Jack's AutoHotkey Blog

Using FileSelectFolder for Windows File Explorer AutoHotkey Menus

For Precise Selection of Windows Folders When Loading Files into a Launching Menu, Use the AutoHotkey FileSelectFolder Command Last time, I mentioned the possibility of using the FileSelectFile command to pick the top-level folder when adding files to an AutoHotkey action menu using the barebones FileMenuLoad.ahk script. Upon further consideration, I realized that the FileSelectFolder command…

Adding Folders and Files from Windows to AutoHotkey Menus

After a Little Pondering, I Found Adding Windows File Explorer Structures to an Action Menu Simple I was wrong when I contemplated using the BoundFunc Object to insert folder and file names into an AutoHotkey action menu. At the time, I thought that the AutoHotkey Menu command did not offer enough flexibility to handle the task on its own. Those concerns included: The limited number of built-in…

Barebones AutoHotkey QuickLinks App

After Many Years, It’s Time to Take Another Look at the QuickLink.ahk Script Since its early beginnings, the QuickLinks.ahk script (originally introduced as a replacement for the missing Windows 8 Start Menu in January 2013) has evolved both through this blog and others working through the AutoHotkey forum. It has grown in complexity which can make it a little difficult to modify for personal…

How to Neutralize Errant Hotstrings (AutoHotkey Trick)

Take Advantage of Hotstring Precedence to Deactivate Unwanted Hotstrings Firing Sometimes AutoHotkey Hotstrings fire at the wrong time. For example, whenever I put the word AutoHotkey into a document I prefer the full word rather than an abbreviation (AHK). I use “ahk” as the Hotstring—replacing it with “AutoHotkey” in almost all cases. However, when I started adding the same extension to my…

Strip HTML Tags from Text (AutoHotkey Quick Tip)

Use This AutoHotkey Trick to Remove HTML Code from Any Text Last time in “Alternative Web Page HTML Download Techniques (AutoHotkey Tip),” I mentioned how I updated the GooglePhraseFix.ahk script by aaston86 to get it working again and make it a little more robust. The script uses a Google search page to autocorrect common expressions and people’s names. (It only works if Google thinks you may…

Alternative Web Page HTML Download Techniques (AutoHotkey Tip)

When One Method for Downloading HTML Code Breaks, Try the Alternative AutoHotkey Command After noticing that, although I could quickly get the latitude and longitude for any location with a Google search in a browser, when I attempted to download that page using the GetWebPage() function code taken from the AutoHotkey documentation (shown below in the first script), Google stopped me. The Google…

Switched IPFind.ahk to OpenStreetMap.org for Reliable AutoHotkey GUI Map Embedding

Forget Google Maps for Embedding Simple Maps in an AutoHotkey Graphical User Interface (GUI)—OpenStreetMap Supports iFrame Embedding…and It’s Free! If you only want a simple reference map for your AutoHotkey GUI, then Google has just made that impossible. Google Maps no longer supports embedding maps in an HTML iFrame. (I wish Google had taken this action before I wrote my last two blogs.) Now,…

Embedding Google Maps in the IPFind.ahk GUI (AutoHotkey Web Trick)

Write a Local File to Load HTML iFrame Embedding Code into the ActiveX Control Last time “Embed Google Maps in an AutoHotkey GUI (No API Required!)” I discussed how you can bypass much of the clutter on Web pages by embedding the map, video, or image in an HTML iFrame read directly into the AutoHotkey ActiveX GUI control from a local file. Sites offering this service often supply HTML code…

Embed Google Maps in an AutoHotkey GUI (No API Required!)

While Not Commonly Advertised, You Can Add a Google Map (YouTube Video or Weather Forecast) to a GUI Without Using an API In my blog “Build a Barebones Web Browser Using the AutoHotkey ActiveX GUI Control,” I discuss a method for viewing Web pages using an ActiveX GUI control. It works fine for my Free AutoHotkey Scripts page, but as soon as I started viewing other common pages such as Google…

Use ActiveX Control to Embed World Maps in AutoHotkey GUI

By Directly Loading a Map from OpenStreetMap.org into Your AutoHotkey Graphical User Interface (GUI) Pop-up Window, You Can Add Interactive Geographic Locations to All Your Apps I have some good news and some bad news about using AutoHotkey tools to directly access Web data through the Internet. First the bad news. Since the AutoHotkey tools for downloading and reading Web pages use Internet…

Build a Barebones Web Browser Using the AutoHotkey ActiveX GUI Control

Want to Add a Web Page to a Graphical User Interface (GUI) Window? Use the ActiveX GUI Control! I’ve often seen the ActiveX GUI control sitting in the AutoHotkey online documentation without investigating it. Only recently when I contemplated adding maps to my IPFind.ahk GUI did my curiosity reactivate my interest. The ActiveX control adds a stripped-down version of an Internet Explorer window…

Adding Web Links to the AutoHotkey IPFind.ahk Script

While Fixing the IPFind.ahk Script for Listing the Geographic Location of an IP Address, I Added Links for the IP Identification Site and OpenStreetMap Occasionally, Web page scraping apps fail (or display strange results) due to changes in source page data formats. It usually only takes a few minutes to review the code and make the necessary RegEx adjustments to restore acceptable results. This…

Working with Classic Units of Measurements (AutoHotkey Tricks)

Figuring Odd or Even, Working with Fractions, and Calculating Quarts, Pints, and Cups Last time in “Fake Math Tricks Using the Floor() and Mod() Functions (AutoHotkey Tips),” I introduced math techniques based upon the Floor() and Mod() functions. Although making basic calculations more complicated, many age-old units of measurement (e.g. yards, feet, and inches with fractions or gallons,…

Fake Math Tricks Using the Floor() and Mod() Functions (AutoHotkey Tips)

Although Not Really Fake Math, These Two AutoHotkey Functions Can Solve Eclectic, Yet Practical, Everyday Problems! The Irish philosopher George Berkeley proved that mathematics does not exist in reality. It turns out nobody cares! Even though math resides only in our heads, we continue to use it anyway. Berkeley did not doubt that calculus produced real-world truth; simple physics experiments…

Calculating Dates in AutoHotkey by Adding Years, Months, and/or Days

The HowLongYearsMonthsDays.ahk Script Calculates Time Spans—This New DateCalc() Function Yields New Dates Based on Adding or Subtracting Years, Months, or Days Allan recently inspired me to write (and helped me debug) an AutoHotkey function for calculating new dates based on entering years, months, and/or days. While not long or involved, the function includes a couple of interesting…

While Many Users Find the Original GUI Based HowLong Script Valuable, Combining Snippets of Code Creates a New Instant HowLong Script Last time in “Extracting Multiple Dates from Text Using AutoHotkey RegEx,” I wrote a Regular Expressions (RegEx) that copied the first and last date (in a variety of formats) found in a selection from a document or Web page. (I recently updated that RegEx to make…

Extracting Multiple Dates from Text Using AutoHotkey RegEx

While Not Simple (and a Little Bit “Greedy”), the RegEx for Two-Date Parsing Only Requires One Selection I received the following query from a reader: Regular Expressions (RegEx) can be mysterious in any language. Hi! Is it possible to highlight the entire date range (e.g. 16 March 2021 to 21 May 2021) when the Hotkey is triggered, feed it into the timespan ahk, and share the timespan as…