Menu Shortcuts and Hotkey expansion

Progress reports and musings from the developers on the current gaming tools.

Moderators: dorpond, trevor, Azhrei

Post Reply
Lee
Dragon
Posts: 958
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:07 am

Menu Shortcuts and Hotkey expansion

Post by Lee »

Hello,

I had some time to look into the code and am about to make some minor changes based on personal preference. One such change is adding to the I18N properties to give keyboard shortcuts to the rest of menu items, especially those under the Window menu. Ever since I started using MT, I keep itching for such shortcuts since I'm pretty much heavy on keyboard navigation on everything I do PC-wise. I especially want to toggle the built-in panels through keyboard while I'm working on MT or running a game on it.

So, I was wondering before I begin if this was something the devs and community would want available at large; if not, I'll just make my revisions once the final MT is released. If it is the former, I'd like to poll the community for intuitive combinations (e.g. Ctrl+I for the Initiative Window, Ctrl+B for Tables etc.); along with other considerations, of course.

On a lesser note, while we are on the subject of hotkeys, is there interest for expanding the available macro hotkeys to go beyond the ctrl/alt/shift + function key comginations? I know it's more than enough for most people, I'm just throwing it out there to gauge interest. Even if only to add ctrl + alt, ctrl + shift, and shift alt to the mix. Unless there is a negative impact to MT that I am unaware of.

More interestingly, what about new hotkeys for convenience purposes? The ones of the top of my head are:

1. Hotkey to cycle through tokens, calling the functions found on the Selection panel. While I have been able to emulate this through MT macros, the limitation on keys become evident. Nothing like ctrl+a, tab, ctrl+tab, and shift+tab to select all, cycle, reverse cycle and deselect IMO :D
2. Set focus to the command panel; though I admit having a hot-keyed macro that has /self up top works almost as well, I guess.
3. Swap panels so as to have them share a singular location without resorting to manually closing one and opening the other. I don't think this'll impact the behavior of MT's layout manager (I think).

That's all I can think of right now :)

Lee
Dragon
Posts: 958
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:07 am

Re: Menu Shortcuts and Hotkey expansion

Post by Lee »

Well, I'm done with the first part (i.e. Windows menu). I came across some comments regarding "problems" with the use of the enum values found in MapToolFrame. Prior to coming across this, I initially created the static final objects in AppActions, expanding what was already there so it could use the I18N properties file (just like what was described on the comments I mentioned). When I reviewed the code, I saw how that particular part of the AppMenuBar was implemented, so I just went it for now; thus using the enum and the panel values that were already on the I18N properties file. I wanted to ask the devs which way was preferred before I submit a patch, because as of now, it works.

Thanks.

Edit: I also did the grunt work and expanded the hotkeys available for macros. Idk if I posted about wanting to do it elsewhere, but I added the 0-9 #s as well as all the combinations for ctrl, alt, shift with these and the function keys. Let me know if I should send that in too. I'm working on a POC macro library as to why this can be useful :D

Post Reply

Return to “Developer Notes”