New keyboard shortcut?

[doug1120]

FM 2017 user here

I often need to use a menu option that doesn't have a keyboard shortcut (such as Insert > Character > Hex Input).  Is there a way I can assign a keyboard shortcut to those keystrokes?  Or perhaps make that into a macro?  I'm tired of having to use the mouse so repetitively.

Thanks!

[LinSims]

There are no Adobe-defined keyboard shortcuts to either the Hex Input or the Character Palette. Klaus Daube has written a fairly comprehensive guide to creating your own menu items (etb-customising-fm14.pdf) that may be of use to you.

[doug1120]

Does it talk about keyboard shortcuts?  I'd like to be able to free myself from the mouse.  Ideally I'd like to assign a particular keystroke to a given menu function.

[doug1120]

Maker contains the following text, but Win+H doesn't do anything related to FrameMaker, unfortunately.  Perhaps I'm doing it wrong?

;character map
;For encoding, UTF-8=0, UTF-16=1, UTF-32=2;
;Key Combinations can be a combination of Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Win+{some key code}
Encoding=2

Width=420

RememberPage=0

RememberFont=Courier

ClipBoardForHexInput=On

ClipBoardForCharPalette=Off

HexInput_Key=Win+H

CharPalette_Key=Win+I

[LinSims]

They do nothing for me either, but I'm having my own issues with both the Character Palette and the Hex Input. Namely, they don't stay open for longer than 10 seconds, although it may be less.

I believe Klaus does give information on how to create new keyboard shortcuts, but I've never had a need to customize the UI that much so I haven't tried it out. Note that if you DO assign key combinations to these two items, you'll want to check your choices against the ones in use, or unexpected things may happen.

[doug1120]

Where does Klaus give that information?

Thanks!

[Winfried Reng]

Here are some resources:

https://www.daube.ch/docu/fmaker75.html

https://www.daube.ch/docu/files/etb-customising-fm14.pdf

Best regards

Winfried

[doug1120]

Thanks Winfried.

Following those documents I've learned how to add a new menu, and how to add commands to that menu.  But it's not letting me add the Hex Input or Character Palette commands.

Does anyone know Frame's names for these commands?  I'm assuming they are different from what I typed above because those don't work.

Klaus' document says the following:

To be able to set up custom menus and tool bars it is necessary to get the command names from these sources. The best method is to use the free FrameScript Report FM-commands from itl.

I don't have Framescript so I can't run the Report FM-commands script.  I'd appreciate it if someone could run this script and post here the results.

Thanks again!

[doug1120]

I've been using Klaus' instructions on using \x codes (such as \xB5) to insert symbols, but only a few symbols use a two character code.  How do I insert symbols that have 4 codes (such as \u03A9)?  I'm specifically trying to add these codes to a context sensitive menu to simplify the process of inserting them.

For instance, the code below works great for Mu:

<Command MyCharMu

<Definition \xB5>

<Label \xB5 Mu>

<KeySeqLabel \B5> >

<Add MyCharMu <Menu SpecialCharsContext>>

[Stefan-Gentz]

Tagging K.Daube, the guru of FrameMaker customization here

[Lynne A. Price]

FrameMaker supports configuration (.cfg) files that define menus and keyboard shortcuts. The last manual I have that describes these files is for FM 7. Through FM 10, users could use the View > Menu > Modify command to add new commands and shortcuts. When .cfg files were moved into the definition of a workspace in FM 11, the behavior of this command changed; it now replaces all existing menus and shortcuts. Thus, if you want to add one more shortcut this way, you need to add that shortcut to a copy of your existing .cfg files in the relevant subdirectories of %appdata%\Adobe\FrameMaker\n\Workspaces (where n indicates the version of FM).

It is still possible to use the FDK to build a plugin that adds the entries in a file to the existing entries instead of starting over. I assume ExtendScript has the same ability, but I have never confirmed that assumption.

[doug1120]

Strangely enough, none of the files under %appdata%\Adobe\FrameMaker\n\Workspaces contain any entries for the Insert > Character sub-menu, or the two entries on that sub-menu.  It goes straight from Symbols to Directional Marks.

<Add SpecialSymbolsOnly <Menu InsertMenu>>

<Add DirectionSymbols <Menu InsertMenu>>

So I wouldn't know what to modify even if I knew where.  

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

Along with Klause's thoughts, I'd also be interested to see what frameexpert​ Rick Quatro has to say about this.

[LinSims · Accepted solution]

doug1120​ has also been posting on the Frameusers list. K.Daube​ responded there and suggested use of his enhanced toolbars, that include a special context menu for inserting special characters. Doug has installed and is reporting that he is very happy with the results.

[FieryPantone]

Just out of interest … don't the accelerators help? at least in FM12 – the order for a wild leap to FM 2019 was placed yesterday – Alt+f,u,i brings up the the command you mention. Please don't tell me the accelerators have been abandoned in the name of progress =8-}

[Winfried Reng]

Do you mean the ALT and ESC shortcuts? Yes, they are there too.

In FM 2019 you can also find commands (with their shorcuts) via a command search box in the top of the FrameMaker window.

[FieryPantone]

Thanks, Winfried – that's reassuring :-}

[doug1120]

To access the Insert > Character > Hex Input functionality I would have to press Alt+I,C,C,Right Arrow,H.  It's not much different, troublewise, from using the mouse to do that.  I was hoping to access it using a single keypress.  I've used other programs that easily let you add keyboard shortcuts, but FM is less user friendly in that regard.

But as Lin has pointed out, I've found K.Daube's toolbar to be quite useful.  A simple right-click followed by a left-click and I can enter the character code I want to use, and it works with both 2- and 4-digit codes.  Nice.

Thanks Klaus!

[SchweineKarl]

Hello Doug,

I use a Logitech G710+ keyboard, which has extra keys you can use to store macros to.

In addition to that, the keyboard also has illuminated keys, which enables you to work when it is relatively dark.

The Logitech G710+ keyboard comes with a utility to build and store your macros, so you may not even need the

Macro Scheduler Pro program. I've used the utility to create conversion macros for Word documents and I'm definitely not a programmer.

You can also check out Macro Scheduler Pro from MJT Net Ltd. It is very powerful

Using Macro Scheduler will free you from the limitations of FrameMaker or MS Word and enable you to do

probably everything in the area of keyboard shortcuts you want to develop.

Good luck,

Carel.

[doug1120]

Thanks, I'll look into getting that keyboard.

[LinSims]

There are lots of programmable keyboards out there, so it pays to do a bit of research. I got myself a Kinesis Gaming keyboard because it is very ergonomic and also clicky, which feels better to me when I type. My fingers used to get kinda sore with the membrane keyboards, but now that I've switched back to springs they feel better. (NB: this is an expensive keyboard, but it was the only one I found that was split and let me pick the type of spring/switch keys that I wanted. I don't really use the macro capability much, but it's there if I want it.)