AutoHotkey Community

Hello,

Can you tell me how to launch an AHK macro by clicking a specific place on the screen or in a program rather than pressing a key on the keyboard? I know that is probably something really simple but I've been looking through commands and the forum for an hour and can't find it.

Specifically, here is what I am after. I'm a quadriplegic and as a result, everything on the computer takes me longer than an able-bodied user. Also, using a mouse is much easier than pressing a key(s). I have already created macros for some of my common or frequent processes but I have identified many more which would speed things up significantly.

The problem though is that I am already having trouble remembering all the triggering key combinations. I was going to make a chart (in Excel) of reminders but then it dawned on me it would be far easier to have a chart of the actual triggers (or links or whatever they are called) each of which, by clicking, would launch a different macro.

So, three questions:

1. Using an Excel spreadsheet, can I set up individual cells as the triggers for my macros and if so, how would I do that? It would be great if you could include a simple example (such as launching Google by clicking cell A1).

2. I chose Excel because I use it a lot and feel very comfortable with it but is there a different application that might be better?

3. Is there a way to keep a non-active window on top continuously similar to the way Help windows commonly are?

Thanks

[Moved from General Chat forum. ~jaco0646]

You could use a Gui

Thanks for the quick response.

I copied/pasted your code and I can see how to create text in a small window and how to keep that on top (question #3) but I can't determine if there is a solution for my first two questions. Is that included in what you posted?

Thanks again.

The Gui I posted is also an answer to questiion 2. If you click on the text in the gui it opens the macros associated with the gLabels. It is much easier to make the program all AHK instead of attempting to interface with another program.

Is there a way to format the GUI as a grid rather text lines?

One reason I mentioned Excel is because I can put as much info (reminders, notes, etc.) in each cell as I want but have it hidden unless I want it?

Is there a way to do it in Excel (i.e. to cause a cell to become a trigger)?

Thanks.

Hi, dsavant,

I have no idea about Excel (using openOffice), and would shy away from employing
such a big program for those helper things.

This here gives you a grid of buttons for macro actions which can be edited and added-to quite easily.

EDITED:
Added Auto-Reload section: you could keep the script's text open, on editing & saving, use
your new macro instantly (...well, set to 4000ms...)
Now stays on top of not-onTop windows.
For windows manipulation: asks to indicate the window to handle.

---Oh yes, I finally bought a 5-Button mouse, so with the help of
this script: http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/topic55562.html
I finally have 6 more clicks (X1 & X2 each having long-, double-, and singleClick).
The tilde in here:
~$XButton2::
keeps those working. The DollarSign, I found out, keeps the buttons from issuing
BrowserBack or -Forward commands if this script is listening for clicks.




As it is now, the buttons just show their names. The names, prefixed by a "Button", make the macro handlers.

No time to look it up now, but I'm sure the button's faces can be edited to show icons or thumbnails instead of
text, or the text they show can be edited. Search for "button" in the ahk.chm,, open the GUI-related items.

Not sharing your burden, I am nonetheless interested in doing as much as possible with the mouse. You may want to
search the forum for "Hot Corners" for inspiration, and you may have a look at this thread:
http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?1,100290,100290#msg-100290
if you are interested in a slim & fast browser coming with configurable mouseGestures and
stunning overall configurability, namely, K-Meleon.[/url]

_________________
Cheers,
SoerenB

Thanks for the good response. My apologies for not saying so sooner.

Could you help me know how to use or what to do with the code you posted and how to get from what you have provided to what I'm trying to do. Although I use AHK commands constantly, most of them fall in a narrow range of steps. As a result, other than a couple of things like Sleep, LButton, MouseGetPos, etc., I don't really see anything that's familiar.

BTW, I don't believe in the lazy/brainless approach of just asking questions and not looking things up on my own. I have gone to the urls you included and also read about several of the commands, etc., in the documentation but I still don't know how to utilize what you posted.

I don't know if it is related to my accident or something else but I find myself having a tough time grasping the essence of things I read about and how to implement them. On the other hand, if I can get through the first step and see how something works then I am off and running and finding many different ways to modify what I have learned for multiple different purposes.

With that in mind, I'm hoping that you can tell me a couple of (probably very basic) things to get the ball rolling. (Please don't feel like you need to answer or comment on all of them but maybe just the ones that you think will enable me to get going):

1. I created a new AHK script, pasted all of your code into it and saved it with the name GridMacros. I then double-clicked to open/run it. Should something happen at that point because nothing did?

2. Usually when I create a macro, I start with an initiation command like "$F5::" . Do I need to do that here or should something just start when I run it?

3. What do I do to just get the grid (or whatever) to show up on the screen?

4. If you could tell me specifically what to do in order to display the grid of buttons and then create a simple macro for one of the buttons, I think that will do the trick (e.g. click a particular button, such as Buttonmacro13, and have it launch Google in a new browser or a new tab in a browser that is already open).

5. Regarding this example from your code:

Buttonmacro13:
msgbox, macro13
return

How do I assign which grid button is macro 13?
Is msgbox for writing something like a label to display on the button or having a message display when the macro is activated?
How/where do I enter the message I want?
How/where do I enter the code for macro13 -- (i.e. RunWait, www.goggle.com)

6. Here are some specific things, in no particular order, which I don't understand:

#Persistent

#SingleInstance force

the word "nicked" in "-here I nicked the buttons."

~$XButton2::

`n

, left`nhalf

;`n to get a line feed on the button's face.

actID

"~~2" in "return~~2"


Thanks again for your earlier response and a second big thanks if you can take a minute to answer anything here.

dsavant