Subject: Re: keyboard input of arbitrary characters
From: Mike Nordell (tamlin@algonet.se)
Date: Fri Apr 27 2001 - 01:59:55 CDT
Paul Rohr wrote:
> However, in addition I'm still tempted to pick some prefix which kicks us
> into hex-entry mode as described previously. Essentially the idea would
> be to swallow four keystrokes after the magic trigger, interpret them as
> hex, and do an insertChar() on the result.
>
> For example, if the magic trigger were, say, Ctrl-Esc, then the following
> key squence (where commas separate each character typed) would add
> a bullet:
>
> Ctrl-Esc , 2 , 0 , 2 , 2
[...]
> Given what I know of Jeff's keybinding mechanism -- ie, it supports more
> emacs or vi bindings than I care to admit
Speaking of vi, is there even an indication anyone ever _used_ AbiWord using
vi bindings?
> The three questions become:
>
> 1. Is something like this even a good idea?
Probably. But I'd think more than twice before implementing it as a "magic"
keyboard shortcut. What about a small dialog with an edit box accepting only
hex input and previewing the UC char?
> 2. What should the magic trigger be? I happened to pick Ctrl-Esc out
> of thin air.
No good. The only free qualified <something>+Esc I know of in Windows would
be Shift-Esc. All other combinations of qualifiers + Escape are used
(Ctrl-Alt-Esc and Shift-Ctrl-Alt-Esc apparently does the same thing as
Alt-Esc and Shift-Alt-Esc, probably because some PC keyboards can't handle
more than three keys down simultaneous).
Many of the function keys also have default meanings... But, what about
Alt-Insert? That even has some kind of correct semantics.
/Mike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Fri Apr 27 2001 - 02:57:35 CDT