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****         FONTCREATOR HOTKEYS         ****
****               v.0.0.0               ****
****   FOR FONTCREATOR PROFESSIONAL 11   ****
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Information

About FontCreator Hotkeys

FontCreator already has a number of keyboard shortcuts (or hotkeys), but many frequently used features do not have keyboard shortcuts currently built into the program. FontCreator Hotkeys (FCHK) more than doubles the number of hotkeys available to the program, and modifies some of the preexisting hotkeys for easier use or for compatibility with the newly created shortcuts.

FCHK is a script wrapped into an executable (.exe) file. It is not a program, and it does not install on your system. As such, the files need to be stored on your computer or on a USB stick in a safe place. It is recommended to create a folder called FCHK in the user directory C:\Users\[User]\ (replace [User] with your username), or on your Desktop, and to unzip the contents of FCHK.zip into it. When downloading updates, replace the files in that directory with the updated files.

Please note: FCHK and its developer are not associated with High‑Logic B.V. or with AutoHotkey Foundation LLC.

Compatibility

This script is developed for High‑Logic B.V.’s FontCreator Professional 11. Because of FCHK’s dependency on the screen layout, it may not be compatible with older or newer versions, or with other editions, of FontCreator. Click here to buy or upgrade to the latest version of FontCreator.

Note: While FontCreator 11 is necessary to ensure compatibility, the Professional version may not be absolutely necessary. In theory, the hotkeys should still work with Home or Standard version. However, keep in mind that certain features of the program itself are not available on the Home or Standard licenses.

FontCreator and AutoHotkey are currently only available for Windows operating systems. These programs, and this FCHK script, will not work on non‑Windows platforms.

Contact

To report any bugs, mistakes, typos, or any other issues; to ask questions about how to use FCHK; or to make suggestions for improvements to FCHK or its documentation, please create an issue on the FCHK GitHub page. You will need to create a free GitHub account to post an issue. Also, inasmuch as it is reasonably possible, please check the already reported and solved issues to see if there is a solution to your problem before creating a new issue.

To contact the developer directly, send an email. Please do not use email to report bugs, to ask questions, or to suggest improvements; instead, use the GitHub page, so others can benefit from your input.

Please do not contact the developer, or post issues on the GitHub repository, regarding FontCreator or AutoHotkey. The developer is not able to provide any assistance with these programs and will only respond to issues regarding FCHK. For help with FontCreator, see the FontCreator Forum; for help with AutoHotkey, see the AutoHotkey forum.

Printing this Documentation

This documentation is currently only designed to be printed on A4 sized paper. If you would like to print this documentation on a different size of paper, it is recommended that you print the file to PDF from your web browser (and choose A4 as your page size), and then print from the PDF to your printer on an alternate page size (such as Letter); this will preserve the margins and layout for easier readability.

The internal page structure of this documentation is also designed so you can easily print only the pages containing the list of hotkeys, with no extra clutter.

How to Use FontCreator Hotkeys

FontCreator Layout

Because the current version of FontCreator does not include every tool in the main menu, some shortcuts are mapped to precise coordinates within the window. In other words, typing the hotkey tells the mouse to move to a certain place on the screen, to click in that location, and then to return to its starting position. For the script to work properly, therefore, it is necessary that your FontCreator window has the layout FCHK needs. Otherwise, there is no way for the mouse to find the correct button.

Understandably, this may be inconvenient for some users. You are welcome to make changes to the script, but remain aware of compatibility issues and updates. The developer is not able to resolve bugs or issues caused by modifications to the script.

The window layout should be arranged as follows:

1. The main menu bar (File, Edit, View…), highlighted yellow in the image, must be at the top of the screen.
2. The standard toolbar (New Document, Open, Save, Print…), highlighted orange, must be directly underneath the menu bar, aligned to the left of the window.
3. The overview toolbar, highlighted green, must be to the right of and in‑line with the standard toolbar, ensuring that all of the standard toolbar buttons are visible, and there are no gaps between the two toolbars.
4. The align or distribute toolbar, highlighted red, must be immediately to the right of the overview toolbar, again, with no gaps, and ensuring all the buttons are visible.
5. The drawing toolbar (Selection, Measure, Knife…), highlighted blue, must be docked immediately below the standard toolbar, also aligned flush to the left.
6. The glyphs toolbar, highlighted in purple, must be docked immediately to the right of the drawing toolbar, ensuring all buttons in both toolbars remain visible, and that there are no gaps between the toolbars.

This top area of the screen is absolute, and FCHK will not function correctly if it is not laid out as described. Other toolbars and windows may be open and docked below these toolbars, or to the right, left, or bottom of the screen, provided that the layout, button size, and visibility of the top‑frame toolbars is not changed or impeded or obscured.

Currently, no hotkeys are designed to work in the tool windows, but a future update will incorporate this feature. Some shortcuts, but not many, are already available by default for some FontCreator tool windows (such as the OpenType Designer), and these hotkeys will continue to function.

Enabling Access Keys

For the script to work properly, access keys must also be enabled on your system. Access keys are the small underline you can see in menus and on windows, indicating a key to press to access that function. Sometimes, the keys are only visible when you press Alt. If access keys are not currently enabled on your system, or if you don’t know if they are enabled, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Ease of Access settings on your operating system
   • Press Win+U, or
   • Go to the control panel and click on “Ease of Access Center”
2. On Windows 10:
   • Click on Keyboard in the left panel
   • Scroll down to “Other Settings”
   • Turn on “Enable Shortcut Underlines”
3. Or, from the Control Panel (older versions of Windows):
   • Scroll down to and click on “Make the keyboard easier to use”
   • Scroll down to “Make it easier to use keyboard shortcuts”
   • Check “Underline keyboard shortcuts”

If the access keys are not turned on, FCHK may not be able to access many menu items assigned to the hotkeys.

Running the Script

To use FCHK, download FCHK.zip from GitHub. In it, you will find three files: FCHK.exe, FCHK.ahk, and this README.html. After downloading, unzip the files to a safe and memorable location (such as C:\Users\[User]\FCHK\ or C:\Users\[User]\Desktop\FCHK\). Note that you do not need an internet connection to access this documentation file after it is saved to your computer.

To run the script, double‑click on FCHK.exe, or right‑click the file and choose “Open”. The script will immediately start running in the background of the operating system. There is no installation, but a message box should open to indicate the script is running. Neither FontCreator nor the computer need to be restarted. (In fact, restarting the computer stops the script, and the script will need to be re‑executed each time the system boots.)

To verify the script is running successfully, a green icon should appear in the system tray. If there is no icon in the tray, check Task Manager to see that FCHK.exe is running.

To launch the file automatically when Windows boots:

1. Go to the .exe file, right‑click on it, and select “Copy”
2. Navigate to C:\Users\[User]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\
3. Right‑click in the window and choose “Paste Shortcut”

Note that changing the location or name of the .exe file will create an error in the shortcut destination. If you change the location of the .exe file, then you will have to recreate or remap the shortcut accordingly.

Interface Note

While using FCHK, you might notice your mouse jumping around the screen. This is normal behavior and not anything to be concerned about. As previously mentioned, some of the hotkeys need to simulate mouse clicks. For example, when pressing Shift+D (Free Draw Contour tool), the script tells the mouse to move to certain coordinates on the screen (over the button for the Free Draw Contour tool). Although this movement happens instantaneously, for a brief moment, you might see your mouse arrow move to the button. FCHK is programmed to return the mouse cursor to the same position it started in, so you never lose track of your pointer.

Stopping the Script

To temporarily pause the script, right‑click the tray icon and choose “Suspend Hotkeys”. The icon will turn red. Do not click “Pause Script”, as this has a different effect. Click again on “Suspend Hotkeys” to turn them on again; the icon will change back to green.

To exit the script, right‑click on the tray icon and choose “Exit”. This closes the script. To re‑enable the hotkeys, run the program again by double‑clicking the executable file.

To remove the script, simply delete the file either by selecting it and pressing “Delete” on the keyboard, or by dragging and dropping it into the Recycle Bin. Since it is not a program, it does not need to (and, in fact, cannot) be uninstalled, and it cannot be found in the list of installed applications on the system. Note that deleting the file completely removes it from your system, and you will need to download it again from the GitHub repository.

Modifying the Script

Under the Open Source license, users are allowed to modify FCHK. To modify the script, AutoHotkey needs to be installed. After installation, navigate to the folder containing the file FCHK.ahk. Right‑click the file and choose “Edit Script”. (Alternately, choose “Open with…” and select “Notepad”.) Do not double‑click, as this will launch the script.

You may wish to modify the hotkeys either to change the hotkey (ex. to press S to activate the Selection tool), or to modify the coordinates for a different screen layout. If you change a hotkey, ensure that it is not also assigned to another function, as this will cause the script to fail. Modifying the coordinates is a more complicated process, involving using a “window spy” to find the coordinate values. See the AutoHotkey documentation for help with modifying the script.

Please note: remember to send bug reports to the developer before trying to modify or fix them yourself. If you make any modifications, it is recommended that you also save them in a separate .txt file. When FCHK updates are available, you can then copy and paste your customizations into the new code. Otherwise, your changes will be lost when you use a newer release of the script.

Also note: if you modify the script, you will have to use FCHK.ahk to launch the script, not the .exe file. Simply double‑click on the file to run it. You can also target a shortcut to the file to automatically run it at startup, just as with the .exe file.

Setting Custom External Programs

FontCreator allows the user to choose up to three external programs to be able to launch from within FontCreator. By default, MainType, Windows Fonts, and Windows Character Map are set, and these three cannot be changed. However,the user may add up to three more programs, and FCHK is right there to give you hotkeys to launch your external programs.

To take advantage of this feature, first set up the external programs within FontCreator.

1. Navigate to the “Tools” menu at the top of the screen, and from the “Launch Externals” flyout, click on “Configure Externals”.
2. Click the folder icon next to one of the three locations boxes, and navigate to the .exe file of your choice, and then select “Open”.
3. In the corresponding title box, type in the name of the program (if it is not automatically filled).
4. Place an & before any character in the title; the letter after the & becomes the access key. IMPORTANT: Each access key has to be unique. Do not use M, F, or C, as those are already assigned to the default options.
5. Make a note of your access key(s) so you don't forget.

Then, navigate to FCHK.ahk, right‑click it, and choose “Edit Script” (or “Open with…” and choose “Notepad”). At the top of the file is a predesignated area for adding your own hotkeys. Three keys are already prepared in this section, but they need more information for their function to be carried out.

The first line of each sequence defines the hotkey; in this case, it is Ctrl+Shift+F10 or F11 or F12. The second line of the function tells the computer what to do when the hotkey is pressed. The sequence tells the script to “Send” a key sequence, namely: F10, which opens the main menu, then L, which targets the Tools menu, and X, which flies open the Launch Externals panel. The only thing left is to define which item in that panel will be targeted by which hotkey.

Next to the x in the Send command, type in the access key for one of your external programs. It might look something like:

Send {F10}lxi

Now copy the whole section, and paste it into a new .txt (Notepad) file. Save the new file with whatever name you like, such as my_hotkeys.txt. Keep this file together with your FCHK script so you can easily access them again whenever you update FCHK. Now back in FCHK.ahk, save the file, and double‑click on it to run the script.

Updates

Updating FCHK

FCHK will not update automatically. You will need to manually download and “install” (i.e. save to your computer) the updated files. To be notified when updates are available, click here and choose “Watch”. Then go to your notification settings and ensure “Watching>>Email” and “Pull Request pushes” are checked. (The other boxes can be checked or unchecked according to your preference.) Then you will receive an email whenever a new version is uploaded to GitHub.

To get the update, simply download the new .zip folder as you did when you first downloaded FCHK, and extract the files to the same location (ex. C:\Users\[User]\FCHK\). Overwrite any duplicate files and delete any old files. If you created a shortcut to run FCHK at windows startup, rename the new .exe file to match the shortcut target, or update the shortcut to target the new .exe file.

Known Issues

Unfortunately, for many reasons, there are some already known and unavoidable issues. Perhaps the most glaring issue is that some functions are only available in certain modes (ex. only in Color mode, or only in the Font Overview window), and the access keys used to map hotkeys to functions are reused in different modes.

For example, pressing Alt+U in Contour mode opens the “Used by” window. To do this, the script actually tells the computer to open the context menu and type Y, which is the access key for “Used by”. However, in Point mode, the access key is U, and in the Font Overview window, the access key Y is mapped to “Type” in the context menu.

Currently, the only possible workaround is to just ensure you are in the correct view mode when using a hotkey. See the notes in the List of Hotkeys for more information.

Other known issues:

• Unable to access “Decolorize” from Font Overview window.
  • Workaround: Use Shift+F10, O, D.
• “Used by” hotkey only works in Contour mode, not in Point mode. Conflicts with Type menu in Font Overview.
  • Workaround: In Point mode, use Shift+F10, U.
• Ctrl+Tab does not navigate open tabs in the order displayed, but rather in the order they are clicked, opened, or most recently used.
  • Note: This is an issue within FontCreator, not an issue caused by FCHK.
• Remove code points (Ctrl+Backspace) in Font Overview window will trigger Redo if deployed in Contour or Point mode.
• Shortcuts for caption options will trigger Add Anchor in Contour or Point mode.
• Arrange hotkeys (bring forward, send backward, send to back, bring to front) conflicts with on‑curve point in Point mode.
• Add Color Glyph Member (Ctrl+Shift+L) conflicts with Add Point in Point mode and Tag in Contour mode.
• Colorize to Selected Color (Alt+B) in Font Overview window; conflicts with on‑curve point in Point mode and Order in Contour and Color mode.
• Smooth and align curves (S) conflicts with Convert in Contour mode.
• Smooth curves (Shift+S) will target select all in Font Overview window.
• Extend corner (X) will open the Glyph Edit window if deployed in Font Overview and Change Direction in Contour mode.
• Split contour (Shift+X) will target Clear Selection in Font Overview window.
• Glyph Type hotkeys will open Used By window in Contour mode.

To help avoid conflicts, keep FontCreator and FCHK updated regularly. The FCHK developer will do his best to release updates to FCHK as quickly as possible when FontCreator has been updated. However, please be advised that the more complex the FontCreator update is, the more complicated it is to revise the hotkeys, and the longer it may be before an update is released. (For example: FCHK was first developed for FontCreator 10.1, and it took approximately five full days of working to update it for FontCreator 11. When FontCreator 11 was updated to version 11.0.02366, it took approximately two to three days to update FCHK.)

Planned Updates

A future update will include hotkeys for each tool window in FontCreator, as well as a full set of hotkeys for the OpenType Developer window. Because of the complexity of these windows, it is a difficult and time‑consuming task to write the scripts for them. At this point, there is no anticipated release date for the update, but it will certainly come.

Change Log

v.1.0.0 (22/05/17)

This is the first version! There are no changes to record.

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