Highrez

XMBC Version: 2.17 (PORTABLE)
Windows Version: 10 (64 bit)
Mouse Information (brand/model): Windows Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse
Computer Information: Intel Core i7-8550U - 12 GB RAM
Did the problem occur after an upgrade of XMBC or Windows?: No
How long have you used XMBC?: ~3 years
What language and keyboard layout do you use in Windows?: Lang. Spanish- Layout SpanishQWERTY

Clear description of the problem: When using a modifier key (SHIFT) to temporarily activate layer 2 and use a mouse button (Middle button) to perform an action (CTRL + SHIFT + Ñ), layer 2 will remain active until I press SHIFT again. Sometimes, if I press shift and Button 4 quickly, XMBC will go back to layer 1, but that rarely happens. Also, and more importantly, often some very weird things start to happen after using that combination (SHIFT [for layer 2] + Button 4 [For action configured in layer 2]), for example, typing shift to try to go back to layer 1, also changes the keyboard layout (Which i don't seem to have configured) and the keyboard behaves very strange. Hitting the backspace key sometimes inserts an unrecognized character (rectangle) and sometimes it deletes entire words as if CTRL was being held; escape launches the Windows start menu, among other things.

I think it's worth mentioning that I tried this setup after experiencing similar things with another combo for pressing CTRL + SHIFT + Ñ (The combo has RIGHT BUTTON chorded with LEFT BUTTON. This setup also brought weird behaviors, like the inability to click stuff until I hit escape (sometimes). Before this I had it with button held (Middle mouse) with similar problems as before (with this last setup not being able to click anything was very frequent, I had to click the middle button again). Maybe it's the nature of the keyboard shortcut I'm executing? I'm sorry if this was too confusing, I tried to be as detailed as possible.

Thanks in advance.

I'll try to simplify things a bit, and also provide a little update. To sum sup, I'm experiencing a number of issues with XMBC.

1. Using SHIFT as a key modifier to activate layer 2 in combination with a mouse button (middle) to press a key combo causes layer two to remain active until shift is pressed again.
2. The combination above also causes (sometimes) very strange behaviors in the keyboard after being used:
- Sometimes shift changes the keyboard layout
- Backspace inserts unrecognized character or deletes entire words as if ctrl was being held
- Escape acts as Windows key. Not quite sure how to get our of that situation, but it eventually happens.
3. I have gone back to a previous setup to press the same key combo (now it's CTRL + 7 in case the previous combo [CTRK + SHIFT + Ñ] was the cause). The setup is middle mouse button held for 500ms. This setup frequently, but not always, causes left clicks to do nothing until the middle button is pressed again.

I have tried different options like pressing the button on release checking and un checking "block original input", among other things, but nothing seems to work!

I'm a busy this weekend so this will be quick and lite!

1. Can you send me a copy of your profile (so I can try and reproduce)
2. It sounds like CTRL is being held down (CTRL+ESC) brings up the windows menu (WIN key)
3. Can you try 2.18 beta 9 - lots of fixes for "button held" in there and see if it makes any difference.

Thanks,
Phil

Just noticed you are using the portable mode. Thats a bit more tricky to use the beta because I dont generally build portable beta versions.
You can extract the EXE and DLL files from the beta installer and use them as portable but its a bit more work, I think there is a "how to" do that in the beta topic as someone else has done that!

Thanks, Phil.

I'm attaching my profile the way it is now. SHIFT still activates layer 2, but I removed the setting for pressing CTRL + SHIFT + Ñ when clicking the middle button in Layer 2. There's only one action configured this layer (which works well). I'll also try to use the 2.18 version as you suggested and get back to you.

I just realized that the problem, or at least one of them, is that is that some mouse button seem to stick after a chord or mouse button held action. For example, the middle button held action often results in the middle button remaining pressed. The same things happens, though less often, to the mouse button + right button chord: the right button remains pressed.

Definitely worth trying the beta then because that is the area where I have made the most fixes as others found problems in the newer functionality (chords and button held). If the problems still exist in the beta I need to know so I can try again to fix them lol .

I use [CTRL] key as Layer Modifier Key to temporarily switch into Layer-3. And i confirmed following behaviors in a text-editor app.
(XMBC v2.18 beta 9 [portable installed] / WinXP SP3 / Locale: JPN)

I tried to set Middle Button to SimKey {SHIFT}{CTRL}S (for "Save as ...") on Layer-3, kept pressing [CTRL] key down and pressed MMB in the text-editor app, then "Save as" panel was open. It seemed to work fine.

But, set MMB to SimKey {SHIFT}S (for typing Large-S w/o CapsLock) on Layer-3, presed [CTRL] and MMB, then "Save as" panel was open (CTRL + SHIFT + S) too...

Also tried SimKey {RELEASE}{CTRL}{SHIFT}S (for typing Large-S w/o CapsLock) on Layer-3,,, then large-S was typed (SHIFT + S).

In the same way, Simkey S worked as "Save" (CTRL + S),
{RELEASE}{CTRL}S worked to type small-s letter on Layer-3.

And I tried to set Button-4 to SimKey {BACKSPACE} on Layer-3, kept pressing [CTRL] down and pressed Button-4 in the text-editor app, then typed one blank space charactor (CTRL + BACKSPACE = SPACE)...

SimKey {RELEASE}{CTRL}{BACKSPACE} (for BACKSPACE) on Layer-3,,, then erased one charactor (BACKSPACE worked).


In these trial, by releasing mouse buttons and [CTRL] key, any strange behaviors (like held button/key down) did not occur.

Regard,
suke

Edit: For Adrianrff's attached profile, I cannot understand that {CTRL}{7} and (){LEFT} meaned

sukemaru,

CTRL + 7 is customized keyboard shortcut to open a specific Window from a Clipboard Manager app, and (){LEFT} is the ultimate laziness for opening a parenthesis, closing it, and then move the cursosr one space to the left to place it inside the parenthesis. I always forget to use it though lol.

Phil,

I think I'm unable to try the suggested method to install 2.18 beta portably as this is my work-assigned laptop and it's heavily protected. I only have Winrar, which apparently can't open .exe files, and can't install 7zip. But I think I managed to at least temporarily workaround the middle button staying pressed issue by using "As mouse button is released" instead of "As mouse button is pressed", that way we ensure that the middle mouse button is released before sending the keystrokes, right? Idk, but it works. Also, I suspect this problem is related to the portable version, because I just copied my profile to my home PC (Windows 10 (64), i5, 12GB RAM, XMBC version 2.17 stable, same locale as this laptop and same mouse) and this problem never occurs, nor does the other problems mentioned in this thread.

@Adrianrff,
OK, if you are still willing to use beta in "portable mode", you may try PeaZip Portable or 7-Zip Portable to unzip XMBC beta installer.

with PiaZip portable:
Download "peazip_portable-6.5.1.WIN64.zip" and unzip it, then...

1. Run "peazip.exe".
2. On PiaZip's window, enter [File] menu => [Extract archive].
3. Choose "XMouseButtonControlSetup.2.18 Beta*.exe".
4. Enter your desktop directory in the [output] field, and choose "Ask before overwriting (in console)" in the first drop-down list, choose "Extract" in the second drop-down.
5. Hit [OK] button, and select all "No [N]" during extracting (larger EXE/DLL/PDB in file-size are for 64bit system).
6. Rename and move the created (extracted) folder, and Do as follwing link. (#2-4)
https://forums.highrez.co.uk/viewtopic. ... =60#p17049


with 7-zip portable:
Download "7-ZipPortable_18.01.paf.exe" and run.
You can unzip as like as that I explaned in my past post (above link).


LINK:
PeaZip | Free archiver, free RAR TAR ZIP files utility
http://www.peazip.org/
PortableApps.com - Browse /7-Zip Portable at SourceForge.net
https://sourceforge.net/projects/portab ... 0Portable/

suke

sukemaru wrote: ↑Tue Apr 10, 2018 6:51 am @Adrianrff,
OK, if you are still willing to use beta in "portable mode", you may try PeaZip Portable or 7-Zip Portable to unzip XMBC beta installer.

with PiaZip portable:
Download "peazip_portable-6.5.1.WIN64.zip" and unzip it, then...

1. Run "peazip.exe".
2. On PiaZip's window, enter [File] menu => [Extract archive].
3. Choose "XMouseButtonControlSetup.2.18 Beta*.exe".
4. Enter your desktop directory in the [output] field, and choose "Ask before overwriting (in console)" in the first drop-down list, choose "Extract" in the second drop-down.
5. Hit [OK] button, and select all "No [N]" during extracting (larger EXE/DLL/PDB in file-size are for 64bit system).
6. Rename and move the created (extracted) folder, and Do as follwing link. (#2-4)
https://forums.highrez.co.uk/viewtopic. ... =60#p17049


with 7-zip portable:
Download "7-ZipPortable_18.01.paf.exe" and run.
You can unzip as like as that I explaned in my past post (above link).


LINK:
PeaZip | Free archiver, free RAR TAR ZIP files utility
http://www.peazip.org/
PortableApps.com - Browse /7-Zip Portable at SourceForge.net
https://sourceforge.net/projects/portab ... 0Portable/

suke

Thank you very much, sukemaru!

I'll try this tomorrow.

sukemaru wrote: ↑Mon Apr 09, 2018 8:23 pm But, set MMB to SimKey {SHIFT}S (for typing Large-S w/o CapsLock) on Layer-3, presed [CTRL] and MMB, then "Save as" panel was open (CTRL + SHIFT + S) too...

Yes that is expected because you are after all holding CTRL down to switch layers. XMBC can not block the CTRL key (or any key) even temporarily - it would cause destruction to most peoples everyday use of the keyboard!

But I didn't think this was what was being reported. If it is then I'm sorry for the confusion. I think however, this is related to how XMBC sends keys if a key is already held down... It should effectively say "Shift is already down, so I don't need to send it" and then, "I didn't send shift, so I don't need to release it" but Im guessing that its not sending it, but it is releasing it or something. Although I cant see how portable will make any difference there.

I'm also not 100% sure how setting the simkey to "method 2 (button release) would make any difference, because shift is still down. But I will have to look at the code and see what is going on under the debugger and for that I will need more time (and time is limited right now what with my weekends being more busy than usual (and far cry 5 being released :p).

Regards
Phil

phil wrote: ↑Tue Apr 10, 2018 8:01 am But I didn't think this was what was being reported. If it is then I'm sorry for the confusion. I think however, this is related to how XMBC sends keys if a key is already held down...

I did not know if it was suitable for this thread, but because the title of this topic was "layer / 2 modifier key(s)" , I reported above on the behavior I was curious about a while ago (it was just TEST). Maybe there are few people who notice that {RELEASE}{CTRL} tags can temporarily block [CTRL] which kept pressing down for "Layer Modifier Key" haha.

suke

Yes the {RELEASE}{CTRL} is a good idea.. but Im a little worried about what state it leaves things in (should you send an {PRESS}{CTRL} again afterwards?! Im simply not sure!

Regarding to {PRESS} tag, I retried following settings in the profile of the text-editor app again...
(XMBC v2.18 beta 9 [portable installed] / WinXP SP3 / Locale: JPN)

Set [CTRL] key for "Layer Modifier Key" to temporarily switch into Layer-3.
On Layer-3,

Test 1.
Set MB4 to SimKey {RELEASE}{CTRL}{SHIFT}S ,
Set MMB to SimKey {RELEASE}{CTRL}SSS{CTRL}A .

Do: Hold [CTRL] down, and press MB4 x3, press MMB ,
then typed "SSSsss", and selected all strings (highlighted) in the window!
They worked as key strokes "Shift+S, Shift+S, Shift+S, S, S, S, Ctrl+A" (w/o CapsLock).
And released [CTRL] off, then reverted into Layer-1.

Test 2.
Set MB4 to SimKey {RELEASE}{CTRL}{SHIFT}S ,
Set MMB to SimKey A .

Do: Hold [CTRL] down, and press MB4 x3, press MMB ,
then typed "SSSa", and did NOT select any strings in the window!
They worked as key strokes "Shift+S, Shift+S, Shift+S, A" (w/o CapsLock).
And released [CTRL] off, then reverted into Layer-1.

Test 3.
Set MB4 to SimKey {RELEASE}{CTRL}{SHIFT}S ,
Set MB5 to SimKey A{PRESS}{CTRL} ,
Set MMB to SimKey A .

Do: Hold [CTRL] down, and press MB4 x3, press MMB x3, press MB5, press MMB ,
then typed "SSSaaaa", and selected all strings (highlighted) in the window!
They worked as key strokes "Shift+S, Shift+S, Shift+S, A, A, A, A, Ctrl+A" (w/o CapsLock).
And released [CTRL] off, then reverted into Layer-1.


The effect of CTRL-invalidation by the first {RELEASE}{CTRL} seems to continue even when other buttons were pushed (although this also knew that the Layer Switch (by the Modifier Key) was not interrupted, by the previous report). Likewise, the effect of {PRESS}{CTRL} continued even when I pressed another mouse button, but it seems that it was automatically RELEASED by releasing the actual [CTRL] key.

Thanks,
suke


NOTE: SimKey {CLEAR}{SHIFT}S worked "Save as..."(Ctrl + Shift+S) during holding [CTRL] down (Layer-3).

EDIT: This SS image is the states of advanced settings at the TESTs.