Developed by: Aquila Softworks (Gaurang Tandon and Varun Singh)
Latest version: 3.1.0
Status: active, stable build (last update 13/Feb/17)
ProKeys is a completely free, Google Chrome and Opera extension that lets you be productive in online text-related work with its number of features like:
[More info on all these in Help section inside the app]
- Snippets - define custom abbreviations, and retrieve the text associated with them simply by pressing the hotkey (default: Shift+Space). Example: "brb" can expand to "Be right back!"
- Placeholders - are fields in the snippet body that can be given dynamic values on using the snippet.
- Mathomania - do math without leaving your text editor, and without calculators. Example: "[[ 15% * 600 =]]" gives "90" and "[[ (5+6) * 15^2 =]]" gives "2475".
- Clipboard access - insert
[[%p]]anywhere in your snippet body. It will automatically be substituted with teh current clipboard data. - Auto-Insert - Quotes ('"') and braces ('(', '[', '{') are auto-completed, and you can specify your custom insert-it-for-me also (like, inserting a '>' on typing of a '<') in the settings.
- Date/Time Macros - embed short symbols inside the parentheses of '[[%d()]]' inside a snippet body and it will auto replace the symbol with the current date and time related value. A sample snippet as well as a guide has been provided (in Help section inside the app)
- Date/Time Arithmetic - use the
+or-sign to move forward or backward in time in date/time macros. Supports both relative as well as independent evaluation. - Variables - built-in variables holding dynamic values for "date", "time" and (browser) "version"
- Tab Key - The tab key can be made to insert 4 spaces, instead of it's default function, thus speeding up work.
- Context menu access - for blocking sites and inserting snippets.
- Sync/Local storage - Use whichever you prefer.
Except for the feather-weight open-source QuillJS rich text editor, I only utilized vanilla JS for super performce and less app size. Also Eric Meyer's CSS reset stylesheet - public domain - has been used with modifications.
##Technical details Are shared on here in a long, three post series. In brief: this extension uses content scripts which are injected into every page and (what follows is for the snippet functionality only) every time the user presses the hotkey, a check is made for the preceding text, which if matches the name of any of the snippets, is substituted with the snippet body. A subsequent test for placeholders is made as well.
First of all, thanks for contribution! Every small bit of it counts! You can:
- Create a new issue for bugs, feature requests, and enhancements.
- Write a review (or anonymous feedback), or get support with some techincal problems.
- Fork the repo, make changes, and submit a pull request, describing the changes made.
- Help me translate ProKeys to your native language.
- Share the word about ProKeys with people!
- Monetary donations are gratefully accepted at email 1gaurangtandon@gmail.com using PayPal
Contact us - prokeys.feedback@gmail.com - to discuss anything related to the above if you want to.