OnKey to change function keys, etc

[asawyer13]

I really wanted to try to get G Gabriels OnKey routine that he had shown in a previous video to be able to use the + and - keys for dates primarily, but my understanding is that he might not be on the forum for a while, and/or may not be in a position to share the code, so I need to move on until I can get hold of him.

In addition to that I would really like to be able to control some function keys, and have them behave a little differently, for example, instead of Ctrl-B for QueryByForm, then F9 to query and F9 to save, I'd like to probably have some other function key be the equivalent of Ctrl-B, etc.

There was some mention that onkey would really slow down the normal data entry, but G's video seemed very snappy, and I don't think he was using V9, probably more than likely V8.

Can someone give me how much "fun" I'm going to have if I want to try to monitor quite a few function keys, etc via onkey??

Thanks in advance for any help and/or advice,
Alan

[Stan Mathews]

Re: OnKey to change function keys, etc

Can someone give me how much "fun" I'm going to have if I want to try to monitor quite a few function keys, etc via onkey??

I don't think it is a question of monitoring a number of keys, it is the question of the onkey event itself.

The select case ... end select of itself is fairly efficient but if event code has to fire every time you use the keyboard ....................

[DickJames]

Re: OnKey to change function keys, etc

Alan --

Below is an Xbasic listing I generated using action scripts, and then modified slightly. If you spend any time looking at it, you will see there is a lot of extra, unnecessary code. I suspect the Xbasic experts on this forum will find it pretty ugly, and removing the extra code would probably make it run a little faster. However, it seems to work pretty well as is.

Generally, I took the approach that if I recognize a character that corresponds to pushing a button, I push the button with the code. That way, if I later change the code on the button, the code on the OnKey event still works.

The VarLastTimeTouched is used by the timer event to close the form if the user doesn't do something within a certain period of time. Therefore, each time a key is touched, I update this variable to now(). The function keys F9, F11 and F12 are programmed to do certain things. Other characters are also treated as shortcuts if the variable varUseShortCutKeys is on.

Feel free to use this code if you wish.

-- Dick James

'Set 'Value' property of 'Varlasttimetouched' in Form 'frmUnitInformation' .
DIM form_name as c
if is_object(topparent.this) then 
	form_name = topparent.name()+".this"
else
	form_name = ""
end if 

DELETE expression_result
expression_result =  eval("now()",form_name)
parentform:Varlasttimetouched.value = expression_result

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition flag is True.
IF a_user.key.value="\\" THEN 
'Close current form or browse window.
DIM mode as c
mode = parentform.mode_get()
'If the form is in Enter or Change mode, first save the changes before closing the form
if mode = "ENTER" .or. mode = "CHANGE" then
   parentform.commit()
   'Check to see if the record was successfully saved
   if parentform.mode_get()<>"VIEW" then
      ui_msg_box("Unable to save your changes","Please correct and save, or discard your changes", UI_STOP_SYMBOL)
   end if
end if
'Close the form
parentform.close()

END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition flag is True.
IF a_user.key.value="*" THEN 
'Inline-Xbasic. Converted from: Activate object Goto Unitid.
'Activate object Goto Unitid.
topparent:Button6.activate()
topparent:Button6.push()
end
END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=a_user.key.value = \"{F9}\"") THEN 
'Push button F9.
'Activate object 'Button16' in current form.
topparent:Button27.activate()
topparent:Button27.push()

END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=a_user.key.value = \"{F9}\"") THEN 
'End the current script
END

END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition flag is True.
IF a_user.key.value="{F11}" THEN 
'Open Deposits form.
'Activate object Goto Unitid.
topparent:Button2.activate()
topparent:Button2.push()
end 
END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition flag is True.
IF a_user.key.value="{F12}" THEN 
'Open Rents form.
'Activate object Goto Unitid.
topparent:Button5.activate()
topparent:Button5.push()
end 
END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=Var->varUseShortcutkeys<>\"On\"") THEN 
'End the current script
END

END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=a_user.key.value = \"V\" .or. a_user.key.value = \"v\"") THEN 
'Vacate unit.
 	topparent:button1.push()
    topparent:Button6.activate()
    a_user.key.handled = .t.
    end'Vacate the unit   



END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=a_user.key.value = \"O\" .or. a_user.key.value = \"o\"") THEN 
'Make unit occupied.
topparent:Button3.activate()
topparent:button3.push()
a_user.key.handled = .t.
end'Make unit occupied.  


END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=a_user.key.value = \"A\" .or. a_user.key.value = \"a\"") THEN 
'Add person.
 	topparent:button7.push()
    'topparent:Button6.activate()
    a_user.key.handled = .t.
    end'Add person.   



END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=(a_user.key.value = \"M\" .or. a_user.key.value = \"m\") .and. a_user.key.handled <> .t.") THEN 
'Move person to another unit.
 	topparent:button9.push()
    'topparent:Button6.activate()
    a_user.key.handled = .t.
    end'Move person.   



END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=(a_user.key.value = \"T\" .or. a_user.key.value = \"t\").and.(turnkeypendingyn)") THEN 
'Update Turnkey.
 	topparent:button16.push()
    'topparent:Button6.activate()
    a_user.key.handled = .t.
    end'Update Turnkey.


END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=(a_user.key.value = \"T\" .or. a_user.key.value = \"t\") .and. turnkeypendingyn<> .t.") THEN 
'Start a turnkey.
 	topparent:button15.push()
    'topparent:Button6.activate()
    a_user.key.handled = .t.
    end'Start a turnkey.



END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=(a_user.key.value = \"N\" .or. a_user.key.value = \"n\") .and. Noticependingyn<> .t.") THEN 
'Start a notice.
 	topparent:button19.push()
   
    a_user.key.handled = .t.
    end'Start a notice


END IF

'Conditional code follows. Executes only if the condition expression is True.
IF a5_eval_expression("=(a_user.key.value = \"D\" .or. a_user.key.value = \"D\") .and. Dispopendingyn<> .t.") THEN 
'Start a dispo.
 	topparent:button20.push()
    
    a_user.key.handled = .t.
    end'Start a dispo.


END IF

[asawyer13]

Re: OnKey to change function keys, etc

Dick, Thanks for the script, I will take a look at it.

Stan, thanks also for your input.

I did read somewhere that rather than doing fully onkey, that hidden buttons worked better.

I'll look thru the script and see if I can get a handle on what it's doing and how I can use it.

Alan