A number of Flexi-deck actions can be performed on a UI Element or a Menu item.
When an action can be performed on a UI Element the action definition will show the UI Element selection field, in this example the UI Element is yet to be defined:
When selecting the UI Element / Menu item field, as highlighted above, the Action Editor will enter an on-screen UI item selection mode, highlighting the possible UI Elements / Menu items as the cursor is moved around the screen.The cursor is still active at this point allowing you to click around the application until you reach the desired UI element. If the UI element being selected must be of a certain type, such as with the "Pick Menu Item" action, then only compatible UI elements will be highlighted.
During this selection process, there are three keystrokes that are used in this mode: "return" for selecting an on-screen UI element, "escape" or canceling the selection process and "up arrow" for moving up the on-screen element's hierarchy. These keystrokes can be changed in Flexi-deck's preferences. These keystrokes will work system-wide; Flexi-deck does not need to be the frontmost application when selecting a UI element.
On-screen UI elements are assembled in a hierarchy, where some UI elements (such as windows or group boxes) may contain other UI elements. Flexi-deck normally highlights only the on-screen UI elements at the lowest levels of the hierarchy. To select elements further up the hierarchy, use the "up arrow" key, or whichever key is set in Flexi-deck's preferences. This will move the selection one level up from the one currently selected.
Here is an example of a menu item being highlighted:
Once a UI Element has been selected it will be reflected in the UI Element field.
In this example the QuickTime record button has been selected:
When a UI Element is listed it will often only show the related Application name and not the 'name' of the UI Element. To see the actual associated UI Element, assuming the relevant dialog is on the screen, you can use the 'Highlight UI Element' function.
Depending on the action being performed it will also list the UI element's relative co-ordinate X and Y position indicating the exact location where the action will be preformed within the UI element. You can adjust the X and Y co-ordinates to fine tune the relative position.
Video example
This example shows how to select a UI Element when defining an action within the Macro Editor: