how to bind a key combination/stroke to a special character?

mistamaila · General User Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 16

How can i bind a special character to a key combination?

Bhikkhu Pesala · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:27 am Post subject:

Record a macro to insert the character, and assign the macro to a keystroke.

To make it work for any font, edit the macro and remove the two lines that refer to the font name that was in effect when you recorded the macro.
_________________
Fonts * Opera * Oo Tips * FAQ * New Forum
Oo 2.3.1 * Win XP

mistamaila · General User Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 16

i thought it was recording a macro, but where do i record it to? a new module? and how do i assign it to a keystroke?

Bhikkhu Pesala · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:51 am Post subject: Step by step

Record the Macro

Tools, Macros, Record
Insert, Special Character, Choose character, OK
Stop Recording
Enter a name for the macro, let it be in Module1 if that is the default
Click on "Save"

Edit the Macro

Tools, Macros, Organize, Openoffice.org Basic
Select the macro you just recorded, and click on edit
Look for these two lines: args1(1).Name = "FontName" and args1(1).Value = "Arial" (or whatever), and delete them.
Close the Macro edit window, your changes will be saved automatically

Assigning the Macro to a Keystroke

Tools, Customize, Keyboard
Category, Openoffice.org Macros, User, Standard, Module1
Function, Your New Macro (select it)
Shortcut, Click in the shortcut field and type the shortcut you wish to use, or scroll to find it.
Select the shortcut, e.g. Ctrl+Shift+C and click on Modify
Your macro name will appear alongside the shortcut
OK and test your new shortcut.

It is a lot quicker to do than to explain.
_________________
Fonts * Opera * Oo Tips * FAQ * New Forum
Oo 2.3.1 * Win XP

martyd14 · Newbie Joined: 05 Oct 2005 Posts: 2

Carson · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:55 pm Post subject:

This is beautifully written, and it works! I just made my first-ever OO macro, using Bhikkhu Pesala's info above.

One teensy detail: Under "Record the Macro", the 5th step is
Save
which is pretty obvious, but might be good to add in there.

IMHO, this point-form information would be very handy in the OO.org Help files, under Special Characters and AutoText. Those are the places a lot of people will be looking, especially if they have come from M$ Word and want to know how OO can be set to call up a few extra-useful Special Characters by keystroke.

My first one, for example, was the em-dash. Yes, I know how to get an em-dash in OO by other techniques, but now I can use Ctrl M, which is fastest for me and requires no brainwork at the time. (I don't want to divert my very limited brain-RAM away from what I'm writing!)

Thanks again, Bhikkhu Pesala, and, through whatever is the appropriate process, please do consider this be added to that location in Help. It would have saved me a couple of hours last night, AND it would have given me a solution. (Under "Macros" it depends on the user already knowing the solution involves macros! I didn't know that last night!)

Bhikkhu Pesala · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:43 pm Post subject:

Arnethius · General User Joined: 19 May 2006 Posts: 7

Hi, i couldn't find this anywhere by searching, so i alpologise if it has come up before, but is there a way to assign a macro to a key combination of Alt + (whatever) ?
I think this would be really useful, i have many of these shortcuts in MS word and would liek to be able to keep them the same if possible

Thanks

Westland · Super User Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 562

Check:
http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=33656&highlight=alt+macro
_________________
"Do one thing every day that scares you"

Bhikkhu Pesala · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 3:21 am Post subject:

Vote for Issue 4579 (currently 23 votes). Dependent on Issue 4756 (Currently 27 votes)

This question comes up fairly regularly. A related question is "How can I enter characters with Alter + Codepoint in Open Office?" You cannot at the moment, unless you use the IanNZ Alt-Key Handler macros.

In Opera, I can type the codepoint, followed by Alter X to replace the code with the relevant Unicode character. For example — 0100 or 100 followed by Alter X will type Ā (U+0100 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH MACRON), or 266B followed by Alter X will type ♫ (U+266B BEAMED EIGHTH NOTES).

These input methods with codepoints have two huge drawbacks:
1. You have to remember the code
2. They take four or more keystrokes.

Greater flexibility in assigning shortcuts would help many users who regularly type in more than one language.
_________________
Fonts * Opera * Oo Tips * FAQ * New Forum
Oo 2.3.1 * Win XP

Steve Dolesch · General User Joined: 18 Oct 2006 Posts: 20

Hi, I got the assiigning part. I don't get the latter part shown below... Also, why does the languages change?

[/list]Assigning the Macro to a Keystroke

Tools, Customize, Keyboard
Category, User, Standard, Module1
Function, Your New Macro (select it)
Shortcut, Click in the shortcut field and type the shortcut you wish to use, or scroll to find it.
Select the shortcut, e.g. Ctrl+Shift+C and click on Modify
Your macro name will appear alongside the shortcut
OK and test your new shortcut.

It is a lot quicker to do than to explain.[/quote]

Bhikkhu Pesala · Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:59 pm Post subject: Re: Step by step

Bhikkhu Pesala · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:29 pm Post subject:

You can also use the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to create your own keyboards.

That will then enable you to type special characters in other Windows applications.

I made my own keyboards for typing Pāli.
_________________
Fonts * Opera * Oo Tips * FAQ * New Forum
Oo 2.3.1 * Win XP

tbeals56 · General User Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 5

Bhikkhu Pesala · Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:27 am Post subject:

No. What you see is what you get. Entering a shortcut in that field will highlight it if it exists. You cannot add any shortcuts.
_________________
Fonts * Opera * Oo Tips * FAQ * New Forum
Oo 2.3.1 * Win XP