I want to create an AutoHotKey script that waits for a window and sends some keystrokes to it, but the keystrokes are repeating by default

Question

I want an AutoHotKey script that waits for a particular window and then sends keystrokes to that window. However, since the waiting is done in a loop, the keys are sent again and again.

Let's say I want to wait for Windows Calculator and then send "12345" to it. My first attempt was:

#SingleInstance force
Loop
{
WinWaitActive, Calc
{
    Send, 12345
}

This script obviously sends "12345" over and over again since I'm not breaking out of the loop.

If I insert a "break" following the send statement, the loop terminates but so does the entire script.

What's the standard pattern for handling this?

Answer 1

I'm assuming you want to stop sending 12345 until you activate the window again (or another window with the same name). So use WinWaitNotActive

#SingleInstance force
Loop
{
WinWaitActive, Calc
{
    Send, 12345
    WinWaitNotActive, Calc
}