Leaderless setup with HotKeyNet

[Anemo]

With a lot of help from Freddie I have managed to get a Focusless/Targetless/Leaderless setup working using Hotkeynet. All the theory and macros behind it are the same as the original FTL setup which can be found here. so I won't go into too much detail apart from the hotkeynet setup.

For those that don't use hotkeynet already I'll give a few examples on the initial setup required for launching your WoW clients, setting window sizes and locations etc. This same setup can be used on any number of WoW client's even spread over various PC's. One thing to keep in mind is that you will always need to use the same wow account on specific wow windows. ie username 'anemo' is linked to wow1 and this setup wont function correctly if 'anemo' ever logs onto another wow window.

The theory behind it is that you can press any normal hotkey ie '1' on any window or PC and it will send a different keypress to initiate a macro which determines which character needs to be assisted.

Any window presses '1' > Hidden key + modifiers sent to all other windows > Macro assists active window's character


Initial setup and launching

All hotkeynet functions are programmed through a hotkey file which is generally just a plain text file. All the below code can be pasted into notepad and saved anywhere and loaded into hotkeynet. If you are using multiple PC's like me you will need to load the same hotkey file on each of your PC's.

This is the code I use to launch my 5 WoW clients on their respective computers and have the windows renamed to wowx when the hotkey combination of Shift + Esc is pressed.

<Hotkey Lshift ESC>
    <sendpc Local>
    <Run "C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\wow.exe">
        <RenameTargetWin wow1>
    <sendpc 192.168.1.12>
    <Run "c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\wow.exe">
        <RenameTargetWin wow2>
    <sendpc 192.168.1.2>
    <Run "c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft3\wow.exe">
        <RenameTargetWin wow3>
    <RemoveWinFrame>
      <SetWinPos 960 0>
      <SetWinSize 960 600>
    <Run "c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft4\wow.exe">
        <RenameTargetWin wow4>
    <RemoveWinFrame>
      <SetWinPos 0 600>
      <SetWinSize 960 600>
    <Run "c:\Program Files\World of Warcraft5\wow.exe">
        <RenameTargetWin wow5>
    <RemoveWinFrame>
      <SetWinPos 960 600>
      <SetWinSize 960 600>

This sends the open and rename commands to each computer and for the 3 clients on 1 PC also sets window size and positions them accordingly. For those running all cients on 1 PC the only adjustments required would be to change the <sendpc IP> to <SendPC Local> and add the <SetWinSize> etc functions to all clients with different sizes/positions.

Broadcasting mouse clicks

Hotkeynet is also able to broadcast mouse clicks. I have mine setup so alt + left/middle/right mouse button will broadcast left/right/middle clicks. I use this mostly for healing using

Clique but it also works perfectly for mass clicking on NPC's and Quest text/reward selections. The only real requirement is that all your WoW windows are in the same ratio. My main window

is 1920x1200 and slave windows are generally 960x600 and it remains super accurate.

<Hotkey LAlt RButton>
      <SendPC local>
             <SendWinm "wow2">
                  <ClickMouse RButton>
          <SendWinm "wow3">
                  <ClickMouse RButton>
     <SendWinm "wow4">
                  <ClickMouse RButton>
     <SendWinm "wow5">
          <ClickMouse RButton>

Picture in Picture (window swapping)
Coming soon

Leaderless PC setup

Here is the hotkey file I'm using for my leaderless setup. It is setup with the exact same modifier combination as the wiki post and can use all the same macros.

<command main1>
<SendPC Local>
<SendwinM wow1> 
<Key %all%>

<command assist1>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWinM wow2> 
<Key ctrl shift %1%>
<SendWinM wow3> 
<Key ctrl shift %1%>
<SendWinM wow4> 
<Key ctrl shift %1%>
<SendWinM wow5> 
<Key ctrl shift %1%>

<command main2>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow2> 
         <Key %all%>

<command assist2>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow1> 
<Key ctrl alt %1%>
<SendWinM wow3> 
     <Key ctrl alt %1%>
<SendWinM wow4> 
     <Key ctrl alt %1%>
<SendWinM wow5> 
         <Key ctrl alt %1%>

<command main3>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow3> 
     <Key %all%>

<command assist3>
<SendWin wow1> 
<Key alt shift %1%>
<SendWin wow2> 
     <Key alt shift %1%>
<SendWinM wow4> 
            <Key alt shift %1%>
<SendWinM wow5> 
            <Key alt shift %1%>

<command main4>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow4> 
        <Key %all%>

<command assist4>
<SendWin wow1> 
<Key ctrl alt shift %2%>
<SendWin wow2> 
        <Key ctrl alt shift %2%>
<SendWinM wow3> 
        <Key ctrl alt shift %2%>
<SendWinM wow5> 
        <Key ctrl alt shift %2%>

<command main5>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow5> 
        <Key %all%>

<command assist5>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow1> 
<Key ctrl %2%>
<SendWin wow2> 
        <Key ctrl %2%>
<SendWinM wow3> 
        <Key ctrl %2%>
<SendWinM wow4> 
        <Key ctrl %2%>

This probably looks a bit daunting at first but you don't actually have to pay too much attention to this part of the code. If you run all your wow clients on the one PC you can just copy this code and forget it.

Setting up your hotkeys and hidden macro keys

The second party of the code is what links your main button press with the 'hidden' macro key of your choice. This example is setup so if the button '1' is pressed on any WoW window it will send the keypress '1' to itself and send the 'hidden' macro key of 't' to all other windows + the modifiers used to tell each client which character to assist. With my current setup you can uses modifiers on your 'main' keys like shift + 1 but it will require its own hidden macro key.

<Hotkey 1>
<If ActiveWinIs wow1> <Main1 %trigger%><Assist1 t>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow2> <Main2 %trigger%><Assist2 t>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow3> <Main3 %trigger%><Assist3 t>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow4> <Main4 %trigger%><Assist4 t>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow5> <Main5 %trigger%><Assist5 t>

<Hotkey shift 1>
<If ActiveWinIs wow1> <Main1 %trigger%><Assist1 u>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow2> <Main2 %trigger%><Assist2 u>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow3> <Main3 %trigger%><Assist3 u>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow4> <Main4 %trigger%><Assist4 u>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow5> <Main5 %trigger%><Assist5 u>

You can repeat this code for any other keys you wish to have broadcast. The only parts you will need to edit in each line are the <hotkey x> and the hidden key of t or u in the examples.

Macros

This is an example macro taken from the wiki with the wow window names instead of character names. In this case this macro would be bound to 't' on all clients and the normal Lightning Bolt spell would be bound to '1'.

/assist 
[mod:ctrl,mod:shift,nomod:alt]wow1;
[mod:ctrl,mod:alt,nomod:shift]wow2;
[mod:alt,mod:shift,nomod:ctrl]wow3;
[mod:ctrl,mod:alt,mod:shift]wow4;
[mod:ctrl,nomod:alt,nomod:shift]wow5
/cast [harm] Lightning Bolt
/targetlasttarget

No hidden key version

I just found out you can actually do away with a lot of the hidden key idea (still need for shift + mod on main keys). You would put this macro on your '1' key for all characters as it will still function as a non assisted cast on whichever window has focus.

/assist [mod:ctrl,mod:shift,nomod:alt]CharA;
[mod:ctrl,mod:alt,nomod:shift]CharB;
[mod:alt,mod:shift,nomod:ctrl]CharC;
[mod:ctrl,mod:alt,mod:shift]CharD;
[mod:ctrl,nomod:alt,nomod:shift]CharE
/cast [nomod, harm] Lightning Bolt; [mod:shift, harm] Chain Lightning

You would have to edit your hotkey code to be:

<Hotkey 1>
<If ActiveWinIs wow1> <Main1 %trigger%><Assist1 1>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow2> <Main2 %trigger%><Assist2 1>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow3> <Main3 %trigger%><Assist3 1>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow4> <Main4 %trigger%><Assist4 1>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow5> <Main5 %trigger%><Assist5 1>

You will still require the previous code with a modifier for the shift + 1 hotkey. The macro on your hidden kill would only contain the /cast Chain Lightning, none of the [nomod] part.

I'm not sure how well I have explained all of this, I mainly wanted to show that it is possible to do with hotkeynet. I haven't done extensive testing with the wow maintenance last night so there may well be mistakes. I will update this post as much as I can, I'm currently editing it inbetween phone calls at work so hopefully I haven't missed anything major.

[olipcs]

Congrats mate for the effort and the good explaining! (Much mor better than my in the wiki...)

Very promising to see an implementation of the ftl with another broadcasting software than keyclone.
(although I like keyclone, but more options is allways god to spread the word )

One little question i had, when i read it (because i never realy have used hotkeynet) is the following:

When you use the following to define your modifier combination:

<command assist1>
   	<SendPC Local>
          	<Sendwin wow1> 
                	<Key %1%>
          	<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
               	<SendWin wow2> 
          	<Key ctrl shift %2%>
...

Are the %1% and %2% variables of the assist command (like in a batchfile)?
So that when you call the assist-command like:

<Hotkey 1>
<If ActiveWinIs wow1> <Assist1 %trigger% t>
..

..it substitutes %1% with the trigger '1' and %2% with 't'?

- if this is the case, its so much beauty, that i have to try it
Because what this realy means is, that the definition of your modifier combination would be independent from the definition of the master and slave keys, which in my opinion would lead to a simpler setup of the system. beautiful :thumbup:

So you only need to define 5 new lines for a a new master - slave -comnination I like it!

Again, thank you for your good work!
I was so free and added a short note to the wiki, with a link to this thread. Hope this is ok for you?
(Perhaps I will also include the basics in the wiki, but this would mean to change the structure of the wiki thread a little..)

[Vyndree]

Moved to the software forum (though it's debatable whether it should be in the addons & macros forum).

I'd be very interested in seeing this thread get migrated to a page in our wiki. *hint hint, nudge nudge*

[Tasty]

*hint hint, nudge nudge*

I could be wrong but I think Vyn's asking if its okay if she migrates this to the wiki for you... again I could be wrong

[Anemo]

The %1% and %2% actually just call the 1st and 2nd value after the assist1 command

So <Assist1 "firstvalue" "secondvalue" will replace any %1% with 'firstvalue' and so on.

In my case the first value is always %trigger% which just fills in which hotkey was pressed to save writting it out each time. For button #1 <assist1 1 t> actually does the same thing.

This is what broke my setup when using a shift + key modifier since it would then read <assist1 shift 1 t> ends up attempting to send only shift to the main window and mods + 1 to the others rather than t. I have got this working fine but is a little messy, I had to create <assistmod> commands to use instead and including a %3% variable.

This explains it better than I can

I'm more than happy for anyone to link this or put it on the wiki, I'll even do it myself if needed :P

[olipcs]

Thank you Anemo, than i understood the %1% and %2% correctly (sorry i'm so an HotKeyNet-Noob)

...the more i read about it, i want to try it
..another great thing, which should be possible with this (and not with keyclone) is to differentiate between ingoing and outgoing hotstrings (like requested here: [Keyclone] Feature Request: differentiation of ingoing and outgoing hotstrings)

..argh, its a shame i can't test it till thursday evening, cause i have to work and tonight is my ad&d-night

@the wiki-veterans: Would you support a new category on the frontpage for different targeting system (like ftl, focus-based ...), as discussed here: Wiki Category - Targeting setups. ?

[Freddie]

I'm not sure how well I have explained all of this...

Holy smokes, Anemo, you did a phenomenal job! Thanks so much! I'm really blown away by the amount of work you did and how excellent it is.

HotkeyNet is almost finished but one of the things I need to do before the beta ends is improve its ability to send ctrl, alt, and shift to WoW when it's in a background window. That may affect this kind of script, so if anyone has problems, please let me know and I'll try to finish this last bit of work right away.

..another great thing, which should be possible with this (and not with keyclone) is to differentiate between ingoing and outgoing hotstrings

I'm not sure about the terminology, but with HotkeyNet, the trigger (the keys you press with your fingers) and the resulting action (in this case, keystrokes that get sent to WoW) are completely independent. They can be the same or different -- it's up to you. And the action can be any sort of action or combination of actions or conditionally executed actions, not just sending keystrokes. This is a general-purpose program, not just a multiboxing program, so you can tell it to do a lot of different things.

..Are the %1% and %2% variables of the assist command (like in a batchfile)?

They are very much like variables in a function call, and you can think of them that way. (But the values of these variables are always a piece of text that you wrote in your script, so really they are text-substitution macros.)

- if this is the case, its so much beauty, that i have to try it

I'm glad to hear it strikes you that way. During the course of HotkeyNet's beta test, as the program grew, I tried to keep the script language simple but powerful. Sometimes I think I tried too hard to hide the program's complexity from the user, which paradoxically can make things harder, but I guess it's normal to look back when a project is almost finished and feel doubtful about some of the decisions that got made.

[olipcs]

Couldn't resist and squeeze 1h of from work, to give it a go...

..first of all, a big thank you,Freddie, for the massive informations on the hotkey.net website, i could get hotkey working, with almost every function i use (maximizer, switching-regions, do-not-pass-list, and the ftl-setup) in under an hour, and there are only some little features i must transistion from my keyclone-behavior to hotkeynet. (But as i see the power of the scripting language, this should no problem..)

So i logged on, and testet simple following and targeting, and all worked great! -I had no problems at all, and will for (atleat an 2weeks testing period) use it in the future (which means for you, that i might have some specific questions ).

So again, big thanks for your effort Anemo!

-Sorry, I have to go to my ad&d session, so more testing will be done tomorrow...

PS: Only thing i noticed is, that keclone was a little bit faster in region-switching, but this could be because i simply hacked the one i used together from the hotkeynet reference.

[Anemo]

I looks like I might have to get around to putting it on the wiki, I've exceeded the 10k character limit

I'll post a few more changes in here for now.

Broadcasting mouse clicks

Hotkeynet is also able to broadcast mouse clicks. I have mine setup so alt + left/middle/right mouse button will broadcast left/right/middle clicks. I use this mostly for healing using

Clique but it also works perfectly for mass clicking on NPC's and Quest text/reward selections. The only real requirement is that all your WoW windows are in the same ratio. My main window

is 1920x1200 and slave windows are generally 960x600 and it remains super accurate.

<Hotkey LAlt RButton>
 	     <SendPC local>
     	        <SendWinm "wow2">
          	        <ClickMouse RButton>
     	     <SendWinm "wow3">
          	        <ClickMouse RButton>
     	<SendWinm "wow4">
          	        <ClickMouse RButton>
     	<SendWinm "wow5">
          	<ClickMouse RButton>

Just copy and replace Rbutton with Lbutton or Mbutton for left/middle mouse clicks where required.




Using modifiers

To allow the use of modifiers on your broadcasting keys like 1 a bit more code is required. This is how mine is setup which will allow use of any single modifier (ctrl, alt or shift). Keep in mind that each modifier combination will need its own hidden macro key.

<command assistmod1>
<SendPC Local>
<Sendwin wow1> 
<Key %1% %2%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<SendWin wow2> 
<Key ctrl shift %3%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow3> 
<Key ctrl shift %3%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow4> 
<Key ctrl shift %3%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow5> 
<Key ctrl shift %3%>

<command assistmod2>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<SendWin wow1> 
<Key ctrl alt %3%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow2> 
         <Key %1% %2%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow3> 
         <Key ctrl alt %3%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow4> 
         <Key ctrl alt %3%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow5> 
         <Key ctrl alt %3%>

<command assistmod3>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<SendWin wow1> 
<Key alt shift %3%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<SendWin wow2> 
         <Key alt shift %3%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow3> 
         <Key %1% %2%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWinM wow4> 
         <Key alt shift %3%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWinM wow5> 
         <Key alt shift %3%>

<command assistmod4>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<SendWin wow1> 
<Key ctrl alt shift %3%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<SendWin wow2> 
         <Key ctrl alt shift %3%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWinM wow3> 
         <Key ctrl alt shift %3%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow4> 
         <Key %1% %2%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWinM wow5> 
         <Key ctrl alt shift %3%>

<command assistmod5>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<SendWin wow1> 
<Key ctrl %3%>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<SendWin wow2> 
         <Key ctrl %3%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWinM wow3> 
         <Key ctrl %3%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWinM wow4> 
         <Key ctrl %3%>
<SendPC Local>
<SendWin wow5> 
         <Key %1% %2%>

The keys are setup individually in the same way only using AssistModx instead.

<<Hotkey shift 1>
<If ActiveWinIs wow1> <Assistmod1 %trigger% g>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow2> <Assistmod2 %trigger% g>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow3> <Assistmod3 %trigger% g>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow4> <Assistmod4 %trigger% g>
<Else If ActiveWinIs wow5> <Assistmod5 %trigger% g>

Movement keys and formations

Movement keys are handled a bit differently in Hotkeynet as they are required to be held down rather than a simple single press.

This is how I have setup my formation at the moment. It will send 1 character forward, 1 backward, 1 left and 1 right depending on who is the leader (leader remains stationary)

<hotkey r>
<If ActiveWinIs wow1>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<SendWinM wow2> 
<Keydown left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow3> 
<Keydown right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow4> 
<Keydown up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow5> 
<Keydown down>

<Else If ActiveWinIs wow2>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<sendwinM wow1>
<Keydown left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinM wow3>
<Keydown right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinM wow4>
<Keydown up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinM wow5>
<Keydown down>

<Else If ActiveWinIs wow3>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<sendwinM wow1>
<Keydown left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<sendwinm wow2>
<Keydown right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow4>
<Keydown up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow5>
<Keydown down>

<Else If ActiveWinIs wow4>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<sendwinm wow1>
<Keydown left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<sendwinm wow2>
<Keydown right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow3>
<Keydown up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow5>
<Keydown down>

<Else If ActiveWinIs wow5>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<sendwinm wow1>
<Keydown left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<sendwinm wow2>
<Keydown right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow3>
<Keydown up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow4>
<Keydown down>


<hotkeyup r>
<If ActiveWinIs wow1>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<SendWinm wow2> 
<Keyup left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow3> 
<Keyup right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow4> 
<Keyup up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<SendWinM wow5> 
<Keyup down>

<Else If ActiveWinIs wow2>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<sendwinm wow1>
<Keyup left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow3>
<Keyup right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow4>
<Keyup up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow5>
<Keyup down>

<Else If ActiveWinIs wow3>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<sendwinm wow1>
<Keyup left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<sendwinm wow2>
<Keyup right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow4>
<Keyup up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow5>
<Keyup down>

<Else If ActiveWinIs wow4>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<sendwinm wow1>
<Keyup left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<sendwinm wow2>
<Keyup right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow3>
<Keyup up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow5>
<Keyup down>

<Else If ActiveWinIs wow5>
<SendPC 192.168.1.11>
<sendwinm wow1>
<Keyup left>
<SendPC 192.168.1.12>
<sendwinm wow2>
<Keyup right>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow3>
<Keyup up>
<SendPC 192.168.1.2>
<sendwinm wow4>
<Keyup down>

As you can see it really is very similar to all the other hotkeys just seperated into keydown and keyup. The other difference is I'm using specific keys rather than the 'macros' (%x%) since

I will only ever have one formation key and its unlikely to change.

The same principles could be used for functions like having all slave characters turn while a button is held or plenty of other formation types using walk etc




A lot of my code may be a bit bloated but hopefully it is enough of an example for people with more experience to improve on (not hard since I have no coding knowledge at all)

[Freddie]

[quote='olipcs',index.php?page=Thread&postID=138198 #post138198]..first of all, a big thank you,Freddie, for the massive informations on the hotkey.net website, i could get hotkey working, with almost every function i use (maximizer, switching-regions, do-not-pass-list, and the ftl-setup) in under an hour, and there are only some little features i must transistion from my keyclone-behavior to hotkeynet. (But as i see the power of the scripting language, this should no problem..)[/quote]
That's excellent news! I'm delighted to hear that.

[quote='olipcs',index.php?page=Thread&postID=138198 #post138198]..So i logged on, and testet simple following and targeting, and all worked great! -I had no problems at all, and will for (atleat an 2weeks testing period) use it in the future (which means for you, that i might have some specific questions ).[/quote]
I really appreciate that you're willing to spend two weeks testing. That's terrific. Of course, any suggestions or problems or questions, fire away.

[quote='olipcs',index.php?page=Thread&postID=138198 #post138198]..PS: Only thing i noticed is, that keclone was a little bit faster in region-switching, but this could be because i simply hacked the one i used together from the hotkeynet reference.[/quote]
I'm very glad you told me this. Now that I know, I'd like to speed this up before the beta ends. Maybe, if you get a chance, you could help me figure out the cause. A little background:

The commands used in the sample script (SetWinRegion, SetWinSize, etc.) are just wrappers for operating system functions. For example, when you write "SetWinRegion" in a script, you're just calling the operating system function SetWindowRgn. When you write "SetWinPos," you're calling the operating system function MoveWindow. And so forth. Programmers sometimes call this "exposing" features to the user. HotkeyNet "exposes" the operating system functions to you.

Now, I can think of two reasons why Keyclone is faster:

1. The sample script uses a less-than-optimal set of commands or uses them in a less-than-optimal order. This is quite possible since I wrote the sample script very fast and didn't experiment very much.

2. Keyclone may use a method that isn't exposed by the set of wrappers I implemented. For example, there's a "mirroring" API in Windows that could possibly be used for this purpose.

It would be great if you could help me figure out which of these is the explanation, and then I'll improve the program.

One other thing. There are two relevant commands (i.e. wrapped operating system functions) in HotkeyNet that might be useful here which I didn't use in the sample. They're called [url='http://www.hotkeynet.com/ref/setwinredraw.html']SetWinRedraw[/url] and UpdateWin. I think maybe region changes might be faster if (a) you turn screen redrawing off for the affected windows, (b) resize and reposition and re-region them, (c) turn redrawing back on, and (d) redraw all the windows to reflect the new state.