AWesome

Instant Messaging Acronyms

The multi-client internet communication tool Trillian has made instant messaging very easy. So, the other day, while I was considering enhancements to my Trillian Commands Toolbox, I figured now would be the right time to publish an acronyms wordbase as well. I merged, polished and converted several collections of acronyms related to instant messaging. The result is a new ActiveWords wordbase containing almost 450 acronyms used frequently in instant messaging for you to start with.

Study ActiveWords Reviews

Beginning ActiveWords users sometimes need a little hand to understand how exactly they can put ActiveWords to work for them. Once they grab the concept, there is no holding back. Some of them wake up early in the morning and can't get back to sleep before they've turned their ideas into working active words. Most times these kinds of symptoms tell me this user will be on his own soon. They start out by finding me on IM, ask smart questions and then proudly tell me they created 50 active words in an hour or so. "Any idea what the active word JAZZ does, Marjolein?" (I have no idea...) "It fills the room with music!" (I just smile, sit back and relax...). "I also did SALSA and BLUES!" (Ain't it great?)

Beginning ActiveWords users could benefit from reading some or all of the reviews that are out there on the web. Fellow ActiveWords users tend to write in a readable style and at a level that is understandable for a beginner.

Start-the-Show Base

Actually it wasn't until a few months ago that I really got the hang of designing active words on a daily basis. Only during Buzz Bruggeman's live demo last January I started to grasp what ActiveWords was all about. Before that I struggled with the difference between types of active words, didn't know how to organize them nor how to really integrate ActiveWords into my daily computing tasks. Since then I enjoy putting myself in the shoes of different types of ActiveWords users, both beginners and die-hards and every one in between.

PR à la Carte

I often find myself researching one particular topic in depth during a couple of days, mostly ending up frustrated with the labor-intensive hierarchic bookmark methods of Internet Explorer. The last couple of months I'm effectively putting ActiveWords in charge of storing and retrieving my links. I just trigger a keyword closely related to the subject of my research and ActiveWords builds a menu of all links I found relevant to the topic.
Would you like to see how ActiveWords automatically creates such a menu?
Then read on.

Adding an ActiveWords Collection

Over time the ActiveWords programmers have created some very useful collections of active words. They are listed and available for download on the ActiveWords Applications page. You'll find it worthwhile to pick some (or all!) *.awzip files from this page and install them. A help file is included with each file.
Installing an *.awzip file is fairly straightforward. Let's go through the process with the AWCONTROLS.AWZIP file as an example.

If you are struggling with handling files on your hard drive, may I suggest you have a look at the outstanding utility Total Commander. This file manager was initially created by Christian Ghisler as a Windows implementation of the DOS utility Norton Commander. Over time it has become a very sophisticated and versatile tool. ActiveWords users will like it because Ghisler especially paid attention to the keyboard interface. I personally cannot start my computing sessions without it and hardly ever use Windows Explorer anymore.

How to Install an ActiveWords Application:
1. Click on the AWCONTROLS download link on the ActiveWords Applications page to copy the file to your harddrive. As a download folder C:\Program Files\ActiveWords\WordBases would be a logical choice.
2. Open the WordBases folder and double click on the filename AWCONTROLS.AWZIP. This will start the ActiveWords AutoInsertion tool and show you the AWInsertion dialog box.
3. Confirm the default options by clicking on the Insert button, then press OK.

To display the commands added, trigger the command awcontrols. You'll see a directory of commands. You can easily trigger any of these commands: just select one and press <ENTER>.

In this collection are six of my favorite commands: add, nap, find and help are ready for use out-of-the-box.
Two other, extremely useful commands do not have their active word assigned to them by default yet. Let's do that now.

Editing Existing Active Words:
1. In the first section called General Controls, open the last item for Editing (Alt-E). It is called Edit the last ActiveWord Triggered. In the ActiveWords editor type the active word name claw and save the active word.

Claw allows you to quickly edit the last active word that you have triggered. This is really one of the most useful commands when you are becoming an active user, because at first you don't always get the scripts right the very first time. In a future post I'm going to publish an advanced version of this active word that will allow you to quickly edit any active word with - of course! - the least possible keystrokes.

2. The last section of the AWControls menu is called Add Wizard Controls. Edit the Script an Active Word command, assign the active word name wizcom to it and save the active word.

The wizcom command runs the Add Wizard program and skips the dialog box where you choose the type of active word that you want to create. I work a LOT with this command - I hope you will too.

Try out each of the new commands and let me know how you are getting on, either by placing a comment on this page, by posting to the new webforum or by sending me an email message.

AWesome Scripting!

A Basic ActiveWords Library

I have received quite a few requests to share my ActiveWords library with you. My collection of active words now contains approximately 600 commands, so it's going to take a few posts to describe them, HA! Besides, you wouldn't be interested in all my active words controlling password restricted websites, or would you?

Independent and Modular Active Words
When your ActiveWords library becomes bigger, you will want to be able to find them back quickly. I will discuss ActiveWords Groups in a different post. Groups are mostly used to categorize active words by topic. Today I would like to show you how independent active words can become modular active words.

Some Technical Background about Modular ActiveWords
Building blocks are active words that may be included in the action field of any other active word. You may know that any active word may call any other active word or even itself, up to 15 levels deep. Note that ActiveWords has no mechanism to prevent recursive loops. It's your responsibility to make sure your active word does not call itself.

The concept of modular active words renders huge possibilities. I personally enjoy creating modular active words because they allow you to make an the calling active word self-explanatory. Give the building blocks meaningful names and your actions will be much easier to read and debug. More details about the advantages of using ActiveWords building blocks in my AWesome article called Building an ActiveWords Library.

Exploiting Existing ActiveWords Collections
The steps to add an existing ActiveWords collection are lined out in my recent AWesome postAdding an ActiveWords Collection.

Basic scripts do an excellent job to demonstrate the power of ActiveWords to your friends and colleagues. I believe as existing users we have a lot of potential to make the ActiveWords community grow.

Some Suggestions for Personalized Active Words
In all modesty, I believe the following basic scripts should at least be part of your ActiveWords Library.

I assume you are now familiar with the four steps to create new ActiveWords, otherwise check my post Hello World!.

How about adding the following custom active words:
1. Your Name: <name>, e.g. Queen Juliana
2. Your Website: <web>, e.g. "http://www.thehague.nl"
3. The latest Word document you've been working on: <wrd1>. For a detailed how-to-guide of this active word, see my AWesome post Under Word's Hood

Utilizing ActiveWords Building Blocks
Let's assume you are using a signature in your e-mail client that contains your name and website. Of course you need to have the two active words name and web in place. Now create a new active word called sig with the following script:
<name><ENTER><web>
Do you see how easy-to-read this script is? I challenge you to extend this script and think how you could add a command that automatically sends the e-mail message after inserting the signature. You could call that script sigsend. What other commands could make the sig command a reliable tool?

I look forward to your reactions.

AWesome Scripting!

Hello World!

Most programming books start out with instructions how to write a 'Hello World!' program. The idea is that from there you'll be able to get a grip on the rest of the programming syntax.
Creating a 'Hello World!' program in the ActiveWords Scripting Language (AWSL) is just as straightforward and simple as in any other programming language. ActiveWords comes preloaded with a wizard that takes you through the process step by step. Note scripting is available in the Plus! and Enterprise versions of the software, not in the free SE version. Fully functional 60-day downloads of all varieties are available from the ActiveWords download page.

Here are the steps to create your first 'Hello World!' script.
1. Click on the add button in the ActiveWords monitor bar;
2. In the ActiveWords Add Wizard dialog, choose the Scripting action (it's the last option), then choose Next;
3. in the Add New ActiveWord Wizard - Command dialog, type the following text in the Action field:
<MESSAGE BOX:Hello World!:My First Script>, then press TAB to write a description of your choice in the Description field, then choose Next;
4. In the final dialog screen you may name your action. I suggest you name it Hi. Leave the checkmark in the Confirmation Flag field as it is.
Choose Finish.

Your first ActiveWord script is now ready for use. Try it out by triggering the ActiveWord Hi.

Don't hesitate to post a comment and ask questions.

AWesome Scripting!