Need help with Barnacle

[ztop]

I've been looking for a way to automate my Ctrl F5 hot keys on a program.
I want to press a button that will automatically press these hot keys to infinity until I ask it to stop.

I want it specific to one window so that while its automatically pushing these keys, I can work on other things.

Barnacle looks like it could do this?. My problem is I have no experience setting it up,

Wondering if someone could answer some specific questions to help me get through the set up process.
To a novice, the terminologyis a bit confusing.

It doesn't look to difficult if I had a little bit of guidance.

Thanks

[mouser]

Welcome to the site, ztop.

Barnacle is pretty amazing but it's a bit of a tricky app, and it's original author doesn't visit us much anymore, so you may be on your own i'm afraid.

[ztop]

sorry it took so long to respond. How disappointing. I thought I had a solution for my problem but doesn't look like It's going to work now. Thanks for your help.

Since this is a autohotkey program, do you think someone who knows auto hot key could help me do the same thing or was this guy  too advanced?

Thanks

[MilesAhead]

If you can use hotkeys rather than a button that is part of the window it's generally more reliable and easier to implement.

How often do you wish to send the control-F5 approximately?  Once every 2 seconds(1/2s) .. 1/s 2/s 4/s etc..

Can you uniquely identify the window?  
(Edit: ahk comes with a spy to get class name of the window etc.. but most stnadard Windows dialogs have class #32770.  The class is not always unique.)

Edit2:  If you don't mind clicking the window with the mouse first to make it the active window, then ID is not an issue.  If the toggle hotkey is unusual then you are not likely to hit it in the wrong program.  But if hotkey is OK then those details can be worked out as we go along.  

And the last would be same key combination toggles on .. off or a different combo to start / stop?

[ztop]

Milesahead,

It doesn't really matter whether I use a hot key or button. I've looked at a ton of automated keyboard programs. I haven't found any that can isolate the command to one window only. Let me clarify. I want a method where I can command one specific window/program to respond to a ctrl F5 command an infinite amount of times while I work in other windows or programs.

The only reason I'm interested in Barnacle is because it seems to isolate the hot key function to a button to a designated window or program.

So to answer your questions
I'm open to any solution that can be specific to one window or program while others can function at the same time.

"How often do you wish to send the control-F5 approximately? "
infinite

"Once every 2 seconds(1/2s) .. 1/1s 2/s 4/s etc.."
adjustable time delay if possible

"Can you uniquely identify the window? "
This is essential

"And the last would be same button toggles on .. off or different button to start / stop?"
It doesn't matter. An on off feature is fine.

I'd appreciate any help. Thanks

[Ath]

"Can you uniquely identify the window? "
This is essential

The question is more like "can the window needing to be sent the hot-key, be uniquely identified, either by it's title or window/control-id", and you telling MilesAhead/us what that unique title or id is...

[MilesAhead]

I'll have to experiment with "PostMessage" or "SendMessage" since Send only works with the active window.

On the other hand, this Powershell script looks like it will do it if you can use the window title as the window ID

http://invista.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/a-simple-powershell-script-to-send-keys-to-an-application-windows/


Edit: one example sends "^s" or control s, to Notepad.  I assume that it can send "^F5" the same way.  It should work provided the window title doesn't fluctuate.

[ztop]

MilesAhead and Ath,

Thanks for your help.
I think I found a program that can help me write the script myself and designate a specific window.
I'm playing with it now. I have a few bugs but I think with time I can get it to work exactly the way I want.

Just so you know its called Pulover Macro Creator. I found it on the AutoHotKey site. It seems to be a excellent program.

MilesAhead I looked at your program and it looks like it has potential. I'll keep it in mind if the other doesn't workout.

Thanks again for you help.

[MilesAhead]

Sounds good.  Hope it works for you.