Delay Next Action delays previous actions

Bug Reports
1

Describe the bug
I have a set of actions with a trigger.

  1. Show HUD Overlay.
  2. Delay next action by 2 seconds.
  3. Execute terminal command.

When I trigger it the command, the actions are executed in this order.

  1. Delay next action by 2 seconds.
  2. Show HUD Overlay.
  3. Execute Terminal Command.

Affected input device (e.g. MacBook Trackpad, Magic Mouse/Trackpad, Touch Bar, etc.):
Triggers (on keyboard, but that likely doesn't matter).

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem. (You can just paste or drag them here)

Device information:

  • Type of Mac: Macbook Pro
  • macOS version: Catalina 10.15.5
  • BetterTouchTool version: (please post the exact version - not just "the latest one"): 3.386 (1609).
2

I noticed something like this too.. I was trying to create a good old Sierra style boss key where all a small terminal script would turn sound off, then have BTT natively hide all windows and open Calendar. I couldn't get this to work so I added a delay and for some reason the delay seemed to come into affect during the previous action?

Postscript: I ended up rewriting the hide all windows and open/show single app part as an Applescript and it all worked fine -- no delays needed, which perhaps highlights a bigger bug somewhere in BTT?

3

I can confirm this issue is still there. I have tried basically the same as you: an HUD, a delay action, and something else (in my case "Sleep computer"). The HUD is shown after the delay (I've tried with blocking and non-blocking)…

@Andreas_Hegenberg Any idea? Is it working correctly on your side?

4

Are you on Ventura? It seems to work correctly here with the non-blocking delay.

5

I am yes. I still have a Monterey machine laying around, I can try on it if you think it might be an OS-specific issue.

I've just noticed the HUD action is the one which seems to be affected. "Show notification" action works correctly.
Other important information that may help, both HUDs from "Show when shortcut is triggered" or from the "Show HUD overlay" are affected (shown after all delays are executed).

6

No I was just asking because it works fine on Ventura for me.

Maybe copy & paste a complete action sequence here then I can try it. It might depend on other actions in the sequence

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7

I've just tried troubleshooting this issue and here's my finding: it may only affect long press shortcuts. The exact actions you've screenshoted don't work for me on a Keyboard shortcut with Minimum hold time set to 0.5. However, setting this to 0 solves the issue. Chances are that the issue is related to this. Can you try on your side if you can reproduce when setting Minimum hold time to something else than 0?

8

That is very possible due to the way the long press shortcuts are implemented. I'll need to check whether I can find a workaround for this.

9

I've played a bit more with it, and confirm the issue comes whenever I set something different than 0 to Minimum hold time.

Also, not all actions are affected. Show notification work correctly, whereas Show HUD doesn't.

Here's a video (in which I've performed the shortcut 2 times):

10

For now you can workaround it by using the "Execute Action Sequence After Timeout" action instead of the delay action:

It's important to give the timer a name:

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1 Like
11

Oh awesome! Wasn't even aware of this action. It successfully workarounds the issue + I've learnt an interesting action :wink: Thanks for your support! :v:

12

The action is supposed to be used for longer running delays, but should also work fine for short delays. Just a bit more complicated to set up.

13

Yeah that's what I've read in its description. Seems to work correctly for now, even with my short delays :+1:

I already faced this issue a while ago with the Delay action (can't recall if it was also with HUD :thinking:) and didn't bothered googling, now I'll know I can fallback on this action as a workaround.

See you!