AutoHotkey Community

[Chris]

I tried to get as many requests as I could into this version. I still have many more things on the to-do list. Feel free to suggest what should be of highest priority (for example, does anyone use Adlib?)

I know some of these features will be of interest to visitors to the AutoIt mailing list and the v2 forum. But I suspect I would be banned permanently if I even mentioned the forbidden name there. If any of you are feeling lucky or suicidal, and you feel it's justified, feel free to repost this in either place.

If you prefer, view a linkified version of the changes instead:
http://www.autohotkey.com/changelog/

[plain text version]

Fixed Win-L (hotkey to lock the computer) so that the Windows key is not considered to be down when you log back in. [thanks Jack Horsfield].

Fixed the Reload feature: If a MsgBox or other dialog was displayed by the script at the time it was reloaded, the application would hang. [thanks Christian Ziemski]

Fixed auto-execute section, which is the top part of the script prior to the first hotkey label: If it had at least one normal (non-hotkey) label, in some cases the script's first hotkey label (if it had one) was executed as part of the auto-execute section. [thanks Robert Yaklin]

Improved SoundSetWaveVolume to accept +/- as a prefix. These prefixes adjust the volume up or down relative to its current level. In addition, the command now accepts an optional 2nd parameter to indicate which device to operate upon (for systems with more than one sound device).

Improved the following commands to greatly reduce the keyboard and mouse lag caused by a hook-script performing a long operation: FileDelete, FileCopy, FileMove, FileReadLine, FileSetAttrib, FileSetTime, Send, and ControlSend.

Improved StringLower/Upper to support converting a string to title case. For example, "GONE with the WIND" would become "Gone With The Wind".

Added remote registry support to registry-loops, RegRead, RegWrite, and RegDelete. Simply prepend the computer name to the root key, as in this example: //workstation01:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Added built-in variable %A_TimeIdle%, which is the number of milliseconds since the system last received keyboard, mouse, or other input. This is useful for determining whether the user is away. This variable will be blank unless the operating system is Windows 2000, XP, or beyond.

Added command URLDownloadToFile, which downloads a file from the Internet. [thanks Jonathan Bennett & Jason Payam Ahdoot]

Added command SoundGetWaveVolume, which retrieves the current WaveOut volume level.

Added commands SoundGet and SoundSet, which allow just about any setting of any sound device to be retrieved or changed. Examples include mute, microphone, master, synth, aux, and line-in.


http://www.autohotkey.com/download/

[Chris]

As before, I tried to get as many requests as I could into this version. Here are the changes: http://www.autohotkey.com/changelog/

I still have many more things on the to-do list. Here are the current high priority items (everyone should feel free to suggest other items):

SplashImage and Progress Bar

Ability to parse full file names into their directory, file name, extension, etc.

Ability to customize the system tray menu (add new menu items, etc.)

Launch a "RunOnSyntaxError" script whenever there's a syntax error so that it can jump to the proper line in the open editor window. Also, will try to find a way to send syntax errors to stdout to take advantage of editors that support this type of thing.

SplashText: transparency setting, or perhaps a generalized command such as WinSet, transparency, 50 (if it's possible to change the transparency of any window).

[Chris]

The next release is taking longer than expected. Hopefully it will be out tomorow (Thurs).

I've been spending most of my time on a new command I think will be called GosubTimer (perhaps someone can think of a more appropriate name). This is something I wanted to use myself, and I think will benefit others. It's a little bit like AutoIt2's Adlib, only more flexible:

GosubTimer, MyLabel, 100

The above would set an internal timer to automatically run the MyLabel subroutine every 100ms. The timer would operate asynchronously, meaning that it would run even while the script is busy with some other task. In addition, you can have as many timers as you like.

Timers are useful to keep an eye on things in the background for you. For example, a timed subroutine could take some action when the user becomes idle (as reflected by %A_IdleTime%) or when a certain window appears (e.g. the window could be automatically closed if it is unwanted).

For this next release, I've also improved support for Windows 9x, especially for hotkeys that use the SEND command. This is thanks to the hotkey/hook wizard Jay D. Novak, who discovered problems such as the modifier keys not being properly released before the send. Unfortunately, detection of the Capslock state on Win9x is still a problem. It's just not reliable and I don't know of any way to fix it except by using a hook, which seems an extreme measure.

Finally, I'd also like to get some of the other requested features into this release, since otherwise it wouldn't be very worthwhile to any of you who might be waiting.

Thanks for your patience. As always, new suggestions are welcome.

[Chris]

Here are the changes for v1.0.06: http://www.autohotkey.com/changelog/

I haven't forgotten about the pending requests mentioned above. It's just that SetTimer took a lot longer to develop than I expected (but I think it was worth it since it's very useful for certain tasks). I'll try to get as many of the pending requests done and have another new release out next week sometime.

[Chris]

Here are the changes for v1.0.07: http://www.autohotkey.com/changelog/

Instead of doing a bunch of the smaller requests, I decided to do one of the big ones (customizing the tray icon menu). I haven't forgotten the other requests; hopefully I'll get a bunch of them done for the next release.

[Chris]

Here are the changes for v1.0.08: http://www.autohotkey.com/changelog/

If you have a request pending that you feel should be a high priority for the next release, let me know.

[Chris]

I've updated the installer again. Here are the newest changes:

Fixed FileSelectFile on Windows 95/98/Me/NT (it didn't work at all). [thanks Mike Griffin]

Added syntax and cliptext files for EditPlus to the Extras folder. [thanks Mike Griffin]

Improved the mouse click commands so that you can use just the first letter of the button name (L/R/M). [thanks Rajat]

[Chris]

I think I will disable the "hook is already installed" warnings in the next release. I'm more confident now that the hooks can be installed multiple times without adverse effects.

Can anyone see any drawbacks to this?

[Chris]

Here are the changes for v1.0.09: http://www.autohotkey.com/changelog/