TeeHee - Text Expander

A free, open source, lightweight text expander for Windows.

Features

• Instant Expansion: Type your trigger anywhere on Windows and watch it instantly expand to your defined text. No delays, no hassle.
• Dynamic Placeholders: Use built-in placeholders like {{date}}, {{time}}, {{clipboard}}, and more to insert dynamic content automatically.
• System-Wide: Works everywhere, emails, documents, browsers, code editors, chat apps. If you can type there, TeeHee works there.
• Categories: Organize your triggers into categories for easy management. Filter and find what you need in seconds.
• Pause & Resume: Quickly toggle text expansion on or off from the system tray. Visual indicator shows current status.
• Import & Export: Backup your triggers or share them across devices. Your data is stored locally in a simple JSON file.
• Lightweight: Runs quietly in your system tray using minimal resources. Single instance only, no duplicates.
• Modern Interface: Beautiful dark-themed UI that's easy on the eyes. Managing your triggers has never looked this good.
• Privacy First: 100% offline. No data collection, no analytics, no accounts. Your triggers stay on your computer.

Default Trigger

The app comes with one default trigger:

• Trigger: :hi
• Expansion: hello world

Data Storage

Triggers are stored in JSON format at:

%APPDATA%\TeeHee\triggers.json

Contains: Your text expansion triggers (input/output pairs)

Settings are stored in JSON format at:

%APPDATA%\TeeHee\settings.json

Contains: Application preferences (trigger speed, custom database path)

Tips

• Keep triggers short and unique (e.g., :em for email)
• Use prefixes like : or // to avoid accidental triggers
• Multi-line text is supported in expansions

Troubleshooting

App doesn't start

• Make sure you have .NET 8 runtime installed (for framework-dependent builds)
• Run as Administrator if you have permission issues

Text expansion not working

• Some applications with elevated privileges may block keyboard hooks
• Try running TeeHee as Administrator

Triggers not saving

• Check write permissions to %APPDATA%\TeeHee\

Requirements

• Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
• .NET 8 SDK (for building)
• Emoji.Wpf package (dotnet add package Emoji.Wpf)

Building the Application

Prerequisites

1. Install the .NET 8 SDK from https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/8.0
2. Install Visual Studio Code (optional, but recommended)
   • Install the C# extension

Build Steps

1. Open a terminal/command prompt in the project folder

2. Restore dependencies:

   dotnet restore

3. Build the project (Debug mode):

   dotnet build

4. Run the application:

   dotnet run

Creating a Standalone Executable

To create a single .exe file that can run without .NET installed:

dotnet publish -c Release

The executable will be created at:

bin\Release\net8.0-windows\win-x64\publish\TeeHee.exe

Project Structure

TeeHee/
├── App.xaml              # Application resources and styling
├── App.xaml.cs           # Application startup logic
├── ConfirmDialog.xaml    # Confirm Dialog window
├── ConfirmDialog.xaml.cs # Confirm Dialog code-behind
├── InfoDialog.xaml       # Info Dialog window
├── InfoDialog.xaml.cs    # Info Dialog code-behind
├── TriggerDialog.xaml    # Trigger Dialog window
├── TriggerDialog.xaml.cs # Trigger Dialog code-behind
├── MainWindow.xaml       # Main UI window
├── MainWindow.xaml.cs    # Main window code-behind
├── TeeHee.csproj         # Project configuration
├── app.ico               # Application icon
├── Models/
│   ├── Trigger.cs        # Trigger data model
│   └── AppSettings.cs    # Settings model
└── Services/
    ├── TriggerDatabase.cs  	# JSON persistence
    ├── KeyboardHook.cs     	# Global keyboard hook
    ├── TrayIconManager.cs   	# System tray management
    └── StartupManager.cs    	# Windows startup registration
    └── PlaceholderService.cs   # PlaceholderService management
    └── TruncateConverter.cs    # Truncate service

How It Works

1. The app installs a low-level keyboard hook using Windows API
2. As you type, characters are added to a buffer
3. When a trigger is detected (buffer ends with a trigger string), the app:
   • Sends backspace keystrokes to delete the trigger text
   • Types the replacement text using SendInput

License

MIT License

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