Hello Fluenz users.
I'm very new to Fluenz, but after 4 sessions, I decided that I wanted an easy and configurable method to insert any French special characters into the work sessions. After exploring my options, I found AutoHotKey, a program designed to do just this. I'm sure others have tried it, but I haven't found any useful instructions on how to use it specifically for the 7 common French special characters used in Fluenz (I'm there are more). It is working well for me, so I thought I'd share this little write-up on how to install and use it.
*** I've provided my AutoHotKey scripts that I'm using below in this post.
*** Note: I have no connection with the AutoHotKey folks and I disclaim any potential problems using this software may cause you (but I am loving it, so far).
*** Steps:
*** Download the AutoHotKey installer here:
http://www.autohotkey.com/*** Run the AutoHotKey Installer script that you find in your download folder to install the AutoHotKey program (named something like AutoHotKeynnnn_install.exe)
*** Create the AutoHotKey scripts:
1. Right-click desktop, select new, then select "AutoHotKey Script" (this is new selection item added by AutoHotKey).
2. The new file on your desktop will have a *.ahk suffix, and a light-colored H icon.
3. Rename the file to something matching what it does. Examples: "french-a-with-hat.ahk" or "french-â.ahk"
4. Right-click the file and edit the script.
5. Each new script has a default header section. Leave it as is. Copy-and-paste one of my code snippets just below the header area.
5. Save the file.
6. Now, right-click the file again and select "Compile Script."
7. A new, compiled AutoHotKey script will appear on you desktop. It will have a green icon with an H and a *.exe file suffix.
For example, if your script was named mynewscript.ahk, then the new compiled script will be named mynewscript.exe
8. Right-click the new compiled file and select "Run." Nothing will appear to have happened, but if you look in right-side of you taskbar below, you'll see a little green H indicating that the script is loaded in memory and is ready for use.
9. Now, just open notepad and use your new key-combination to insert a special character. In my code snippets, all of the scripts use the "alt" key in combination with a letter. So for the first snippet, once it's loaded, simply press alt-a to insert the â character.
10. Use this new key-combination in Fluenz or wherever you need to type the special character.
*** My code snippets are shown below. Create a new AutoHotKey script for each code snippet below. You should then have 7 new scripts, one for each of these 7 characters: á á à é è ç î Simply compile and run each script and start inserting special characters!
; French â - Use Alt-a
;
!a::
{
SendInput {â}
}
return
; French á - Use Alt-q
;
!q::
{
SendInput {á}
}
return
; French à - Use Alt-z
;
!z::
{
SendInput {à}
}
return
; French ç - Use Alt-c
;
!c::
{
SendInput {ç}
}
return
; French é - Use Alt-e
;
!e::
{
SendInput {é}
}
return
; French è - Use Alt-3
;
!3::
{
SendInput {è}
}
return
; French î - Use Alt-i
;
!i::
{
SendInput {î}
}
Return
*** More stuff:
*** You can copy all your AutoHotKey scripts into your start folder so they will automatically load when you restart your computer. Then, they will always be loaded whenever you want to insert a character. If not, you can always run them individually as needed.
*** Customizing AutoHotKey scripts:
In AutoHotKey scripts, the ";" character indicates that a line is simply a comment. (Each complete code snippet below is separated by space.)
If you want to chose a different key-combination, just change the comment (for your own reference), then change the line that reads !a:: to some other character. For example, if you want to use alt-x, change this line to !x::
If you want the script to produce a different inserted character, change the value at the end of the SendInput line.
I am sure that AutoHotKey can do much more, but this is all that I need for using my Fluenz, so I haven't looked any further into AutoHotKey.
*** Here's my reference table that includes the 7 French special characters I've been using so far. It shows the unicode hexidecimal number, the normal the alt-n key combination, and my AutoHotKey alt-combinations produced bye the code snippets above.
You can use the alt-n combination with certain keyboards. For example alt-0226 will produce a â if you use the alt key in combination with the numeric keypad. However, I would find typing alt in combination with 4 keypad numbers rather tedious! This is why I looked for something like AutoHotKey program.
The table is also handy to copy/paste the actual special character (without using a different keyboard). The AutoHotKey column shows the key-combination to press once you have downloaded and installed AutoHotKey and created and compiled the individual scripts above:
CharUnicodeAlt-n AutoHotKey-Combo
â00E2 0226 Alt-a
á00E1 0225 Alt-q
à00E0 0224 Alt-z
ç00E7 0231 Alt-c
é00E9 0233 Alt-e
è00E8 0232 Alt-3
î00CE 0237 Alt-i
Enjoy!