Question

I’ve hated the fact that I have to use the alt key to cmd+tab to hidden windows ever since I switched to MAC.
I know there are apps ( like witch ) that replace the cmd+tab function but I like the current interface I don’t want to change that. besides that I just want to build the apple script for it 🙂

So here is what I want to create:

when I press cmd+tap -> keydown alt

Then when I then release cmd it should release the alt key.

The result would be I never have to press the alt key again when switching to ‘hidden’ windows. Much like other OS systems.

But it looks to me like all apple scripts start with tell application

Answer 1

It isn’t posible to detect key presses by the user in applescript. You can press keys programmatically though. To solve your problem of holding down a key use the “key down” command and issue the “key up” command when you need to release it. That will work in any application. Here’s an example.

tell application "KeyboardViewer" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    try --don't even consider not using a try block because down keys can get stuck!
        key down control
        delay 1
        key down shift
        delay 1
        key down option
        delay 1
        key down command
        delay 1
        key up control
        delay 1
        key up shift
        delay 1
        key up option
        delay 1
        key up command
        delay 1
        key down {control, shift, option, command}
        delay 1
        key up {control, shift, option, command}
    on error --logging out is the only other way to unstick these
        key up {control, shift, option, command}
    end try
end tell
tell application "KeyboardViewer" to quit

NOTE: you could also use the “keystroke” command if you wanted to sequentially press and release some keys. For example to press command-s you could do the following:

tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "s" using command down
end tell