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30 MacSpeech DictateChapter 6 — Controlling Your Mac
Creating Commands Manually
You can also create a command manually. Use this method
when you don’t have pre-existing content that will work
with MacSpeech Dictate’s ability to automatically create a
command.
To create a command manually, follow these steps:
Turn off MacSpeech Dictate’s microphone.
1. Switch to MacSpeech Dictate by clicking the
MacSpeech Dictate icon in the Status window, or
using the Dock.
2. Choose “Commands…” from the Tools menu. The
Commands window opens (Figure 6-3). Individual
command sets are listed in the left sidebar. For
this example, we will create a new global com-
mand in the Global command set.
3. In the Commands window, select the command
set into which you want the command to be
stored from the “Context” menu.
4. Click the Plus Sign, or select “New Command”
from the File menu. A new command is created
and is ready to be edited, as shown in Figure 6-4.
5. Select the type of command you want to add from
the “Type” pop-down menu, as shown in Figure
6-5.
6. Edit the command so it does what you want when
its name is spoken.
Figure 6-5
Types of Commands - More Details
The Command window will look slightly different depending
on what type of command you are creating. This section
will provide additional information to assist you in creating
different types of commands. Refer to Figure 6-5 for an
illustration of how to select the different types of commands
in the Command window.
AppleScript
Anything that can be written as an AppleScript can be made
speakable. MacSpeech Dictate includes a full AppleScript
Script Editor. Enter the code for the AppleScript into the
Source field. Press the Compile button to verify the script
will compile, and the Stop or Run buttons to stop or run the
script.
To see the result of running a script, click the Result button.
Application
Application commands are for opening applications that can
be seen by your computer. By default, MacSpeech Dictate
already knows how to open all the applications in your
Application folder. You would only need to create this type of
command if you wanted to open an application that is outside
your Applications folder, such as on an external hard drive or
network server.
Bookmark
The quickest way to create a bookmark command is to simply
drag a URL to the Automatic area of the Command window, as
discusse d ear lier in this c hapter. If yo u want to manually c reate
a Bookmark command simply type the web address, including
the “http://” into the URL field, then give the command a name
and description.
File or Folder
A File or Folder command allows you to use your voice to
open any file or folder you could normally open in the Finder.
As with Bookmarks, the quickest way to create a command
of this type is to simply drag a file or folder’s icon into the
Automatic area of a new Command window and name the
command.
If you want to manually create a File or Folder c ommand, type
the path to the item, or click the Browse button and navigate to
it, then give the command a name and description.
Shell Script
A Shell Script is a text file that contains a sequence of
commands for your computer to execute. It’s called a shell
script because it combines into a “script” in a single file a
sequence of commands that would otherwise have to be
presented to the system from a keyboard one at a time. The
shell is the operating system’s command interpreter and the
set of commands you use to communicate with the system.
A shell script is usually created for command sequences for
which a user has a repeated need. You initiate the sequence
of commands in the shell script by simply entering the name
of the shell script on a command line.