Special Functions

This section covers some of the more advanced features that TypeIt4Me offers. Firstly, it will show you how to use TypeIt4Me to dynamically insert dates and times. You’ll learn how to craft snippets that always expand to the current date and / or time in your preferred format. Once you’ve mastered that, we’ll delve into applying mathematical formulae to calculate past or future dates for you on the fly as a snippet expands.

We’ll also look at some other neat tricks TypeIt4Me can do. These include typing special characters, repositioning the cursor and pasting the contents of the clipboard.

Insert Dates & Times

Do you struggle to remember what the date is? Perhaps you’re tired of typing out the full day, date, month and year at the top of every letter you write. Well, TypeIt4Me can help you with both. Add a special date or time token to one of your snippets and it will automatically output the current date or time for you every time that snippet expands.

Insert the Date

Let’s look at how to craft a snippet that will automatically expand to the current date in your preferred format when triggered.

1. Open the main TypeIt4Me app window and select a snippet.
2. Place the cursor in the snippet editing field at the point where you want the date to appear when the snippet expands.
3. Click on the “Add a date” calendar button in the toolbar to bring up a menu of options.
4. Select your preferred date format from the menu options. You can choose a “canned”, pre-formatted date, or “roll your own” by picking each individual element separately and arranging them in the order you want.

Insert the Time

Want a timestamp? No problem. Let’s create a snippet that automatically looks up the current time and types it out for you in your preferred format.

1. Open the main TypeIt4Me app window and select a snippet.
2. Place the cursor in the snippet editing field at the point where you want the time to appear when the snippet expands.
3. Click on the “Add a time” clock button in the toolbar to bring up a menu of options.
4. Select your preferred time format from the menu options. You can choose a “canned”, pre-formatted timestamp, or “roll your own” by picking each individual element separately and arranging them in the order you want.

Apply Date and Time Mathematics

So you’ve learned how to get TypeIt4Me to type out the current date and time for you. Well, the fun doesn’t stop there. It can also automatically calculate dates and times in the past or future, based on a mathematical formula.

Applying date and time math is pretty straightforward. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Add a date to your snippet.
2. Double-click on the date in your snippet.
3. In the popover that opens, use the steppers or type in numbers to add or subtract hours, days, weeks, months or years.
4. Click the OK button.

Examples of when math can save the day

What are some other circumstances in which date math might come in handy? Here are just three hypothetical scenarios that illustrate the potential time-saving benefits of using date math with TypeIt4Me.

Position the Cursor After Expanding a Snippet

When your snippets expand, the standard behaviour is that the cursor will be placed after the end of the expanded content. That makes sense, right? Mostly, you’ll want the next thing you type to appear immediately after the expanded snippet, as you carry on to complete a sentence.

However, there may be instances where you want to control the position of the cursor and move it somewhere else. That is, you might want TypeIt4Me to reposition the cursor relative to the end of the snippet after it expands.

For example, perhaps you’ve created a snippet that contains both opening and closing HTML tags. You need the cursor to jump back a few spaces on expansion so that you can type content that lands in between the tags. Well, good news: that’s easy to do.

It’s very simple to instruct TypeIt4Me where to place the cursor after a snippet expands. This is all you need to do:

1. Select a snippet.
2. In the snippet content editing field, click on the position where you want the cursor to reappear after the snippet expands.
3. Click on the “Insert a special function” button in the toolbar.
4. Select “Position cursor here” from the menu.

Type backspaces, TABs, carriage returns and soft returns

There may be times when you want TypeIt4Me to effectively press keys for you in the course of expanding a snippet. There are several keys on your keyboard that can be “pressed” automatically as a typed abbreviation expands. These are:

• Backspace
• TAB (left and right)
• Return (hard and soft)
• Directional arrow keys (up, down, left and right)

It’s very simple to instruct TypeIt4Me to type a backspace, TAB, return or arrow key in the middle of expanding your snippet content. This is all you need to do:

1. Select a snippet.
2. In the snippet content editing field, click the spot where you want the key to be pressed.
3. Click on the “Insert a special function” button in the toolbar.
4. Select the key you want pressed from the menu. A symbol that represents your chosen key will be inserted in the snippet to show you where it will be pressed.

Paste the Contents of the Clipboard

TypeIt4Me can paste the current contents of your clipboard anywhere in a snippet as it expands. Perhaps you have a standard boilerplate holding response snippet that you use for replying to clients. You want to copy the client’s name to your clipboard and then have that automatically inserted in the right place when your snippet expands. Here’s how to set that up:

1. Open the main TypeIt4Me app window and select a snippet.
2. Place the cursor in the snippet editing field at the point where you want to paste the clipboard contents when the snippet expands.
3. Click on the “Insert a special function” button in the toolbar to bring up a menu of options.
4. Select “Paste Clipboard Here” from the menu.