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Author Topic: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys  (Read 8817 times)

mouser

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CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« on: November 28, 2008, 01:16 AM »
I'll be uploading a new release of CHS this weekend.
Mostly it's minor stuff and a couple of bugfixes.
But i wanted to tell you about a cool new feature:

Normally CHS pastes text by putting it on the clipboard and then simulating a CTRL+V in the target window.  This works fine in 99% of cases.

But now if a clip starts with {sendkeys} then CHS will use an alternative method of pasting the clip into the target application (or you can set it to use the alternate method by default).

The new method simulates each key press one at a time, and most importantly, can send tabs, function keys, ctrl keys, etc.

This will let you create clips that actually fill out multiple fields by putting a TAB after each field.

And a really cool example of this is that you can create a Formatting Preset for example, that takes a string like 1111-2222-3333 and converts it to:
{sendkeys}1111{TAB}2222{TAB}3333

If you call this formatting preset something like "Paste Serial Into Fields" you can see why it would be useful -- you can use it to fill in a multi-field serial number dialog in an installation program using only a couple of key presses:
  • Select the string with dashes in it
  • Move to the first serial number field in the installer
  • Hit Ctrl+Alt+Q to bring up the quick paste menu (or whatever hotkey you configured), and choose the "Paste Serial Into Fields" preset from the menu.
  • All done.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2011, 10:49 AM by mouser »

rjbull

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2008, 04:47 AM »
mouser,

Will there be a configurable delay between simulated keypresses?  You've nearly got a macro application there.

mouser

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2008, 09:03 AM »
I can't really take credit for the functionality -- i'm using a 3rd party library -- but actually it does support delays.
See the help page for the different kinds of keys you can send and other options:
https://www.donation...eys_method_of_pa.htm

I uploaded a CHS beta if you want to experiment:
https://www.donation...elpAndSpellSetup.exe

rjbull

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2008, 10:03 AM »
I can't really take credit for the functionality -- i'm using a 3rd party library -- but actually it does support delays.

Updated help file as well :)  With those features, you might get people wanting to use it for passwords/logins.  I presume that CHS's database isn't secure enough for that?  Not sure I'd need it to be - too used to KeePass and Roboform now, not to mention Linkstash.  But it should come in handy for filling in repetitive forms, especially for people who don't have Roboform, or use browsers Roboform doesn't support, like K-Meleon.

I uploaded a CHS beta if you want to experiment:

Thanks!  I'll download and try it out as soon as I can.

mouser

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2008, 10:16 AM »
I presume that CHS's database isn't secure enough for that?

correct -- i would not use it for anything like that, and RoboForm is so much better at such things, as are all browser form fillers.

rjbull

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2008, 03:53 AM »
mouser,

Thanks for implementing Ctrl-F for the filter   :Thmbsup:

Unfortunately...  I find a glitch with using the filter (not sure it's a bug).  Suppose you type something into the filter box.  The text appears in red.  Further suppose you have several hits.  If you go straight to one of those hits, with the text still in red, and click it, CHS reverts to the last thing you typed into the filter, if there was one, with the text in black.  If there wasn't anything in the filter before, it might be doing something random, but I haven't checked that properly.

On the other hand, if you go to the filter, enter your text, see it presented in red and type Enter after it, the text turns black and everything proceeds as expected; you've "locked" the text in the filter and can choose from the list of hits.  In other words, the final Enter is obligatory.

I don't say that behaviour is exactly wrong, but I wasn't expecting it.  Does it need to be trapped?


mouser

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2008, 08:32 AM »
that is not intended behavior, i shall fix.

mouser

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2008, 09:20 AM »
rj, can you re-download the latest version and see if its fixed?

rjbull

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2008, 10:21 AM »
That's fixed , thank you  :)
But now I think I see something else (needs someone else to check).  If I highlight All in the tree, the filter doesn't show matching items in the Recycle Bin that I know are there.  Shouldn't "All" mean all?  If I highlight Recycle Bin and filter it on its own, they do show up.


mouser

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2008, 10:31 AM »
I think "ALL" excludes recycle bin by design.. though i can see why it might be confusing.

I could make it an option easily enough.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2008, 10:37 AM by mouser »

rjbull

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Re: CHS - New feature coming in next release - SendKeys
« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2008, 03:45 AM »
I could make it an option easily enough.

That would be nice  :)  But the main thing is to know what it's doing.