Recently, I wrote about a program that I was very excited to finally have the full version of. While I was excited to finally have the full version, there were things about the program that I really didn’t understand, like how make the window that I wanted to type in the active one. I’ve used many virtual keyboards over the years and have also known many people who have used them. Making a window an active window shouldn’t be rocket science.
What was I missing?
I finally came to the conclusion that it had to be done with another program that could be used in conjunction with OnScreen. That way, whatever this program was could do the clicking to make the window that I wanted to type in the active one and OnScreen could help me do the typing. It was just days after I came to this conclusion that I discovered exactly what this program that needed to be used was. It's a program called CrossScanner.
CrossScanner is a program that allows you to control your entire computer through a single switch, or in the case of the way I use it, a single mouse button. The way it works is that when I have CrossScanner open and awake and I click my left mouse button, a single line spanning the width of my computer screen starts at the top and moves down. When the line gets over my target (the thing I want to click on or open) I click my left mouse button again and a finger starts moving across the line. When the finger first starts moving across the line there is a pop up box with four icons, one representing double-click, one representing drag, one representing type, and one representing auto scroll. If you need to perform one of these functions when the finger gets to your target (for instance, let's say you want to double-click to open a program) you're going to want to wait until the finger slides over the double-click icon and then hit your left mouse button again. Once the desired action is selected, the finger will start back at the beginning of the line and will continue across the line until you stop it by clicking your mouse button again. In this case that would be when the finger got over the icon of the program that you wanted to open. If you don't happen to need one of the four actions I just described and you just need a standard click, you can just make the box disappear by hitting your left mouse button before the finger slides into the box and then it will just start back at the beginning of the line and wait until you stop it with a click.
Now, let's say that you're talking to someone in Yahoo Instant Messenger. Obviously, this requires typing. So, what you're going to do is start by double-clicking in the instant message window. This is going to make that window active. Next you're going to wait until the finger gets to the typing icon and select that. Once you've done that, if you have OnScreen installed on your computer, it will automatically be detected and launched by CrossScanner. If you have switch scanning enabled within OnScreen like I do, you only need to use your left mouse button (or another switch) to activate it. For me, having switch scanning enabled within the keyboard makes it very convenient because then I only need my one single mouse button to complete every task that I could possibly want to complete on the computer.
The thing that I may like most about CrossScanner is the fact that although you can slow down or speed up both the linescan and fingerscan with it, I don't want to slow either one of them down too much because having them both at a moderate pace challenges me in many ways. However, the biggest way that it challenges me is by challenging me to keep my head up because of I don't keep my head up I'm going to miss my target regardless of what it is, and then I'm going to have to start the whole process all over again. That's another one of the reasons why I have switch scanning enabled on the keyboard. Having it enabled challengers me to keep my head up so that I can stay focused on the keyboard and not miss the next letter of the word that I'm trying to spell. Granted, I could just click on each letter by moving the mouse around as I have with many other virtual keyboards that I've used in the past, but there's not really any challenge in that and anyone who knows me knows that I'm always looking for new ways to challenge myself!
If I happen to miss my target the first time, whether it's within the keyboard or while I'm using CrossScanner it only leaves me more determined to do it "right" the next time!
I've never considered myself to be the type of person who's into video games but CrossScanner is my own personal video game! It’s kind of as if I have a timer hanging over my head and the amount of time left on the timer is the amount of time that I have left before I'm going to get eaten by the villain (in this case the villain is missing my target). If I happen to get eaten by the villain once because I'm not paying attention I'm bound and determined not to do it a second time! :-) I can only be fooled so many times, Mr. Villain, before I start doing the fooling myself! :-) In case you're wondering, the levels of my video game are being able to speed up the scans and actually keep up. If I speed up a scan and get eaten by the villain, well, then I have to go back to the previous level and start over because I failed the new level.
RJ, did you ever think when you started creating software that you would find someone that looked at it as a challenge that they liked? My ultimate goal is to defeat every villain on every level and then either write a post here to tell you about it, or email you directly. Who knows, maybe I'll do both. Whatever I decide to do after I defeat all the villains that I possibly can, I'm so very very happy that you became inspired to create what you're creating because of the lack of availability, among other reasons! I truly cannot talk long enough or loud enough about CrossScanner or OnScreen! Thank you thank you thank you for giving me freedom and challenging me at the same time!
