[OMC] Shortcuts 2.0 beta 1

[OnMyCommand discussion]

Hello,

Shortcuts 2.0 beta 1 is available at:
http://www.abracode.com/free/cmworkshop/Shortcuts2.0b1.zip

The main new feature is a hot key combination for showing the contextual
menu. You can assign it under new "Menu" tab in Shortcuts.
The menu is handled and shown by ShortcutObserver, not the host application
as in case or regular contextual menu invocation. Because of that there
might be some differences in how it looks or works. It does not display
items added by the host application, just items added by contextual menu
plug-ins. In Finder, the menu is _not_ displayed under "More" submenu!
The menu shows up right under your mouse regardless of where the actual
selection in front application is.

Version 2.0 also has some features for Mac OS 10.6. There is a separate 64
bit Intel-only version that loads only 64-bit contextual menu plug-ins.
Currently there are no 64-bit contextual menu plug-ins out there as far as I
know. Regarding Abracode CM plug-ins, FileUtilsCM is 64-bit already (not
released yet) and there is an ongoing work to make OMC 64-bit native but
there are a couple of Carbon interface elements that need to be replaced
with Cocoa implementation before it is finished. Other Abracode CMs will
also be compiled as 64 bit if users request that.

I expect that the majority of today's contextual menu plug-ins will never be
ported to 64 bit so you will need to use Shortcuts32 to continue to use them
in Mac OS 10.6. The idea is that you keep both Shortcuts (64 bit) and
Shortcuts32 in 10.6 and use 64-bit for those plug-ins upgraded to 64-bit and
Shortcuts32 for the rest.

Another feature for Snow Leopard is services support (but it also shows in
10.5, and probably in 10.4). The way it works is that Shortcuts32 shows a
services item called "More CMs (32 bit)" and Shortcuts (64 bit) shows "More
CMs (64 bit)". When you choose "More CMs" item, the contextual menu is shown
right under your mouse, as if triggered by a hot key. One difference is that
in case of services, the context information is obtained from host
application through services mechanism (in pasteboard) as opposed to
Shortcuts itself trying to get the context data through its scripts and
AppleEvents. Services method should work in cases when Shortcuts fail to
obtain context information from front app. You will probably find Shortcuts
services item more useful in 10.6 than in 10.5.

Last and least: the turtle is gone, replaced with new icon created with Pov
Ray.

This version has been tested primary in 10.5. Mac OS 10.6 testing was
limited, just to verify that the new features work - but it is not my
primary OS yet so no extensive usage there. Regarding 10.4 - it should work
but was not tested at all - let me know if something is broken for you.

What is left to be done:
1. Menu hot key conflict detection. Right now when assigning a shortcut to
menu item that happens to be the same as the shortcut for the whole
contextual menu, you will get no warning.
2. Conflict detection between 32 and 64 bit version in Snow Leopard. When
both 64 and 32 bit define the same shortcut, the ShortcutObserver and
ShortcutObserver32 will compete for the action.

Enjoy,
Tom
Abracode