Rearrange signal context menu

I certainly know someone who knew his way around the one at North Pole well enough to make it work for the first time in years. That woke them up a bit at Old Oak panel, I can tell you. I think you'd know the name Danny, but I won't out him publicly unless he's willing - if you want the contact. And it wouldn't surprise me if JRB on the Blower knew where to find out what you'd need to know. Of course, getting the describer units would be the other problem.

Shift+Right-click to Cancel a TD in a berth at that signal. As usual, press Enter or click OK to close the Interpose window. Naturally, this won't work if you have selected "Right-click cancels route" in F3 Options, since no context menu appears, which I guess is why the "I" key shortcut was introduced.

With the right click cancels route unchecked, pressing shift and rightclicking on the signal cancels the route (with right click cancels route checked it opens up the drop down list)
so by implementing this macro, you are now giving the sim contradicting information.

y10g9 wrote:
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With the right click cancels route unchecked, pressing shift and rightclicking on the signal cancels the route (with right click cancels route checked it opens up the drop down list)
so by implementing this macro, you are now giving the sim contradicting information.

You've got it the wrong way around. When Right-click cancels route is checked, right-clicking on the entry signal does not display a context menu; it simply cancels the route. The context menu does not open, so the extra macro commands have no effect. When the option is unchecked, right-clicking displays the context menu. The macros take advantage of this by sending extra commands to the context menu to open the Interpose window or Cancel the Train Description (not Cancel the Route). This works fine for me and suggests you have not actually tried out the macro but are theorising.

No "contradicting information" is being sent, unless you are implying that (shift+)left-clicking to cancel a train description conflicts with right-clicking to cancel a route. Note that macros function between the keyboard and the target application. In this instance AutoHotkey is very specific; it can distinguish between Left-click and Shift+Left-click, and between any old window and the View window, so what SimSig "sees" is what AutoHotkey sends it, in this case a Right-click to open the context menu and further commands to select Interpose or Cancel.

I've tried it and it does work, however y10g9's still has a point: Shift+Right click has already been allocated. Perhaps Ctrl+click?

I still don't understand why the macro is necessary though:

Your method: Move mouse to signal, press and hold shift key, click, enter description.
SimSig's method: Press I key, enter description, move mouse to signal, click.

Aren't they the same thing? Plus SimSig's method doesn't require any additional software to be set up.

Shift+Right click has already been allocated

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Shift+Right click has already been allocated

That's a new one to me. What does it do? No one's put that in the Shortcut Keys page in the Wiki. I don't use it myself.

I've never felt as comfortable using the I key method as 1) being right-handed, I have to reach across the keyboard with my left hand to find and press the I key instead of leaving my L hand on the home keys (all right, I could use my R hand for this but still have to find the key - it's unnatural for a touch typist), and 2) after typing in the headcode, I feel there's always a risk of clicking in the wrong place, then having to start all over again.

I still don't believe that most SimSig players place and remove Reminders more than they Interpose and Cancel TDs, as one person claimed. I find it amazing that so many people claim the current menu order suits them just fine.

Of course, the devs could also assign a mnemonic to this and other context items. Many app menus are rich in mnemonics and many (I'm thinking of my favourite text editors here) even have a special Options page for changing hotkeys, which suits those who need to adapt as well as macro writers.

It inverts the selection of 'Right click cancels route'. So if the box is ticked, Shift+R click displays the context menu.

And I don't care how many members of my personal fan club respond to this paragraph in unflattering ways.

But is there an even better solution?

Now you can try out various combinations until you find the one that suits you best.

If Mnemonics are what I think they are, the menus already contain them, by pressing the first letter of the menu item. The A key cancels the TD at that signal (C already being used on Cancel Route), and Auto Working does not have a key.

I take it 'Adapt to the interface provided and get lots of experience with it' isn't an acceptable combination? ;)

But you're absolutely correct, thank you again. A mnemonic is a mnemonic, Alt key or not. Well, now I feel a bigger fool than ever. Who could have guessed? Nothing about this in the Wiki - nothing in Keyboard Shortcuts, Train Describers, Setting and Cancelling Routes, etc., AFAIK. And worst of all, no underlined mnemonics in any of the menus! There is absolutely no excuse for this.

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I take it 'Adapt to the interface provided and get lots of experience with it' isn't an acceptable combination? ;)

If my job depended on not rocking the boat, then I might, and can understand how this attitude continues to colour exposure to new interfaces. However, once I cultivated an appreciation of good vs inadequate interface design, I stopped thinking like Clark Kent.

To be fair, mnemonics are underlined for common commands in F3, F6 and F4/TT editor.

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To be fair, mnemonics are underlined for common commands in F3, F6 and F4/TT editor.

When the main window (File - Show - Timetable, etc.) has focus (is the active window), holding down the Alt key brings out the Alt-mnemonics. So Alt-mnemonics and letter mnemonics do work in some parts of SimSig. However, there is a maddening inconsistency about some menus. For example, in the Timetable List, the first 4 tabs have mnemonics assigned, the remainder don't. But my greatest gripe is that pressing the Alt key fails to display mnemonics in so many other menus that one might be forgiven for thinking there were none. This applies particularly to the context menus within the View menu. Good god, if for some reason alt-mnemonics won't work here, at least the devs could permanently underline the relevant mnemonic.

Create three groups of three interlinked radio buttons (1,2,3 below) with the following dialogues:

Shift+Right-click: (1)Inverts R-clicking (2)Displays context menu (3)Cancels Train Description

Ctrl+Left-click: (1) Inverts R-clicking (2) Displays context menu (3) Cancels Train Description

Ctrl+Right-click: (1) Inverts R-clicking (2) Displays context menu (3) Cancels Train Description

so that each radio button function is linked to only one hotkey.

Now you can try out various combinations until you find the one that suits you best.

But the present interface is what you get in a real signalbox.

Would you have wanted to rely on a signalling system driven by Vista???

Much easier and less error-prone.

Thanks Keith for another scholarly post!


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But the present interface is what you get in a real signalbox.

Did you mean that "Right-click cancels route" and the wording and listing order of the various context menus in the View window was taken from the actual IECC panel (assuming that it has a r-click context menu)?
If so, that comes as a complete surprise to me, but goes a long way towards explaining the formidable resistance to change seen in this forum.