In article <[log in to unmask]>, Wirt Atmar <[log in to unmask]>
writes

Finally, on a third subject, something I meant to ask earlier but forgot, how
do you all feel about making "smart RETURN" the default setting? Smart RETURN
is the feature where that when the terminal is put in BLOCK mode, as it is a
VIEW screen, the RETURN key is automatically made an ENTER key.


In article <[log in to unmask]>, Wirt Atmar <[log in to unmask]>
writes
>Jeff Kell writes:
>
>> Maybe nice for you VPLUS bigots, but for us old character mode folks,
>>  it would be most annoying...
>
>One thing I might not made as clear as possible is that the RETURN key only
>becomes an ENTER key when you're in BLOCK mode. When you return to character
>mode, the key instantly again becomes a CARRIAGE RETURN key.
>
>Wirt Atmar
>

Hi Folks

Sorry if this is a late addition to this thread, But picking up on a couple of
comments from Wirt and Roy I thought it worthwhile adding to it.

Firstly a public thank you to Roy for doing the original work that led to us
putting this feature into the ScreenJet Emulator. We actually called the
feature "Smart Send" as the specification that we used was that whilst in
"Block Mode" (but more of that in a moment) either Enter or Return would work
as Enter (with some exceptions) and whilst in "Character Mode" either Enter or
Return worked as Return. But yes we do have a switch to turn this operation On
or Off.

There have been some comments that this might be inconvenient in some corner
cases. All I can say is that I have had this feature turned "ON" permanently
for about 18 months and it has never bitten me. The only time I get annoyed is
if I'm using a newly installed version (which defaults to Off) or an emulator
somewhere else that doesn't have this feature and I hit Enter in character
mode and get puzzled why the HP received an invalid command. At sites where
users have a mix of Character Mode and Block mode apps they love it! New users
to the HP3000 never have to learn the difference between these types of
applications, and why should they.

I think one further point that needs echoing was the one that Wirt made about
the target user for QC Term, which was that of the typical end user not a
power user. Like wise with the ScreenJet Emulator and GUI Tool kit we are
aiming to make the 3000 easier to use and more transparent for new users. So I
would always vote that the options that help with always defaulted to "ON" as
the rest of the experienced and development users who find the odd occasion
where they don't like it can always turn it off. Like wise the incorporation
of features that only .0001% of 3000 users need has to be evaluated against
the potential returns, and if the product is free?


As I mentioned earlier we did find a couple of exceptions to the Return =
Enter in Block mode, where this was not desirable but as this was detectable
by other settings that changed at the same time we were able to dynamically
incorporate them. In the spirit of achieving commonality for HP3000 users we
would be happy to provide the exact specification we used for inclusion in QC
Term.

Alan

Alan Yeo
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Phone +44 1684 291710   waste my Time. Money is replaceable.
Fax   +44 1684 291712

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