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How to hold down the TAB key?


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In TextType, I need to be able to hold down the TAB key so that I can press a letter character simultaneously. Can't seem to find a way to do it.

 

The help file states:

 

For other keys, there is a special syntax that must be typed into the Keystrokes edit box. For example, enter <KEYD:q> to hold down the "q" key. Enter <KEYU:q> to release the key when needed. Or insert <KEYD:Q> to hold down the "Q" key and <KEYU:Q> to release it.

 

 

But entering <KEYD:TAB> does not work, neither does <KEYD:<TAB>>

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks.

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I can't remember for sure but I don't think you can hold down the tab. And if you did it would be dependent on the type-ahead-buffer and character repeat. Remember that a tab is not a modifier like CTRL, SHIFT, ALT, or Win; It's an ASCII character (0x09 to be exact) like the letter "r". A good experiment might be to see if you can hold down the letter "r". And even if you did hold down the letter "r" could you type another letter? Will your keyboard even send the command?

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I can't remember for sure but I don't think you can hold down the tab. And if you did it would be dependent on the type-ahead-buffer and character repeat. Remember that a tab is not a modifier like CTRL, SHIFT, ALT, or Win; It's an ASCII character (0x09 to be exact) like the letter "r". A good experiment might be to see if you can hold down the letter "r". And even if you did hold down the letter "r" could you type another letter? Will your keyboard even send the command?

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I'm trying to send hotkey combinations to the web app Asana ( http://www.asana.com). They are mainly using TAB as a modifier e.g. TAB + S inserts sub-tasks. I've never seen TAB used as a modifier before but it works for seamlessly for their web app. The trouble is that I can't find a way of generating those combinations using Macro Express Pro because there doesn't seem to be a way to hold down TAB with another key.

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Here's an interesting writeup: https://support.smartbear.com/viewarticle/65812/

Perhaps you could write a mini-program for each key combination you need, and use macros to run the programs.

 

You could contact Insight support and ask whether KEYD and KEYU are supposed to work with TAB. If they intended it to work, then it's a bug and they may be able to fix it.

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Here's an interesting writeup: https://support.smartbear.com/viewarticle/65812/

Perhaps you could write a mini-program for each key combination you need, and use macros to run the programs.

 

You could contact Insight support and ask whether KEYD and KEYU are supposed to work with TAB. If they intended it to work, then it's a bug and they may be able to fix it.

 

Thanks. I'm trying to avoid having to write a separate software utility just to send a few keystrokes - a bit of overkill for something that should be relatively simple.

 

I've sent off a support request now.

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Support have come up with a solution!

 

This works:

 

To hold down TAB key: <KEYD:VK_TAB>

To release TAB key: <KEYU:VK_TAB>

 

That seems like a virtual key code to me, so I'm guessing anything in this list will also work (not tried any of them except VK_TAB):

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd375731

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