In Alt Controller, you can create your own custom windows with buttons that you can map to actions on click/release, hover in/out or dwell. To do this, add a Custom window input to your profile then select Design window in the profile editor to launch the custom window designer. (See also Editing inputs)
The panel on the left shows you a preview of what your custom window will look like, and will be empty to begin with. Select Add to add buttons, then drag them to the position you want. To select multiple buttons to drag or edit, use Ctrl and click. Bold button text is used to indicate which buttons are currently selected.
Tip: To vertically align several buttons, select them using Ctrl and click, drag them to the top of the design canvas and release the mouse button. Now drag them again to the desired location. All the buttons will have the same Y position.
Tip: To horizontally align several buttons, select them using Ctrl and click, drag them to the left hand side of the design canvas and release the mouse button. Now drag them again to the desired location. All the buttons will have the same X position.
Note: When dragging buttons to a new location, you need to release the mouse button when the pointer is inside the design canvas area. Otherwise, the buttons will jump back to their original positions. By the same logic, if you start dragging buttons to a new position but decide to cancel the drag (for example, if you selected the wrong buttons), simply release the mouse button outside the design canvas.
Use the Button properties section to change the name, text, size and background colour of the buttons.
Use the Extended button properties section to change the text colour, font, font size, border width and colour, background image and translucency of the buttons.
You can give the custom window a title and choose its size using the sliders in the Window properties section. Note that this section is initially collapsed so you need to click the expander icon to show these settings. Tick Always on top if you want the window to float above the other windows on your desktop, however note that custom windows are not able to float above full screen windows.
If you want your window to be partly or completely see-through, adjust the Translucency slider (min = opaque, max = transparent). Two styles of window background are possible:
- If Ghost background is ticked, the custom window will have no background so you’ll be able to interact with the window or desktop behind it through the gaps between your buttons.
- Otherwise, the window will have a solid background with the chosen translucency and colour.
Note that the custom window designer itself doesn’t have a translucent background, so you won’t see the translucency effects in the layout preview.
When you’ve finished designing your window, click OK to return to the profile editor. You can now assign actions to the buttons, just as for the mouse and keyboard inputs. Note that the profile editor uses a blue or grey background to indicate whether any actions have been assigned to inputs, so you won’t see any background colours you have given buttons there.
When you apply your changes, you’ll find an option to open your custom window in the program’s Window menu.
There is also a Show title bars option to allow you to show or hide the title bars of custom windows. A hotkey can be assigned to this option using Tools – Options – Hotkeys.
Note that the Window menu is not shown when the current profile does not contain any custom windows.
