Autohotkey send key, let it trigger other hotkeys (#InputLevel confusion)

Question

I want to create a hotkey that sends some key, and then another hotkey for that very just sent key, that in turn sends a third key.

That seems to be possible, using #InputLevel:

#InputLevel 1
a::b
#InputLevel 0
b::c

The above works as intended: By pressing a I get c.

However, I want not only to remap the first key: I want to do more before sending the key. So I thought I could just rewrite the above a little bit:

#InputLevel 1
Hotkey *a, foo
#InputLevel 0
b::c

foo:
    ; Do something more here …
    SendInput {Blind}b
    return

The above however does not work as intended: By pressing a I get b (not c).

Update: @Robert Ilbrink reminded me that you can execute more than one command, without using the Hotkey command:

#InputLevel 1
*a::
    ; Do something here …
    SendEvent {Blind}b
    return
#InputLevel 0
b::c

The above does give the intended effect: Pressing a results in c. However, I have to rephrase my problem. I guess the problem is: I need to set the hotkeys dynamically, which means I have to use the Hotkey command with a label (as far as I know). (Also notice that I use SendEvent above. Using SendInput produces a b. Odd.)

(End of update.)

I know there is a companion command to #InputLevel—SendLevel—which might be relevant. I've tried putting it many places but it has never made any difference.

So, that was the reduced, theoretical example. Remapping a to b to c is of course useless in reality (and the net result could of course be achieved by a::c). On to my use case. Just keep in mind that if it turns out that the "real" solution means doing what I'm trying to do some other way, I'm still interested in knowing more about #InputLevel and SendLevel, and why my example does not work as intended.

I'm working on implementing dual-role modifier keys. For example, send ) when pressing RShift alone, but RShift+key when pressed together with some other key. Basically, RShift on keydown, and RShift up and ) on keyup. However, that has one flaw: Even when combining RShift with some other key, ) is still sent. So the script needs to know when there has been a combination. My solution is to add hotkeys to all letter keys, the arrow keys and some other keys, like this:

for comboKey in filteredComboKeys {
    Hotkey % "*" comboKey, Dual_comboKey
}

; Later in script:

Dual_comboKey:

    ; The following function lets the dual-role modifier keys know that they have 
    ; been combined with another key (and a few other things, which I don't think
    ; are important for the issue.)
    Dual.combo() ; 

    key := Dual.cleanKey(A_ThisHotkey)
    SendInput {Blind}%key%

    return

The above solution works very well for my purpose—except that the break all remappings and other hotkeys the user might have made: These simply never occur.

Answer 1

Why not:

a::
; Do something
Send, b
Return

Answer 2

As far as I can gather, #InputLevel doesn't bite on the Hotkey command. However, I stumbled on a solution for one of the snippets I originally posted:

Hotkey *a, foo
b::c

foo:
    ; Do something more here …
    SendLevel 1
    SetKeyDelay 0 ; Optional; Only affects this hotkey.
    SendEvent {Blind}b
    return

Note that SendEvent must be used. SendInput produces b. SendPlay produces nothing at all. I don't know why.

However, this technique won't work if you want to send the hotkey itself. Then you end up in an infinite loop. Using the keyboard hook does not help, since SendLevel overrides it.

So, again I have an answer the solves one of the initial examples, but does not help me in reality. I need to send the hotkey itself. I guess I have to let the user remap their keys using my script. Sigh.

Update:

I've published my dual-role modifiers script now, in case anyone is interested in more details, and how I deal with the problems.

Update:

I've updated my dual-role modifiers script. I now stay away from the Hotkey command. It's easier when dealing with this kind of thing, I think.

Answer 3

By now (starting Autohotkey 1.1.01), this can be achieved quite easily like so:

~Shift up::
    IfInString, A_PriorKey, Shift
    {
        Send )
    }
return