Can not get Hotkeys to work after update to KDE4

[Dan Johansson-6]

After updating from KDE3.5 to KDE4.3.1 I can not get my Hotkeys to work.
For example the following the following two Hotkeys
1) I want the <PrintScreen> button to start ksnapshot and I activated the
Printscreen action in System Settings -> Input Actions -> Preset Action ->
Printscreen.
2) I want to start dolphin when I press Win+E, and have defined an action in
System Settings -> Input Actions -> DJ -> Dolphin when pressing Win+E

But non of these works. Nothings happens when I press the keys.

Here is some output from xev when pressing PrintScreen and then Win+E
------------------------------------8<-----------------------------------
FocusOut event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x4c00001,
    mode NotifyGrab, detail NotifyAncestor

FocusIn event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x4c00001,
    mode NotifyUngrab, detail NotifyAncestor

KeymapNotify event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  2   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   8   0   0
           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

KeyRelease event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x4c00001,
    root 0x253, subw 0x0, time 61843589, (-314,-249), root:(2064,523),
    state 0x10, keycode 107 (keysym 0xff61, Print), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x4c00001,
    root 0x253, subw 0x0, time 61935723, (-315,-170), root:(2063,602),
    state 0x10, keycode 133 (keysym 0xffeb, Super_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x4c00001,
    root 0x253, subw 0x0, time 61935987, (-315,-170), root:(2063,602),
    state 0x50, keycode 26 (keysym 0x65, e), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (65) "e"
    XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (65) "e"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x4c00001,
    root 0x253, subw 0x0, time 61936067, (-315,-170), root:(2063,602),
    state 0x50, keycode 26 (keysym 0x65, e), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (65) "e"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x4c00001,
    root 0x253, subw 0x0, time 61936123, (-315,-170), root:(2063,602),
    state 0x50, keycode 133 (keysym 0xffeb, Super_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False
------------------------------------8<-----------------------------------
Any suggestions?

--
Dan Johansson, <http://www.dmj.nu>
***************************************************
This message is printed on 100% recycled electrons!
***************************************************
___________________________________________________
This message is from the kde mailing list.
Account management:  https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde.
Archives: http://lists.kde.org/.
More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.

[Duncan-2]

Dan Johansson posted on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:56:03 +0200 as excerpted:

> After updating from KDE3.5 to KDE4.3.1 I can not get my Hotkeys to work.
> For example the following the following two Hotkeys

> 1) I want the <PrintScreen> button to start ksnapshot and I activated
> the Printscreen action in
> System Settings -> Input Actions -> Preset Action -> Printscreen.

> 2) I want to start dolphin when I press Win+E, and have defined an
> action in
> System Settings -> Input Actions -> DJ -> Dolphin when pressing Win+E
>
> But non of these works. Nothings happens when I press the keys.
>
> Here is some output from xev when pressing PrintScreen and then Win+E

[snip xev output... the keys are indeed sensed correctly]

Hotkeys in kde4 are a bit of a mess.  First, the upgrade doesn't seem to
go quite right, leaving actions that appear to be registered but don't
work as they should (or at least that was the case here, and seems to be
what happened to you as well).  Second and the big issue for me,
multi-key hotkeys (such as: Win-X, E, aka Meta-E or for those with
internet/multimedia keyboards with lots of "extra" keys, XF86WWW, E)  
don't work in kde4 (but simple modifier plus normal key should work, so
for instance, Win-E, aka Meta-E).

That said, the keys you mention /should/ work.  It's just that the
configuration is a bit unintuitive, now, especially with the migrated
keys that don't migrate...

Here's what I had to do.  If you have a whole list of key settings, you
may wish to write them down elsewhere (on paper or in a normal text file
or something) to reenter, later.  Then all those preset actions... those
are the migrations from kde3 that don't seem to work at all, or at least
they didn't, here.  Delete them.  (If you wish, you can try unchecking
the preset actions checkbox, hitting OK, restarting kde just to be sure,
and checking it again then hitting OK, and restarting kde again, but that
didn't seem to do much here, altho that may be because many of mine were
multi-key, which as I said, don't work correctly in kde4 anyway.  I ended
up just deleting that whole set.)

Now, under keyboard and mouse, there's two separate sets of keyboard
actions configuration.  It's a bit hard to keep the three different
locations straight, but Standard Keyboard Shortcuts are the default per-
application settings.  Thus, if you change a setting here, it'll change
it in any kde app that has that action.  That's /not/ the one we want.

The other settings applet is Global keyboard shortcuts.  These are
actions that sort of apply to a single app, but they'll be sensed and
applied regardless of what app you happen to be in when you use the
shortcut.  This is where we want to set things up, and/or check and
perhaps remove some shortcuts.

In Global keyboard shortcuts, under kwin, there's two settings of
interest, Window Screenshot to Clipboard (which defaults to alt-print,
but that's not particularly suitable, since alt activates the SysRq key
on most x86 style keyboards, so alt-print never happens, because it's
SysRq instead), and Desktop screenshot to clipboard (which defaults to
Ctrl-Printscrn).  Depending on your preferences, these two MAY be
sufficient for you, such that you don't need ksnapshot after all.  If you
want ksnapshot, you'll set that elsewhere, and will probably want to
delete these two default entries.  If these suffice, you'll probably want
to change the Window screenshot to clipboard to something else, I used
meta-print (aka win-print), for the reasons outlined above.  Note that I
don't have anything assigned to simply print, as I want it a bit less
easy to trigger by accident than that, but YMMV.

Once you get that set to your preferences and applied/OKed, you can move
on to setting the app trigger keys.  There's two ways you can do this.  
One is to set them up basically manually, as direct Input Actions.  The
second is to set them up as shortcuts to the applications as they appear
in kickoff/kmenu/lancelot.

We'll take the second way first.  Right click on the menu (kmenu/lancelot/
kickoff/whatever) icon and select Menu Editor.  Find the application
entry you wish to have a shortcut, click on the advanced tab, and set the
shortcut key as appropriate.  If you want to setup shortcuts for multiple
apps, you can do so.  Of course you can make more major changes to your
menu here if desired as well, adding entries, moving them around, etc.  
When you are done, don't forget to hit Save, to apply your changes.

Now, back to Input Actions in system settings.  This is the one you were
in first, NOT either of the keyboard shortcut applets.  You should have a
kmenuedit entry there now.  Make sure it's checked to activate.  You can
expand the list and activate/deactivate individual entries as well, if
you like.  Hit OK.  At this point it's probably a good idea to restart
kde again, just to be sure the settings take.

The other alternative is to setup the app triggers as direct input
actions.  This you'd do in Input Actions.  I'd suggest creating your own
group, labeled with your initials or something, so kde doesn't try to
mess with it in future upgrades and you know it's your customized
actions.  Make sure it's enabled.  Right click on it and choose new,
global shortcut, command/url.  Type in the name of the action, probably
the name of the program you wish to start.  The trigger tab should be
active.  Add the shortcut you want.  Click on the action tab, and enter
the name of the command you wish to launch, along with any additional
parameters.  If you wish, you can add a comment on that tab, as well.  
Repeat this for additonal actions as necessary.  When you are done, don't
forget to apply the changes.

Whichever application trigger method you chose, kmenuedit or manual
entry, you can set Win-E for Dolphin.  Whether you set PrintScr for
ksnapshot or use the kwin desktop and window screenshot to clipboard
functions is up to you, but if you chose the ksnapshot way, once you
disabled the kwin global shortcuts if desired, you'd set the ksnapshot
launcher trigger just as you would any other launcher trigger, using
either the kmenuedit or manual entry method described above.

--
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

___________________________________________________
This message is from the kde mailing list.
Account management:  https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde.
Archives: http://lists.kde.org/.
More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.

[Dan Johansson-6]

On Sunday 25 October 2009 10.59:56 Duncan wrote:

> Dan Johansson posted on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:56:03 +0200 as excerpted:
> > After updating from KDE3.5 to KDE4.3.1 I can not get my Hotkeys to work.
> > For example the following the following two Hotkeys
> >
> > 1) I want the <PrintScreen> button to start ksnapshot and I activated
> > the Printscreen action in
> > System Settings -> Input Actions -> Preset Action -> Printscreen.
> >
> > 2) I want to start dolphin when I press Win+E, and have defined an
> > action in
> > System Settings -> Input Actions -> DJ -> Dolphin when pressing Win+E
> >
> > But non of these works. Nothings happens when I press the keys.
> >
> > Here is some output from xev when pressing PrintScreen and then Win+E
>
> [snip xev output... the keys are indeed sensed correctly]
>
> Hotkeys in kde4 are a bit of a mess.  First, the upgrade doesn't seem to
> go quite right, leaving actions that appear to be registered but don't
> work as they should (or at least that was the case here, and seems to be
> what happened to you as well).  Second and the big issue for me,
> multi-key hotkeys (such as: Win-X, E, aka Meta-E or for those with
> internet/multimedia keyboards with lots of "extra" keys, XF86WWW, E)
> don't work in kde4 (but simple modifier plus normal key should work, so
> for instance, Win-E, aka Meta-E).
>
> That said, the keys you mention /should/ work.  It's just that the
> configuration is a bit unintuitive, now, especially with the migrated
> keys that don't migrate...
>
> Here's what I had to do.  If you have a whole list of key settings, you
> may wish to write them down elsewhere (on paper or in a normal text file
> or something) to reenter, later.  Then all those preset actions... those
> are the migrations from kde3 that don't seem to work at all, or at least
> they didn't, here.  Delete them.  (If you wish, you can try unchecking
> the preset actions checkbox, hitting OK, restarting kde just to be sure,
> and checking it again then hitting OK, and restarting kde again, but that
> didn't seem to do much here, altho that may be because many of mine were
> multi-key, which as I said, don't work correctly in kde4 anyway.  I ended
> up just deleting that whole set.)
>
> Now, under keyboard and mouse, there's two separate sets of keyboard
> actions configuration.  It's a bit hard to keep the three different
> locations straight, but Standard Keyboard Shortcuts are the default per-
> application settings.  Thus, if you change a setting here, it'll change
> it in any kde app that has that action.  That's /not/ the one we want.
>
> The other settings applet is Global keyboard shortcuts.  These are
> actions that sort of apply to a single app, but they'll be sensed and
> applied regardless of what app you happen to be in when you use the
> shortcut.  This is where we want to set things up, and/or check and
> perhaps remove some shortcuts.
>
> In Global keyboard shortcuts, under kwin, there's two settings of
> interest, Window Screenshot to Clipboard (which defaults to alt-print,
> but that's not particularly suitable, since alt activates the SysRq key
> on most x86 style keyboards, so alt-print never happens, because it's
> SysRq instead), and Desktop screenshot to clipboard (which defaults to
> Ctrl-Printscrn).  Depending on your preferences, these two MAY be
> sufficient for you, such that you don't need ksnapshot after all.  If you
> want ksnapshot, you'll set that elsewhere, and will probably want to
> delete these two default entries.  If these suffice, you'll probably want
> to change the Window screenshot to clipboard to something else, I used
> meta-print (aka win-print), for the reasons outlined above.  Note that I
> don't have anything assigned to simply print, as I want it a bit less
> easy to trigger by accident than that, but YMMV.
>
> Once you get that set to your preferences and applied/OKed, you can move
> on to setting the app trigger keys.  There's two ways you can do this.
> One is to set them up basically manually, as direct Input Actions.  The
> second is to set them up as shortcuts to the applications as they appear
> in kickoff/kmenu/lancelot.
>
> We'll take the second way first.  Right click on the menu (kmenu/lancelot/
> kickoff/whatever) icon and select Menu Editor.  Find the application
> entry you wish to have a shortcut, click on the advanced tab, and set the
> shortcut key as appropriate.  If you want to setup shortcuts for multiple
> apps, you can do so.  Of course you can make more major changes to your
> menu here if desired as well, adding entries, moving them around, etc.
> When you are done, don't forget to hit Save, to apply your changes.

This did it, my shortcuts are now working (:-)

> Now, back to Input Actions in system settings.  This is the one you were
> in first, NOT either of the keyboard shortcut applets.  You should have a
> kmenuedit entry there now.  Make sure it's checked to activate.  You can
> expand the list and activate/deactivate individual entries as well, if
> you like.  Hit OK.  At this point it's probably a good idea to restart
> kde again, just to be sure the settings take.

Yepp, my shortcuts are there!

> The other alternative is to setup the app triggers as direct input
> actions.  This you'd do in Input Actions.  I'd suggest creating your own
> group, labeled with your initials or something, so kde doesn't try to
> mess with it in future upgrades and you know it's your customized
> actions.  Make sure it's enabled.  Right click on it and choose new,
> global shortcut, command/url.  Type in the name of the action, probably
> the name of the program you wish to start.  The trigger tab should be
> active.  Add the shortcut you want.  Click on the action tab, and enter
> the name of the command you wish to launch, along with any additional
> parameters.  If you wish, you can add a comment on that tab, as well.
> Repeat this for additonal actions as necessary.  When you are done, don't
> forget to apply the changes.

For some reason this does not work for me, no big problem at the moment as the
method of setting the shortcuts in kmenuedit works.

> Whichever application trigger method you chose, kmenuedit or manual
> entry, you can set Win-E for Dolphin.  Whether you set PrintScr for
> ksnapshot or use the kwin desktop and window screenshot to clipboard
> functions is up to you, but if you chose the ksnapshot way, once you
> disabled the kwin global shortcuts if desired, you'd set the ksnapshot
> launcher trigger just as you would any other launcher trigger, using
> either the kmenuedit or manual entry method described above.

Thanks Duncan for your input.

--
Dan Johansson, <http://www.dmj.nu>
***************************************************
This message is printed on 100% recycled electrons!
***************************************************
___________________________________________________
This message is from the kde mailing list.
Account management:  https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde.
Archives: http://lists.kde.org/.
More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.