Should clarify what is required on the ribbon menu

[GarrettKaupp]

I just spent some time trying to figure out why the "rw" (SetRowsHeight) command and related commands were not working for me.

It turns out I had removed the "Cells" menu from my ribbon (I like the ribbon to be minimal), and this plugin requires certain commands to be present on the ribbon as it uses the default Excel "Alt" shortcuts. I think most keybinds do not require anything to be on the ribbon, so I was very confused for a while.

I am not sure how many of the vim keybinds require commands to be present on the ribbon, but it may be helpful to document what commands must be present for what keybinds or warn against removing commands from the ribbon entirely.

[arcfc]

Nice find, looks like this is the root cause of #57

I am not sure how many of the vim keybinds require commands to be present on the ribbon, but it may be helpful to document what commands must be present for what keybinds or warn against removing commands from the ribbon entirely.

# from project root
# list files where KeyStroke is passed Alt
$ grep -rl "Call KeyStroke.*Alt_" .
./src/core/KeyStroke.bas
./src/functions/Cell.bas
./src/functions/Column.bas
./src/functions/Comment.bas
./src/functions/Filter.bas
./src/functions/Find_Replace.bas
./src/functions/Font.bas
./src/functions/Paste.bas
./src/functions/Row.bas
./src/functions/UsefulCmd.bas

---

KeyStroke implementation

'/*
' * Press the specified keys in order. (Release Ctrl/Alt keys)
' * Note: Not suitable for keys that need to be held down
' *
' * @param {eKey, ...} strokeKeys - An array of key codes for the desired keys.
' * @example: To press Alt + H and then I
' *     Call KeyStroke(Alt_ + H_, I_)
' */
Sub KeyStroke(ParamArray strokeKeys() As Variant)
    Dim i As Long

    For i = LBound(strokeKeys) To UBound(strokeKeys)
        Call StrokeSingleKey(strokeKeys(i))
    Next i
End Sub

---

StrokeSingleKey implementation

'/*
' * Simulates a keystroke for a single key with optional modifier keys.
' *
' * @param {Long} key - The key code for the desired key.
' * @param {Boolean} [ignoreKeyUp=False] - Flag to ignore keyup simulation.
' */
Private Sub StrokeSingleKey(ByVal key As Long, Optional ByVal ignoreKeyUp As Boolean = False)
    Dim Ctrl As Boolean
    Dim Shift As Boolean
    Dim Alt As Boolean

    ' Extracting modifier key states
    Ctrl = ((key \ Ctrl_) And 1) = 1
    Shift = ((key \ Shift_) And 1) = 1
    Alt = ((key \ Alt_) And 1) = 1

    ' Extracting the actual key code
    key = key And &HFF

    If Not ignoreKeyUp Then
        ' Get current key status
        pHoldAltLeft = False
        pHoldCtrlLeft = False
        pHoldShiftLeft = False

        pHoldAltRight = ((GetKeyState(AltRight_) And &H8000) <> 0) And Not ignoreKeyUp
        pHoldShiftRight = ((GetKeyState(ShiftRight_) And &H8000) <> 0) And Not ignoreKeyUp
        pHoldCtrlRight = ((GetKeyState(CtrlRight_) And &H8000) <> 0) And Not ignoreKeyUp

        If Not Alt Then pHoldAltLeft = ((GetKeyState(AltLeft_) And &H8000) <> 0) And Not ignoreKeyUp
        If Not Ctrl Then pHoldCtrlLeft = ((GetKeyState(CtrlLeft_) And &H8000) <> 0) And Not ignoreKeyUp
        If Not Shift Then pHoldShiftLeft = ((GetKeyState(ShiftLeft_) And &H8000) <> 0) And Not ignoreKeyUp

        ' Simulating keyup for modifier keys
        If pHoldAltRight And Not Alt Then keybd_event AltRight_, 0, EXTENDED_KEY Or KEYUP, 0
        If pHoldCtrlRight And Not Ctrl Then keybd_event CtrlRight_, 0, EXTENDED_KEY Or KEYUP, 0
        If pHoldShiftRight And Not Shift Then keybd_event ShiftRight_, 0, EXTENDED_KEY Or KEYUP, 0
        If pHoldAltLeft Then keybd_event AltLeft_, 0, KEYUP, 0
        If pHoldCtrlLeft Then keybd_event CtrlLeft_, 0, KEYUP, 0
        If pHoldShiftLeft Then keybd_event ShiftLeft_, 0, KEYUP, 0
    End If

    ' Simulating key stroke for the specified key
    If Alt Then keybd_event AltRight_, 0, EXTENDED_KEY, 0
    If Ctrl Then keybd_event CtrlRight_, 0, EXTENDED_KEY, 0
    If Shift Then keybd_event ShiftRight_, 0, EXTENDED_KEY, 0

    If key > 0 Then
        keybd_event key, 0, 0, 0
        keybd_event key, 0, KEYUP, 0
    End If

    ' Restore key states
    If Shift And Not pHoldShiftRight Then keybd_event ShiftRight_, 0, EXTENDED_KEY Or KEYUP, 0
    If Ctrl And Not pHoldCtrlRight Then keybd_event CtrlRight_, 0, EXTENDED_KEY Or KEYUP, 0
    If Alt And Not pHoldAltRight Then keybd_event AltRight_, 0, EXTENDED_KEY Or KEYUP, 0

    If ignoreKeyUp Then
        Exit Sub
    End If

    If pHoldShiftLeft Then keybd_event ShiftLeft_, 0, 0, 0
    If pHoldCtrlLeft Then keybd_event CtrlLeft_, 0, 0, 0
    If pHoldAltLeft Then keybd_event AltLeft_, 0, 0, 0
    If pHoldShiftRight And Not Shift Then keybd_event ShiftRight_, 0, 0, 0
    If pHoldCtrlRight And Not Ctrl Then keybd_event CtrlRight_, 0, 0, 0
    If pHoldAltRight And Not Alt Then keybd_event AltRight_, 0, 0, 0
End Sub

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I don't know anything about VBA, but looks like this is a strict and tightly coupled dependency in core: the alt shortcuts must work, and for the alt shortcuts to work, the button to which the keystrokes map to (at least in the case of the Alt shortcuts) must be able to be navigated to by keypresses in the Excel UI.

Pretending that I do know anything, I would guess something like a guard in StrokeSingleKey, perhaps passed as an optional argument similar to ignoreKeyUp, or to extend that to an optional hash of keystrokes to ignore like {keyUp: true, alt: true}. That would entail modifying callers though, so cleaner would be if we could read the state of the ribbon visibility and bail on alt key presses if invisible with a quick warning to expand the ribbon. Or best: inline expand the ribbon => do key presses => hide ribbon inline.

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EDIT: Looks like this issue is not due to the visibility of the ribbon at large, but rather of the target element, so the unhide hack wouldn't work: would have to re-add the target element to the ribbon.