How do I assign "Tab" as a Hot Key?

[TheManuel]

Hi.

Question #1
How do I set up the "Tab" key as a hot key in MaLa?  Whenever I try to assign it, the focus shifts to the next field in the dialog box following tyipical Windows behavior but I can't set it as a hotkey.  I could not find where the key assignments are stored in the ini file to change it by hand. 
Any ideas?

Question #2
I want to add a Gamboy emulator called Gambatte to my cabinet running MaLa.  This is an accuracy focused emulator but very light in features.  The only command line argument is supports is the ROM path and name.  It never starts in full screen so I have to press Ctrl+F to have it go to full screen after the game loads and then I have to Esc to make the menu bar dissapear. 
Is there any way to have MaLa execute this command for me after the emulator loads?
It's not tha I'm lazy but I am trying to integrate all of the emulators as seamlessly as possible.

Thank you.

[loadman]

Question #1
How do I set up the "Tab" key as a hot key in MaLa?  Whenever I try to assign it, the focus shifts to the next field in the dialog box following tyipical Windows behavior but I can't set it as a hotkey.  I could not find where the key assignments are stored in the ini file to change it by hand. 
Any ideas?

In mala.ini look for items under [CtrlSet0]

Question #2
Is there any way to have MaLa execute this command for me after the emulator loads?
It's not tha I'm lazy but I am trying to integrate all of the emulators as seamlessly as possible.

I don't think so..

[SGT]

Question #2
I want to add a Gamboy emulator called Gambatte to my cabinet running MaLa.  This is an accuracy focused emulator but very light in features.  The only command line argument is supports is the ROM path and name.  It never starts in full screen so I have to press Ctrl+F to have it go to full screen after the game loads and then I have to Esc to make the menu bar dissapear. 
Is there any way to have MaLa execute this command for me after the emulator loads?
It's not tha I'm lazy but I am trying to integrate all of the emulators as seamlessly as possible.

If I were you, I would use Closemul for this.  Mala would launch Closemul which would in turn launch Gambatte.  Closemul has an automation sequence that could sent the Ctrl+F, etc...  You specify the automation steps along with the automation delay.  It will also allow you to use ESC to send Gambatte the Ctrl+Q that is needed to end that emulator.

[TheManuel]

Excellent.
I'll give it a try.

Thanks guys.

[TheManuel]

loadman:

In mala.ini look for items under [CtrlSet0]

I looked at that part of the ini file and there is nothing there regarding hotkeys but rather key assignments for the MaLa front-end itself.
Could it be the hot key assingments get stored in binary form somewhere else, or am I missing something?
I still can't figure out how to assing "Tab" as a hotkey.

[TheManuel]

I still have not figured this one out.
Do any of the MaLa elders have some ideas?

[SGT]

I still have not figured this one out.
Do any of the MaLa elders have some ideas?

Just tested doing this with a hex editor, and it worked just fine.  Please back up your entire Mala folder and Mala subfolders so I don't get blamed for any corruption using the hexeditor.   

Download a free hex editor.  I use this one:

http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm

Go into mala and set up the hotkeys using some other key such as X.  In my example, I used the source key as X with the destination key as Z.  After setting up the hotkey, quit completely out of Mala. 

Run the hex editor and open the file called mala.mle.   Search for whatever you called your hotkey.  Just after the hotkey, you should see the X and the Z separated by one character.  As you can see from the first screen shot below, the hexadecimal value for X is 58.  Change this to 09.  Save and quit the hex editor. 

Now load Mala back up and got to the hotkey options and you'll see TAB where the X was (see second screenshot).  I tested this with notepad as my emulator and when I press TAB, Z appeared in notepad.

[TheManuel]

You are the man!!
It worked for me too.
You are the patron saint of impossible causes.

Thank you.

[SGT]

Good deal! 

[loadman]

Good deal! 

SGT   

[TheManuel]

I would not have thought of that one.
I really appreciate you're taking the time to figure this out.

[swindus]

The problem here is that TAB is used to navigate from control to control in the dialog window. Maybe Loadman can disable this or can provide another way to add the TAB key and other special keys to the edit fields.

[TheManuel]

The simples solution would be to disable field to field navigation only when key assignation box is clicked if there is an interest to solve this.
If nobody has complained about, though, I can keep using a hex editor to make it work for me.

Thanks.