ControlSend randomly sending wrong characters (modified and unmodified) when using SetKeyDelay, 0, 0

Question

I\'m self-answering this question because I\'ve seen it asked all over the Internet, but with few helpful answers, and definitely no resolutions on Stack Overflow that I can

Answer 1

Solution

Copy this into your script (from user RHCP at AutoHotkey forums):

pSendChars(string, control := "", WinTitle := "", WinText := "", ExcludeTitle := "", ExcludeText := "")
{
    for k, char in StrSplit(string)
        postmessage, WM_CHAR := 0x102, Asc(char),, %Control%, %WinTitle%, %WinText%, %ExcludeTitle%, %ExcludeText%
    return
}

And use it like this:

^0::
    myWindow = ahk_exe Notepad.exe
    line .= "set c="".cshrc-acheong""`n"
    line .= "set v="".vimrc-acheong""`n"
    line .= "foreach d ( /userhome/andrew.cheong /home/cama /home/$USER )`n"
    line .= "    if ( -e $d/$c ) source $d/$c`n"
    line .= "    if ( -e $d/$v ) alias vim ""vim -N -u $d/$v""`n"
    line .= "end`n"
    pSendChars(line, "edit1", myWindow)
    Return

That's it.

^{Note that edit1 is Notepad's name for its text control. When using this script for PuTTy, I changed it to a blank string. Use AutoHotkey's WindowSpy program to find out the control you wish to write to.}

Why

This has come up a few times before. Just to add to what Lexikos wrote, the issue is due to the fact that controlSend uses both post message and sendInput/sendEvent to send keystrokes. This is required as some programs will not correctly interpret the keystrokes unless the sent modifier keys are logically down (sent via sendInput/Event).

Modifier keys (unless explicitly stated e.g. {shitft down}) are sent via sendInput while non-modifers are sent via postMessage. Keys sent via postmessage are sent directly to the window and so have less delay than the other keys/messages. Consequently it's possible for keystroke messages to arrive out of synch resulting in unexpected characters. In your case the capitalised letters require the shift key to be sent via sendInput/Event.

In addition to using keyDelays, you can try controlSetText and posting WM_Char messages. If you're working with a text control i would recommend using controlSetText.

- RHCP on 30 Sep 2013