Launching plugins with AutoHotKeys V2 in Windows

[drtonyb]

Does anyone know how to use AutoHotKeys Version 2 to launch a plugin from its menu title rather than a menu position?

Here is a the Topaz Photo AI plugin in Lightroom Classic:

The menu path is File > Plug-in Extras > Process with Topaz Photo AI

In the AutoHotKey script, I have

!PgUp::
{
MenuSelect "A", , "File", "Plug-in Extras", "Process with Topaz Photo AI"
}

This should assign the Alt+PgUp key to open Topaz Photo AI, but it doesn't work.

If I change the AutoHotKey script to

!PgUp::
{
MenuSelect "A", , "File", "Plug-in Extras", "2&"
}

then it works. The "2&" specifies the second item in the flyout submenu, but using it like this is going to fail when other plugins are installed.

Any ideas?

[johnrellis · Accepted solution]

I'm far from expert in Autohotkey,  but here's an example from the AHK scripts I distribute with my plugins:

/*********************************************************************

Back to Previous Source/Filter/Selection - ALT+B

*********************************************************************/

!b:: {
    SetTitleMatchMode 2 ; Substring match
    MenuSelect "Lightroom",, "File", "Plug-in Extras", " Back to Previous 
    Source/Filter/Selection"
    Return
    }

I don't know if the SetTitleMatchMode 2 is still required -- it could be a legacy from the previous version used with AHK 1.  Also, note that all menu items in File > Plug-in Extras and Library > Plug-in Extras are prefixed with three spaces (LR's hack for causing them to appear indentend).

[drtonyb]

Thanks for the helpful info John.

I had tried one leading space, then two, didn't get to trying three. Changed to three spaces and the script works now.

I checked the V2 doco on SetTitleMatchMode and it's default mode is 2. I don't need it in my case since I'm using "A" for Active Window and start my script with

#HotIf WinActive("ahk_class AgWinMainFrame")

which, according to the doco, will restrict the hot keys to Lightroom Classic only.

I think your script will match both Lightroom (Desktop) and Lightroom Classic, so you might want change "Lightroom" to "Lightroom Classic" and add the #HotIf directive to target the hot keys to LrC only.

Edit: #HotIf is new the AHK V2

[drtonyb]

I modified my AHK script a bit further with

SetTitleMatchMode "RegEx"
#HotIf WinActive("Lightroom Classic .+ - Develop$")

This makes my AHK's active only for Lightroom Classic in Develop.