You may encounter situations where you have to type the same block of text repeatedly. For example, you may use a number of different signatures in your email client. You might use one signature for business correspondence, while using a second signature for personal messages. Adding these signatures to their respective email messages may become tedious. You can create a script that uses built-in functions to type the information into the message for you with only one keystroke.
You can use the built-in function, TypeString, to type a string of text into a document. You supply the function with the string of text to be typed by the function as its only parameter. This string of text can be surrounded by quotation marks, stored in a variable or declared as a string constant. After JAWS places the text into the document, JAWS places the insertion point at the end of the string of text. The following code example illustrates the use of the TypeString function:
TypeString ("This text is being typed into my document")
The TypeString function types the following text into your document:
This text is being typed into my document
Since the TypeString function does not add a return character to end the line just typed, the insertion point is placed to the right of the last character typed by the function. In the above example, the insertion point is to the right of the last “t” in the word “text.”
When you call the TypeString function multiple times, the text typed is not separated by spaces. When you want to add a carriage return between two blocks of text, you must perform this action from within your script.
The EnterKey built-in function passes the ENTER key through to the active application. If you have positioned the Virtual PC cursor on a link or button, then the EnterKey function activates it. If the Virtual PC cursor is on another form control, then the EnterKey function activates forms mode. You call the EnterKey function using the following syntax:
EnterKey ()
The following example illustrates the use of the TypeString and EnterKey functions:
TypeString ("This is the first line of text.")
EnterKey ()The above example produces the following text in the active application:
This is the first line of text.
This is the second line of text.
Since the EnterKey function is called between the two TypeString functions, the text did not run together and is separated by a carriage return. The same example without the EnterKey function follows:
TypeString ("This is the first line of text.")
TypeString ("This is the second line of text.")
This example produces the following text in the active application:
This is the first line of text.This is the second line of text.
Since the EnterKey function was not performed after the first TypeString function, the text runs together as there is nothing separating the two strings of text.