Is is possible to control appz "out of focus"

Hello everybody! I'm new to this wonderful piece of software. So I would like to say big hello to the community. I've downloaded the classic version of Translator and must admit it's much better than I expected. I would like to ask whether there's a way how to ensure that the target application will be responding to translated keystrokes. I understand (and It's logical) that it works as long as the controlled apllication has Windows focus (i.e. is the active window). However, this might change due to some system event (some pop-up window or dialog box). Can the outgoing keystrokes be somehow "tied" to the target application regardless the OS focus status? Thank you so much for this info in advance!
Mike

ripper wrote:Hello everybody! I'm new to this wonderful piece of software. So I would like to say big hello to the community. I've downloaded the classic version of Translator and must admit it's much better than I expected. I would like to ask whether there's a way how to ensure that the target application will be responding to translated keystrokes. I understand (and It's logical) that it works as long as the controlled apllication has Windows focus (i.e. is the active window). However, this might change due to some system event (some pop-up window or dialog box). Can the outgoing keystrokes be somehow "tied" to the target application regardless the OS focus status? Thank you so much for this info in advance!
Mike

Hi ripper, welcome to the forum.

I am not aware of any way to manually 're-focus' an application reliably in Windows.

Fortunately, there are ways to prevent an application from losing focus to another window. I use TweakUI, a utility provided for download by Microsoft to prevent other application from overtaking focus from the program I'm targeting with Bomes. Works very well.



Download; http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... ySetup.exe

Thanks for the valuable info! Is there a way to send keystrokes to the application even if it is in the background? I would really love if something like that could work as it would enable us to MIDI control more applications. For example, there is a application that translates incoming MIDI data for WinAmp and allows for the control even if WinAMp is minimized.

ripper wrote:Is there a way to send keystrokes to the application even if it is in the background?

Actually, there is. MIDI Translator Pro and Author editions allow for specifying Windows WM_ Messages as outgoing actions. These are special API (Application Programming Interface) messages that are specific to individual programs. It's all up to the application as far as what you can do with them tho, and sometimes the information is hard to find. This would be the most robust and reliable solution for your situation though.

Another method to keep a program in focus is to assign a custom shortcut key combination to it via a Windows Desktop shortcut icon. I'm not sure how well this would work for you (or not!). This article explains a little about it; http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000683.html

joesapo wrote:

ripper wrote:Is there a way to send keystrokes to the application even if it is in the background?

Actually, there is. MIDI Translator Pro and Author editions allow for specifying Windows WM_ Messages as outgoing actions. These are special API (Application Programming Interface) messages that are specific to individual programs. It's all up to the application as far as what you can do with them tho, and sometimes the information is hard to find. This would be the most robust and reliable solution for your situation though.

Another method to keep a program in focus is to assign a custom shortcut key combination to it via a Windows Desktop shortcut icon. I'm not sure how well this would work for you (or not!). This article explains a little about it; http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000683.html

Thanks so much. That's very interesting! If the former suggested way worked, it would fully justify the price of the Pro version. Are any program responses to such sort of messages documented? ARe there any examples? I would love to control just two applications (ideally both of them at the same time) - WinAmp (for backing tracks playback) and Cakewalk Sonar (for DAW operations).

Hi Ripper,

yes, you can post key events as WM_ messages to targeted applications without them being required to have focused. Note that not all applications will respond as expected, because they assume that no keystrokes can arrive if not in focus.

Also, we plan to include "injection" of keystrokes into non-focused applications from MT as Outgoing Action, and an outgoing action to reliably put a specific application to the foreground -- but it's hard to say when these features will be ready.

Regards,
Florian

Thank you so much for the answer. How do the WM_messages exactly work? I need to send keystrokes to Cakewal Sonar (7.0.2), and WinAmp. Will it work?

I need to send keystrokes to Cakewal Sonar (7.0.2), and WinAmp

If you need to toggle between just those two, I guess you could include the "ALT + TAB" key combination in your outgoing action as a workaround to the above mentioned methods. You'd just have to be sure to start up with the right app in focus. Florian or anybody else, correct me if I'm wrong...

Max.