AutoHotkey Community

This time (2 in 24, I'm no flooder ) I was thinking about sending a macro by pressing a modificator key, like CTRL, then, with it pressed, we type a hotstring. This could be to perform other actions, not only sending keystroke macros.

Example:
::btw:: = by the way;
{shiftdn}::btw::{shiftup} = BY THE WAY <-- this is already possible

Ctrl+::ff:: (hold Ctrl then type ff) --> Run \...\Firefox.exe <-- not possible yet as far as I know.

Got it?
How do we do that?

Here's one way:
Unfortunately Ctrl must be blocked (Ctrl:: vs ~Ctrl::) since it would otherwise prevent the keystrokes from being recognized as regular text. You could use LCtrl or RCtrl instead, if you still need a Ctrl key.

Here's another way that "hooks" only alphabetic keys:

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Sakurako ^_^

This appears to be the closest to the goal, but I couldn't understand the logic as a whole. In that code, the only thing I can do is to set "Ctrl+FF" to trigger the action, but I couldn't change it to any other combination, for example: Holding CTRL then typing "fight" to perform the action (msgbox in the case). Where exactly should I put the letters f i g h t ?

@lexikos: your second code is almost perfect, it actually works but doesn't release the CTRL key for further different uses. I relized that although I can set any little text to be used in the hotstring while holding ctrl, this includes the traditional uses like ctrl+c, ctrl+v etc. Actually I'm seeking a way to have it trigger only when some specific hotstrings are input, not any text like your code suggests

You have full control over what it does when you type something. i.e. All you need to do is explicitly tell it what "further different uses" to allow. The following will allow Ctrl+single-key-press to perform its usual function (with the exception that you must release Ctrl first):

Alternately, you could allow multiple key-presses if the string isn't recognized:
If you also pressed other keys/key combinations that aren't caught by the script, the keystrokes would end up out of order, with the ^alphabetic keystrokes grouped at the end.

Perhaps a better solution would be to check at each key-press whether the text matches part of a recognized command. If it does not, send what was typed and disable the hotkeys until Ctrl is pressed again.

Consider using a key that isn't usually used as a modifier. For instance:
I posted this as a reply to spacebar as a hotkey trigger, plus more..

Sounds like a "detect double-presses of a hotkey" problem; you're checking whether the user pressed ctrl-f twice. The SetTimer documentation has example code for this (scroll to example #3):

http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/commands/SetTimer.htm

As a bonus, you can define the time window (e.g. within 500ms) for the double-press.

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Sakurako ^_^

@ Lexikos:

your first code, this

has a drawback: it slows down the past process. Also, it is impossible to have CTRL held down and pressing V repeated times to past repeated times, instead, your msgbox will popup.

(to be concluded )

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AHK is perfect.

Obviously you can't have Ctrl+V work immediately and allow it to be typed. That's just greedy. Of course, you could always avoid registering a hotkey for it, but then you'd get false positives like "fvf" = "ff".

Anyway, I am certain my other suggestion would solve the problem more completely.

Although I'm still a primary newbie, I realize that using CTRL can be too hassling. what if I chose Shift instead? The intention is: Hold down shift, press some numbers on the numpad and release Shift to run the command, either launching a program, a file, or playing a macro, making something similar to some characters triggered by alt+169 for example. It even would be fancy, like those "alarm codes" you install in your houses for protection, isn't that cool?

However I still have to do some research before asking you further about this subject, I'm not following you.

Thanks anyway!

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AHK is perfect.

It's basically the same whatever keys you choose: on trigger-key press, enable the "code" hotkeys. When one is pressed, append the appropriate character to the string. On trigger-key release, do something with the string and disable the "code" hotkeys.

Unfortunately Shift + Numpad has a complication: Windows sends different key-codes for the numpad when you hold Shift. You'll never get +Numpad4, for example, only +NumpadLeft. This makes it slightly more complicated to build the "code" string.

Personally, I think Shift + Numpad is awkward. Numpad0 + Numpad1-9 makes more sense, since it can be used one-handed.

Anyway, this is roughly what I meant earlier (additions in dark red):
Basically, it stops accepting input as soon as it knows no word can match.

Regular expressions (RegExMatch) can be considered an advanced topic. There are other ways, but RegExMatch is probably the shortest.

Hum, let's say I understood 1% of it
How do I append the hotkeys I'm willing to set to your code?
The other problem is that I simply don't know most basic/fundamental concepts and definitions, aggravated by the fact that English is not my native language... what's, for example, a "hook"? :$

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AHK is perfect.

"Hook" may be defined as:
anything that catches; snare; trap.

In the context of AutoHotkey, it refers to the "keyboard hook", which is a feature of the Windows API; it "catches, snares or traps" keystrokes.

In this case, I use #UseHook as an alternative to manually prepending the $ modifier to each hotkey. Either one will force a hotkey to use the "keyboard hook", and as a side-effect prevent Send from triggering the hotkey.

All of the individual pieces of the script I posted are explained in the manual (which is of course written in English...)

Thanks Lexikos...
But I have a better idea: I'm gonna read the entire help file, so that I can have a clue about those things. If there are other texts/articles/subjects that I should read prior to learning the AHK intermediates (I know the beginning of the introduction to basics), please let me know!

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AHK is perfect.