Is there a "BTT input window"?

Discussion & Questions
1

Hi @Andreas_Hegenberg , sorry to bother you with weird ideas.

Please have a look at this macro, it is a key sequence triggered with "btt".

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I type "btt", say in Scrivener, then the following happens:

  1. Save app Scrivener

  2. Open the "quick note" window of Apple notes.

  3. "btt" expands to BetterTochTool.

  4. This text is highlighted

  5. Text is copied.

  6. Text is deleted.

  7. Go back to Scrivener.

  8. Paste "BetterTochTool" into Scrivener.

Of course this is nonsense because I could write and expand "btt" directly in Scrivener.

My point is to type the string trigger "btt" in such a way that it is not passed to the front app.

This eg could work like this:

  1. long press "f" (nothing is typed into the front app) but a „BTT input window“ opens.

  2. I type "btt" which is expanded in the last front app.

I tried to do this with the clipboard manager window. It almost works, but unfortunately not really.

Do you see any way to implement such a "BTT input window"? That would allow to use intuitive string triggers safely.

Sorry again, maybe you have time to answer me briefly :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
2

I'm not sure if I fully understand your idea, but:

The new window switcher SwiftUI experiment was a first step to a generic "command" palette. I.e. a Spotlight/Alfred like launcher that would you let run any BTT command you have configured (or maybe even non-configured). It will also integrate with other BTT functionality like the clipboard manager, window switcher, shortcut & app launcher, the upcoming floating menus etc.

This is all a big project but I'm getting there and I think it's gonna be awesome and might even work as a Spotlight replacement. This currently has highest priority (together with the floating menus ) and I'm working a lot on this right now. There are so many actions you can configure in BTT, and having the option to not only trigger them via the triggers in BTT, but also by just typing should be really cool. I'm already testing limited versions of this and there will definitely be a first release in January.

Basically you have a trigger that opens a launcher like this:

winswitcher
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Just instead of windows, it will allow you to search for anything you have configured in BTT.

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3

Oh, then my idea is not as weird as I thought. Because you understood it perfectly. And I'm very pleased that you also think that this would be great. :smiley:

It's about typing text (instead of a shortcut) to trigger an action. But this text should not have to be undone.

Exactly. You know everything better than me, of course ... only this... everything that works similar to Spotlight needs an "Enter" after the text. It would be great if you could avoid this. BTT Key Sequences do not need Enter to work.

I am really looking forward to these new features. :champagne:

But for now, would it be possible for you to add a "new empty clipboard" command to the clipboard manger window? That would help a lot for now to expand text.

4

Good idea, for key sequences the enter can be avoided.

For now you could use the floating html menu:

<html>
<body>
<input type="text" autofocus/>
</body>
</html>

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Then in the first step of your key sequence execute the "hide floating webview" action

5

Oh, interesting, I must try it out. Thanks!

Actually, you have already implemented this (almost) with the "new custom menu". If you add a prefix in front of the name of the action, you can simply write this prefix when the menu is open. But it still needs an "Enter" and you can't see what you write.

6

The "new menu" is just using a standard macOS context menu. This one can not really be modified further.

7

I know. Then I am very much looking forward to what is still to come, thanks Andreas :smiley:

8

Ah, one last thing. You don't need inspiration and you don't like to copy. Still, it doesn't hurt to know what the competitors are doing, does it? If you want, check out KMs "Trigger Macros by Name". You can use it to trigger all of KMs macros. Interesting for you might be how to group these macros/action.

9

@Andreas_Hegenberg Just to let you know. The "Floating WebView" text input window works well :slightly_smiling_face:. With a key sequence you can expand text and write it to a specific app, or send a shortcut to an app. Without Enter. But because the string should only work in this window, it needs a "Conditional activation group", which recognizes this window. BTT does not recognize it, but fortunately it is enough to define BTT as front app.

Example: Long press "f" opens the text input window, type string, it is recognized immediately and executes whatever you want.

Pretty cool, fast and safe, because the string is only active in this small input window. But it's a nightmare to maintain. :joy:

10

@Andreas_Hegenberg This is awesome and I can't wait for it, been wanting a search / command palette for a while as I keep forgetting all the great shortcuts I've built in BTT and having a quick way to search through them would make it so much nicer!

How are you going with this new feature? Is there any alpha version one can try already?

11

God, how I want this feature :blush: . I'd totally buy a new license for this. Where can I keep track of its status? Or is it out in the wild by now?

Thanks for this awesome app!

12

Also interested!

13

I'm not sure what exactly you are referring to. If it's about typing any string in a safe environment and triggering something, meanwhile it works fine with the "block keyboard" action.

14

There is also the "ask for user input" action, which can be used nicely when combined with some scripts!

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