make hotkeys accessible to the background

[stordyr]

Hello,

I just recently started using Audacity but I figured that I can't start a recording with a hotkey, when I'm using another application (e.g. a game).
So ... I know, this is possible to be done (Fraps can do it => guess, what i'm trying to do )
It'd be a great addition to a great software

Thanks

[Gale Andrews]

I'll count your vote for that. Thanks


Gale

[steve]

(Fraps can do it => guess, what i'm trying to do )

Of course the downside would be:

You're in a tight spot, the enemy are all around and closing in. Quickly you grab a mortar and launch it, but the mortar does not fire!!! Audacity does something instead. (How annoying )

[Gale Andrews]

To avoid getting annihilated by the enemy, you just need to plan in advance so that your Audacity record key that works in all apps isn't used in any of those apps.


Gale

[steve]

To avoid getting annihilated by the enemy, you just need to plan in advance so that your Audacity record key that works in all apps isn't used in any of those apps.

That will be fun, given that so many key combinations that are not commonly used in games are used by Fraps.

There is already a workaround, which is to use a third party application (such as AutoKey or AutoHotKey) to handle global bindings.

[Gale Andrews]

To avoid getting annihilated by the enemy, you just need to plan in advance so that your Audacity record key that works in all apps isn't used in any of those apps.

That will be fun, given that so many key combinations that are not commonly used in games are used by Fraps.

Fraps appears to allow you to customise shortcuts: http://www.fraps.com/faq.php .

There is already a workaround, which is to use a third party application (such as AutoKey or AutoHotKey) to handle global bindings.

Which I figure is a lot harder for the average user than setting a global shortcut in Audacity.

Is there a ready AHK script already posted somewhere? If so, please point to it. And if the user employs that script, don't they still have to ensure that FRAPS or whatever application is being used is not already using that key?


Gale

[steve]

Is there a ready AHK script already posted somewhere?

Not that I know of.

And if the user employs that script, don't they still have to ensure that FRAPS or whatever application is being used is not already using that key?

Absolutely. I don't see how there can be any way round that. I was just saying that if a user wants to run Audacity as a third party application alongside their game and Fraps, and want to access Audacity with global hot keys while running the game and Fraps, it is possible to do it by adding another third party application to script the desired behaviour. (I wasn't meaning to imply that it would be easy )

We could look at this issue another way.
The reason that people want to run Audacity alongside Fraps is because Fraps does not have all of the audio recording features that they want - so shouldn't that be a feature request for Fraps rather than for Audacity?

[Gale Andrews]

We could look at this issue another way.
The reason that people want to run Audacity alongside Fraps is because Fraps does not have all of the audio recording features that they want - so shouldn't that be a feature request for Fraps rather than for Audacity?

As far as I know, Fraps can record the game audio and mic at the same time (at least on Windows 7 and later) so I don't know what the Fraps request would be. Some people may want a separate Audacity recording for the mic or for the game so they can keep that on a separate track.

I think the request for the Audacity global shortcut goes beyond Fraps, for example the convenience of watching YouTube full screen then pressing the global shortcut to start Audacity recording without leaving YouTube.

wx3.0.2 supposedly supports global shortcuts cross-platform so the opportunity may be there to implement it in Audacity when our migration to 3.0.2 is complete.


Gale

[Robert J. H.]

Is there a ready AHK script already posted somewhere?

Not that I know of.

And if the user employs that script, don't they still have to ensure that FRAPS or whatever application is being used is not already using that key?

Absolutely. I don't see how there can be any way round that. I was just saying that if a user wants to run Audacity as a third party application alongside their game and Fraps, and want to access Audacity with global hot keys while running the game and Fraps, it is possible to do it by adding another third party application to script the desired behaviour. (I wasn't meaning to imply that it would be easy )

We could look at this issue another way.
The reason that people want to run Audacity alongside Fraps is because Fraps does not have all of the audio recording features that they want - so shouldn't that be a feature request for Fraps rather than for Audacity?

I imagine that global keys are useable in other places too.

In my opinion, Audacity should only have one global key combination. Any hotkey after that is passed to Audacity.
For instance:
- You press e.g. Windows-a and Audacity gets ready.
- You press r and recording starts.
Screen readers work like this. If you want to pass a key to the underlying operating system, you have to press a key combination first (e.g. NVDA: insert+F2).
For Audacity, the procedure would be just the other way around. No hotkey would be caught until you pressed the magic combination.

[Gale Andrews]

In my opinion, Audacity should only have one global key combination. Any hotkey after that is passed to Audacity.
For instance:
- You press e.g. Windows-a and Audacity gets ready.
- You press r and recording starts.
Screen readers work like this. If you want to pass a key to the underlying operating system, you have to press a key combination first (e.g. NVDA: insert+F2).
For Audacity, the procedure would be just the other way around. No hotkey would be caught until you pressed the magic combination.

That would certainly give the flexibility of not requiring any application shortcuts to be changed. It would have to work without switching focus back to Audacity when you press R.

However it would cause a delay if you forgot to use Windows + A or suddenly heard something you wanted to record that you were not expecting. You could lose the vital start of the recording while you fumble for Windows + A.


Gale