HotKeySet issues

[WesleyC]

I'm newly returning to AutoIt after ... I don't know how long a departure, but several years at least. Long enough that I barely remember anything about it.

I'm trying to write a little wrapper around mplayer that allows me to use hot keys to control playback (like winamp does, but without winamp). It's the first step to a larger process. I'm running into an issue that appears to be a bug but, as I've only started playing with AutoIt recently, it could just as easily be me not understanding something.

The script works, except for the hot key. It starts mplayer on startup like I want, and stops it on shutdown like I want. I just cannot get ctrl-alt-shift-c to pause mplayer, unless I add a sleep() or msgbox() to the function as below:

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>

Opt("GUIOnEventMode", 1)  ; Change to OnEvent mode
$mainwindow = GUICreate("MP3 Player", 300, 300)
GUISetOnEvent($GUI_EVENT_CLOSE, "CLOSEClicked")

GUICtrlCreateLabel("CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+C = Play/Pause", 30, 10)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

HotKeySet ( "^!+c", "SendASpace" )

Run('mplayer -shuffle -playlist d:\music\music.m3u', "d:\music", @SW_HIDE)

While 1
  Sleep(10)
WEnd

Func CLOSEClicked()
  ControlSend("d:\util\mplayer.exe", "", "", "q")
  Exit
EndFunc

Func SendASpace()
    ;Sleep(1000)
    ControlSend("d:\util\mplayer.exe", "", "", " ")
EndFunc

This code, as is, will not pause mplayer.

If I remove the ; from the 3rd from final line (;Sleep(1000)) it will pause it, after a 1 second wait.

If I change the 1000 to 100, it again won't pause the music.

Any ideas? I was really happy to see how easy this was, until I hit this snag.

[Damein]

Try

HotKeySet("^!+{c}", "SendASpace")

I think that will do the trick

*** EDIT ***

Sorry, I didn't recognize the problem, this probably won't do the trick

Edited November 26, 2011 by Damein

[WesleyC]

Thanks for the reply! Sadly, it did not help. The { } around the C made no change to the way the script is acting. It still fails without the sleep(1000) and still pauses with the sleep(1000) present.

[FaridAgl]

Sorry, i can't understand why you used ControlSend() this way?

ControlSend("d:utilmplayer.exe", "", "", " ")

What is d:utilmplayer.exe ? ( Maybe it's just an example code! )

BTW, if you want to send Space use it like this:

"{SPACE}"

[JohnOne]

ControlSend("d:utilmplayer.exe", "", "", "{SPACE}")

[JohnOne]

Or if you have it

ControlSend("d:utilmplayer.exe", "", "", "{MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE}")

This assumes of course that "d:utilmplayer.exe" is the actual title of the window.

[FaridAgl]

Oh yes maybe, i just though he used FilePath for it! My mistake.

[WesleyC]

d:\util\mplayer.exe is the title of the window, yes. I know it works because it works for other key strokes.

I fiddled a bit more, and if I leave out "ctrl" it works. The below code does exactly what I want, except I hit "alt-shift-c" instead of "ctrl-alt-shift-c". Note, the ONLY difference between this and my original code is that I left out the "^" symbol.

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>

Opt("GUIOnEventMode", 1)  ; Change to OnEvent mode
$mainwindow = GUICreate("MP3 Player", 300, 300)
GUISetOnEvent($GUI_EVENT_CLOSE, "CLOSEClicked")

GUICtrlCreateLabel("CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+C = Play/Pause", 30, 10)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

HotKeySet ( "!+c", "SendASpace" )

Run('mplayer -shuffle -playlist d:\music\music.m3u', "d:\music", @SW_HIDE)

While 1
  Sleep(10)
WEnd

Func CLOSEClicked()
  ControlSend("d:\util\mplayer.exe", "", "", "q")
  Exit
EndFunc

Func SendASpace()
    ;Sleep(1000)
    ControlSend("d:\util\mplayer.exe", "", "", " ")
EndFunc

The problem does NOT seem to have anything to do with ControlSend and seems to have everything to do with HotKeySet.

[WesleyC]

Scratch that last paragraph. Everything else is correct, but it does seem to have to do with ControlSend.

When I set it up with a simpler example:

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>

Opt("GUIOnEventMode", 1)  ; Change to OnEvent mode
$mainwindow = GUICreate("MP3 Player", 300, 300)
GUISetOnEvent($GUI_EVENT_CLOSE, "CLOSEClicked")

GUICtrlCreateLabel("Notepad Test", 30, 10)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

HotKeySet ( "^!+c", "CtrlAltShiftTest" )
HotKeySet ( "!+c", "AltShiftTest" )

Run("notepad.exe")

While 1
  Sleep(10)
WEnd

Func CLOSEClicked()
  Exit
EndFunc

Func CtrlAltShiftTest()
    Send("Ctrl-Alt-Shift worked!      ")
EndFunc

Func AltShiftTest()
    Send("Alt-Shift worked!     ")
EndFunc

Both work.

But still, when I don't use the CTRL code "^" and hit alt-shift-c, mplayer pauses (what it would do if you hit space) so the code *works*

[JohnOne]

Maybe your media player is eating the hotkeys, try something else.

[bangor]

I am also new to Autoit and noticed the same behavior. I looked through the forum for hotkey issues. After running some simple test scripts the problem seems to be related to the script executing another Ctrl and Alt with the keys still pressed when you triggered the script with the original Ctrl and/or Alt sequence - not always precisely reproducible.

I had to add a Sleep() after each Ctrl or Alt - I found Sleep(500) worked on my box but may vary for each.

If there is a more elegant solution, I would love to know it.

I already checked Sticky Keys

Run("notepad.exe")
WinWaitActive("Untitled - Notepad")
HotKeySet ( "^!c", "CtrlAltTest" )
HotKeySet ( "!c", "AltTest" )
Run("notepad.exe")
While 1
  Sleep(10)
WEnd

Func CtrlAltTest()
    Send("Ctrl-Alt-Shift worked!      ")
EndFunc
Func AltTest()
    Send("Alt-Shift worked!  ")
EndFunc

[WesleyC]

I opted to just ignore ctrl. Nothing I can think of uses alt-shift-key hotkeys, so that works fine for me.

Thanks everybody for your help on this. I appreciate the effort!