Jack’s AutoHotkey Blog

The Best Type of Brain Food!
Get Started with AutoHotkey with this
“Introduction to AutoHotkey
A Review and Guide for Beginners“

See Also, New Book of Jack’s Motley Assortment of AutoHotkey Tips

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January 23, 2019

See this exploration of the flexible, powerful Hotstring X option, “Add Action to Your Hotstrings Using the New X Option (AutoHotkey Tip).”

January 16, 2019

Using the InstantHotstring.ahk script might be a good way to learn how to write basic AutoHotkey Hotstrings. (“Using GUI Checkbox Controls to Set Hotstring Options (AutoHotkey Technique)“)

January 15, 2019

You’ll find lots of eating and drinking in the InstantHotstring.ahk script—far beyond the Hotstring() function. I’ve just added the capability to save your new Hotstrings in an AHK filename of your choice. You can either run the file directly with AutoHotkey or load the Hotstrings into the InstantHotstring.ahk app. I have yet to write a number of the remaining blogs about the many script features:

1. Dealing with the C1 (no case-sensitivity) Hotstring option as an exception in the InstantHotstring.ahk script.
2. A look at considerations when using the X (execute) option in the InstantHotstring.ahk script.
3. Using the FileSelectFile command to save/load Hotstrings by name.
4. Adding color and style to GUI window controls.
5. Tricks for adding a sample AHK saved file without using FileInstall command or a separate sample file. (No compiling required.)

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January 13, 2019

I take a look at how to add Hotstring options to the InstantHotstring.ahk script (“Using GUI Checkbox Controls to Set Hotstring Options (AutoHotkey Technique)“).

January 9, 2019

Rick Corbett sent me “Errata to the Motley Assortment of AutoHotkey Tips Book.”

January 7, 2019

See another way people use AutoHotkey: An AutoHotkey Tale.

January 4, 2019

I have a little ways to go but here is a taste of what’s new:

The Coming Instant Hotstring Script (AutoHotkey App)

January 5, 2019 Update: You can find the InstantHotstrings.ahk script at the ComputorEdge AutoHotkey Free Scripts page.

December 23, 2018

Alan points out a simple technique for adding single-key shortcuts to the QuickLinks.ahk script, “Add Single-Key Shortcuts to QuickLinks App (AutoHotkey Quick Tip).”

December 20, 2018

I’ve added “Using the AutoHotkey Hotstring() Function to Disable/Enable Hotstrings” to the InstantHotstring.ahk script.

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Add Action to Your Hotstrings Using the New X Option (AutoHotkey Tip)

The Hotstring X Option Offers More Power by Running Commands, Functions, and Subroutines, Plus How to Temporarily Block External Hotstrings

In February of last year, the powers-that-be added a new Hotstring() function and a number of other Hotstring related features (See “New Flexible Hotstring Features Added to AutoHotkey.”) This major change added a host of new possibilities for creating and manipulating Hotstrings. The Hotstring() function acted as the impetus for my InstantHotstring.ahk script. In the process of writing that app, I developed a better understanding of how to enhance Hotstrings. Getting immediate feedback when implementing new replacements and options allowed me to quickly investigate many possibilities.

Beginning Hotstring Tricks for Expanding Acronyms (AutoHotkey Tips)

Hotstring Techniques for Expanding Abbreviations Only When You Need Them, Plus How to Sound British…Sort Of

One benefit I’ve discovered when using my InstantHotstring.ahk script includes quickly checking the effects of the various Hotstring options. Without re-editing and reloading an AutoHotkey script, I can test the assorted options and see how they modify the behavior of each Hotstring. This helps me understand how to solve some Hotstring problems.

Using GUI Checkbox Controls to Set Hotstring Options (AutoHotkey Technique)

AutoHotkey Hotstrings Use a String of Characters to Turn Options On and Off—GUI Checkbox Controls Offer a Visual Display for the Active Options along with a Method for Enabling/Disabling Each Feature

Previously (in “The Coming Instant Hotstring Script (AutoHotkey App)“), we reviewed the work still needed in the InstantHotstring.ahk script. This time we implement Hotstring options using the Hotstring() function.

Converting GUI (Graphical User Interface) Checkbox controls into Hotstring options codes (and back again) involves adept programming tricks. We use GUI windows and their controls to make applications user-friendly. People find it much easier to push discreet buttons and check separate boxes than work directly with often enigmatic programming codes. That means we must build a method for translating between the user-friendly input in a GUI window and the required code.

Errata to the Motley Assortment of AutoHotkey Tips Book

If you’ve purchased (or plan to purchase) the Motley Assortment of AutoHotkey Tips book, you will want to see these comments/corrections from Rick Corbett:

Hi Jack,

I’m slowly ploughing my way through Motley AutoHotkey Tips – First Edition October 4 2018… and loving it. 😄

A couple of things…

An AutoHotkey Tale

I recently received the following e-mail from Will Guest. Sharing it might inspire others to take a closer look at AutoHotkey. While Will implemented a serious solution to an expensive problem, you don’t need to work at his level to get tremendous benefit from AutoHotkey. Its simplicity makes it the choice for dealing with many Windows headaches—even for experienced programmers:

Hi, Jack,

I actually have another recent use for AHK, the technique(s) of which I’d gotten from one of your very helpful books. It’s a bit of a long story, but:

I’ve recently come back from almost two years in the Middle East (Abu Dhabi), where I was designing/ engineering/ installing/ and commissioning the AVCN (Audio Video Control Network) systems for a theme park project (Warner Bros. World, the ‘largest interior theme park on Earth’). We had a vendor installing a parkwide control and management system (Virtual Machines with a fault-tolerant Hypervisor) which was deployed on a per-node license basis. All good, but at least 18 of the nodes were all-in-one 7″ touch-panel PCs, which were used to turn On/ Off/ Set levels for the background music and lighting in the Food, Beverage, and Retail venues throughout the park. These touch panels were used about twenty minutes a day — if that much; so having a full license used for these rarely-used nodes was not the best (or fairest) plan. Plus, with the number of users that wanted to monitor the parkwide system, we were being put into a situation of having to buy additional (rarely used) licenses for a fairly large amount of money.

The Coming Instant Hotstring Script (AutoHotkey App)

The InstantHotstrings.ahk Script Allows the Creation and Testing of Hotstrings

January 5, 2019 Update: You can find the InstantHotstrings.ahk script at the ComputorEdge AutoHotkey Free Scripts page.

I started writing the InstantHotstrings.ahk script as a demonstration of the new Hotstring() function. I planned to keep it basic. (See the previous blogs, “Create Instant Hotstrings Using the AutoHotkey Hotstring() Function” and “Using the AutoHotkey Hotstring() Function to Disable/Enable Hotstrings.”) However, as often happens, the script ballooned into much more. While it continues to demonstrate various aspects of the Hotstring() function, it now includes a number of other features worth discussing (e.g GUI DropDownList, adding Hotstring options, saving and loading files).

I plan to post the current version of the app soon, but I don’t feel it’s quite ready. So, in this blog, I review the script’s features which provide topics for my future blogs. Although not my intention, you could call this a teaser of what’s yet-to-come. I should have the script ready for posting next week. I’ll publish a notice here when I’ve added it to the ComputorEdge Free AutoHotkey Scripts page. (I didn’t want you to think that during this holiday period I wasn’t working on something.)

January 5, 2019 Update: You can find the InstantHotstrings.ahk script at the ComputorEdge AutoHotkey Free Scripts page.

In addition to the two blogs mentioned above, I will write a series of pieces about the meat and potatoes in this new app:

1. Add Hotstring options to the activated Hotstrings and the GUI DropDownBox control.
2. Discuss the behavior of the various Hotstring options within the Hotstring() function.
3. Look at considerations when using the X (execute) option in the InstantHotstring.ahk script.
4. Save temporary Hotstrings to a .ahk file.
5. Use the FileSelectFile command to save/load Hotstrings.

Add Single-Key Shortcuts to QuickLinks App (AutoHotkey Quick Tip)

Reader Uses Menu Shortcut Keys to Speedup QuickLinks.ahk Action

Alan posted the following comment on Pressing GUI Buttons with a Single Keystroke (AutoHotkey Tip):

Hi, Jack,

Thanks for making such useful contributions to AHK.

I found QuickLinks to be useful but then was looking to make it even more helpful by having key shortcuts. I figured out how to do it! You can let others know if you can point out adding an ampersand in front of the letter of the folder or shortcut.

Thanks, 

Alan

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I’m gratified that a number of people are using and modifying the QuickLinks.ahk script. It’s evolved considerably since I first introduce the barebones version in the book Digging Deeper Into AutoHotkey. In AutoHotkey Applications, I added icons using the Menu,…,Icon, command. In my most recent Motley Assortment of AutoHotkey Tips, I modified the script to add a number of other features. More recently, I wrote a blog which highlighted changes increasing the power of the script by another reader, “Open and Print Files with the QuickLinks App (AutoHotkey Tip from a Reader)“. In all that time, I never thought to talk about using the single-key shortcut menu technique available in all Windows menus with the QuickLinks.ahk script.