Weird Alt Key Behavior

[Zero]

A lot of the time, when I press the alt key to activate the hotkeys for the menus at the top, MC will act like I'm holding the alt key down still when I hit my hotkeys. For example, I can tap the alt key, wait 5 seconds or so, hit C to activate the Create menu and the open chook dialog box will come up

I don't see this behavior happening in any other programs on this computer, just MC Anyone else experiencing weird alt key behavior?

[Steve Biehl - Cimquest Inc]

Zero,

it is dependant on the location of the mouse. Alt in the graphics area is something different then Alt with mouse in the menu/icon area.

[El Scotthead]

From my experience, if you hit Shift+Alt, it always gives you the menu option, regardless of mouse position. Example, to get the create menu, hit Shift+Alt+C. I got used to hitting Shift with my pinky while hitting Alt with my thumb and C(or A or S or X) with my index finger.

 

HTH

 

scott

[Zero]

quote:

---

Zero,

it is dependant on the location of the mouse. Alt in the graphics area is something different then Alt with mouse in the menu/icon area.

---

Really? I find it to be more of a random thing than mouse dependant. I'm aware that having my mouse in the toolpath/solids manager area will change things, but alt then s with my cursor in the graphics area will half the time give me the solids menu and the other half turn my shading on/off (which is supposed to be alt+s). Hovering the mouse over the toolbars or top menu rather than the graphics area seems to make no difference on my box . Sometimes I cant get shading to turn on/off at all and alt+s will only open the solids menu untill I hit esc a million times or minimize and re-maximize the MC window...again, getting the alt key combos to work properly again once things get screwey is another hit or miss kinda thing, sometimes esc a few times will get everything back to normal and sometimes not.

 

 

scott, thanks for the shift+alt+key suggestion, Ill give that a try. Seems like it might be a PITA when you have to hit alt then h or any other key on the other side of the keyboard, but its better than having it work half the time I guess...

[mcpgmr]

Zero, Sounds like you got a sticky key. Hope that's all it is.

[El Scotthead]

quote:

---

Seems like it might be a PITA

---

Sometimes. The only ones I really can't reach are M(machine type), I(settings), and H(help). and I don't use them enough to worry about it.

[CH]

if you go to startsettingscontrol panelAccessibility Options check to see if it is set to "sticky keys" if it is , uncheck it.

[Zero]

quote:

---

if you go to startsettingscontrol panelAccessibility Options check to see if it is set to "sticky keys" if it is , uncheck it.

---

Windows "sticky keys" have been turned off on this box from the day I installed XP.

 

 

quote:

---

Sounds like you got a sticky key. Hope that's all it is.

---

That was my first thought as well, but changing keyboards has no effect, and as I said before, I don't see this behavior in any other programs besides MC. So you guys are saying that you've never experienced this?

[jctjct]

I have a few alt + (number) mapped to do certain things, and they don't always do what I have told them to - regardless of where my mouse icon is at. When the mouse is in the graphics area sometimes it will try to do a menu pulldown anyway, but not consistant enough to put my finger on what causes it. I guess my problem is the opposite of the thread topic, but I see a pattern.

[kkominiarek]

zero....3 years later and i am having this problem....exactly the way you describe it.

 

my alt works fine in all other apps.....it's random in mcam.

 

some users/developers may say...ahhh it's just the alt key...live with it....it's no biggie....well to me it is, i use the alt key constantly, when it doesn't work the way it is designed to...i have to alter my creating geometry or programming habits.

 

it is 1 key out of many, but i wish there was a fix for it.

[Mjölnir]

I've had random semi-responsive alt key weirdness too. Random enough that I haven't been able to pin down the sequence of events which cause it.

 

Until today that is. After using my middle mouse button to pan (I don't do it often 'cause it's hard to press the scroll wheel like a button, requires much more pressure) I couldn't use the menus at all with the alt key, only the mouse. Exit Mastercam and relaunch and all was fine until panning with the mouse again.

 

To hear that CNC Software is talking about the up coming X3 when X2 is still riddled with bugs is rather disturbing.

 

Feh.

[Mike S @ S4A]

This has nothing to do with Mastercam bugs and everything to to with alternate function modality. the alt key enables alternate function access. When pressed it becomes active, waiting on a keystroke to combine with. If you've pressed it and don't want it, press escape (esc).

Mastercam cursor focus and multiple menu options just add more possible variables to the equation.

(ref Steve's post above)