Edit keyboard shortcuts panel is unavailable

[Raaskot]

My edit keyboard shortcuts panel is unavailable and I guess the ressource is corrupted -- yet the keyshorts is still retained from latest (succesful) edit. Consider restoring keyshort list file from backup, but where is the situated in system (OSX)?
Any suggestions to retore the panel is very appreciated.

[synthsin75]

What version of Moho is that? Preferences and Keyboard Shortcuts are now in the Edit menu, but I think Keyboard Shortcuts use to be in the Help menu.
The window could have also been accidentally moved off-screen, but I have no tools to find hidden windows on Mac.

[Greenlaw]

I don't have a Mac, but in Windows the Keyboard Shortcuts menu is under Edit. Does the command exist there on Mac? If so, try that one.



Edit: I just saw Wes' reply. If the window is off-screen, I guess you would know because it's modal and will 'freeze up' everything else in Moho until you hit Enter. So that's probably not the problem.

[Raaskot]

Thanks for your kind input:)
I'm on Mac but my hardware is dated and I'm only allowed to run Moho >12. The menu-command for keyshort modal is placed under the Moho-menu.

When inspecting the app-package, do you have any idea where to find the particular keyshort asset/ressource?

I suspect these file in the system preferences to contain the keyshort information and consider swapping with backups. But before attempting any desasters, what do you think?

[SimplSam]

The custom keyboard shortcuts should be in the Keyboard Shortcuts folder in the Custom Content folder. Menu [File] >> [Open Custom Content Folder].

[synthsin75]

The menu-command for keyshort modal is placed under the Moho-menu.

It looks like that "Moho" menu is something added by Mac, not native to Moho. Check the other menus for Keyboard Shortcuts.

[Greenlaw]

I looked in the Moho 12 Manual and the Edit Keyboard menu location is different for Mac users, under the 'Moho' menu as Raascot wrote earlier.



I don't know why it's not working for him though.

Maybe try removing the entire Keyboard Shortcuts folder from Custom Content folder? That might at least verify the problem isn't there. (See SimplSam's post above for location.)

Also, try quitting Moho, temporarily rename your custom Content Folder, and relaunch Moho. If the menu works now, then something else in Custom Content might be interfering. Then start systematically removing any custom scripts you may have installed.

[synthsin75]

First thing I'd try is reinstalling then.

[Raaskot]

Thanks again for your feedback!
Reinstalling is not an option for now (aged system and amidst a project for client). I have my backups though.

Can't find any ressources or folder for keyboard shortcut in custom folder as described. Renaming "CustomContent" produced greyed out menu item only. No modal to see.



On search I did only to find this text-comment (_tool_list.txt):
"/* keyboard shortcuts are now set in the application */
"
It puzzles me that my latest non-default keyboard shorts changes (prior to modal went unavailable) are working.

To see what happens I may have to fiddle with (==rename or swap) the .list-documents in Mac system preferences -- when I dare

Kind regards,
Raaskot

[synthsin75]

The _tool_list.txt is just the shortcuts and organization for the tool window. You can change that manually.

I'm not sure if the Keyboard Shortcuts folder shows up in Custom Content until you've saved new shortcuts, but maybe it somehow got deleted. If so, you might try creating a folder in your Custom Content folder called: Keyboard Shortcuts
You can reassociate your Custom Content folder in the preferences.

[Greenlaw]

Can't find any ressources or folder for keyboard shortcut in custom folder as described. Renaming "CustomContent" produced greyed out menu item only. No modal to see.

Yeah, what Wes said is correct...the keyboard shortcuts folder is only created when you create a custom keyboard preset*. Apparently, you never did that so that shouldn't be the problem.

As far as graying out the Custom Content menu, that's what's supposed to happen. By renaming the folder, you block Moho from loading the contents. This is just a test to eliminate the possibility that something in the Custom Content folder is causing the problem. So now we know this is not the cause. You can rename the folder to what you called it previously, or you can simply repoint to the renamed folder from the Preferences window.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what else could be wrong, short of some program files got corrupted or deleted somehow.

*As I wrote this, I wondered if this was true, so I did a quick test. First, I removed my Keyboard Shortcuts folder by moving it to the desktop. Then I launched Moho and checked Edit Keyboard Shortcuts. As expected, I saw customer KB shortcuts were no longer available. Next, I created a new KB shortcut called Test, and then quit Moho. When I checked my Custom Content folder, there was indeed a new Keybord Shortcuts folder there containing a file called Test.json. So, yes, the folder is created when you create your first custom keyboard shortcuts preset.

[Raaskot]

Thank you both. All makes sense to me:)
Yet the existence (or the opposite) of a custom Keyboard folder doesn’t seems to be the problem since I cannot even make the edit keyshorts window display at all.

I’m afraid I have to thrash my entire setup and try reinstalling when the current project is finished. Simply can't figure out where the current edited keyshorts set are stored.

[hayasidist]

do you recall the name you gave your custom key setting? (or look in the app data file -- windows path C:\Users \ <username> \AppData\Roaming\Smith Micro\Moho Pro\12\Moho Pro12.user.settings for a line that says "KeyBindingsFileName") did you try searching the whole disk system for <that name>.json? If moho is finding the shortcuts, then I guess it must be finding the file...

[Raaskot]

Wow, very interesting tip. On mac I found the presumed file in Preferences/…/Bindings/*.json

A question: Before attempting to tamper with the json-file and although the script-structure seems quite transparent: Do you think it’s OK to alter the text (the “modifiers" and "boundKey” values) and save the file under the same name? What may the “obsolete” files indicate?

Thanks alot!

[hayasidist]

first of all - a health warning -- what I know about Macs can be written on the back of a postage stamp and still leave room for the complete works of Shakespeare.

with that in mind ...

looking at the dates, I'd assume that obsolete means just that - superseded by something else.

yes - the file can be manually edited ... but I'd be cautious and take a backup first.

I think platform / product as set to an empty string means use the platforms (e.g. Mac / Win) and products (e.g. Pro / Debut) specified in a higher "Group Platform" - e.g. in the baseline Moho 12 bindings, the file opens with:

Code: Select all

{
	"Version": "57",
	"group_platform": "",
	"group_product": "",
	"nodeTypeBranch": true,
	"groupNameKey": "/Application/Title",
	"Bindings": [
		{
			"group_platform": "mac",
			"group_product": "",
			"nodeTypeBranch": true,
			"groupNameKey": "/Menus/Application/Moho",
			"Bindings": [
				{
					"modifiers": "",
					"actionDescriptionKey": "/Menus/Application/About",
					"boundKey": "",
					"platform": "",
					"product": "",
					"readonly": false,
					"nodeTypeBranch": false
				},
				{
					"modifiers": "cmd-ctrl",
					"actionDescriptionKey": "/Menus/Application/Preferences",
					"boundKey": ",",
					"platform": "",
					"product": "",
					"readonly": false,
					"nodeTypeBranch": false
				},
				{
					"modifiers": "",
					"actionDescriptionKey": "/Menus/Application/EditKeyBindings",
					"boundKey": "",
					"platform": "",
					"product": "",
					"readonly": false,
					"nodeTypeBranch": false
				},

<<<etc>>>

if, e.g. you wanted to add a hotkey to EditKeyBindings for macs only that last block in the extract above is the place to go... and change the modifiers and key to something that isn't used elsewhere .. e.g.

Code: Select all

					"modifiers": "alt shift cmd-ctrl",
					"actionDescriptionKey": "/Menus/Application/EditKeyBindings",
					"boundKey": "K",

(in my windows experiment) I used notepad to edit the bindings files and Moho picked up the changes straight away - no restart required - not sure if I navigated to another tool or just clicked a menu but it's quick.

Now one of two things will happen:
- you get the key bindings function when you hit the key combination - in which job done - and you could, e.g. assign a shortcut to "Open Custom Content" and see if that picks up the directory
- or you don't - so you're in to manually editing - and maybe one of the obsolete files has what you want in it? Also, it might be worth a try to edit the bindings for "/Menus/File/OpenContentFolder" to (say) "alt shift cmd-ctrl" "W"


hope that's a step in the right direction for you!