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This README is a bit outdated.
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Please read this file carefully.
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This is an unstable version , and as such it's buggy, poorly documented
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and there are still features that are not implemented yet. It's aimed
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mainly at users who used to use the KDE1.x versions of KHotKeys ( or are
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smart enough to learn something complicated without having good docs
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for it :) ). Calling it KHotKeys-2.0.0pre2 is a rather cruel joke.
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The 2.x version of KHotKeys is a complete rewrite from scratch, and
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the name KHotKeys is actually rather misleading by now ( and it has never
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been really correct if I understand what the difference between a hotkey
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and a keyboard shortcut is ... well, never mind ... ). KHotKeys2.x should
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be capable of doing everything the 1.x versions could do, and much more,
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In short, KHotKeys is a utility that allows you to bind actions to triggers
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and conditions. The most common case is where action means launching some
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command/application/URL, the trigger is some key combination pressed and
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condition is some window being ( not ) active/existing. There are
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( or will be ) more types of actions, triggers and conditions.
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The recommended KDE version is KDE3.1 ( unreleased yet at this time :-> ),
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at least snapshot 20020108. I haven't tested it with any older versions,
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so I don't know if it will work with them or not.
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During installation, the files will replace the ones that are part
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of the simple version in kdebase. Shortcuts assigned using KMenuEdit
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should still work, and the config file will be converted to the new format.
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However, you should backup all files before removing them ( including
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the config file ), so you will be able to go back in case there will be
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a serious problem with this version. The files you should remove
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and backup before installing the new version are :
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- $KDEDIR/bin/khotkeys
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- $KDEDIR/lib/libkcm_khotkeys.la
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- $KDEDIR/lib/libkcm_khotkeys.so
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- $KDEDIR/lib/kde3/libkcm_khotkeys.la
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- $KDEDIR/lib/kde3/libkcm_khotkeys.so
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- $KDEDIR/lib/khotkeys.la
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- $KDEDIR/lib/khotkeys.so
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- $KDEDIR/lib/libkhotkeys.la
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- $KDEDIR/lib/libkhotkeys.so
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- $KDEDIR/share/autostart/khotkeys.desktop
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- $KDEHOME/share/config/khotkeysrc
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Not all these files exist, depending on your KDE and OS version. It's simply
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all files having 'khotkeys' in their name.
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Ok, now the standard install ( ./configure && make && make install ), and
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now you can start you KDE.
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The configuration module is started using K-Menu/Settings/System/KHotKeys .
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If you have used the 1.x version ( you have, haven't you ? ), it will look
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familiar. On the left, there's a list of all actions, they may be put
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in groups. On the right, there are several tabs with details for
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currently selected action, or an info tab when no action is selected ( no,
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don't bother, the 'Global settings...' button doesn't do anything useful
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yet, besides going down and up ).
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The first tab ( 'General' ) lets you to select the type of the action.
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You can either select 'Generic' type, allowing you to create any kind
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of action, or some simple predefined actions, like launching an application
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on keyboard shortcut press.
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The second tab is the 'Triggers' tab for the 'Generic' type action,
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or a tab specifying only the trigger for a specialized action (e.g.
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a keyboard shortcut). Here you can specify trigger(s) that will start
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this action, if conditions for it will be met.
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The types available now are :
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- Shortcut trigger - a keyboard combination is pressed
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- Gesture trigger - press middle mouse button and start drawing ...
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- Window trigger - a window appears, becomes active, ...
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The next tab is settings for the action. ( Just in case you haven't noticed
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yet, I'm apparently not very good at inventing good fitting names. 'Action'
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in KHotKeys means either a whole action, e.g. 'run a new Konsole when
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Ctrl+Alt+T is pressed and the active window is not a Konsole', or it can
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mean just the resulting action, i.e. only 'run a new Konsole'. Live with it
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or suggest better names ).
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- Command/URL tab settings - enter the command or URL to execute ( no,
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the 'Browse' doesn't do anything useful yet ).
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- K-Menu entry tab settings - just like the Command/URL tab, only enter
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a .desktop file from the K-Menu to execute (e.g. 'System/konsole.desktop')
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- DCOP call tab settings - enter the application, object, DCOP method and
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arguments (e.g. 'kdesktop', 'KBackgroundIface',
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'setWallpaper(QString,int)' and '"/some/pic.jpg" 1')
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- Keyboard input tab settings - enter the keyboard input you want to be
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simulated ( no, sorry, the 'Edit' button doesn't really work yet ).
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The "keypresses" are separated by a colon ( ':' ) and are written
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in the form the are seen e.g. in the keybindings dialog ( e.g. to enter
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a colon, you have to type 'Shift+;' ). The 'send to specific window'
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checkbox and the window definition allow you to specify that the input
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shouldn't be sent to the currently active window but to a window that
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matches the definition. Note that certain things, like triggering
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Ctrl+F1 for going to the first desktop, don't work yet.
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The last tab is 'Conditions'. If there are any conditions specified, the action
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will be active only if the at least one of the conditions is true. If the action
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is in a group which also has conditions, at least one of the conditions
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in the group must be true too.
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Conditions are mainly specified using window definitions, the only type now
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available is a simple window definition. You can specify a window title, class,
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command and type ( again, the 'Autodetect...' button doesn't work yet ). Title
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is easy, to get the window class and command, run 'xprop' in Konsole and click
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on a window; then search for WM_CLASS and WM_COMMAND.
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Ok, as I guess the things written above aren't that good explanation, I've
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included a sample configuration file. Put it in $KDEHOME/share/config/khotkeysrc.
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Every action is explained in its comment field. Note that all the actions are
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disabled, so you'll have to enable them in order to use them.
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KHotKeys Copyright 1999-2002 Lubos Lunak <l.lunak@kde.org>
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Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2.