AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Embed Images Directly in the AHK Script

Rather than Use the FileInstall AutoHotkey Command, This Trick Allows You to Lodge Images Directly into Your AutoHotkey Scripts

In the past, whenever I wanted to add a graphic image to an AutoHotkey script, I needed to either separately provided the file or embed it in the compiled EXE file using the FileInstall command. The AutoHotkey world has opened my eyes to an ancient technique for embedding an image directly in the AHK script—no need to supply the file separately or embed it by compiling the script.

AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Add Power to Any Command with Forced Expressions (%)—October 7, 2019

Use the Forced Expression Operator (%) to Adapt AutoHotkey Commands On-the-Fly

Most AutoHotkey Version 1.1 commands use plain text as parameters. That means AutoHotkey interprets the text exactly as written—no quotes needed and no variables accepted. In version 1.1, this would limit the commands except for the availability of the traditional (or legacy) double-quote text replacement operator (%var%).

The %var% technique allows us to substitute any variable directly into an AutoHotkey command. However, using the forced expression operator (%) adds even greater flexibility and power to almost any AutoHotkey code. In many cases, rather than developing complicated subroutines, you can use this technique to embed expressions and functions directly into version 1.1 AutoHotkey commands.

AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Quick and Dirty Printing—September 30, 2019

If You Need a Hardcopy, Then You Can Use this AutoHotkey Print Technique—Plus a Cheap Way to Get Printer Ink

Every once in a while you want to put something on paper. Most often, you open the appropriate program (i.e. a text editor or word processor for text documents, PDF viewer for PDFs, or graphics program for images) and print from that application. Trying to use AutoHotkey for direct printing can get pretty complicated (as discussed in Section 10.1.1 “Printing with AutoHotkey Made Simple” of the book Jack’s Motley Assortment of AutoHotkey Tips). But, for a quick printout, you can write an AutoHotkey line of code which sends a document to the printer from a program—without first opening the app.

AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Add Temporary Hotkeys to MsgBox Windows—September 23, 2019

Isolate Hotkeys to Only Operate for an Open or Active Window

In the Weekly Tip, “IfWinActive Versus #IfWinActive“, I recommended isolating Hotkeys to specific windows. This time I offer a practical example.

For more information, see “Chapter Two: Block Windows Shortcuts with AutoHotkey” and “Chapter Three: AutoHotkey #Directives for Context-Sensitive Hotkeys—#IfWinActive” of the book AutoHotkey Hotkey Tips, Tricks, and Techniques.

The #IfWinExist directive offers a number of advantages when creating temporary Hotkeys:

1. The Hotkeys activate only when AutoHotkey opens the controlling window.
2. If other conflicting Hotkeys exist, the temporary Hotkeys take precedence as long as the window exists.
3. After closing the controlling window, the Hotkeys deactivate minimizing interference with other possible Hotkeys or shortcuts.

AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Add Single-Key Shortcuts to Pop-up Menus—September 16, 2019

Sometimes It’s Just Easier to Use the Keyboard Rather Than Your Mouse

If a menu busts in while typing, it forces you to switch to your mouse for resolution. This can get pretty annoying if your script uses a number of pop-up menus. For example, Chapter Eight, “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” of the book Beginning AutoHotkey Hotstrings shows you how to set up a list of alternative corrections. It works well for offering options but, at times, wouldn’t you prefer to hit a single key to make the selection rather than first fetching the mouse, then clicking?

Recent Question from a Reader:

Is there any way to improve the script in order to, once the menu appears, select an option using a given key combination?

For instance: If I typed “alt+1” AutoHotkey would automatically select the option “again”, if I typed “alt+2” it would select the option “a gin” and so on so forth until alt+0?

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AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Auto-Swap Transposed Letters—September 9, 2019

Tip: Fix Reversed Letter Typos with this Simple Hotkey Trick

Place the cursor between two letters and hit the Alt+R Hotkey combination. The letters reverse positions.

I use this Hotkey whenever my mild dyslexia kicks in and leaves me with swapped letters. My AutoHotkey AutoCorrect.ahk script may catch many such errors but many more make it on to my computer screen. I could have written a Hotkey routine which swapped pre-selected (highlighted) letters, but, rather than taking the time to select the characters by dragging the mouse across them, I wanted to merely place the cursor between the two errant letters.

This use of the Send command makes it incredibly easy to transpose any two letters. Simply place the cursor between them and hit ALT+R (as shown in the figure.)

AutoHotkey Tip of the Week: Instant Upper Case, Lower Case, and Initial Cap Text—September 2, 2019

Tips: Quick Hotkeys for Changing Text To/From Capital Letters and How to Initial Cap Everything, Plus, How to Write Robust Clipboard Routines

This week I offer two useful tips: one for editing text and the other for improving your AutoHotkey scripts.

When reviewing my books, I look for those tips which I use all the time. I’ve found that I developed some scripts primarily for demonstration purposes and rarely ever use them again. Yet, I have a few which I use so much that I feel like they have become a part of my Windows system.

In this case, while perusing my Beginner’s Guide to AutoHotkey, I noticed in “Chapter Four: Hotkeys and Text Editing with Windows Clipboard” the Hotkeys for changing selected portions of text into all capital letters, all lowercase letters, or initial cap every word in the section. I originally wrote these Hotkeys when I edited articles submitted by freelance writers.

Some writers have a penchant for placing their article headlines and topic subheadings in all uppercase letters. By creating a Hotkey for converting the entire line to Title Mode (initial capital letter for each word), I quickly solved the retyping problem: