Alt_Key
=======

Alt_Key is used to show where keyboard accelerators should go in
menu option texts and dialog labels. The program instantly produces
optimal results on the basis that the best accelerator is the first
character, the second best is the first character of a word, the third
best is any character, the worst is no accelerator at all, and no
accelerator should be used more than once. It also allows accelerators
to be specified by the user.

Home page: http://www.qtrac.eu/alt_key.html


Compiling and Installing Alt_Key
================================

Prerequisites: A C++ compiler and the Qt4 libraries.

1. Unpack the archive file, alt_key-XXX.tar.gz
    $ tar xvfz alt_key-XXX.tar.z
2. Change directory to alt_key-XXX
    $ cd alt_key-XXX
3. Run lrelease; on some systems run lrelease-qt4
    $ lrelease alt_key.pro
4. Run qmake; on some systems, run qmake-qt4
    $ qmake
5. Run make
    $ make
6. Windows users might like to add Alt_Key to the Start menu or add
   a shortcut to it on the desktop
   Unix users might like to copy or soft link the alt_key executable
   to somewhere in the PATH
7. You might like to try loading one of the example (*.acc) files
   so that you can see how the application works.
8. Only the executable is needed; all the files that were unpacked or
   generated can be safely deleted.

That's it!


Running Alt_Key
===============

The Alt_Key program can be used as is by typing in lists of menu
options and dialog labels etc. and calculating the accelerated texts.
It is also possible to #include the alt_key module and automatically
set alt_keys, e.g., at the end of each form's initializer. This is
what the Alt_Key program itself does.

If you hit a bug, please report it to mark@qtrac.eu. Be sure to include
"Alt_Key" in the subject line and specify the version you are using
and details of your system, e.g., operating system name and version,
compiler name and version, Qt library version.

Hopefully there will no longer be any excuse for not having keyboard
accelerators for menu option texts and dialog labels!

For developers: It is quite easy to use the kuhn_munkres.{hpp,cpp} and
alt_key.{hpp,cpp} module in C++/Qt programs to produce accelerators
automatically and dynamically. (See my book "Advanced Qt Programming"
ISBN 0321635906 and its accompanying examples.)


License
=======

This program was written by Mark Summerfield.
Copyright (c) 2008-12 Qtrac Ltd. All rights reserved.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your
option), any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that
it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License (in file gpl-3.0.txt) for more details.

The icons are from KDE (http://www.kde.org) and are subject to the KDE
license.

