JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

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imadumby
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JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

Post by imadumby »

JoyToKey: Switch-to-spreadsheet problem. It wont “enter” or “arrow down.”

Question in a nutshell:

Can anybody here recommend a program I can use that does what “JoyToKey” does?

Why I’m asking the question:

I made an Open Office spreadsheet that relies on a group of switches that enter a letter on the spreadsheet. Here’s an example of the simplest way to understand what it does. Suppose you have a vending machine of some kind that you drop coins into. A penny would hit a certain switch and it would enter a “p” on the spreadsheet and then do a return into the cell below it. A nickle would enter an “n”, a dime a “d” and so on. So if a penny, nickle and dime were dropped in the machine the spreadsheet would look like this:

.. A..
1 p
2 n
3 d
4 (This is now where the curser would be).

Before starting to work on my spreadsheet I found that the program “JoyToKey” did the transfer from switch to spreadsheet exactly the way I wanted and was easy to set up. But then shortly after I built the spreadsheet I found that JoyToKey stopped working the way it was supposed to. It would type the letter with no problem but then it just wouldn’t enter it and move to the next cell down. It would just enter a letter then enter the next letter and all following letters into the same cell. Then I tried to use an “arrow down” instead of an “enter” and it would do the same thing. So I tried to figure out what the problem was.

The program gave some options for this situation which I tried but still got pretty much the same results. Sometimes it will work for awhile then revert to doing it the messed up way.

Well, unfortunately after checking over the JoyToKey website I came across this page: https://joytokey.net/en/posts/does-not- ... win7-8-10/ which talks about a Windows 10 update which, the way I read it and the way it applies to my application, seemingly is really messing up what I’m trying to do. Particularly ominous is the bottom line of the page which reads “Unfortunately at this moment there is no known way of making it work...”
(Thank you, Windows).

So, if anybody has had experience with this I’d sure love to hear how you might have resolved it, I’d love to use JoyToKey, but if not, can anybody recommend another program that would do what I want it to?
Last edited by RusselB on Sat Sep 26, 2020 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic moved from Calc to General Discussion as the poster is looking for a referral program, rather than having a question about Calc
Open Office 4.1.7, Windows 10
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Zizi64
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Re: JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

Post by Zizi64 »

In my opinion: the "JoyToKey" is a penalty for the lazy users. (I never used it, just had read the description) Maybe you can save some Enter or Down arrow hitting in a spreadsheet, but what about when you forget to switch off the application? What about when you must use alternally the JoyToKey app, and the normal p/n/d keys? You will always switch on/off it?
Tibor Kovacs, Hungary; LO7.5.8 /Win7-10 x64Prof.
PortableApps/winPenPack: LO3.3.0-7.6.2;AOO4.1.14
Please, edit the initial post in the topic: add the word [Solved] at the beginning of the subject line - if your problem has been solved.
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Villeroy
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Re: JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

Post by Villeroy »

 Edit: Sorry, I slipped into the wrong topic. 
Last edited by Villeroy on Sun Sep 27, 2020 11:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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imadumby
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Re: JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

Post by imadumby »

Zizi64 wrote:In my opinion: the "JoyToKey" is a penalty for the lazy users. (I never used it, just had read the description) Maybe you can save some Enter or Down arrow hitting in a spreadsheet, but what about when you forget to switch off the application? What about when you must use alternally the JoyToKey app, and the normal p/n/d keys? You will always switch on/off it?
This is meant to go on a computer that will only do this application. The only time it would be a problem would be when the JoytoKey thing is turned off (or in this case, not working right), not when it was turned on (and working correctly). Also there would be no need on this computer to use the p-n-d (or any other keys) outside the JoyToKey app.

It would be possible to use the keyboard to type "enter" or "arrow down" but what I need this for demands the elimination of the keyboard. I need the user to be able to "drop the coin" and thats all.
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imadumby
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Re: JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

Post by imadumby »

Not sure what your trying to tell me. Use that spreadsheet to try the app? Write some macros? :?:
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Zizi64
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Re: JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

Post by Zizi64 »

I need the user to be able to "drop the coin" and thats all.
Then you must write your own application for this task. You can control the AOO/LO Calc application and the spreadsheet files by the API functions.
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Mountaineer
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Re: JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

Post by Mountaineer »

imadumby wrote:
Not sure what your trying to tell me. Use that spreadsheet to try the app? Write some macros? :?:
His answer belongs in another Thread (unrelated)
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=103117
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Re: JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

Post by Mountaineer »

If you'd like to follow Zizis suggestion thus May bei a point to start reading:
http://www.openoffice.org/udk/python/py ... l#tutorial

Otherwise in may be possible to create a Dialog with Buttons inside Openoffice to Work as "coin machine".

J.
OpenOffice 3.1 on Windows Vista
imadumby
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Re: JoyToKey problem. It wont “enter” or "arrow down."

Post by imadumby »

Zizi64 wrote:In my opinion: the "JoyToKey" is a penalty for the lazy users.
I'm not being lazy, at least I don't think I am. The things talked about so far on this thread seem WAY beyond my capabilities, I don't really much about this stuff. It's just that paying $7 for a JoyToKey license (or however much for a program that actually works) seems like a far better investment then to spend days or weeks or months or however long trying to learn something that finally may or may not work, assuming that whatever I try to learn will even eventually do what I want it to. All with no guarantees, of course. And all to learn something I will probably only use once in my life.

Maybe setting me off in a good direction as Mountaneer mentioned would be a good thing, but what you suggested seemed pretty far out there for me.

But anyway, I wonder if anyone could let me know if what I'll mention here are possible clues that might help me get at least a little farther in my search for an answer?

This at :
http://www.openoffice.org/api/docs/comm ... le-ix.html
The "nested module" "bridge" (Interfaces for building bridges to other component models)? (Is what I would like to do "building a bridge to an other component model" like, I guess you might say, an alternative keyboard?). (Or maybe something else that can be found on this page?)

Or there's this at:

https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Docume ... o_a_key%3f
How can I assign a macro to a key?

I think this would really work great for me if I could assign a macro to not a key on the keyboard but rather to a switch or a button outside of the keyboard, and just have a different macro for each switch. It looks pretty straightforward doing it for a key but does anybody have any idea how I could do this with a switch, or if it would even work? (I started a new thread on this since its a new question).
Open Office 4.1.7, Windows 10
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