Hints and messages
Input.Observer shows two kinds of text on screen. The hint appears while you draw a gesture and names the action the stroke matches so far. Messages appear when an action shows one. Both are set up on the Appearance page.
The hint
The hint has up to three lines:
- the name of the app group whose action matches — Global when the gesture fell back to the Global group (Scope and fallback);
- the name of that action;
- the action's Hint note, if it has one (The Actions page).
It follows these rules:
- It shows only a match. As soon as the stroke so far matches no action, the hint disappears; it comes back the moment the stroke matches one again. There is no "no match" text.
- It waits a moment. A stroke counts as a gesture once the pointer has moved Minimum gesture movement (General, 5 px by default). The hint can appear once the stroke has lasted Wait before showing hint (150 ms) or travelled Distance before showing hint (24 px), whichever comes first, so it doesn't flicker on the first few pixels. A quick stroke released before then shows no hint, and its action still runs.
- It can wait longer. Points before showing and Show delay hold back a hint that has already found a match: it appears only once the stroke has that many points and the same match has held for the delay. Both are 0 (off) by default.
- It changes nothing about matching. The hint shows what the stroke matches; it never decides it. With hints off, the finished stroke is matched once when you release the button, and the same action runs.
- It follows the pointer by default, 12 pixels away from it. In a fixed position it moves only when the match changes.
Who shows the hint
The Hints row at the top of the Hint window section has three choices:
| Choice | What you see |
|---|---|
| Match style | The renderer draws the hint as a panel in the look of the gesture's trail style. Offered only while the renderer can show hints. |
| Classic | Input.Observer's own hint window: dark text on a light panel with a thin border. |
| Off | No hint. Input.Observer also skips matching while you draw, which saves a little work on every pointer move. Takes effect when you choose Apply. |
Match style and Classic take effect at once. If the renderer can't show hints right now, the classic hint window shows them meanwhile.
Hint window settings
| Setting | What it does | Default | Range | Used by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hints ① | Who shows the hint (above) | Classic, or Match style after a standard installation that chose styles | Match style, Classic, Off | — |
| Position ② | Follow the cursor, one of nine places on a monitor (Top left to Bottom right, Center), or Custom offset | Follow the cursor | — | Renderer and classic |
| Monitor | The monitor a fixed position is on: Primary monitor or Monitor of the window under the gesture. With Custom offset it only decides which monitor's text scaling the hint uses. Not shown for Follow the cursor. | Monitor of the window under the gesture | — | Classic |
| Horizontal offset, Vertical offset | Where the hint's top-left corner goes, in pixels from the top-left corner of the primary monitor. A monitor left of or above the primary one needs negative values. Shown only for Custom offset; a point on no connected monitor is warned. | 0, 0 | −32768 to 32767 px | Classic |
| Cursor distance | Gap between the pointer and a hint that follows it. Shown only for Follow the cursor. | 12 px | 0–500 px | Classic |
| Opacity | How solid the hint looks | 85% | 5–100% | Classic |
| Background color | The fill behind the text, as #RRGGBB. The thin border around the hint is a shade darker than this color, or a shade lighter when the color is dark. | #F7F7F5 (soft white) | Any color | Classic |
| Wait before showing hint | How long a stroke must last before the hint can appear (or the distance below, whichever comes first) | 150 ms | 0–10000 ms | Renderer and classic |
| Distance before showing hint | How far a stroke must travel before the hint can appear (or the time above, whichever comes first) | 24 px | 0–1000 px | Renderer and classic |
| Points before showing | Least number of stroke points before a found match may appear | 0 | 0–1000 | Renderer and classic |
| Show delay | Extra wait after a match is found before the hint appears | 0 ms | 0–10000 ms | Renderer and classic |
Advanced mode. Monitor, Cursor distance, Wait before showing hint, Distance before showing hint, Points before showing and Show delay are hidden in Simple mode.
"Classic" in the last column means the setting has no effect while the renderer draws the hint; such rows are dimmed then. With a position other than Follow the cursor, the renderer's hint stays where the gesture was first recognized.
Hint text
Advanced mode. The Hint text section is hidden in Simple mode.
Hint text sets the classic hint window's three lines. Each row has a font, a size, Bold, Italic and a color.
| Row | Line | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Group name | The app group | Segoe UI, 14 pt, #1F1F1F (dark gray) |
| Action name | The action | Segoe UI, 14 pt, #1F1F1F (dark gray) |
| Note | The action's hint note | Segoe UI, 12 pt, #1F1F1F (dark gray) |
Sizes go from 6 to 72 pt. The font list shows the fonts installed on this computer; a font named in your configuration but not installed here is kept, and Windows substitutes a similar one.
The renderer's hint panel
With Match style, the Styles plugin draws the hint as a panel decorated in the look of the style the gesture is drawn in. Its fonts, sizes, colors and opacity come from Customize… > Hint panel on the Gallery tab (Segoe UI 15, 14 and 12 pt, the action name bold, 88% opacity by default), not from Hint text. Each style's own hint colors and decoration are in the Hint panel skin card of its settings window (Gesture trails), which also has a switch to draw a plain panel instead.
On-screen messages
A message is a panel with a title line and a message line. Actions show them with the UIShowDisplayMessage
builtin, in a script or as a Steps step (builtin reference).
The action decides everything about each message: the two lines of text, each line's font, size, bold, italic and alignment, the text color and background color, opacity, the padding, where it appears (one of nine places on a monitor, or an exact point on the screen), whether it goes on the primary monitor or the one the pointer is on, and how long it stays. There are no message settings to change on the Appearance page apart from who shows them.
- Several messages can be on screen at once. An action can change a message it showed, or close it.
- A message closes when its time is up, when an action closes it, or — in the classic message window only — when you double-click it. A message with no time limit stays until an action closes it (or you double-click a classic one).
- The monitor is chosen when the message appears (and again when an action changes it). A message doesn't follow the pointer afterwards.
Who shows messages
The Messages row in the On-screen messages section has three choices. Each takes effect at once.
| Choice | What you see |
|---|---|
| Match style | The renderer draws the message with the decoration of the style in use, keeping the action's fonts and colors. These panels can't be clicked: clicks go to the window underneath, and they close only by time or by the action. |
| Classic | Input.Observer's own message window, with a thin border a shade darker than the action's background color (a shade lighter when that color is dark). Double-click it to close it. |
| Off | Nothing appears. The action carries on normally. |
While the renderer can't show messages, the classic message window shows them instead.
If you switch who shows messages, or the renderer stops, while a message is on screen, an action can no longer close that message: it stays until its time is up. An action that must be able to close its message should give the message a time limit.
Other messages you may see
- "Gesture sounds are available" — shown once, at the bottom right of the main screen for about 12 seconds, the first time the Styles plugin runs. See Sounds.
- Plugin preview — the Preview button on the Plugins page shows a sample hint and a sample message (Plugins).
- Windows notifications are a different thing: the Show a notification step sends a notification to Windows' notification center, which Windows itself shows. They are switched on and off with Windows notifications on the General page.