Zugg Software :: View topic - [2.25 - 2.27] F-keys used as Macro failures

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:16 am

ralgith, I wish I could agree with you because this is driving me crazy. There have been occasions that I have been a sloppy typer (more than I want to count), but this problem doesn't show up in any of the ways you detailed. While typing on the command line, and with no reason to come near the ALT-key (on my keyboard both keys are laid out in such a way that I have to make a conscious effort to press either one of them, as I am sure is laid out on yours), suddenly menus start dropping AS IF I were holding the ALT-key down. That is the problem. I haven't determined yet what initiates it, but once it starts it will continue until I finally am able to clear it by hitting the ESC key two or more times. If it were just one menu that popped up, I would agree with you 100% that it was my error, but this is a sequence of menu pop-ups (and drop-downs) and command line expansions that occur in rapid succession while I am typing.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:52 pm

Anaristos: Have you tried a different computer or different keyboard. Honestly, your problem sounds more like a hardware problem or a dirty keyboard that is causing spurious ALT keystrokes to be sent somehow. You might not see it in other apps unless the app requires a lot of typing or something. But I just can't reproduce this on any of my computers here, and nobody else seems to have reproduced what you are seeing either.

What kind of keyboard are you using? Is it wireless? I've seen problems with wireless keyboards dropping keystrokes sometimes.

Or, maybe you have some other software running in the background that is interfering with this. I assume you have already tested this in a blank session to ensure that it's not something weird in your settings file. But you might also try running it in Windows Safe mode to see if that makes any difference.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 5:39 pm

OK, I might have come across something that is relevant to this problem. When I was playing with ALT-key macros trying to get them to fail in 2.28, I found that if I hold down the keys for a while, then when they repeat they activate the menu bar.

For example, we all know that if you just hold down a normal key (like A), then it pauses a moment, and then starts auto-repeating. This is a setting you can control in your Windows control panel.

Well, if you define a macro:

#KEY ALT-F {test}

and then press and hold the ALT and F keys, the macro runs first, and then after the short pause, the menu bar starts flashing like crazy activating the File menu.

I will check into this to see if I can figure out why the "repeat" keystroke messages are not being treated as normal key presses for macros. But maybe this is related to the problem. If you have your keyboard repeat delay set really short, then holding down the ALT key too long might cause it.

But I still haven't found any way to cause this without pressing the ALT key at some point.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:21 pm

I have also fixed 2.28 so that if you release the ALT key before the other key then it also won't trigger the menu. For example, with the ALT-F macro, pressing ALT, then F, then releasing ALT and then F will no longer cause the menu to get focused.

"Repeat" keystrokes are also fixed in 2.28 now.