Repetitive actions suck, especially when you can get your computer to do the work for you — the way things should be. I'm avid about sending snapshots of my Second Life travels, and if you are too, please see "Send enhanced postcards to Flickr with SLBuzz" first, as it preludes what I'm going to teach you here.
One of my main irritations with sending snapshots in Second Life was having to manually input the same steps every time. It's just a few clicks, true, but that all adds up because I use this feature so much.
There is a better way! With macro software PhraseExpress (Windows-only), you can assign a keystroke to enter text and do other fanciness, reducing your "send a postcard" keystrokes to as few as 2. It took me some time to figure out, but oh glory, what cumulative trouble it's saving me — and hopefully you!
Instructions:
Download PhraseExpress (free for personal use) and install it.
Open Settings. You can do this by clicking PhraseExpress' icon in the taskbar and selecting "Settings".
In PhraseExpress, go to Tools menu > Settings.
Under General Features, enable "Expert mode".
On the Security Confirmation dialog, click Yes. A new tree of options will appear.
Go to Options > Expert Options > Paste method.
Select "Paste text using the Windows Clipboard". The reason why is because Second Life is poor at capturing all keystrokes at low framerates.
Optionally, you can click "Execute only in certain applications" and restrict the macro to secondlife.exe
Click OK.
In the main PhraseExpress window, click New Phrase. Give it a name (I called mine "Postcard DELUXE"), and in "Phrase content", enter:
{#CTRL -chars a}{#CTRL -chars c}{#CTRL #SHIFT -chars S}{#sleep 1500}{#TAB -count 2}{#ENTER}{#TAB -count 2}{#CTRL -chars v}{#CTRL {#TAB}}{#TAB -count 2}{#CTRL -chars a}{#CTRL -chars c}{#CTRL -chars w}{#TAB}{#CTRL -chars v}{#SHIFT {#TAB} -count 3}x@x.com{#TAB -count 5}
It's all entered keystrokes. Obviously, "CTRL" is the Ctrl key, "TAB" is Tab, and so on. A brief explanation of what it does:
- Copies text in a target field. In this case, it's specifically designed to copy About Land's Name & Description, so you'll need to give About Land's Name field focus or it won't work.
- Takes a snapshot, then prepares to send it as a postcard.
- Closes the About Land window to reduce clutter.
- Pastes the About Land name & description.
- Actively selects the Send button so you can send your postcard by pressing Enter, or edit text further as desired.
You'll need to customize a couple things highlighted in red:
- {#sleep 1500} - 1.5 second delay (in milliseconds) which compensates for the time until the Snapshot Preview window appears. You may need to increase this on slower systems, and tune it so it works reliably yet isn't a terribly long delay. I'm still testing the optimal balance on my computer. To test, press Ctrl-Shift-S in SL (File menu > Take Snapshot) and time how long it takes for the Snapshot Preview window to appear. So if it takes a little under 3 seconds, set it to {#sleep 3000}. Note that high-res snapshots take longer, and if you vary resolutions, you may want this to account for the longest common case.
- x@x.com - Enter your desired email address here. You can send to multiple recipients separated by commas, e.g., "x@x.com, y@y.com" As mentioned in the SLBuzz article, I send to several social sites at once.
Now, setup a Hotkey. I like Ctrl-Shift-Alt-S because it's similar to the Take Snapshot shortcut, with an added Alt.
Click OK to save your newly-birthed macro, and log into Second Life.
Bring up the Snapshot Preview and make sure "Send via email" is selected beforehand because this macro is only for sending a postcard. You can click "Send via email" then close the window.
In Second Life, click on the land title or World menu > About Land to open the About Land window.
In the General tab, if its border isn't already highlighted to indicate focus, click in the Name field.
Now do the macro! As shown in the video above, if it's all setup correctly, it should quickly go to work before your eyes, letting your hands rest while it copies the place Name & Description into your postcard's Subject and Message.
If you prefer something simpler, try this macro:
{#CTRL #SHIFT -chars S}{#sleep 1500}{#TAB -count 2}{#ENTER}x@x.com{#TAB -count 2}
It can be used at anytime you'd press Ctrl-Shift-S, and goes beyond because it automatically travels to the Email Snapshot window and pastes in the email addresses of your choice. It doesn't copy-and-paste a parcel's name & description, which may be preferable in some situations. I have both active with different keystrokes.
Notes:
- Why include parcel name & description in a postcard? Because it gives more context, and some social sites let you search them, making it easier to find your content later.
- It's a common convenient that Tab key moves forward through fields, but did you know that Ctrl-Tab moves you backwards through fields?
- I haven't found way to activate menu items without keystrokes with PhraseExpress yet, altho I know it's possible with other macro apps. This, for instance, would allow you to also automatically open About Land, shaving more steps.
- I'm aware this macro isn't that context-smart (since it'll break if "Send via email" isn't selected or if About Land's Name isn't the active text field) and can be refined further.
- The actual postcard I sent in the video can be seen here. Note how the text gets converted to native Flickr tags, making organization a snap. Thanx SLBuzz for the fab SL-to-Flickr crosspost!
If you have curiosities and/or improvements, let me know in the comments!
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November 15th, 2008 at 4:36 PM PST
Ah, yes. I had noticed something was recently different in the signals you put out.
Nice tip.
November 15th, 2008 at 5:18 PM PST
@Timeless: Yes! And for the record, thank YOU for the tip to visit Primula Rasa! It was one of the very first regions I tested this macro on! http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/3030831965/
November 16th, 2008 at 7:22 AM PST
I use TextExpander on my mac to email my pics to flickr with slbuzz (making a shortcut for the address). I have not tried to automate it more than that, but you should be able to do most of it with Automator.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:14 AM PST
Torly, you're a lifesaver! You're tips really enhance SLife for the average lazy otter :o]
November 16th, 2008 at 8:48 AM PST
I use PhraseExpress on my Windows partition, and it works great! Sadly, though, I also use a Linux partition (rarely, but I do) and I've yet to find a program like that for Linux. Regardless, it's a good time saver!
November 22nd, 2008 at 9:31 AM PST
@Kara: Yup, sounds like a Mac equivalent could be devised with some effort.
@Bo: Awe! Thanx!
@Jaymes: Yeah; I've heard of a lot of Linux automation @ Lifehacker, so it seems like there must be something, even if it's harder to use.
January 1st, 2009 at 1:16 PM PST
Thanks Torley! Great post, as usual. You can get your flikr pics to display in-world in six fantastic ways by adding http://secondlife.mitsi.com/flickr to your web profile and opening it. Just fill in your flickr path and press submit, then copy the URL back to your profile.
You can see my flikr if you just click the link above, and pick any of the examples. Enjoy!