PYAUTOKEY

Small project to replace the functions I commonly use Autohotkey for. Incorporating a plugin system for loading and running python modules on the fly, opening up massive flexibility via Python without the baggage of Autohotkey scripting syntax (no shade, I've used it for years).

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CURRENT FEATURES

• Static text replacement.
• System tray icon. Right click and choose Quit to exit.
• Hotkeys. Trigger a Python function on hotkey press like ctrl+shift+u

CONFIGURATION FILE

JSON configuration file pyautokey.json in the current directory or %APPDATA%\pyautokey. File should be UTF-8 encoded. Contents as follows:

The application implements a plugin architecture by placing python modules in a plugins directory. Plugin modules should implement a @dataclass which has an invoke() method and the module should contain a register() method which calls factory.register("module_name", class_name). See the included examples for more information.

SECTION config

Key	Value
macro_start	Character that will start looking for a text expansion. I use :
macro_end	Character that will trigger text expansion. I use space. This is defined in the config here as "Key.space" which translates directly to pynput hotkey parsing.
segment_delay	Delay in ms between segments of an expansion. Default is 0. e.g. if set to 500 is equivalent to "sometext<delay 500><delay 500>some more text"
plugins	Defines names of plugin classes to load from the plugins directory. Values should be plugins. followed by the name of the Python file with no extension
actions	Defines actions which will be executed by plugins. See below for action specification

ACTION SPECIFICATION

Actions are described key/value pairs as follows:

Key	Value
type	The type of plugin that will execute this action
trigger	When the action is invoked. Currently replacement for use during text expansion or hotkey for hotkeys.
shortmatch	Used to determine when the trigger applies. Either the text that will act as the signal to call the plugin, obtain the text and use it for expansion, or the hotkey to wait on that will invoke the plugin
async	The invoke function for this plugin will be called once from the main function of the application and is expected to return immediately. Use for asynchronous processing done on its own thread. See plug_uatu.py for an example that keeps watch for a file every 10s and deletes it if present

PLUGIN DEPENDENCIES

The current build script adds libraries used by the current set of plugins. Need to find a better solution than baking these in at build time.

SECTION replacements

Multiple key, value entries of text to watch for and text it will be replaced with. Special characters that pynput recognises are surrounded by < > so <enter> for the enter key. Special expansions are as follows:

Expansion	Result
<delay nnn>	Pause for nnn ms before continuing.
<custom>	Triggers a text expansion plugin if it is a match for the plugins shortmatch value of <custom>.

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BUILD

./build.ps1

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REFERENCES

• The Power Of The Plugin Architecture In Python

HOTKEYS

List of hotkeys pynput understands

hotkeys = ['\t', '\n', '\r', 
           'accept', 'add', 'alt', 'altleft', 'altright', 'apps', 'backspace',
           'browserback', 'browserfavorites', 'browserforward', 'browserhome',
           'browserrefresh', 'browsersearch', 'browserstop', 'capslock', 'clear',
           'convert', 'ctrl', 'ctrlleft', 'ctrlright', 'decimal', 'del', 'delete',
           'divide', 'down', 'end', 'enter', 'esc', 'escape', 'execute', 'f1', 'f10',
           'f11', 'f12', 'f13', 'f14', 'f15', 'f16', 'f17', 'f18', 'f19', 'f2', 'f20',
           'f21', 'f22', 'f23', 'f24', 'f3', 'f4', 'f5', 'f6', 'f7', 'f8', 'f9',
           'final', 'fn', 'hanguel', 'hangul', 'hanja', 'help', 'home', 'insert', 'junja',
           'kana', 'kanji', 'launchapp1', 'launchapp2', 'launchmail',
           'launchmediaselect', 'left', 'modechange', 'multiply', 'nexttrack',
           'nonconvert', 'num0', 'num1', 'num2', 'num3', 'num4', 'num5', 'num6',
           'num7', 'num8', 'num9', 'numlock', 'pagedown', 'pageup', 'pause', 'pgdn',
           'pgup', 'playpause', 'prevtrack', 'print', 'printscreen', 'prntscrn',
           'prtsc', 'prtscr', 'return', 'right', 'scrolllock', 'select', 'separator',
           'shift', 'shiftleft', 'shiftright', 'sleep', 'space', 'stop', 'subtract', 'tab',
           'up', 'volumedown', 'volumemute', 'volumeup', 'win', 'winleft', 'winright', 'yen',
           'command', 'option', 'optionleft', 'optionright']