Friday, August 11, 2006

Try these keystrokes and functions

Here are some TK keystrokes and functions that most people never use. Let me know what you think of them.

If you press CTRL-SPACE or CTRL-F while editing in the Rule Sheet or a function subsheet, TK presents you with a list of all the built-in functions in alphabetical order. The fluid property and matrix functions show up at the top because they start with $.

If you click and drag on a line chart, TK zooms to the outlined region. You can reverse the zoom by pressing ALT-z.

If you have defined a matrix, either by manually entering a list of lists on the List Sheet or via any of the matrix-related functions, you can ask TK to build a table for you and display the matrix by using the SHOWMATRIX function. For example, if the list A contains the names of lists which in turn contain values, call SHOWMATRIX('A) will build a horizontal table displaying the matrix.

The BLANKM function works just like the BLANK function except that it allows for any number of arguments, meaning it can blank multiple lists. The BLANK function is still valuable, however, because it includes options for blanking specific elements within a given list.

I'm amazed at the number of people who do not use the Navigation Bar in TK. It's the fastest way to get around, PLUS it gives you access to the online documentation and function wizards. It's role is expanded for TK6 as you can see and edit all the properties of the highlighted object in the current sheet and build/use your own TK Model Library menu there.

amazing 

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