Almost all of our extension's toolkit is built on the basis of virtual dialogues. With their help, you can interact with the REAPER programming interface, manage certain parameters, search and much more. Virtual dialogues, as their name suggests, do not have a visual implementation, and are presented exclusively through the audio interface of the voice access program. Thanks to their advanced device, they allow you to quickly and efficiently achieve your goal, solve many different tasks, without being distracted by certain obstacles caused by the user's lack of vision.
Controls
You can use the Tab or Shift + Tab keys to navigate between virtual dialog controls. It is also allowed to use the Left / Right cursor keys, with:
- If you hold the Control modifier together with the Left / Right cursor keys, the navigation will be carried out between homogeneous elements: from button to button, from radio button to radio button, and so on.
- If you hold the Shift modifier together with the Left / Right cursor keys, then navigation will be carried out between heterogeneous elements: from button to radio button, from radio button to button or list, and so on.
- If you simultaneously hold down the Shift and Control modifiers along with the Left / Right cursor keys, the focus will remain on the current control, but the current position of this element relative to other elements of the virtual dialog will be pronounced.
You can also navigate between the elements of the virtual dialogue by quickly typing the first letters of their names on the keyboard. Most virtual dialogs can remember the last control that had focus, so when you reopen them, that focus will be restored.
Virtual dialogs can consist of the following controls:
- Buttons (button) are used to perform an action. The button can be activated by pressing Space or Enter.
- Switches are used to change parameters that have only two states: on or off. The switches can be operated using either the Space key or the Up / Down cursor keys.
- Lists (list) are used to change parameters that have multiple values. You can operate the lists using the Up / Down cursor keys. You can also navigate the list elements by typing the first letters of their names, while holding the Alt modifier on the very first letter you enter.
- Sliders - used to change parameters that have a range in nature, for example, volume, pan, width, and so on. You can operate the sliders using the Up / Down cursor keys, while:
- The Up / Down cursor keys without modifiers change the parameter value to the smallest step.
- If you add any Alt, Shift or Control modifier to the Up / Down cursor keys, the step with which the parameter changes will increase (usually 10 times).
- Further addition of modifiers, again in any sequence, will also increase the step (usually 10 times).
On some sliders, you can press the «=» key, and enter the value manually in the additional dialog that opens. This kind of feature is supported by volume, pan, width sliders, as well as sliders that display effect parameters. Please note that in the latter case, you can operate only with absolute parameter values.
- Additionally, the following keyboard shortcuts are available on the Position and Length sliders:
- pageUp or pageDown - change the value of the parameter to the size of the measure backward or forward, respectively.
- pageUp or pageDown with the Control modifier - change the value of the parameter to the size of the fraction back or forward, respectively.
- Almost all controls of virtual dialogs use keys such as: Home, End, pageUp, pageDown.
Filter
Controls in the vast majority of virtual dialogs can be filtered by their name, and the results of such filtering can be saved in presets. To enter the text for which you want to select elements, start typing it while holding the Shift modifier, while holding the modifier only on the first letter. Then press Enter, and all the elements that contain the entered text in the title will remain, and the rest will disappear. With the remaining elements, you can continue filtering by entering more and more keywords.
- Press Shift + backSpace to go back one step.
- Press Shift + Enter to invert the last filtering result.
- To invert the result of all filtering, press Control + Shift + Enter.
- Press Shift + Escape to remove the filter completely.
- Press Control + Shift + Space to open the dialog for saving the current filtering results to a preset.
- Press Shift + Space to open the dialog for selecting previously saved presets.
When you install a saved preset, then the next time you open the same virtual dialog, it will be applied automatically. For each virtual dialogue, presets are saved separately, and you can find them along the path: REAPER / Ear / Configurations.
