Advice for a "copy and paste" box

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

Hello…

Here is my problem:
I have a DVR system that needs to have long URLs entered frequently using a small IR remote or via a USB keyboard. It's these same 5 URLs all the time, so it's a huge pain to have to type it in every time.

My proposed solution:
Use an Arduino Leonardo as an HID keyboard. I could pre-load all of the URLs when I load the sketch, then have 10 physical buttons on a box. When you push button 1, it just pastes in the stored URL associated with that button. So you just use the IR remote to put the cursor in the right place, then push the button on this box and the long, tedious URL gets pasted in.

A more advanced version would have a switch to put it in "record" mode. That way you could push the button you want to "record" to. Plug in a USB keyboard, type in what you want the new one to say, then save it by pushing the same button a second time. Then take it out of record mode.

An even more advanced version (and maybe easier to build) would be to have an IR receiver on the Arduino, then use a generic IR remote. Something like pushing the "1" on the remote is the same as pushing the physical button 1 on a box would be in the first example. Going the IR route would mean I don't need to build a box and wire up buttons. I could just program my universal remote to control the Arduino.

I think the IR route is the easiest, although I don't know about the programming side of things. Is there someone here for hire that could write this sketch for me?

I really look forward to hearing what anybody's thoughts are on this project.

Thanks for reading.

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[quote author=tony b date=1417536625 link=msg=1984870]A more advanced version would have a switch to put it in "record" mode. That way you could push the button you want to "record" to. Plug in a USB keyboard, type in what you want the new one to say, then save it by pushing the same button a second time. Then take it out of record mode.
[/quote]
To use a USB keyboard on an Arduino you would have to add a USB Host Shield (or equivalent). You would also need some place to store these long URL strings. SRAM might not be big enough. Perhaps an SD card.

The "Gigs and Collaborations" board is where you seek collaborators or programming for pay.

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You say you can use an IR remote and that the 5 URLs are always the same. Why not use an IR LED (or a bunch so you get an omnidirectional IR remote) to transmit the sequence of the buttons needed to be pushed. This bring the part count down to the a single digit number:
Microcontroller, IR LED(s), transistor, battery, a few caps and resistors, buttons.
Well, almost single digit.

Since the URLs are always the same, the codes and sequences can be hard coded.
IR libraries are available and not too hard to use.

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Thanks.

If the strings were stored on an SD card, could they be stored as txt files? Then I could take the SD card out, put it in the computer to change the strings. That would be easier than using a keyboard.