Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 27141
Alt plus W failing to register
Last modified: 2013-07-30 02:18:28 UTC
I'm not sure if this is an OO problem. Because of the fact that OO does not allow one to record a macro which starts in another document and concludes in another, I was forced to use an outside utility, Macro Express, to record a macro. The macro starts with a Selected passage in Document 1, copies it (using Control C) then uses ALT W to go to the "Window" setting. It then has the Down Arrow go down until it finds the second document. It then uses <enter> to go into the second document. It then copies the phrase in (Ctrl V). I find that sometimes this doesn't work, and that the phrase is copied into the first document. Now my problem: I checked what the cause is, and it is that ALT W (or ALT anything) has stopped working, so obviously there is no switch from one document to the other. Nothing I do gets OO to recognize the ALT key combination. I've tried to leave OO and reenter, but that made no difference - the ALT combinations didn't register. Only after I restarted the computer did I get the Alt to respond again. I realize now that I might not have needed to restart if I went into the Windows Task Manager and closed OO in it. I'll try that next time.
This just occurred again. I went to Windows Task Manager and closed the OO open file (54 Meg!). When I reopened Oo, the problem had been solved.
MRU->ES: pls have a look. Looks like, that under certain circumstances the Menu shortcuts (Alt-anything) do not work anymore.
I think I solved it. I am using XP Hebrew-enabled. In this mode, you can rotate between English and Hebrew by pressing Left Shift - Alt. Sometimes, I find that my English suddenly switches to Hebrew. Why? Probably some Microsoft quirk. I think that the problem occurs when I am in Hebrew keyboard mode. In that situation, while I'm pressing ALT-W, in reality the program sees this as ALT plus the Hebrew <single quote> mark. If I recycle to the English mode, ALT-W works again. This in essence means that all ALT + letter combinations (File, Window, Help, etc.) will not work when the Hebrew keyboard is active. My suggestion is that somehow the program should be able to recognize ALT + the <single quote> mark as the equivalent of ALT - W, and so on for all the Alt combinations. Incidentally, I just checked MS Word with Hebrew installed. Alt-W works whether you are in the English or Hebrew keyboard. I'd appreciate if you'd let me know if my analysis holds up and whether this can be remedied.
Utomo > shmuelh: 1.0.3 is too old, please also try newer version. regarding windows behaviour you must contact microsoft for that :( add sforbes, hebrew QA member.
1) OOo 1.0 has no Hebrew support. Are you sure that is the version that you are using? (Hebrew support was added with 1.1) 2) On my Linux, the kayboard shortcuts still work when I am in Hebrew (alt O for example for the Open Dialog). I don't have Windows here at the moment. Can someone with Windows please text this and verify the bug?
I've tested it on 1.1.1 and on the beta 680 (build 40), and it still has the same problem when you have the keyboard set to Hebrew. (I have XP.) I believe this problem is probably surmountable, because when I used to use MS Word I found that the Alt+letter combinations worked even when the Hebrew keyboard was active.
ES->cp: Please have a look
"I've tested it on 1.1.1 and on the beta 680 (build 40), and it still has the same problem when you have the keyboard set to Hebrew. (I have XP.)" Sounds like a dup of issue #31653 (althugh for me on Linux, it did work in 1.1.x)
cp->ssa: do you have an immediate fix for this ? if there is no instantious solution we will have to retarget it to later.
There is no easy fix available and in fact all Windows applications suffer from it, even MS Office to a certain degree. First, no standard Windows application except MS Office is capable of dealing with menu shortcuts (Alt+letter) when in Hebrew input mode (tested with Notepad, Explorer, WordPad, Mozilla suite) Second, even MS Office cannot deal with it in dialogs - the mnemonics just don't work. The problem is what keyboard mapping should I choose when the keyboard just reports hebrew letters ? MS Office seems to fall back to english, which becomes obvious when I try to select the menu entry "Zoom" with a german keyboard where y and z are exchanged when compared to an english keyboard. I actually have to type 'y' to select Zoom... We could at least try to have it working that way, although this is no perfect solution. To solve the problem within your macro, just use F10 and the cursor keys to navigate through the menu.
I'm using 1.1.4, and it's the same problem - ALT+Letter not responding when the keyboard is set for Hebrew. But I just got a solution! (Thanks to my friend Perry Zamek - give credit where it's due!). Instead of ALT+Letter, use ALT+Shift+Letter. It works like a charm whether in the English or Hebrew keyboard! I modified my macro (in Macro Express)accordingly, and the problem is solved! Maybe this fact should go into a FAQ file somewhere to prevent others from having the same problem?
reassigned
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