The "mouse display" is such a useful utility. I find myself using it frequently to grab screen and window coordinates. I especially like how you can specify the reference corner.
Is there a chance you can make it become part of the KM Engine dropdown menu in the status bar so I can use it without having to launch the KM Editor?
How about being able to call it and use it within a macro?
I think I may know why the answer to Question #1 is no. That's because the mouse display window (which appears in the Window menu of the editor) is actually (it appears to me) a sub-process of the KM Editor application, not the KM Engine. You can run the Engine without the Editor and vice versa, so it doesn't really make sense to put an Editor-only app in the Engine's menu, becasue if the Editor isn't running what should the KM Engine menu show then? In addition, the Utilities menu in the KM Engine's menu is currently restricted to macOS utilities.
But in theory The Architect could create a standalone app called Mouse Display which could be installed in your Applications folder. But that seems needlessly complicated. Right now you can get the Mouse Display window by pressing CMD-5 (while in the Editor) so that's probably enough. But there's nothing wrong with your request.
As for #2, you already can call it and activate it (or turn it off) from within a macro, like this:
...of course, this requires KM Editor to be running.
Hey @karlfranz,
Doubtful, because it's designed to get coordinates for use in Keyboard Maestro.
And – you can roll your own. There are a number of examples of macros for getting window coordinates on the forum. Here's a very simple example:
-Chris
There's actually an example in your Keyboard Maestro Editor's Library.
Keyboard Maestro Editor > Window > Macro Library
Look for:
Display Current Mouse Position
-Chris
What are you doing with the coordinates after you get them? What is the purpose you are trying to achieve?
Keyboard Maestro 10 will have some functionality that may help, but it depends on your goal.
I created a series of KM macros that allow me to navigate through many functions on all my audio plugins (Next/Previous Bank, Preset, Patch Name, Save, Load, Set as Favorite, etc.) using an old iPad mini running TouchPortal as the interface.
The macros use the window title as a key to look up the coordinates to all the plugin's screen elements which I have stored in a JSON file. What's cool about this is that I now have one generic set of controls regardless of which plugin is being used.
Some of the plugins can be resized, but most times the controls stay fixed relative to one of the corners of the window. Also, by knowing the coordinates of a control when the plugin is displayed at the default 100%, I can compute the coordinates if the window is resized.
My macros have matured to the point where all I really need to do is add the coordinates and reference corners to the JSON file every time I add a new plugin to the system. I edit this file using PListEdit Pro but I still need the coords, so I have to fire up the KM editor just to run the Mouse Display Utility.
Launching KM editor every once in a while is not a big deal. But now I got the idea to make another macro where I can even automate that process. I could then click on the elements and have it append the coords to the JSON file for me. At this point, using Mouse Display will be moot. Still, I think it's a cool enough utility that others may want to use it outside of the Editor.
Cheers.
I probably won't enable the Mouse Display in the engine, but Keyboard Maestro will have some new facilities that might help with recording the locations in the macro you describe.