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5

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.

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2  
Unlikely, they'd have to have a special event listener in their JS/Flash to recognize media keys and without some crazy client-side trickery, I don't see this as feasible. Not to mention there's the issue of window focus, since it is a Flash app and not registered with the OS as a media player, I don't foresee a way to achieve this when the window is in the background. – Garrett Dec 18 '11 at 18:15
@Gman, never underestimate the power of a macro. ;) – iglvzx Dec 19 '11 at 6:56
How do you suppose you'd give the specific window/tab focus through a macro? Also there would be a fair amount of trickery necessary to write an event handler that to custom map the media key functions. No commercial software from Microsoft/Logitech/etc. is capable of doing this as described. – Garrett Dec 19 '11 at 16:36
1  
@gman, You'd be surprised. See my answer. :) – iglvzx Dec 23 '11 at 23:43

2 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted
+50

I have cooked up a solution using AutoHotkey. It takes a bit to set up, but it is worth it!

Setup:

  1. Download and install AutoHotkey_L

  2. Create a new .txt file. Rename it to have the .ahk extension.

    new file

  3. Right-click the file and select Edit Script.

    edit script

  4. Input the following:

    #InstallKeybdHook

  5. Save.

  6. Right-click the file again, this time selecting Run Script.

    run script

    The script is active as indicated in the Windows tray:

    tray icon

  7. Right-click the tray icon and select Open.

    open script

  8. Press your play/pause key. The keystroke has been logged.

  9. From the menu, select View > Key history and script info.

    view menu

  10. Toward the bottom, you will see some information about the recent keystroke. We are interested in the SC (Scan Code). In my case, it was 122.

    scan code

  11. Open up Pandora.com in Google Chrome.

  12. Press Ctrl+L to select the Address Bar.

  13. 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.

    pandora focus

  14. 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.

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Thanks a lot. I can't test this right now, but I really appreciate the effort, so I'll assume it works and give you the bounty. Thanks! – itzy Dec 24 '11 at 21:15
Let me know if you run into any problems. I'll help you sort them out. You're welcome. :) – iglvzx Dec 24 '11 at 21:25
2  
+1 for awesome presentation. :) – Lamb Dec 24 '12 at 13:19
up vote 0 down vote

http://www.daveamenta.com/2010-06/pandora-one-media-keys-enable-them/ This guy created a .exe that maps the media keys for you.

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