Month: November 2019

AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Flexible AutoHotkey Hotstring Menus Using Arrays

Jack Dunning Arrays, AutoHotkey, Forcing Expressions, Functions, Hotstrings, Intermediate Level, Menus, Variadic Function, Windows scripting , , ,

New Parameters for the HotstringMenu() Function Adds Flexibility and Power to Pop-up Menus

In my last blog, I started looking at adding the variadic parameter (accepts multiple inputs) and a Menu subroutine parameter to the HotstringMenu() function. While in the process of creating alternative Label subroutines, I found that changing a subroutine often called for a new menu-creating function. Rather than resorting to multiple functions, I decided to add one more parameter for tailoring the master function.

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A Multitude of AutoHotkey Tips and Tricks

Note: This blog discusses the use of AutoHotkey object-based arrays (simple and associative) with the function’s variadic parameter. A review of my books demonstrated that most included discussions of arrays (pseudo-arrays and object-based arrays). In particular,  Chapter 12.1.5 “Using Associative Arrays to Solve the Instant Hotkey Data Recall Problem” in the book Jack’s Motley Assortment of AutoHotkey Tips explains the difference between the various array types while offering a practical example of an associative array.

Continue reading →

AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Use the Variadic Function Parameter for an Unknown Number of Values in Hotstring Menus

Jack Dunning Arrays, AutoHotkey, Functions, Hotstrings, Loops, Menus, Script Structure, Variadic Function , , ,

What To Do When You Don’t Know How Many Values You Will Use? For Hotstring Menus, the Variadic Function Parameter Allows a Variable Number of Arguments or Direct Array Input

Variadic Function: One which accepts a variable number of arguments.

MenuEmojiTagsLight Bulb!In the blog, “AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Hotstring Menu Techniques for Inserting Symbols and Emojis“, I discussed switching from the deprecated StringSplit command to  StrSplit() function before posting the script. After posting my new HotstringMenu.ahk script on the AutoHotkey forum, I received the following comment from the user Delta Pythagorean. I have mixed feelings about the recommended changes:

You can simplify this down by making the parameter variadic and letting the user chose which label to set the menu to work off of.

:x:brb::HotStringMenu("MenuLabel","Hello",,"Goodbye","See you later!")

MenuLabel:
  MsgBox, % "You said: " A_ThisMenuItem
Return

HotstringMenu(Handle, TextList*) {
  For Each, Item in TextList
    Menu, MyMenu, Add, % Item, % (Item != "") ? Handle : ""
  Menu, MyMenu, Show
  Menu, MyMenu, DeleteAll
}

I like the overall concept. This change to the HotstringMenu() function expands its capabilities by adding a selectable subroutine Label name and uses a variadic parameter which allows the functions to accept an unknown number of values. Continue reading →

AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Hotstring Menu Techniques for Inserting Symbols and Emojis

Jack Dunning Arrays, AutoHotkey, Emojis, Hotstrings, Menus, Windows scripting , , ,

Place Special Characters and Emojis in Hotstring Menus to Make Them Easy to Find for Inserting into Documents, Plus Sample Hotstring Special Character Menus

MenuEmoji
Hotstring Menu

In my last blog, “AutoHotkey Hotstring Menus for Text Replacement Options“, I expanded upon the Hotstring menu technique discussed in Chapters Eight and Nine of my book Beginning AutoHotkey Hotstrings. While the menus work great, I noticed that, in many instances, the standard built-in Windows menu objects do not always make it easy to distinguish various characters. For example, when I placed a mix of symbols and emojis in a menu, it produced ambiguous results:

:x*?:b``::TextMenu("🦄,🐀,🐁,🐂,🐃,®,❓,❔")

The characters appear small in the menu (shown at right above)—often without clearly defined differences.

In the menu, the rat (🐀) and mouse (🐁) seem very similar—as do the ox (🐂) and the water buffalo (🐃). The two question marks at the end of the menu look identical, although, the first emoji inserts the punctuation mark in red (❓) while the second adds a white question mark (❔). We need another method for discriminating between the menu options. Continue reading →

AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: AutoHotkey Hotstring Menus for Text Replacement Options

Jack Dunning %Var%, AutoHotkey, Hotstrings, Menus, Parsing Data, Send Command , , ,

Put Hard-to-Remember AutoHotkey Hotstring Replacements in a Menu

Beginning AutoHotkey Hotstrings 200px

Light Bulb!

This tip expands on Chapter Eight of my book Beginning AutoHotkey Hotstrings, “Make Your Own Text AutoCorrect Hotstring Pop-up Menus with AutoHotkey” and Chapter Nine, “How to Turn AutoHotkey Hotstring AutoCorrect Pop-up Menus into a Function.” You can use these techniques in your AutoHotkey scripts to make the selection of similar Hotstrings easier to remember by selecting from a menu. Continue reading →