Script package for keystroke combinations and navigational keys. The ‘nav keys’ are the arrow keys. The shift and option modifier nav keys, as well as the regular nav keys are for repetitive use. They come in 1-5, 10, 25, and 50 repetitions. An example of a command would be “up arrow one time”. Others would be “option shift down arrow fifty times” and “shift down arrow ten times”. There the command modifier nav keys contain only “command left arrow” “command right arrow” “command shift left arrow” “command shift right arrow” “command option left arrow” and “command option right arrow”. The navigational keys include most of the command-letter combinations, using the phonetic (military?) alphabet (command alpha, command beta, command charlie, etc.) and the command-number combinations as well as various other keystroke combinations including option-control-hotel, option-control-kilo, option-control-india and command-function five for use with VoiceOver.

I’ve been using these for awhile, and as far as I know everything works as advertised, but I can’t swear that there are no mistakes anywhere.

Script package

You must have iListen running. Switch to it - the running iListen application.

Under the File menu, select the first item "Commands..." (as of 1.6.8 there is a voice commands for this: Show Commands Window)

The commands window should appear:

Now, are you going to be importing a script for a particular application, or for global/everywhere use? If it is for global use then you are in the right place (see the drop down menu above that says "Type: Global".) If you are going to be importing a script for a particular application, you need to click on the drop down menu above "Type:" and select the only other entry, "Application Specific."

Click the "Import..." button at the bottom and select the text file with the script in it. If this is a global script, iListen will then import the scripts into a new pack with a new name, otherwise it will create a script pack with the same name as the application.

Hopefully it will import them with out any problems. Importing and exporting can be a little touchy. If iListen has problems importing the Applescript for particular commands, it will give you a cryptic (unless you understand Applescript and iListen scripting) error message and you must hit the okay button to continue importing. For each particular command that it had problems with, the type column will show "Applescript (uncompiled)". This means that iListen could not compile, or translate the Applescript text into working code. If you open that particular command (double click on it or press the "Edit..." button) sometimes you might see a missed return or a whole bunch of garbled characters. Fix it if you can, otherwise, you can always disable the command using the check box next to the name in the command listing window or in the command editing window itself.

So, early on I developed a whole set of commands for moving the cursor around, among other things. They are general-purpose commands, usable for text editing, moving between input fields in applications, selecting text and other items, moving around menus, navigating the finder, etc. Lots of them are just multiple repetitions of the same command. I wish iListen had a way to repeat the same action without having to write it out - Dragon works beautifully in this regard with its natural command macro syntax.

The list of commands in this package is as follows:

Backspace
Backspace Eight
Backspace Five
Backspace Four
Backspace Nine
Backspace Seven
Backspace Six
Backspace Ten
Backspace three
Backspace two
Center Cursor
Choose Dock
Choose Edit Menu
Choose File Menu
Choose Menu
Close Window
Command Down Arrow
Command Up Arrow
Copy That
Copy This
Cut That
Cut This
Delete Five
Delete Four
Delete Key
Delete Six
Delete Three
Delete Two
Don't Save
Duplicate Item
Edit Item
Expose Application Windows
Expose Desktop Windows
Expose Windows
Find Again
Find Something
Finder Back
Finder Forward
Grab Capture Selection
Last Window
Minimize Window
Mouse Click
Mouse Double Click
Move Down
Move Down Five
Move Down Five Select
Move Down Four
Move Down Four Select
Move Down One
Move Down One Select
Move Down Six
Move Down Six Select
Move Down Ten
Move Down Three
Move Down Three Select
Move Down Two
Move Down Two Select
Move Left
Move Left Five
Move Left Five Select
Move Left Four
Move Left Four Select
Move Left One
Move Left One Select
Move Left Six
Move Left Six Select
Move Left Three
Move Left Three Select
Move Left Two
Move Left Two Select
Move Right
Move Right Five
Move Right Five Select
Move Right Four
Move Right Four Select
Move Right One
Move Right One Select
Move Right Six
Move Right Six Select
Move Right Three
Move Right Three Select
Move Right Two
Move Right Two Select
Move Up
Move Up Five
Move Up Five Select
Move Up Four
Move Up Four Select
Move Up One
Move Up One Select
Move Up Six
Move Up Six Select
Move Up Ten
Move Up Three
Move Up Three Select
Move Up Two
Move Up Two Select
New Document
Next Utility Window
Next Window
Open Document
Open Item
Page Down Three
Page Down Two
Page Setup
Page Up Three
Page Up Two
Paste That
Paste This
Print This
Save Document As
Select Desktop
Select Down Arrow
Select Left
Select Right
Select Up Arrow
Shift Tab
Shift Tab Six
Shift Tab Three
Shift Tab Two
Show Preferences
Space bar
Tab Key Four
Tab Key Six
Tab Key Three
Tab Key Twelve
Tab Key Two
Trash Item
Undo That
Undo This
Word Left
Word Left Select
Word Left Six
Word Left Six Select
Word Left Three
Word Left Three Select
Word Left Two
Word Left Two Select
Word Right
Word Right Five
Word Right Five Select
Word Right Four
Word Right Four Select
Word Right Select
Word Right Six
Word Right Six Select
Word Right Three
Word Right Three Select
Word Right Two
Word Right Two Select
Zoom In
Zoom Out
Word Left Four
Word Left Four Select
Word Left Five Select
Word Left Five
Word Left One Select
Word Right One Select
Get Info
Quit This Application
Press Delete
Switch Dashboard

Note: because of the way that Thunderbird runs itself, iListen will not recognize it and allow you to attach an Application Specific script package to it. So, I just load this package into the global commands area. I have named all the commands so they do not conflict with any of the standard global commands. This setup is not generally a problem for me (in fact, it actually works quite well, because I am usually running Thunderbird all the time.

Note: Thunderbird does not seem to recognize menu requests the first time that that they are run, so some of these commands will fail silently until you either click on a menu or pull down a menu using the Control-F2 key combination (very useful to make that into some sort of voice command).

I have not implemented every single command, just the ones that I use the most. Let me know if there are others that you think I should add.

I have started off by putting up my package for Thunderbird, described in the next post.

If you have script packages that you would like to distribute to the wider community, please e-mail them to me (with any relevant information and disclaimers) and I will make them available here.

If you have any useful Applescript information as relates to iListen script writing, send it on to me and I will post it here also. I will try and put up a few general tips that I have learned over the years.

This is not meant to be a general support web site, so please do not send me or post to the comments questions about problems you are having running or using iListen. Only questions about the particular script packages or scripts that are found here, please.

That said, I hope this is helpful to every one!