ClipboardFusion RSS: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 18:26:42 GMT

There isn't a way to get text into an app without pasting or doing SendInput/SendKeys as far as know, all of which require us to wait for keyup. Sorry!

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:47:09 GMT

Quote:

Does your macro have a PasteText action as well? That sends a Ctrl + V, so it has to wait for keyup.

Yup.

BFS.Clipboard.PasteText(BFS.ClipboardFusion.GetLocalPinnedText(0));

Is there an easy way to circumvent pasting text (and consequently having to wait for KeyUp)? The em dash created with this simplistic Macro is created by Left Alt+150 on the numeric keyboard. Can I paste Alt+150 (which hardly should count as text) and make it register on KeyDown already?

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:25:30 GMT

Does your macro have a PasteText action as well? That sends a Ctrl + V, so it has to wait for keyup.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 08:10:38 GMT

Hmm. My "Macros" which insert special characters (or combinations of them) are really as silly as it gets: GetLocalPinnedText(#)).

I want to avoid holding Alt and typing obscure number codes for simple stuff like • – ‹→ ... I type it once and then Let CF run the pinned clip. Any of my letter insertions, however, are executed as soon as you let go the mapped key.

Maybe there's a better way to do this anyway – but I prefer keyboard entry (no picking from Clipboard Manager).

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 15:16:18 GMT

Ok, turns out we don't actually need to add it! It's already setup to wait for keyup only when needed, which is when a macro contains anything that sends input (sendkeys, mouse clicks, etc).

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 17:32:18 GMT

Ok, we'll give it a go then, I think it's a fairly simple thing to add.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 08:29:10 GMT

Quote:

Unfortunately we wouldn't be able to make it a per-macro thing, it would have to be global.

Ok, understood. I would like to try out this advanced setting – but please don't spend hours on this. I'd greatly prefer running Clipboard-based actions on MouseDown already – but a global Toggle which inevitably will cause conflicts is no "proper" solution.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 18:52:19 GMT

Unfortunately we wouldn't be able to make it a per-macro thing, it would have to be global.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 12:53:27 GMT

Hi Keith,
sorry for my late reply – I wanted to think about it first and then there were some other distractions Thanks a lot for this offer!

Generally, putting this into Advanced Settings would not ruin things for others. But making this a global toggle could limit me – in case that I want to run advanced community shared Macros. Placing this control in the Hotkey assignment pop-up let you decide on a per-Macro basis – but one needed to extend the Pop-up a bit and offer some explanation. Users who prefer running Macros using the Clipboard Manager GUI are unaffected.

For starters, sneaking in this advanced setting sure made sense – so that you guys see for yourselves that inserting text at Mousedown feels more natural

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 18:44:28 GMT

If we could add an advanced setting to force macros to run on keydown, with the caveat that it could interfere with any macros that use SendKeys, would that be useful for you? If so, I'll add it to our feature request list

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Fri, 28 May 2021 14:42:47 GMT

Of course.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Fri, 28 May 2021 14:18:50 GMT

The problem isn't that the letter is held while the macro is running, the problem is that the modifier key being held while the macro is running can cause issues. So we wait until all keys are released before running it.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Fri, 28 May 2021 12:01:38 GMT

Thanks! What could already feel much nicer was when it was enough to let go the letter key while still holding the Modifiers down. You force this sequence of actions: First press Modifiers, then the Letter or Number key, otherwise nothing will happen. Actually, even when doing everything correctly still nothing will happen (...)

You have to first release all the keys involved. Then the Macro is run.

Isn't there a least a chance to bring forward running the Macro to the point in time when the user lets go the letter/number key? Or does this still collide with something?

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Thu, 27 May 2021 15:58:34 GMT

No worries! There isn't a way to do that as far as I know, but if we come across a way in the future, we'll definitely let you know

Thanks!

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Thu, 27 May 2021 13:11:00 GMT

Hi Keith,
thank you for the additional insight – I hadn't thought that parts of the snippet could register as one of the keypresses in a keyboard-shortcut. I hate to admit, that inserting the clip on OnMouseUp is a cheap and very clever way to deal with that problem.

That said, to me, this late execution still doesn't feel right

I wonder if one couldn't somehow encapsulate clipboard-text in a way that apps can't simply extract the first letter they see fit, to execute some unexpected action.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Wed, 26 May 2021 18:14:26 GMT

I see what you're saying, but with Photoshop, that's an app level hotkey, so the hotkey and all of its actions are being handled with Photoshop itself.

We're dealing with global hotkeys, and macros that are sending input to whatever app has focus, so we can't assume that the modifiers + input won't cause some adverse reactions in the app.

Even taking Notepad for example:

Your macro types some text that has the letter S in it
The hotkey for the macro is set to Ctrl + Something
You press the hotkey and that letter S gets sent before you've let go of the Ctrl key
Notepad ends up opening the Save dialog because it saw the Ctrl + S

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Fri, 21 May 2021 11:09:35 GMT

Quote:

Sorry, I'm a bit backed up on support cases over here

I've checked in with our developers, and the reason we wait for keyup with macros is because macros can send keystrokes, and if the keys are still down when the happens, it can interfere.

For example, let's say your macro wants to send some keystrokes in lower case, but your hotkey is set to Ctrl + Shift + 1. If the macro starts running on keydown, and it starts sending those keystrokes, some of the keystrokes may end up in upper case because the Shift key was still down when it started.

Thanks, that makes sense Keith – in case Shift is involved. The same logic isn't valid, with the other Modifiers or any combination of them. And – isn't there a way for you to cancel the Uppercase-Mapping, as soon as other Modifiers are involved?

This at least does work for Keyboard Shortcuts in other applications, such as Photoshop. Upon pressing Ctrl + Shift + N and on KeyDown Photoshop gives me their New Layer dialogue. One could counter that Photoshop doesn't expect text input by default, but rather brush strokes etc. – but the same works when their text-tool is active. So with the text tool active, they do distinguish between Shift + Letter and Shift + other Modifiers + letter.

Maybe you could tweak this behaviour?
It's no petitesse – such details have great impact on perceived snappiness. If input appears earlier, that's always a good thing.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Thu, 20 May 2021 15:52:43 GMT

Sorry, I'm a bit backed up on support cases over here

I've checked in with our developers, and the reason we wait for keyup with macros is because macros can send keystrokes, and if the keys are still down when the happens, it can interfere.

For example, let's say your macro wants to send some keystrokes in lower case, but your hotkey is set to Ctrl + Shift + 1. If the macro starts running on keydown, and it starts sending those keystrokes, some of the keystrokes may end up in upper case, because the Shift key was still down when it started.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Wed, 19 May 2021 08:01:08 GMT

Just a friendly bump . Did you see my last answer? Inserting the clip while the key is down was great.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Sat, 15 May 2021 08:23:17 GMT

Quote:

Glad to hear you were able to get it working! That's correct as well, the array is 0-based, so item 1 in the list is actually item 0 behind the scenes.

Thanks for your help, Keith! Two thoughts: If the array starts with 0, why not also start counting clips at 0? Or use another unique identifier? I'm not saying that it took me ages to track down the error, but I'm sure you could avoid that I make this mistake in the first place

I realize that my current use-case (in the sense of extending the keyboard with some obscure letters)is likely not typical... but what felt quite awkward in this context is, that CF inserts its clips when letting go the keys (OnKeyUp, if this is a word).

I guess this is not a problem if one wants to pick clips visually (by using the Clipboard Manager). If one prefers running apps with keyboard shortcuts only, getting the clip inserted after letting the keys go feels too late, laggy, even somewhat broken. This doesn't match the typical typing experience – I don't like it. Is there a secret switch to change the timing for the paste-operation?

PS: Meanwhile I tested a variety of "normal" Copy / Paste operations. They all fire OnKeyDown.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Fri, 14 May 2021 19:11:04 GMT

Glad to hear you were able to get it working! That's correct as well, the array is 0-based, so item 1 in the list is actually item 0 behind the scenes.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Fri, 14 May 2021 14:10:04 GMT

Solved. After correcting the code I could finally insert pinned entries via keyboard. But the sequence numbers didn't work. To insert the first pinned clip I have to address clip O.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Fri, 14 May 2021 13:40:47 GMT

Quote:

The Linkify macro works, yep, but note that macro doesn't automatically paste. It sets the clipboard and then you need to manually paste the text.

I read the command sequence (you first need the desired link text in the clipboard, then you select the target item, then press hotkeys to invoke the Macro). Windows shows me via tray pop-up that the command fired, but nothing happens to the target text (ran it in Thunderbird and Notion which both can deal with links). Anyway, I don't need this particular Macro, I just wanted to use it as a safe test case for keyboard shortcut assignment.

I now understand. First run the Macro, then paste the result onto the still highlighted target. A somewhat convoluted flow, but it works now.

Quote:

Your macro in the screenshot has some extra text that shouldn't be there. Deleting the "//

" from the start of line 15 and the "

" from the end of that line should fix it up.

Sorry for that. I'm not a coder . The Macro now looks as in the attached screenshot, I get a tray pop-up that the macro was run, but still I don't get an em dash inserted.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Fri, 14 May 2021 12:52:11 GMT

The Linkify macro works, yep, but note that macro doesn't automatically paste. It sets the clipboard and then you need to manually paste the text.

Your macro in the screenshot has some extra text that shouldn't be there. Deleting the "//

" from the start of line 15 and the "

" from the end of that line should fix it up.

RE: Use custom hotkeys to insert pinned clips?

Binary Fortress Software — Wed, 12 May 2021 19:07:48 GMT

Quote:

Strange, it works fine when I test it here. Could you attach a screenshot of one of the macros you created?

Here is one. It is supposed to call a single special character which is pinned. I likely messed up – but I generally seem to have troubles with running CF-Macros from hotkeys. Does the Linkify macro from the default library work on your end, when you assign a ~~macro~~ keyboard shortcut?

Thanks for your support!