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<ALT-G>

Summary:
The keyboard combination <Alt-G> is one of Pathagoras' most powerful tools.  It can be used to perform a wide variety of document management and document assembly functions 'mouselessly' (i.e., straight from your keyboard), including:

  • Display directories and documents 'mouselessly':

  • open a directory anywhere on your computer or across a network using only the keyboard.

  • filter a directory display before it is displayed. (Want to see only files starting with "Smi". <Alt-G> can do it and much more quickly than can Word alone. Type the SmartPath number, a colon, and Smi* (e.g., "8:smi*") (no quotes, case not important)  followed by <Alt-G> will instantly display all files in SmartPath 8 that start with the letters "smi".

  • open a specific file from any directory on your system without using your mouse. No matter its location, on your computer or across the network, Pathagoras can find it. It's quick and it's straight from your keyboard. (e.g., "8:smith letter to jones" (no quotes, case not important) followed by <Alt-G> will instantly open the named file (assuming it exists in SmartPath #8)

  • Assemble documents 'mouselessly':

  • insert a specific document, glossary term or AutoCorrect term into the current document.

  • assemble a complete document from a list of clause numbers typed down the left hand side of a page.

  • if you have assigned a "prefix" to a collection of clauses, <Alt-G> will directly seek out the glossary which contains those terms and insert the requested term.

The ‘universal’ triggerkey for Pathagoras is the keyboard combination <Alt-G>. Most program functions can be initiated with that keypress. Pathagoras detemines its various reponses depending upon whether the call is made

Before doing anything else, Pathagoras analyzed the text it is next to and decides a course of action.

Next to ‘Plain’ (unhighlighted) Text

Open a folder/directory

Open a specific document

Recall a term

Assemble a document

Next to Highlighted Text

Create a new glossary

Quickly add new text to an existing glossary.

The 'G' stands for 'G'lossary, 
but even that is misleading, since it does so much more. 
Any way that you remember it, you will like it.

The keyboard combination of 'Alt-G' is a special feature of the Pathagoras suite. It is Pathagoras' 'universal' trigger key. Many actually find this to be Pathagoras' most useful 'day-to-day' feature: 

Simply type the name of a folder, a document, a glossary term or an AutoCorrect term on your editing screen.  Press 'Alt-G'. The desired object is sought out by the Pathagoras engine and is instantly opened, inserted, recalled, whatever, without having to navigate to or through any directory.  If a path designator is provided (a SmartPath number followed by a colon, followed by a document name), the document is sought in the designated path. Otherwise the document is sought in the last directory which you displayed.  Here are more details. (Note: On some installations, the Alt-G combination does not register in the "Customize Keyboard" registry.  To activate Alt-G in this case, display the main PathSmart screen, activate "Settings" (in the cluster of buttons in the lower right portion of the screen). Then press the Set Alt-G button which appears at the top of the Settings screen. This one press should be a permanent cure.)

Instant Display of Directories with <Alt-G >
Logic: When a user press the key combination <Alt-G>, Pathagoras reads the text to the left of the cursor to the beginning of a line. It parses what it finds and, depending upon the presence of certain characters (letters, digits, slashes or the colon character) in certain locations, and whether the text was highlighted before the <Alt-G> press, Pathagoras can determine the action the user is requesting.

So . . .

Type this on the screen. Then press Alt-G.  . . .  and this will happen.
"c:\" or "c:\+"
(quotes on this page are for emphasis only, and are not actually typed) 
(The '+' means display the Insert File dialog)		 The root directory displays with the standard MSWord 'Open File' dialog. 
Add the '+' sign to show the files with the 'Insert File' dialog, allowing you to insert the document you select into the current document. ("+" means add the file to the current document, which is why the Insert File dialog displays.)
"g:\" or "g:\+"
"g:\my documents\" or "g:\my documents\+"
(final slash required), or any valid path or drive, local or network. 
(The '+' means display the Insert File dialog)		 Pathagoras displays the appropriate directory over the network, with the standard 'Open File' dialog. Ditto above re: the '+' sign.
(Pathagoras easily traverses network assignments.)
"2" or "2:" or "2:\" or "2+" or "2:+" or "2:\+"
(The '+' means display the Insert File dialog)		 The SmartPath assigned to the number 2 will display. 'Open File', or with '+' 'Insert File', dialog displays.  Of course the easiest way to display SmartPath 2 is simply to type the SmartPath number, without colons or slashes, but the options exist.
"2" or "2:" + Shift-Alt-G There is no '+' alternative necessary.  The Open, Insert and Assemble choices are on the checkbox screen. The <Shift-Alt-G> command tells Pathagoras to display the SmartPath assigned to the number 2 using the Checkbox screen.  You can choose to assemble files into a new document, insert file(s) into present document, or open file(s) in separate Window(s).  Trust me--this is a neat feature.
"2:\gre*"
  (Knowing that a user might forget to type either the colon or the slash, logic is present to correct the user's oversight. So "2:gre*" will also work.)		 The directory assigned to the number 2, will display with MSWord's standard File Open dialog), presenting only files  which begin with "gr" (Green Will.doc, Great Job.doc, etc.)  If no documents meet the 'filter', the filter will be peeled back, one letter at a time, until a document is found. (E.g., 'gr*.doc',then  'g*.doc', then '*.doc')
2:\gre*" + Shift-Alt-G Ditto the above. If your directory contains a lot of folders, which always display ahead of documents in the typical Windows directory display, using the 'capital slash' (or 'pipe' to experienced DOS users) instead of a slash may be a preferable way of displaying your directories contents. The SmartPath assigned to the number 2 will display with Pathagoras' Checkbox dialog, presenting only files  which begin with "gre" (Green Will.doc, Great Job.doc, etc.)  Choose "assemble," "insert" or "open" all, some, one (or no) documents. If no documents meet the 'filter', the filter will be peeled back, one letter at a time, until a document is found. (E.g., 'gr*.doc',then  'g*.doc', then '*.doc')
Alt-G on a blank line.  The SmartPath assigned to the default path (or #1 if a default path not assigned) will display with standard MSWord 'Open File' dialog. 
Ctrl-Alt-G on a blank line. The SmartPath assigned to the default path (or #1 if a default path not assigned) will display with standard MSWord 'Insert File' dialog.
Shift-Alt-G on a blank line. The SmartPath assigned to the default path (or #1 if a default path not assigned) will display with Pathagoras' Checkbox dialog.
::MyProfile,2

The 'formula' is double colons at the beginning, the name of the profile and the SmartPath number of the profile		 The SmartPath assigned to the named Profile with standard MSWord 'Open File' dialog.
It is this ability that gives you quick, easy keyboard access to potentially hundreds of folders on your system.

Simple Document Assembly with <Alt-G>

      Pathagoras has very powerful, built in document assembly features discussed elsewhere in this site. However, using the keyboard commands described above (with additional examples provided below, you can actually assemble documents straight from your keyboard.


     The process is simple:

(1) At the beginning of any line, type the name of any document, glossary term, or clause in your AutoCorrect list that you want to add to the current document or blank screen. (If you are recalling documents and the default directory is the one which contains the documents, you need not preface the document name with its SmartPath. Otherwise, be sure to include the SmartPath number as discussed above).  A copy of the requested document or term will be inserted into your document in place of the text you typed.

(2) Press <Alt-G>.

(3) Repeat until the document is complete.

Examples:

 For purposes of the below examples, it is presumed that
SmartPath #3 is set to c:\data\office forms\letters\

If you type this, followed by Alt-G: Pathagoras looks for this, and, if found, inserts the text from the original into the current document:
(If you use Ctrl-Alt-G instead . . .  . . .Pathagoras  the following if found):
3:Letter to John c:\data\office forms\letters\Letter to John.doc
c:\mydocs\Letter to John.txt c:\mydocs\Letter to John.txt (and will prompt you for 'txt to doc' conversion permission.)
c:\mydocs\Letter to John c:\mydocs\Letter to John.doc (.doc presumed)
boc103 Comment: Pathagoras sees this as a possible glossary term Because of the letters-then-numbers structure of the term, Pathagoras determines that "boc" is a prefix to a glossary term.). Because the term could also be a document name or an AutoCorrect term, if Pathagoras doesn't find the term in the boc glossary, it keeps looking for you.. boc103.doc in the current directory, but if not there: boc103 in a glossary which is related to the 'boc' prefix, but if not there then: boc103 in an open glossary; but if not there : boc103 in the glossary occupying the first position in the current profile, but if not there, boc103 in the AutoCorrect list. 
Letter to John Note: not a great 'real world' example to use (it is unlikely, but not impossible that Alt-G would be pressed at this point), but it helps to explain the logic of the program. Pathagoras looks for a colon in positions 2 or 3 at the beginning of a line to determine if a SmartPath or folder is being sought. Other logic is present within the program to choose between a SmartPath and a DOS path. If there is no colon in position 2 or 3, and if the entire line is not a document in the current directory,  Pathagoras assumes that you want the document or term represented by the last word you typed, in this case ‘John’. 'Letter to John.doc' in the current directory, but if not there: 'John' in an open glossary; if not there; then: 'John' in the glossary occupying the first position in the current profile, but if not there, 'John' in the AutoCorrect list, but if not there, Pathagoras will ask if you want to search all glossaries in the profile for the term "John."  If 'yes', then it will do that, otherwise, Pathagoras says "I give up" (see next cell.).
(non-existing term) If <Alt-G> cannot find the document or term in any of the above places, the program so reports. 
2:\gr 
or
c:\gr 		 See similar entries in previous table.  If the document name (e.g., "gr") provided by the user is less than three characters in length, Pathagoras deduces that the user may really have intended the name actually to be a filter.  Pathagoras offers the operator the opportunity to choose to look for <path>:\gr* or the document <path>:\"gr.doc"
(Unless a specific document was identified (gr.doc and not gr*.doc), Alt-G will present a typical Windows File Open dialog. Ctrl-Alt-G presents the CheckBox dialog.)
8:\anyform.dot
(".dot" extension required)		 Same as the keystrokes File|New and a select of the template "anyform".  If Pathagoras detects a .dot extension, it creates a copy of the text and copies the margins and other page setup information (tabs, paragraph numbering, etc.)
::Michael,2:Letter to Mom "Letter to Mom.doc" in path 2 of the profile called Michael (This is the most complex of the Alt-G formulae, and it is not likely to be used by many.  However, it demonstrates the power of Pathagoras' search capabilities.  Literally every document on every path on every machine on the network can be instantly inserted in the open document without so much as displaying a single directory.  Of course, the operator must know the exact name of the profile, path and document for successful use, but this would not be too difficult to accomplish in highly structured offices with logically and consistently named profiles and documents.  While Pathagoras was designed for more typical offices (like mine) where a 'comfortable' (not perfect) level of logic and consistency is more the norm, its features reach well beyond that. So if you are still where I am, come back visit this formula in a couple of years.

By name

Prefixed clauses and <Alt-G> instead of checkboxes.

<Alt-G> will recognize and utilize to great advantage a 'prefixed' collection of terms. 

During the setup process, you may have named a series of clauses in a handy "prefix/suffix" style. wil100, wil105, wil133a, wil133b, etc. style.  The 'wil' is the prefix, and the number (which can be followed by one or more additional alpha-characters) is the suffix. (Pathagoras recognizes a prefix when it is two to four characters in length followed by at least three numbers.  PF123 is a valid combination from which Pathagoras can discern a prefix. So is PFF111abc.  ABCDE222 and REM22a are not so recognized. 

     Example: Type to the editing screen wil110 <Alt-G>.  Pathagoras will logically decode the clause to discern the prefix and the glossary/directory associated with that prefix. It then links to the glossary/directory and calls in your clause. (The connection between the prefix and the glossary (or directory) was made in the Document Assembly Profile setup process.)

    If you next just type 120 <Alt-G>, Pathagoras will assume the prefix and insert into you document the clause wil120. (See above table.)

By Suffix

    Pathagoras can also insert into your document a series of clauses which begin with the same prefix.  All you need to do is type the suffixes down the left margin of the page, and the prefix one time at the bottom of the list. (Many operators find it easier to power type in a list of short, numerical suffixes than to hunt for and check those same clauses in Pathagoras' checkbox form.)  As you might be thinking at this point, this is an extremely powerful (not to mention useful) tool.

     Instruction:  Type the desired clause suffix numbers (suffixes only; no prefix until the last line) on a series of consecutive lines down the left edge of the page. On the line immediately following the list of desired clauses, type:  '<prefix>.list' where <prefix> is an assigned prefix for one of the glossaries. Press <Alt-G>.  Pathagoras will hunt down the glossary associated with that prefix, will automatically read the  list, will automatically assign the prefix to each number and assemble the clauses in the order provided. 

Example:
101
103
223
250
300
301
400
wil.list

Press <Alt-G> after the word 'wil.list'.  Document assembled. Pretty cool, no?.

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