Table of Contents

· Saving, opening, and creating a new document
· Change a font type, style, or size
· Cut, copy, paste, or delete text
· Create a bulleted list
· Inserting a picture
· Inserting time and date
· Find and Replace dialog
· Printing
· Switching between modes
· Thesaurus
· VoodooSpell" Spell Check feature
· Deja Vu™ Automated Document Recovery
· Configuration options

____________________________________________

Saving, opening, and creating a new document

Shortcuts:

New: Ctrl + N
Open: Ctrl + O
Save: Ctrl + S
Save As: F12

This is the most basic function every man ought 'a know by now. Working with files! I guess this one is pretty self-explanatory and the shortcuts are all you need to know.

New
Creates a new file... blah... blah...

Open
Opens an existing file... Some text here...

Save
Save a file... some more here...

Save as
Save a file under a different file name... and a bit more here...

Notes

In case of extreme difficulties
regarding this topic, please don't
hesitate to contact the developers.

Change a font type, style, or size

1. Select the text that you want to
change.

2. On the Format menu, click
Font.

3. Click the options you want.

Notes

You can specify the font for new
text by changing the font settings
before you begin to type.

You can select all text at once by
clicking Edit, and then clicking
Select All or Ctrl + A alternatively.

You can also simplify the task of
changing font attributes by using the
font style and font size combo
boxes on the upper left-hand corner
of the formatting toolbar.

Cut, copy, paste, or delete text

Shortcuts:

Cut: Ctrl + X
Copy: Ctrl + C
Paste: Ctrl + V
Select All: Ctrl + A
Clear: Del

1. To cut text so you can move it to
another location, select the text,
and then on the Edit menu, click
Cut.

2. To copy text so you can paste it in
another location, select the text,
and then on the Edit menu, click
Copy.

3. To paste text you have cut or
copied, click in the document where
you want to paste the text, and
then on the Edit menu, click
Paste.

4. To delete text, select it, and then
on the Edit menu, click Clear.

Notes

You can undo your action by
clicking Edit, and then pressing
Ctrl + Z to undo or
Ctrl + Y to Redo

You can select all text at once by
clicking Edit, and then clicking
Select All or Ctrl + A if it doesn't work.

Create a bulleted list

1. Click where you want the
bulleted list to start.

2. On the Format menu, click
Bullet Style, and then type your text.
When you press ENTER, another bullet
appears on the next line.

3. To end the bulleted list, on the
Format menu, click
Bullet Style again.

Notes

You can also create a bulleted list
by clicking the Bullets button on
the format bar.

Inserting a picture

1. Position the cursor where
you want to insert the picture.

2. On the Insert menu, click
Picture.

3. Search for the picture then
click Open.

Notes

Alternatively, you can also
insert a picture by clicking
the Insert picture icon in the
toolbar.

Inserting time and date

1. Click where you want the
date and time to appear.

2. On the Insert menu, click
Time and Date.

Notes

Alternatively, you have
an option if you only
want to insert the date
or time only.

Find and Replace dialog

Shortcuts:

Find: Ctrl + F
Replace: Ctrl + H

You can search for words or characters in your
document (Find, Ctrl + F). You can also search
for and replace words or characters with text
that you specify (Replace, Ctrl + H).

Printing

SwitchBlade as a text editor indubitably rocks... may we advice you NOT to use SwitchBlade for printing critical documents. Use WordPad's printing support instead for professional printing solutions. SwitchBlade's printing capabilities as of version 1.0 is quite crude and does not support a way for adjusting border sizes and paper sizes.

Nonetheless, SwitchBlade is able to print non-critical documents that simply needs some printing such as song lyrics and lesson handouts.

About SwitchBlade's *Unique Printing Support

In spite of SwitchBlade's printing support limitations, it has one good thing to offer after all. When using a Letter size paper (8.5 x 11 in.), SwitchBlade is able to maximize the print area by setting the top border as 0.25 inches and the left and right border to just about 0.5 inches. This makes way for paper saving printing solution we plan to call EfficioPrint™ in the upcoming versions. (Laugh out loud...) :D

* a cute term for weird

Switching between modes

SwitchBlade supports switching modes during runtime. You can do this by clicking the Switch Mode menu and then clicking the available alternative mode Sleek455 mode or Simple mode. By doing so, the file you're currently working is COPIED into the new window named NewUnsavedDocument, which as the name implies UNSAVED! The text is only copied and not saved! Meaning you have to resave it once again. Pictures and formatting are of course is dropped off.

Switching mode from Simple interface

Switching mode from Sleek455™ interface

Thesaurus

Shortcut: Shift + F7

MS Word Dependent Dictionary and Thesaurus

This feature is a not so original concept and provides a way to use MS Word's built-in powerful spell check and thesaurus. This feature assumes you have MS Word installed (no matter what the means). Haha... It can check for the meaning of the word and the synonyms if it exists in the installed version of your MS Word. The functionality of this feature solely relies on the current version of you MS Office.

Sample thesaurus window

VoodooSpell™ Spell Check feature

Shortcut: F7

VoodooSpell™ is a spelling correction system that is based solely on a dictionary file. As a prerequisite, the dictionary file must be sorted in a descending fashion. Attempts to modify the file should always make sure that the file is sorted. The system is also case insensitive meaning having the word "Coconut" and "coconut" in the dictionary makes no difference. The spelling feature is called VoodooSpell for it uses common logic, meaning the obvious method and does not put in mind the speed and efficiency. It literally hogs memory and bogs down CPU time by loading hundreds and thousands of word entries in an array, thus the word Voodoo -it's evil! Lolz! Some could quote it as being "crude" for that matter. Nonetheless it provides a "proof of concept" that it can be done. VoodooSpell is still in Beta version, meaning it still isn't working the way we intend it to! Lolz... For some technical reasons (and short time)... it stops checking upon encountering special characters and pictures. We suggest checking the document one word at a time (...and hell yeah, speak about tedious work!).

VoodooSpell can currently check an entire document, for some technical reasons stops at certain special characters. Luckily the word per word spell checking works fine with the thesaurus. Do this by simply highlighting the word and pressing Shift + F7 or clicking on the menu or icon of the thesaurus.

Sample VoodooSpell check screen

Deja Vu™ Automated Document Recovery

Deja Vu is a French word for "already seen". Basically, Deja Vu™ is an automatic document recovery feature for SwitchBlade. The idea behind Deja Vu is quite simple. When the program closes, it writes to a file that the program terminated normally, meaning the computer did not shutdown while SwitchBlade was up and running or the application wasn't "killed" from the task manager. The auto save function is triggered every time the mouse is moved around the main window and this is how SwitchBlade keeps track of what you're doing. If the program is initiated the next time and it was indicated that it previously terminated unexpectedly, it then simply loads that file and then asks you if you want to load the recovered document. Deja Vu is quite "cute" if I say so myself. It was conceived just a few days before release of version 1.0, the deadline that is!

Warning: The recovered document is NOT the actual document you were previously working on. You HAVE to save it again!

Also, closing the window by clicking CLOSE WINDOW button will cause Deja Vu to drop off the recovered document. If in case you've done this by accident, go to the installation folder of SwitchBlade and go to the folder named System then open autoRecovery.rtf and wish your luck it is still there. Good luck.

How it works

Considering that the program terminates unexpectedly the last time it was used, the next time you start SwitchBlade, the document you were previously working on is presented and Deja Vu asks you if you want to recover the document and continue working on it.

Sample Deja Vu™ screen

Configuration options

SwitchBlade offers a number of configuration options that it "remembers" the next time you open SwitchBlade. Among these configurations are the mode, greeting message, greet on startup, and show splash on startup options.

You simply click the Configuration menu and then adjust the customizations you prefer.

Sample configuration menu

The current state of the Toggle speech button is also remembered the next time you open SwitchBlade. All the configuration settings are stored in a file named switchBlade.ini in the installation folder under the folder System. In case there's something terrible that happened to your configuration file, simply delete it and reload your copy under the filename Copy of switchBlade.ini.

Warning: Never attempt to modify the configuration file for it can cause drastic effects and even cause SwitchBlade not to start at all!

Sample customize startup greeting dialog

--- Nothing follows ---