Hotkeys e.g. 'Left+Right' are not completely disabled even when set to 'None' via 'Custom Hotkey' options

[wandersick]

This issue has been raised by wandersick because of a comment from Vincent C. on the blog post of AeroZoom:

Hi wandersick,

First, AeroZoom has been a total lifesaver for me, I seriously can't thank you enough for this software. I've been considering taking a crack at magnification software myself as a visually impaired developer.

Anyway, I think my biggest issue with AeroZoom is that even when I use the custom hotkeys settings for Left+Right to set all hotkey functions to [none], I am still unable to utilize Left+Right simultaneously. As in pressing/holding Left or Right works normally, but then pressing the other mouse button has no effect.
To recreate this specifically, in any browser or even the desktop etc, while AeroZoom is open, clicking and dragging Left, then pressing Right while still holding Left does not open the dropdown menu. Performing the same action while AeroZoom is closed will open the menu.
Disabling all hotkeys does resolve this, but then I am unable to use the Ctrl+wheel and Ctrl+middle zooming functionality which are the lifesaving functionality I need from this beautiful application.
I'm using Windows 10, testing on multiple mice and changed as many settings as i could within AeroZoom and other applications to no avail.

Usually this is not a huge issue, but it can be quite tedious to work around, and for some games I play it can be very inconvenient.

I hope you can help, I'm definitely donating to you, you deserve it.

Thanks a million, you've honestly saved my back, hobbies, and career.
Vincent C

Thanks Vincent C. for the suggestion.

The above issue is caused by AeroZoom not completely disabling the hotkeys even when they are set to None as described above.

To solve this, one way is to leverage the off parameter of the Hotkey command from AutoHotkey to completely disable hotkeys when they should be disabled, so that the hotkeys can be freed and be used for other purposes even when AeroZoom is running with its remaining hotkeys enabled.

An implementation for consideration is as below:

; Press right mouse button while holding left mouse button
~LButton & RButton::
	goto, disableHotkey
	return

; Press left mouse button while holding right mouse button
~RButton & LButton::
	goto, enableHotkey
	return

disableHotkey:
MsgBox Disabling Left and Right mouse buttons completely.
Hotkey, ~LButton & RButton, off
return

enableHotkey:
MsgBox Enabling Left and Right mouse buttons.
Hotkey, ~LButton & RButton, on
return

Reference:

Hotkey - Creates, modifies, enables, or disables a hotkey while the script is running.

• https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/commands/Hotkey.htm

[yoiang]

I have this issue, it usually means closing Aerozoom while using a full screen application or game but even something like working in Blender becomes a little frustrating

[wandersick]

Thank you for sharing your experience, @yoiang.

Could you describe in what way does Blender not work well with this aspect of AeroZoom?

While I hope a solution exists, I may consider adding Blender as one of the incompatible apps.

[yoiang]

Hello @wandersick !
I don't think it's anything unique to Blender except that it is an app where I'm using both Left and Right mouse buttons together often causing Aerozoom to pop up, change focus, cancel what I was doing, etc.

Thank you for asking, Aerozoom is such a great application, thank you for all your time!

[wandersick]

Hi @yoiang , thanks for the clarification. What you described, however, seems to be a slightly different issue ("...Left and Right mouse buttons together often causing AeroZoom to pop up..."), and there is already a solution. I have documented the steps below. Please feel free to give it a try:

In AeroZoom Panel, navigate to Tools > Custom Hotkeys > Settings > Left/Right

Set both "Left+Right" and "Right+Left" to "None," as shown in the image, then click "OK."

Next, go to Tools > Custom Hotkeys and enable "Enable Left/Right." Ensure the checkbox is selected, as shown in the image.

Hope this helps.

Edit: after performing the above, if you need to bring up the AeroZoom Panel in the future, please double-click its tray icon located at the bottom right corner, or use the hotkey Win+Shift+Esc.

[yoiang]

I apologize! I must have misunderstood this issue, I thought it was that I have already done the steps (and just repeated them to be safe) and still clicking Left+Right brings up the AeroZoom panel, should I make a separate issue?

[wandersick]

No problem at all, @yoiang

In order for me to verify the settings, could you please export your AeroZoom configuration by following the below steps?

If possible, could you please try AeroZoom on a different computer and let me know if the same issue persists?

This would help a lot in determining a solution for this. Thank you.