OptionKey madness

[depstein at att.net]

Richard Gaskin wrote:
> My goal was to provide 20 simple keystrokes for user-settable actions, 
> giving them Cmd/Ctrl-1 through 0, and Opt/Alt-1 through 0.  Function 
> keys are out since both Win and Mac OSes reserve so many for specific 
> features.  Now it seems Option keys may be out as well

Have you considered using the Mac CONTROL key to do what your Windows ALT key does?  This works:

on controlKeyDown what -- for Mac CONTROL key
  keyShortcut what
end controlKeyDown what

on optionKeyDown what -- for Windows ALT key
  keyShortcut what
end optionKeyDown

(Where a keyShortCut handler does the work intended for Win-Alt-what or Mac Ctrl-What).  
A "commandKeyDown" handler catches the use of the Windows control key and the Mac command key.

David Epstein