Feature Request: Add Optional, Customizable Status Menus

[Jim]

I've been exploring menu bar utilities, and while doing so, it occurred to me that Keyboard Maestro could create custom menu bar menus that the user could assign macros to.

This might be relatively easy for Peter to implement—the Keyboard Maestro Status Menu is already in the Mac menu bar. Adding macros to it is already functional. So, I thought that I would put this feature request out there for Peter's consideration.

The idea is to allow the user to create new "Status Menus" that would sit in the Mac menu bar. The user should be able to customize the menu with an icon. And then assign macros to appear in that menu.

Example usage: I'd love to have a single menu that exclusively contained my TaskPaper macros. A different menu for all of my Finder macros. A menu just for my Safari macros. This would keep the macro menus concise and organized by their purpose.

This would rock my Keyboard Maestro world!

Any interest Peter?

[cdthomer]

Good idea Jim. I had not seen your question until today since KM10 just rolled out.

@peternlewis FYI the link to this thread in your release post is broken for some reason, I had to search the forum to get here.

Another thing, I'm wondering if I'm experiencing a bug with this new feature. I noticed that macro groups that are available only in specific applications appear and disappear as they should when switching in and out of said apps.

However, when the option to trigger the palette option is checked in the macro group options, the status menu bar icon does not initially appear when switching into the corresponding app. However, it does appear when triggering that palette. It also sticks around after the palette disappears which makes me think that's it's supposed to be there, but for some reason does not appear until the palette is triggered. I thought at first that it was Bartender interfering, but I quit Bartender and confirmed the same behavior without it running.

I hope all that makes sense I know you're probably busy with a lot of questions, but I figured I would leave this here for when you have a moment to take a look at it.

-Chris

[peternlewis]

The link was to a PM message on the same topic. I'll fix that and look at this bug issue in due course.

Thanks.

[BernSh]

Same for 'Display in menu bar'. The item only appears in the Menu bar after triggering, in my case, the palette. It then disappears if any of the display options are changed and needs to be triggered again to reappear in the menu bar.

Thank you for including this option

[peternlewis]

@cdthomer

However, when the option to trigger the palette option is checked in the macro group options, the status menu bar icon does not initially appear when switching into the corresponding app. However, it does appear when triggering that palette. It also sticks around after the palette disappears which makes me think that's it's supposed to be there, but for some reason does not appear until the palette is triggered. I thought at first that it was Bartender interfering, but I quit Bartender and confirmed the same behavior without it running.

I could not duplicate this.

I created a trivial macro group:

no status menu
Switch to Calendar, no status menu
Press A, status menu appears
Press A, status menu disappears
Press A, status menu appears
Switch to other app, status menu disappears
Switch to Calendar, status menu appears
Press A, status menu disappears

The status menu for the macro group should be displayed if and only if the macro group is active.

@BernSh

It then disappears if any of the display options are changed and needs to be triggered again to reappear in the menu bar.

Activation is transient, so if you change any of the configurations, the macro group will revert to its base-line activation status, which may be active or inactive depending on the macro group settings.

[cdthomer]

@peternlewis

no status menu
Switch to Calendar, no status menu
Press A, status menu appears
Press A, status menu disappears
Press A, status menu appears
Switch to other app, status menu disappears
Switch to Calendar, status menu appears
Press A, status menu disappears

Thank you for testing this Peter. I've posted a screenshot of a problematic macro group. It has one key difference from yours, in that it is always active, and shows a palette when the hot key is pressed. So it should appear as soon as I am in that application. However, it is not appearing at all until triggering the palette with the hotkey. Then it sticks around until I switch out of the application. But when I switch back, it once again fails to appear until I trigger the palette with the hotkey.

Perhaps it's simply me misunderstanding how the new feature works?

[peternlewis]

This should be fixed in the next version (10.0.1).

The menu will appear when the macro group is active. If the palette is active only some of the time the macro group is active, then that will not affect the status menu - it will appear whenever the macro group is active.

If the palette matches the activation of the macro group, then the status menu will appear and disappear at the same time as the palette.

[ccstone]

@peternlewis

This should be fixed in the next version (10.0.1).

Hey Peter,

Did you NOT reply to Chris' post #6?

If you DID reply then shouldn't there be a reply icon? Or does that ONLY happen when quoting the other person's post?

The way things are now it's hard to know for certain WHO you replied to. (Not your fault if you replied to the post.)

--
Take Care,
Chris

[peternlewis]

Usually I just reply to the topic, since usually I have read (or skimmed) the entire topic before replying and don't necessarily go back to the original message.

[cdthomer]

Outstanding! As usual, thank you Peter!

-Chris