Get AutoHotKey Hotstrings back

[gerhard-h]

I was using ahk hotstrings for years and prefer it over leader keys

:*:flo,::Hallo Florian, {Enter} {Enter}

pros

• compact syntax
• no timing constrains
• can output text and control characters sequences, current date,...
• whether leaderkey and nor ending key required

cons

• stops working after a while if kanata/kmonad is running

First I came up with some sort of ending key solution
type a command word then hit F20 or AltGr+i or what ever and the word gets replaced.

F20::
<^>!i::
    clipsaved:= ClipboardAll ; save current clipboard
    Clipboard := ""          ; Clear the clipboard
    Send, ^+{left}           ; select word left of cursor
    Send, ^c                 ; Copy word
    ClipWait, 0.1  ; Wait 0.1 seconds for the clipboard to contain data
    
    if (Clipboard = "") {
		; If the clipboard is still blank
		Clipboard := clipsaved
		return
    } else {
		switch Trim(Clipboard)
		{
		case "fl", "flo": 		SendInput, {backspace}Hallo Florian, {Enter}
		case "mo", "mon": 		SendInput, {backspace}Hallo Monika, {Enter}
		default:				SendInput, ^{right}
		}
	}
	Clipboard := clipsaved
return

good but still not as good as the original Hotstrings
So I changed my config from

:*:fl,::Hallo Florian, {Enter}{Enter}
;#Hotstring EndChars ;disabled because I prefer :*: option

to

; #Hotstring SE might improve kmonad/kanata compatibility but ahk must be run before kmonad/kanata
#Hotstring SE

:b0o:ffll::
:b0o:flfl::
:b0o:flf,l::
SendInput {bs 2}Hallo Florian, {Enter}{Enter}
return

#Hotstring EndChars ,

I still type fl, but

• , is now an EndChar that gets cleaned up because of the o option
• fl is not auto removed because b0 option (ahk would remove 4 letters) and are backspaced {bs 2} by me
• If I type fl slowly ahk receives ffll the other permutations happen when I type faster

[jtroo]

Yea it sounds like kanata and ahk are competing over the Windows keyboard hook mechanism.

You could try the interception driver which will clearly differentiate the two and won't matter for startup order. The usual interception bug caveats apply though.

I'll think about ways to get ahk or kanata or play nicely with the other when using the default hook mechanism.

[eugenesvk]

Is there a way to use the something like the https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/v2/lib/SendLevel.htm mechanism to properly marry kanata and autohotkey? This works within autothokey if you want to have multiple inputhooks or unignore some of the artificial send key commands (that are ignored by default)

Not sure whether this level is something internal to AHK or part of the Windows hook mechanism

[gerhard-h]

I have moved away from hotstrings, since I could not use the interception driver in the past; interception solves all the issues.

only tested with Autohotkey V1 and these settings

#InstallKeybdHook
#Hotstring SE

simple Hotstring definition works

::dt::
FormatTime, TimeString,, yyyy-MM-dd
SendInput %TimeString%
return

meanwhile there is Autohotkey V2 but I never tested it, my scripts are not compatible.