Assign Command (Cmd) as shortcut not working

Hi @dan,

Would it be possible to re-assign the CMD + SPACEBAR ALT + SPACEBAR shortcut to SPACEBAR, as well as the MIDDLE MOUSE BUTTON in RhinoWIP 6 with this fixed XML method?

Some time ago, I’d explained pretty extensively, why I think that remapping the Radial Menu to CMD + SPACEBAR in RhinoWIP 6 for Mac, is in my opinion a rather bad idea. You can find the thread here, if you’re interested.

If at all possible, where is the bespoken XML file located?

Unfortunately, I do not believe this is possible.

Currently, the Radial menu is mapped to alt+space; not command+space. We remapped it this way because command+space conflicts with macOS’s Spotlight default keyboard shortcut.

To my knowledge, the Radial menu shortcut is not included in the grasshopper_menushortcuts.xml file, which is located here: ~/Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/6.0/Plug-ins/Grasshopper (b45a29b1-4343-4035-989e-044e8580d9cf)/

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Thanks for your reply, @dan!

Well that’s disappointing! :frowning:

Like illustrated in my other, very elaborate thread, this is sort of a bad idea!! Why haven’t you left it mapped to the SPACEBAR, like in Rhino 5?
I also don’t understand why Mac users don’t at least get the option to call the radial menu with the MMB (middle mouse button), like on Windows?

I don’t know. This has a long history that I’m not entirely well-versed in. If you have time, you can check out any number of topics on the subject.

I know that leaving it conflicting with an existing macOS default shortcut is not a good idea, hence that change.

That could just be an oversight. We might be able to provide this option on Mac. Let me look into it.

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Indeed, Middle Mouse button ought to bring up the radial menu, but it does not. This is a bug. Logged in RH-52389. Thanks for bringing this up @diff-arch.

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Thank you, @dan.

Well, it still conflicts with something in macOS, being mapped to ALT + SPACEBAR, because macOS chimes every single time that I use the shortcut, which doesn’t happen in Rhino 5 with the SPACEBAR shortcut (cf. video in other discussion).

Both command+space and alt+space are problematic: spotlight is usually one and utility apps like LaunchBar or Alfred are usually the other for people who use that kind of thing, which is probably a lot in this crowd (I think?).

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When I changed the radial shortcut from Space to Alt+Space I did put a boolean option into the xml which reverts to the old one. Can’t recall now what it’s called, probably has the word “radial” or “space” in it.

Exactly, whereas the SPACEBAR has only application specific shortcuts in macOS, which are triggered only in active app windows and can even vary from window to window.
For instance, Chrome scrolls to the bottom of the page, or Maya switches between the active window in multi-pane display and single pane display (tapped) or invokes the hotbox (pressed).

@DavidRutten and @Dan, as I’ve asked before, why does Search need a single key hotkey (SPACEBAR), if using double-click on the canvas is probably prominently used by most users?
Or why use the SPACEBAR for component search, if the summoned components don’t appear on your mouse location, but in the canvas center instead. This doesn’t seem practical to me!

If you absolutely want to have Component Search mapped to the SPACEBAR, why not map it to the tapped down state and the Radial Menu to the pressed down state of the SPACEBAR?
Or even better change Search to TAB and revert the Radial Menu to the SPACEBAR. :slight_smile:

I made this change as you tend to type with both hands on the keyboard when searching for new component names, so to have to move your hand away from the keyboard in order to double-click in order to start typing seemed like a bunch of unnecessary movements.

A lot of the functionality on the radial menu does have regular menu short-cuts as well (or at least they can be assigned shortcuts via the Preferences) so I felt the less important UI object was hogging the more common shortcut.

I don’t really have strong feelings about this, but because there’s no UI to customise these I had to pick something. I suspect the only sensible way forward is to actually add proper customisation to all this stuff so people can set it up the way they like.

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Thanks for the quick reply, David!

I get that, but you need to use the mouse either way to move the component in place and connect the wires. I’m not pleading to remove the hotkey for search, but to house it elsewhere (e.g. TAB), and give the SPACEBAR back to the Radial Menu!

I guess I’ll have to look into that. :slight_smile:

More flexibility in this sense would be great, but I guess this is going to need some time to implement.
In the meantime, I hope that you fix the ALT + SPACEBAR hotkey bug, since the chiming is driving me nuts!! My vote goes to Search to TAB and Radial Menu to SPACEBAR! :wink:

Got it. Logged in RH-52431

If I’m not mistaken, Spotlight is not usually one but nearly 99% of the time a problem by default. This is precisely why we switched from command+space to alt+space.

I am not familiar with LaunchBar or Alfred. Do they make use of alt+space?

By default, LaunchBar is invoked with COMMAND + SPACE, as is Spotlight Search. Alfred is launched with ALT + SPACE (like the Radial Menu).
However, I only use Spotlight! It doesn’t seem to interfere, since it’s mapped to a different key combination than the Radial Menu.

I’ve tested the ALT + SPACE hotkey in other third-party applications, like Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya and AutoCAD, and neither seem to make use of it. No chiming happens and the Activity Monitor shows no new launched macOS related processes.

However, in macOS Finder, if a file or folder is selected at a given location (e.g. Desktop), and the hotkey is used, a full screen file preview with some file stats pops up.

Maybe that’s what’s interfering and producing the chime? Keep in mind though that this doesn’t happen in any of the other third-party programs, which might point to an internal Rhino bug?

Thanks for logging the bug, @dan.

We have a fix for the “Chime” coming in the next RhinoWIP.

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Technically, the sound in question is called “Blow.” The latest RhinoWIP should no longer blow.

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A quick info/history you can completely disregard: LaunchBar and Alfred are systemwide shortcut utilities for basically having a command line at your beck and call to quickly do numerous things no matter what app you’re in (too many things to list). They go back to a deprecated utility app called Quicksilver that used the command+space shortcut before Spotlight was a thing. Once Apple decided to make Spotlight a similarly useful system-wide shortcut key driven search utility and get it out of the lonely menubar, other similar utilities had come out and gained popularity in the mean time. They all fought and continue to fight for the command+space territory on the keyboard. Apple always wins these kinds of battles by default, so the other utilities pretty much automatically remap Spotlight to alt+space while trying to maintain their territory for our fingers’ muscle memory.

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I do remember Quicksilver. Now that is jogging my memory a bit.

Thanks for the history. I didn’t understand the gap between Quicksilver and Spotlight. That makes sense now.

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Middle mouse-button should now bring up the radial menu in the latest Rhino 6 for Mac SR17 Release Candidate.