Using Mouse Keys to Activate Menu (a guide using AHK)

[vfxturjo]

Hi community! I see there are a lot of people trying to activate Kando menu using mouse keys. As I am one of you, I just wanted to share my solutions.

The basics

here, I use AutoHotKey (AHK) for activating Kando menu. explanatory diagram here:

Now, the simplest example can be like this:

^XButton1:: {                  ; binds the button (trigger).
	Send("^!+{F13}")    ; sends the key combo for specific Kando Menu
	return
}

Common modifiers in AHK world:

Win is #
Alt is !
Ctrl is ^
Shift is +

So, ^XButton1 means Ctrl+XButton1. I try not to face conflicts of usual use cases for buttons. usually XButton1 is used to navigate backward. So, I added the need of extra modifier Ctrl, so that I can navigate back using just the XButton1, and open the menu using Ctrl+XButton1.

The inspiration

Now, is there a better solution? like some of us (including me) definitely want to push forward to do something so that we do not need to tediously press the Ctrl key to open the pie menu. I found this:

On windows I use AutoHotKey v2 with this scrip on front mouse button. The button work as usual on click, but on hold or movement it quickly opens kondo menu. It works by pressing hotkey with f18, so normally people will not be able to press it by accident. Hope it will help some users

XButton2::
{
    MouseGetPos &startX, &startY
    triggered := false

    while GetKeyState("XButton2", "P") {
        MouseGetPos &currentX, &currentY
        distance := Sqrt((currentX - startX) ** 2 + (currentY - startY) ** 2)

        if (distance > 20 || A_TimeSinceThisHotkey > 300) {  ; 20px move or 300ms
            triggered := true
            Send "{Ctrl Down}{Alt Down}{Shift Down}{F18}"
            KeyWait "XButton2"  ; Wait for release
            Send "{Shift Up}{Alt Up}{Ctrl Up}"
            break
        }
        Sleep 10  ; Reduce CPU usage
    }

    if (!triggered)
        Send "{XButton2}"
    return
}

Originally posted by @SlayVict in #433

This code conditionally triggers the pie menu:

1. if you press and hold the XButton2 for more than 300ms
2. if you drag your mouse more than 20px distance

Otherwise, the original key is triggered. How beautiful!

Improved, yet still simple version

here is an improved, ahk v2 code.

XButton1:: {
	MouseGetPos(&startX, &startY)
	startTime := A_TickCount
	triggered := false

	while GetKeyState("XButton1", "P") {
		MouseGetPos(&currentX, &currentY)
		distance := Sqrt((currentX - startX) ** 2 + (currentY - startY) ** 2)
		timeSinceHotkey := A_TickCount - startTime

		if (distance > 20 || timeSinceHotkey > 300) {  ; 20px move or 300ms
			triggered := true
			MouseMove(startX, startY, 0)                               ; Go where the button press is started
			Send("{Ctrl down}{Alt down}{Shift down}{F18}")
			MouseMove(currentX, currentY, 0)                      ; Go back to last mouse position after triggering
			KeyWait("XButton1")  ; Wait for release
			Send("{Shift up}{Alt up}{Ctrl up}")
			break
		}
		Sleep(10)  ; Reduce CPU usage
	}

	if (!triggered)
		Send("{XButton1}")
	return
}

This example binds the XButton1 button to trigger the Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F18 conditionally.

improvements:

1. this is an AHK v2 code
2. it always opens the Kando menu where the triggering key (XButton1) press is started. it feels seamless to use when mouse is moving fast

I felt happy!
it felt natural to use... but... one problem still exists: creating new binds.
This inspired me to dig in further, as I didn't want to copy and paste this code and modify the keys inside to make it work for every new pie menu.

The ultimate one

The main purpose of this version is to:

1. easily modify the bindings,
2. flexibility with modifiers and some global settings

; --- Global Variables for Easy Modification ---
global sleepTime := 10 		; Sleep time in milliseconds for loop (adjust for CPU usage vs responsiveness)
global timeThresholdGlobal := 300	; time threshold in milliseconds (adjust for sensitivity)
global triggerRadius := 20 	; Mouse movement trigger radius in pixels (adjust to your preference)

; --- Modifier Key Conversion ---
modifierSymbols := Map( ; DONT TOUCH THIS
	"{Win}", "#",
	"{Alt}", "!",
	"{Ctrl}", "^",
	"{Shift}", "+"
)

; --- Hotkey Definitions using the Modular Function ---

; --- Main things to modify ---

; Example 1: XButton1 triggers Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F18 - using global triggerRadius and timeThreshold - No modifiers for the base hotkey
ConditionalHotkey("", "XButton1", "{Ctrl down}{Alt down}{Shift down}{F18}") ; "" for no modifier keys

; Example 2: Ctrl + XButton1 triggers Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F17 - using global triggerRadius and timeThreshold
ConditionalHotkey("{Ctrl}", "XButton1", "{Ctrl down}{Alt down}{Shift down}{F17}")

; Example 3: Shift + XButton1 triggers Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F16 - using global triggerRadius and timeThreshold, but overriding triggerRadius to 25px
ConditionalHotkey("{Shift}", "XButton1", "{Ctrl down}{Alt down}{Shift down}{F16}", 25)

; Example 4: Alt + XButton1 triggers Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F15 - overriding both triggerRadius and timeThreshold
ConditionalHotkey("{Alt}", "XButton1", "{Ctrl down}{Alt down}{Shift down}{F15}", 30, 400)

; Example 5: Ctrl + Shift + Alt + XButton1 triggers Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F14
ConditionalHotkey("{Ctrl}{Shift}{Alt}", "XButton1", "{Ctrl down}{Alt down}{Shift down}{F14}")

;
;
;
; ------------ NO NEED TO TOUCH ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE ------------

; --- ConditionalHotkey Function Definition ---
/*
Function: ConditionalHotkey
    Creates a hotkey that performs an action based on mouse movement or time held, with optional modifier keys.

Parameters:
    modifierKeys      - (Optional) Modifier keys using AHK's modifier key syntax (e.g., "{Ctrl}{Alt}{Shift}", ""). Default: "".
    triggerButton     - The button to monitor (e.g., "XButton1", "LButton", "RButton").
    hotkeyToSend      - The hotkey combination to send when triggered (e.g., "{Ctrl down}{Alt down}{Shift down}{F18}").
    distanceThreshold - (Optional) Mouse movement radius in pixels to trigger the action. Overrides global triggerRadius if provided. Default: global triggerRadius.
    timeThreshold     - (Optional) Time in milliseconds to trigger the action if mouse doesn't move enough. Overrides default timeThreshold if provided. Default: global sleepTime * 30.

Credits:
	@SlayVict for the idea
	@vfxturjo for modularization

Returns:
    None
*/
ConditionalHotkey(modifierKeys, triggerButton, hotkeyToSend, distanceThreshold := -1, timeThreshold := -1) {
	local distThreshold := (distanceThreshold == -1) ? triggerRadius : distanceThreshold ; Use global triggerRadius if distanceThreshold is not provided
	local timeThresh := (timeThreshold == -1) ? timeThresholdGlobal : timeThreshold  ; Use default timeThreshold (scaled sleepTime) if timeThreshold is not provided
	local hotkeyName := "" ; Initialize hotkeyName
	local remainingModifiers := modifierKeys ; Working string for modifier keys

	; --- Convert modifier key strings to symbols ---
	for keyString, symbol in modifierSymbols {
		if (InStr(remainingModifiers, keyString)) {
			hotkeyName .= symbol ; Append the symbol to hotkeyName
			remainingModifiers := StrReplace(remainingModifiers, keyString) ; Remove the processed modifier string
		}
	}
	hotkeyName .= triggerButton ; Append the base trigger button

	; --- InnerHotkey Function Definition (now nested within ConditionalHotkey) ---
	InnerHotkey(_) { ; Inner function to handle hotkey logic
		MouseGetPos &startX, &startY ; Get initial mouse position when hotkey is pressed
		startTime := A_TickCount  ; Record the starting time
		triggered := false ; Initialize triggered flag to false

		while GetKeyState(triggerButton, "P") { ; Loop as long as the trigger button is physically held down (modifier state is handled by hotkey)
			MouseGetPos &currentX, &currentY ; Get current mouse position in each loop iteration
			distance := Sqrt((currentX - startX) ** 2 + (currentY - startY) ** 2) ; Calculate distance from starting position
			timeSinceHotkey := A_TickCount - startTime ; Calculate time elapsed since hotkey press

			if (distance > distThreshold || timeSinceHotkey > timeThresh) { ; Check trigger condition (distance OR time)
				triggered := true ; Set triggered flag to true
				MouseMove startX, startY, 0 ; Move mouse back to the starting position instantly (optional visual cue)
				Send hotkeyToSend ; Send the specified hotkey combination
				MouseMove currentX, currentY, 0 ; Move mouse back to the current position instantly

				KeyWait triggerButton ; Wait for the trigger button to be released
				Send "{Shift up}{Alt up}{Ctrl up}" ; Ensure modifier keys are released after sending hotkey - Removed this line, not needed and can cause issues
				break ; Exit the while loop as action is triggered
			}
			Sleep sleepTime ; Pause for a short duration to reduce CPU usage (using global sleepTime)
		}

		if (!triggered) { ; If the loop finished without triggering the action (button released too quickly or mouse didn't move enough)
			Send "{Blind}" . "{" . triggerButton . "}" ; Send the original button press (perform normal button action), also allow for modifier keys to be held down
		}
		return ; Exit InnerHotkey function
	}
	; --- End of InnerHotkey Function Definition ---

	Hotkey hotkeyName, InnerHotkey ; Dynamically create hotkey with modifiers, linking to InnerHotkey function
}

It works, and this finally makes me content!
There might be scope to optimize the code; feel free to do so and share with the community!

[SlayVict]

Someone not only found my snippet useful, but also improved it. I'm happy 😊

[Schneegans]

That looks like an super awesome solution! Someone should make a YouTube video on this. Especially for people who do not know what AHK is, how to install it and how to use it.

I'll turn this into a discussion, as it's not really an "issue". But anyways thanks a ton for sharing this!