Access Menu & Navigate - Keyboard only - NOOB question

[kamelie1706]

hi,

I like to use the mac with only keyboard on my legs. I could not figure out how to access and navigate top menu with the keyboard only.

When I click the menu, I can not navigate with arrow keys.

Probably NOOB .... have not use Mac OS 9 for more that 20years!

Thx

[IIO]

while that works with finder windows, it does not work with the menubar.

i also dont think that there is an extension which lest you control the mouse with arrow keys.

atari can - later OSX can, but not OS9.

but... what tasks do you need to perform there which do not have a keyboard command?

[kamelie1706]

Probably but my aim is not to do anything in particular but explore the different applications installed and their options chilling keyboard on the legs.

I understand this is probably not possible ;-)

[ovalking]

You need to install the Easy Access Contol Panel.
The Mouse Keys feature lets you contol the pointer with the number keypad.

[kamelie1706]

Ok so there is no short cut key to go in the menu and navigate as such with arrows?

[OS923]

I don’t think so and it’s probably difficult to program because there are several types of menus: standard and Appearance and custom menus that are defined in an MDEF resource.

[OS923]

I remember that there’s something called "puppet menu".

[IIO]

ah, you want this to work in applications, too, then forget it (except i am missing a keyboard->mouse option)

however, this is not what you want to do here, but if you need that for a certain application only, you can relatively easy hack into most app´s menus and add new keyboard commands of your choice using a resource editor.

i do that for quite a few specific functions in the apps i work with, cause even when you have a mouse, it is sometimes more convenient to use a command. in some cases i am using the same commands for almost 25 years now, and wouldnt even remember that it once was implemented by me.

[IIO]

You need to install the Easy Access Contol Panel.

ah yeah, so there is one.

it is in my collection.

https://www.macintoshrepository.org/8223-system-extending-macos9plus-v1-0-extensions-and-control-panels-compilation-

it is a real controlpanel, you need to install and reboot before you can turn it on - and it reqruies an extended keyboard.

[OS923]

I remember that there’s something called "puppet menu".

"puppet menu" is a command from Akua Sweets. I tried it but it doesn't work.

[OS923]

It's possible to solve this with an extension. Patch GetNextEvent/WaitNextEvent to respond to a particular key combination, for example shift-Escape, to move the cursor to the Apple menu. Call SimulateHotSpotClick to cause the front application to call MenuSelect. Patch MenuSelect to do your own navigation. Get a handle to the menu bar to get the list of menu handles. Every menu points to the next menu. Use this to calculate where the menu titles are. Get a handle to the menu definition from the menu or load the default from the system file. Use this to calculate where the menu items are. Then you need an event loop until Enter/Return is pressed and you call SimulateHotSpotClick again. In the loop: Use the left and right arrow keys to move the cursor to the next menu and in or out hierarchical menus. Use the up and down arrow keys to move the cursor to the next item. Then there are special situations. Some menus like PopChar have items next to each other or even an EditField. Appearance menus can use arrow keys as command key. Long menus have to scroll. You need to call the MenuHook and MBarHook repeatedly and who knows what else. That's just too much work for only one interested user.