I apologize for misunderstanding your initial comment. I thought that you were referring to an iOS version of KBM and now understand what you mean. It is a brilliant idea.
@peternlewis : it would be great if you could comment. Many people seem to be interested in your insight on this.
Yes, a great update to Keyboard Maestro Control would be nice, one that let you have panels of buttons and have those buttons trigger macros, either via the current web browser (local network) system, or via Remote triggers. Or maybe just generic Shortcuts that could do either. And maybe offer those facilities (web browser triggers) as Shortcut target actions.
But unfortunately, I am not really an iOS developer, and the system is quite a lot different to developing for the Mac, and quite frankly I detest dealing with Apple’s review process (I'm afraid my psyche developed in a different time, and I find it offensive that Apple gets to be the gatekeeper of what I can deliver to my customers) - and that sucks the life and motivation out of me. So instead I develop what I can within Keyboard Maestro.
As far as the Accessibility panel goes, it works very well, and with an iPad attached as a seperate touch screen, it would presumably work nicely to trigger Keyboard Maestro macros. Generally I would use the Accessibility button’s ability to type a key, and use unusual keystrokes like Shift-Control-Command (which is nearly impossible to type manually) to trigger the macros, because you can't just paste AppleScript text in, so otherwise you have to keep a bunch of trigger applets, which would be tedious.
Alternatives are to use a StreamDeck or something from PI Engineering like the XK-24, which also work well with Keyboard Maestro as extra buttons.
Or just use Keyboard Maestro palettes, which would also work well with an iPad touch screen presumably.
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Thank you for your reply and ideas.
The idea of using unusual shortcuts dedicated to the panel is an excellent one.
I know that palettes work well and are flexible (ability to create conflict palettes, etc) especially with a trackpad and integrated into BTT (Better Touch Tool). My only real problem with palettes is that they sometimes become huge as with Scrivener. Still trying to find a way around this.
Your comments bring up another thought: the idea of using Accessibility Panels on an iPad is a theoretical one. Not many people have actually tried it. I am now having serious doubts as to whether using an iPad Panel is ergonomic. I will try it but suspect that lifting my arm to tap on the ipad screen hundreds of times a day could easily cause a bursitis of the shoulder type strain injury, and I wonder if the constant source of light from the iPad will end up being an irritant.
If you had some tips to deal with massive palettes, it would be greatly appreciated.
i will say it again with a visual.
Metagrid is as close you can get to KM and BTT on ios.
And you could easily setup a template that will trigger any macro in KM or BTT on Desktop.
But standalone it already does so much. text, midi, shortcuts, macros.
Autoswitching with current app.
Catalina check. Its amazing.
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It does look impressive.
Looks like it has gotten a couple updates a year, mostly for iOS compatibility.
The only drawback is the lack of trial/demos when looking at a $30 app, given how difficult it is to get a refund on the App Store. Sure would be nice to be able to use it for even a day or two to make sure it works like I’d want it to, but clearly Apple is never going to open that door.
thank you for your post.
Could you explain exactly how you press keys on the iPad. With which hand ? Same as the trackpad (right) or the left ?
Paul, how easy is it to program for an application that the app doesn't natively support? In my case I'm thinking of ScreenFlow. (and I'm asking as a person posting in a Keyboard Maestro forum, so it doesn't have to be dumbed down stupid, haha!)
I’ve tried to use KM palettes in that way. Something that would make it so much easier would be to allow larger palette icon sizes than the current limitation. And I need to check again: can we add arbitrary images to the palette tiles instead of choosing from a standard library?
Theres's also https://www.touch-portal.com
Free version lets you use it indefinitely, limited to 6 buttons.
Upgrade to Pro is $9 USD, lifetime (pay once). Very generous compared to StreamDeck monthly subscription service.
Works well.
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Yes, you can paste your own images in. Note that this will take up the size of an image, rather than a trivial amount of space in the macro file that the built in ones use. Make sure to cut your image size down to an appropriate amount (less than about 128x128).
@tjluoma @janov @richtack @tpj2018
I am now using the Luna Display which I had bought prior to the discussion about Metagrid and others.
1- the accessibility custom panel does not seem to allow for global macro group equivalent system wide buttons. One or multiple apps must be checked in a drop down list.
Is there a way to create system wide active buttons ?
2- I encountered one problem, which is surprisingly not discussed. When I tap on a button in the control panel on the iPad, the KBM appleScript is triggered and everything works fine, but the cursor moves to the iPad and has to be moved manually back to the main screen each time the user touches the iPad, which is impractical in terms of workflow.
The only solution I could find is to add an action to click on the main screen. Would someone have a better solution ? Something I could add to the apple script that basically says 'do not move cursor' ?
thanks in advance for your time and help
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Sorry for the late reply.
I think its very easy to do so if the app has shortcuts. And you always use it together with KM if needed.
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Hi, I am using Luna Display. Would there be any reason to add or change for Metagrid ?
thank you
Sorry, I haven’t had time to dive into setting this up myself, so I can’t really offer much by the way of suggestions.
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thank you
Sorry, I don't understand
If you click the cogwheel in the KM mouse macro you can select restore mouse position.
I think when using Luna display you don't want to switch to another app on your iPad to send commands. That would be very slow and annoying.
Using on screen KM pallettes could be a better option if you only want to use the iPad.
Touch Portal also seems like a better option compared to metagrid because it supports iphone as well. Then you could trigger macro's using an iphone when you are using Luna on iPad. Really depends if you are on a desk or not.
Or you could use a bluetooth keyboard which is connected to your Luna Mac to trigger KM.
But i think that Luna Display also sends bluetooth keyboard input to Mac when the keyboard is connected to the iPad itself. You would have to test this.
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thanks very much for your help.
I now understand with reference to system wide commands.
I downloaded Metagrid and I like it a lot. It's very specialized, but does a good job. I like that it doesn't add any load onto my Mac mini, because it's not driving another screen. It's just running a small menu app that's passing on keyboard shortcuts.