Use highlighted text in any application for any purpose

[Klehmanoff]

Hello there,

I need a little program which sits in the background and which can take highlighted/marked text via hotkey and use it as a variable.

The scenario is this:

1. We get e-mails with customer-numbers.

2. I want to double click the customer number, so it get's highlighted.

3. Then I want to press some hotkey (like Ctrg+Alt+C) which grabs the customer number as $customernumber and

4. automatically open a url like this:

http://intranet/backend?customer=$customernumber

Is Step 3 possible with AutoIt? If so, can you point me to the correct function or script for Step 3? I think I can do the implementation myself and then put it online for the public.

Thanks a lot,

Klehmanoff

[hannes08]

Hello Khlemanoff,

what you are looking for are the functions HotKeySet() and ShellExecute().

Use HotKeySet to define your hotkey and the action you need to do.

Shellexecute opens the page in the default browser.

[Klehmanoff]

Thanks, that's a great hint! But I still need a function to actually grab the currently selected text.

hmmm

I just realize I could invoke a Ctrl+C keystroke and let Windows grab the text to the clipboard, then grab the clipboard with AutoIt and open the browser page.

But maybe it's possible to grab the highlighted text without using the clipboard?

[BrewManNH]

ClipPut, ClipGet

[Klehmanoff]

Why didn't I think of that!?!

I'll start scripting over the weekend, I'll be back with results!

[Klehmanoff]

Alright thanks guys, I think I'm done here! :-)

These are my results:

expandcollapse popup

; Hotkey-Script to easily grab order and customer numbers from E-Mail and pass them to a Intranet Backend or Microsoft Dynamics NAV
; Version 0.1
; This script is licensed as public domain

Dim $ClipboardBackup

; SETTINGS
; Hotkeys must be lower case! e.g. "c", not "C"
; Still have not figured out ergonomically optimal hotkeys

$HotKey_CustomerNumber_1 = "c"
$HotKey_CustomerNumber_2 = "{F2}"

$HotKey_OrderNumber_1 = "a"
$HotKey_OrderNumber_2 = "{F3}"

$HotKey_Debitor_1 = "d"
$HotKey_Debitor_2 = "{F4}"

$Backend_URL = "http://intranet.local/display.asp?"
$Backend_CustomerNumber = "customer="
$Backend_OrderNumber = "order="

$Backend_Browser = "iexplore.exe"

; HOTKEY DEFINITION

HotKeySet("^!" & $HotKey_CustomerNumber_1, "OpenCustomer")
HotKeySet($HotKey_CustomerNumber_2, "OpenCustomer")
HotKeySet("^!" & $HotKey_OrderNumber_1, "OpenOrder")
HotKeySet($HotKey_OrderNumber_2, "OpenOrder")

; for Microsoft Dynamics NAV
HotKeySet("^!" & $HotKey_Debitor_1, "OpenDebitor")
HotKeySet($HotKey_Debitor_2, "OpenDebitor")

; WAIT FOT HOTKEYS

While 1
    sleep(1)
WEnd


; FUNCTIONS

Func BackupClipboard()
    $ClipboardBackup = ClipGet()
EndFunc

Func RestoreClipboard()
    ClipPut($ClipboardBackup)
EndFunc

Func OpenBackend($1)
    BackupClipboard()
    Send("^c")
    ShellExecute($Backend_Browser, $Backend_URL & $1 & ClipGet() )
    RestoreClipboard()
EndFunc

Func OpenCustomer()
    OpenBackend($Backend_CustomerNumber)
EndFunc

Func OpenOrder()
    OpenBackend($Backend_OrderNumber)
EndFunc

; INCOMPLETE: Microsoft Dynamics NAV support
Func OpenDebitor()
    ShellExecute("fin.exe")
EndFunc

Any comments?

Edited October 9, 2011 by Klehmanoff

[Klehmanoff]

Version 0.2, now with ToggleHotkeys hotkey, to temporarily disable all hotkeys:

expandcollapse popup

; Hotkey-Script to easily grab order and customer numbers from E-Mail and pass them to a Intranet Backend or Microsoft Dynamics NAV
; Version 0.2
; This script is licensed as public domain

Dim $ClipboardBackup
Dim $HotkeysEnabled

; SETTINGS
; Hotkeys must be lower case! e.g. "c", not "C"
;
; Not allowed, among others: Win+B,D,E,F,L,M,R,U; and Win+Shift+M
; # = Win-Key
; ^ = Ctrl
; ! = Alt
; + = Shift
; Example: "#c" = WIN+C
;
; Still have not figured out ergonomically optimal hotkeys

$Hotkey_CustomerNumber_1 = "#c"
$Hotkey_CustomerNumber_2 = "{F2}"

$Hotkey_OrderNumber_1 = "#a"
$Hotkey_OrderNumber_2 = "{F3}"

$Hotkey_Debitor_1 = "#n"
$Hotkey_Debitor_2 = "{F4}"

; Toggle Disabling of all custom hotkeys except this one
$Hotkey_ToggleHotkeys = "#x"

$Backend_URL = "http://intranet.local/display.asp?"
$Backend_CustomerNumber = "customer="
$Backend_OrderNumber = "order="

$Backend_Browser = "iexplore.exe"

; BODY: Create Hotkeys and wait

CreateHotkeys()

While 1
    sleep(100)
WEnd


; FUNCTIONS

Func CreateHotkeys()
    HotKeySet($Hotkey_CustomerNumber_1, "OpenCustomer")
    HotKeySet($Hotkey_CustomerNumber_2, "OpenCustomer")
    HotKeySet($Hotkey_OrderNumber_1, "OpenOrder")
    HotKeySet($Hotkey_OrderNumber_2, "OpenOrder")
    HotKeySet($Hotkey_Debitor_1, "OpenDebitor")
    HotKeySet($Hotkey_Debitor_2, "OpenDebitor")
    HotKeySet($Hotkey_ToggleHotkeys, "ToggleHotkeys")
    $HotkeysEnabled = 1
EndFunc

Func ToggleHotkeys()
    If $HotkeysEnabled Then
        HotKeySet($Hotkey_CustomerNumber_1)
        HotKeySet($Hotkey_CustomerNumber_2)
        HotKeySet($Hotkey_OrderNumber_1)
        HotKeySet($Hotkey_OrderNumber_2)
        HotKeySet($Hotkey_Debitor_1)
        HotKeySet($Hotkey_Debitor_2)
        $HotkeysEnabled = 0
    Else
        CreateHotkeys()
    EndIf
EndFunc

Func BackupClipboard()
    $ClipboardBackup = ClipGet()
EndFunc

Func RestoreClipboard()
    ClipPut($ClipboardBackup)
EndFunc

Func OpenBackend($1)
    BackupClipboard()
    Send("^c")
    ShellExecute($Backend_Browser, $Backend_URL & $1 & ClipGet() )
    RestoreClipboard()
EndFunc

Func OpenCustomer()
    OpenBackend($Backend_CustomerNumber)
EndFunc

Func OpenOrder()
    OpenBackend($Backend_OrderNumber)
EndFunc

; INCOMPLETE: Microsoft Dynamics NAV support
Func OpenDebitor()
    ShellExecute("fin.exe")
EndFunc

[Klehmanoff]

I just noticed that ClipPut/ClipGet only handles text but not binary data in the clipboard and using _ClipBoard_GetData() with the various Clipboard format seems to get a bit too complicated. So right now backing up the content of the clipboard is not 100% reliable (e.g. Images; Rich Text from Office applications).

So let me ask again: is there another way to grab highlighted text other than using Ctrl+C and ClipGet?