How to control SWIFT with autohotkey/Plover?
Thread poster: sootymatt
sootymatt
sootymatt
Australia
May 9, 2016

Hi, I'm a professional television captioner and stenography student working in Sydney, Australia.

We use Swift at work and I would like to control the software with my steno machine, particularly the numpad keys which control the video and colouring of captions.

Unfortunately, Swift seems to take control of the numpad in a way which precludes my steno software (Plover) from controlling it - I make it hit numpad 5 and Swift doesn't respond at all, even though the key com
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Hi, I'm a professional television captioner and stenography student working in Sydney, Australia.

We use Swift at work and I would like to control the software with my steno machine, particularly the numpad keys which control the video and colouring of captions.

Unfortunately, Swift seems to take control of the numpad in a way which precludes my steno software (Plover) from controlling it - I make it hit numpad 5 and Swift doesn't respond at all, even though the key command works fine when Swift is closed. As far as I know, Plover takes the input from my stenograph and translates it so that Windows just thinks I'm pressing keyboard keys really quickly.

Does anyone here have experience controlling Swift with something other than the keyboard or through alternate macro programs like autohotkey?

I am reaching out to Softel as well but I think there's a good chance the users might know more about something so obscure than whoever I find at Softel.
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Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 01:59
Member (2013)
English to Russian
- May 10, 2016

sootymatt wrote:

Hi, I'm a professional television captioner and stenography student working in Sydney, Australia.

We use Swift at work and I would like to control the software with my steno machine, particularly the numpad keys which control the video and colouring of captions.

Unfortunately, Swift seems to take control of the numpad in a way which precludes my steno software (Plover) from controlling it - I make it hit numpad 5 and Swift doesn't respond at all, even though the key command works fine when Swift is closed. As far as I know, Plover takes the input from my stenograph and translates it so that Windows just thinks I'm pressing keyboard keys really quickly.

Does anyone here have experience controlling Swift with something other than the keyboard or through alternate macro programs like autohotkey?

I am reaching out to Softel as well but I think there's a good chance the users might know more about something so obscure than whoever I find at Softel.


Hi sootymatt,

From what I understand, you're using steno while working in SWIFT, and SWIFT somehow takes forceful control of your keyboard input, thus not letting Plover translate your input into what you want it to be. I do recall people saying that SWIFT does that, so no surprise here.

AutoHotkey might work, but I am rather skeptical. Let's try this:

1. Download and install AutoHotkey;
2. Create a script (right-click on your desktop > New > AutoHotkey Script);
3. Right-click the script > click Edit Script;
4. Under the header paragraph, add:

F12::
Send, {Numpad5}
Return

F3::ExitApp


5. Launch the script by double-clicking it. Whenever you want to turn it off, press F3.


Now your F12 should act as Numpad5. See if SWIFT intercepts this input.


 
sootymatt
sootymatt
Australia
TOPIC STARTER
That didn't work :( May 10, 2016

Thanks, Max.

I installed autohotkey and ran the script but it didn't work.

I'll search for anyone trying to use autohotkey with SWIFT as however it's blocking autohotkey is probably also blocking Plover.


 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 01:59
Member (2013)
English to Russian
- May 11, 2016

sootymatt wrote:

Thanks, Max.

I installed autohotkey and ran the script but it didn't work.

I'll search for anyone trying to use autohotkey with SWIFT as however it's blocking autohotkey is probably also blocking Plover.


I suggest you also ask this question on the AutoHotkey forums: https://autohotkey.com/board/


 


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How to control SWIFT with autohotkey/Plover?







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