Tool Bar Buttons and Text Displays
TenKey Tutor's Tool Bar provides quick access to some of the items available on the main menu. In addition, it provides several calculator functions that are available ONLY from the button bar, since the menu would be too cumbersome to implement them. Timer information and the user's overall Hi Score also appear there.
All buttons have helpful tool tips to tell you what they do or inform you of a current selection or condition. Get in the habit of letting your mouse hover over a button for a moment and check out the tool tip. You may be glad you did.
This page is organized to discuss the "standard" buttons that are almost always available. This will be followed by special calculator buttons, the text displays, and finally two buttons that appear on the Menu Bar when useful.
The button takes you to the Welcome screen to create a new user. This feature cannot be utilized under a single user license without first deleting the current student.
This button allows you to open any tape you have saved in the past and display it in the Paper Tape window. When in Use Calculator mode, you can also open and display a saved tape in the Data Tape window. The button can be activated by the usual mouse click, or by holding down the [Ctrl] key and then hitting the [O]pen key.
As with the Open button, either the data source tape or the paper tape can be saved where appropriate.
To save the Scratch Pad (data) tape, place the mouse cursor in the Scratch Pad window and click this button or press [Ctrl]+S.
To save the paper tape, place your moue anywhere but in the Scratch Pad window first. The Save Paper Tape dialog will automatically suggest a file name with Paper Tape-year.month.day-hour.min.sec.txt. Rename if you wish.
This button's tool tip displays the current default printer that will be used to print your selection. Clicking this button opens the Print Options selection form. This will optionally print a "snapshot" of Tenkey Tutor, the data tape, and/or the paper tape.
Why print a snapshot of the form? This is a handy way of taking notes. The snapshot will include the current time and hi-score, the result of the most recent calculation (and associated scratch pad note, if any), together will the most recent drill's timed results. Need to remember any of this? Take a snapshot.
This button clears the paper tape. Why bother, since it can hold up to 32, 767 characters? Simple. If you are about to run a critical series of computations that you need to record, clear the tape first to get rid of old junk you won't want to save to disk or print out. And when drilling, it is easier to compare a short tape with the most recent data run.
This button does exactly that. No fuss or muss. Great for saving the last series of entires for review now or in the future.
This button provides context help when otherwise not available. Click the button, then click an item of interest. A pop-up context help window will appear with information regarding that item's use or condition.
This button is primarily intended to start and/or finish drills while using the FlashKey method in the Learn Touch Keying mode. This button will flash the first drill key and start the drill session timer, or stop the drill session time and close the drill session. A similar function is performed for the Speed and Accuracy drills, as well as for the Measure Skills sessions.
Alternatively, simply strike the first digit of the first number found on the Data Tape, to start the Accuracy, Speed and Measure Skills sessions.
In all cases, the [Esc] key will also stop the drill and close the session.
These buttons provide functions only available while in Calculator mode. Each of these buttons can also be activated from the QWERTY keyboard by simply pressing the letter underlined on the button.
This sets the current value of the stored "grand total" memory to zero in preparation for another series of subtotal accumulations. Pressing [C] on the keyboard is equivalent to clicking the button. Only the "grand total" memory is actually affected. However, the act is also recorded on the paper tape, for later reference.
As noted in the Learning window, pressing the [Delete] key will clear the "grand total" memory as well as the main calculator.
This adds the current total in the main calculator memory to the "grand total" memory. Use this feature to accumulate a grand total of a series of subtotals. After each subtotal is reached, use the M+ button, or press the [M] key, to add that total to the running "grand total". Then begin computing the next subtotal.
This event is recorded on the Paper Tape, for later reference, but does not affect the current value in main calculator memory.
To see the current value in the "grand total" memory, hold the mouse over the button. The tool tip will display the value.
This returns the current "grand total" from memory and enters it into the data entry window, as though you had just keyed in that value. Use this to continue computations or simply to display the result on the paper tape.
Pressing the [R] key has the same effect.
This clears the main calculator total (stored in the "accumulator"), as well as the data entry window. Press the [A] key to have the same effect. Or press the [Delete] key to clear this and the "grand total" memory as well.
Use this button, or press the [S] key, to calculate the square root of the value in the main calculator accumulator memory (total). The total is replaced with its square root. For instance if the total in the Data Entry window is 100, the total is re-totaled as 10.
This tool bar includes 0 to three text displays, depending on TenKey Tutor's configuration and learning mode of the moment.
This is the current time according to the PC's internal system clock. If incorrect, reset the time using the Windows clock. (Double-click the time in the lower right corner of the PC's system tray to open the clock for adjustment.)
This displays the highest net accurate keying rate of any recorded session performed by the current user. The rate is the total strokes less errors divided by time in the drill or skill measurement session.
This is the time since the first correct key was struck in a drill session, or since the drill was started with the Start/Finish flag. Its primary purpose is to let the user know that the session is still in motion, by providing a continuous count of elapsed time. When not in session, the elapsed time of the last completed session is shown.
This timer is not actually used to compute keying rates. Those are measured internally and include only the time between the first correct stroke and the last one in the session. This time is shown in the Status Panel instead, and can be displayed in minutes or seconds by clicking the display with the mouse. The time in the panel will usually be less than that shown in the Elapsed timer.
In Learn Touch Keying and in Use Calculator modes only, one of two special arrow buttons will appear in the Menu Bar.
This converts TenKey Tutor's display from full keyboard to calculator view only. This provides a much more compact calculator for use when entering values displayed in other windows on the screen. (The FlashKey method does not initially utilize the data tape above the QWERTY keyboard, so this mode can also be utilized successfully in the compact calculator form.
(For even further compression, the Paper Tape can be hidden via the Options menu.)
This expands TenKey Tutor from its compressed calculator mode into full QWERTY keyboard display mode again.
Due to lack of menu bar space when compressed, the Learning Modes menu options are not available while the QWERTY keyboard is hidden. Use this button to expand TenKey Tutor if it is necessary to access the full menu and/or button bar.