Hotkeys list in KiCad is "/", not "?"

[Evan Shultz]

Eeschema, Pcbnew, their respective symbol/footprint editors, and Pl Editor all open the list of hotkeys with "?" (pressing "Shift+/" on a US English keyboard). KiCad manager, however, does not require the Shift key to be pressed. This makes the actual key entered to be "/", not "?".

Seems for consistency's sake, and to match the hotkey shown in the menu and the Hotkey dialog, KiCad should be fixed to use the correct hotkey.

[Chris Pavlina (pavlina-chris)]

Hi,

Can you please attach system/version information to this bug report?

If using a stable version: Help -> Copy Version Information
If using a development build on Windows or Linux: Help -> About -> Copy Version Information
If using a development build on OS X: KiCad -> About -> Copy Version Information

I'm unable to reproduce this on the builds I have readily available.

[Evan Shultz (evan-shultz)]

Oops. My fault. Here it is:
Application: kicad
Version: 4.0.2-stable release build
wxWidgets: Version 3.0.2 (debug,wchar_t,compiler with C++ ABI 1009,GCC 5.2.0,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Platform: Windows 8 (build 9200), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Boost version: 1.57.0
         USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
         USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
         KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
         USE_FP_LIB_TABLE=HARD_CODED_ON
         BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON

Seems like an odd thing to be broken on my PC. I will check on other PCs tomorrow.

[Evan Shultz (evan-shultz)]

Checked on a second PC, this time running Win7 x64. Same results: KiCad manager opens the Hotkeys list with just "/", but Eeschema and Pcbnew require "Shift+/" (ultimately "?").

Version info:
Application: kicad
Version: 4.0.2-stable release build
wxWidgets: Version 3.0.2 (debug,wchar_t,compiler with C++ ABI 1009,GCC 5.2.0,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Boost version: 1.57.0
         USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
         USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
         KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
         USE_FP_LIB_TABLE=HARD_CODED_ON
         BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON

If I have two PCs with this behavior, but it's atypical, what could be going on?

[Chris Pavlina (pavlina-chris)]

Quite probably just that it's Windows-specific, I didn't have a Windows built to test on. The hotkey handling code is quite OS-specific as wxwidgets doesn't really take care of that very well. In fact, the bug might be in some code of mine, judging by that. I'll look into it later.

[Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw)]

It's KiCad specific. KiCad does not support hot keys because it is not
derived from EDA_DRAW_FRAME/EDA_DRAW_PANEL pair. The key events that
generate the OnHotKey() call are dispatched from EDA_DRAW_FRAME via the
GeneralControl() function call in EDA_DRAW_PANEL::OnKeyEvent(). I know
it's convoluted but that's the way it works. KiCad isn't using hot
keys. It's treating them like menu accelerators. That's probably where
the issue lies.

On 6/21/2016 1:29 PM, Chris Pavlina wrote:
> Quite probably just that it's Windows-specific, I didn't have a Windows
> built to test on. The hotkey handling code is quite OS-specific as
> wxwidgets doesn't really take care of that very well. In fact, the bug
> might be in some code of mine, judging by that. I'll look into it later.
>

[jean-pierre charras (jp-charras)]

@Chris,
I don't think this is a bug in your code, and in fact in Kicad.
This is the way (I am guessing) Windows handles the accelerators key.
Because I already saw this behavior is a few other applications.
For instance, in Altium, switching to the 3D viewer is the '3' key.
When using a French keyboard, typing the '3' key needs to press Shift + '3' key.
However, to switch to the 3D viewer, I had to press only the '3' key (*without* the shift).

In Kicad manager, the '?' is an accelerator key (not a hot key).
You just have to press the key with the '?' symbol, regardless it is shifted or not.
In Eeschema, Pcbnew and Pl editor, it is a hot key, so you need to press really the '?' key.

I do not waste my time to fix this Windows curiosity.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for KiCad because there has been no activity for 60 days.]