled 'C' ("Conceal-All") or 'D' ("Display-All"). These convenient shortcuts are functionally equivalent to cycling through all running applications, except the frontmost one, marking each one with a white diamond if necessary, then selecting the frontmost application. Applications belonging to the exclusion list will not be marked to be hidden, but can still be marked individually right after.
• Running applications can be displayed according to three different orders, depending on which ordering method has been selected in the "Application Ordering" pop-up menu:
- Launch Order: applications are listed in the same order they have been launched.
- Alphabetical: applications are listed just like in the "Application" system menu, on the right side of the menu bar.
- Front to Back: applications are listed as they visually appear on top of each other on the Desktop. This order gives quicker access to the most recently used applications, and is specially convenient to toggle between the two last-frontmost applications.
• While holding down the activator key, it is also possible to:
- Automatically open Switch-It's control panel by pressing the key labeled 'O'.
- Open the Finder's About window by pressing the key labeled 'M'.
- Reveal in the Finder the selected application by pressing the key labeled 'R'.
- Open the information window of the selected application by pressing the key labeled 'I'.
Notes:
- These short cut keys cancel any other pending request (switching, quitting, hiding, showing).
- The feature "Reveal in Finder" requires System 7.5 or higher.
• It is sometimes difficult to understand how the various switching, quitting, hiding and showing requests interact with each other. Here is the basic set of rules used by Switch-It:
1/ When the activator key is released, no switching to the selected application occurs if:
- the selected application is already the front one (including the case when there is only one running application, usually the Finder),
- the selected application has been marked to be either quitted, hidden or shown.
2/ When the activator key is released, if hiding the front application has been requested, and if no explicit switching is performed because of the previous rule, then an implicit switching is done on the first visible, non marked (quit, hide, show) application. If there is no such application, the hiding of the front application is not accepted.
Standard Customization (Control Panel)
• On / Off
Enables / Disables Switch-It.
• About
Provides further information about Switch-It and other programs from Mikaeru Software.
• Start-Up Icon
Shows / hides Switch-It's icon at system start-up.
• Hot Keys
Allows the customization of Switch-It's hot keys.
• Hot Keys: Standard
Changes the modifier (activator) key used to bring up the switch window in standard mode.
• Hot Keys: Auto-Hide
Changes the modifier (activator) key used to bring up the switch window in auto-hide mode.
• Hot Keys: Swap
Quickly swaps the standard and auto-hide activator keys.
• Hot Keys: Switch Key
Changes the switch key used to bring up the switch window.
• Hot Keys: Auto-Step
Allows auto-stepping through all running applications while the switch key is still down.
• Hot Keys: Cancel Key
Changes the cancel key used to dismiss the switch window. Selecting "<Not Used>" means that any unused key will act as a cancel key.
• Display
Allows the customization of Switch-It's display options.
• Display: Font
Changes the font of the switch window.
• Display: Size
Changes the font size of the switch window.
• Display: Bold
Allows the text to be displayed in bold style.
• Display: Spacing
Changes the text spacing of the switch window: either condensed, regular or extended.
• Display: Use Custom Colors
Allows the use of user-defined custom colors instead of system colors.
• Display: Text Color...
Changes the text color of the switch window, provided "Use Custom Colors" has been checked.
• Display: Background...
Changes the background color of the switch window, provided "Use Custom Colors" has been checked.
• Display: View mode
Changes the way the running applications are displayed in the switch window: either individually, or accompanied with a list of all the applications' icons (small or large).
• Display: Show Application Icon
Allows the application icon to be displayed next to the application name in the switch window.
• Display: Reduced Window
Allows the use of a reduced (smaller) switch window.
• Special
Allows the customization of Switch-It's special options.
• Special: Application Ordering
Changes the order in which the running applications are displayed in the switch window: either launch order, alphabetical, or front to back.
• Special: Auto-Hide Switching Strategy
Changes the meaning of the "auto-hide switching" feature: either hide the front application then switch to the selected application, or switch to the selected application then hide all the other applications.
• Special: Exclude Applications
Allows the applications listed in the box below to be excluded from any global actions involving quitting or hiding all running applications.
• Special: Add
Brings up a pop-up menu which allows you to add applications to the above exclusion list, either from the disk or from the currently running applications.
Note: you can also add an application by dragging its icon from the Finder and dropping it on the above list box.
• Special: Remove
Removes from the above exclusion list the currently selected (hilited) application.
• Special: Auto-Select Pending Application
Allows the next application with a pending notification (marked with a diamond next to its name in the Application system menu) to be automatically selected in the switch window.
• Quick Ref
Provides information about Switch-It's basic operation.
• Extra Keys
Allows the customization of Switch-It's extra keys.
• Extra Keys: Enable Extra Keys
Allows the use of extra keys to perform directly some of the actions listed in the scrolling box below.
• Extra Keys: Set
Brings up a pop-up menu which allows you to change the key combination assigned to the action shown to the left. Selecting <None> means that the function key alone performs the action, without requiring any modifier. Selecting <Not Used> means that the action is just disabled.
• Extra Keys: Open Control Panel
Open Switch-It's Control Panel.
• Extra Keys: About Memory
Open the Finder's About window (application memory usage).
• Extra Keys: Quit All but Finder
Quit all applications, but the Finder.
• Extra Keys: Quit All but Front and Finder
Quit all applications, but the frontmost one and the Finder.
• Extra Keys: Hide All but Finder
Hide all applications, but the Finder. Useful for tidying up a cluttered desktop.
• Extra Keys: Hide All but Front and Finder
Hide all applications, but the frontmost one and the Finder. Useful for performing drag-and-drop between the current application and the Finder desktop or windows.
• Extra Keys: Hide Front Application
Hide the frontmost application.
• Extra Keys: Hide Other Applications
Hide other applications (all but the frontmost one).
• Extra Keys: Show All Applications
Show all applications.
• Extra Keys: Switch to Pending App. [Standard/Auto-Hide]
Switch to the next "pending" application (standard/auto-hide). Pressing simultaneously the shift key reverses the direction of cycling ("next" becomes "previous").
• Extra Keys: Switch to Next App. [Standard/Auto-Hide]
Switch to the next application (standard/auto-hide), using the currently defined application ordering, set among "Launch Order", "Alphabetical" or "Front to Back". Pressing simultaneously the shift key reverses the direction of cycling ("next" becomes "previous").
• Extra Keys: Switch to Finder [Standard/Auto-Hide]
Switch to the Finder (standard/auto-hide).
• Extra Keys: Switch to Next (Launch Order) [Standard/Auto-Hide]
Switch to the next application (standard/auto-hide), using explicitely the "Launch Order" application ordering. Pressing simultaneously the shift key reverses the direction of cycling ("next" becomes "previous").
• Extra Keys: Switch to Next (Alphabetical) [Standard/Auto-Hide]
Switch to the next application (standard/auto-hide), using explicitely the "Alphabetical" application ordering. Pressing simultaneously the shift key reverses the direction of cycling ("next" becomes "previous").
• Extra Keys: Switch to Next (Front to Back) [Standard/Auto-Hide]
Switch to the next application (standard/auto-hide), using explicitely the "Front to Back" application ordering. Pressing simultaneously the shift key reverses the direction of cycling ("next" becomes "previous").
• Clicking on the underlined links brings up a pop-up menu which allows you to:
- copy the Internet location to the clipboard, or go to the web site of Mikaeru Software, using your favorite Web browser,
- copy the author's e-mail address to the clipboard, or send a message to the author, using your favorite e-mail application.
Notes:
• Balloon help is available.
• Changes made in the Control Panel take effect immediately.
• In order to automatically open your favorite Web browser or e-mail application, the Internet Config Extension must be installed in your system.
Known Problems and Shortcomings
• In order to work correctly even when an input method is active (while typing Chinese or Japanese for instance), Switch-It patches extra system calls, in addition to the Apple-sanctioned method for filtering key events (jGNEFilter).
• While the pop-up window is displayed, any other visible activity is suspended: application windows, menu bar, etc. appear to be "frozen".
• In order to make running applications quit, Switch-It uses the sending of 'quit' AppleEvents. Unfortunately, this method does not work (nothing happens) if the front application is not AppleEvent-aware.
• If you use Switch-It's "Auto-Hide Switching" feature, "Show Desktop when in background" should be checked in the control panel "General Controls" to avoid quite disconcerting behaviour conflicts with the Finder.
• If you use the "Hide-on-Request" feature, the actual state of visibility of the applications is not always reflected in the "Application" menu. Also, the top items of the "Application" menu may not be correctly updated.
• On some QWERTY keyboard layouts, the key combination: Option-` (Option-Backquote) is a "dead" key, used as a backquote (grave accent) prefix to modify the next coming vowel. Therefore, it cannot be used as a cancel key.
• If you are using an input method (Japanese Front-End Processor, or FEP), you may find out that Option-Tab and Control-Tab are key combinations already meaningful in the middle of a conversion, especially when the input is not done "inline" but in a separate floating window. You can still use the "Auto-Hide Switching" feature though, by triggering Switch-It with the standard Command-Tab, then "shift" to the auto-hide activator you have selected (Option or Control) just before releasing it.
Alternatively, you can define the Command-Tab only, and toggle between the standard and auto-hide switching modes with the appropriate shortcut key ('A');
Planned Improvements
• Refine the excluded application list.
• Allow cycling through the applications' windows too.
Contacting the Author
If you have any questions, suggestions, words of appreciation or bug reports, you can contact me at the following address:
E-Mail
<mikaeru@worldnet.fr>
Snail Mail
Michel MARIANI
47, rue des Remparts-d'Ainay
69002 LYON
FRANCE
If you ever send me a message, please tell me which version of Switch-It you are using and, if possible, where you got it from:
- Internet site (URL),
- CD-ROM coming with a magazine (name, issue number and month),
- etc.
Web Site
Latest versions of Switch-It and other freeware programs from "Mikaeru Software" are available at:
• The code to display icons is adapted from the snippet GetFileIcon 1.1 written by Jeff Beeghly (Universal Headers conversion by Erik A. Johnson), based on code from FindIcon by James Walker.
• The application skeleton code is based on TransSkel 3.26, by Paul DuBois.
You expressly acknowledge and agree that use of this software is at your sole risk. The software and the related documentation are provided “as is” and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
In no event shall the author be liable for any consequential, incidental or indirect damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out the use of or inability to use the software or related documentation, even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Distribution
This software may be freely distributed in electronic form on computer networks, including posting on Internet sites, on online services, BBSs and user groups, but always in its unmodified form and together with this document. Please contact the author to obtain the most recent version.
This software may NOT be sold or resold, or bundled with any other commercial product. The software may be posted on an information service which charges its users for general connection time and downloading, but it may NOT be posted to an information service which will charge for the specific right to download this software.
This software may NOT be included on any DVD-ROM, CD-ROM or floppy collection (including, but not limited to, software collections coming with books, magazines or other media) without the author's prior knowledge and express written permission.
The author can be contacted at: <mikaeru@worldnet.fr>
Permission to include this software on a DVD-ROM, CD-ROM or floppy collection will be granted if, and only if, it is the most recent version of the software, the original package is included in its entirety, and a complimentary copy is sent to the author at the following address:
Michel MARIANI
47, rue des Remparts-d'Ainay
69002 LYON
FRANCE
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the following people (in chronological order):
• Michel Rousset, for testing and providing useful comments, and proofreading the first version of this document.
• Cj Zinngrabe, for pointing out a crash under Mac OS 8, and kindly testing the fix.
• Julian E Gómez, for pointing out a problem of missing icon in System 7.6, and kindly testing the current beta version.
• Larry Tannenbaum, for providing useful information about a problem related to a certain kind of applications launched in background, and kindly testing the fix.
• Yoshihisa Asayama, Guillaume Bernadat, Brian "dogcow", Hideyuki Fujioka, Guillaume S., Scott Tirrell, Otto Wyss, for doing a great job at beta-testing the brand-new version 2.0.
Here are the names (in alphabetic order) of all the nice folks who took the time to send me questions, suggestions, words of appreciation or bug reports; I really appreciate getting feedback, it is highly motivating and encouraging:
• Ken Aitchison, Dennis Alaniz, Stefan Anthony, Yoshihisa Asayama, Wil Baden, "Brian" Beej, Guillaume Bernadat, Boris "Bissia" Bertrand, Robert Blitt, Jess Bowers, Boyan Boyanov, William L. Boyd, John Brecher, Travis Britt, Rick Carpenter, Gregory Chan, Winson Cheung, Nathan Cross, Oresto J. Dorson, Sean Embury, Ben Fisher, Hanno Foest, Hideyuki Fujioka, Jeff Gilbert, Julian E Gómez, Henri Guérard, Greg G., Michael Hanna, Alwin Hawkins, Simon Heimlicher, James Huffman, Helen Hulskamp, Nicholas Iannone, Michael Jacovides, Jean-Claude Jesior, Frantisek Jilek, Ted Kaehler, S.M. King, Thomas v. Landsberg-Velen, Roger Lier, Rich Long, Mark Mason, Gad Mishori, John D. Muccigrosso, Teruyuki Nanjo, Bill Offerman, Steve O'Neill, Junichi Ohtake, Masayuki Ozawa, John Paolini, Peter, Russell Powell, Jean-Sébastien Roy, Martin Scott, Shinbone, Nicolas Solberg, Deryck Stave, Sean Stewart, Yasushi Sugita, Guillaume S., Larry Tannenbaum, Peter Terhoeven, Scott Tirrell, David Tiselius, Kazufumi Tomori, Mitsuo Tsugita, Zoltan Vastag, Jonathan Velasco, James Vernon, Cristian Viola, Matt Wills, Mark Winker, Otto Wyss, Kaori Yokono, Cj Zinngrabe.
And finally, here is the list of magazines or editors who have asked me permission to include Switch-It on their CD-ROM:
• Acara - Japan (Takumi Suzuki)
• Computer Arts - France (Frédéric Darmon)
• Graphics World - Japan (Yasuyo Ishizuka)
• HyperLib - Japan (Toshiroh Arai)
• Kids Art Project - Japan (Kinya Takahashi)
• Mac 100% - Japan (Kuniharu Hanai, Masayoshi Takei, Eriko Koshimura)
• MacAddict - USA (Kris Fong)
• Mac Fan internet - Japan (Yasuto Niyama)
• MacFormat - UK (Brian Smith)
• Mac People - Japan (Satoru Imamura, Motoko Mori)
• MacPower - Japan (Hirohide Yoshida)
• MacUser Japanese Edition - Japan (Noriko Goto)
• Nikkei Mac - Japan (Sayaka Kato, Shigenobu Kokubo, Taisuke Ukigai)
