AutoHotkey Community

If you have the Win32 extensions of Python (are automatically installed with ActivePython AFAIK), it is easy to access the clipboard, and thus easy to communicate with AutoHotKey (in both directions).

I now only use AHK for the most basic GUI automation/hotkey tasks and delegate anything more fancy (string manipulation, for example) to Python. Here is a simple Python module that provides the required clipboard functionality:

import win32clipboard as cp
import win32con

def get_clipboard():
cp.OpenClipboard()
result = cp.GetClipboardData(win32con.CF_TEXT)
cp.CloseClipboard()
return result

def set_clipboard(what):
cp.OpenClipboard()
cp.EmptyClipboard()
cp.SetClipboardData(win32con.CF_TEXT, what)
cp.CloseClipboard()

def test():
set_clipboard("The matrix got you.")
print get_clipboard()

if __name__ == '__main__':
test()

Now if you create a Python module that accesses the clipboard on startup and manipulates it, you can easily use the AHK Run command to quickly manipulate anything that is in the clipboard.

I mainly use AHK + Python to work with C# code - e.g. automatically providing a property skeleton for the highlighted field. Works fine!

Happy AHK'ing!

Interesting...
Using the clipboard to communicate between two programs can be OK, but can be also disruptive if your programs run in the background while you try to work, eg. with a text editor...
Perhaps using something like shared memory (or even a temporary file) would work better. Or perhaps SendMessage...
Of course, most alternatives need some DllCalls on the AHK side.

For my (and others) reference:
http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/en ... 90478.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/fast_ipc.asp

_________________
vPhiLho := RegExReplace("Philippe Lhoste", "^(\w{3})\w*\s+\b(\w{3})\w*$", "$1$2")