Keyboard Shortcuts for Tracker Add-Ons

If you've been using the BeOS for any length of time, you have probably discovered Tracker "add-ons," utilities which can be installed in such a way that they are accessible from any Tracker File menu, in the Add-Ons sub-menu. These new menu commands can act on the current Tracker window, or the selection of files inside that window, making them very useful indeed. Tracker add-ons can be found in the Add-Ons section of BeWare.

I have two favorite Tracker add-ons, TermHire and ZipMe. You can download them from those links, and instructions for installing them come in the package. TermHire opens a Terminal (command line) session with the working directory automatically set to the current window, while ZipMe uses the zip command line tool to make a zip archive out of the current Tracker selection. These two add-ons simplify or eliminate using the command line to do basic tasks.

Being able to choose these items from a Tracker File menu is great, but sometimes it's even more convenient to use your keyboard. So, in our latest keyboard shortcut Tip, here's how you can add a keyboard shortcut of Control-Alt-<key> on the right side of a PC-style keyboard (or Command-Option-<key> on a Mac keyboard) to any Tracker add-on (in Preview Release 2 or later):

1. In the Tracker, open the /home/config/add-ons/Tracker/ directory.

   This is the directory where all your Tracker add-ons should be installed. Check your add-on's documentation for more detailed installation instructions.

2. Locate the Tracker add-on to which you would like to add a keyboard shortcut, and click on its file name text to enable editing of its file name.

3. Rename the add-on file to add at the end a dash ("-") and then the key to use for the shortcut. For example, to give the TermHire add-on the keyboard shortcut Control-Alt-T, rename it to "TermHire-T".

4. Press the Enter key on your keyboard to save the change to the file name.

You can now use Control-Alt-<key> (on the right side of a PC-style keyboard, remember!) as a keyboard shortcut for your add-on!

Note: You must use a key which produces a character when pressed in combination with the right side Control key on PC-style keyboards (or the Option key on a Mac keyboard). Currently this is most keys with the notable exceptions of the "H" and the "," keys.