Hotkey triggers and alternative IMEs (input methods)?

Questions & Suggestions
1

Are Keyboard Maestro hotkey triggers bound to hardware keys or particular unix characters ?

When using Anki (not, I think, an Electron app ?) I find that whether or not a macro is triggered depends on which IME I am using (which language the input source is set to).

Tapping an R, for example, normally plays an audio file on an Anki card, and this works with an EN IME, but fails to trigger when I am using a different language.

There is probably a way around this, but I haven't found it.

(I notice that trying to add a secondary hotkey trigger while using the alternative IME still shows an R, rather than the second language character, in the macro trigger's click well)

Any thoughts ?

PS I think that Anki's GUI uses the Qt (PyQt) framework rather than standard Apple widgets – perhaps that is the source of the problem.

2

Key codes, I believe. You can see this by setting an hot key with your OS set to one language/keyboard layout, then switching to another -- the same key triggers the macro, the Editor UI updates to the new "characters":

Eg GB "QWERTY" keyboard:

image
image836×294 22.6 KB

Switch to ABC French "AZERTY":

image
image818×292 21.5 KB

...both of which are "the key directly above the left-side Option and Command keys".

Also, and more nerdy, you can see it in the XML:

	<key>Triggers</key>
	<array>
		<dict>
			<key>FireType</key>
			<string>Pressed</string>
			<key>KeyCode</key>
			<integer>6</integer>
			<key>MacroTriggerType</key>
			<string>HotKey</string>
			<key>Modifiers</key>
			<integer>6400</integer>
		</dict>
...

...and you can see what's "key code: 6" on the "Complete list of AppleScript key codes" page.

1 Like
3

Thanks – confirms, I think, that the quirk is with Qt widgets.