Author Topic: Living without AutoHotkey - possible? (Read 94768 times)

brotherS · « **on:** October 10, 2005, 08:58 AM »

Hi,

I'm sure many/most here already know about www.autohotkey.com - it's really, really great and I like it even more since I accidently discovered Skrommel's Coding Snacks page. Thanks again!

I now use AHK

to be able to use handy shortcuts for often used folder names
to more easily search for movies in the great www.imdb.com
to move around windows on the desktop with the keyboard only
to move around windows with the mouse that you normally can't move at all
to use shortcuts for often used and complex URLs (that work in IE, FF and IRC!)
to help newbies in several IRC channels with a variety of FAQ triggers
to open URLs from the clipboard in less than a second
to more easily edit wiki pages
to remote control bots in IRC
to promote great freeware programs with tiny triggers (info includes URL, mouser and Skrommel should do that more often too)
to easily use different signatures in emails or add info to the signature
to bold text in here without having to touch the mouse
to be able to type short hotkeys instead of long path names for the most often folders
to dim all of the desktop but the active window, thanks to skrommel's Ghoster
to remote control the new, great Google Sidebar (check http://desktop.google.com/en/ for details about it)
to close a program window that needs to be sitting in AutoStart but won't close itself when it's done
to automatically backup very important files once a day
to schedule site visits for a site I don't want to forget to visit
to remap some keys
to make Ctrl-TAB work in tabbed programs that don't support Ctrl-TAB by themselves
to automatically delete certain tiny files that I download with Free Download Manager & FlashGet (faster than unselecting them before downloading)
to more easily search for DonationCoder.com forum (this!)
to show/hide a certain program that's lurking in the tray
to do some mind-numbing simple tasks for me (the same key-presses again and again and again)
to be able to use Ctrl+s as the save hotkey in programs that don't support it already
to automatically change a window's screen position when it's deactivated, thanks to skrommel's WinWarden
to replace many key strokes in a certain program (for an action I repeat often) with just one hotkey
to close a program by just pressing ESC when no file is loaded
to easily upload code/text to www.pastebin.com thanks to skrommel's great code
to mute my PC in case I fall asleep while listening to music, thanks to skrommel's IdleMute
to often sync the system time with NTP servers
to automatically defrag mp3 files that I recorded with another program
to automtically delete some old log files at night
to enable/disable a Winamp plugin with a keyboard shortcut
to enjoy a better screensaver, thanks to skrommel's DimSaver
to automatically close info windows of programs that are missing an option to disable those

And since AutoHotkey is working perfectly on an USB stick too, I now can still enjoy all those benefits while using another PC - great!

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9089/animatedgifcheerleadersmiley5b.gif

Living without AutoHotkey - possible?

I'd love to hear about other uses too!

kfitting · « **Reply #1 on:** October 10, 2005, 09:49 AM »

Well, as far as AutoHotkey is concerned I use it mainly for hotkeys and replacement text. I'm going to generalize the thread a little to include AutoIt v3 (same idea as AutoHotkey... I use them both for different things!).

Currently, I'm writing a program that is basically a GUI for EXIFUtils (http://www.hugsan.com/EXIFutils/) to allow me to easily update EXIF captions, location, keywords, and photographer data in JPGs. Basically, I run use AutoIt to run EXIFUtils and have it export the info to a csv file, open the csv via AutoIt and parse out the info I need, updating the GUI and another CSV "database" for future reference. (Incidentally, if there are any AutoCAD LT users out there that want to script AutoCAD, we use Excel VBA to automate AutoCAD... even though LT doesnt have VBA. The process is similar to what I described above.)

Basically, I think both of these script utilities are extremely amazing and give a few more tricks for a user to get things done! Skrommel shows just how powerful these types of languages are and looking in the forums for each language, you can see more great ideas (eg, I saw an OCR script in AutoIt's forum the other day). Awesome stuff! If you find yourself doing something more than 5 times you may as well write a script for it.

Kevin

zridling · « **Reply #2 on:** October 11, 2005, 06:44 PM »

BrotherS, I don't have the range and depth of use with AutoHotkey that you do, but it has become an indispensable tool for me every single day. I run various scripts, but mainly I use it as an autocorrect, keyboard shortcut, and application launcher. I occasionally remap keys, but not often. For PC gamers, you can run through every level of Doom, Grand Theft Auto, and other programs by creating various scripts to mimic the cheats. Awesome!

If you're a fan of AutoHotkey, consider an occasional donation to its developer, Chris Mallett.

brotherS · « **Reply #3 on:** October 12, 2005, 01:59 AM »

If you're a fan of AutoHotkey, consider an occasional donation to its developer, Chris Mallett.
-zridling (October 11, 2005, 06:44 PM)

Good idea! His donation page deserves much more visibility...

zridling · « **Reply #4 on:** October 14, 2005, 02:43 AM »

For anyone who does not know, the resident AutoHotkey scholar, Skrommel, demonstrates just a few of the clever things you can do with AutoHotkey.

brotherS · « **Reply #5 on:** November 05, 2005, 07:58 AM »

Just updated my list in the original post.

zridling · « **Reply #6 on:** November 05, 2005, 06:32 PM »

brotherS, how do you search IMDB using AutoHotkey? I'm curious.

brotherS · « **Reply #7 on:** November 06, 2005, 12:38 AM »

brotherS, how do you search IMDB using AutoHotkey? I'm curious.
-zridling (November 05, 2005, 06:32 PM)

Hi zridling,

curiosity is good!

I use that script below, the beauty of it is that you can use it in IE or Firefox or any other browser (just type .imdb in the address field) and even in IRC chats or when you IM a friend.

[Select]

:*o:.imdb::
InputBox, SearchWords, IMDB Movie Search, Enter your search words separated by spaces:
StringReplace, SearchWords, SearchWords, %A_SPACE%, `%20, All
SetKeyDelay 0
SendRaw http://akas.imdb.com/find?q=%SearchWords%;s=all
return

mouser · « **Reply #8 on:** November 06, 2005, 12:42 AM »

just a note: f+r is excellent at this kind of thing and the next release will come with builtin command for imdb and many others.

brotherS · « **Reply #9 on:** November 06, 2005, 01:34 AM »

just a note: f+r is excellent at this kind of thing and the next release will come with builtin command for imdb and many others.
-mouser (November 06, 2005, 12:42 AM)

Great! I'm looking forward to having screen captured "what does it do?" and "how to do?" videos of some cool DC apps and torrents to download them

@all: check http://azureus.aelitis.com/wiki/ if interested

brotherS · « **Reply #10 on:** November 17, 2005, 01:53 AM »

Bumping the topic, I added stuff to the list in the first post.

(Potential) AutoHotkey users, where are you?

brotherS · « **Reply #11 on:** November 26, 2005, 02:43 PM »

Millions of people should not use AutoHotkey!

...too bad billions aren't.

rjbull · « **Reply #12 on:** November 29, 2005, 08:30 AM »

Millions of people should not use AutoHotkey!

...too bad billions aren't.
-brotherS (November 26, 2005, 02:43 PM)

Shouting downsized... <bewildered> what was all that about?

What's the best way to get started with AutoHotKey? Is the Yahoo! Groups forum worthwhile?

brotherS · « **Reply #13 on:** November 29, 2005, 09:21 AM »

Millions of people should not use AutoHotkey!

...too bad billions aren't.
-brotherS (November 26, 2005, 02:43 PM)
Shouting downsized... <bewildered> what was all that about?
-rjbull (November 29, 2005, 08:30 AM)

That was just to lure other forum users out of the dark shadows where they are hiding

What's the best way to get started with AutoHotKey? Is the Yahoo! Groups forum worthwhile?

I suggest to start with http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/ (learning by doing and by trying to understand tiny existing scripts works great) and to join #autohotkey on irc.freenode.net - often a bit quiet in there, so don't leave after only 20 seconds

brotherS · « **Reply #14 on:** December 29, 2005, 07:35 AM »

Running AutoHotkey from an USB stick is a great idea, too!

rjbull · « **Reply #15 on:** January 12, 2006, 03:48 AM »

I'd love to hear about other uses too!
-brotherS (October 10, 2005, 08:58 AM)

I have to retrieve patents as PDF files from Delphion http://www.delphion.com
I generally use their Boolean search form, which allows you to put four things in at a time. You have to navigate various drop-downs, as well as type in the text. Lately people have been giving me lists of 70 to 120 patents to get. Patents generally have 7-digit numbers prefaced with a two-letter country code and usually suffixed with a letter+digit "kind" code (application vs. granted status). That's a lot of typing of mindless items. In the end I wrote an AWK script that converts my list of patent numbers into a AutoHotKey hotstrings script, thereby saving an awful lot of futile keypresses. Just type the next hotstring trigger into the first box, and off it goes... Nothing sophisticated, but a worthwhile time and frustration reliever.

brotherS · « **Reply #16 on:** January 16, 2006, 11:03 AM »

housetier reported this nice article: http://software.news...sid=05/12/22/2220255

[...]
Conclusion

Of course, Autohotkey's capabilities reach far beyond these simple examples. More importantly, Autohotkey features a combination that makes it a tool of choice for automating Windows: It's both powerful and easy to use. Whether you're a seasoned Windows administrator or an ordinary user, Autohotkey can make your computing life easier.

kfitting · « **Reply #17 on:** January 16, 2006, 12:26 PM »

Got a quick question for you: I'm using an AHK script for simple text replacement. I type dont and it is supposed to insert don't. Problem is I must type too fast for AHK because I keep getting dot't or cat't or doest't. Is there any way to fix this? It is starting to get kind of annoying...

Here's my code section, I have keydelay set to -1 and process priority set to high:

:k-1b0*:dont::
   :k-1b0*:wouldnt::
   :k-1b0*:couldnt::
   :k-1b0*:arent::
   :k-1b0*:shouldnt::
   :k-1b0*:wont::
   :k-1b0*:doesnt::
   :k-1b0*:hasnt::
   :k-1b0*:cant::
   :k-1b0*:isnt::
   :k-1b0*:havent::
   :k-1b0*:didnt::
   :k-1b0*:werent::
   :k-1b0*:wasnt::
   :k-1b0*:hadnt::
      send,{bs}'t
      return

Kevin

jgpaiva · « **Reply #18 on:** January 16, 2006, 05:35 PM »

@Kfitting: I'm not an ahk expert, i've just been playing with if for the last 2 weeks.I've checked your code and everything seems to be perfect,you selected all the maximum performance options, it should work.As i found strange it didn't, i tried it myself, and on my machine it had no problems at all..I don't write very fast,but did my max on writing "dont" and it corrected it everytime.
Wouldn't it be your script that is very crowded with code,and it takes some time to act, or maybe (as mentioned in help file), your "CPU is frequently under heavy load"... I'm Just guessing here, but i can tell you that it worked well with me.

@brotherS: Thanks! That link is great to distribute through my friends and make them fall in love with ahk

brotherS · « **Reply #19 on:** January 17, 2006, 03:04 AM »

[...]
   :k-1b0*:hadnt::
      send,{bs}'t
      return
-kfitting (January 16, 2006, 12:26 PM)

I'm using something similar to fix wrong capitalization in a certain word, always works for me - and I type fast too.

You could try

[Select]

:*o*:wasnt::wasn't

to see if that is faster for you, but as jgpaiva said, your method should be fast enough already. I suggest you ask in the forum on the http://www.autohotkey.com/ site.

Cpilot · « **Reply #20 on:** January 27, 2006, 01:23 AM »

I've looked at Autohot Key and Autoit and found them both somewhat useful but limited.
FBSL blows em both out of the water. GUI, COM, CGI,easy API access, speed and general utility makes it a hands down superior scripting language.

mouser · « **Reply #21 on:** January 27, 2006, 01:37 AM »

nice find cpilot. is there a web page for this project where one might read more or is it all just in the forum?

Cpilot · « **Reply #22 on:** January 27, 2006, 01:47 AM »

nice find cpilot. is there a web page for this project where one might read more or is it all just in the forum?
-mouser

Actually the project is freeware and is still in the "building" phase. So everything is basically contained in the forum...including download instructions. Which you can find here.
API access and COM are important to me and this scripting language allows you to follow the MSDN doc's pretty close making API access especially easy.
I have used this scripting language for almost 2 years and have watched it evolve into a very powerful tool.

For those who don't wish to commit and yet would like to try it out there is an online version of the compiler available to experiment with:
FBSL Studio

You can write scripts online and then compile for use on your machine.

brotherS · « **Reply #23 on:** January 27, 2006, 04:05 AM »

I've looked at Autohot Key and Autoit
-Cpilot (January 27, 2006, 01:23 AM)

Really? You misspelled both program names

and found them both somewhat useful but limited.
FBSL blows em both out of the water. GUI, COM, CGI,easy API access, speed and general utility makes it a hands down superior scripting language.

Hmm...

Actually the project is freeware and is still in the "building" phase. So everything is basically contained in the forum...including download instructions. Which you can find here.
API access and COM are important to me and this scripting language allows you to follow the MSDN doc's pretty close making API access especially easy.
I have used this scripting language for almost 2 years and have watched it evolve into a very powerful tool.

For those who don't wish to commit and yet would like to try it out there is an online version of the compiler available to experiment with:
FBSL Studio
-Cpilot (January 27, 2006, 01:47 AM)

So after 2 years they

don't even have a site with tutorials and a great documentation like you'll find on http://www.autohotkey.com/ ?
aren't listed in the wikipedia - check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoHotkey to compare
don't have much Google coverage
still have a typo in their headline (the program name itself!) on http://www.fbsl.net/phpbb2/ ?

I'll stick with AutoHotkey..

Cpilot · « **Reply #24 on:** January 27, 2006, 07:28 AM »

Really? You misspelled both program names

Both being eminently forgettable I'm sure you'll understand.

Hmm...

Took a good look did ya?

So after 2 years they

don't even have a site with tutorials and a great documentation like you'll find on http://www.autohotkey.com/ ?
aren't listed in the wikipedia - check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoHotkey to compare
don't have much Google coverage
still have a typo in their headline (the program name itself!) on http://www.fbsl.net/phpbb2/ ?

Item 1

Documentation and Tuts come with the download, and lots of great examples exist on the forum. Not just BS about "what I did today".
If you can't use it based on the help file it's probably not for you anyway.

Item 2

I'm sorry the only place you can get information is from wikpedia, in case you were unaware there is a whole web out there.

Item 3

Thanks for the tip I'll get it corrected.

I'll stick with AutoHotkey..

See item 1, second sentence.

For any one else out there, your welcome to take a look, give it a try and ask questions.