Re: [libreoffice-users] Repeating keystrokes

I'm interested in macros also.  I tried in Calc 25.2.5.2, and it doesn't 
work.

Anyways, if you can't find solution within LibreOffice, then you can 
resort to 'xdotool' solution, eg.
    xdotool search "LibreOffice Calc" windowactivate --sync key 
--clearmodifiers F2 Home Delete Enter

So, sequence would go like... click the cell, switch to terminal, and 
run the command.  Repeat.  It would be nice to apply a command on a 
range of cells, but you're sending keystrokes blindly, so the 
"repeating" has to be done by LibreOffice.  Say, apply on the first 
cell, then apply the same to the rest.


On 2025-07-28 23:56, Dave Close wrote:
> I asked:
>
> > Near as I can tell, the way to do this is with a macro. I've tried
> > following several guides but it isn't working. What I want is really
> > simple: Select a shortcut (say F3) and have my spreadsheet respond as
> > though I had pressed four keys, F2 to start editing a cell, HOME to
> > position my cursor at the start of the cell, DEL to delete the first
> > character in the cell, ENTER to finish editing. But when I tried to
> > record this macro, nothing happened until I selected a cell. Then when
> > I tried to run the macro, the current cell was changed to contain what
> > the cell contained where recording was performed. What am I doing wrong?
>
> Andrew Pitonyak answered:
>
> > First, let me tell you what your macro does.
> >   
> > You clicked in a specific cell, which made that cell the current cell. In this
> > case you clicked in Cell E4, so these lines in your macro set the cell E4 to
> > be current.
> >   
> > args1(0).Name = "ToPoint"
> > args1(0).Value = "$E$4"
> > dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:GoToCell", "", 0, args1())
> >   
> > Next, you enter \u201cInput Mode\u201d
> > dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:SetInputMode", "", 0, Array())
> >   
> > And finally, you enter the string 132, which is NOT simply removing the first
> > character.
> > args3(0).Name = "StringName"
> > args3(0).Value = "132"
> > dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:EnterString", "", 0, args3())
> >   
> > What you want to do is to check to see where the cursor is located or to check
> > what cells are selected rather than selecting a specific cell.
>
> What I want to do is exactly what I wrote initially. Without changing
> the selected cell, just act like I had pressed those four keys in order.
> If I do that manually, the cell content doesn't change except for the
> removal of the first character. It shouldn't be hard to do that with a
> macro or other repeatable process. I'm not worried about checking the
> existing content of the cell; I won't run the macro unless the current
> cell is an appropriate one. I'm not asking to run the macro on more than
> one cell at a time, just the current cell.
>
> You seem to be telling me that I can't do this in a simple way, even
> though my desire is extremely simple. It shouldn't be necessary to write
> a program to do it. For example, with VI, it's just ":map z xxxx" where
> xxxx is some sequence of VI commands. Surely LO can do the equivalent.


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