Feature Idea: Activate by hotkey instead of right-click

[kstenschke]

First of all thank you for this great app!
Especially when using a trackball, drawing gestures with a concurrent keypress (instead of having to keep the right mousebutton pressed) would, in my opinion, make usage much more comfortable.

P.s. i am for now using Karabiner to achieve firing a right mousebutton press on a certain key press.

[jiegec]

Yes, this feature is useful especially when using Trackpad. I will implement it.

[jiegec]

Partially implemented. Wondering how to edit the UI.

diff --git a/MacGesture/AppDelegate.m b/MacGesture/AppDelegate.m
index 984ef3e..e9c0c57 100644
--- a/MacGesture/AppDelegate.m
+++ b/MacGesture/AppDelegate.m
@@ -36,8 +36,16 @@ static BOOL eventTriggered;
     }
     
     windowController = [[CanvasWindowController alloc] init];
+    
+    NSDictionary *options = @{(__bridge id)kAXTrustedCheckOptionPrompt: @YES};
+    if(!AXIsProcessTrustedWithOptions((__bridge CFDictionaryRef)options)) {
+        // bad
+        int i = 0;
+    }
 
-    CGEventMask eventMask = CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventRightMouseDown) | CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventRightMouseDragged) | CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventRightMouseUp) | CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventLeftMouseDown) | CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventScrollWheel);
+    CGEventMask eventMask = CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventRightMouseDown) | CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventRightMouseDragged) |
+        CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventRightMouseUp) | CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventLeftMouseDown) | CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventScrollWheel) |
+        CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventKeyDown) | CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventKeyUp) | CGEventMaskBit(kCGEventMouseMoved);
     mouseEventTap = CGEventTapCreate(kCGHIDEventTap, kCGHeadInsertEventTap, kCGEventTapOptionDefault, eventMask, mouseEventCallback, NULL);
     CFRunLoopSourceRef runLoopSource = CFMachPortCreateRunLoopSource(kCFAllocatorDefault, mouseEventTap, 0);
     CFRunLoopAddSource(CFRunLoopGetCurrent(), runLoopSource, kCFRunLoopCommonModes);
@@ -211,6 +219,8 @@ void resetDirection() {
 // See https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Carbon/Reference/QuartzEventServicesRef/#//apple_ref/c/tdef/CGEventTapCallBack
 static CGEventRef mouseEventCallback(CGEventTapProxy proxy, CGEventType type, CGEventRef event, void *refcon) {
     static BOOL shouldShow;
+    NSInteger keycode;
+    NSInteger filterKeycode = kVK_F1;
     
     if (!isEnabled) {
         return event;
@@ -218,6 +228,11 @@ static CGEventRef mouseEventCallback(CGEventTapProxy proxy, CGEventType type, CG
     
     NSEvent *mouseEvent;
     switch (type) {
+        case kCGEventKeyDown:
+            keycode = CGEventGetIntegerValueField(event, kCGKeyboardEventKeycode);
+            if (keycode != filterKeycode || shouldShow) {
+                return event;
+            }
         case kCGEventRightMouseDown:
             // not thread safe, but it's always called in main thread
             // check blocker apps
@@ -261,6 +276,7 @@ static CGEventRef mouseEventCallback(CGEventTapProxy proxy, CGEventType type, CG
             [windowController handleMouseEvent:mouseEvent];
             lastLocation = mouseEvent.locationInWindow;
             break;
+        case kCGEventMouseMoved:
         case kCGEventRightMouseDragged:
             if (!shouldShow){
                 return event;
@@ -304,6 +320,11 @@ static CGEventRef mouseEventCallback(CGEventTapProxy proxy, CGEventType type, CG
                 updateDirections(mouseEvent);
             }
             break;
+        case kCGEventKeyUp:
+            keycode = CGEventGetIntegerValueField(event, kCGKeyboardEventKeycode);
+            if (keycode != filterKeycode) {
+                return event;
+            }
         case kCGEventRightMouseUp: {
             if (!shouldShow){
                 return event;
diff --git a/MacGesture/CanvasWindowController.m b/MacGesture/CanvasWindowController.m
index 4b8db5d..27a6bfb 100644
--- a/MacGesture/CanvasWindowController.m
+++ b/MacGesture/CanvasWindowController.m
@@ -50,12 +50,15 @@
 
 - (void)handleMouseEvent:(NSEvent *)event {
     switch (event.type) {
+        case NSKeyDown:
         case NSRightMouseDown:
             [self.window.contentView mouseDown:event];
             break;
+        case NSMouseMoved:
         case NSRightMouseDragged:
             [self.window.contentView mouseDragged:event];
             break;
+        case NSKeyUp:
         case NSRightMouseUp:
             [self.window.contentView mouseUp:event];
             break;

[kstenschke]

I would imagine something like the above, with 1. clicking the "Activate by Keypress" radio option without having a key selected yet starting the same key-listener as clicking the related "Chose", and 2. clicking "Chose" automatically selecting the radio option (and 3. removing the key deselecting the related radio option also).

[jiegec]

I am considering the extensibility of this feature. Should it support only one key, or a shortcut? Should it support modifier keys? Also, capturing keyboard events seems intrusive.

[kstenschke]

To my thinking a single modifier key or combination of modifier keys is the most intuitive as it is performed simultaneous, at the same time as doing the gesture movement.
A shortcut, as in pressed once before performing the gesture movement, seems disruptive to me as it adds one "noticable" separate step before doing the gesture movement. But different people might perceive this differently.

[jiegec]

@codefalling WDYT