Keystroke Commands
Most commands you need to control a computer by voice are simple keystroke commands—"When I say this,
send these keystrokes." These are easy to write in Vocola. For example, the following command types the word "Greetings"
when you say "Hello World":
|
Vocola: Hello World = Greetings;
Say: Hello World
Sent: Greetings
|
In most cases the keystrokes you want to send will use modifier key sequences
to control a particular application. For example, most Windows applications
perform a "Copy" operation when you hold down the "Control" key and type the
letter "c". The next command uses the phrase "Copy That" to invoke such a "Copy"
operation:
|
Vocola: Copy That = {Ctrl+c};
Say: Copy That
Sent: {Ctrl+c}
|
You can use multiple modifier keys for a keystroke, and also specify a repeat count. For example:
|
Vocola: Select Two Words = {Ctrl+Shift+Right_2};
Say: Select Two Words
Sent: {Ctrl+Shift+Right_2}
|
This holds down both the "Control" and "Shift" keys and presses the right arrow key twice to select the two words
following the insertion point.
The Vocola syntax for specifying modifier key sequences such as {Ctrl+c} is borrowed
from the Dragon Macro Language, which describes the syntax. (See the discussion on
pp. 13-14 and the table on pp. 116-117, or just absorb it from the Vocola examples.)
Each Vocola command contains a series of terms (indicating
what is said) and a series of actions (indicating what is done),
separated by '=' and terminated by ';'. In this section
the terms are words and the actions are keystrokes; later sections introduce
other possibilities.
Because Windows applications allow keyboard control of almost everything you
can usually write a keystroke command to do what you want. The next
example tells Windows Explorer to copy the name of the currently-selected file:
|
Vocola: Copy Filename = {F2}{Shift+End}{Ctrl+c}{Esc};
Say: Copy Filename
Sent: {F2}{Shift+End}{Ctrl+c}{Esc}
|
Here's how it works:
| {F2} | Enter "rename" mode, which opens a small edit field on the file name |
| {Shift+End} | Select the entire file name |
| {Ctrl+c} | Copy the selection |
| {Esc} | Cancel "rename" mode |
You may find it helpful to browse Microsoft's pages
of Keyboard Shortcuts.