hi everyone can you please tell me if i can navigate through the dock with arrow keys and enter key to launch the applications. ive been playing with trial/free version and cannot seem to find an option for keyboard arrow keys and it doesnt respond.im trying to use this with a mce remote.can someone please confirm this before i make the purchase.does the full version support navigation with arrow keys, idont mean keyboard shortcuts.

First of all, which Winstep program are you using? I recommend you use Winstep Xtreme. There are keyboard functions (Hotkey) that will launch applications within Xtreme, but since I never use those keyboard functions, just my mouse, I don't know how many there and how many different actions (if any) they'll launch outside of the Hotspots area.

I do know that you can customize hotkeys wihtin Xtreme via NextSTART under the Hotspots tab to launch certain applications.

Open NextSTART > Hotspots tab > highlight one of the checked Hotspots if you have already made one and click Edit then click the pull-down that says: Would you like to use a hotkey to activate this hotspot? or click New if you haven't made one as yet and follow the prompts. If you have any problems setting up a Hotspot just holler back.

Since you obviously like using hotkeys, you can use CTRL+F12 to open NextSTART. If you want to change the default hotkey that opens NextSTART, click on the General tab. You'll see it under the heading Preferences Hotkey.

Unfortunately I don't see an option for using an arrow key but Jorge (Winstep) will be able to better answer your question other than what I've mentioned. If it doesn't cause some sort of conflict, maybe Jorge will add that feature.

I tried how I could use the arrow keys on my PC, and I found a way.
I do not have a MCE Remote, so I don't know if you can select the same key (combo's) that I used with my keyboard.

First problem is that the dock has to get the focus.
Using the keyboard this can be done as follows:
In 'Dock Properties' tab Behavior' under 'Activation' select a key combination to activate the dock (I used Alt+A for instance). Click apply and ok.
Using the key combination (Alt+A) on my keyboard activates the dock and gives it focus.

Once the dock has the focus, I can use the left, right and up arrow key as expected to move through docks and sub-docks. The down arrow key does not work at all, but I discovered that I can use the Escape key to go down.

Another problem is to see what you selected. Most mouseover effects don't work (so you don't know what is selected). One effect that I found out to work is the magnify effect (selected entry will be magnified for a short time).

Best settings for this are:
In 'dock properties' tab 'Effects' set 'Mouseover Effect' to Magnify.
Click 'Effect Settings' and set 'Magnification Size' to Large and 'Magnification Span' to 1.

At last, the return key works as it should.

So, I was able to use docks with only my keyboard.

Maybe someone with a MCE remote could use this info and check whether the same can be accomplished with it.

thank you very much for that by bringing focus to the dock i can navigate and launch applications, i remapped one of the buttons but however its quite difficult to know which icon is selected. if the effects worked correctly the way the mouse works it would be amazing for htpc use.waiting patiently please add the feature.

after couple of hours of playing with it, i couldnt get it to work properly i can bring focus and navigate through the dock with the remote but you still dont know which app your selecting.

The dock had some basic keyboard navigation abilities added early on, but since docks were never really meant to be navigated using the keyboard, not much attention was given to that afterwards.