Assigning a keyboard shortcut to a button

[glenn9]

Hi,
I think you have to use keysdown function
The keysDown function returns a list of keycodes of pressed keys, separated by commas if more than one key is being pressed.

Something like that:

Code: Select all

on mousedown 
   if the optionkey is down and the keysdown = 101,0 then
      answer  "optionkey is down and you press e" -- e = 101
   else
      "nothing happened"
   end if

end mousedown

You may get the keycode of a touch with this on card script

Code: Select all

on rawkeydown pKey
   put pKey
end rawkeydown 

Best regards
Jean-Marc

Dear All,

I'm trying to implement a keyboard shortcut based on Jean-Marc's code above but I can't seem to be able to get it to work for me using the following code:

Code: Select all

on rawkeydown
   -- I'm wanting an 'Alt S' shortcut
   if the altkey is down and the keysdown is 115,0 then 
      answer  "its worked"
   else
      pass rawkeydown
   end if
end rawkeydown

Not sure where I'm going wrong!
Grateful for any tips.

Thanks,

Glenn

PS - apologies, I've just realised I'm probably causing confusion - I'm not wanting to assign a shortcut to a button (as the post title states!), but I'm wanting to have a general shortcut for a field, for example entering Alt S would trigger a 'save' function.

[SWEdeAndy]

Code: Select all

if the altkey is down and the keysdown is 115,0 then

...is where it goes wrong. At least on my Mac keysDown is not 115,0 when pressing alt + s, it's 115,65513.

If I change the line to

Code: Select all

if the altKey is down and item 1 of the keysDown is 115 then

it works for me, the answer dialog pops up.

[richmond62]

This does NOT work:

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on keyDown XXX
   if the altKey is down then
      if 115 is in the keysDown then  -- s
            put "Whacko"
      end if
      end if
end keyDown

This DOES work:

Code: Select all

on keyDown XXX
      if 115 is in the keysDown then  -- s
            put "Whacko"
      end if
end keyDown

Obviously the altKey blocks keysDown.

[SWEdeAndy]

Obviously the altKey blocks keysDown.

When used in a keyDown handler, yes. It works fine in a rawKeyDown handler, though. Good to know!

[glenn9]

Andreas, Richmond,

Many thanks for the suggestions.

I think I've found the problem (but not the solution yet....)

the problem seems to be Windows..., in that livecode's 'altKey' seems to translate to the 'Alt Gr' key on my keyboard, so the below script now works as expected if I press the 'Alt Gr' key but not with the 'Alt' key!

Code: Select all

on rawkeyDown XXX
   if the altkey is down and 115 is in the keysDown then 
      answer "Whacko"
   else
      pass rawkeydown
   end if
end rawkeyDown

Wondering if this is a bug, or if I need to use a different LC command for the 'Alt' key??....

Regards,

Glenn

[richmond62]

Use this stack:
-

-
The top field gives you the keyDown code, and

the bottom field gives you the rawKey code.

[This will not work on MacOS]

1. Press the 'Alt Gr' key and see what pops up in the bottom field.

2. Press the 'Alt' key and, probably you'll get a different number.

[glenn9]

Thanks Richmond,

have downloaded the stack and can see the differing results with the Alt/Alt Gr keys.

Not sure how I can implement this for solving my lack of Alt key functionality though - I'm in the process of trying to pin down whether its a keyboard or PC setting issue that is causing LC to respond to the altKey command with an 'Alt Gr'!

A workaround would be for me to cut my losses and assign keyboard shortcuts that are in easy reach of the Alt Gr key but the letter characters make much more sense for my project to be near the Alt key for ease of use. (I'm usually using my right hand to scroll with the mouse and I'd like to use my left hand to use keyboard shortcuts around the Alt key!).

I did come across this link from Ferrus logic which might have the answer https://ferruslogic.com/product/libFastShortcuts if only I could understand how to implement it! I'm struggling to understand 'where to put what' re the library placement and my stack - I guess its beyond my LC competency at the moment!

Thank you for trying to help, its very much appreciated.

Regards,

Glenn

[richmond62]

I wonder if altKey links with the Alt Gr key, and optKey with the Alt key in Windows?

Ooooer:
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Should I trust Wikipedia?

I would assume that as LiveCode is descended from a Macintosh-only thing (HyperCard)
it has never crossed anyone's mind to introduce an altGrKey function into LiveCode.

This is a crusty chestnut:

https://use-livecode.runrev.narkive.com ... d-sideways

[richmond62]

To be honest, I'd use my little stack I uploaded to get the rawKey code
for the ALT key (NOT the 'ALT GR' key) and then write some thing like this:

PseudoCode:

on rawKeyDown RAWK
if RAWK = ( the magic number returned by Richmond's stack ) then
the rest of your code with the keysDown bit goes here
end
end rawKeyDown

[glenn9]

Thanks Richmond,

I think I now understand the code for generating keyboard combination shortcuts but I can't seem to get round that the left Alt key does not respond to the LC command 'altKey' - I think this is perhaps an issue with my setup of Windows, or Windows in general?

As a workaround I've now mapped my shortcuts to the Ctrl key which works just fine for both left and right Ctrl keys, and I've tried to take care that the shortcuts don't interfere with the system Ctrl shortcuts!

Thank you again for your help

Regards,

Glenn

[jacque]

I think the problem is in the handler. It checks for 115 but if that's not the case then it passes the message and does nothing. Now that you know the two different keycodes you can handle them both.

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on rawkeyDown XXX
   if the altkey is down then 
     if 115 is in the keysDown then 
       answer "altGr"
     else if <other number> is in the keysDown then
       answer "alt" 
     end if
   else
      pass rawkeydown
   end if
end rawkeyDown

There's a shorter way to code it if you want both keys to do the same thing, I can show you when I'm not typing on a mobile device if you haven't figured it out by then.

Edit: this isn't correct, see next message.

[jacque]

Now that I'm at the computer I see the problem. Here's a revised script that should account for either one of the alt keys.

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on rawkeyDown pKey
  put (65513 is in the keysdown or 65514 is in the keysdown) into tAltKeyTrue
  if tAltKeyTrue and pKey = 115 then
    answer "alt" 
  else
    pass rawkeydown
  end if
end rawkeyDown

[richmond62]

Of course the problem about not being able to trap rawKeyUp and Down on MacOS is a pain-in-the-bum
if one is trying to write a cross-platform thing that uses the ALT keys.

ODDLY ENOUGH, if the SHIFT key is pressed with another key on a Macintosh system, the rawKeyCode is
reported for the SHIFT key:
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As is the CapsLock key:
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the BACK delete and the FORWARD delete keys.

[richmond62]

Documentation is a bit "thin".

[richmond62]

-
Why are these codes NOT Unicode values?

Is there a way for LiveCode to access them?

https://developer.apple.com/library/arc ... ntials.pdf