Re: Writing a preference pane that configures hotkeys?

FROM : Rob Napier
DATE : Mon Mar 24 20:07:06 2008

Take a look at shortcutrecorder: http://code.google.com/p/shortcutrecorder.
Full IB3 support isn't *quite* there in the released versions, but it's all
very close to what you're talking about, and while updates have been a
little slow there (*), its much more recently maintained than Nathan's page.

(*) Another on my list of free projects that I use and need to carve out
some time to lend a hand on.

-Rob

On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 1:47 AM, Brian Kendall <<email_removed>> wrote:

>
> Sorry - perhaps I wasn't clear enough.
>
> This is a preference pane for a background application, which actually
> registers the hot key with the system.  The preference pane just needs to
> have some kind of button or text field so that the user can input *which*
> hotkey they want the background app to use.  Unfortunately, that requires
> lower level access to what keys are being pressed than I know how to get
> in a preference pane.
>
> I could use an event tap, but that seems like it's way too low level, and
> I suspect that there must be an easier, more cocoa friendly way.  All I
> need is for the pref pane to be able to intercept one keystroke, complete
> with modifier keys, like in the Keyboard & Mouse pref pane, though it
> doesn't necessarily have to work the same way.  I've seen other 3rd party
> preference panes record keystrokes for hotkeys after pressing a button, so
> obviously it's possible.  I just don't know quite how.
>
> - Brian
>
>
> On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:34:16 -0400, Andrew Farmer <<email_removed>>
> wrote:
>
> > On 23 Mar 08, at 19:26, Brian Kendall wrote:
> >> I'm trying to write a preference pane that allows the user to specify a
> >> hotkey.  Ordinarily I would override sendEvent in NSApplication, but
> >> since it's a preference pane that's not possible in this case since the
> >> System Preferences application is already instantiated.  Obviously this
> >> is possible, since many other preference panes do this, including the
> >> Keyboard & Mouse pref pane.  What's the propper way to go about doing
> >> this?
> >
> > Create a helper app that runs in the background. Preference panes only
> > "exist" while they're open, so registering a hotkey there doesn't do you
> > much good.
>


--
Rob Napier -- Software and Security Consulting -- http://robnapier.net