How to write advanced scripts to
control a multitude of Windows features with gestures
In the last issue of Computeractive we
explored Strokes Plus, a free time saving tool that speeds up common actions by
giving you the ability to trigger them using gestures shapes drawn on the
screen using the mouse. In this second workshop we’ll take a look at some of
the more advanced features of the program, including revealing the full power
of the scripts that you can use.
1. You Should Already Have Strokes Plus
installed but if not, refer to the previous issue of Computeractive for
instructions. If you're confident enough to proceed without reading the first
installment, then download the program from www.strokesplus.com. In this
workshop we'll start by taking a look at some of the preferences that weren't
covered last time around. To start, right-click the Strokes Plus icon in the
Notification Area icon and choose Preferences.
2. Strokes Plus Works By recognising
gestures made with the mouse when a particular button (usually the right one)
is held down. However, there may be times when this button is needed for other
purposes. To deal with this, use the Ignore Key section to define a key that,
when pressed, ensures that mouse movements will not be interpreted as a gesture
make a selection from the dropdown menu. Here we're selecting Shift, so if we
wish Strokes Plus to ignore mouse movements when holding down the right mouse
button, we'd hold down Shift at the same time.
Here we're selecting Shift, so if we
wish Strokes Plus to ignore mouse movements
when
holding down the right mouse button, we'd hold down Shift at the same time.
3. Use The Stroke Style section of the
Preferences tab to customise the appearance of the tracing line that appears
when drawing gestures. Click the Pick Color button and use the displayed
palette to choose a colour before clicking OK. Beneath the Pick Color button
you can configure additional line settings. Width and Opacity settings can be
used to adjust the thickness and transparency level of the line while the
figure in Min Segment Length field defines how long a line must be drawn before
Strokes Plus recognises it to be a gesture.
4. In The Advanced/Experimental* Options
section to the right the Match Probability setting can be changed to adjust how
strictly Strokes Plus checks the shape of the gestures you draw the higher the
number, the more precise you need to be, so try lowering the value if you are
having problems. Ticking Capture Modifiers on Stroke Button Down means that
modifier keys can be pressed either before or after drawing a gesture to
trigger a different action.
5. In Some Instances, it might be better to
disable Strokes Plus entirely albeit still temporarily. For example, in an
image-editing program, it is possible that you might draw the shape of a
gesture when performing some other unrelated task. To fix this, click the
Ignored List tab of the Strokes Plus window, or right-click the Notification
Area icon and select Ignored List. Click the Add button to the lower left,
enter a name and click OK, and then type the name of the program executable in
the File Name box before clicking Apply.
6. Another Option Is To make use of the
Find Window crosshair. This can be used to select a standard program, or a
particular area within a program that will cause Strokes Plus to be disabled
when it is active. Launch the program you want to add to the ignore list and
resize the Strokes Plus window so you can see both. Drag the crosshair from the
Find Window section onto the other program window and the fields if the Ignored
List tab will be filled in for you.
Find Window section onto the other
program window and the fields
if
the Ignored List tab will be filled in for you.
7. In The Previous Strokes Plus workshop we
looked at some basic Lua code, and how Lua scripts could be used to automate
simple actions. One of the most versatile uses for Strokes Plus is when it is
used to mimic key presses, so that you can carry out keyboard actions with
gestures. We're going to adapt the existing Close Program action to launch the
Command prompt. To do this, move to the Configure Actions tab and select Close
Program from the list to the left.
8. Highlight The Existing Lua Script to the
lower right and delete it before selecting ascend Keys from the Keyboard
Actions section of the Available Actions dropdown menu and then click Insert.
Replace the 'your text here' part with it r (to have Strokes Plus 'press' the
Windows key and R, which is the keyboard command for opening the Run dialogue
box in Windows). You may find that it is a good idea to introduce a slight
delay by preceding this with {DELAY=50}. The same syntax can be used to mimic a
range of other keyboard shortcuts other operators include + for Shift,
"for Ctrl and % for Alt.
9. Select AC delay From The Utility Actions
section of the Available Actions menu, click Insert and replace the word '
duration' with 400 to introduce a delay (of 400 milliseconds) to give the Run
dialogue box a chance to appear. You can then insert another instance of ascend
Keys which can be used to send commands here we're entering cmd- (notice the
tilde symbol on the end, typed on most keyboards by holding down Shift and
tapping #) to send the letters cmd to the dialogue before pressing the Enter
key (represented by tilde). You can use the same series of commands to mimic
keyboard shortcuts and send key presses to any program.
10. A
Very Similar Piece Of script could be used to
create gestures to add common text to documents, such as your address to a
letter. Remember to add a tilde (-) to the end of a line and, once you have
entered the relevant code, click Apply to save the changes. In the example code
in the screenshot, we've configured the action to enter an address, select all
the text ("a for Control and A) and then justify it to the right ("r
for Control and R). This powerful script can be adapted in countless ways.
