ResourceDevice and Manager

  The Manager uses the ResourceDev (refer 9.3) to define helpful things like keyboard macros. A keybord macro can be invoked in the GRAPE Control WIndow by simply pressing the button, the macro is attached to. The general structure of the ResourceDev files is described in the section 9.3.1. The info block for the Manager in these files has the name Manager and has to look like that:

  Manager = {
    tag; 
     .
     .
    tag = value;
  }

After the different tags have been described a small Manager info block to understand the stucture is given. Put it to your .graperc file and test it. A larger demo file can be found in our demo directory.

help

void
Print all available tags for the manager, their type and current settings.

ask_on_exit;

char
Open a confirm layer for exiting GRAPE. This is useful if you fear to exist your GRAPE-program by accident. If the tag is given without an value confirmation will be asked before exiting GRAPE. The default value is not to ask before exiting GRAPE.

hotkey

subgroup { ... }
Define a hotkey, which is a macro bound to a keystroke. Hotkeys which are bound to simple characters can not be used, if any Input field is active. The subgroup, defining the macro has the following tags:

help;

void
Print all available tags which can be used in the hotkey definition.

key

string
This tag must be the first entry in each hotkey-Group. The format of the string is [modifier-]*key, valid modifiers are "CASLMR". The meanings of these different modifierers are control, alternate, shift and the different mouse buttons. e.g. "C-a" means macro be executed by pressing control "a", "A-S-h" = "A-H" means macro be executed by pressing alternate and capital "h", "R-f" means the macro will be executed by pressing "f" while the right mouse button is pressed.

autostart

void
Execute macro automatically at manager startup. Macros including this tag can by used to configure the start up status of the manager. e.g. Switch all matrix editors to sphere mode.

item

string
Only execute macro if item-path of item, which is currently at the mouse pointer position, matches the given item path string.

click

string
Simulate a mouse click into the center of the given Item. Use keystate to select mouse buttons, the default button is "L". This tag has the same meaning as a pressMouse tag immediately followd by a releaseMouse tag for the same item.

pressMouse

string
Simulate a mouse press event in the center of the given Item.

releaseMouse

string
Simulate a mouse release event in the center of the given Item.

typein

string
Simulate keyboard typein. This tag should be used to enter value into selected inputs. Pay attention, that an input is selected at the moment this part of a macro is executed. Otherwise the keystrokes will recursively call other macros if present and bound to keys existing in the given string.

pressXxx

int
Press one of the following special keys once or the given number of times. If no value is given the key will be pressed once. Replace the Xxx by one of the following text {"Return", "Escape", "Backspace", "Tab", "Delete", "Home", "LeftArrow", "UpArrow", "RightArrow", "DownArrow", "PageUp", "PageDown", "End", "Begin", "F1", "F2", "F3", "F4", "F5", "F6", "F7", "F8", "F9", "F10", "F11", "F12"}. e.g. pressReturn finishes the editing of an input field.

item_send

string
Send a "-send"-method to the item at current mouse position. The text "-send" will by append to the method name. e.g. A keyboard macro including item_send = "print-item-path" will print out the path of the item at the current mouse position to the standard output.

keystate

string
Set the keystate for the following events in the current macro. Valid stateflags are "CASLMR", with the meaning described in key. This is useful to create special inputs like control "A".

mousestate

char
Set the active mouse buttons used for click, pressMouse and releaseMouse. Valid values are "L", "M" anr "R". The default value is "L".

cmd_delay

int
Set delay after each command in milliseconds. Thsi tag is very useful for software demonstrations. Using this and the following delay functions a demonstration can be tested and than shown without the danger of pressing the wrong button. Default value is 0.

char_delay

int
Set delay after each simulated keystroke in milliseconds. Together with the click_delay and the mouse_delay tag this feature allows everyone viewing the macro execution to understand the proceeding. Default value is 0.

click_delay

int
Set delay for each simulated mouse click in milliseconds. If this delay is unequal to zero you see clicked Buttons go down and after the delay time go up again. The default value is 0.

mouse_delay

int
Set simulated mouse moving speed in milliseconds. Increase this value if you want the mouse to slow down for the current macro execution. Default value is 0.

pause

int
Confirm continuation for each of the given number of steps. If the tag is given without an value 1 is assumed. Use this tag for debugging your macros or to stop demonstrations at specific points to make some explanations.

no_abort

int
Ignore errors for the given number of steps. Using this tag the macro will not be aborted if an error occurred. e.g. a macro wants to press a button, which may not be available. Instead of writing two different macros for similar situations put a no_abort = 1 tag in front of the critial order.

Manager = {
# First a macro to get the item pathes. To use it position the mouse over 
# aspecific item an press Control + "P". Remember capital "p" !
  hotkey = {
    key = "C-P";
    item_send = "print-item-path";
  }
  hotkey = {
    key = "A-x";
    mouse_delay = 20;
    click = "/main/top-row/exit";
  }
  hotkey = {
    key = "A-a"
    click = "/main/manag/misc/add-project";
    typein = "amandus";
    pressReturn;
 }
}