OPENBAR as menu (when called via em_) from buttonbar

[hi5]

When I open a buttonbar file from the button bar it has the option to "show as menu", but now I want to use a shortcut as well to open that menu, so I created a em_mybar and the OPENBAR pathtomy.bar

Is there a way to also have it "show as menu" that way as well?

[petermad]

It appears that it is not possible with an em_command even though the option "Show as menu" becomes available when you edit the em_command with an OPENBAR command via the "Choose Command" dialog (cm_CommandBrowser) - https://madsenworld.dk/tcmd/openbar.png

I have posted a bug report about this here: https://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=74866

[ghisler(Author)]

It's not possible because Total Commander wouldn't know where to show that menu when it's not opened from a button.

[hi5]

@ghisler(Author) Would you consider to allow shortcuts to be assigned directly to a button? If you have a "assign shortcut" button there it could open the redefine keyboard shortcuts/choose commands window where you can select them buttonX

MyBar1:Button29=mspaint.exe -> ctrl+m

Of course the button bar editor would have to be aware of changes in order so it move button29 to button5 it would either display a warning or automatically updated the shortcut - I think that would be a user friendly method.

[ghisler(Author)]

The button bar does support a very limited set of hotkeys.

[petermad]

It's not possible because Total Commander wouldn't know where to show that menu when it's not opened from a button.

I am aware of that, but why should that prevent TC form opening it as a meny WHEN the command is used in a button.

If you are not going to change this, I suggest that you disable the shift you see when editing and em_command in the "Change single button" dialog when opened from the "Choose Command" dialog . Here the option "Run minimized" is shifted to "Show as menu", when either OPENBAR or xxx.bar is entered in the Command field - and that is misleading if "Show as menu" is not supported for em_commands.

[ghisler(Author)]

Because the em_command does not "know" it was opened from a button.

[hi5]

@ghisler(Author) Another suggestion

You're probably familiar with the ribbon toolbars in programs such as Word, Excel etc whereby after pressing the Alt key once, tooltip letters appear near the buttons which you can press to access that button via the keyboard. Have you considered adding this to the TC buttonbar?
Introduce a cm_ShowButtonBarToolTip to activate it so the user can setup their preferred hotkey to use this feature.


How would it look? https://github.com/hi5/_resources/blob/master/ButtonBarKeyboard.png
(the screenshot comes from the AutoHotkey implementation I've just made, built-in would be superior of course)

[Dalai]

2hi5
Currently I have 63 buttons on my button bar. How to access those that come after 26 (alphabet only) or 36 (alphabet plus numbers) or how many characters a certain alphabet in some language has? How does that work in the program types you mentioned? (No I don't have or use anything that works like these.)

Regards
Dalai

[hi5]

Depends on the program, but the usual solution is if there are over 26/36 it becomes two letters, e.g. AA or Z1 which gives plenty of options...
I don't know how it works particular keyboard layouts but I assume it works the same e.g. use я not q

[Dalai]

So, the input would have to be differentiated by time (or timing) then, or how does it work to see if Alt+A or Alt+AA was pressed?

Regards
Dalai

[hi5]

Yes, you activate it first, so you press alt, release alt, the tooltips appear.
Now the A-Z, 0-9 are "captured" and when pressed the corresponding button is "clicked". (so you don't press alt-a, but alt, release alt, then a)
(in my script pressing any modifier (ctrl, alt, shift, winkey, appskey) or esc and mouse buttons the tooltips are hidden again and A-Z 0-9 are free again)

If you have "double letters" you can check if there is a second key press within say 400 ms, if so click the "aa" button otherwise it remains an "a".