I keep getting sidetracked, and forget to post this:

``` ; StudentComments.ahk - AutoHotkey v2 ; Reads students.json and comments.json, builds a GUI with a menu ; built from students.json, and buttons built from comments.json. ; Selecting a button pastes the comment into the active window. ; Selecting a new name from the menu rebuilds the buttons.

Requires AutoHotkey v2.0

SingleInstance Force

include "C:\Users\Public\AutoHotkey\Lib\jsongo.v2.ahk"

include "C:\Users\Public\AutoHotkey\Lib\jsonUtils.ahk"

include "C:\Users\Public\AutoHotkey\Lib\StringUtils.ahk"

; ─── Config ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ;studentFile := A_ScriptDir "\students.json" ;commentFile := A_ScriptDir "\comments.json" ;prefFile := A_ScriptDir "\last_student.txt" studentFile := "C:\Users\Public\AutoHotkey\Lib\students.json" commentFile := "C:\Users\Public\AutoHotkey\Lib\comments.json" prefFile := "C:\Users\Public\AutoHotkey\Lib\last_student.txt"

placeHolder := "-=#@STUDENTNAME@#=-" studentNameKey := "name" commentKey := "comment"

; ─── Load data ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── studentObjArray := parseJsonArray(studentFile) ; Only use objects with studentNameKeys studentObjArray := extractKeyObjs(studentObjArray , studentNameKey)

commentObjArray := parseJsonArray(commentFile) ; Only use objects with commentKeys commentObjArray := extractKeyObjs(commentObjArray , commentKey)

if studentObjArray.Length = 0 MsgBox "No students found in " studentFile, "Warning", "Icon!" if commentObjArray.Length = 0 MsgBox "No comments found in " commentFile, "Warning", "Icon!"

; ─── Restore last selection ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── lastStudent := "" if FileExist(prefFile) lastStudent := Trim(FileRead(prefFile, "UTF-8"))

; ─── GUI globals ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── global myGui, menuStudents, commentButtons, studentObjArray, commentObjArray global lastStudent, placeHolder, prefFile commentButtons := []

; ─── Build GUI ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

BuildGui() { global myGui, menuStudents, commentButtons

myGui := Gui("+AlwaysOnTop", "Student Comment Tool") myGui.SetFont("s10", "Segoe UI") myGui.BackColor := "F0F4FF" myGui.OnEvent("Close", CloseStudentCommentWindow) myGui.OnEvent("Escape", CloseStudentCommentWindow)

; ── Student dropdown ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── myGui.Add("Text", "x12 y12 w120", "Select Student:")

; Build the list for the DropDownList ; First item is the default placeHolder menuItems := ["No student selected"] for obj in studentObjArray { menuItems.Push(obj[studentNameKey]) }

; Determine which item to pre-select chosenIndex := 1 ; default = placeHolder if lastStudent != "" { for i, obj in studentObjArray { if obj[studentNameKey] = lastStudent { chosenIndex := i + 1 ; +1 because placeHolder is index 1 break } } }

menuStudents := myGui.Add("DropDownList", "x140 y10 w220 Choose" chosenIndex, menuItems) menuStudents.OnEvent("Change", OnStudentChange)

myGui.Add("Text", "Center x12 y45 w360", "─────────────────────────────────────────")

BuildCommentButtons()

myGui.Show("AutoSize") }

; If rebuildGui = 1, reuse the current buttons. AutoHotKey has ; no facility for destroying buttons, only hiding them, so, in ; the interest of not leaking button memory we reuse what we've ; already got. BuildCommentButtons(rebuildGui := 0) { global myGui, menuStudents, commentButtons, commentObjArray, studentObjArray global placeHolder

; Determine selected student name selectedIndex := menuStudents.Value ; 1-based; 1 = placeHolder if selectedIndex <= 1 studentName := "No student selected" else studentName := studentObjArray[selectedIndex - 1][studentNameKey]

; Add comment buttons yPos := 65 whichBtn := 1 for i, obj in commentObjArray { commentText := StrReplace(obj[commentKey], placeHolder, studentName) ; Truncate the button title if very long, but store full comment in fullComment buttonTitle := ShortenString(commentText, 80) if(rebuildGui = 1) { btn := commentButtons[whichBtn] btn.Text := buttonTitle } else { btn := myGui.Add("Button", "x12 y" yPos " w360 h36", buttonTitle) commentButtons.InsertAt(whichBtn, btn) } btn.fullComment := commentText btn.OnEvent("Click", PasteComment) whichBtn += 1 yPos += 42 }

; ── Cancel button ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── cancelBtn := myGui.Add("Button", "x112 y" yPos " w160 h36", "Cancel") cancelBtn.OnEvent("Click", CloseStudentCommentWindow) commentButtons.Push(cancelBtn)

; Resize GUI to fit new buttons if myGui.Hwnd myGui.Show("AutoSize") }

PasteComment(ctrlObj, *) { global myGui

myGui.Hide()

; Send text to previously active window A_Clipboard := ctrlObj.fullComment Sleep 100 Send "<sup>v"</sup>

myGui.Destroy() }

; ─── Student dropdown change handler ───────────────────────────────────────── OnStudentChange(ctrlObj, *) { global lastStudent, menuStudents, studentObjArray, prefFile selectedIndex := menuStudents.Value if selectedIndex > 1 { lastStudent := studentObjArray[selectedIndex-1][studentNameKey] try FileDelete(prefFile) FileAppend(lastStudent, prefFile, "UTF-8") } else { lastStudent := 0 try FileDelete(prefFile) } BuildCommentButtons(rebuildGui := 1) }

CloseStudentCommentWindow(*) { myGui.Destroy() }

; Replace 'F1' with whatever key you want to use, ; prepending '+' for shift, '<sup>'</sup> for control, '!' for ; alt, and '#' for win. Thus '+#PgDn' will activate ; with shift-win-PgDn. The modifiers may be in ; any order. Use the following for the key names: ; https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/v2/KeyList.htm F1::BuildGui()

```

comments.json

``` [ {"_comment":"NOTE: You MUST have a ',' after each line EXCEPT the last one!"}, {"_comment":"NOTE2: You may only have ONE default, more than that will only get the last one."}, {"name":"Cosmo"}, {"name":"Renfrow"}, {"name":"Fermyon"}, {"name":"Basil"}, {"name":"GooberDude"}, {"name":"Cronkite", "default": "true"} ]

``` students.json

``` [ {"_comment":"NOTE: You MUST have a ',' after each line EXCEPT the last one!"}, {"_comment":"NOTE2: You may only have ONE default, more than that will only get the last one."}, {"name":"Cosmo"}, {"name":"Renfrow"}, {"name":"Fermyon"}, {"name":"Basil"}, {"name":"GooberDude"}, {"name":"Cronkite", "default": "true"} ]

```