Extra! User Guide > Terminal Sessions > User Input > Hotspots

Hotspots

HotSpots let you associate host functions, macros, or commands with a specific area or text that appears in the terminal area of a display session. Afterwards, you can use your left mouse button to select that area or text to carry out the function, macro, or command. The area you specify is known as a HotSpot. You can create and use HotSpots individually within a session, or as a group or scheme and then associate that scheme with any session or host screen.

Using HotSpots, you can create shortcuts than will decrease the time it takes to finish your tasks. Here is how you can accomplish this. A region HotSpot is a HotSpot that is associated with an area on the display screen and has an action assigned to it. Let's say you use Notepad a lot during your day. If you assign the action of opening Notepad to a region HotSpot, whenever you double-click the region using the left mouse button, Notepad opens. This replaces all the steps you would have to go through to open Notepad the conventional way.

Text HotSpots and Region HotSpots

Text HotSpots are specific words or characters that have an action assigned to them. Each time that word or character occurs on your display screen, you can double-click it to perform an action.

Region HotSpots are areas on the display screen that you define. They also have an action assigned to them and that action will execute when you double-click anywhere in the region.

Using a HotSpot

HotSpots can be enabled or disabled. They can also be visible or invisible, but as long as they are enabled, visible or not, you can use them to execute an action.

Double-click the defined HotSpot area of the display window and the action assigned to the HotSpot will execute. If you have selected Auto-invoke When Text Appears on Display on the HotSpot Properties page, the action will execute as soon as the display session appears in the window.

NOTE:If you define a region HotSpot that is out of the display area, it gets clipped off or doesn't show at all if the boundaries are completely outside the display area.

HotSpot Hierarchy

HotSpots can overlap, which means that there are some rules about which HotSpot takes precedence over another. Text HotSpots take precedence over region HotSpots.

Example 5 HostSpot Hierarchy

If you have a text HotSpot sitting in the middle of a region HotSpot, when you double-click it, the action assigned to the text HotSpot executes.

As for region HotSpots that overlap one another, the first region HotSpot you create takes precedence over the next one created and so on.

HotSpot Settings Categories

The HotSpots category includes the following tabbed pages:

  • General: Enables or disables HotSpots and defines their appearance and mouse activation.

  • Assignments: Creates HotSpot scheme and enables the user to delete HotSpots and HotSpot schemes. From this page you can access the following tabs to add or edit hotspots.

  • Properties: Creates text HotSpots and region HotSpots.

  • Action: Assigns an action to a HotSpot.

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