Shortcut for "{}" and "()" in TeXnicCenter

Question

Does anybody know of a way to create a keyboard short-cut for inserting a set of {}'s and ()'s in TeXnicCenter?

I have looked into defining my own Text Modules in the Insert tab, but this still requires me to press Alt-I-M-6 to insert the "number 6" Text Module (my own). I am looking for something shorter; a Ctrl+Alt+? solution.

Answer 1

For this kind of customization, you can use AutoHotkey. It is a Windows-based TSR application that runs in the background and is activated based on certain keystroke scripts.

_{If you know the AutoHotkey interface, skip over this section...}

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AutoHotkey bases a keystroke sequence <ks-seq> on its own scripting language and replaces the keystroke combination with some other set of actions <actions> and sends it to the active window. In short, the syntax used (and stored in a file AutoHotkey.ahk, say) is set of expressions of the form

<ks-seq>::<actions>

Here is a list of some of the available commands/keystrokes (taken from AutoHotkey "Send" command documentation):

• !: Sends an Alt keystroke. For example, Send This is text!a would send the keys This is text and then press Alt+a. Note: !A produces a different effect in some programs than !a. This is because !A presses Alt+SHIFT+A and !a presses Alt+a. If in doubt, use lowercase.

• +: Sends a SHIFT keystroke. For example, Send +abC would send the text AbC, and Send !+a would press Alt+SHIFT+a.

• ^: Sends a Ctrl keystroke. For example, Send ^!a would press Ctrl+Alt+a, and Send ^{Home} would send Ctrl+Home. Note: ^A produces a different effect in some programs than ^a. This is because ^A presses Ctrl+SHIFT+A and ^a presses Ctrl+a. If in doubt, use lowercase.

• #: Sends a WIN keystroke, therefore Send #e would hold down the Windows key and then press the letter e.

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^{...and start reading here again.}

As such, you could define the hotkeys

• Ctrl+Alt+p (short for parentheses) using ^!p::Send (); and
• Ctrl+Alt+b (short for braces) using ^!b::Send {{}{}}. Note the grouping required for successfully sending { and }.

This is what AutoHotkey.ahk would look like:

; IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT GETTING STARTED: Lines that start with a
; semicolon, such as this one, are comments.  They are not executed.

; Ctrl+Alt+b -> {}
^!b::Send {{}{}}
; Ctrl+Alt+p -> ()
^!p::Send ()

You could append {Left} to each command, which would move the cursor back one spot to between () or {}, if need be. Changes to hotkeys can be made on-the-fly, as long as you "reload the script" before using it.