Key Maps and Assigning Functions to Keys

Key Map Button

There are 4 keyboards each with the same physical layout, and each with 20 user assignable keys. You may want to think of these as shift levels, or the 2^nd function that some keyboards and calculators have, but with 4 levels, A ñ D. Tap the key map code for the layout you want, and when the Option dialog is closed, the keyboard will display that mapping.

The reason for having so many key maps is so you can set up a keyboard with a set of related functions, such as one for financial uses, and another for Data Set manipulations while still keeping a general purpose one defined.

Similarly to the Quick Format key for display formats, there is a button on the keyboard that cycles among the different key maps in use (ones that have at least one user defined key) shown as KmA - KmD. Just tap it till you get to the keyboard layout you want, or you can open the Options dialog and select it there, it is the same thing.

Define Key Mode Checkbox

To assign functions to keys, check the Define Key Mode box, and select the key map you want to work in. When you close the Options dialog, you will be in key definition mode. In this mode, you first select a function to map to a key, then select the key, then the next function, its key, and so on. The Info box will keep flipping to tell you what to do next. To exit this mode, tap the Options key (you canít assign it to anything) and uncheck the Define Key Mode box.

You can copy the function in one key to another by tapping the key you want to copy rather than the function, then tap the key to assign the function to. This is useful if you decide to move a function to a different place on the keyboard.

In the Misc functions dropdown, there is an entry for Empty key definition which you can use to remove the definition from a key. If you remove all the key definitions in a key map, it wonít be part of the ones the Key Map Button cycles through, although you can always get to it from the Options dialog choices. This ìfunctionî can also be copied key to key as discussed above.

As you work in define key mode, youíll notice that depending on if you are selecting a key or a function, certain keys are not active and cannot be selected. These keys arenít available for that selection, only the 20 user definable keys in each key map can be assigned, and some functions, such as the editing operations, canít be used.

You arenít limited to just functions for key assignments. You can also assign M1 ñ M100, A1 ñ A10, H1 ñ H10, C1 ñ C10, and any of the constants to keys. If you have loaded Visual Basic Script functions, they can also be assigned to keys as is discussed below.

The key map definitions are part of the saved state (discussed more below), so when you save and restore different computation environments, you can also have appropriately mapped key boards for each saved state.