Access Menus

Although menus aren't readily visible in Treo applications, they are nevertheless a vital part of the Treo user interface. The Menu button, located slightly above and to the right of the five-way navigator on the Treo 650, gives you access to the menus in the current application. Just press the Menu button to open the application's menus. Figure 2.4 shows the menus available in the Phone application.

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Note - The Palm OS is designed so that the most commonly used commands are available via onscreen buttons, and lesser used commands are accessed via menus.

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Figure 2.4: The three menus in the Phone application
—Record, Edit, and Options—provide access to a
variety of phone commands and options.

After opening a menu with a press of the Menu button or a tap of the stylus on an application's title bar, you can navigate through the menus. Use the Left and Right buttons on the five-way navigator to move through the different menus, and then use the Up and Down buttons to move up and down a particular menu and select a menu command. To issue the command, press the Center button. Of course, you can also use the stylus to tap a menu and then tap the menu command you'd like to issue. If you change your mind and decide not to issue a command from the menus, just press the Menu button again to exit the menus and close them.

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Note - You can also tap the stylus in an application's title bar to access the menus. However, not every application has a visible title bar (Calc and Camera, for example), which means you have to resort to the Menu button from time to time, even if you're a big fan of the stylus.

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You might notice that most menus have shortcuts listed next to some of the more commonly used commands. You can use these shortcuts to quickly issue a command with a two-key combination involving the Menu button and one other key, the shortcut key. For example, in Figure 2.4 you can see that three menu commands have shortcuts, as indicated by the forward slash icon and a letter beside the command. To issue the New Contact command at any point while using the Phone application, simply press the Menu button followed by the N key. If the menu is already open, just press the N key to issue the command.

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Note - Similar to menu shortcuts, the Phone application also supports Quick Keys, which are keys you associate with a favorite, such as a frequently dialed contact or a frequently visited website. While in the Phone application, you can immediately issue a Quick Key command by holding down the appropriate key. To find out how to create custom Quick Keys, see "Create and Manage Favorites" in Chapter 7, "Using Your Treo as a Mobile Phone."

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Another user interface control closely related to menus is the pick list, which allows you to select from a list of possible values. Like a menu, a pick list drops down to reveal additional information when opened. More specifically, only one item is visible in the list until you activate it; then the list opens and provides access to all the items in the list. You can easily spot pick lists because they always have a small down arrow displayed next to their current selections. Figures 2.5 and 2.6 show a pick list as it's selected and opened to reveal cities in the World Clock application.


Figure 2.6: A pick list in the World Clock application is
first selected, in which case it's highlighted to show that i
t has the input focus.


Figure 2.6: Pressing the Center button activates the pick
list, causing it to open and reveal more items that can be selected.

After opening a pick list, you can use the Up and Down buttons to scroll within the list and highlight items. When you find the item you want, press the Center button to select it and close the pick list. To close the pick list without changing the selection, press the Left or Right button. You can also use the stylus to scroll a pick list by tapping the arrows at the top and bottom of the list. To select an item in the pick list, just tap the item with the stylus.

Launch Applications

I'm sure you noticed that the Menu button isn't the only button that accompanies the five-way navigator and the Phone/Send and Power/End buttons. There are, in fact, three other buttons in the same "navigation" area of the Treo keyboard, and they all relate to launching applications. The Application button, located just above and to the left of the five-way navigator, is used to access various application screens. Figure 2.7 shows the main application screen, which displays all the applications available on your device.


Figure 2.7: The main application screen shows all the
applications available on your device, including core
applications and applications that you've installed.

You might notice in the figure that the word All appears near the top of the screen and is, in fact, a pick list. You can use this pick list to change the category of applications displayed onscreen. All appears by default because it's the one selection that displays all applications. Press the Up button followed by the Center button to access and open the application category pick list. Figure 2.8 shows the application categories available in this pick list, some of which might be empty on your device.

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Note - To quickly move around within a pick list, press a letter key on the keyboard. The pick list immediately highlights the first item on the list beginning with that letter. You can continue spelling out the name of a pick list item by quickly typing additional letters. If you pause for a couple of seconds and then press another letter, the selection process starts over with the new letter.

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Figure 2.8: The application category pick list allows you to filter the applications that are displayed according to a specific category.

By selecting any category other than All, you are effectively filtering the applications displayed on the application screen according to a particular category. An optional and often quicker way to move between application categories is to press the Application button repeatedly; doing so cycles through the application categories that contain applications. This is why I mentioned that some categories might be empty initially, in which case they are skipped over when you press the Application button to cycle through the categories. You might notice a small memory card icon at the bottom of the pick list—selecting this "category" results in displaying only the applications stored on the memory card.

To launch an application from the application screen, just use the five-way navigator to highlight the application, and then press the Center button to launch it. Or use the stylus to scroll up and down via the scrollbar on the right edge of the screen, and tap the application to launch it.

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Note - You can quickly highlight an application on the application screen by typing the first letter or two of the application name. For example, to launch the Tasks application, press the T key, followed by the A key; the T key is probably enough to get to the Tasks application in most cases. If you want to type and highlight a different application, just pause for a moment and then resume typing the first letters of its name.

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Although the Application button provides a way to access all the applications on your device, the other buttons can be used as shortcuts to commonly used applications. For example, the Calendar button, located just below the Application button, launches the Calendar application when pressed. Similarly, the Messaging button just below the Menu button launches the Messaging application. Some buttons also offer an optional application launch when you press the button preceded by the Option key. Following are buttons and button combinations, along with the applications they launch or, in some cases, the actions they take:

• Phone/Send—Launch Phone application, Phone "send"
• Option + Phone/Send—Launch Blazer Web browser
• Power/End—Turn power on and off, Phone "end"
• Option + Power/End—Turn on Keyguard
• Calendar—Launch Calendar application
• Option + Calendar—Launch World Clock application
• Messaging—Launch Messaging application
• Option + Messaging—Launch VersaMail application

You'll find these buttons indispensable in quickly moving between applications on your Treo. You might also find that you use some applications more than others, in which case you might want to tweak the applications that these buttons launch. You learn how to customize the application buttons in Chapter 3, "Customizing and Personalizing Your Treo."

About the Author
Michael Morrison is a writer, developer, toy inventor, and author of a variety of computer technology books and interactive Web-based courses. He has been using wireless handheld devices for over a decade, dating back to early HP handheld calculators. His previous books include Special Edition Using Pocket PC 2002, The Unauthorized Guide to Pocket PC, Beginning Mobile Phone Game Programming, and Sams Teach Yourself Wireless Java in 21 Days.



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About the Author
Michael Morrison is a writer, developer, toy inventor, and author of a variety of computer technology books and interactive Web-based courses. He has been using wireless handheld devices for over a decade, dating back to early HP handheld calculators. His previous books include Special Edition Using Pocket PC 2002, The Unauthorized Guide to Pocket PC, Beginning Mobile Phone Game Programming, and Sams Teach Yourself Wireless Java in 21 Days.