RightALT+SHIFT problem

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parkher
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RightALT+SHIFT problem

Post by parkher »

I have updated my FAR from 3.0.4900 to 3.0.5700,
and now RightALT+SHIFT does things in the new FAR version:
opened dialogs simply disappear.
Is there a way to disable this new RightALT+SHIFT shortcut?
If there is not, which is the latest version of FAR that still does not have it?
I don't want to move back to 4900 because some newer plugins refuse to run with it.

But I cannot have this shortcut. I am using RightALT (and also RightALT+SHIFT) on the keyboard driver level to enter letters of certain languages and also some special characters.
If, for example, I am trying to make a folder, the dialog disappears when attempting to enter certain letters in the new folder name.
In some cases, such as uppercase letters, CAPSLOCK instead of SHIFT works, but not in all. Many special symbols are no longer accessible, unless doing copy/paste.
It disrupts everything. Thanks to the muscle memory, my fingers type without me even thinking about it - including those RightALT characters. And now, suddenly, the new FAR no longer allows me to do things I am used of doing automatically.
Last edited by parkher on Wed 06 Jan, 2021 14:50, edited 1 time in total.
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DrKnS
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RightALT+SHIFT problem

Post by DrKnS »

parkher wrote: Wed 06 Jan, 2021 14:45 Is there a way to disable this new RightALT+SHIFT shortcut?
Open far:config, find System.CASRule and set it to 0 or 1.
Close the dialog and press Shift+F9 to save settings.
parkher
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RightALT+SHIFT problem

Post by parkher »

DrKnS wrote: Wed 06 Jan, 2021 16:40
parkher wrote: Wed 06 Jan, 2021 14:45 Is there a way to disable this new RightALT+SHIFT shortcut?
Open far:config, find System.CASRule and set it to 0 or 1.
Close the dialog and press Shift+F9 to save settings.
Thank you so much!
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DrKnS
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RightALT+SHIFT problem

Post by DrKnS »

parkher, starting from 5724 this should work as expected by default and with any state of that option.
parkher
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RightALT+SHIFT problem

Post by parkher »

Oh, so it is not a feature but a bug? A side effect?
And System.CASRule actually does something else, then.
Last edited by parkher on Thu 07 Jan, 2021 09:20, edited 1 time in total.
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DrKnS
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RightALT+SHIFT problem

Post by DrKnS »

parkher wrote: Thu 07 Jan, 2021 09:18 Oh, so it is not a feature but a bug? A side effect?
A side effect.
There's a feature in Far, "hide the current UI element", activated by holding Ctrl+Alt+Shift.
The aforementioned parameter allows to turn it off (you can read more about it by typing hlf:System.CASRule).
Last year someone noticed that it only works if you press Ctrl and Alt on the same side of the keyboard, i.e. either both left or both right, so it was extended to work with any combinations.
On your keyboard RightAlt is used as AltGr and allows to enter certain characters. However, there's no such key as AltGr in Windows world. When you press RightAlt, the keyboard driver actually emits LeftCtrl+RightAlt, and Windows recognises that combination as a modifier.
And when you press AltGr+Shift... tada, it actually emits LeftCtrl+RightAlt+Shift and triggers the feature above :facepalm:
Now there's an exception in that feature for LeftCtrl+RightAlt specifically (other combinations still work).
parkher
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RightALT+SHIFT problem

Post by parkher »

Yes, exactly.
I used Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator and put all my additional letters on RALT (and RALT+SHIFT).
And on my keyboard, there was no RALT but was RWin.
So I remapped RWin into RALT, and moved the original RWin to another layer on Escape, or something - I don't really use it (who needs Win key when my OS is FAR), but it is there somewhere...
Actually, I think I probably could make all my special letters directly in the keyboard, because it supports multiple layouts, and then I would not need the RALT at all.
I could put, let's say Ą as a macro in one language layout, and Ä - in another, both invoked simply by pressing the same trigger key A.
But switching between layouts is not instant, it takes more than a second. So pressing simultaneously RALT is probably simpler and certainly faster.
Anyway, because the problem with FAR was solved (thanks again!) I will continue with what I became accustomed to.

On the other hand, the other approach can be implemented additionally, without affecting the current one.
If you want to use additional layouts - you can, but you don't have to if RALT works.
This new approach would allow to have many more additional letters and characters and even supported languages as separate local layouts while always accessible in a very intuitive way.
With the current approach I managed to pack all the letters and special characters needed for three additional languages. And the keys still pretty intuitively located.
Last edited by parkher on Thu 07 Jan, 2021 13:04, edited 1 time in total.
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