the Editor

[Show Keys] or [Amiga]+[K]
As a default, all menu options have their equivalent keyboard commands displayed alongside. This option is used to remove these explanations from the menus. Keyboard short-cuts can still be used as normal, even if the constant reminders of their settings are removed. A tick mark is added against this item to show that it has been selected.

[Insert Mode] or [F8]
This toggles the Editor between Insert and Overwrite mode, as explained earlier in this Chapter.

[Sounds]
Sound effects may be used by the AMOS Professional Editor, and this option loads a list of audio samples from the AMOSPro.Samples folder, providing accompanying effects when various options are called up.

To turn these sound effects off, simply click on the [Sound] option again. The creation of your own sound effects is dealt with in Chapter 8.2.

[Set Key Short-cut]
Most menu items can be assigned to an equivalent combination of control keys. This allows menu commands to be accessed directly from the keyboard for extra speed.

AMOS Professional is equipped with its own pre-defined set of keyboard options, but these can be changed from the Editor at any time. Experienced AMOS programmers and users of commercial word processing packages may want to change the AMOS Professional layout to something more familiar, and any new definitions can be saved as part of the configuration file.

This means that your favourite keyboard settings will be available automatically, every time you begin a programming session.

Setting a keyboard short-cut is extremely simple. Here is the procedure:

• Call the [Set Key Short-cut] option from the [Config] menu.
• Select any target menu option. This can be any option except accessory items that are assigned to the [AMOS] Main menu heading.
• Enter your keyboard short-cut directly from the keyboard. This can comprise a single key press, as well as any combination of the [Shift], [Ctrl], [Alt], [Amiga], [Function] or [Cursor Arrow] keys.

Remember that AMOS Professional uses the scancode of keys, and not their Ascii values. This means that the keys in the numeric' keypad can be assigned different functions from the standard number keys. If a selected combination of keys is already in use, you will be asked to confirm your choice before proceeding. A response of [YES] will erase the original short-cut, and replace it with your new setting.

Obviously, if these settings are played with casually, the resulting confusion may be difficult to rectify. If this happens, reload the AMOS Professional standard settings from the "AMOSPro.Configuration.Backup" file located within the "Extra_Configs" folder on the "AMOSPro_System" disc.