AutoHotkey Community

[jonny]

I've started work on a project which I think has real promise. Of course, it's really just conceptual work at this point. I really don't even know what language I'm going to do it in yet, but it will most likely be either AutoHotkey or AutoIt3, probably the latter since it has more Gui capabilities. Anyway, you're probably starting to wonder what I'm talking about, so here's a brief description:

My idea is for a "database" of hotkeys, which will exist in a readable text format but will also have a Gui for sorted, efficient viewing. It has to be a versatile system with support for virtually any kind of "hotkey," which means single-key and mouse hotkeys too. There will also be an On-Screen Keyboard, to be used for various tasks. The keyboard will support different layouts, including but hopefully not limited to Qwerty, Dvorak, and eXpert.

And that is the base. I hope that with an adequately sized and multi-columned list control we'll have a lot of versatility for future ideas (the actual concepts that will fill this base gui are below). There should also be tabs or menus for configuration, as well as an .rc file for people like me who prefer text-based tweaking, and of course below the list view there will be an expandable section which contains the most important part of the Gui; the keyboard.


And finally, here are the core ideas for which this Gui will be made:

1. Displaying hotkeys in a concise, visual way. This includes sorting them in the listview and displaying them individually on the keyboard, perhaps with different colors to indicate the modifiers, if any. The modifiers and various properties of the hotkeys should be displayed as concisely as possible on the key itself, so that all hotkeys can be displayed at once on the keyboard.
   
2. Showing hotkeys on the keyboard as they are performed. In the case that this would be used outside the context of the program, the listview must also be retractable and expandable, like the keyboard, so it doesn't distract when used in the background. This feature could also be used for the testing of hotkeys in the list, to see how easy they are or simply to remember them better.
   
3. A fully functional on-screen keyboard, with which you can enter text into an edit control to later be sent into another application via Control commands. I think this way of doing it seems best, to avoid "flashing" from constantly activating and de-activating the Gui while pressing the keys. The OSK will also visually display keys as you press them on the real keyboard.
   
4. An extremely simple macro editor for AutoHotkey which will work with the database. For instance, you can choose a few hotkeys from the database and it will automatically open a template in your editor of choice with those hotkeys already filled in and assigned default actions, as well as optionally #Including other scripts (for instance, to have a common auto-execute).

Those are my current ideas for this. The main one is to have a hotkey database and a way to display it, especially on the keyboard. There may also need to be a tiny "mouse" section for mouse hotkeys. These ideas could use refinement and I also welcome more. I'm still trying to decide which language to do it in, too, but I'm leaning more towards AU3. I should really be doing this in C++, since I need the experience, but I've hardly gotten past Hello, World!

[Titan]

Vb is almost similar to AU3 so you could try head that way.

A visual macro tool would be awesome. Can't wait.

[Serenity]

Would this get hotkeys one has assigned within various scripts, so they could be remapped with your GUI?
_________________
"Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly." - Mae West

[jonny]

That's a great idea and I'm surprised I hadn't thought of it. Yes, it should support the .ahk format and be able to modify scripts, but I'll still use a proprietary format by default.

As to VB, I've heard of it and it sounds like a good tool for this job. However, I have no prior experience with it or anything in the BASIC family (other than AutoIt). I understand that the Auto* line is similar to BASIC, though, so I'll give it a look. This may be too advanced to start out with, though.