Weaponising Xara Desktop Applications

Most of my Xara focus has been on website development.

I have bemoaned the lack of a sophisticated text editor for detailed work in HTML, CSS & JavaScript.
For these, I habitually use NotePad++ as my tool of choice, copying & pasting back and forth.

I came across AutoHotKey a time back and thought all it did was placed some text in place of a HotKey press - how wrong I was!
I commend you download it from https://www.autohotkey.com/.

On its own, it seems not to do much as it is a scripted language and therefore needs a script.
This is one that I have found overcomes the lack that I have just described of a sensible text editing capability within the Xara Desktop application (XDA):
AHK Script name: External Text Editing for XDAs.ahk

Code:

---

#NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
; #Warn  ; Enable warnings to assist with detecting common errors.
SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.


#IfWinActive, ahk_class #32770 ; classname for XDA text block windows, especially HTML Code ones


F1:: ; using NotePad++ for HTML Code windows work, but should work for other text editors
  Send, ^a^c
  FileAppend, , %A_ScriptDir%\XDA.txt
  RunWait, %A_ScriptDir%\XDA.txt
  SendInput, ^a^v
return


#IfWinActive


#IfWinExists, ahk_class #32770 ; check an XDA text window is open


#F1:: ; only when  such a window is open does AHK hijack Windows Key+F1 combination to perform a Paste replace operation
  ControlSend, Edit1, ^a^v
return


#IfWinExists

---

My design logic was as follows:

• Xara presents a bog-standard text box for its HTML Code popups.
• There are no meta- or function-keys operating when this modal text box is open.
• So craft a HotKey to copy the entire contents and put it into my text editor: I chose the F1 key.
• My code tries to save to a file in the same directory as this script and creates a new file if none exists; this is a transient file I have called XDA.txt.
• It tries to then run the text editor opening this file and Pasting in the copied text.
• I chose a Win+F1 Hotkey combination that only works when a modal XDA text box window (e.g., HTML Code) is open.
• The difference here was, I decided, to I have to manually select and copy the text I want pasted to allow it to come from anywhere, i.e., I can copy something from the Web instead.

Do note this script is not part of your XDA; it is installed onto your machine and requires the AKH application. I have no guarantee it will work for you so any feedback will help me and other potential users.
I could have made this a standalone executable but I wanted TGers (and Xara) to see the power of relatively simple scripting.

It would be nice if other TGers use AHK and are willing to share scripts. If there is interest, I will ask Rob-Xara to add a folder in Discord.
There are so many Registry settings and configurations within Xara just waiting for an AHK HotKey.

Acorn