Is it possible to create a keystroke for a drag & drop that's not a menu option?

[Complexity]

I am trying to figure out a way to create keystrokes to maximize the video window in the Ring app on my Mac. The app does not have any menu options to do this; plus, the windows do not have the normal finder controls in the upper left corner. So I'm having to move and resize the windows manually.

(1) Whenever I want to view a video, it opens the video in a small window with only a big (X) at the top left side. So I have to constantly drag the small window to the upper left corner and then drag the lower right corner to maximize the window. I would like to create a keystroke to do this so I don't have to keep repeating these steps over and over again.

(2) The video window also places the video controls dead center of where I want to view. So along with having to manual move and resize the window, I'm having to manually move the video controls so they're out of the way. It would be great if I could create a keystroke to do that, as well.

To help explain what I want, I'm including some screenshots. The first one shows how the video window appears when I first open it, followed by screenshots of every drag and drop I have to do manually. It is those 3 drag and drops that I would like to automate with one or two keystroke(s).

The positive thing is that each and every video window is opened in the exact same position so I can use screen coordinates if needed. I'm just tired of having to constantly do these 3 drag and drops with each and every video.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Install the the Spectacle app. Then once you open the Ring video, hit the keystroke (configurable by you) to full-screen that app. However, as far as moving the controls go, there might be a Automator script you can write if you can get a handle to the window. But since the resizing of the window is not a single keystroke, hopefully you don't mind dragging the control manually.

 

[Complexity]

Thanks, Raz0rEdge, but it didn't work. Spectacle was able to alter Ring's main window, but it had no effect on the video window.

Where can I get information on how to write/use an Automator script to do drags and drops? I may have to use that to move and resize the video window.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

If the video window is selectable (and resizable), then Spectacle should be able to resize.

If you want to play around with AppleScript/Automator, check out Automatically Resize A Mac Application Window With Automator and AppleScript - Elevate Creative. This will show you how to set a window to a specific size (you can play around around with the size). Then, if the video window is separate and in front, you can follow the accepted answer in this thread to find the front window and tell it to resize as well.

You'll have to play around a bit with this, I don't have an application that opens multiple windows so I can't really test it out.

 

[Complexity]

If the video window is selectable (and resizable), then Spectacle should be able to resize.

I think I need to establish this first. There is something odd about how the Ring app behaves when the Video Window is open which also affects how Spectacle behaves.

When I run Spectacle, every action I tried only worked for the Main Window. When I opened a Video Window, Spectacle continued to work on the Main Window. The Video Window remained in its exact location. For example, when I select Bottom Half, the Main Window is at the bottom, taking up half the screen while the Video Window is still in it's same position (I can see the Finder behind it).

I think this is a bug in the Ring app itself. I noticed changes in the Ring app menus and their functions when I opened a Video Window.

With only the Main Window open, there is a menu option named Window. Clicking on it displays 5 drop down options:

1.    Minimize    ⌘M
2.    Zoom
3.    Bring All to Front
4.    Main Window   ⌘1
5. ✓ Ring

When I open a Video Window, I get a window on top, but the drop down options for Window do not include it.

1.    Minimize    ⌘M ← this one stops working for any window.
2.    Zoom         ← this one still works, but only for the Main Window.
3.    Bring All to Front
4.    Main Window   ⌘1
5. ✓ Ring

I also noticed that I cannot open Preferences when the video window is open. Also, Close Windows closes both windows, not just the Main one. This effectively hides the Ring app. When I go back to the Ring app, both windows are open like before.

Does any of this sound normal or is there is bug in the Ring app (would not surprise me). Or have I misunderstood how to properly use Spectacle?

 

[krs]

I don't have Ring or Spectacle, but re the "issue" you describe in post #5 - the problem might be this:

The best thing about Spectacle is that it works not only for Finder windows but also for most apps, but not all. It worked perfectly when I tried to resize Flamingo app, but it didn’t worked for Twitter app. One advantage of using Spectacle over Moom is that if you assign a shortcut for centring a window in Moom app, it will work for that specific app and not for other apps.

You could try "Moom" (which also never heard of), but the first thing I would do (if you haven't done that already) is to contact either Ring support or a Ring discussion group and see what they have to say.

What I would have expected, if this was a proper Mac application, is that you just click on the green button at the top left in the window for it to open full screen and that the controls either disappear when you click on the full size open window or go away by them selves after a few seconds.
To bring the controls back, you click on the window, to get back to the original sized window, you click on the green button again.
And if the green button is not there in the full size open window, moving the mouse to the top left of the screen should make it visible so you can click on it.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

You are using Spectacle correctly, but it may just be that the main window is taking all the input from external sources short you actually dragging the video window. I've been using Spectacle for a long time, but always with a single window of an application, never any embedded windows, so I can't speak to that.

That video window looks like a QT or default macOS video player window, so the Ring app must be using the OS provided controls to show the video (which makes perfect sense).

You might want to try the AppleScript route to see if that will work for you.

 

[krs]

That video window looks like a QT or default macOS video player window, so the Ring app must be using the OS provided controls to show the video (which makes perfect sense).

If the video plays in QT, then what I posted is exactly what should happen.

You just click on the green button at the top left in the window for it to open full screen and that the controls either disappear when you click on the full size open window or go away by them selves after a few seconds.
To bring the controls back, you click on the window, to get back to the original sized window, you click on the green button again.
And if the green button is not there in the full size open window, moving the mouse to the top left of the screen should make it visible so you can click on it.

I just played an .mp4 video with QuickTime and it does exactly what I described.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

If the video plays in QT, then what I posted is exactly what should happen.


I just played an .mp4 video with QuickTime and it does exactly what I described.

Not exactly what I meant. Within a Mac application, if you have stream video data, you can use something like AVPlayer to play the video. This will provide all the appropriate video controls and look/feel of a normal Mac video application without the developer having to create their own.

 

[krs]

Sorry Ashwin, I don't understand.
If a player is used that "provides all the appropriate video controls and look/feel of a normal Mac video application" would that mean the specific Mac functionality I described should be there?

So if the developer used that as you suggest, all of those functions (green button etc.) should work.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Sorry Ashwin, I don't understand.
If a player is used that "provides all the appropriate video controls and look/feel of a normal Mac video application" would that mean the specific Mac functionality I described should be there?

So if the developer used that as you suggest, all of those functions (green button etc.) should work.

Not necessarily, as you (barely) see in the screenshots provided by the OP, the video window has no close, minimize or full-screen buttons on the top left. It is possible within an application to open a window without those controls and then embed a video player in there. The video player is going to give you the stop/play/backward/forward/scrub functionality as you'd expect from the any video player (that's what I meant by video controls) but the window itself isn't as manageable as the normal macOS window.