AutoHotkey Community

[updated with new version & screenshot at the bottom]

This is a script that will create a small toolbar with 3 rows (or more if you need) of buttons right where your mouse is and each of the buttons can be configured to send a shortcut to the app you need.

Before I post the code I want to clarify the reason for this script's existence. Imagine that you use a program like Photoshop or Autocad that have dozens of commands that you use often and at the same time is very mouse-heavy. You can use keyboard shortcuts along with the mouse, but coordinating them together for a long stretches of time can be tiring. Most people will often use the in-program toolbars to run common commands. The only trouble with that is - the toolbar is fairly far off from the mouse cursor and sometimes performing one action in the program will involve pressing a toolbar button, clicking in the middle of window somewhere, pressing another button, clicking in another spot in the middle of window, repeat a few times, etc etc.

This script is meant to cut down on the time it takes you to go to the toolbar - it will put the toolbar right where the cursor is, and it will disappear when you click one of the buttons. In other words, the work cycle will look like: click middle button (for example), click on a button that is a few pixels away, click in the program again, click middle button and then another button that is a few pixels away, etc.

The added benefit is that the buttons will always be in the same relation to location of cursor, therefore you will memorize the location; as opposed to toolbar buttons which are always in a different location relative to the cursor (because cursor is always in a different spot).

The setup of the script involves placing some buttons using SmartGui in a window, then editing the script and setting up keyboard shortcuts for each button, then setting up the program to perform corresponding actions on these shortcuts (well actually this is best done as a first step), then you set up these buttons to activate your program and send it the keyboard shortcut.

This takes some work but well worth it I think if you use any program of this sort for a few hours each day.

The last step is to set up another script that always runs and that will bind middle button (or something else) to launch this program.

My example script will create about a dozen buttons for use with Autocad. You can use it as an example to set up other programs, too.

Please let me know if you think this is a good idea.. I only wrote this today and I haven't used it in action yet. I will refine it and post updates as I work on it. I also would like some feedback on the code itself, I'm very much an ahk newb and I bet I did some things stupidly. Let me know.

Autocad Quick Toolbar:

Shown as it would appear around the cursor, with autocad drawing underneath.



Download:
http://www.silmarill.org/acad2.ahk

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-AK

Some lines shorter:

Nicely optimised!

Regards,

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Thanks a ton, this makes it so much easier to add new commands.. This is better than what I hoped for.

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-AK

I posted a new much improved option and a screenshot. It will now work very quickly and only in the target window & it will work by holding the mouse down and releasing it over the button you need to press...

Note that it uses Xbutton1 by default, which is the left-side button on 4-button mice; you need to change a few instances in the script from Xbutton1 to Rbutton or Mbutton, or some keyboard shortcut if you have a 2-button mouse.

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-AK

Nice script. Looks really good.

Thanks AHK

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-AK

The link is broken.

Can anyone give me that script please ?

Best Regards.

I am trying the code adjunted , but I don't understand the options.

Click and the menu dissapear.

New link:

http://lightbird.net/files/acad2.ahk

The way it works is that you have to hold the button down, then move mouse on top of command you want and then release it and it will be run, if I remember right.

trying and will comment