Substituting Actions

So far the spoken words in our alternative sets have been substituted directly into our keystroke sequences. Actually it is more common to substitute a different set of actions than the spoken words.

For example, suppose we want "Move Back" to move the cursor left and "Move Forward" to move the cursor right. We can specify that this way:

The alternative set (Back=Left | Forward=Right) means you can say either "Back" or "Forward", but the value substituted on the right hand side will be Left or Right.

Here's another example. Mozilla's Thunderbird Mailer has several options for sorting messages. This command allows you to change the sort by saying "Sort by Date", "Sort by Sender", or "Sort by Subject":

This alternative set allows you to say "Date", "Sender", or "Subject", and substitutes e, n, or b into the keystroke sequence. (The keystroke {Alt+v} opens the "View" menu, s opens the "Sort by" sub-menu, and the final letter chooses the sort option.)

Alternative sets with substitution provide an easy way to define voice shortcuts for items such as files, folders, URLs, or email addresses. For example, we can define the variable <address> to contain a list of email addresses and shortcuts to invoke them:

                     | Listen = [email protected]
                     | Voice Coder = [email protected]
                     );
        Address <address> = $1 {Enter};

The command Address <address> allows you to say, for example, "Address Bill" or "Address Voice Coder" to insert the desired email address. The list can be modified over time to add new addresses.