AutoHotkey Community

Just 4 wishes from me.

If we had the first 2, then we'd have a much more standard syntax.
I've programmed in all the popular languages & gotten used to them - but after a year I still can't get a handle on how AutoHotkey deals with variables - when the % is used & when not.
When I pass Transparent to WinSet, is Transparent a keyword - or a string parameter?
And sometimes when I think I've got it - a DllCall will only work with the opposite!
I know there are guys on this forum who understand & in time so will I - but in my opinion, it's just not intuitive.

1) Commands as Functions - Keep the commands for backwards compatibility, but also have a function equivalent. I want to be able to use MsgBox(...) or WinActivate(...)
As a side note, perhaps the pre-processor directives could also take the same form so we'd write #EscapeChar(NewChar), #SingleInstance(Value)

2) Explicit Strings - Use double quotes like other languages to define a string. Implicit strings are a very small feature that totally confuse the syntax of AutoHotkey.
Remove implicit strings & we can get rid of all those % signs since the compiler can tell the difference between a string in quotes "..." & a variable.
Again for backwards compatibility, this can be something like #ExplicitStrings(1) to turn this mode on. Perhaps in a few years this would become the default.
We can use % at the start of the expression but it just looks cumbersome.


3) Hotkeys that consume or pass-thru keys at run time.
Currently we can pass-thru a hotkey with the ~ operator, or consume it by leaving that out.
It would be very useful if the hotkey subroutine itself could decide whether to consume or pass-thru the hotkey, rather than having 2 make a choice before hand.
This would be like a hook function.
Current context sensitive hotkeys sometimes fall short.
Sometimes I may want to let all MouseClick pass-thru but consume them when they are over a Minimize button so I can minimize to the systray.

You could capture all clicks & use Send to push out a click, but some programs don't behave - like those that use the button to initiate a drag rather than a click.

This last 1 is more nice to have than anything. They can be done already but is a bit cumbersome with a timer. And the other problem is you can't consume the event to prevent the default processing.
4) MouseMove as a hotkey - In other words, receive events only when the user moves the mouse.

If you want a more strict basicish language, try AutoIt instead...

AutoHotkey was meant to "save keystrokes/typing" while scripting. Sure, might be confusing, but gives us more speed...

It is a string parameter. WinSet then compares that string against several keywords.
DllCall and all other functions() use expression rules, commands do not (except in numeric parameters).
Already done: Titan's Command Functions.
That is an interesting point which I had not considered. However, it would not be feasible (or practical) to support proper expression syntax in directives.
It is possible to avoid "implicit string syntax" in most cases:

This can be done with an actual hook function or AutoHotkey_L's #if. As with #IfWin, it requires the hotkey to be implemented using a system-wide keyboard hook. It would not be practical to allow this feature for all hotkeys, since scripts are relatively slow and likely to introduce system-wide input lag due to the nature of the keyboard hook. If a script goes awry, it can make the PC unusable (though in most configurations only for a few seconds).
The use of a mouse hook to detect mouse movement has been demonstrated on the forums.

I tried AutoIt & love the syntax but without hotkey support for the mouse, I abandoned it.
As for speed in typing, like I said, leave the current syntax of implicit strings without quotes as is, but just add the ability to turn on expressions - the best of both.

I downloaded Titan's functions a few days ago & will give them a shot.
Lexikos I also downloaded yr build of AutoHotkey. I will investigate that #if command. Thanks.

I'd still luv something switch to turn on expressions by default!

The syntax is a serious drawback. there needs to be a clear consistent use of quoted strings.
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