#2286 Separate global and selected-entry Auto-Type

[Christian Ullrich]

It would be nice if there was a way to exclude an entry from consideration when the global Auto-Type shortcut is pressed, but still be able to use the "Perform Auto-Type" operation directly from the entry. Currently, it's all or nothing.

I have some entries for accounts related to the same thing, so they both have a common string in their names. The login window for one just says "Login" in its title, so global auto type is useless with it and I have to trigger it from the KeePass window. The other one contains that common string, so global works, except that I get the selection popup first. To avoid the popup, I can disable auto type for the entry that is not the correct one, but then I cannot use it for the "Login" prompt anymore either.

[Paul]

Put the entries in their own group.
Right click on the group name ans select Edit Group.
Select the Behavior tab and set Auto-Type to disabled.

cheers, Paul

[Christian Ullrich]

Disabling Auto-Type for the group is not a solution; that will also disable the "Perform Auto-Type" operation on the individual entry.

Let me try and state the problem even clearer (and lengthier, I'm afraid). I have two entries, let's call them "Account" and "Account Portal". The login form for which "Account" is meant has a window title of, literally, "Login", so I cannot use Auto-Type's automatic matching, and neither can I change the title. "Account Portal" has that distinctive string in its window title, and automatic matching works well there.

What I would like to be able to do is use the Ctrl-V shortcut in the KeePass window with the "Account" entry, and the Global Auto-Type shortcut Ctrl-Alt-A for the "Account Portal" entry with its distinctive title, but without the "Auto-Type Entry Selection" popup. Currently, I cannot, because Ctrl-V only works if the entry is also enabled for "global" Auto-Type.

ISTM the best solution to this is for the KeePass application to not disable the individual entry's "Perform Auto-Type" operation for entries that have Auto-Type disabled either individually or via their group. Since that is confusing, additionally the group behavior option "Auto-Type for entries in this group" should be renamed to "Use entries in this group with global Auto-Type". The same goes for the individual entry's option "Enable auto-type for this entry"; that should have the word "global" added.

Basically, there are currently two levels of Auto-Type enablement: "On" and "Off". What my idea above would do is add a third in the middle: "Explicit" Auto-Type would be triggered from inside the KeePass window only, based on the selected entry, rather than through automatic matching of window titles.

In my mind, the Auto-Type feature is not primarily about the actual entering of characters into windows, but more about the means of selecting which entry to draw these characters from, and it clearly makes sense to be able to exclude certain entries from the automatic selection. If, however, the user wants to apply the keystroke-synthesizing machinery (including the two-channel variation of it) to one specific entry's data, why shouldn't that be possible even if that entry is excluded from the automatic selection?

[wellread1]

It is possible to distiguish the two window titles of your example by defining custom auto sequences because the custom target window field does not assume leading and trailing wild cards. Exact matches can be defined for each of the window titles in your example:

Custom auto-type target windows:
target window Account matches the window title Account but not Account Portal
target window Account Portal matches the window title Account Portal but not Account

However, if there a multiple accounts that display the window title Account alone, the KeePass global auto-type will not be able to distinguish between custom auto-type sequences where the target window is Account.

• While it seems reasonable to change the meaning of the "Enable auto-type for this entry" checkbox to apply only to the global auto-type hot key, it would be a major change in behavior and would probably result in a lot of complaints.
• Adding separate checkboxes to enable each auto-type variant individually not only increases the complexity of the entry's auto-type behavior; it would require a database format change, which is never undertaken lightly.

[Christian Ullrich]

Changing the meaning of that checkbox and the group-level option would only allow the application to do something, namely, perform Auto-Type for that specific entry, where it currently does precisely nothing because the operation is disabled. Few users are likely to use the Ctrl-V shortcut on an item where they know Auto-Type is disabled, so they should not be overly inconvenienced. The behavior of global Auto-Type would not change at all.

Even better, how about adding a preference setting under Advanced/Auto-Type that controls whether this changed meaning of the option(s) applies? Let it default to the current behavior, and everyone can be happy.

[kibinimatik]

I support this request.
The ony workaround I can propose is to make the entry outdated. Unfortunately it looks a bit ugly therefore.