ECTmorse - Main menu and functionality

Main menu and functionality of ECTmorse

The main window of ECTmorse contains text typed by the user. An image of the telegraph is located in the upper left part of the window, while the symbol currently being typed is located to its right (see fig. 3).

The main window of ECTmorse (Fig. 3. The main window of ECTmorse)

All the main actions in the program can be completed by using the main menu (see fig. 4). The user can:

All the control elements of the program are grouped in categories, while the most frequently used parameters are assigned with instant short-cut 'hot keys'. The menu can be opened with a left-click on the Menu item.

The main menu of ECTmorse (Fig. 4. The main menu of ECTmorse)

About: F1 button. This menu item allows the user to open a window with information about ECTmorse, which contains information about the current version of the program, developers and licensing (see fig. 5).

'About' window of the program (Fig. 5. "About" window of the program)

'Check Update'. This allows the user to check for updated versions of the program on the developer's website. In case of a new version being available, the user will see a window with information about the latest version of the program (see fig. 6). If the user already has the newest version, the user will also see a notification (see fig. 7). In the case that it is impossible to connect to servers (no internet connection, no response from the server, or a firewall is blocking connections) the user will see the following message 'Error in Connection' (see fig. 8).

Information about available updates of the program (Fig. 6. Information about available updates of the program) Window, which is shown if there are no updates (Fig. 7. Window, which is shown if there are no updates) Window, which is if it is impossible to check for updates (Fig. 8. Window, which is if it is impossible to check for updates)

The 'Start' or 'Stop', F2 button. This item of the menu allows the user to start or stop the telegraph. When the telegraph is enabled, the user can press a predefined key and hold it for a certain period of time, while ECTmorse will register the sequence of 'dots' and 'dashes', transforming them into letters as the user types. When the telegraph is disabled, the user can enter text into the main window of the program directly from the keyboard.

'Clear Text', F4 button. This erases all the text which was typed by the user into the main window of the program. This feature can be used before a new work session or when it's necessary to start typing newtext .

'Exit', F10 button. Stops the telegraph and terminates ECTmorse.

'Extra' submenu

This submenu allows the user to convert text typed in the text field of the program into Morse code symbols and vice versa, as well as transforming such text into sequences of short ('dots') and long ('dashes') signals (see fig. 9).

Additional 'Extra' menu (Fig. 9. Additional 'Extra' menu)

PRO'Play Text as Morse'. This allows the user to transform text in the main window of the program into sequences of short and long signals.

PRO'Play Morse as Morse'. This allows the user to play the sequence of Morse code symbols in the main window of the program as a sequence of long and short signals.

'Convert Text to Morse'. This transforms the text in the main window of the program into a Morse code symbols sequence.

'Convert Morse to Text'. This transforms the Morse code symbol sequence in the main window of the program into text.

'Settings' submenu

This submenu allows the user to change the program settings and work with profiles (see fig. 10).

Additional 'Settings' menu (Fig. 10. Additional 'Settings' menu)

'Show Settings Form', F3 button. The settings panel of ECTmorse contains more than 30 changeable parameters. Such parameters allow the user to change the working modes of the program, select time intervals, specify saved file names, enter additional commands and corresponding Morse code symbols etc. More information about program settings can be found in the 'Settings and additional parameters of ECTmorse' chapter of this manual.

'Set Current'. This item of the menu saves and makes effective all the changes which were made in the settings panel.

'Load Profile'. This item of the menu allows the user to choose and load previously saved user profiles, which contains information about time intervals, names and locations of files, volume and frequency of sounds and additional controlling commands. User profiles also contains information about the ECTmorse windows layout, as well as many other important parameters.

'Save Profile'. This item of the menu allows the user to save all their individual settings of the program into a separate user profile. Items such as the main window, the information window and the settings panel positions are also saved in the profile. Such an approach is useful for situations when the program is used interchangably by several users who each require different settings (i.e. volume, time intervals, windows layout). It also provides a fast settings transfer in circumstances when it's necessary to move ECTmorse to any other computer or laptop.

'Reset Profile'. This menu item restores all the default settings (including the windows layout).

'Localization' submenu

In order to provide more flexibility and make working with the program more convenient, the program supports several localizations, i.e. different languages, for the interface and description of the parameters. Currently the program supports English, French and Russian.

Additional 'Localization' menu (Fig. 11. Additional 'Localization' menu)

'Set Language File', Ctrl+F2 key combination. When the user selects this menu item, a dialog box of the OS is shown, allowing the user to select one of the language files in *.lng format. Program language can also be selected in the 2nd row of the settings form of the program.

'Set English', Ctrl+F3 key combination. Immediately changes ECTmorse language to English without showing any additional dialog boxes.