me128-aw@kepler.Berkeley.EDU (me128 student) (12/08/88)
I've been accumulating a few too many hot-key programs lately, and a thought occured to me: Why isn't there any effort to standardize hot-key codes? POP-CLI uses a shift-Amiga-Functionkey sequence, while grabbit uses cntrl-alt-alpha sequences. For the life of me, I can't seem to remember what these and other programs want as input. Why isn't there some standardization? Better yet, standardization and remappable hot key combinations? The right amiga is used for menus. The left is for intuition stuff. Amiga-alt combinations are for mouse buttons. HotKey programs, however, don't maintain any consistency from program to program. Well, my idea is; how about a system device of some sort responsible for arbitrating Hotkey programs? When you write a hotkey program, all you have to do is open the hotkey.library which sets up a message port. In addition to making hotkey programs simpler, it would avoid having long chains of input handlers all looking for stuff. A program could then have a hotkey interface with minimal effect on system performance. (hint...GOMF!?) In the system devs: directory, there would be a hotkey-config file, which maps for each key combination a task-name and message-id number which will be sent to the task. Then the user could use a program to edit the hotkey file to suit his own purposes. Thus, the user could insure that all of his/her hotkey programs would have a sensible, unique, consistent interface. Personally, I think a cntrl-FunctionKey combination would make the most sense, since it would be easy to make a keyboard template. Anyway, these ideas are kinda rough, as I'm making them up as I type. I do think, however, that it would be really nice if we could avoid the hotkey jungle of the MS-DROSS world some way. I really don't think that cntrl-alt-backspace-shift-F7 is very intuitive. Any thoughts? While we're on the subject of hotkey programs, how about a POPWorkbench program which toggles opening and closing the workbench screen? This should be simple to write, but I've never written an input handler before. Also, I use Lattice C, and all my programs tend to be at least 15k even if they do really simple things. "Thank you, for your support" - Bartles & Jaymes -Vincent H. Lee
dat01@amnesix.liu.se (Dat) (12/09/88)
In article <27067@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> me128-aw@kepler.Berkeley.EDU (me128 student) writes: >While we're on the subject of hotkey programs, how about a POPWorkbench >program which toggles opening and closing the workbench screen? This >should be simple to write, but I've never written an input handler >before. >-Vincent H. Lee How about some hotkey combination that increases/decreases the priority of the process (hmm.. grinding wheels, how about this) associated with the currently active window? Anyway, it sure would be nice to get rid of all those input handler. It seems like each and every program can be labelled YAIH (Yet Another Input Handler). _____________ /// WWWWW Mikael Karlsson, Lovsattersvagen 10, S-585 98 LINKOPING, SWEDEN /// {@v@} "I may be artificial, but I'm not stupid." \\\/// \w/ "Give me a fixed address, and I will move the World" \XX/
wncs302@nmtsun.nmt.edu (William Norris) (12/12/88)
In article <1106@amnesix.liu.se> dat01@amnesix.liu.se (Dat) writes: >Anyway, it sure would be nice to get rid of all those input handler. >It seems like each and every program can be labelled YAIH (Yet Another >Input Handler). NOOOOOO! That's what makes the Amiga so great. Want a feature added? Make current window active, ASCII numeric keypad, screen blanking, and on... The Amiga's OS provide a way to add all these features to your computer and will work with all programs. Ever try writing Terminate-and-Stay-Resident (TSR) programs on an IBM? Let's see: get interrupt vector & save, re-route to your own routine, filter out & pass on to next interrupt in the chain (PLEASE), do your works (NO DOS ROUTINES, OF COURSE!) Of course, every TSR program should be installed last in your autoexec.bat file :--) William B. Norris IV