conflicting redefinition of menu keys

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feat
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conflicting redefinition of menu keys

Post by feat »

This is an issue I had never met with NW eXpress: I once assigned the shifted command U, C and L to the convert to uppercase, capitalized and lowercase menu items, and never had any problem.

In NW pro, I've assigned them three times already — to the very same keys — but it seems the assignments aren't sticky: they vanish once I quit the application.

And there's something odd there... For instance, when I'm about to assign shift command L to 'lowercase', I'm told it's currently bound to 'lowercase' even though pressing this particular key combination won't convert the selected text to lowercase: it will open a Safari window and search the text with Google.

I dived into the Nisus Writer Pro/Services tree and found that there was only one suspect that could hijack this particular keyboard shortcut, and it's precisely 'search with Google', which incidently is yet to be assigned...

However, opening Nisus Writer Pro's services menu proper reveals that this particular keyboard shortcut is indeed bound to the 'search with Google' function, although I've never assigned this myself...

For probably similar reasons, my uppercase and capitalize menu-keys don't work as expected, whereas they do when using NWX.

What am I doing wrong?
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Hamid
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Joined: 2007-01-17 03:25:42

shortcut conflicts

Post by Hamid »

Command-Shift-L is pre-assigned by Safari which provides the Search With Google Service. When there is a conflict of shortcuts the one set earlier overrides the recent one in your case. The one set by NWE overrides Safari's assignment of the same shortcut but not NWP's. In my case Command-Shift-L works in both NWE as well as NWP because I have Format in Services whose same shortcut overrides the same set by Safari. Format is one of the several services provided by WordService available from DEVONtechnologies:

http://tinyurl.com/3brgfz

When I remove WordService and use the shortcut, I get Search With Google in both NWE and NWP, because I have not assigned Command-Shift-L. I suggest you use Service Scrubber which allows you to reassign Services shortcuts and also disable Services you don't need:

http://www.manytricks.com/servicescrubber/
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Elbrecht
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Post by Elbrecht »

Hi -
there's a conflict between the two [previous/next] Input Menu and the 2 [show search field/window] Spotlight shortcuts as well - see Keyboard Shortcuts in the Keyboard & Mouse System Preferences. Any comments on this - Apple interna?
HE
BTW just had the strange experience of inverted function of F6 somehow - no way to get it fixed, but shutdown and have a cup of tea. Fine again...
MacBook Pro i5
SSD 840/850 Pro
High Sierra 10.13.6
Nisus Writer Pro 3.4
feat
Posts: 105
Joined: 2004-01-29 04:17:10
Location: Paris, FR

Post by feat »

Okay: problem solved; thanks million, Hamid!

Nice piece of software, this Service Scrubber application...
feat
Posts: 105
Joined: 2004-01-29 04:17:10
Location: Paris, FR

Post by feat »

In fact I was talking too fast: while working with NWX, having defined the shifted command L keyboard shortcut, I used it about 15 times, and suddenly, it went like: poof, no more lower case for you buddy!

The convert service still shows this function with the proper key binding — but it simply doesn't work.

Redefining it in NWX for the 6th time I was [surprisingly] told it was currently bound to 'lowercase'...

I thought, maybe going back and forth from Safari altered the precedence somehow, but I've just checked: this is definitely not the case.

Yet this shortcut works without any redefinition in any application that manipulates text, including file names in Finder. Nisus Writer express and pro are the sole exceptions.

Any other idea?
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greenmorpher
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Post by greenmorpher »

feat asked:
Any other idea?
Yes! Assign something else! Try command-shift-L-C or command-shift-U-C (a touch clumsy because of the space betewen L and C and U and C, or what about command-option-shift-L/U, with command-option-shift all under the hand together.

There are so many possibilities with the keyboard shortcuts available in NW, why stress over one conflict?

Cheers, Geoff

Geoffrey Heard, Business Writer & Publisher

"Type & Layout: Are you communicating or just making pretty shapes" -- Revealed! The secrets of how you can use type and layout to turbocharge your messages in print. See the book at http://www.worsleypress.com
feat
Posts: 105
Joined: 2004-01-29 04:17:10
Location: Paris, FR

Post by feat »

Thanks for that suggestion!

Why stress over one conflict? Simply because (1) this wasn't an issue before NWP came around, (2) it's not a single conflict, there are many, and (3) for the sake of consistency.

I already use so many applications that if each of them had its own key-binding for the very same function, it would be utterly confusing.

I'd like to hear the developer's opinion about this one glitch.

Are they reading this?
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martin
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Post by martin »

The problem you are having is most likely caused by the change in name of the menu.
In Express: Edit > Convert > lowercase
In Pro: Edit > Convert > To lowercase

We made this change both to clarify the menu's difference from the menu Display as lowercase and to have it make more grammatical sense.

Basically NWX and NWP will be in conflict about this, since one application doesn't know about the other's menu. I would probably recommend that you not switch between the two applications. And if you must, then please only have one running at a time, otherwise the two might step on each other's toes as they share preference files.
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