Automated key stroke combinations

[morriebrown]

How can I get Alfred to fire:

 

Paste clipboard (then I have to type something manually) + Enter + Enter 

 

I'm new and I cannot seem to get the concept of the Workflow. This certainly seems like a prime candidate.

 

The searching with Alfred is fantastic. The Snippets are fantastic.  This would really make the product amazing for me.

 

Morrie

[deanishe]

Hi @morriebrown, welcome to the forum.

 

1 hour ago, morriebrown said:

Paste clipboard (then I have to type something manually) + Enter + Enter

 

What's your actual end goal? I mean, what is the desired result, rather than how you envisage achieving it?

 

You want to insert ??? in a text document? You want to fill out a web form?

 

You're talking about simulating keypresses, which as a rule, is a last resort when trying to automate something, as it's very slow and unreliable. There may be a much better and/or simpler way.

[morriebrown]

Here's a link to a movie of what I am trying to accomplish:

 

 

[deanishe]

Okay, but what are you doing at a higher level? Adding multiple entries to your database/document that share a common prefix plus a sequential number? Is it a fixed number of entries? Are the numbers always the same? Where does the prefix come from? Are you pasting it because you always copy it from somewhere, or just because that's the sensible way for a human user to do it?

 

Don't think in individual steps. The goal should be for you to perform one action for any number of items, not one per item.

 

Here's how I (re)name audiobook tracks, for example. It's the same effort to rename five as to rename 500.

 

[morriebrown]

It has to be several at a time. The ENTER+ENTER goes to the next database field. We use this to renumber fields that are no longer necessary. Sometimes there are 5 in a row and sometimes 100. I just want to know how to go for "KM Text" to "KM Tit" and I have to be able to type in the number since it is not sequential all the time.

 

I start by typing a number at the end of the words "Untitled_"  Then I want to trigger the ENTER ENTER and pasting of "Untitled_" again. Then I type a new number, then trigger the ENTER ENTER and paste of "Untitled_" again.  5x, 10x, 100x. It depends on where I am working.

 

How?? 

 

Please show me the exact steps to create what you've done so I can try to do it here.

 

Thanks,

 

Morrie

 

[deanishe]

30 minutes ago, morriebrown said:

Please show me the exact steps to create what you've done so I can try to do it here.

 

I'm just using Alfred to run Keyboard Maestro macros there. KM is doing the work. The first step won't work for you because the numbers are always sequential from 1 upwards. The second step might be useful, though, and can be done with Alfred.

 

The point is, I've modelled my problem in a way to minimise the steps, so I don't have one task per item.

 

I can't tell you how to do that unless you describe what you're doing at a higher level than "and then I do the next one…"

 

It's basically impossible to really automate what you have described because you can't automate "and then it waits for me to type something".

 

If you don't care about having to do every item individually, then the simplest thing to do is create an action that moves the cursor to the next entry and pastes the prefix. Create a workflow with a Hotkey connected to three  Key Combos in sequence:

 

Hotkey  -->  Key Combo [↩]   -->  Key Combo [↩]  -->  Key Combo [⌘V]

Edited April 29, 2021 by deanishe

[morriebrown]

I forgot I had Keyboard Maestro. I'll try it again. I'll let you know. Thanks for all your help. Might get to it tonight, if not over the weekend.

 

Take care