I want to program a key on my keyboard to paste certain static text when pressed.
For instance, I'd like to program the F12 key so, when pressed, it pastes my email address every time. Is there an easy way to do this?
There are some excellent free software products that allow you to remap keys and create macros. For Windows, you can use AutoHotKey. I've used it before and it can be quite handy for this sort of thing.
It's a very powerful tool and can be a little intimidating to use at first but it's worth taking the time to get to know it. The Quick Start guide is quite helpful.
If you mean instead, the ability to do this within your own program using C++ or .NET or something, give some more details.
Related
I mean, its not about some code or something, but how does that shortcut work in general, like when I am working on a something and accidentally, I delete a chunk of text, how does the shortcut, revert it back on to the screen, don't give me the code or something, but take instances of elements in the coding world like whiles, ifs etc. How did the creator get the idea that something like this should even exist?
There are multiple ways this can be achieved, the decision how, is up to the developer to decide.
One way is to make use of a stack, where the where the state of this program is stored in such a structure.
Another way is use a design pattern called the command pattern which is often used to implement undo redo functionality, this is very similar to a stack, but instead of storing the program state, you save the action done to the program together with a similar action to undo the executed one.
To begin with, I understand that Microsoft offers no way to programatically alter the (modern) start menu - on purpose.
Nevertheless, I'm looking for a way to still do it. I might use it to make a tool to sync the start menu between devices - or to automatically place often used items into thematically sorted groups (office, games, tools). The reason is that I have multiple devices, and really suck at manually managing the start menu - so I just use search or the alphabetic list most of the time.
So, does anybody know how to programatically add, remove, edit tiles? I could imagine solutions including:
Using undocumented APIs (can you still call it an API if it is not documented?)
Directly editing the tile database (e.g. TileDataLayer) - downside is that it seems to be a binary format, which is not known, and you'd have to restart the shell for changes to take effect.
Hooking DLLs or poking around in memory - yikes - but not worse than what other "desktop modding" tools like WindowBlinds would do
Using accessibility APIs, or faking mouse/keyboard input - this would most probably work, but it would be a bit spooky seeing the cursor move around, and it seems even more frail than the others.
I searched a bit, and think there is probably no solution available right now, but you can see this as a challenge to come up with a solution :-)
As you say, there isn't a way to do this.
As an alternative, did you know that you can easily find apps to launch by pressing the windows key and then typing the name of the app you want to launch? This is how I launch anything that isn't pinned to my taskbar. The device I'm on and the order of items in a list or what's pinned where become irrelevant when working this way.
I want to code a trading bot for Magic: The Gathering Online. This bot should wait until someone offers to trade, accept, look through the cards available from the other trader (the information is shown on screen), and perform other similar functions. I have several questions:
How can it know that someone is offering a trade?
How can it know that the other trader has some card (the informaion is stored in pictures)?
I just cannot imagine right now how to do it, I have no experience with it, until now I've been coding only console programs for my physics neсessities.
First, you should note that some online games forbid bots, as they can give certain players unfair advantages. The MTGO Terms of Service do not seem to say anything about this, though they do put restrictions on anything that might negatively impact the service. They have also said that there is a possibility they will add an API in the future, so they don't seem to be against the idea of automation, but are not supporting it at the moment. Tread carefully here, but it looks like it should be OK to write a bot as long as it is not harmful or abusive. This is not legal advice, and it would be a good idea to ask the folks who run MTGO for permission. edit since I wrote this, it has been pointed out that there are lots of bots already, so there should be no problems writing bots.
Assuming that it is not forbidden by the terms of service, but they do not have an API, you will have to find a way to detect what's going on, and control the game automatically. There's a pretty good series of articles on writing poker bots (archived copy), which has some good information on how to inject a DLL into an application, scrape the screen, and control the application. That might provide you with a starting point for doing this sort of thing.
You might also want to look for tools that other people have already written for doing this. It looks like there are several existing MTGO bots, but they all seem a bit sketchy (there have been some reports of them stealing passwords), so be careful there.
Edit
Since this answer still seems to be getting upvotes, I should probably update it with some more useful information. Since writing this, I have found a great UI automation system called Sikuli. It allows you to write programs in Python that automate a GUI. It includes image recognition features which make it very easy to recognize buttons, cards, and other UI elements; you just take a screenshot, crop it down to include just the thing you're interested in, and do fuzzy image matching (so that changing backgrounds and the like doesn't cause the match to fail). It even includes a custom IDE that allows you to embed those screenshots directly in your source code, so you can see exactly what the code is looking for. Here's an example from the documentation (apologies for the code formatting, doing images inline in code is not easy given StackOverflow's restricted subset of HTML):
def resizeApp(app, dx, dy):
switchApp(app)
corner = find(Pattern().targetOffset(3,14))
drop_point = corner.getTarget().offset(dx, dy)
dragDrop(corner, drop_point)
resizeApp("Safari", 50, 50)
This is much easier to get started with than the techniques mentioned in the article linked above, of injecting a DLL into the process you are debugging. Sikuli runs entirely at the UI level, so you never have to modify the program you are automating or worry about changes to the internals breaking your script.
One thing it is a bit poor at is handling text; it has OCR features, but they aren't all that good. If the text is selectable, however, you can select the text, copy it, and then look directly at the clipboard.
If I were to write a bot to automate something without a good API or text-based interface, Sikuli is probably the first tool I would reach for.
This answer is constructed from my comments.
What you are trying to do is hard, any way you try and do it.
Arguably the easiest way to do it is to totally mimic the user. So the application presses buttons, moves the mouse etc. The downside with this is that it is dependant on being able to recognise the screen.
This is easier if you can alter the games files as you can then just skin ( changing the image (texture)) the required cards to a single unique colour.
The major down side is you have to have the game as the top level window or have the game running in a virtual machine. Neither of which is ideal.
Another method is to read the processes memory. You may be able to find a list of memory locations, which would make things simpler, otherwise it involves a lot of hardwork, a debugger to deduce the memory addresses. It also helps (a lot) to be able to understand assembly.
The third method is to intercept the packets, and alter them. This is easier that the method above as it (at least for me) is easier to reverse engine the protocol as you have less information to deal with. It is just a matter of setting up a packet sniffer and preforming a action with one variable different (for example, the card) and comparing the differences.
The thing you need to check are that you are not breaking the EULA. I don't know how the game works, but most of the games I have come across have a EULA that prohibits (i.e. You get banned) doing any of the things I have mentioned.
I recently broke my finger and can now only type with my right hand. This has seriously impacted my typing speed. Since I write software for a living, this is a serious problem.
I have been doing some research, but haven't found a great solution yet. Here's what I've come up with:
Wacom tablet + hand writing recognition software. Is it possible to write code with hand writing recognition software?
one handed keyboards -- I have only found expensive (> $100) keyboards. These look like they have a steep learning curve.
one handed typing instructions: http://www.aboutonehandtyping.com/manualcompare.html. Does this really work?
What do the one handed coders out there use?
If you're a two-hand touch typist, the answer is a "mirrored" layout.
Mirroring lets you begin touch-typing with one hand almost immediately. Pretty crazy how easy it is. Based on the muscle memory you already have.
If you're typing with your right hand:
Type all right-hand keys normally.
Don't type left hand keys. Instead type the same motion (but mirrored) with your right hand.
So if you want to type:
"D" -> type "K" instead.
"W" -> type "O" instead.
"S" -> type "L" instead.
Same row of keyboard, same finger, same motion. Your muscle memory can already do this... kind of like how you're unable to pat your head and rub your belly at the same time. The wires in your brain are crossing somewhere.
Software to mirror the keyboard as described above:
Hold Spacebar to mirror:
Linux - MirrorBoard
Mac - Mirror-QWERTY
Windows - AutoHotkey version of Half-QWERTY Half-Keyboard
Predictive Text; Automatic Mirroring
Mac - One-Hand Keyboard
Windows - One-Hand Keyboard
Regarding one-handed keyboards, I've tried using a frogpad and found it ok for typing text, but unusable for coding. The symbols require several consecutive key presses and I found it impossible to use shortcuts reliably. It was too easy to hit the wrong key and get it stuck in the wrong mode.
Nobody has mentioned ENTI-key aka Coffee++ Layout yet? It is exactly designed for programming with one hand (left). And unlike qwerty, it is even optimized for speed and ergonomics. I used it some years ago for a short while and I don't know if it still works on newer systems. I think I used it for writing CSS: Typing the words with left, typing all those numbers on the numpad with right.
I can not recommend pen+handwriting. I usually use a tablet PC and handwriting code is terrible. I tried it on Windows 8 and Linux with Cellwriter, and both are not bad programs, but I still switch to onscreen keyboard whenever I can. But maybe the problem is my scratchy writing :)
I also can tell from experience that learning a new layout is not as complicated as it sounds. Especially if the layout is more logical than qwerty. I use Neo Layout since 10 years and getting the hang of it went smoothly, I was able to write a blog article after an evening of training.
"But what if you have to use qwerty on another PC?" This, also, is no problem, really. My simple trick is to never look at the keyboard when using Neo, but glimpse at it when qwerty-ing.
Good luck to anyone who wants to or has to use one hand for typing!
Now, the time to heal a broken finger will be shorter than it takes to adapt to one handed coding, not to mention the time it takes afterwards to get back to two-handed coding
Also, the time it takes to learn the methods is time you could've spend on coding (read: making a living).
Knowing this, we need a quick-fix, short term solution.
First of all, A good IDE, with code completion and similar functionality will help you a lot.
Secondly, use the shortcuts of the IDE, remember, there are Shift, Altand Ctrl keys on both sides of your keyboard.
(you might want to create a cheatsheet for those shortcuts)
In addition to helping you during your time with your injury, learning the shortcuts will also improve your coding speed when you're back up again.
Now, my comments on your proposals:
Don't, simply, Don't, it'll take even more time to fix writos (typos) beacause recognition will be flaky.
That learing curve will slow you down even more.
Won't even comment on that one...
Mirrorboard
A friend of mine broke his wrist snowboarding, and he had reasonable luck using speech recognition software (Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking). It worked quite well for email and documentation, which would solve a part of your problem.
Another colleague, Nils Klarlund of AT&T, developed a version of emacs hooked into speech recognition. He even had a home-brewed set of foot pedals for doing shift, control, etc. He used this exclusively for years (due to bad carpal tunnel syndrome).
And maybe your feet can take up some of the burden. This is part of a parallel discussion going on in this question.
And off-topic, but extremely interesting, T.V. Raman, who's been blind since the age of 14, wrote a version of emacs that works with keyboard input and audio output. There's a chapter on it in Beautiful Code. I've seen him use it, and it's completely awesome. And of course emacs is a great interface for more than just text editing.
If you anticipate that your left hand will be out of commission for a long while, and if it's worthwhile for you to learn a new layout, then there exist one-handed Dvorak layouts.
There's some information at PC Guide: Single-Handed Dvorak Alphanumeric Layouts.
There also once was software for Qwerty Half Keyboards that used the space bar as an extra shift key that reversed the keyboard.
Good luck with your injury!
We have a developer in the office that lost mobility in his right hand and probably won't gain back full use of it. He has mainly learned to type well with his left hand and kind of fill in for his right hand. Although he lets his right hand kind of peck for things. He has gained enough speed back for it not to affect his day too greatly from what i can tell.
Only thing i can think of that might let you speed up some while typing with one hand and maybe being able to get a key or two with the other hand might be to use an IDE instead of text editor if you already don't, so you can use tab completion. Kind of a lame solution if you don't like IDEs or just don't have that option in your work environment but might help out a bit.
The same thing happened to me (I destroyed my left pinky). At the time, I didn't touch type, so my only use for my pinky was left-control, left-shift, and caps-lock.
This sounds as if it just happened to you. I promise you'll quickly learn to compensate. Remember, it's quality, not speed, that counts most.
Perhaps you should seize the opportunity and read to improve yourself as a programmer. Or spend some time debugging.
I consider myself somewhat familiar with Vim,
hate the arrow keys (let alone the mouse),
regularly look up tips and plugins to get the most out of this tool,
use it daily to manage my cloud servers, etc.
However, I always find myself doing the same mistakes probably inherited from the GUI-world:
too often switching to visual mode to see what piece of code I'm about to manipulate,
undoing changes to retrieve lost statements because I forget to utilize registers (and pasting code on temporary lines just to grab it after other edits),
relying on Ctrl-C & Ctrl-V when working with operating system's clipboard,
keep pressing j button to browse through lengthy files to find certain functions.
Probably my Hungarian keyboard layout prevents me from being faster as most of the special characters (/, [, etc.) are only available as a key combination (with Shift or Alt Gr).
Given this specific situation, what pieces of advice could you give me? Have you faced similar bad habits when you were a Vim-novice? I'd like to see my productivity skyrocket (who wouldn't?). Thanks in advance.
I've found a simple, effective strategy. Choose one action, one task or one set of keys that you think is unnecessarily slow. Figure out a better way of doing this using the vim manual or googling or a plugin etc. Force yourself to use this every time. Rinse, and repeat. The path to efficiency is one-by-one elimination of the slow parts.
I'd also recommend just reading the vim manual from time to time - even if you don't remember everything, knowing something's out there is very helpful.
This probably applies well beyond vim, but
something that worked for me was finding a specific feature that I knew would
be more efficient and concentrate on using that for a week or two.
Just one feature at a time, and possibly using it excessively.
After a couple of weeks it becomes automatic and you can move on to the
next thing.
I learn programming tricks the same way. eg. I'll have a month of using lambda expressions for everything, then a month of mapping and filtering.
(not on production code though)
Probably my Hungarian keyboard layout prevents me from being faster as most of the special > characters (/, [, etc.) are only available as a key combination (with Shift or Alt Gr).
I'm sitting in front of german keyboards all day long and know this problem very well. Some keyboard layouts are simply not very suited for programming / using vim. I think its safe to assume that most programming languages and keyboard shortcuts were designed with the us-layout in mind.
My advice: reset your keyboard layout to us-english and practive touch-typing on that layout (typing without looking at the keys). It won't matter that the keyboard labels are wrong and you'll be much more comfortable using vim hotkeys.
The only problem that still remains for me is to produce language specific characters (german umlauts such as ä,ö,ü) wich i assume will also be a problem for hungarian. For that I use a combination of vim-digraphs, linux window manager digraph-key and windows layout-switching hotkeys.
just keep using it. The more you use it, the better you become at it. VIM isn't too bad. The main thing is you just have to remember that it isn't always in edit mode.