Adding WordStar keyboard commands

[RJSawyer]

I miss having the WordStar commands available in TextMaker; as you know, there used to be an option in older versions of TextMaker to toggle them on and off (called the "Classic" commands). I am using SoftMaker Office 2024 (the lifetime purchase version, not the by-subscription NX version) on Windows 11 Pro.

Am I correct that the keyboard shortcut assignments are stored in the file:

\Users\<username>\Documents\SoftMaker\Settings\tm24keys.dat

and, if so:

1) If I copy my customized tm24keys.dat to another computer where I have one of my other licenses for TextMaker activated, will my customized keyboard shortcuts will then be active on that computer, too?

2) If i created two new .dat files, one with the default keyboard shortcuts and the other with my customized shortcuts, then, prior to starting TextMaker, can I select which set of shortcuts I want by overwriting tm24keys.dat with the appropriate file?

I've got something like this in mind, to be automated as a pair of command-line batch files:

To switch to the WordStar shortcuts:

copy wordstar.dat tm24keys.dat

To invoke the default keyboard shortcuts:

copy default.dat tm24keys.dat

Will that work?

Thank you!

(And, yes, I still love and use WordStar for DOS; see my WordStar for DOS archive here: https://sfwriter.com/ws7.htm.)

[SuperTech]

Instead of manually moving files, you can use our Export/Import setting tool, for complete details, please click here.

[RJSawyer]

I've finished adding WordStar keyboard shortcuts to TextMaker 2024. Documentation and my customized tm24keys.dat file (the file that contains the shortcuts) can be downloaded from my website:

https://sfwriter.com/wordstar-for-textmaker-2024.zip

This essentially restores the optional "Classic" keyboard interface that was included with older versions of TextMaker.

Regretably, TextMaker does not support numbers or punctuation marks as the second character in a two-character keyboard shortcut, so there’s no way to map, for instance, Ctrl‑K,1 (WordStar’s command to set placemarker 1) onto TextMaker’s bookmark feature. I urge SoftMaker to remove this restriction in the future.

All best wishes!

Rob

Robert J. Sawyer
Science Fiction Writer
Best Novel Hugo and Nebula Award-winner
https://sfwriter.com