Typinator is a tool for Mac OS that auto replaces character strings that are typed anywhere in Mac OS. In the videos below you will see a few ways that Typinator can be used in a Flex development environment.

Class Templates: If you’re tired of formatting your classes to read a certain way, why not setup a template with Typinator?

In this example you’ll see “-pc” expanded to a full class template.

Infrequently Used Syntax: If you’re like me, there are a few syntactical parts of ActionScript that you use infrequently. I generally have to look these things up in past source code or LiveDocs. Typinator is a great way to create a shortcut for those items.

In this example you’ll see “-ra” expanded into the remote alias meta data tag.

In this example you’ll see “-emd” expanded to the event meta data syntax.

I’ve been using Typinator for a while now and it’s become a useful development tool for me, even actions as simple as correcting functino to function (a common misspelling for me).

[UPDATE]

I shared my post with Ergonis Software and their CEO and Frounder Christoph Reichenberger replied with a very helpfult tip. Typinator allows you to specify an alternative cursor position after it has replaced the phrase you type.

If you look up at my remote alias example, you’ll notice that I used the left arrow key to backup to the appropriate spot to type the classname. In the revised example below you’ll see that after typing “-ra” the cursor is automatically positioned where I’d like to start typing the name of the alias.

Thanks for the tip Christoph, much appreciated.

Download Handbrake

Recently, I’ve found myself using Mac OS, Linux, and Windows all fairly frequently. I switched to Mac OS as my development OS not long ago. QuickSilver was recommended to me not long after I made the switch. I found QuickSilver to be one of the huge benefits of Mac OS.

Back in the Windows days I was a big user [Windows Key]+R to launch apps and commands quickly. After I was introduced to QuickSilver on Mac OS I did some checking to see if equivalent applications existed for other platforms. I found Colibri for windows and Katapult for Linux (KDE).

All three of these applications are invaluable to making your life easier in finding files and applications on your systems. Give them a try and you’ll quickly find out why.

Mac OS: Quicksilver
Windows: Colibri
Linux: Katapult