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I am using the Emacs keybinding on Komodo IDE where Komodo uses the command key for "Meta" by default. So you press Command-X when you normally press Alt+X for Emacs on Linux.

I want to use the actual Alt key .. so when I tried to assign Alt+K, Komodo informs that "This key combination is not available" (see screenshot below)

Komodo Preferences Dialog screenshot http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/87045/permalinks/komodo-alt-key.png

How do I use the Alt key in Komodo? Is it possible?

Sridhar Ratnakumar
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  • It is perhaps a shame you added a bounty to this here, as by the looks of it it might have found a better home on superuser... I can't see any programming? – Marc Gravell Sep 29 '09 at 19:51
  • Not *very much* related to programming (besides the fact that Komodo itself is a programming IDE). Ideally, a better home should be this: http://bugs.activestate.com/show_bug.cgi?id=84784 :-) – Sridhar Ratnakumar Sep 30 '09 at 16:40

2 Answers2

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On the Mac the Option/Alt key is used to quickly enter non-ASCII characters. Komodo provides a few bindings involving control keys, like Alt+Return to edit a file's properties, but it stays away from the Alt/Option key for the most part.

I tried binding [Go to file...] to Cmd+Alt+K. The preferences dialog accepted it (although it said it was first bound to Cmd+¬, and later said it was bound to Cmd+Alt+Û, both of which gave me the feeling that the binding would fail to work. There have been Mozilla bugs dealing with inconsistencies in keybindings on OS X, and we're seeing that here.

Komodo will also let you create keybindings using combinations of the Command, Control, and Shift keys -- I would stick with those, and leave the Alt key for entering non-ASCII characters.

Eric
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One can workaround this behavior using ControllerMate or a similar tool:

  • Create a new Driver Configuration for your normal keyboard
  • In that configuration, swap the Option and Command keys
  • Disable this new configuration
  • Create a new ControllerMate page
  • Add an Application Block to that page which only triggers when Komodo IDE is running in the foreground
  • Add a Properties Block connected to the Application Block which enables your Driver Configuration.

Thus, when Komodo IDE is running in the foreground, ControllerMate swaps Command and Option, giving you the Meta behavior you get everywhere else in OS X.

mndrix
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