The Hot Codes

You can insert a special command called hot code to a text shortcut telling Asutype to act dependently on circumstances at runtime, such as inserting date and time information, formatting text etc. Hot codes make text shortcuts more powerful and flexible, and you are encouraged to use them as much as possible.

  • A hot code is always enclosed in <> tag pair such as <BACK>, <TIME:%#m/%#d/%y>, <HERE> etc.
  • You can either type a hot code into your shortcut or choose a hot code from the "Hot Code" button in the Shortcut Lists editor.

Asutype supports the following hot codes:

Code Action Example
Special Character Codes
<LESSTHAN>
<LT>
Insert character <  
<GREATERTHAN>
<GT>
Insert character >  
<CHARACTER:decimal>
<CHAR:decimal>
Insert a character with the decimal value <CHAR:169> will insert ©
<CHARACTER:#hexa>
<CHAR:#hexa>
Insert a character with the hexa-decimal value <CHAR:#A9> will insert ©
Date/Time Codes
<TIME:format> Insert the current time  
<TIME+(hours :minutes :seconds):format> Insert the time ahead of the current time by the amount in the parentheses  
<TIME-(hours :minutes :seconds):format> Insert the time past of the current time by the amount in the parentheses  
Action Codes
<HERE> Place the caret to this position after expanding the text  
<COPY> Copy the current selection into the clipboard  
<COPY:file-name> Copy the current selection into the clipboard and save it to a file-name file  
<PASTE> Paste the clipboard out to your document  
<PASTE-> Trim the clipboard (e.g. remove all beginning and ending blank characters -- white spaces, tabs, soft- and hard-returns) and paste it out to your document  
<PASTE:file-name> Place the content of the file file-name into the clipboard and paste it out to your document <PASTE:myaddress.txt> will paste the content of the file "myaddress.txt" to the current caret position
<PASTE-:file-name> Trim the content of the file file-name, copy it into the clipboard and paste it out to your document  
<ASK[:variable-name]> Ask for a text at run-time Dear Mr. <ASK>, will ask you to enter a name and then type Dear Mr. Name,
<VAR[:variable-name]> Ask for a text at run-time and use it as variable elsewhere <VAR:term><OPEN:http://www.google.com/search?q=<term>> will ask you to enter a search term and launch a search in Google using your browser
<MESSAGE:text>
<MSG:text>
Display a message  
<FLASH> Flash the screen <COPY><FLASH> will flash screen when the text is copied into the clipboard
Advanced Codes
<APPLY:executable-file-names> Apply this shortcut for applications which executable file name is listed in the executable-file-names only. File names are separated by | <APPLY:notepad.exe><CTRL+O> will apply this shortcut in NotePad only. The shortcut will not have any effect in other applications
<APPLY-:executable-file-names> Apply this shortcut for applications which executable file name is not listed in the executable-file-names only. File names are separated by | <APPLY-:notepad.exe><CTRL+O> will apply this shortcut in all applications except NotePad
<OPEN:executable-file-name> Launch the application which executable file name is executable-file-name <OPEN:notepad.exe> will launch NotePad
<ACTIVATE:title|executable-file-name>
<SWITCH:title|executable-file-name>
Activate the window with the title title. If there is no such a window found then launch the application which executable file name is executable-file-name <ACTIVATE:NotePad|notepad.exe> will bring the current NotePad window up front. If NotePad is not running, launch NotePad
<CALL:dll-file-name|function-name|function-parameter> Call a function in an external DLL with a specific text parameter <CALL:fanixtext.dll|Filter|/trim> will call the function Filter in the fanixtext.dll to trim the text
<INCLUDE:file-name>
<INC:file-name>
Insert the content of the file file-name into the current shortcut  
<REFERENCE:shortcut-name><
REF:shortcut-name>
Insert the content of the shortcut shortcut-name into the current shortcut  

And tens of other typing codes such as <DEL:6> (will press DELETE key 6 times), <CTRL+SHIFT+END><DEL> (will delete to the end of the line) etc.

Note: It is hot codes that make Asutype's text expansion more powerful and flexible, so use them as much as you can.

See Also

 

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