How to achieve this?

[terrypin]

In Google Earth you can tilt the view quickly by holding down the Shift and appropriate Arrow key, or slowly with Shift + Alt + Arrow key held down. Starting with a normal view, looking down, holding Shift + Arrow Down tilts down, stopping automatically at some point with the horizon in view. Using Shift + Arrow Up reverses the tilt.

 

I've so far failed to write a macro to do either the fast or slow version. Resorting to Capture mode didn't help either. The resultant unedited code was like this

Macro Playback Speed: 1.00 times faster than normal

Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <SHIFT><DOWN ARROW>

Delay: 265 milliseconds, without ability to halt

Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <SHIFT><DOWN ARROW>

Delay: 47 milliseconds, without ability to halt

etc

 

Anyone know how to do this please? The slow version is really the one I want.

 

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[kevin]

Did you try this:

<SHIFTD><ALTD><ARROW DOWN><ALTU><SHIFTU>

or this

<ALTD><SHIFTD><ARROW DOWN><SHIFTU><ALTU>

[terrypin]

Did you try this:

<SHIFTD><ALTD><ARROW DOWN><ALTU><SHIFTU>

or this

<ALTD><SHIFTD><ARROW DOWN><SHIFTU><ALTU>

 

Yep, that was my first approach Kevin.

 

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[rberq]

I wonder if Google Earth detects that the arrow key is held down, or if it acts upon the many rapid keystrokes produced by typa-matic repetition.

 

How about trying

Text Type <SHIFTD><ALTD>

Repeat x times

Text Type <ARROW DOWN>

Delay 30ms

Repeat End

Text Type <ALTU><SHIFTU>

[terrypin]

Thanks Bob, but tried that, with various delays and with a Keystroke Speed and/or Mouse Speed up front. Absolutely nothing so far has done anything.

 

As it's beginning to looks as if few of you guys use GE, I'm trying to think of another more universally accessible application that uses these key operations, but so far in vain.

 

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[terrypin]

Thanks Bob, but tried that, with various delays and with a Keystroke Speed and/or Mouse Speed up front. Absolutely nothing so far has done anything.

 

As it's beginning to looks as if few of you guys use GE, I'm trying to think of another more universally accessible application that uses these key operations, but so far in vain.

 

I've still so far not found a solution to this. Nor have I found another application that uses Shift + Alt + Arrow key so as to make practical discussion possible.

 

Anyone know if AutoIt! will do the job please?

 

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[acantor]

Anyone know if AutoIt! will do the job please?

 

There is a lot that one can accomplish with Macro Express, but occasionally, I encounter a task that it cannot handle, or that it does not handle well. I have started to use AutoHotkey in these situations. You will need to experiment to find out AutoHotkey or AutoIt will do the job. AJAX-based Web applications are relatively new, so you may have to do a lot of testing!

[Cory]

You don't say what it is you're trying to do in general but you might consider using Google Earth's Tour feature. I only mention it in case you're trying to invent something that's already been invented.

[terrypin]

Thanks Alan. Duly downloaded AHK.

 

Lemming,

Thanks for PM. Will try that code tonight when back home.

 

Cory: Sounds like you actually use GE. Did you confirm my findings?

 

--

Terry

[Cory]

Cory: Sounds like you actually use GE. Did you confirm my findings?

Yeah I use it quite a bit for mountain bike route planning and other things. It seems that no text type works in GE. Did you try the tour feature?

[terrypin]

Returning to this nearly six years on to see if anyone has any fresh ideas please?

 

Basically it seems that we need a way to hold down the Arrow Down key to have a chance at getting MX to simulate this. Using a Repeat, with or without a delay (and relying on manual termination) doesn't work.

 

I made an attempt to try AHK (which I'm 99% sure will do it) but confess to giving up when the going got tough. MX is so much more intuitive that tackling AHK's complex syntax quickly give me a headache!

 

(Cory: I use Tours in GE a lot. It's not appropriate for what I want to do in this instance, which is to capture a plain, slow tilt.)

 

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[rberq]

Well here's a fresh idea for you to play with.

 

Write a macro whose hot-key is the Down Arrow. Allow only one copy to run at a time.

Macro consists of something like this:

Keystroke Speed: 30 Milliseconds
Mouse Speed: 30 Milliseconds
Text Type: <SHIFTD>
Delay 3 Seconds
Text Type: <SHIFTU>

Macro Return

 

Tap the Down Arrow twice. The first tap starts the macro, which simulates pressing and holding the shift key. This first tap is captured by ME and used to fire the macro, so it is not interpreted by the application as a keystroke.

 

The second tap of the down arrow, which you press and hold rather than release, is acted upon as a keystroke for up to three seconds, or however long a delay you code.

 

I have not tested this in Google Earth since I don't have that installed. I have tested in MS Word and other applications -- the typomatic feature of the down arrow takes effect. If my macro does both SHIFTD and ALTD, then the second press of the down arrow is ignored in MS Word -- don't know whether it would likewise be ignored in Google Earth, or maybe it would work.

 

You could add code at the beginning of the macro to see if the application (window?) is Google Earth, and if not then have the macro type the Down Arrow and quit. That way it would not disrupt use of the Down Arrow in other applications. Or, I suppose the macro hot-key could be something other than the Down Arrow. The critical feature is that the macro itself does NOT try to simulate pressing the down arrow, it only does the shift and/or shift-alt.

[terrypin]

Thanks, appreciate your taking the time to think about this.I hadn't considered the novel idea of using the arrow key as an activation. But I'm afraid it's a non-starter. The fundamental problem is that GE uses the arrow keys itself. Using Arrow Down on its own moves the map down. I tried your macro and a bunch of variations but no joy. The macro is activated, as the green man shows, but no tilt.

 

There's also the serious flaw that it would mean keeping my finger on the arrow key. I might need to continue using the keyboard (e.g. in the My Places pane of GE, or even to start another macro) while the slow tilt is occurring.

 

The best I've been able to accomplish up till now is to abandon the attempt at an exact simulation of Alt+Shift+Arrow Down and instead use SHIFTD in combination with a Mouse Move. I use this technique as one option in my multiple choice dragging macro.

 

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK