I'm giving training to a large group of people remotely and will be covering a number of application shortcut keys.
I've seen MousePose's on-screen display of keystrokes; is there a way to get this same effect but for key presses?
I do not need anything fancy, just key presses displayed on screen where they can be captured by meeting software during a screen share.
I haven't been able to figure this out myself.
KeyPosé is a free alternative to MousePosé for Windows. You can see it in action in the screencast.
Here is a sample screenshot:
I highly recommend Carnac The Magnificent. It's nicely executed, nicely designed and open sourced on GitHub project that really solves this problem well.
A keyboard logging and presentation utility for presentations, screencasts, and to help you become a better keyboard user.
There is a fork with visualization of mouse input here: https://github.com/bfritscher/carnac/releases
I would like to share my tool -- keycastow.
https://brookhong.github.io/2014/04/28/keycast-on-windows.html
I've written an AutoHotkey_L script for this purpose.
To run it, use AutoHotkey_L (direct dl), it's FOSS. Also, with AutoHotkey you can compile script to EXE (simply Ahk2Exe.exe /in DisplayPressedKeyOnScreen.ahk/outDisplayPressedKeyOnScreen.exe ).
It can display pressed keys OSD-like or standard Tool-tip near mouse cursor. Also, it displays mouse button clicks and wheel scrolling.
(note that frame & blurring is done for illustration purposes, the script itself only displays text w/o any disturbances)
Heres's the script (copy and paste to notepad, save as DisplayPressedKeysOnScreen.ahk):
#NoEnv
#SingleInstance force
#InstallKeybdHook
#MaxHotkeysPerInterval 500
;This work by LogicDaemon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Global IdleDelay, LargeDisplay
IdleDelay:=3000
LargeDisplay:=1
; 0 = Tooltip near mouse pointer
; 1 = Big pane at screen bottom
;TrayTip %A_ScriptName%, Чтобы выйти, нажмите правую клавишу Windows TrayTip %A_ScriptName%, To Exit, press the Right Windows logo key.
InputHook := InputHook("BCL1qMV*", "", "")
InputHook.KeyOpt("{All}", "INV")
InputHook.OnKeyDown := Func("OnKeyDown")
InputHook.OnKeyUp := Func("OnKeyUp")
InputHook.OnEnd := Func("RegisterKey")
Loop {
InputHook.Start()
InputHook.Wait()
}
return
RWin::
ExitApp
~LButton::
~RButton::
~MButton::
~XButton1::
~*XButton2::
MouseTooltip(SubStr(A_ThisHotkey, 3), 1)
return
~LButton Up::
~RButton Up::
~MButton Up::
~XButton1 Up::
~*XButton2 Up::
MouseTooltip(SubStr(A_ThisHotkey, 3, -3), 0)
return
~WheelDown::
~WheelUp::
~WheelLeft::
~WheelRight::
MouseTooltip(SubStr(A_ThisHotkey, 3), 1)
MouseTooltip(SubStr(A_ThisHotkey, 3), 0)
return
MouseTooltip(mbuttons, state){
RegisterKey(mbuttons, state)
}
TooltipOff:
If LargeDisplay
Gui Hide
Else
Tooltip
lastStatesText := {}
return
OnKeyDown(inputHook, VK, SC) {
RegisterKey(inputHook, 1, VK, SC)
}
OnKeyUp(inputHook, VK, SC) {
RegisterKey(inputHook, 0, VK, SC)
}
RegisterKey(inputHook, kstate := 1, VK := 0, SC := 0) {
local
global IdleDelay, lastStatesText, inputString
static keyStates := {}, prevKey, lastPressed, prevState, repeated := 0
, KeyMappingToName := { (Chr(27)): "Escape"
, (Chr(32)): "Space"
, (Chr(10)): "Enter" }
, SkipRepeat := { "LShift": ""
, "RShift": ""
, "LControl": ""
, "RControl": ""
, "LAlt": ""
, "RAlt": ""
, "LWin": ""
, "RWin": "" }
, StringEndKeys := { "{Enter}": ""
, "{Escape}": ""
, "{Tab}": ""
, "{Up}": ""
, "{Down}": ""
, "{PgUp}": ""
, "{PgDn}": "" }
If (VK || SC) {
singleKey := GetKeyName(Format("vk{:02x}sc{:02x}", VK, SC))
} Else If (!IsObject(inputHook)) {
singleKey := inputHook
}
textKey := StrLen(singleKey) == 1 ? singleKey : "{" singleKey "}"
keyStatesText := ""
For key, state in keyStates
If (state && key != singleKey)
keyStatesText .= key "+"
keyStates[singleKey] := kstate
If (kstate && lastPressed == textKey && keyStatesText == lastStatesText) {
If (!SkipRepeat.HasKey(singleKey))
repeated++
} Else {
If (kstate) {
If (repeated) {
inputString .= (repeated > 4 || StrLen(lastPressed) > 1) ? "×" . repeated+1 : StrRepeat(lastPressed, repeated)
, repeated := 0
}
If (keyStatesText != lastStatesText || StringEndKeys.HasKey(lastPressed))
inputString := textKey, lastStatesText := keyStatesText
Else If (StrLen(inputString) < 15)
inputString .= textKey
Else
inputString := "…" SubStr(inputString, -15) textKey
lastPressed := textKey
}
}
ShowKeys((lstate ? keyStatesText : lastStatesText) . inputString . (repeated ? ("×" . repeated+1) : (kstate ? "↓" : "↑")))
prevKey := singleKey, prevState := kstate
SetTimer TooltipOff, % -IdleDelay
}
ShowKeys(text) {
global GUIx, GUIy, GUIw, GUIh
, blkOsdCtrlName, blkOsdCtrlName2
, MonitorLeft, MonitorRight, MonitorBottom, MonitorTop
If (LargeDisplay) {
CoordMode Mouse, Screen
MouseGetPos MouseX, MouseY
InitLargeDisplay(MouseX, MouseY)
If ((!GUIy) || (MouseX >= MonitorLeft && MouseX <= MonitorRight && MouseY >= GUIy && MouseY <= (GUIy+GUIh)) ) {
If (MouseY < (MonitorTop + (MonitorBottom - MonitorTop) / 2) )
GUIy := MonitorBottom - (MonitorBottom - MonitorTop) * 0.2
Else
GUIy := MonitorTop + (MonitorBottom - MonitorTop) * 0.2
}
GuiControl Text, blkOsdCtrlName, %text%
GuiControl Text, blkOsdCtrlName2, %text%
Gui, Show, x%GUIx% y%GUIy% NoActivate
} Else {
Tooltip % text
}
}
InitLargeDisplay(MouseX, MouseY) {
global GUIx, GUIy, GUIw, GUIh
, blkOsdCtrlName, blkOsdCtrlName2
, Monitor, MonitorLeft, MonitorRight, MonitorBottom, MonitorTop
static guiInitialized := False
;Initializing GUI / reinitializing after changing monitor
;modded func originated from http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/8190-osd-function/
If ( ( MouseX < MonitorLeft
|| MouseX > MonitorRight
|| MouseY < MonitorTop
|| MouseY > MonitorBottom)
|| !guiInitialized) { ; mouse is outside of last screen GUI was positioned at
;80 SM_CMONITORS: Number of display monitors on the desktop (not including "non-display pseudo-monitors").
SysGet monCount, 80
Loop % monCount
{
SysGet Monitor, Monitor, %A_Index%
If (MouseX >= MonitorLeft && MouseX <= MonitorRight && MouseY >= MonitorTop && MouseY <= MonitorBottom) {
found := true
break
}
}
If (!found) ; mouse cursor not found on any screen, fallback to default monitor
SysGet Monitor, Monitor
GUIx := MonitorLeft
, GUIw := MonitorRight - MonitorLeft
, GUIh := (MonitorBottom - MonitorTop) * GUIw * 0.00003
If (GUIh > ((MonitorBottom - MonitorTop) * 0.3))
GUIh := (MonitorBottom - MonitorTop) * 0.3
opacity:="230"
, fname:="Tahoma"
, fsize:=GUIh * 0.65 ; really, pixel = 0.75 point, but with 0.75 lowercase letter with lower part (like "g") will get cut
, fcolor:="cccccc"
, bcolor:="222222"
, fformat:="600"
If (guiInitialized)
Gui Destroy
Gui +LastFound +AlwaysOnTop +ToolWindow -Caption
Gui Margin, 0, 0 ;pixels of space to leave at the left/right and top/bottom sides of the window when auto-positioning.
Gui Color, ffffff ;changes background color
Gui Font, s%fsize% w%fformat%, %fname%
; 0x80 = SS_NOPREFIX -> Ampersand (&) is shown instead of underline one letter for Alt+letter navigation
Gui Add, Text, c%bcolor% Center +0x80 w%GUIw% h%GUIh% BackgroundTrans VblkOsdCtrlName, tesT test test
Gui Add, Text, c%fcolor% Center +0x80 w%GUIw% h%GUIh% BackgroundTrans VblkOsdCtrlName2 xp-3 yp-3 , tesT test test
WinSet ExStyle, +0x20 ; WS_EX_TRANSPARENT -> mouse klickthrough
WinSet TransColor, ffffff %opacity%
guiInitialized := True
}
}
StrRepeat(str, cnt) {
If (cnt<1)
return ""
o := str
Loop % cnt-1
o .= str
return o
}
I have written a small Windows app called QiPress. It has controls to change the look-n-feel, display or ignore certain key-groups, even add static text (your own name or company name for example). Positioning is possible by disabling click-through and click-dragging the pop-up. There are other features which you probably may not require, but it covers mostly what you want.
You can use the on screen keyboard to show key presses that comes with windows. When you type on your physical keyboard the on screen one highlights said key.
Presentation Pointer is a best alternative to MousePosé for Windows. It provides Pointer Effect, Mouse Clicks Effect, Keystrokes and even allows you to draw freely on the screen but not lock the screen. That's really an advantage of the program.
You can use PassMark KeyboardTest (Free 30 day evaluation, then US$24.00 to purchase.)
FYI:
