By Michael Connick
This is the fourth article in a series on using hacks to extend the power of your Palm handheld. The first article (at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200205/hack001.html) discussed what hacks are and the hack management software needed to utilize them on your Palm handheld.
The second month's article (at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200206/laptophack001.html) talked about how to use LapTopHack to greatly improve the usability of a Palm OS keyboard accessory.
Last month (at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200207/megawiki001.html) we talked about using the MegaWiki Hack to create Web-like hyperlinks between documents on your Palm handheld.
This month's article will discuss using two programs: LapTopHack and peditPro (at http://home.columbus.rr.com/nevai/palm/) to automate many of the routine functions you may be performing on your Palm handheld.
What happened to the scheduled article on MacroPlay?
Readers of my past articles with good memories will recall that I'd promised an article on the MacroPlay for this month. MacroPlay (at http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=29076) is a great little hack that allows you to record your stylus taps, save them, and then replay them anytime you want. This allows you to automate many of the repetitive functions you may perform on your Palm handheld.
I used MacroPlay on my Palm handheld back when I promised to write an article on it. However, a few months ago I found a more powerful solution for automating activities on my handheld: pScripting. Don't get me wrong, MacroPlay is a very nice piece of software. It's just that pScripting is a far more powerful approach to automating Palm OS operations.
Why would I want to automate operations on my Palm handheld?
Let's start off with a simple example. Deleting an appointment from your Date Book requires the following operations:
- Tap the item to delete;
- Tap the Details button;
- Tap the Delete button in the Details Dialog box;
- Tap the OK button to confirm the deletion.
Now, wouldn't it be nice if you could automate this operation so that just one tap could make this entire operation take place, and have it happen just as quickly as your Palm handheld could perform the operations? How about even more complicated operations, like copying the contents of email message into Memo Pad notes, or creating templates in Memo Pad notes for recording meeting minutes? Wouldn't it be great if they could just happen automatically?
