Developer Blog

... is really cool and useful, helps you get things typed even faster than before, and was just added in v2.35, released today.

The way it works is, when Breevy finds an %(Input) in the replacement text of an abbreviation, it will pause -- right in the middle of outputting the replacement text -- and wait for your input. After you're done typing your input, you can press the Tab key and Breevy will continue with the rest of the output.

For example, if you have a replacement text of Hello, my name is %(Input) and I live in %(Input)., Breevy would first output Hello, my name is (after you type the abbreviation associated with the replacement text, of course) and then it would wait for your input. Of course, in this case you would enter your name.

Then you'd press Tab to tell Breevy you're done. Breevy would then continue "typing" the rest of the replacement text until the next %(Input): and I live in. Once again it would pause and wait for your input... this time, you would want to enter your location. Press Tab again and Breevy continues with the output... in this case, just a period.

You can also optionally add identifiers to the %(Input) macro. For example, if you do something like %(Input e-mail address), Breevy would first output e-mail address, automatically select / highlight it, and then pause, allowing you to type your e-mail address (no need for you to manually delete the phrase e-mail address since if you type a key while text is highlighted, the highlighted text is removed).

The benefit to using identifiers in the %(Input) macro is, while they're not necessary, they make it easier to quickly remember what you're supposed to type at a certain point in the replacement text.

You can download Breevy here and try out the new macro for yourself.

One of the cool features added to Breevy 2.30 (released today) is the %(Key), %(KeyDown), and %(KeyUp) macros, which allow you to instruct Breevy to simulate "special" key presses like the Home key, the Insert and Delete key, the Ctrl, Alt, and Escape keys, etc.

Letters, numbers, and other characters could already be typed by Breevy when their corresponding abbreviation was typed by the user (for more on how Breevy works, and how it can help you get things typed much faster, click here). Prior to v2.30, however, key combinations and keys that don't display a character when typed -- Ctrl, Alt, etc -- couldn't be, because there was no way for them to be represented in an abbreviation's replacement text field.

But with the addition of the %(Key), %(KeyDown), and %(KeyUp) macros, now you can instruct Breevy to press those special keys and key combos.

For example:

• %(Key Ctrl+Alt+H) tells Breevy to press Ctrl, Alt, and H simultaneously

• %(Key Ctrl+Tab 10) tells Breevy to press Ctrl and Tab simultaneously a total of 10 times

• %(KeyDown Alt)01234%(KeyUp Alt) tells Breevy to simulate a press and hold of the Alt key down. Breevy will then type '01234' and then simulate a lift ("keyup") of the Alt key

• Hello!%(Key Ctrl+A+C) tells Breevy to type Hello!, then simulate a press Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C -- effectively causing the word Hello! to be selected and copied to the clipboard

For more info, just press F2 while in Breevy's main window.

Today we released Breevy 2.24, which adds support for importing your custom Microsoft Word AutoCorrect entries automatically.

All you need to do is click File -> Import Microsoft Word AutoCorrections and they'll be imported for you.

You can then disable AutoCorrect in Microsoft Word, since Breevy can replace your AutoCorrections universally in any application, not just Word.

Automatic screenshots -- also known as timed screenshots, automatic screen captures, or automatic screen grabs -- are a great way to document, for whatever purpose, what was shown on your computer screen at different times throughout the day.

For those who aren't familiar with the term screenshot, it's essentially an exact duplicate of what is being shown on the computer screen, saved in high-quality picture form (JPEG, PNG, etc), that can be viewed on any computer.

IcyScreen is a powerful software program of ours that can take those screenshots for you, and even e-mail or upload them to the Internet (see below)... automatically, of course.

IcyScreen has a lot of features, but it's also straightforward and easy to use. All you really need to do is tell it how often you'd like a screenshot to be taken -- every second, every 10 minutes, every 3 days, etc. -- and then where you'd like the screenshot to be saved or sent. Then just click the On button and IcyScreen will faithfully do its job, taking screenshots as often as you told it to.

Currently, IcyScreen can save, send, and upload screenshots automatically using four different methods (you can use all four, or just pick and choose):

• Disk: Screenshots will be saved to your hard drive, for example to C:\screenshots.
• FTP: Screenshots will be uploaded to a web/FTP server via FTP. This method is great for if you want to share screenshots with customers or even your employees, no matter where they are. You can even view the screenshots in a web browser.
• E-mail: Screenshots will be e-mailed to each e-mail address you specify. You can specify an unlimited number of e-mail addresses, and can even include a message in the e-mail.
• ImageShack: Screenshots will be uploaded to your ImageShack image hosting account (which is free).

If you've got an idea for a save or upload method you'd like to see added to Icy, send us an e-mail and let us know about it.

As mentioned earlier, there are lots of optional settings you'll probably find useful, too. You can customize the screenshot image format (GIF, PNG, JPEG, BMP...) and dimensions, set dynamic file names using timestamp and format codes, choose which monitors (and what parts of each monitor) should be included in the screenshot, decide when Icy should skip a screenshot (like if the computer has been inactive or the screen hasn't changed), and set whether you'd like a screenshot to be taken of the entire screen or just the active application window.

For more information about IcyScreen, and for a link to download, check out the IcyScreen website. And if you have any questions feel free to shoot me an e-mail and I'd be happy to answer them for you.

We released Breevy 2.00 today, which includes support for program and website launching:

We've got a lot of cool stuff we plan on implementing into Breevy in the near future, so stay tuned.