27
7.7 Activating a Hotkey Layout (progm + {hotkey})
Once a hotkey layout has been created, you do not need to be in Power User Mode to load it to the keyboard.
Simply hold the Program Key and tap the appropriate hotkey to activate the layout.
Remember that hotkey layouts are assigned to either the QWERTY or Dvorak family. QWERTY hotkey
layouts can only be accessed while in another QWERTY layout, and vice versa. As such, the same hotkey
can be assigned to both a QWERTY and Dvorak hotkey layout without creating any conflict.
7.8 Direct Editing of layout files
The Advantage2 with SmartSet tools is a powerfully
-
programmable keyboard. Most users will find the Basic
Onboard Programming Tools or the SmartSet App are adequate their needs. However,
“
power users
”
may
wish to access one or more layout files in a simple text editor to directly view and edit their settings, macros
and remaps.
“
Direct Editing
”
is the process of accessing the v
-
drive, opening a layout or the settings file
(state.txt), then adding, removing or otherwise editing the
“
code
”
(text) in the file.
Note: It is critical to use the U.S. English keyboard driver when editing a SmartSet text file (see p.28).
Important precautions when direct editing
Direct editing requires special care to avoid corrupting the text files, especially with older 2MB v
-
drives where
the layout files are
“
factory conditioned
”
to prevent problems. If you delete or paste a new file, or re
-
format the
2MB v
-
drive (which automatically creates new layout files), you will need to
“
condition
”
the layout files before
direct editing. The 4MB v
-
drive should never need to be reformatted, but in Windows may have an occasional
“
scan and repair
”
suggested by the file manager.
It is also important to always use the
“
eject
”
option of your operating system
’
s file manager, design for
removable drives which is how the v
-
drive is characterized. Normally
“
eject
”
is available if you right click on
the drive. After the system says
“
okay to remove drive,
”
use progm + F1 to close the v
-
drive.
If you get a
“
drive busy
”
message when you try to eject, wait and check the v
-
drive files are closed and
navigate out of v
-
drive folders, then try again.
Layouts and layout text files
As described in earlier sections of this Manual, each individual layout has its custom configurations (i.e.,
remaps and macros) stored in its own unique
“.
txt
”
file which is saved to the keyboard
’
s onboard memory,
called the v
-
drive. When a user toggles between layouts, the keyboard calls up the appropriate .txt file and
loads the file to establish the new active keyboard layout. Each of these individual .txt layout files can be
accessed from the v
-
drive from inside of the
“
active
”
folder (see Sections 7.4 & 7.5).
Contents of a layout text file
Within each layout file are discrete lines of text corresponding to each individual key remap and/or macro that
has been programmed to that specific layout. When you use an onboard shortcut to record a macro, remap a
key, or toggle to the alternate Thumb Key Modes (PC or Mac), the keyboard writes a line of code for each of
these custom actions to the corresponding layout file and saves it for future reference. Power uses can
access layout files to edit/delete code written by the keyboard, or write new code from scratch. For simplicity,
each .txt file only displays changes to the respective default layout, either QWERTY or Dvorak. If no changes
have been made with respect to the default layout, then that .txt file will be empty.
Note: Relative to Windows
Mode, PC Mode features two automatically remapped keys and Mac Mode features eight such keys.
Macros and Remaps are encoded slightly differently in the layout file (see below), but the basic syntax used
to show all custom programming actions in a layout file follows this basic structure. The
“>“
symbol is always
used to separate the physical location from the electronic action. In other words:
“
Physical key location/trigger(s)
” > “
Electronic key actions/outputs.
”
Example: To remaps the Caps Lock key to perform left ctrl:
[caps]>[lctrl]
