Play/pause pandora.com with a media key
I have a Microsoft keyboard with a play/pause button. Is there a way I can map the play/pause key to the Play/Pause button on the Pandora website?
I use Chrome as my browser and am running Windows 7.
I have cooked up a solution using AutoHotkey. It takes a bit to set up, but it is worth it!
Setup:
Download and install
AutoHotkey_L
-
Create a new
.txt
file. Rename it to have the.ahk
extension. -
Right-click the file and select
Edit Script
. -
Input the following:
#InstallKeybdHook
Save.
-
Right-click the file again, this time selecting
Run Script
.The script is active as indicated in the Windows tray:
-
Right-click the tray icon and select
Open
. Press your play/pause key. The keystroke has been logged.
-
From the menu, select
View > Key history and script info
. -
Toward the bottom, you will see some information about the recent keystroke. We are interested in the
SC
(Scan Code). In my case, it was122
. Open up Pandora.com in Google Chrome.
Press Ctrl+L to select the Address Bar.
-
Now, press Tab multiple times until the focus has been moved to Pandora's play/pause button. Keep count! In my case, it took
10
tabs. Right-click the AutoHotkey tray icon and select
Exit
. We are done with the setup!
The Script:
Create and run the following script, in the same manner as Steps #2-6 above. Replace XXX
in the 1st line with your scan code, and replace YY
in the 5th line with your tab count.
SCXXX::
SetTitleMatchMode, 1
WinGet, original, ID, A
WinActivate, Pandora Internet Radio
Send ^l
Send {Tab YY}
Send {Space}
WinActivate, ahk_id %original%
Exit
Now, when you have Pandora.com open and you press your play/pause key, the script will click play/pause on Pandora.com and return you back to where you were.
http://www.daveamenta.com/2010-06/pandora-one-media-keys-enable-them/ This guy created a .exe that maps the media keys for you.
This is a little older, but I have some to offer a solution for those who do not want to write code. I wrote an application that lets you map your keys to Pandora. Check it out I call it Pandora Keys the application itself is open source so you can edit it if needed. It has some other neat features which are outlined on the website.
Disclaimer: I am the author of this application.