Some vulgar fractions not displaying

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Little Girl

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Jan 23, 2020, 5:02:43 PM1/23/20
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I don't know about everyone else, but I like to collect recipes and add them to my personal wiki. When it comes to measurements that use fractions, I prefer the look of vulgar (single-character) fractions rather than triple-character fractions. I currently copy and paste them from an AutoKey phrase that contains all of them, but then I'm stuck doing clean-up duty to get rid of the ones I don't want from the collection that gets pasted in when I do that.

I'd like to have a menu to pick them from, so I created an AutoKey script that opens a window with a menu in it. All the fractions are offered as choices with radio buttons so that you can just click one to choose to insert that fraction at your cursor. I figure this way I can just type one trigger phrase and have access to all of my fractions without having to do any clean-up duty afterwards.

The problem is that my code is broken. Only three of the fifteen vulgar fractions are actually displaying and the rest are silently failing to display with no error message. I've scoured the internet and tried probably fifty different ways of fixing it, but can't seem to get anywhere. Maybe one of you can spot what my script needs to make it work.

Here's the code I've got so far:

#This AutoKey script will open a window with a menu from which you can pick a fraction character to be inserted at your cursor's position.

import unicodedata

vf
="VULGAR FRACTION "

onehalf
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "ONE HALF") #THIS DISPLAYS AS EXPECTED
onethird
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "ONE THIRD")
twothirds
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "TWO THIRDS")
onequarter
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "ONE QUARTER") #THIS DISPLAYS AS EXPECTED
threequarters
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "THREE QUARTERS") #THIS DISPLAYS AS EXPECTED
onefifth
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "ONE FIFTH")
twofifths
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "TWO FIFTHS")
threefifths
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "THREE FIFTHS")
fourfifths
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "FOUR FIFTHS")
onesixth
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "ONE SIXTH")
fivesixths
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "FIVE SIXTHS")
oneeighth
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "ONE EIGHTH")
threeeighths
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "THREE EIGHTHS")
fiveeighths
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "FIVE EIGHTHS")
seveneighths
=unicodedata.lookup(vf + "SEVEN EIGHTHS")

choices
= [
    onehalf
,
    onethird
,
    twothirds
,
    onequarter
,
    threequarters
,
    onefifth
,
    twofifths
,
    threefifths
,
    fourfifths
,
    onesixth
,
    fivesixths
,
    oneeighth
,
    threeeighths
,
    fiveeighths
,
    seveneighths
   
]

retCode
, choice = dialog.list_menu(choices)
if retCode == 0:
    keyboard
.send_keys(choice)


Dave King

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Jan 24, 2020, 12:25:24 AM1/24/20
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On Thursday, January 23, 2020 at 5:02:43 PM UTC-5, Little Girl wrote:
I don't know about everyone else, but I like to collect recipes and add them to my personal wiki. When it comes to measurements that use fractions, I prefer the look of vulgar (single-character) fractions rather than triple-character fractions.

Fabulous idea!  I too do recipes in a wiki and have had this same desire and had never even thought of doing what you're doing.  So, I'm stealing your script.  Thanks so much for that.  To make the script work for me I had to switch it from trying to key in the Unicode character to pasting that character from the clipboard.  In other words, replace the last line of the script:

keyboard.send_keys(choice)

with this instead:

clipboard.fill_clipboard(choice)
keyboard.send_keys('<ctrl>+v')

Typing Unicode characters from the keyboard requires a complex set of keystrokes which varies from application to application.  Pasting is simpler and more consistent.

Joe

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Jan 24, 2020, 1:06:59 AM1/24/20
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Great idea! We should add it to our wiki.

I don't remember the "why", but Dave King gave you the way to do it that
works. Keyboard.send_keys() just doesn't like most multibyte characters.

Joe
> onehalf=unicodedata.lookup(vf +"ONE HALF")#THIS DISPLAYS AS EXPECTED
> onethird=unicodedata.lookup(vf +"ONE THIRD")
> twothirds=unicodedata.lookup(vf +"TWO THIRDS")
> onequarter=unicodedata.lookup(vf +"ONE QUARTER")#THIS DISPLAYS AS EXPECTED
> threequarters=unicodedata.lookup(vf +"THREE QUARTERS")#THIS DISPLAYS
> --
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Joe

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Jan 24, 2020, 2:46:59 AM1/24/20
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I remembered part of it then I scanned our open issues.

When AutoKey encounters a character which does not natively exist on
your keyboard, it tries to create a virtual key and that frequently
doesn't work.

Fixing this would require some redesign and I'm not sure we currently
know how to solve the issue.

Here are several related open issues:

https://github.com/autokey/autokey/issues/128

#241 #255 #283

Joe

David King

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Jan 24, 2020, 12:43:18 PM1/24/20
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On 1/24/20 1:06 AM, Joe wrote:
> Great idea! We should add it to our wiki.
>
If you're going to do that, then you might consider that this script can
be streamlined considerably.  The module import can be removed and
fractions that don't have predefined names can be added.  Here's how I
revised Lttle Girl's original script:

'''
This AutoKey script will open a window with a menu
from which you can pick a fraction character to be
inserted at your cursor's position.

From an original script posted to the autokey-users
Google group by "Little Girl."

Additional fractions can be created using the
fraction slash (U+2044) and Unicode's superscript and
subscript numerals: e.g. ³⁄₄₇. Read more about
Unicode subscripts and superscripts on Wikipedia:
http://bit.ly/2Gn3tEg

Example:
    ³⁄₄₇ = "\u00B3\u2044\u2084\u2087"
'''

choices = [
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE HALF}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE THIRD}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION TWO THIRDS}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE QUARTER}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION THREE QUARTERS}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE FIFTH}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION TWO FIFTHS}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION THREE FIFTHS}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION FOUR FIFTHS}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE SIXTH}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION FIVE SIXTHS}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE SEVENTH}",
    "\u00B2\u2044\u2087",
    "\u00B3\u2044\u2087",
    "\u2074\u2044\u2087",
    "\u2075\u2044\u2087",
    "\u2076\u2044\u2087",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE EIGHTH}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION THREE EIGHTHS}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION FIVE EIGHTHS}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION SEVEN EIGHTHS}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE NINTH}",
    "\N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE TENTH}"
]

retCode, choice = dialog.list_menu(choices)
if retCode == 0:

Little Girl

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Jan 24, 2020, 10:29:07 PM1/24/20
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Hey there,

Dave King wrote:
>Little Girl wrote:
>>
>> I don't know about everyone else, but I like to collect recipes
>> and add them to my personal wiki. When it comes to measurements
>> that use fractions, I prefer the look of vulgar (single-character)
>> fractions rather than triple-character fractions.
>
>Fabulous idea! I too do recipes in a wiki and have had this same
>desire and had never even thought of doing what you're doing. So,
>I'm stealing your script. Thanks so much for that.

Any time. I'm glad you like it. I figured it might come in handy for
others as well.

>To make the script work for me I had to switch it from trying to key
>in the Unicode character to pasting that character from the
>clipboard. In other words, replace the last line of the script:
>
>keyboard.send_keys(choice)
>
>with this instead:
>
>clipboard.fill_clipboard(choice)
>keyboard.send_keys('<ctrl>+v')
>
>Typing Unicode characters from the keyboard requires a complex set
>of keystrokes which varies from application to application. Pasting
>is simpler and more consistent.

I can't tell you how excited I was to see this. Sadly, though, when I
try it, it completely freezes AutoKey without inserting anything and I
have to force quit the program.

At first I thought the problem might be that I'm not using the latest
LTS of Ubuntu MATE, but the previous one. To rule that out, I grabbed
the latest LTS of Kubuntu, installed AutoKey, added my script, and
made the above change to it. I have the same result there. AutoKey
completely locks up without inserting anything and I have to force
quit the program.

Is it working smoothly for you?

--
Little Girl

There is no spoon.

Little Girl

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Jan 24, 2020, 10:32:06 PM1/24/20
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Hey there,

Joe wrote:

>Great idea! We should add it to our wiki.

Thanks. Go for it (but add the ONE SEVENTH that I seem to have
forgotten to put into the one I put online).

>I don't remember the "why", but Dave King gave you the way to do it
>that works.

I was hoping so, but it doesn't work at my end.

>Keyboard.send_keys() just doesn't like most multibyte characters.

That's a shame. This has been quite a wrestle over here and it's not
over yet. I'm hoping to eventually get it working, though.

Little Girl

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Jan 24, 2020, 10:34:58 PM1/24/20
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Hey there,

Joe wrote:

>I remembered part of it then I scanned our open issues.
>
>When AutoKey encounters a character which does not natively exist on
>your keyboard, it tries to create a virtual key and that frequently
>doesn't work.

Is there a way to bypass that at our end?

>Fixing this would require some redesign and I'm not sure we currently
>know how to solve the issue.
>
>Here are several related open issues:
>
>https://github.com/autokey/autokey/issues/128
>
>#241 #255 #283

Thanks. I took a quick look at the first one and it offers a
work-around, but I wasn't able to get that working here. I'll look at
the rest tomorrow and see if I can't figure out why I can't get it
going yet.

Little Girl

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Jan 24, 2020, 10:49:01 PM1/24/20
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Hey there,
Interesting that you've got a way of creating the missing fractions.
I had high hopes for this one, but I tried it in my non-current (but
still supported) LTS of Ubuntu MATE and in a VM in a current LTS of
Kubuntu and, in both cases, it offers me the raw, unquoted choices,
like \N{VULGAR FRACTION ONE HALF} and so on, nothing is pasted when I
click one of the radio buttons, and AutoKey is frozen and has to be
forcibly terminated.

Is it working smoothly at your end?

Johnny Rosenberg

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Jan 25, 2020, 5:03:53 AM1/25/20
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Maybe I'm I just completely misunderstand the whole thing, but I use those characters all the time, no AutoKey needed. I just customised my keyboard layout, like this:
Shift+1: ⅛
Shift+2: ¼
Shift+3: ⅜
Shift+4: ½
Shift+5: ⅝
Shift+6: ¾
Shift+7: ⅞
Shift+8: ⅓
Shift+9: ⅔
Shift++: ⅙
Shift+-: ⅚
So I can just use the Shift key and my numeric part of the keyboard to get all of those. Should be a lot quicker than working with a menu.

You can also use your Compose key, for instance:
Compose 12 ⇨ ½
Compose 56 ⇨ ⅚
I assigned my Compose key to Caps Lock, which also took care of the old problem that hitting it accidentally when intending to hit ”a” is very annoying. No problem with that any more.
This method is probably the way to go, since you don't need to fiddle with your keyboard layout, if you think that's complicated.

Anyway, AutoKey is really not needed for this.
Unless I totally misunderstood what you are trying to do.


Kind regards

Johnny Rosenberg

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Johnny Rosenberg

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Jan 25, 2020, 5:07:46 AM1/25/20
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Den lör 25 jan. 2020 kl 11:03 skrev Johnny Rosenberg <gurus....@gmail.com>:
Maybe I'm I just completely misunderstand the whole thing, but I use those characters all the time, no AutoKey needed. I just customised my keyboard layout, like this:

Just to be clear, the numbers below is the numeric part of the keyboard, not the row above the QWERTY row, obviously.
Shift+1: ⅛
Rather Shift+NumPadKey1: ⅛
and the same for all of the below.
Well, it's all my own keyboard layout anyway, I guess I could have done it with the other number keys as well, but I didn't, I used them for other features, but that's another story.

Joe

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Jan 25, 2020, 6:22:51 AM1/25/20
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I'm pretty swamped with other projects ATM, but I'll try to take a look
at this when I get a chance.

Joe

David King

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Jan 25, 2020, 10:12:47 AM1/25/20
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Yes, it is working just fine for me, no lockups.  I'm on Fedora 30, so I
guess there are substatntial differences in the underlying environment. 
I've never used Ubuntu or its variants so I can't help you there. 
Sorry.  Maybe someone else will have an idea?

David King
dave at daveking dot com


Dave King

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Jan 25, 2020, 11:15:31 AM1/25/20
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I had a few additional thoughts since posting the above:
  1. Are you running Wayland or X11?  I see comments various places that recent releases of Ubuntu have switched to Wayland as the default desktop environment.  The autokey README says that autokey has some problems when used on Wayland.  On Fedora 30 I'm still running X11 so I wouldn't see those.  How can I tell if I am running Wayland?
  2. Does autokey paste work without Unicode characters being involved?  What happens if you run a script that does something like:
    clipboard.fill_clipboard("X")
    keyboard.send_keys('<ctrl>-v')
  3. Have you tried manually cutting and pasting a Unicode character using the keyboard?

jack horsfield

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Jan 25, 2020, 11:23:57 AM1/25/20
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You could launch autokey from a terminal. Something like:

Autokey-gtk --debug --verbose

... Memory might be hazy there. Anyway, there may be a clue in the output.

Joe

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Jan 25, 2020, 12:13:45 PM1/25/20
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AFAIK, Wayland does not have reliable APIs for all the things AutoKey
needs and there has been no work done on it from the AutoKey side. We're
strictly X11.

As noted previously, keyboard.send_keys() does not play nicely with
multibyte character sets (and it looks like a substantial rewrite to fix
it), so if you need them, you have to paste from the clipboard in any
affected phrases or scripts.

Joe
> 1. Are you running Wayland or X11?  I see comments various places
> that recent releases of Ubuntu have switched to Wayland as the
> default desktop environment.  The autokey README
> <https://github.com/autokey/autokey> says that autokey has some
> problems when used on Wayland.  On Fedora 30 I'm still running X11
> so I wouldn't see those.  How can I tell if I am running Wayland?
> <https://askubuntu.com/questions/904940/how-can-i-tell-if-i-am-running-wayland>
> 2. Does autokey paste work without Unicode characters being
> involved?  What happens if you run a script that does something like:
> clipboard.fill_clipboard("X")
> keyboard.send_keys('<ctrl>-v')
> 3. Have you tried manually cutting and pasting a Unicode character
> using the keyboard?
>
> --
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Joe

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Jan 25, 2020, 12:27:50 PM1/25/20
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That's good advice any time staring at a script/phrase doesn't provide a
solution. ;)

However, AFAIK, there is no --debug option. --verbose, or the short
version, -l, produces a trace to show you what AutoKey thinks is happening.

(There may be more options such as logging levels in the future.)

Joe


On 1/25/20 11:23 AM, jack horsfield wrote:
> You could launch autokey from a terminal. Something like:
>
> Autokey-gtk --debug --verbose
>
> ... Memory might be hazy there. Anyway, there may be a clue in the output.
> On 25 Jan 2020, at 16:15, Dave King <da...@daveking.com
> 1. Are you running Wayland or X11?  I see comments various places
> that recent releases of Ubuntu have switched to Wayland as the
> default desktop environment.  The autokey README
> <https://github.com/autokey/autokey> says that autokey has
> some problems when used on Wayland.  On Fedora 30 I'm still
> running X11 so I wouldn't see those.  How can I tell if I am
> running Wayland?
> <https://askubuntu.com/questions/904940/how-can-i-tell-if-i-am-running-wayland>
> 2. Does autokey paste work without Unicode characters being
> involved?  What happens if you run a script that does
> something like:
> clipboard.fill_clipboard("X")
> keyboard.send_keys('<ctrl>-v')
> 3. Have you tried manually cutting and pasting a Unicode
> character using the keyboard?
>
> --
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> Groups "autokey-users" group.
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Little Girl

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Jan 25, 2020, 12:35:20 PM1/25/20
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Hey there,

David King wrote:
>Little Girl wrote:
I'm glad to see it's working smoothly for you. Whoever puts the
script into the wiki will probably want to make a note that version
of the script is known to work in Fedora 30. Meanwhile, I'm working
on an Ubuntu version.

Little Girl

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Jan 25, 2020, 12:50:01 PM1/25/20
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Hey there,

Dave King wrote:

>> Yes, it is working just fine for me, no lockups. I'm on Fedora
>> 30, so I guess there are substatntial differences in the
>> underlying environment. I've never used Ubuntu or its variants so
>> I can't help you there. Sorry. Maybe someone else will have an
>> idea?
>>
>> I had a few additional thoughts since posting the above:

> 1. Are you running Wayland or X11? I see comments various places
> that recent releases of Ubuntu have switched to Wayland as the
> default desktop environment. The autokey README
> <https://github.com/autokey/autokey> says that autokey has some
> problems when used on Wayland. On Fedora 30 I'm still running X11
> so I wouldn't see those. How can I tell if I am running Wayland?
> <https://askubuntu.com/questions/904940/how-can-i-tell-if-i-am-running-wayland>

Both my main computer (that uses Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS) and the
Kubuntu VM (that uses Kubuntu 18.04 LTS) are running X11 and those
are the two operating systems I've tested these scripts in.

> 2. Does autokey paste work without Unicode characters being
> involved? What happens if you run a script that does something like:
> clipboard.fill_clipboard("X")
> keyboard.send_keys('<ctrl>-v')

Nothing is pasted and I receive a "The script 'test' encountered
an error" notification. AutoKey doesn't freeze up when this happens,
so I can immediately make changes and try something else if I like.

> 3. Have you tried manually cutting and pasting a Unicode
> character using the keyboard?

I can copy and paste and cut and paste the vulgar fractions at will
all over my computer, in AutoKey phrases and scripts, in my text
editors, in my browser, in my word processor, etc., any time I like
with standard desktop key combinations (I prefer the shift-key
combinations, but ctrl-key combinations also work).

I can also paste all of the vulgar fractions into an AutoKey phrase
and then use an AutoKey abbreviation to insert the contents of that
phrase into any other location (like a text editor, browser, word
processor, etc.) and it pastes them perfectly with no errors. That's
the method I've been using, but as I mentioned, it means I have to do
clean-up to get rid of the ones I don't want whenever I paste them in.

Little Girl

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Jan 25, 2020, 1:13:23 PM1/25/20
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Hey there,

Johnny Rosenberg wrote:

>Maybe I'm I just completely misunderstand the whole thing, but I use
>those characters all the time, no AutoKey needed. I just customised
>my keyboard layout, like this:
>Shift+1: ⅛
>Shift+2: ¼
>Shift+3: ⅜
>Shift+4: ½
>Shift+5: ⅝
>Shift+6: ¾
>Shift+7: ⅞
>Shift+8: ⅓
>Shift+9: ⅔
>Shift++: ⅙
>Shift+-: ⅚
>So I can just use the Shift key and my numeric part of the keyboard
>to get all of those. Should be a lot quicker than working with a
>menu.

It's a bit more complicated in GNU/Linux. We need to press a few
more buttons than you:

<ctrl>+<shift>+u+00bd+<space> = 1/2
<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2153+<space> = 1/3
...and so on.

Note that the space is for when you want to insert the character
inline and is stripped out automatically as part of the process of
creating the character. You could replace that with the press of the
Enter key If you wanted to insert the character and drop down a line.
What's important, though, is that you must use something after the
code portion of that key combination or nothing will happen.

>You can also use your Compose key, for instance:
>Compose 12 ⇨ ½
>Compose 56 ⇨ ⅚
>I assigned my Compose key to Caps Lock, which also took care of the
>old problem that hitting it accidentally when intending to hit ”a”
>is very annoying. No problem with that any more.
>This method is probably the way to go, since you don't need to
>fiddle with your keyboard layout, if you think that's complicated.

That's definitely an option, but involves setting something
additional up, so I'd rather avoid it, if possible and find a way to
do it with the operating system set up as is, and it's looking like it
will be possible. I'm making headway (see my next message).

>Anyway, AutoKey is really not needed for this.
>Unless I totally misunderstood what you are trying to do.

You're right that it's not needed for this. All of the fractions can
be inserted with the correct key combinations. This is fine if you
can (or are willing to) memorize all of the key combinations or keep
a reference handy and use it when you need to insert one.

AutoKey is a luxury that makes it so you only need to memorize one
abbreviation and then click a radio button to pick the fraction you'd
like from the menu. If you forgot the abbreviation for your fractions,
it takes but a moment to launch AutoKey, open the main window, and
check it. If you then decide that you no longer like that
abbreviation, it takes another moment to get rid of it and type a new
one in.

Neither method is the correct or best way to insert Unicode
characters. It's just a matter of how a person likes their work-flow
to occur or just plain how they like to do things.

I've never been big on memorizing tons of key combinations, so I love
the elegance and simplicity of programs like AutoKey that do the
memorizing for me. My iPad has its own built-in one and I bought one
for my Windows work machine (and I have to admit that I wouldn't
bat an eyelash at paying ten times what I paid for it if I had to).
At this point, I wouldn't want to be without any of them. They're
just so darned handy whenever you have things you need to repeat
and/or don't want to memorize.

Little Girl

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Jan 25, 2020, 1:18:08 PM1/25/20
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Hey there,

Johnny Rosenberg wrote:

>Just to be clear, the numbers below is the numeric part of the
>keyboard, not the row above the QWERTY row, obviously.
>
>> Shift+1: ⅛
>
>Rather Shift+NumPadKey1: ⅛
>and the same for all of the below.

Yep. No worries. I figured as much. I remember having to use the
NumPad to do alt-key combinations in Windows back in the day.

By the way, AutoKey allows you to specify those number keys in its
scripts. If you ever want to do that, they're the ones that start
with NP_ on this page:

https://github.com/autokey/autokey/wiki/Special-Keys

Little Girl

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Jan 25, 2020, 1:22:50 PM1/25/20
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Hey there,

jack horsfield wrote:

>You could launch autokey from a terminal. Something like:
>
>Autokey-gtk --debug --verbose
>
>... Memory might be hazy there. Anyway, there may be a clue in the
>output.

That looked promising for a moment, but this is what I get:

autokey-gtk: error: no such option: --debug

And these are the only options shown in the man page:

OPTIONS
This program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (`-'). A summary of options is included below.

--help Show summary of options.

-l, --verbose
Enable verbose (debug) logging.

-c, --configure
Show the configuration window on startup, even if this is not the first run.

Thanks for all the ideas, though.

jack horsfield

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Jan 25, 2020, 1:24:29 PM1/25/20
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Yes, as Joe said, is just --verbose

Joe

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Jan 25, 2020, 1:35:49 PM1/25/20
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Inline.

Joe
This sounds like a bug to me. It would be good if you open an issue or
at least post on Gitter.

Little Girl

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Jan 25, 2020, 1:41:12 PM1/25/20
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Hey there,

Joe wrote:

>That's good advice any time staring at a script/phrase doesn't
>provide a solution. ;)
>
>However, AFAIK, there is no --debug option. --verbose, or the short
>version, -l, produces a trace to show you what AutoKey thinks is
>happening.
>
>(There may be more options such as logging levels in the future.)

Somehow I totally missed that. Okay, I now ran this in verbose mode:

clipboard.fill_clipboard("X")
keyboard.send_keys('<ctrl>-v')

That pastes nothing, doesn't freeze AutoKey, and gives me:

TypeError: Gtk.Clipboard.set_text() takes exactly 3 arguments (2
given)

Now to find out what Gtk.Clipboard would like for that third argument
and Bob should be my uncle.

Little Girl

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Jan 25, 2020, 2:03:06 PM1/25/20
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Hey there,

Joe wrote:
> Little Girl wrote:

>> It's a bit more complicated in GNU/Linux. We need to press a few
>> more buttons than you:
>>
>> <ctrl>+<shift>+u+00bd+<space> = 1/2
>> <ctrl>+<shift>+u+2153+<space> = 1/3
>> ...and so on.
>>
>> Note that the space is for when you want to insert the character
>> inline and is stripped out automatically as part of the process of
>> creating the character. You could replace that with the press of
>> the Enter key If you wanted to insert the character and drop down
>> a line. What's important, though, is that you must use something
>> after the code portion of that key combination or nothing will
>> happen.

>This sounds like a bug to me. It would be good if you open an issue
>or at least post on Gitter.

No need. This was about the operating system rather than AutoKey. In
other words, those are the key combinations needed in Ubuntu to make
those characters.

The good news is that I can successfully use them in AutoKey. I now
have these fully functioning fractions in an AutoKey script:

keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+00bd ")#1/2
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2153 ")#1/3
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2154 ")#2/3
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+00bc ")#1/4
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+00be ")#3/4
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2155 ")#1/5
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2156 ")#2/5
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2157 ")#3/5
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2158 ")#4/5
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2159 ")#1/6
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215a ")#5/6
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2150 ")#1/7
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215b ")#1/8
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215c ")#3/8
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215d ")#5/8
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215e ")#7/8
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2151 ")#1/9
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2152 ")#1/10

I haven't figured out how to use them to populate the list options
that are displayed in the dialog window, but they work fine for the
inserting portion of the script.

As a temporary alternative, and as a very inelegant proof of concept,
I created a quick AutoKey script, tossing them into a dictionary and
calling them successfully from the dictionary:

#The dictionary:
dict = {}
dict["½"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+00bd "#1/2
dict["⅓"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2153 "#1/3
dict["⅔"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2154 "#2/3
dict["¼"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+00bc "#1/4
dict["¾"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+00be "#3/4
dict["⅕"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2155 "#1/5
dict["⅖"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2156 "#2/5
dict["⅗"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2157 "#3/5
dict["⅘"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2158 "#4/5
dict["⅙"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2159 "#1/6
dict["⅚"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215a "#5/6
dict["⅐"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2150 "#1/7
dict["⅛"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215b "#1/8
dict["⅜"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215c "#3/8
dict["⅝"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215d "#5/8
dict["⅞"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+215e "#7/8
dict["⅑"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2151 "#1/9
dict["⅒"] = "<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2152 "#1/10

#The calls:
keyboard.send_keys(dict["½"])#1/2
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅓"])#1/3
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅔"])#2/3
keyboard.send_keys(dict["¼"])#1/4
keyboard.send_keys(dict["¾"])#3/4
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅕"])#1/5
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅖"])#2/5
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅗"])#3/5
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅘"])#4/5
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅙"])#1/6
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅚"])#5/6
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅐"])#1/7
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅛"])#1/8
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅜"])#3/8
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅝"])#5/8
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅞"])#7/8
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅑"])#1/9
keyboard.send_keys(dict["⅒"])#1/10

With a some if statements, some whittling down of repetitive code,
and some fancy footwork to connect the dictionary with the list
options, those will work.

Little Girl

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Jan 25, 2020, 2:04:42 PM1/25/20
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Hey there,

jack horsfield wrote:

>Yes, as Joe said, is just --verbose

Yep. I'm kicking myself in the head.

Joe

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Jan 25, 2020, 3:25:15 PM1/25/20
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The slightly less violent vernacular is "facepalm". :)

Joe

Joe

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Jan 25, 2020, 3:34:11 PM1/25/20
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Typo. Should be: (plus, not minus - indicates a multi-keypress)

keyboard.send_keys('<ctrl>+v')

I prefer double quotes, but I don't think Python cares.

Joe

Little Girl

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Jan 25, 2020, 4:11:24 PM1/25/20
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Hey there,

>Typo. Should be: (plus, not minus - indicates a multi-keypress)
>
>keyboard.send_keys('<ctrl>+v')
>
>I prefer double quotes, but I don't think Python cares.

Fixed. Now I ran it like this:

clipboard.fill_clipboard("X")
keyboard.send_keys("<ctrl>+v")

That inserts nothing in my text editor, doesn't freeze up AutoKey,
doesn't pop up an error message, and gives me this result in the
terminal (note that the backspaces in the result happened one by one
as I typed the four letters of the triggering abbreviation and note,
also, that there's more feedback from Autokey above this - I just
gave you what was displayed from the moment I clicked the text file
and typed the abbreviation), which still suggests that Gtk is waiting
for one more argument:

2020-01-25 15:48:40,256 DEBUG - service - Received mouse click -
resetting buffer 2020-01-25 15:48:41,768 DEBUG - service - Raw key:
u't', modifiers: [], Key: t 2020-01-25 15:48:41,768 DEBUG - service -
Window visible title: u'*untitled - Geany', Window class:
u'geany.Geany' 2020-01-25 15:48:41,768 DEBUG - service - No
phrase/script matched hotkey 2020-01-25 15:48:41,769 DEBUG - service
- Input stack at end of handle_keypress: [u't'] 2020-01-25
15:48:42,026 DEBUG - service - Raw key: u'e', modifiers: [], Key: e
2020-01-25 15:48:42,026 DEBUG - service - Window visible title:
u'*untitled - Geany', Window class: u'geany.Geany' 2020-01-25
15:48:42,026 DEBUG - service - No phrase/script matched hotkey
2020-01-25 15:48:42,027 DEBUG - service - Input stack at end of
handle_keypress: [u't', u'e'] 2020-01-25 15:48:42,230 DEBUG - service
- Raw key: u's', modifiers: [], Key: s 2020-01-25 15:48:42,230 DEBUG
- service - Window visible title: u'*untitled - Geany', Window class:
u'geany.Geany' 2020-01-25 15:48:42,230 DEBUG - service - No
phrase/script matched hotkey 2020-01-25 15:48:42,231 DEBUG - service
- Input stack at end of handle_keypress: [u't', u'e', u's']
2020-01-25 15:48:42,482 DEBUG - service - Raw key: u't', modifiers:
[], Key: t 2020-01-25 15:48:42,482 DEBUG - service - Window visible
title: u'*untitled - Geany', Window class: u'geany.Geany' 2020-01-25
15:48:42,482 DEBUG - service - No phrase/script matched hotkey
2020-01-25 15:48:42,483 DEBUG - service - Script runner executing:
Script('test4') 2020-01-25 15:48:42,484 ERROR - service - Script
error Traceback (most recent call last): File
"/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/autokey/service.py", line 454, in
execute exec script.code in scope File "<string>", line 1, in
<module> File
"/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/autokey/scripting.py", line 837, in
fill_clipboard self.clipBoard.set_text(contents.encode("utf-8"))
TypeError: Gtk.Clipboard.set_text() takes exactly 3 arguments (2
given) 2020-01-25 15:48:42,483 DEBUG - service - Input stack at end
of handle_keypress: [] 2020-01-25 15:48:42,484 DEBUG - interface -
Send special key: ['<backspace>'] 2020-01-25 15:48:42,487 DEBUG -
service - Ignored locking error in handle_keypress 2020-01-25
15:48:42,489 DEBUG - interface - Send special key: ['<backspace>']
2020-01-25 15:48:42,490 DEBUG - interface - Send special key:
['<backspace>'] 2020-01-25 15:48:42,491 DEBUG - interface - Send
special key: ['<backspace>']

Johnny Rosenberg

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Jan 25, 2020, 6:16:35 PM1/25/20
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Den lör 25 jan. 2020 kl 19:13 skrev Little Girl <littl...@gmail.com>:
Hey there,

Johnny Rosenberg wrote:

>Maybe I'm I just completely misunderstand the whole thing, but I use
>those characters all the time, no AutoKey needed. I just customised
>my keyboard layout, like this:
>Shift+1: ⅛
>Shift+2: ¼
>Shift+3: ⅜
>Shift+4: ½
>Shift+5: ⅝
>Shift+6: ¾
>Shift+7: ⅞
>Shift+8: ⅓
>Shift+9: ⅔
>Shift++: ⅙
>Shift+-: ⅚
>So I can just use the Shift key and my numeric part of the keyboard
>to get all of those. Should be a lot quicker than working with a
>menu.

It's a bit more complicated in GNU/Linux.

Than what? I'm using Manjaro Linux, and before that I used Ubuntu, it worked approximately the same in both. I just added my own keyboard layout, ”Swedish – Johnny Rosenberg”, by editing the following files:
/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.lst
/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml
/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/se
(”se” for Swedish, pick what's appropriate for you)
I know I'm not supposed to change these files, and there is a better way to do it in the ~/.config directory, but I didn't try that yet… I probably will some day.

If you're interested, I can tell you more in detail what I did, it's not that hard. I did quite a few things with it, for instance I can use my AltGr key, with or without Shift, to type with my arrow keys (←↑↓→⬄↹↔⇨), the tab key (⇥⇤), enter (↵¶), Home (◂◀), End (▸▶), Backspace (⌫⌦), Page Up (▴▲) and more. I also removed all numbers on the first row, so I can now type ”!"#@%&/()=” without using Shift…


We need to press a few
more buttons than you:

<ctrl>+<shift>+u+00bd+<space> = 1/2
<ctrl>+<shift>+u+2153+<space> = 1/3
...and so on.

Yes, we can do that too. There are a lot of options in the beautiful world of GNU/Linux!
 

Note that the space is for when you want to insert the character
inline and is stripped out automatically as part of the process of
creating the character. You could replace that with the press of the
Enter key If you wanted to insert the character and drop down a line.
What's important, though, is that you must use something after the
code portion of that key combination or nothing will happen.

Yes, I know. I use it all the time. Or at least for a few characters that I didn't include in my own keyboard layout.
 

>You can also use your Compose key, for instance:
>Compose 12 ⇨ ½
>Compose 56 ⇨ ⅚
>I assigned my Compose key to Caps Lock, which also took care of the
>old problem that hitting it accidentally when intending to hit ”a”
>is very annoying. No problem with that any more.
>This method is probably the way to go, since you don't need to
>fiddle with your keyboard layout, if you think that's complicated.

That's definitely an option, but involves setting something
additional up, so I'd rather avoid it, if possible and find a way to
do it with the operating system set up as is, and it's looking like it
will be possible. I'm making headway (see my next message).

>Anyway, AutoKey is really not needed for this.
>Unless I totally misunderstood what you are trying to do.

You're right that it's not needed for this. All of the fractions can
be inserted with the correct key combinations. This is fine if you
can (or are willing to) memorize all of the key combinations or keep
a reference handy and use it when you need to insert one.

As I said, with the compose key it's easy, at least those fractions that you want. ”Compose 1 6” for ⅙, that's not hard to remember. Three keys to press, nothing more. The same with the other fractions: Compose 3 5 for ⅗ and so on. Easy to remember, fast to type.


AutoKey is a luxury that makes it so you only need to memorize one
abbreviation and then click a radio button to pick the fraction you'd
like from the menu. If you forgot the abbreviation for your fractions,
it takes but a moment to launch AutoKey, open the main window, and
check it. If you then decide that you no longer like that
abbreviation, it takes another moment to get rid of it and type a new
one in.

Yes, I use AutoKey all the time and I love it, but for typing fractions, the Compose key is easier in any way. It's already there a tiny configuration setting away, no need to reinvent the wheel.

Neither method is the correct or best way to insert Unicode
characters. It's just a matter of how a person likes their work-flow
to occur or just plain how they like to do things.

I've never been big on memorizing tons of key combinations,

In this case you only have to remember the individual numbers in the fractions you want. It's kind of self-explanatory.


Kind regards

Johnny Rosenberg (this signature was typed by AutoKey, by the way, I only typed ”kregj”…)
 
so I love
the elegance and simplicity of programs like AutoKey that do the
memorizing for me. My iPad has its own built-in one and I bought one
for my Windows work machine (and I have to admit that I wouldn't
bat an eyelash at paying ten times what I paid for it if I had to).
At this point, I wouldn't want to be without any of them. They're
just so darned handy whenever you have things you need to repeat
and/or don't want to memorize.

--
Little Girl

There is no spoon.

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Joe

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Jan 26, 2020, 7:33:47 AM1/26/20
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Assuming you're using a relatively new version of  AutoKey, this needs
to be reported as an issue at https://github.com/autokey/autokey/issues
with all the info needed in one place - see
https://github.com/autokey/autokey-python2/wiki/Problem-Reporting-Guide .

Something is pretty weird because this is core functionality that should
break almost everything everywhere, not just in an isolated case, so we
need as much info as possible to figure out what is special about this
case (including your complete script and full trace for this purpose,
not excerpts.)

I have a couple of scripts that I run many times a day that use this
construct with no issues.

Make sure to put things like the script and trace output inside (each
bracketed by) a pair of triple backquotes so they don't get reformatted
by GitHub.

Joe

Little Girl

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Jan 27, 2020, 10:08:18 AM1/27/20
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Hey there,

Joe wrote:

>Assuming you're using a relatively new version of  AutoKey, this
>needs to be reported as an issue at
>https://github.com/autokey/autokey/issues with all the info needed
>in one place - see
>https://github.com/autokey/autokey-python2/wiki/Problem-Reporting-Guide .

I'm not sure what you consider to be relatively new, but I suspect
mine doesn't qualify and probably isn't worth the effort. I'm using
AutoKey version 0.90.4 as provided by my
not-current-but-still-supported Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS operating
system. It looks like the Ubuntu team has capped AutoKey at that
level across the board, because it's the same version in the Kubuntu
18.04 LTS operating system in my virtual machine.

>Something is pretty weird because this is core functionality that
>should break almost everything everywhere, not just in an isolated
>case, so we need as much info as possible to figure out what is
>special about this case (including your complete script and full
>trace for this purpose, not excerpts.)

Let me know if you still want that after seeing the version above.

>I have a couple of scripts that I run many times a day that use this
>construct with no issues.

Good to know. That means that it will work for me at some point
and/or if I decide to bypass the Ubuntu package manager and build
AutoKey directly instead. Meanwhile, I'm cobbling together a script
that will work despite the issue.

Joe

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Jan 27, 2020, 7:42:05 PM1/27/20
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Holey moley!

The only reason 0.90.4 still exists is because we can't delete it. It's
at least seven years old, unmaintained, and unsupported. There is no
package maintainer for AutoKey  on the Debian team, so their version is
stuck at that release and that's where almost all distributions based on
Debian (Ubuntu ...) get it.

Friends don't let friends use 0.90.4! :)

We also had a PPA where you could get a somewhat newer version, but the
owner isn't contributing any more so we can't update that either.

However, all new releases are available as deb packages on GitHub, so
they're very easy to install. We're on 0.95.9 now.

github.com/autokey/autokey/releases/

See
https://github.com/autokey/autokey/wiki/Installing#debian-and-derivatives
for instructions.

It's in the instructions, but it bears repeating that you should
uninstall 0.90.4 before installing a newer version. Before you do that,
make a backup of everything under $HOME/.config/autokey (including the
hidden files.) It should be fine, but there's no reason to risk losing
all your phrases and scripts.

Ubuntu 16.04 is pretty old, but AutoKey doesn't have a lot of
dependencies on new things although you will definitely need Python3
(which came out in 2008.)

Benefits:

New version based on Python3

Much better handling of multibyte character sets (everything other than
plain English)

Xautomation integration - lets you search your screen for an image and
move the mouse to it so you can access things like buttons you can't tab to

Access (eventually) to a bunch of advanced new features that are in
development now

A few hundred bug fixes

Sympathy from the developers if you have an issue which needs attention

Joe

Johnny Rosenberg

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Jan 28, 2020, 2:57:58 PM1/28/20
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Den tis 28 jan. 2020 kl 01:42 skrev Joe <jos...@main.nc.us>:
Holey moley!

The only reason 0.90.4 still exists is because we can't delete it. It's
at least seven years old, unmaintained, and unsupported. There is no
package maintainer for AutoKey  on the Debian team, so their version is
stuck at that release and that's where almost all distributions based on
Debian (Ubuntu ...) get it.

Friends don't let friends use 0.90.4! :)

We also had a PPA where you could get a somewhat newer version, but the
owner isn't contributing any more so we can't update that either.

However, all new releases are available as deb packages on GitHub, so
they're very easy to install. We're on 0.95.9 now.

github.com/autokey/autokey/releases/

If there is a way to make that pop up when searching for AutoKey, then that should be done. It's almost hopeless to find a way to download and install a recent Autokey by just searching the web.

Kind regards

Johnny Rosenberg
 
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Joe

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Jan 29, 2020, 1:13:59 AM1/29/20
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What I thought of was putting out a new version of 0.90.4 that issues a
first time (or maybe a nag) message saying don't use this version, but
that has the same problem of Debian not using it so no one would see it.

Other than that, it sounds like an SEO issue (which I know almost
nothing about.) If there are any web developers on the list, maybe they
will have some ideas.

The only other thing I can think of is that there are a bunch of generic
software search sites like https://linux.softpedia.com . If someone
wants to reach out to them, maybe they can list the new version in a way
that makes it easier to find.

----

I just did a ddg search on "autokey version".

The fourth result, https://repology.org/project/autokey/versions at
least lets you see that 0.95.9 exists (but not how to get it if your
distro doesn't provide it.)

The sixth result is our GitHub installation wiki page. I'm not sure we
can do much better than that.

The next link down is to a great recent article on using AutoKey:
https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/11/how-to-automate-repetitive-typing-text.html

Joe

On 1/28/20 2:57 PM, Johnny Rosenberg wrote:
> Den tis 28 jan. 2020 kl 01:42 skrev Joe <jos...@main.nc.us
> <mailto:jos...@main.nc.us>>:
>
> Holey moley!
>
> The only reason 0.90.4 still exists is because we can't delete it.
> It's
> at least seven years old, unmaintained, and unsupported. There is no
> package maintainer for AutoKey  on the Debian team, so their
> version is
> stuck at that release and that's where almost all distributions
> based on
> Debian (Ubuntu ...) get it.
>
> Friends don't let friends use 0.90.4! :)
>
> We also had a PPA where you could get a somewhat newer version,
> but the
> owner isn't contributing any more so we can't update that either.
>
> However, all new releases are available as deb packages on GitHub, so
> they're very easy to install. We're on 0.95.9 now.
>
> github.com/autokey/autokey/releases/
> <http://github.com/autokey/autokey/releases/>
> <mailto:autokey-users%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>.
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jack

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Jan 29, 2020, 2:33:46 AM1/29/20
to autoke...@googlegroups.com, Joe

i looked at the wikipedia page:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoKey

i assume it's all correct, but it looks out of date. it's description of
autokey would be better under a 'history' section. maybe we could get a
warning in there somewhere.

the link wikipedia gives is to the github page, so i went there:

    https://github.com/autokey/autokey

that page then sends you to the wiki:

    https://github.com/autokey/autokey/wiki/Installing

... but the installation section is, essentially, empty apart from a
subsection about 'Zero-installation Method'. we could have a health
warning in this 'Installation' section before the link to the wiki page.

the installing intro blurb on the wiki page does say you can use your
'package manager'. the actual description is all correct, saying
download or build, but i suppose somebody could read 'package manager'
and promptly try to install from a repository. we could have some sort
of health warning near the top of this page.



jack
Already at last record of scrolled region

Keith Bainbridge

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Jan 29, 2020, 5:28:02 AM1/29/20
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Good morning All

I'll add a suggestion to that: Can we have a site (or version, as samba
used to do) called 'latest' from where we can run wget or curl to
collect the latest packages, 2 .deb files, by a regular cron job, to get
the current release.

Most often, there will be nothing to download. Occasionally there will
be. I consider this would be better than trying to remember to look if
there has been a update. (And I don't often see announcements here.)




Keith Bainbridge

keith.bain...@gmail.com
0447 667 468

Joe

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Jan 29, 2020, 2:20:55 PM1/29/20
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At one point, one of our users, ineuw <ine...@gmail.com>, who is
already a Wikipedia editor, expressed an interest in updating the page
and I told him to go for it, but apparently, he never got around to
doing so.

Joe

Joe

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Jan 29, 2020, 2:27:04 PM1/29/20
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You should raise this over on Gitter or as an issue on GitHub because
the developers don't frequently read this list.

Having some sort of pull or push service makes sense to me.

Joe

https://gitter.im/autokey/autokey

https://github.com/autokey/autokey

jack horsfield

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Jan 29, 2020, 2:32:23 PM1/29/20
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I'll have a go at the Wikipedia page

Joe

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Jan 29, 2020, 2:44:47 PM1/29/20
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Great. If you haven't already, take a look at that new article I linked
to earlier today. It's a nice intro to AutoKey and may give you some ideas.

Joe

On 1/29/20 2:31 PM, jack horsfield wrote:
> I'll have a go at the Wikipedia page
> On 29 Jan 2020, at 19:20, Joe <jos...@main.nc.us
> <http://github.com/autokey/autokey/releases>/     
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/autokey-users/6435ee3e-92ed-47f9-a59c-7ed4a9868214%40gmail.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/autokey-users/6435ee3e-92ed-47f9-a59c-7ed4a9868214%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

jack horsfield

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Jan 29, 2020, 3:31:57 PM1/29/20
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I will indeed. Thanks

Keith Bainbridge

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Jan 29, 2020, 11:30:36 PM1/29/20
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Good afternoon


I found this link later:

https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/11/how-to-automate-repetitive-typing-text.html

There is an error in the installation commands, but overall the article
is very positive.


I'm trying to lodge a request to correct them.


Keith Bainbridge

keith.bain...@gmail.com
0447 667 468

Little Girl

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Feb 1, 2020, 6:51:38 PM2/1/20
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Hey there,

Joe wrote:

>Holey moley!

Yeah, it happens sometimes.

>The only reason 0.90.4 still exists is because we can't delete it.
>It's at least seven years old, unmaintained, and unsupported. There
>is no package maintainer for AutoKey  on the Debian team, so their
>version is stuck at that release and that's where almost all
>distributions based on Debian (Ubuntu ...) get it.

That's a shame. I've come across a couple of packages like that.
Hopefully someone will pick them up.

>However, all new releases are available as deb packages on GitHub, so
>they're very easy to install. We're on 0.95.9 now.

[SNIP]

Thanks. I'll think about replacing mine with that one.
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