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I am looking for a simple program that will display a button on the screen with a custom name and/or graphic and will execute a keyboard command (ex... crtl-c or a 'C' key press). Its for a touchscreen so it really would need to stay into a locked position on the screen.
Thanks Guys Love Your Work,
Gavin (unmanaged) :Thmbsup:
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Er... isn't this available in pretty much all macro programs? Such as:
- PowerPro (http://powerpro.webeddie.com/index.html) (freeware)
- Macro Express (http://www.macros.com/) (payware)
- AutoHotkey (http://www.autohotkey.com/) (freeware, popular on DC)
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Agreed. This is easily accomplished in AutoHotkey with just a couple of lines of code. Unless, for instance, Gavin meant an entire touchscreen overlay. Can you fill in some details, Gavin?
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| Application Name | WinButtons |
| Version | 3.6.1.0 |
| Short Description | Display a window with large buttons to allow applications to be started, commands sent to applications, submenu's to be shown, useful for a touch-screen equipped computer
Now Application-focus sensitive, supports Drag&Drop of files on buttons |
| Supported OSes | Windows |
| Web Page | This thread and a DcMembers page (http://ath.dcmembers.com/wb/pages/software/winbuttons.php) |
| Download Link | From my DCmembers site (http://ath.dcmembers.com/files/winbuttons/WinButtons.zip) |
| System Requirements | - Some applications to be started, or
- Keyboard sequences to be sent, or...
|
| Version History | - 3.6.1.0 October 23rd 2012: Open dropped .ini or .wbuc if dropped on the surface/button and no On Drop command set
- 3.6.1.0 October 23rd 2012: WinButtonEdit 1.1.0.3: Bugfixes
- 3.6.0.2 October 20th 2012: Bugfixes
- 3.6.0.2 October 20th 2012: WinButtonEdit 1.1.0.2: Bugfixes
- 3.6.0.0 October 9th 2012: Added support for [VarParams] for display and entry of parameters, directly applied to buttons
- 3.6.0.0 October 9th 2012: WinButtonEdit 1.1.0.0: Added support for [VarParams] and other new features of WB 3.6.0
- 3.5.1.1 October 11th 2011: WinButtonEdit 1.0.5.2: Ask confirmation before update and quit WBE on update
- 3.5.1.1 October 8th 2011: WinButtonEdit 1.0.5.1: Adds Image parameters configuration window
- 3.5.1.1 October 8th 2011: Version bump to align updates with WinButtonEdit
- 3.5.1.0 September 26th 2011: New feature: Borderless buttons now support splitting the caption on @LF@
- 3.5.1.0 September 26th 2011: WinButtonEdit 1.0.4.4: Preview support for WinButtons 3.5.1 feature
- 3.5.0.2 September 24th 2011: New features: Borderless buttons, Button Layout combining Image and caption and PNG file support
- 3.5.0.2 September 24th 2011: WinButtonEdit 1.0.4.2: Support for Borderless buttons and several improvements
- 3.4.2.3 September 13th 2011: Minor bugfixes, fixed dcuhelper missing files :-[, added numkeypad samples
- 3.4.2.3 September 13th 2011: WinButtonEdit 1.0.3.3: Several anomalies and bugs fixed
- 3.4.2.2 September 11th 2011: Adds FlipKeyColor feature and improvements after receiving and testing a real touch-screen
- 3.4.2.2 September 11th 2011: WinButtonEdit 1.0.3.1: Adds checking for updates (dcuhelper) and updated for new WB options.
- 3.4.1.1 September 7th 2011: Bugfix for CursorRestore feature
- 3.4.1.0 September 6th 2011: Improved CursorRestore by providing a configurable buffersize
- 3.4.1.0 September 6th 2011: WinButtonEdit 1.0.2.0: Updated for new CursorRestore options.
- 3.4.0.1 September 2nd 2011: New feature: CursorRestore
- 3.4.0.1 September 2nd 2011: WinButtonEdit 1.0.1.1 supporting CursorRestore and displays Preview window position
- 3.3.2.1 July 27th 2011: WinButtonEdit 1.0.0.0 released (no changes since RC10)
- 3.3.2.1 July 5th 2011: Version bump to celebrate that the new version number actually was put into the exe
- 3.3.2.0 July 4th 2011: New feature: Optional resize of .bmp image to button-size
- 3.3.2.0 July 4th 2011: Updated WinButtonEdit to 0.9.3.0/RC10
- 3.3.1.2 July 2nd 2011: New feature: Display icons from .exe, .dll, .ocx and .icl files on buttons
- 3.3.1.2 July 2nd 2011: Updated WinButtonEdit to 0.9.2.3/RC9
- 3.3.0.0 June 20th 2011: Updated WinButtonEdit to 0.9.1.1/RC8
- 3.3.0.0 June 19th 2011: Updated WinButtonEdit to 0.9.1.0/RC7
- 3.3.0.0 June 18th 2011: WinButtons prefered file extension now .wbuc
- 3.3.0.0 June 18th 2011: Updated WinButtonEdit to 0.9.0.0/RC6
- 3.2.1.0 June 16th 2011: 2 Bugfixes for WinButtons
- 3.2.0.1 June 14th 2011: Updated WinButtonEdit to 0.8.4.1/RC5
- 3.2.0.1 June 13th 2011: New feature Drop files on a button
- 3.2.0.1 June 13th 2011: Updated WinButtonEdit to 0.8.3.1/RC4
- 3.1.2.1 June 11th 2011: Updated WinButtonEdit to 0.8.2/RC3
- 3.1.2.1 June 9th 2011: Updated WinButtonEdit to 0.8.1/RC2
- 3.1.2.1 June 5th 2011: New feature: Group context switch based on current focussed control
- 3.1.2.1 June 5th 2011: WinButtonEdit 0.8.0 (RC1) configuration editor added to the set (exe only)
- 3.0.0.2 April 22nd 2011: Major new feature: Condition availability of buttons (totally hidden, invisible or disabled)
- 2.6.2.3 April 15th 2011: Bugfix release for the transparency issues, reported by cranioscopical (thanks!)
- 2.6.2.1 April 14th 2011: Support for an alternate Hide method using althide setting or -ah parameter, Caption also set as each button's Tooltip
- 2.6.1.2 April 13th 2011: Minor updates in environment variable support, documentation updates, DcMembers server updated
- 2.6.1 April 12th 2011: New feature, environment variable expansion supported in captions and commands, bugfixes
- 2.6.0 April 8th 2011: New feature, variable replacement with parameters
- 2.0.1 March 13th 2011: Minor fix, left and top are not limited to main monitor
- 2.0.0 March 11th 2011: Major update, adding focused application button-context switching
- 1.0.0 March 4th 2011: Initial release (after several private pre-releases)
|
| Author | Ath (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=47058) |
Description
Solving a Coding Snack request (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.0) for a tool to display large buttons to be used on a touch-screen, that ended up in the Unfinished section because it never really got honored.
Then the March 2011 Fundraiser event came around, so I tried to get this request eventually realized, and, combined with the rather large feature-set, compared to the Coding Snack 'requirement' of being small and quickly created, I decided to aim for a release during the Fundraiser event.
Features
Display a set of large buttons, with descriptive captions, that can open a sub-menu, start an application, send keystrokes to another application (using WinSendKeys (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25389.0)), or whatever can be done using a windows command-line.
The window can have enabled/disabled a border, close button, taskbar button, different colors and sizes per button, display a bitmap or icon instead of a text-caption, hide itself (and optionally a preceding chain of WinButtons instances) during execution of a command, wait for completion of the command, or exit after starting a command.
Version 2.0 adds the feature of focussed-application sensitive button-context switching, and arrangeble button-configurations, with different size buttons, based on arrangement-types. Buttons can be extended to double size (1 direction only), 1/2, 1/3rd, 1/4th, 1/6th or 1/9th default size, and combined into 1 'button-area', see the screenshots for a chaos example :)
The 3.0 version adds an optional condition per button to Enable/Disable a button on a file/directory availability, exe loaded in memory or an AutoIt3 function evaluation. The result can be a totally not available button (the window is re-drawn), visible/invisible or enabled/disabled button, a (long) tooltip per button instead of the default caption tooltip, with support for AutoIt3 macro's like @CRLF@ to have newlines in the tip.
Version 3.1 adds a configuration editor called, surprisingly, WinButtonEdit. It's a GUI to change all features available in WinButtons. Additional information is available in WinButtonEdit.readme.txt. (Currently without sourcecode, mainly because of RC1 status)
Another new feature is the option to set a global and per group button surface and text color.
The Group context switching feature has been enhanced to allow switching on specific controls and application windows. This gives a feature to present a set of buttons that link to relevant information, depending on the control currently having focus.
Version 3.2 Adds support for Drop Files on a button if it has a dropcommand defined for that button (requested by ewemoa)
A full description of all features is included in the zip-file in WinButtons.readme.txt
Version 3.3 Changed the preferred file extension from .ini to .wbuc (WinButtons Configuration). Open associatin can be set from WinButtonEdit (0.9 and up)
Version 3.3.1 Adds the feature of displaying an (indexed) icon from .exe, .dll, .ocx, .icl and .ico files.
Version 3.3.2 Adds optional scaling for .bmp images on buttons to the size of that button.
Version 3.4.0 Adds optional CursorRestore option, to restore the cursor to teh last known position outside of the WInButtons windows, when using an (external) touch-screen (should be real-world tested though...)
Version 3.4.1 Improves handling of the CursorRestore by a configurable buffersize, and better handling of the buffer if the mouse position is not changed
Version 3.4.2 Adds optional FlipKeyColor option to better indicate a button was pressed. WBE now offers a Check for updates... menu-item, to update both WinButtons and WinButtonEdit. Uses dcuhelper.exe and .dcupdate files.
Version 3.4.2.3 A lot of small fixes to WinButtonEdit and a minor one for WinButtons come with this update, as well as extra samples & screen shots and the missing .dcupdate files of the previous release :-[
Version 3.5.0 Adds support for Borderless buttons, (enables the Metro UI design of WPhone 7 and Win8), combining Image and Caption on a Borderless button and PNG file support for smoother graphics display.
Version 3.5.1 Adds Borderless buttons with 'split' captions using @LF@ macro.
Version 3.6.0 Adds the optional display of parameter edits/comboboxes/checkboxes as variables in command-lines configured for a button.
The tooltip of each button shows the effective command-line, instead of any configured tooltip.
Added a common confirmation per button, besides the -asc/-ask command option.
WinButtonEdit is updated to support all these features and options.
Version 3.6.1 Adds default feature of opening a .ini or .wbuc files that is dropped on WinButtons.
What's new
- Version 3.6.1: Drop a .wbuc or .ini file with a non-empty Buttons section and the file will be loaded if no On Drop command is defined for the button it is dropped on.
- Version 3.6.0.2: Removes some bugs found during testing, allows a button-Condition to automatically check the condition, even if no button is pressed (-ref option), as demoed in ConstanceJill.wbuc configuration.
- Version 3.6.0: Optional display of parameters to be entered and applied to configured command-lines per button. The already available :varVarName: replacement feature is used for this.
- Per button common confirmation message before running the command configured for that button.
- WinButtonEdit asks for confirmation before starting DCUHelper, and asks to save the current file if it wasn't saved
- WinButtonEdit now has an Image parameters window for easier config, with sliders and up/down controls
- Borderless buttons can have a split caption by using @LF@ at the position where it should split (multiple if needed) see updated metro.wbuc
- Borderless buttons, .png image support, combining image and caption on 1 button (borderless button only)
- Added some screenshots to this post
- Several improvements after testing with a real touch-screen, generously donated by nudone (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=13)
- FlipKeyColor option
- Update fetching using DCHelper/DCUpdater
- Enhanced CursorRestore option
- Added CursorRestore option, and WBE also offers to copy the current preview window position to Top and Left after dragging the preview in the desired position
- Released WinButtonEdit 1.0.0.0, since no questions where posted for several weeks. No changes since RC10
- Added option scaling for.bmp images
- Updated WinButtonEdit 0.9.3.0 (RC10, should be the last RC...) with scaling supported in the preview
- Display a (indexed) icon from .exe, .dll, .ocx, .icl and .ico files on buttons.
- Updated WinButtonEdit 0.9.2.3 (RC9) configuration editor (select icon from supported files, some bugfixes/improvements)
- Updated WinButtonEdit 0.9.1.1 (RC8) configuration editor (drag&drop for WBE, set file-associations, Move button to Group)
- Bugfixes: Close button won't work on XP when movable is enabled, and :dropItem<n>: gave upto (count - 1) dropped items (nothing with 1 item dropped)
- Added Drop files per button (dropcommand) to WinButtons
- Default button surface and text color
- Group context switch based on control/window instead of just active exe
- A condition per button to determine if that button should be available. Much more fine-grained then the Groups feature
- Tooltip per button, that supports AutoIt3 macro's
- Multiple commands executed from 1 button, with a configurable separator
- Variables can be defined and re-used in a lot of parameters of the configuration. They can even use parameters! A full description is in the readme file.
- Commands and captions (button, window, messages, questions) support environment variable expansion (the familiar %varname% syntax)
- Button caption is now also set as the tooltip for each button. (Thanks cranioscopical for the tip!)
- Alternate Hide method to resolve possible compatibility/repaint issues.
- Transparency issues on Win XP (pre-Win 7?) resolved.
Planned Features
- Quick create/edit of a button configuration, as WinButtonEdit can be a bit daunting for new users
- Feature requests welcome :up:
Screenshots
I created a few dummy menu's. (included in the zip-file)
This is a vertical, no-border, 2 buttonrows menu with 10 buttons, 'Submenu 5 extra words' is opened, and it's button 'Run & Wait' pressed, giving another vertical menu. (A bit crowded):
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The same menu, but now a border without close button is shown, and button 'Submenu 4' was pressed, showing the same vertical menu with 2 buttons:
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Most buttons are the default size of 128x128 pixels, except 'Button 10', that's 100x100 pixels.
This menu was the model for the application-icon, buttonsize down to 78x78, so the entire window is about 256x256:
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A menu showing a chaos of different sized (buttonarrangement) buttons:
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A screenshot of WinButtonEdit:
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A small part of a configuration ini file: (4 buttons)
[Buttons]
button1=&Back <--
command1=-exit
button2=&Run && Exit
command2=-hideWinButtons -?
button3=Run && &Wait
command3=-sub :debug: -t :top:-(:height:/2) -l :left: -w :width:*2 -h :height:*2 :hndlist: submenu4.ini
color3=0xFFD147
button4=Send S&cite something (in new document)
command4=-hide-send scite ^n "A single sentence"
Some screenshots of the numkeypad samples included since v3.4.2.3:
(Based on nudone's touch-screen panel)
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Large numpad (NumPad On):
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Right-hand large numpad (NumPad R):
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Small numpad covering 5 rows (NumPad s5):
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Small numpad covering 4 rows (NumPad s4):
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Right-hand small numpad covering 3 rows (NumPad sr):
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Right-hand small numpad covering 3 rows (NumPad sr3) (not hiding any other keys):
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Since v3.5.1: Borderless buttons with split caption (metro.wbuc example):
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WinButtonEdit 1.0.5: Image parameters window:
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WinButtons 3.6, showing some odd input controls (Textbox, Combo, Editable combo and a checkbox)
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Usage
Installation
- Unpack the zipfile in it's own directory. You are required to edit some ini/wbuc files, so it better not be a subdirectory of Program Files, to avoid UAC issues.
- Edit WinButtons.ini/WinButtons.wbuc to change the captions and commands to the desired settings, using WinButtonEdit
- Optionally: Give colors to the buttons, or select images or icons to display on the buttons
- Optionally: Create extra ini/wbuc files, containing more commands, to be used as submenu's
- Optionally: Create button-groups to enable context-switching buttons dependent on the currently active application
- (A full description of all options and features is available in WinButtons.readme.txt)
Uninstallation
If an association was set using WinButtonEdit, then run WBE and de-select any checked option under menu Options/'Set file association for .wbuc'
Delete all WinButtons related files from the computer, (no settings are stored in the registry, except file association), remove any shortcuts created.
Known Issues
- On Windows XP the settings closebutton and movable can't be combined, a solution is to be found (for now, movable is disabled in this case)
Images and caption texts or colors can't be combined (yet) They can using Borderless buttons (v3.5.0 and later)After a -hide, the restore afterwards displays the entire chain of windows...(Explained in the readme)
Download
Available are the AutoIt3 source for WinButtons, WinButtons.readme.txt, sample configuration files, all resources and compiled exe's:
This download (http://ath.dcmembers.com/files/winbuttons/WinButtons.zip) links to v.3.6.1.0 on the DCmembers server (http://ath.dcmembers.com/). Older downloads removed from this message... (available on special request but should not be needed)
Source for WinButtonEdit is not (yet) included because it's in a RC state, IMHO, and I'm not sure I want to release this source...
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That's really nice Ath! I like its looks :)
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That's really nice Ath! I like its looks :)
-jgpaiva
yeah, it looks great Ath :Thmbsup:
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Now I got to give myself a touch-screen for my next birthday, so I can test it's original use-case :P
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a tool to display large buttons to be used on a touch-screen
-Ath
That's a nice touch, Ath :Thmbsup:
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Probably all the incentive I need to get one of those mini touch screens to live next to my keyboard. I think they're called "Mimo" - anyone here got one?
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Nice work, Ath. :up:
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Thanks for the thanks :D
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I think they're called "Mimo" - anyone here got one?
-timns
Just a case of waiting for nudone to see this post, isn't it? :D
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Yoohoo! nudone!
Looky what we got for you :)
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ] (http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/usb-gadgets/bfa3/)
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Just a case of waiting for nudone to see this post, isn't it? :D
-cranioscopical
Yoohoo! nudone!
Looky what we got for you :)
-4wd
Guess he hurried to the shop to get one (or two), so he can brag write about it here :D
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heheh, i've already had a long chat about those touch screen thingies with timns.
the conclusion: i'm waiting for him to get one. BUT... Ath's "Winbuttons" does make it all the more tempting.
i shall have to look into it, and i shall definitely be bragging about it if Winbuttons and a touch screen let me do want i need.
now, did i ever tell you about my four monitors and cintiq and three tablet pcs and eight keyboards and twenty... and... and... blah, blah, blah. :)
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Ath, i have a question about Winbuttons (which would determine whether i even bother to look for a touch screen)...
Can Winbuttons be made to recognise the "main" program that has focus - and then change the buttons displayed?
As an example, I'm using Photoshop, Winbuttons displays the buttons configured for Photoshop shortcuts, then I swap to Illustrator and Winbuttons now changes its display to show only Illustrator related button shortcuts. And more, only my desktop is visible (all other apps minimised), Winbuttons now displays whatever set of buttons related to useful everyday shortcuts.
(Maybe this kind of quick button swap type app is already included with touchscreens, I'm guessing it isn't, and that's why I wanted timns to be the guinea pig and buy one to find out.)
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p.s. i think you've made a great little app.
I particularly like the ability to use graphics on the buttons, this really opens up a whole world of possibilities.
Another question or suggestion for future releases - could the buttons be made irregular sizes, so maybe you could have the standard button layout, and then some of those buttons were doubled up (connected to each other) and other buttons were split in half, or thirds, or quarters.
So, rather than being a regular button interface, it become more like a custom control panel with different zones or sized buttons across it.
(Okay, this is pushing it, I know, but could Winbuttons be made to work on more than one touchscreen at a time - each one having its own set of functions.)
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Can Winbuttons be made to recognise the "main" program that has focus - and then change the buttons displayed?
-nudone
ATM, it's only sort-of 'context-aware' to other WinButtons instances, that have passed their form-handle(s) (using :hndlist: variable) to all instances in the chain, to be hidden when the -hide command option is used. So using the supplied demo configuration, Click: 'Submenu 5 extra words', 'Run & Wait', 'Push 2nd', then the WinButtons -? help-message is shown, while all 3 instances of WinButtons showing the menu-chain are hidden.
It's now rather static, in that each configuration-file has 1 set of buttons that is displayed on the screen and then waiting for the user to interact with it. Making it this kind of application-aware is quite a different approach, but I'll investigate it. Sounds interesting, indeed.
could the buttons be made irregular sizes, so maybe you could have the standard button layout, and then some of those buttons were doubled up (connected to each other) and other buttons were split in half, or thirds, or quarters.
-nudone
That's quite a challenging (but interesting) feature to implement, I'll certainly think about it, and report back later.
could Winbuttons be made to work on more than one touchscreen at a time
-nudone
It can do that already, just pass it an ini file with button definitions (-f parameter can be used for clarity, but not required), using explicit top and left values (or on the commandline using -t and -l parameters), multiple instances should run happily side by side.
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Okay, very good, that's sounds very hopeful, Ath. I'll start looking into touch screens (as I'm sure timns will do too).
My major stumbling block is simply that if the touchscreen (running Winbuttons or something similar) doesn't do what I described above then it's not "feature rich" or advanced enough to be useful.
For my own personal use, a touchscreen has got to do more than what a typical keybad can do.
Being focus-program aware and changing layout and buttons to compliment the actions required for that in focus program is the "killer" feature. It means not having to memorise program hotkeys or their layout on an extra keypad.
Really, we are discussing something that could well be the next big must-have peripheral for many computer users. It's probably already available - but at a stupid price. Essentially, we are talking about a magic pad that does whatever you want and has the benefit of showing easy to understand buttons/graphics/words that means you don't have to remember stuff yourself. I honestly think it would be amazing.
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could the buttons be made irregular sizes, so maybe you could have the standard button layout, and then some of those buttons were doubled up (connected to each other) and other buttons were split in half, or thirds, or quarters.
-nudone
That's quite a challenging (but interesting) feature to implement, I'll certainly think about it, and report back later.
-Ath
I'll show a teaser for this feature:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
The same demo-items as with the previous screenshots, just added a 'buttonarrangement' option to some buttons.
Still got to implement 'third-size' option.
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That looks perfect. One extra thing to ask though, could the background (behind the buttons) be a user defined colour - or just black - or even a user defined graphic? Just black would be the first option.
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That looks perfect. One extra thing to ask though, could the background (behind the buttons) be a user defined colour - or just black - or even a user defined graphic? Just black would be the first option.
-nudone
Never thought about that until now you bring it up :-[
I can add an option for that, it'll be in the 1.1 update I'll publish probably around tomorrow night (CET) (won't be working on it much today any more), it'll get the same color options the buttons have.
And the 1/3 button size I got also finished.
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And the 1/3 button size I got also finished.
-Ath
Keep this up and all of us will be running out to buy mini touch screens!
Oh, and while you're at it, can you write something that will prevent the surface from picking up fingerprints? :D
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There are screen-savers with pretty ladies that can do the inside of your screen. You could equip them with magnetic double-side window-cleaners :P
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Just an update,
- I'm a bit later then I promised with my next release, but I'll get to that in a minute...
- I'm still testing with the buttonarrangement settings and ironing out the last minor bugs. Placement has to be just right when combining several kinds of smaller buttons in place of 1 big button.
What I got so far for this: (smaller buttons)
- 2 buttons horizontal or vertical
- 3 buttons horizontal or vertical
- 4 buttons equally divided
- 6 buttons arranged 3x2 or 2x3
- 9 buttons equally divided
- And a big button spanning 2 standard buttons
And the smasher that is taking some more time:
- A set of buttons depending on the active application...
I'm fighting with the colors (disappearing) now, as it's obviously in beta, but I'll report back soon.
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Sounds very promising. And horrible that there are problems detecting programs. Nothing ever is simple.
I think it will soon be time to order the touchscreen.
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It's actually that the colors for buttons no longer show >:( (but background color still does... :huh:), now that I've switched to GUIOnEventMode (that was a message-loop that only fires if a message for 'me' is available).
The detection of the currently active app, and switching the set of buttons, is already working quite fine 8)
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Just an update,
- I'm a bit later then I promised with my next release, but I'll get to that in a minute...
- I'm still testing with the buttonarrangement settings and ironing out the last minor bugs. Placement has to be just right when combining several kinds of smaller buttons in place of 1 big button.
- What I got so far for this: (smaller buttons)
- 2 buttons horizontal or vertical
- 3 buttons horizontal or vertical
- 4 buttons equally divided
- 6 buttons arranged 3x2 or 2x3
- 9 buttons equally divided
- And a big button spanning 2 standard buttons
- And the smasher that is taking some more time:
- A set of buttons depending on the active application...
I'm fighting with the colors (disappearing) now, as it's obviously in beta, but I'll report back soon.
-Ath
Boy, this sounds really promising.
I went off to buy one of the iMo Monster 10" touch screens but they're temporarily sold out.
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There is color (back) in the darkness already :), but now I gotta find another itsy bitsy of information on where to fetch the current active font-size used. It's there somewhere, but I'm out of time for today :huh:
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Ok guys & gals, here it is, WinButtons (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) is updated to 2.0.0
A quick rundown of the new features:
- Button arrangement, giving double-sized buttons, 1/2, 1/3rd, 1/4th, 1/6th and 1/9th sized buttons
- Application-focus button-context switching
- Configurable font-size, global with per button override
All changes (quite a lot...) are in the source change-history, download and an extra screenshot in the original release-post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Any bug reports :huh: or feature-requests can be posted here.
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Marvellous. Going to download and give this a try - and daydream of getting a touchscreen...
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A minor WinButtons (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) update to 2.0.1
I've removed the restrictions of top and left being confined to the width/height of the main monitor. Any position checking should be done by the user, most of them are old enough 8)
Updated download in the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
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An update for WinButtons (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) is available, it's now version 2.6.0
I've added variable replacement, with optional parameter handling (like functions), to most configuration items, and messagebox functions so a user can Yes/No or OK/Cancel confirm before a command is executed.
The downloadlink in the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) has been moved to the DcMembers server I've been granted access :-*
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tried downloading it form the DcMembers server but both times it was corrupt.
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tried downloading it form the DcMembers server but both times it was corrupt.
-delwoode
it could be that there's a corrupt version in your cache - you could try reloadingthe page &/or clearing the cache
[edit] then again it could be wonky - I cant even get it to download here, it says (around) 40KB/sec but it's not actually downloading the last third [/edit]
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tried downloading it form the DcMembers server but both times it was corrupt.
-delwoode
- I cant even get it to download here,
-tomos
Hm, this must be an extend of the server trouble there was a couple of weeks ago, that still has ill effects on stuff. I also had some errors with 1 other upload I put there. I'll also attach it to the release-post in a few minutes. (v 2.6.0.1)
Thanks for reporting guys!
edit: Only one file upload failed because it has a dll in it, and passwording the file 'fixed' that
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Tried the download from the dcmembers server myself, but all went just fine, though a bit slow, IMHO.
I'll notify mouser about this, to see if there is something I could/should have done different
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Tried the download from the dcmembers server myself, but all went just fine, though a bit slow, IMHO.
I'll notify mouser about this, to see if there is something I could/should have done different
-Ath
Testing:
I just downloaded an app elsewhere no problem,
but still have problems with this, and one of Skwire's apps that I tried (Anuran, also dcmembers) - both unsuccessful.
[edit] :-\ cant reach XYPlorer site at all, and downforeveryoneorjustme (http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/www.xyplorer.com) says it's just me... so maybe the problem is not "over there" [/edit]
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Yes it works for me now, this evening. It was in the afternoon when I tried before 3 or 4 times. The download was slower and got slower and s l o w e r util it was 3kb/s and just didn't manage the last part at all.
Anyway downloading fine now, got it. :)
however I would suggest a mirror link,dare I suggest megaupload or the like?
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however I would suggest a mirror link
-delwoode
I've already attached it also to the release-download, over here (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), I hope that's enough redundancy until the dcmembers server is working as usual/expected
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Hmm, the screenshots look good but unfortunately I am far too dumb to configure it :-[ could a simple example be put in the read me of - say configuring button top left to open notepad? or something simple
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There are several samples included in the zipfile :huh:
You could create a WinButtons.ini with just this in it:
[Buttons]
button1=Notepad
command1=notepad c:\users\[insert-user-name]\Desktop\notes.txt
(Assuming Windows Vista or 7, replace the obvious with an actual username...)
You might want to add "-hide" (without the quotes) between = and notepad to hide the button while Notepad is open, as WinButtons has always on top set by default.
If you want it to go in the left top of the (main) monitor, add these lines:
[Settings]
left=0
top=0
HTH
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Thanks, i think it would make more sense for me to start from scratch with my own simple winbutton.ini and add more to it as I figure it out - as the one that comes with it is too confusing for me to figure out.
Edit, getting a long much better starting from scratch. I am able to set up buttons and call variables.
I just found the amount of files a bit confusing and in the Readme/settings section where it said "This is a sample [Settings] section of the.ini file" I wondered which .ini file as there are a few.
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Had to do some bugfixes so now we have WinButtons 2.6.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
What's new:
- Supports expansion of environment variables (%varname% syntax) on Captions and Commands
- Bugfixes for if no Variables section was defined
Because I have no ftp access from my current location I couldn't update the dcmembers download, so I attached it to the original release-post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037). Will fix asap.
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Again a few minor updates (I should include DcUpdater/DcuHelper as a feature soon, I guess) and now WinButtons 2.6.1.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) is available.
What's new:
- Environment variable support added for messages and questions (-msg and -ask/-asc)
- :var<VarName>?<x>: parameter count may now be > 9, should that be needed
- Download re-pointed to DcMembers server (server seems fine, and I have ftp access from home, ofcourse :D)
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Ath,
This is impressive stuff. I really haven't made the time to work with it yet.
There must be some quirk with my video (though it seems okay with other stuff).
On the first run out of the box I get the top menu. If I jump to the copy menu, which displays perfectly, and then close that I get the bottom menu (it's transparent with some odd button/colour changes).
This isn't a result of the later version changes, it's been constant as you've been working away at improvements.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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Hm, tried to have that also happening over here, but I couldn't. There are some issues with hiding and re-showing the chain of windows, though, that I have to work on, but that's not cosmetically, but functionally.
What Windows version and Theme and Shell (Explorer or an alternative?) are you running? as I've only tested with Glass on standard Win7 x64 with Explorer.
[tech mode]
I'm using a call of SetWindowPos with (AutoIt3) flags BitOR($SWP_HIDEWINDOW, $SWP_NOACTIVATE, $SWP_NOMOVE, $SWP_NOZORDER, $SWP_NOSIZE) to hide, and $SWP_SHOWWINDOW in the appropriate place to restore the window. That shouldn't touch the background color though.
The standard function WinSetState() was pretty slow, so I searched and found an alternative. I can supply a test-release if you like, using the 'trusted' WinSetState calls?
[/tech mode]
Oh, and the "Push 1ce" and "shme 2" buttons are shown when you press the red "nger ca" button...
The implicit feature request of shadowing the caption as a tooltip is already scheduled for the next release ;)
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@cranioscopical, please test the attached pre-release of WinButtons 2.6.2, that has the new althide setting (add althide=1 to the [Settings] section of WinButtons.ini) and -ah/-ah- command-line parameters to use an alternative Window Hide method (WinSetState instead of SetWindowPos), to see if the background coloring issues go away.
TIA
Edit: Now that WinButtons 2.6.2.1 is officially released (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), with althide option available as a feature, this interim release has been removed.
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@cranioscopical, please test the attached pre-release of WinButtons 2.6.2, that has the new althide setting (add althide=1 to the [Settings] section of WinButtons.ini) and -ah/-ah- command-line parameters to use an alternative Window Hide method (WinSetState instead of SetWindowPos), to see if the background coloring issues go away.
-Ath
Will do, soon, thanks. It was not my intention to complain!
Sometimes, when WinButtons returns to topmost, the transparent areas are filled with parts of the window beneath which it had been.
Occasionally, WinButtons shows only one button (top left, the flower). Moving the mouse over the areas where other buttons should be causes them to appear. Personally, I rather like this hypnotic gesturing interface. I think you could be on to the next big leap in O/S design ;D
Hitting 'Submenu 4' launches another instance and I have to resort to killing off both of them.
I'm on XP SP3, Windows XP theme (with some basic changes to colours and fonts).
I'll get back to you, thanks for responding!
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Any chance this is related to a video driver, perhaps?, as this is rather basic AutoIt3 script, nothing fancy on the UI side. Lets first wait and see if the althide option makes a difference.
Hitting 'Submenu 4' launches another instance and I have to resort to killing off both of them.
-cranioscopical
Usually (sub-)instances of WinButtons can be closed by pressing <Esc>... (unless that's disabled by setting exitonesc=0) or <Alt-F4> (that can't be disabled)
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Any chance this is related to a video driver, perhaps?
-Ath
Yes, as I said, I suspect this is the problem.
Before trying anything else, I'm rolling the driver back (and forward as there's on later release than the one I have installed).
Usually (sub-)instances of WinButtons can be closed by pressing <Esc>
That was what I tried first. I have a lot installed on this machine, with plenty of potential for conflicts :(
As you say, let's see what the test version does, but after I change the video driver again.
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(add althide=1 to the [Settings] section of WinButtons.ini) and -ah/-ah- command-line parameters to use an alternative Window Hide method-Ath
-ah helps in that all of the buttons redraw on top (no more mystical gestures required) but the background remains transparent.
I had one instance of the copy menu that was transparent, but only one — can it be some sort of timing issue?
If I jump to the copy menu and then close it, and do that repeatedly, I'll get two instances of WB (two task-bar entries) that need to be terminated forcibly.
This is with earlier and later versions of the video driver for my machine.
I should try WB on a different machine (they're all XP SP3 here) which I'll try a little later today.
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After adding a possible compatibility fix, adding Tooltips to all buttons and some minor fixes, WinButtons 2.6.2.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) is released!
Download and read more at the release thread (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
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I still get this, probably my video card/driver.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
If I move the window (white and black in the attached image) over which part of WB is visible, those buttons move with it, while the area outside the window remains in place.
Clearly this doesn't happen with other users, so don't feel compelled to pursue it.
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You did try the althide=1 option I presume? If yes, then it's 99.9% chance of a videocard driver issue, IMHO.
Oh, and Always on Top is enabled by default, maybe it helps to turn that off (ontop=0)
Btw, I'm also interested to hear what video card you have in your system (don't recall if you mentioned that before) (maybe I should avoid that brand/model ;D)
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1) You did try the althide=1 option I presume? If yes, then it's 99.9% chance of a videocard driver issue, IMHO.
2) Oh, and Always on Top is enabled by default, maybe it helps to turn that off (ontop=0)
3) Btw, I'm also interested to hear what video card you have in your system (don't recall if you mentioned that before) (maybe I should avoid that brand/model ;D)
-Ath
1) Yes
2) it doesn't
3) nVidia GeoForce 9600 GT 512Mb DDR3 — I'll happily admit it's the card but this phenomenon doesn't occur with any other piece of software, so that puzzles me a bit.
Here's a thing… I just tried it on another machine, entirely different video. Still XP SP3. Same phenomena. :o
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Ok, I finally got a hold of some testing environments (XP, Server 2003, Win7 on 125%, all on VMWare) and lo and behold: I can reproduce the same 'bleed through' issues you have! :'(
So I re-researched the transparency style-settings of the window, and expect to have it fixed (works OK for me now on all my available environments).
The test-version of WinButtons 2.6.2.2-pre is attached to this message, later today (when I return home) I'll upload to the dcmembers server, and update the release-message.
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Ok, I finally got a hold of some testing environments (XP, Server 2003, Win7 on 125%, all on VMWare) and lo and behold: I can reproduce the same 'bleed through' issues you have! :'(
So I re-researched the transparency style-settings of the window, and expect to have it fixed (works OK for me now on all my available environments).
-Ath
Bingo! Well done! Thanks for the perseverance. Not just off to the races but first past the post. :Thmbsup:
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Bingo!-cranioscopical
Pfew! :beerchug: Glad we got that sorted. On both my daily-use Win7 x64 boxes it all ran fine, so I was caught a bit by surprise. I'll release formally in a bit, and I have a hopefully useful improvement in the works after that... (but that'll probably take until next week)
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With the kind help of cranioscopical I finally found what was giving the transparency issues (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg245212#msg245212) with WinButtons. After a test-release earlier today, I can now present the official WinButtons 2.6.2.3 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) release.
Get the updated download from the original release-post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Post any bugreports, feature requests, questions (or praise :)) in this thread
Sneak peek for the next version...: Conditional display for all buttons 8) and after that I'll eventually have to start the WB-Editor-GUI :-[
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the WB-Editor-GUI
-Ath
One is agog!
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I've taken some time (and a work project that could nicely use it :tellme:) and added the condition<n> feature per button, and a few other goodies like multiple commands and a longer tooltip. So:
A new release is available: WinButtons 3.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Get the download and all info from the original release thread (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Requests, complaints, errormessages and other question can be posted in this thread. It's all welcome!
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I've taken some time (and a work project that could nicely use it :tellme:)
-Ath
Why work for money when you can work for nothing? :D
Looking forward to delving into 3.0 :up:
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I've taken quite some time and created WinButtonEdit, a GUI configuration editor for WinButtons configuration files.
Also added a few less major WinButtons features, like standard button surface- and text-color settings, and Group context switching based on the currently focused control. So:
A new release is available: WinButtons 3.1.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Get the download (including WinButtonEdit) and all info from the original release thread (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Requests, complaints, errormessages and other question can be posted in this thread. It's all welcome!
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After testing for a few more days, I made a few improvements to WinButtonEdit RC1:
- Improved handling of non-96 DPI screen settings, scaling and layout issues resolved
- Dismissed systemtray icon
- Improved handling of 'Reload last used WinButtons file' option
It is now WinButtonEdit 0.8.1 (RC2) (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), and included with the download of WinButtons (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037).
There have been no comments or bugreports, so I'm afraid not many people have tested it yet (I won't believe it's error-free ;D), so if there are any remarks, feature requests, bugs found, or a desperate need for the sourcecode (that's still not included), please don't hesitate to ask/report all of that here :up:
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@Ath
I was just looking at the first version earlier today. It's been on my to-do list for ages but I keep getting sidetracked into doing nothing (the sun's out).
Tomorrow I'll have a go: if anyone can break it, it'll be me ;D or, perhaps, :-[ would be more appropriate.
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Chris,
Thanks you for your (planned) effort! It's a busy world, these days :tellme:
Let's see what you find ;D
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Re: WinButtonEdit
Wow, nice :Thmbsup: Was this a lot of work?
I think examining some of the bundled ini files using the editor will help me to experiment and learn how to use WinButton better. Seems like it should lower the barrier-to-entry.
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Was this a lot of work?
-ewemoa
Ehm, yes the changelog starts on may 3rd :-[ and I worked on it for 1 to 'a few' hours, 3 or four days a week, but the hardest part was taking generated source from Koda (the AutoIt GUI designer) to Scite without all generated errors and unneeded crap :-\. And then you move some controls a few pixels... :o
But I had fun (and inspiration) while working on it, that's the most important gain I had from it :up:
should lower the barrier-to-entry
-ewemoa
That was the major goal
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But I had fun (and inspiration) while working on it, that's the most important gain I had from it :up:
-Ath
+1
So I've been trying out the editor (according to the about box, I see 0.8.1.0) a bit and have some initial feedback:
- I found choosing a color via the "Change..." button for Color to not work if starting with a blank value (no value got filled in to the text field for Color:), while I found that the corresponding choosing sequence of actions for Textcolor did work.
- Any chance of Control+A selecting all text in text fields?
- I accidentally opened the WinButtonEdit.ini in the editor -- not a good idea right? Any chance of some kind of warning or protection?
- I see that clicking on a button in the preview will select a node in the tree -- except it doesn't appear to work for the Pink-Online button in <no group> in my default WinButtons.ini.
- In the tree view, multiple nodes appear selected sometimes: view WinButtons.ini, choose <no group>, ensure the corresponding treeview is expanded, choose scite, ensure the corresponding treeview is expanded, click on the 'Push 1ce' button in the preview, click on the Notepad node under the <no group> treeview
- When I open WinButtons.ini, initially I don't see a + expander next to the scite group in the left pane. When I select the scite group though, the + expander appears.
- When there isn't much space in the preview, is there a good way to move it without accidentally pushing the buttons that fill most of the space?
Regarding WinButtons itself, is there any support for dropping things on to buttons? I searched for relevant information in this topic and WinButtons.Readme.txt unsuccessfully.
Thank you for:
Environment variables can be used by using %env.variable%
I didn't find it in the docs, but by looking at the samples I noticed that it looks like one can use relative paths. :Thmbsup:
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Let's see what you find-Ath
I find that I was expecting to create a panel from scratch using WBE and that I don't know how. This may mean that first I have to read something somewhere :o
Rather than simply editing what's there (very easy to do with WBE) I wanted to start with a clean slate.
If I start with an empty .ini I can't use the button fields in WBE so, obviously, I've missed the point.
Looking through the winbuttons.ini, however, I did find one remarkably apposite variable, viz. dummy.
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So I've been trying out the editor (according to the about box, I see 0.8.1.0) a bit and have some initial feedback:
-ewemoa
Great, thanks for this extensive feedback :Thmbsup:
I found choosing a color via the "Change..." button for Color to not work if starting with a blank value (no value got filled in to the text field for Color:), while I found that the corresponding choosing sequence of actions for Textcolor did work.
-ewemoa
I can see no difference for these two buttons (not in code, nor when testing), but when 'creating' a custom color, it needs to be added to the colorset by using the button 'Add to Custom Colors' before it will stick. (This has been tested quite extensive before release. It uses the standard AutoIt Color Selection Dialog with any of it's 'peculiarities' that I can't do much about)
Any chance of Control+A selecting all text in text fields?
-ewemoa
Eh, it does what you expect on my system, and I have done nothing in WBE to enable or disable that. Got another script catching ^A, perhaps? (AKA: Works on my machine... :o)
I accidentally opened the WinButtonEdit.ini in the editor -- not a good idea right? Any chance of some kind of warning or protection?
-ewemoa
I'll add a check/warning in the next release.
I see that clicking on a button in the preview will select a node in the tree -- except it doesn't appear to work for the Pink-Online button in <no group> in my default WinButtons.ini.
-ewemoa
Correct. That button in the preview is disabled (that should be visible...) by a Condition, so the OnClick doesn't fire. In the Options menu there's ''Assume all Conditions True (not saved)" just for that. The 'not saved' part tells that this setting isn't persistent between sessions of WBE.
In the tree view, multiple nodes appear selected sometimes: view WinButtons.ini, choose <no group>, ensure the corresponding treeview is expanded, choose scite, ensure the corresponding treeview is expanded, click on the 'Push 1ce' button in the preview, click on the Notepad node under the <no group> treeview
-ewemoa
Hm, another case of 'Works on my machine...' weird. I do the de-selection and selection of treenodes using standard AU3 included functions, and can not see what you describe. I'll test some more, and add a small delay in between, that might improve things.
Could be something with the OS/Video drivers, what's your configuration? (Tested with Win7 with Aero on nVidia GTS 250 with drivers 8.17.12.5896.)
Also tested on WinXP running on VMWare and on 125%/120 DPI, and I see some odd behavior there. I'll try to fix that, if possible. The treeview control is a nasty beast sometimes, I've seen in the past :(
When I open WinButtons.ini, initially I don't see a + expander next to the scite group in the left pane. When I select the scite group though, the + expander appears.
-ewemoa
I've seen that and don't know how to solve it. The + expander appears when I move my mousepointer over it (on Win7). The current 'workaround' is to set option "Expand all button groups after load" 8)
On WinXP I can duplicate this issue, I'll try to fix this if possible, too.
When there isn't much space in the preview, is there a good way to move it without accidentally pushing the buttons that fill most of the space?
-ewemoa
Besides aiming very accurately 8), you could enable "Show Window Border" and "Display Windows Close button" in the "Global parameters" tab, so the default 'handles' appear, or increase the "Button margin" value a bit. For this reason I've positioned the preview by default on the right/top side of WBE (instead of the runtime position for WinButtons), so it isn't covering any part of WBE.
Regarding WinButtons itself, is there any support for dropping things on to buttons? I searched for relevant information in this topic and WinButtons.Readme.txt unsuccessfully.
-ewemoa
WinButtons is not a drop-target, but I could add that if you want/need it. Could you give a more elaborate description for what/how you'd expect to happen there?
Thank you for:
Environment variables can be used by using %env.variable%
-ewemoa
:) That's just the default Environment variables expansion available in AutoIt. It was a 'nice to have' feature and quite easy to add 8)
I didn't find it in the docs, but by looking at the samples I noticed that it looks like one can use relative paths. :Thmbsup:
-ewemoa
Yep, I try to use a relative path after the executable file for WinSendKeys is picked using the file-browse dialog. It's not in the same subdirectory on my system, as the sample shows. The Run/RunWait AutoIt function is quite flexible in this.
I'll try to release an updated version this weekend.
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Thanks for the intents to attend to certain issues, the clarifications, and work-around suggestions :)
...and now to respond to a few points:
I found choosing a color via the "Change..." button for Color to not work if starting with a blank value (no value got filled in to the text field for Color:), while I found that the corresponding choosing sequence of actions for Textcolor did work.
-ewemoa
I can see no difference for these two buttons (not in code, nor when testing), but when 'creating' a custom color, it needs to be added to the colorset by using the button 'Add to Custom Colors' before it will stick. (This has been tested quite extensive before release. It uses the standard AutoIt Color Selection Dialog with any of it's 'peculiarities' that I can't do much about)
-Ath
I think I chose a custom color for the first button but not the second. My bad.
Any chance of Control+A selecting all text in text fields?
-ewemoa
Eh, it does what you expect on my system, and I have done nothing in WBE to enable or disable that. Got another script catching ^A, perhaps? (AKA: Works on my machine... :o)
-Ath
No scripts running when I tested -- once via a VirtualBox Windows XP SP3 guest and once on a notebook running XP SP3. I hear a sound but there is no selection.
In the tree view, multiple nodes appear selected sometimes: view WinButtons.ini, choose <no group>, ensure the corresponding treeview is expanded, choose scite, ensure the corresponding treeview is expanded, click on the 'Push 1ce' button in the preview, click on the Notepad node under the <no group> treeview
-ewemoa
Hm, another case of 'Works on my machine...' weird. I do the de-selection and selection of treenodes using standard AU3 included functions, and can not see what you describe. I'll test some more, and add a small delay in between, that might improve things.
Could be something with the OS/Video drivers, what's your configuration? (Tested with Win7 with Aero on nVidia GTS 250 with drivers 8.17.12.5896.)
Also tested on WinXP running on VMWare and on 125%/120 DPI, and I see some odd behavior there. I'll try to fix that, if possible. The treeview control is a nasty beast sometimes, I've seen in the past :(
-Ath
Reproduced issue in the same environments as mentioned above (XP SP3).
Regarding WinButtons itself, is there any support for dropping things on to buttons? I searched for relevant information in this topic and WinButtons.Readme.txt unsuccessfully.
-ewemoa
WinButtons is not a drop-target, but I could add that if you want/need it. Could you give a more elaborate description for what/how you'd expect to happen there?
-Ath
I was thinking it might be nice if it were possible to specify in the configuration that a certain action would be taken upon drop (e.g. execute a command passing the path of what's dropped -- assuming what's dropped has a path or set of paths). Does that make sense?
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Any chance of Control+A selecting all text in text fields?
-ewemoa
Eh, it does what you expect on my system, and I have done nothing in WBE to enable or disable that. Got another script catching ^A, perhaps? (AKA: Works on my machine... :o)
-Ath
No scripts running when I tested -- once via a VirtualBox Windows XP SP3 guest and once on a notebook running XP SP3. I hear a sound but there is no selection.
-ewemoa
Tested on XP and it just beeps at me, but no selection, then tried on a Win7 virtual (not my default Win7 system) and a Vista virtual, and from Vista and up Ctrl-A selects the content of the edit. Seems that's a feature since Vista was introduced :o
Regarding WinButtons itself, is there any support for dropping things on to buttons? I searched for relevant information in this topic and WinButtons.Readme.txt unsuccessfully.
-ewemoa
WinButtons is not a drop-target, but I could add that if you want/need it. Could you give a more elaborate description for what/how you'd expect to happen there?
-Ath
I was thinking it might be nice if it were possible to specify in the configuration that a certain action would be taken upon drop (e.g. execute a command passing the path of what's dropped -- assuming what's dropped has a path or set of paths). Does that make sense?
-ewemoa
I'll see what I can come up with, sounds kinda intriguing 8) (never did much drag&drop-related stuff)
All other issues & promises: I'll do my best in fixing asap.
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I find that I was expecting to create a panel from scratch using WBE and that I don't know how. This may mean that first I have to read something somewhere :o
-cranioscopical
Thanks for trying WinButtonEdit, I was kinda expecting you to find something :)
IMHO WBE is too small a tool to warrant a wizard, but I'll see if I can improve the User experience here.
Rather than simply editing what's there (very easy to do with WBE) I wanted to start with a clean slate.
If I start with an empty .ini I can't use the button fields in WBE so, obviously, I've missed the point.
Looking through the winbuttons.ini, however, I did find one remarkably apposite variable, viz. dummy
-cranioscopical
I thought I had that all covered during testing, but I wasn't thorough enough it seems. :-[
Expect this issue to be fixed in the next release
And the work-around for this issue is to save and re-open the new file (but it's not yet in the MRU)
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I was kinda expecting you to find something
-Ath
I see we share the same low expectations of my mental faculties — see below
And the work-around for this issue is to save and re-open the new file
-Ath
:-[ :-[ :-[ It wasn't that. Looking at it now, I was trying to create a button without first creating a group! :-[ :-[ :-[
I'll be back…
-
I see we share the same low expectations of my mental faculties
-cranioscopical
Your reputation of tool-breaker / bug-finder is kindofa public secret around these forums :P
I was trying to create a button without first creating a group!
-cranioscopical
The actual fix is that I create the (mandatory) '<no group>' treeview item, when you start a new Configuration using File/New. Creating a new group won't help you either, as you prolly have found out by now...
-
Your reputation of tool-breaker / bug-finder is kindofa public secret around these forums :P
And that's not the only reputation I have round here! :(
The actual fix is that I create the (mandatory) '<no group>' treeview item, when you start a new Configuration using File/New. Creating a new group won't help you either, as you prolly have found out by now...
Indeed I have.
So, I decided to take a copy of Winbuttons.ini and delete from that everything but the first button, then go from there.
Part of the way through the deletion process I got this:
Line 1325 (of winbuttons.exe on my system)
Error: Array variable subscript badly formatted
Also, I tried:
file/new
then without doing anything
File save (as MyTest.ini)
That doesn't seem to want to save.
Before long I may have to read something!
Are we having fun yet? Just pray that you find no other users with my skill(?!) set.
-
I've done a lot bugfixing, because ewemoa and cranioscopical did a lot of testing. Thanks guys :Thmbsup:
WinButtonEdit 0.8.2.0 is available for download (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) from the original release-post (included with WinButtons)
What's new:
2011-06-11, v0.8.2.0 (RC3)
- ! Fixed Tree selection issues when clicking a button in the preview (ewemoa)
- ! Fixed File/Open, File/Save or File/Save as... then selecting WinButtonEdit.ini gives a warning and doesn't open/save that file (ewemoa)
- ! Fixed Initial treeview didn't display the expander image on the last Group tree-item when not expanded initially (ewemoa)
- ! Fixed File/New to create the Empty group in the tree (cranioscopical)
- ! Fixed Deleting all buttons crashed with array-index errors (cranioscopical)
- ! Fixed File/Save didn't write a new file because all parameters saved where default and so not saved. Now always stores Top and Left settings so the file is actually saved (cranioscopical)
from Vista and up Ctrl-A selects the content of the edit. Seems that's a feature since Vista was introduced :o
-Ath
Not sure if I want to 'fix' that for Windows XP, as it's also not available in any standard Windows input control.
If there's more issues, please tell me about it, and thanks for the effort so far, guys, much appreciated :-*
-
Thanks for the new release. Hope to try it soon :)
from Vista and up Ctrl-A selects the content of the edit. Seems that's a feature since Vista was introduced :o
-Ath
...
Not sure if I want to 'fix' that for Windows XP, as it's also not available in any standard Windows input control.
-Ath
Hmm, more reason to use SelectAll (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=22187.msg199453) I guess...pardon the plug ;)
-
- ! Fixed Deleting all buttons crashed with array-index errors (cranioscopical)
-Ath
Surely, with a button-centric application such as yours, you can see my requirement to remove all buttons ;D
More fun tomorrow with the update, thanks!
-
Some notes from trying 0.8.2.0...
Verified the following here:
- ! Fixed Tree selection issues when clicking a button in the preview
- ! Fixed File/Open, File/Save or File/Save as... then selecting WinButtonEdit.ini gives a warning and doesn't open/save that file
- ! Fixed Initial treeview didn't display the expander image on the last Group tree-item when not expanded initially
- ! Fixed File/New to create the Empty group in the tree
- ! Fixed Deleting all buttons crashed with array-index errors
-Ath
Hurray :Thmbsup: (Please note that I didn't verify all items.)
Some reflections:
- As I was deleting nodes from the treeview, I tried the Delete key first, then discovered Control+D via the context menu. I got to thinking that I've got these unconscious expectations of shortcut keys :)
- I didn't figure out a way to get buttons to move among groups. Is this intentional?
- I chose File -> New to eventually end up with an empty group. I noticed a Test button in the preview but no listing in the treeview. When I chose "Insert button" from the context menu of the treeview, I expected to see a new node in the treeview, but I didn't see one show up.
-
As I was deleting nodes from the treeview, I tried the Delete key first, then discovered Control+D via the context menu. I got to thinking that I've got these unconscious expectations of shortcut keys :)
-ewemoa
AutoIt allows for application wide shortcuts only, for as far as I can see, so I choose Ctrl-D instead of Del, as that's quite indispensable during normal editing.
I didn't figure out a way to get buttons to move among groups. Is this intentional?
-ewemoa
That's been a TODO item for a small while, I'll get to that later this week.
I chose File -> New to eventually end up with an empty group. I noticed a Test button in the preview but no listing in the treeview. When I chose "Insert button" from the context menu of the treeview, I expected to see a new node in the treeview, but I didn't see one show up.
-ewemoa
I'll do some more testing, thought I had all issues here covered, but I may have missed a few situations.
But first...
-
On a feature request of ewemoa I implemented (Drag &) Drop support for files (haven't researched other types yet), so there's a new release:
WinButtons 3.2.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) and WinButtonEdit 0.8.3.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) (RC4), available from the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037).
This is the changelog for WBE: (WinButtons changelog is in the source)
2011-06-13, v0.8.3.1 (RC4)
- + Added Fields and updated layout to add On Drop command to button parameters
- - Removed a left-over Debug messagebox in the File/Save routine...
2011-06-12, v0.8.3.0 (RC4) (not released)
- + Added Drop Files support to WinButtons and Preview
The other items I'll have a look at later.
-
I didn't figure out a way to get buttons to move among groups. Is this intentional?-ewemoa
That's been a TODO item for a small while, I'll get to that later this week.
I implemented (Drag &) Drop support for files-Ath
That's good news!
You'll be pleased to know that I've not broken anything else in your program (possibly because I've not had a chance to use it, being too busy breaking things around the house >:().
-
…and the bad news is that I became fed up with that, so went back to breaking yours.
Started from scratch.
Saved as soon as new file created.
Got as far as you see in the attached image.
(When I reloaded Cran Winbuttons.ini, the entry -subAIpanel.ini came with it even though I'd not entered it — had in a previous, differently named .ini).
I saved again at the point you see and thus incurred the wrath of the error gods yet again :o
At this point, after the crash, Cran Winbuttons.ini consists of:
[Settings]
left=-1
top=-1
backcolor=0x408080
winsendkeys=WinSendKeys.exe.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
For a modest fee I'm willing to go away and leave you alone.
Olé
-
I implemented (Drag &) Drop support for files (haven't researched other types yet)
-Ath
Thanks! Hope to try it soon :)
-
I'm willing to go away and leave you alone.
-cranioscopical
I can handle the pressure ;D
Would you be so kind to try the updated WBE 0.8.3.1, please? It has some fixes for the issues you're seeing. And there's more coming but not releasable (!= working) yet.
-
WinButtons 3.2.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) and WinButtonEdit 0.8.3.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) (RC4), available from the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037).
-Ath
When I fetched (via browser and Perl script) what I thought was the latest from:
http://ath.dcmembers.com/files/winbuttons/WinButtons.zip (http://ath.dcmembers.com/files/winbuttons/WinButtons.zip)
I saw version 0.8.2.0 listed for WinButtonEdit.exe via "Properties" and its About box.
FWIW, the MD5 of the zip I got appears to be:
c89f2bd744363898d14a64b2a4829a4b
Am I missing something?
-
Hm, I'm pretty sure I uploaded the new version last night, but I'm not at home ATM, so can't re-upload.
I'll attach WinButtonEdit 0.8.3.1 here, temporarily.
Edit: Removed as the official download has been fixed.
-
Thanks! I now see version 0.8.3.1 reported :)
-
I fixed a few errors in my code :huh: (I'm always the first to admit I can make errors ;D)
WinButtonEdit 0.8.4.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) (RC5) is available with the download of WinButtons 3.2.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
The changelog:
2011-06-14, v0.8.4.1 (RC5)
- ! Fixed issues with saving an empty file /variables (cranioscopical)
- ! Disabled 'Move button to Group', not working yet
2011-06-13, v0.8.4.0 (RC5) (not released)
- + Added 'Move button to Group' context menu and initial functions (ewemoa), not OK yet
- ! Fixed issues with 'Insert Button'
-
I'm always the first to admit I can make errors
-Ath
Yeah, once I thought that I'd made one but then realized I was mistaken.
So, with WinButtonEdit 0.8.4.1 — and starting from scratch — I can create new buttons and also new groups that self activate on seeing given executables.
Also, now that WBE no longer crashes in the early stages of design, it dawned on me that I can have multiple instances of WBEdit running. That allows me to see the configuration that I'm creating and side-by-side at the same time any of the example configurations. That's a very handy, interactive and WYSIWYG way to pick up relevant values for the various fields.
Even without a touch screen this has the potential to simplify using programs — such as members of the Adobe Creative Suite — by popping up additional custom panels without recourse to internal scripting engines.
:up: :up: :up:
-
I can have multiple instances of WBEdit running. That allows me to see the configuration that I'm creating and side-by-side at the same time any of the example configurations. That's a very handy, interactive and WYSIWYG way to pick up relevant values for the various fields.
-cranioscopical
This sounds quite handy. Thanks for mentioning it :Thmbsup:
-
I had difficulty reading WinButtons.Readme.txt -- perhaps it is related to the default formatting, my display, how I set up my editors, etc.
Attached, please find an attempt at an alternate view of the file in question. Not the easiest thing to create / maintain perhaps...
-
Attached, please find an attempt at an alternate view of the file in question.
-ewemoa
Thank you :up:, I'll see if I can maintain this more readable than the txt version... :huh:
But I do have the web version (http://ath.dcmembers.com/wb/pages/software/winbuttons.php) already :-[
-
Ah, thanks for the pointer!
Your version looks fine to me :)
-
Trying out WinButtons (3.2.0.1) with an ini made via WinButtonsEdit (0.8.4.1):
[Settings]
left=-1
top=-1
closebutton=1
border=1
taskbar=1
movable=1
[Buttons]
button1=New Button 1
command1=notepad.exe
caption1=New Button 1
Clicking on the close button does not appear to have any visible effect.
-
I'm having trouble getting :dropItem: / :dropItem1: to work. Using the following ini file, I don't see notepad opening the files I drop on the WinButtons button:
[Settings]
left=-1
top=-1
closebutton=1
border=1
taskbar=1
movable=1
[Buttons]
button1=New Button 1
dropcommand1=notepad.exe :dropItem1:
caption1=New Button 1
Am I doing something wrong?
FWIW, using :dropList: (example below), I see the behavior I expected for :dropItem: / :dropItem1:
[Settings]
left=-1
top=-1
closebutton=1
border=1
taskbar=1
movable=1
[Buttons]
button1=New Button 1
dropcommand1=notepad.exe :dropList:
caption1=New Button 1
-
FWIW, using :dropList: (example below), I see the behavior I expected for :dropItem: / :dropItem1:
-ewemoa
I'll have a look later today (at work ATM), but that looks like a buglet of some sort :o
-
No hurry on this end -- hope your investigation goes well :)
-
FWIW, using :dropList: (example below), I see the behavior I expected for :dropItem: / :dropItem1:
-ewemoa
I'll have a look later today (at work ATM), but that looks like a buglet of some sort :o
-Ath
And it was a small borders issue ;), would have worked for 1 file if you had dropped 2 or more files on the button.
Clicking on the close button does not appear to have any visible effect.
-ewemoa
I can find no issues with either the Close button or pressing <Esc> with WinButtons having focus. Is there perhaps an extra (older) instance of WinButtons running that's waiting for a condition/hanging/cycling perpetually? (You could check that using Process Explorer or Task manager)
Update will be posted later this evening.
-
Clicking on the close button does not appear to have any visible effect.
-ewemoa
Ath, FWIW close button doesn't work for me (XP SP3). Escape always works.
Any chance of changing .ini to something different and making WBedit the application to handle that?
-
Glad to hear that the drop-related thing was nothing major :)
I can find no issues with either the Close button or pressing <Esc> with WinButtons having focus. Is there perhaps an extra (older) instance of WinButtons running that's waiting for a condition/hanging/cycling perpetually? (You could check that using Process Explorer or Task manager)
-Ath
I don't think there was, and I reproduced the issue just now. I am also running XP SP3. Similar results to cranioscopical -- pressing the escape key works while clicking on the close button doesn't seem to.
Update will be posted later this evening.
Sounds good.
BTW, any chance of being able to drop WinButtons config files on WinButtonEdit.exe to have the config file opened up in WBE? That doesn't seem to work here.
-
Ath, FWIW close button doesn't work for me (XP SP3). Escape always works.
-cranioscopical
Similar results to cranioscopical -- pressing the escape key works while clicking on the close button doesn't seem to.
-ewemoa
I've already found out it is to do with the Extended Style parameters of the window. Guess Vista/Win7 enforce the minimum required to have a working Close button, while XP doesn't :( Been fighting this before to get rid of a border when having a background color set :-\
I'll hold the update until I find something workable or it gets too late here and keep this as a todo 8)
-
Thanks for the status update. I wish you luck in your search :)
-
So, a usable solution for the non-functional Close button on Windows XP was found: It shouldn't be combined with the movable option. ;D
In this particular case (XP, and options: border, closebutton and movable) the movable option is ignored. 'movable' was originally implemented to be able to move a border-less WinButtons window, but the caption bar is available so the window can still be moved around the screen (the movable option could easily be mis-interpreted :-\)
Also fixed was the defective :dropItem1: feature as reported by ewemoa, it was to do with borders checking and 1-off, a common pitfall when itterating (irritating?) over an array in a 0-based setting. If there where 2 or more items dropped it would have worked for item1 :tellme:
I've updated the download and release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) so now we have WinButtons 3.2.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
I'll be searching for a final solution for this Closebutton/movable/Windows XP combination-issue...
-
So, a usable solution for the non-functional Close button on Windows XP was found: It shouldn't be combined with the movable option. ;D
In this particular case (XP, and options: border, closebutton and movable) the movable option is ignored. 'movable' was originally implemented to be able to move a border-less WinButtons window, but the caption bar is available so the window can still be moved around the screen (the movable option could easily be mis-interpreted :-\)
-Ath
I think I get it -- if I choose both closebutton and movable, I won't be able to move the window via the border, but for the close button to show up the border option needs to be specified, and if that's specified, there will be a caption bar, and if there's a caption bar that can be used to move the window...
That is what I see with the latest update and that seems fine to me.
Also fixed was the defective :dropItem1: feature
-Ath
Thanks! Tested it here and seems to be working :Thmbsup:
I'll be searching for a final solution for this Closebutton/movable/Windows XP combination-issue...
-Ath
Good luck!
-
if I choose both closebutton and movable, I won't be able to move the window via the border
-ewemoa
Almost correct.
If movable is set, then the window can be dragged around by clicking on the window-background and dragging it.
If border + closebutton are set, then you can drag it around by grabbing the window by it's caption.
On XP you can't combine border + closebutton + movable, as then the Close button stops working, for reasons yet unclear to me. Not sure this is solvable, though.
Hope this clears my previous description.
-
If movable is set, then the window can be dragged around by clicking on the window-background and dragging it.
If border + closebutton are set, then you can drag it around by grabbing the window by it's caption.
-Ath
:up:
And, being a lazy [insert your term here] I'll repeat my earlier question viz., Any chance of changing .ini to something different and making WBedit the application to handle that? I mean associate a different .something file extension with WBE.
The point being that, when testing, a double-click on a file name would be a quick(er) way to load a selected .ini into WBE. In my view this would be especially useful since WBE can have multiple instances. Your view may be entirely different :)
If not, presumably I can set WBE to handle .ini on a temporary basis and just toggle between that and my standard .ini association.
-
I'll repeat my earlier question
-cranioscopical
I saw your original question, but I've been thinking about a) what you meant exactly, and b) what exactly you meant ;D
associate a different .something file extension with WBE
-cranioscopical
Oh :o you want to register the file extension, ah, that can be done, but I'll think/search about the extension to use, as most 3-letter combinations are in use already.
What I already thought of: .wb, .wbut, .wbe, .wbtc, but suggestions are welcome :up:
I'll have to change that extension to be the default for WinButtons as well (and fall back to WinButtons.ini if not found), or possibly just like the AutoIt installer offers: select between WinButtons and WinButtonEdit as the default "open" action. (And also add some Explorer context-menu options for Open With.../Edit with WinButtonEdit/Run with WinButtons, etc. And then options to de-register these 8))
I'll combine that, as good as it goes, with this request:
BTW, any chance of being able to drop WinButtons config files on WinButtonEdit.exe to have the config file opened up in WBE?
-ewemoa
Would you expect it to run 3 instances of WBE, if 3 files are dropped on a single instance, or just open the first and ignore the rest?
-
I'll repeat my earlier question
-cranioscopical
I saw your original question, but I've been thinking about a) what you meant exactly, and b) what exactly you meant ;D-Ath
It's always good to look at all sides of an issue! ;)
Oh :o you want to register the file extension… .wb, .wbut, .wbe, .wbtc, but suggestions are welcome
I guess it depends on what, if anything is untaken — wbi?
Speaking for myself, I'm not concerned about context menu entries.
I'll combine that, as good as it goes, with this request:
BTW, any chance of being able to drop WinButtons config files on WinButtonEdit.exe to have the config file opened up in WBE?
-ewemoa
Would you expect it to run 3 instances of WBE, if 3 files are dropped on a single instance, or just open the first and ignore the rest?
Again speaking personally, I'd expect it to anticipate correctly my intention and act accordingly. Surely that's within you programming power? No, you say? Fie!
Thanks for listening :Thmbsup:
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Regarding the file extension topic, while I can appreciate the convenience of file associations, I'd prefer that it not be a requirement for a system's registry to be modified for my own case and I'm willing to forgo the convenience. So...do you think there will still be a portable version of the application available?
-
BTW, any chance of being able to drop WinButtons config files on WinButtonEdit.exe to have the config file opened up in WBE?
-ewemoa
Would you expect it to run 3 instances of WBE, if 3 files are dropped on a single instance, or just open the first and ignore the rest?
-Ath
I think the former would be more useful, but wonder about the potential persistence-consistency issue for multiple instances of WBE running...When I wrote my request, I was sloppy in my wording. What I had in mind might be more accurately described by:
"...any chance of being able to drop a WinButtons config file on WBE to have the config file opened up in WBE"
-
I'd prefer that it not be a requirement for a system's registry to be modified
-ewemoa
That is for sure not a requirement, just an additional option, available from the Options menu, and by selecting it again it will be fully removed assuming the proper privileges are available (else it should silently fail both actions). (It's finished already, but I'm testing it some more)
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
BTW, I've chosen the extension .wbuc for the time being. I'm working on some minor issues with WBE and teaching WinButtons to also support that extension, so I'll probably release tomorrow (it's rather late here already).
able to drop a WinButtons config file on WinButtonEdit.exe to have the config file opened up in WBE
-ewemoa
And that's also nearly finished and it will be an Option to either drop and open a single file or open extra WBE instances with the extra files. It's under the same testing regime as above ;)
-
Thanks for the clarification, status update, and your continued efforts!
Good luck with testing :)
-
an additional option, available from the Options menu
-Ath
:Thmbsup:
-
After a few feature requests, some bug-fixing and a dearly missed feature that got implemented, there's a new release for both WinButtons and WinButtonEdit:
WinButtons 3.3.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
What's new:
- Preferred file extension changed from .ini to .wbuc (WinButtons Configuration)
- Some minor issues fixed
WinButtonEdit 0.9.0.0 (RC6) (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
What's new:
- Buttons can now be moved between groups (Treeview context menu)
- WBE supports Drag&Drop, configurable for either a single file or multiple files into multiple (new) WBE sessions (details in the readme)
- The .wbuc file extension can be easily associated with WinButtonEdit or WinButtons (when in the same directory)
- Several bugfixes
The stuff can be downloaded from the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), it's a zipfile with all compiled binaries, (AutoIt3) source for WinButtons and includes an updated readme for both WinButtons and WinButtonEdit.
If you might find any bugs, or have more feature requests or other remarks, please report here, so I can improve myself and the software. :up:
-
Thanks for the new release!
Some comments follow:
Preferred file extension changed from .ini to .wbuc (WinButtons Configuration)
-Ath
If .wbuc is now the preferred file extension, do you think it would make sense for the default WinButtons.ini to be renamed to use the new file extension?
WinButtonEdit 0.9.0.0 (RC6) (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Buttons can now be moved between groups (Treeview context menu)
-Ath
This worked for me.
WBE supports Drag&Drop, configurable for either a single file or multiple files into multiple (new) WBE sessions (details in the readme)
-Ath
This works for me sometimes. My current guess is that it works for .wbuc files but not .ini files.
BTW, regarding the WBE drag and drop feature, what I had in mind originally was dragging and dropping on to the .exe and not a running instance -- though this is nice too :) Sorry if my phrasing was unclear / wrong. Do you think this "drop on to .exe" feature is a possibility?
-
If .wbuc is now the preferred file extension, do you think it would make sense for the default WinButtons.ini to be renamed to use the new file extension?
-ewemoa
I didn't do that on purpose, as users would be surprised to see the original WinButtons configuration where they may have created a personal one with the old filename, and the .wbuc file gets preference...
WBE supports Drag&Drop, configurable for either a single file or multiple files into multiple (new) WBE sessions (details in the readme)
-Ath
This works for me sometimes. My current guess is that it works for .wbuc files but not .ini files.
-ewemoa
It should work equally well for both .wbuc and .ini files (these are the only supported extensions, ATM). One peculiarity you could see is that if the current WBE instance has a file opened that is in the set of files dropped. That already open file is kinda ignored, but left open in the original WBE instance. If multiple drop files is enabled and more are dropped, the extra files should open in new WBE instances. If multiple drop files is disabled, nothing might happen when multiple files are dropped that include the file already open in WBE.
Do you think this "drop on to .exe" feature is a possibility?
-ewemoa
I'd have to figure out how to do that, I'm not familiar with that feature (aka: I never open files that way myself). If the file association is set to open with WBE, a double click would suffice :)
If preferred I could add 'Edit with WinButtonEdit' to the context menu in Explorer? (And change 'Open' to 'Open with WinButtonEdit')
-
If .wbuc is now the preferred file extension, do you think it would make sense for the default WinButtons.ini to be renamed to use the new file extension?
-ewemoa
I didn't do that on purpose, as users would be surprised to see the original WinButtons configuration where they may have created a personal one with the old filename, and the .wbuc file gets preference...
-Ath
Ah, the joys of backward-compatibility...
On a related note, are there some reasons why it is that some of the dialogs for WBE don't have both *.wbuc and *.ini for their value in "Save as type"? For example, "New" and "Save as..." both lead to one where the value is only *.wbuc...
Ah, btw, choosing File -> New and then pressing the Cancel button leads to the file dialog appearing again here...I get a feeling of Deja Vu.
WBE supports Drag&Drop, configurable for either a single file or multiple files into multiple (new) WBE sessions (details in the readme)
-Ath
This works for me sometimes. My current guess is that it works for .wbuc files but not .ini files.
-ewemoa
It should work equally well for both .wbuc and .ini files (these are the only supported extensions, ATM).
-Ath
I'm sorry to say that it doesn't seem to work here for ini files that I have tried. I created a file via WBE called "Test.ini" (a new file, one button, saved as "Test.ini", quit WBE, open WinButtons.ini, then drop "Test.ini" on to the treeview). Whether the "Multiple files dropped..." is enabled or disabled appears to make no difference.
I tried opening various appropriate *.ini files manually (works fine -- e.g. start with the newly created Test.ini), then followed this by dropping any of the other appropriate *.ini files on to the treeview -- the result was no change in the treeview.
Do you think this "drop on to .exe" feature is a possibility?
-ewemoa
I'd have to figure out how to do that, I'm not familiar with that feature (aka: I never open files that way myself). If the file association is set to open with WBE, a double click would suffice :)
If preferred I could add 'Edit with WinButtonEdit' to the context menu in Explorer? (And change 'Open' to 'Open with WinButtonEdit')
-Ath
Hmm...well if it's too much trouble, please punt on it (at least for now...). Since I don't do file associations because of the registry involvement, context menu entries in Windows Explorer fall under the same class of things I don't go for either, so unless someone else asks for it... :)
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don't have both *.wbuc and *.ini for their value in "Save as type"? For example, "New" and "Save as..." both lead to one where the value is only *.wbuc...
-ewemoa
They are both there (that's the same dialog, btw), but I seem to remember having naming-issues when both specs where there in the same selection. I'll retest that. Maybe I should add *.* to that dialog too?
Ah, btw, choosing File -> New and then pressing the Cancel button leads to the file dialog appearing again here...I get a feeling of Deja Vu.
-ewemoa
That's on purpose, you have to choose a filename (sorry for the fuss, though).
by dropping any of the other appropriate *.ini files on to the treeview -- the result was no change in the treeview.
-ewemoa
Ah, re-tested and confirmed as a bug (a round brace a few characters too far to the left :(). Fixed in the next release.
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Ah, btw, choosing File -> New and then pressing the Cancel button leads to the file dialog appearing again here...I get a feeling of Deja Vu.
-ewemoa
That's on purpose, you have to choose a filename (sorry for the fuss, though).
-Ath
I think I'll re-do this option a bit for the next release.
It now asks to save the just created empty buttonset to a file, but I probably should ask the new filename first, and on cancel do nothing, not even clear the buttonset in memory. That sounds more as it would be expected, in UX terms.
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don't have both *.wbuc and *.ini for their value in "Save as type"? For example, "New" and "Save as..." both lead to one where the value is only *.wbuc...
-ewemoa
They are both there
-Ath
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
I'm not seeing them both...
Maybe I should add *.* to that dialog too?
-Ath
I don't have an opinion on this...yet :)
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I'm not seeing them both...
-ewemoa
Same here, FWIW
-
They are both there
-Ath
-ewemoa
It's a bit hidden, sorry for any confusion:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
My original goal was to have it automagically attach the correct extension, but the standard Save As... dialog doesn't seem to do that :(
If a filename is typed without an extension, the .wbuc extension is automatically added.
And apologies for the Dutch screen, I only have a Dutch XP virtual available. :-[
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A few bugfixes to WinButtonEdit validate an updated release:
WinButtonEdit 0.9.1.0 (RC7) (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Change history since 0.9.0.0:
; 2011-06-19, v0.9.1.0 (RC7)
; * Changed File/New to do nothing if Cancel was clicked on the Save File dialog
; * Improved File Selection (Open/Save) dialogs to include *.wbuc + *.ini and *.* selections and each choice separate (ewemoa/cranioscopical)
; * Improved File/New and File/Save as to add the filename to the MRU list
; ! Fixed Drag&Drop ignored .ini files because of a wrongly placed round brace :( (ewemoa)
; ! Fixed Save routine for a typo (confitionmode/conditionmode), and it now deletes any removed/obsolete buttons and groupnames during save
Download as usual included with WinButtons, and available from the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
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Some more minor changes and code optimizations, so another release of:
WinButtonEdit 0.9.1.1 (RC8) (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Change history since 0.9.1.0:
; 2011-06-20, v0.9.1.1 (RC8)
; + Added 'Edit with WinButtonEdit' to 'Set file association for .wbuc' menu
; * Changed Associate with WinBut... to Open with Winbut... in 'Set file association for .wbuc' menu
; * Changed to set 'Open with WinButtonEdit'/'Edit with WinButtonEdit'/'Open with WinButtons' for Explorer context menu instead of the default 'Open' or 'Edit'
; * Improved some minor stuff in code, added some more #regions
Download as usual included with WinButtons, and available from the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
This should be the last RC assuming ewemoa or cranioscopical won't find any breaking issues or just plain bugs 8), so please feel free to test WinButtons and WinButtonEdit and report any errors they didn't find, or point me at any mistakes I may have made :-\
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Thanks for the continual improvements.
Earlier, your tour de force had me trying to buy one of the iMo Monster 10-inch touch screens. At the time they were out of stock. Then I found a number of comments to the effect that they conflicted with the 'standard' video drivers that some users had. There seemed no way to tell except empirically, in one's own system. Given that there was a 15% (if I recall right) restocking fee, and that the thing had to be shipped from the U.S. to where I live, and the unspecified wait to fulfil orders, and slow response from the manufacturer to questions, that idea faded out. I'll take a look around next time I'm in the States. The last time I was there none of the computer/electronics stores had even heard of the thing.
I'll see if I can defer a final decision by breaking something else in WB ;)
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Verified the following (in 0.9.1.1):
Changed File/New to do nothing if Cancel was clicked on the Save File dialog
Improved File Selection (Open/Save) dialogs to include *.wbuc + *.ini and *.* selections and each choice separate
Fixed Drag&Drop ignored .ini files
-Ath
Thanks!
BTW, when I choose File->New, I see a preview that shows a button labelled "Test button". I don't suppose it's easy to have no button displayed, but still with some sort of blank preview...
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BTW, when I choose File->New, I see a preview that shows a button labelled "Test button". I don't suppose it's easy to have no button displayed, but still with some sort of blank preview...
-ewemoa
Yeah, at first I couldn't get it to behave with no buttons available, but I guess I should go for an empty (no buttons) window, instead of a non-functional button. I'll see what goes best.
I'll see if I can defer a final decision by breaking something else in WB ;)
-cranioscopical
;D
Both of you, thanks for the heads up :up:
-
XP SP3 WB 3.3.0.0 WBE 0.9.1.1
Using image specified in .wbuc file with .ico file in same directory as WB and WBE exes, the image of the .ico is displayed in preview of WBE, but not when using .wbuc file from WB.
[Settings]
left=-1
top=-1
closebutton=1
border=1
taskbar=1
vertical=1
[Buttons]
button1=New Button 1
command1=-sub -?
caption1=New Button 1
image1=Video2MP3.ico
On a related note, noticed that image of .ico doesn't appear to get scaled appropriately. Specific case was .ico extracted from Video2MP3.exe -- 128x128 button size shows whole image, but smaller sizes tried (e.g. 48x48) show a portion of the image. Would be nice if scaling worked :)
Also, any chance of supporting specification of icon from .exe?
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Using image specified in .wbuc file with .ico file in same directory as WB and WBE exes, the image of the .ico is displayed in preview of WBE, but not when using .wbuc file from WB.
-ewemoa
Did you place the .ico file to the same directory as where the .wbuc file is?128x128 button size shows whole image, but smaller sizes tried (e.g. 48x48) show a portion of the image. Would be nice if scaling worked
-ewemoa
I'll check that out
Also, any chance of supporting specification of icon from .exe?
-ewemoa
Ah, a feature request :up:, I'll investigate.
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Using image specified in .wbuc file with .ico file in same directory as WB and WBE exes, the image of the .ico is displayed in preview of WBE, but not when using .wbuc file from WB.
-ewemoa
Did you place the .ico file to the same directory as where the .wbuc file is?
-Ath
Sorry if this was unclear. WB, WBE, the .wbuc file, and the .ico file all live in the same directory. Is that clearer?
Good luck with your investigation regarding the scaling and thanks for considering the exe / icon feature request :)
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I tried to solve a few issues reported by ewemoa, and also implemented his feature request:
- Showing an icon in WBE preview but not when running WB: Undetermined, the same code is 'included' for both exe's. Was the .wbuc/.ini file saved?
- Would be nice if scaling worked: Scaling is not directly supported for button-images, investigation continues
- any chance of supporting specification of icon from .exe?: Implemented in this release :)
So today I bring to you WinButtons 3.3.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) and WinButtonEdit 0.9.2.3 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) (RC9)
The What's new for WinButtons can be found on the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
WinButtonEdit
Change history since the previous release (RC8):
2011-07-02, v0.9.2.3 (RC9)
+ Added support for Environment and macro expansion when using images, so @SystemDir@\shell32.dll,-121
+ Added automatic translation between directories available through @ macros when selecting an image file, examples: @WindowsDir@, @SystemDir@, etc.
2011-07-01, v0.9.2.2 (RC9) (not released)
* Improved Image selection dialog for .exe/.dll/.ocx/.icl support and updated relevant routines
+ Added Icon selection dialog during Image selection, if .exe/.dll/.ocx/.icl file is opened
! Changed all File selection dialogs to return to the original directory after use
! Changed when selecting a button in the sample display, return focus to WBE
2011-06-30, v0.9.2.1 (RC9) (not released)
* Improved adding icons from exe and dll support, searching for larger display of icons
2011-06-27, v0.9.2.0 (RC9) (not released)
+ Added support for icons from exe and dll files, and also support for an icon index into the file (requested by ewemoa)
* Changed Added *.exe and *.dll to image selection dialog
The download is as usual available from the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), WinButtonEdit.exe and readme is included in the zipfile with WinButtons.exe, that also has it's sourcecode and updated readme.
Feedback is, as always, welcome :up:
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Showing an icon in WBE preview but not when running WB: Undetermined, the same code is 'included' for both exe's. Was the .wbuc/.ini file saved?
-Ath
I didn't reproduce the issue with the latest version -- I admit it's possible there was some pilot error originally :)
Would be nice if scaling worked: Scaling is not directly supported for button-images, investigation continues
-Ath
Thanks for your continued efforts, and good luck!
any chance of supporting specification of icon from .exe?: Implemented in this release :)
-Ath
I have good news and bad news...
The good news is that it seemed to work for the likes of shell32.dll. Hurray :)
The bad news is that it didn't seem to work for Video2MP3.exe. I was able to bring up the icon selection dialog for Video2MP3.exe, saw the desired icon, clicked on the select button, but didn't end up seeing the icon in the preview (just blank). I clicked on the Apply button, saved, and restarted WBE, but no change. Also tried WB but still saw a blank button.
Also tested by specifying via the file WinButtons.exe as a source of icons with similar unsuccessful results.
Sample .wbuc file content that appears to reproduce the issue is below.
[Settings]
left=-1
top=-1
closebutton=1
border=1
taskbar=1
vertical=1
[Buttons]
button1=New Button 1
command1=-sub -?
caption1=New Button 1
image1=WinButtons.exe,-1
In the image1= line, tried changing -1 to 1 and subsequently did see an icon, btw.
Using WBE's .exe as a source of icons, icons show up in the preview when specifying -4, -3, 0, 1 but not for -1. The icons that shows up for 0 and 1 look similar, FWIW.
XP SP3 WB 3.3.1.2 WBE 0.9.2.3
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In the image1= line, tried changing -1 to 1 and subsequently did see an icon, btw.
Using WBE's .exe as a source of icons, icons show up in the preview when specifying -4, -3, 0, 1 but not for -1. The icons that shows up for 0 and 1 look similar, FWIW.
-ewemoa
It was indeed quite some black magic to me. That's one of the reasons it took a few days, had a lot of issues with the positive and negative indexes. AFAICS, that's some sort of 'feature' of the linker that puts the icons into the exe, I don't know how it can be influenced. (don't have much experience in this field). Probably creating a .rc file with the correct indexes, and resource-compiling that is the way to go for compilers supporting that... AutoIt doesn't, AFAICS.
During the selection of the Icon, there's a button to the right/top of the dialog to switch 'by Name'/'by Ordinal'. Does switching that help?
Most of the time, index 0 displays the default icon of an exe, so if you omit the index WB applies 0 by default.
The bad news is that it didn't seem to work for Video2MP3.exe.
-ewemoa
Can you point me where to get that, or PM me the file zipped so I can test/check that exe myself? TIA
Oh, and the -2 icon in WBE.exe is a blanc image, FWIW, it shows up in the icon browser, and using WinButtonEdit.ico (not supplied with the download) reveals a much larger view with index -7 (icon attached here, index needs to be typed manually), I couldn't get the larger icons of WinButtons.ico in view though.
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During the selection of the Icon, there's a button to the right/top of the dialog to switch 'by Name'/'by Ordinal'. Does switching that help?
-Ath
Yes! This seems much better -- worked with Video2MP3.exe and WinButtons.exe. Perhaps 'by Ordinal' isn't a bad default :)
Most of the time, index 0 displays the default icon of an exe, so if you omit the index WB applies 0 by default.
-Ath
Thanks for the info.
Regarding Video2MP3, I get it via:
http://skwire.dcmembers.com/wb/pages/software/video-2-mp3.php (http://skwire.dcmembers.com/wb/pages/software/video-2-mp3.php)
FWIW, when I use NirSoft's IconExtract, I see 5 sizes for the icon extractable from Video2MP3.exe (16x16, 32x32, 48x48, 64x64, and 128x128). In WBE / WB I end up seeing one of the smaller ones displayed as near as I can tell.
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FWIW, when I use NirSoft's IconExtract, I see 5 sizes for the icon extractable from Video2MP3.exe (16x16, 32x32, 48x48, 64x64, and 128x128). In WBE / WB I end up seeing one of the smaller ones displayed as near as I can tell.
-ewemoa
I can see them too (thanks for the link :up:), but I've been unable to select a specific icon-image from an icon embedded in an exe without extracting it from the file. Guess the best solution is give instructions how to link to NirSoft's IconsExtract, extract the icon using it, and address the desired icon from the .ico file using the index displayed by IconsExtract (while the .ico is still in the exe) (sorry if this sounds a bit cryptic :-[)
As said earlier, AutoIt hasn't provided me with a clue (yet) on how to specify the order/index of the icon-images included, and I probably need to add all icons as separate ico files (if that is even possible) to be able to address them individually.
But most exe's have combined icons and use the embedded resource traversing routines to display the desired icon size.
Haven't decided how to proceed from here.
In the meantime I've been able to add (optional) scaling to normal .bmp images, so it sizes to the button width and height, I'll release that probably tomorrow-night. (today I'm a bit short on time).
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Perhaps not ideal, but I came across:
http://www.autohotkey.net/~Lexikos/MI/MI.ahk (http://www.autohotkey.net/~Lexikos/MI/MI.ahk)
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5955288/extract-all-icons-from-an-exe-without-using-extracticonex (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5955288/extract-all-icons-from-an-exe-without-using-extracticonex)
http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/97775-privateextracticon-replacement/ (http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/97775-privateextracticon-replacement/)
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BTW, I'm not quite sure what the conditions are that reproduce the issue, but it happens that under some circumstances, there is a fair bit of blank space to the right of the buttons:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
May be it also depends on the icons referenced, but the button width and height may be related:
buttonwidth=32
buttonheight=32
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That's because you have 'Vertical Display' checked. :)
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Hmm...Perhaps there's something in the docs somewhere about this. Any pointers? I didn't turn up anything.
FWIW, when I uncheck "Vertical display", though there is less, there is still space to the right of the right-most icon. May be this is also expected too...
Confused.
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The combination of 'Show Window Border' and 'Show in Taskbar' is kinda 'the culprit', as it then shows a full-size Close button and a System menu.
If you could either turn off 'Show in Taskbar', or turn off 'Show Window Border' and turn on 'Allow Window movable', you can still move the WinButtons Window around, and have the Window fit rather snugly around the buttons. Just a bit of experimenting involved ;)
I must say I slightly prefer the 'Show Window Border' version, over then the w/o border version. With 32x32px buttons the Window is quite small, and hard to hit, even with a mouse.
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The combination of 'Show Window Border' and 'Show in Taskbar' is kinda 'the culprit', as it then shows a full-size Close button and a System menu.
-Ath
Ah, I have tried various options and see. Thanks for the explanation.
Turning off "Show in Taskbar" seems like a doable work-around in this case.
Thanks.
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Tried to work around the .ico issues/wishes reported by ewemoa, but because of the load of work involved that's already done by NirSoft's IconsExtract (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/iconsext.html), I settled for a reference to that utility (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/iconsext.html) in the readme ;)
While going in that direction, I was able to add an optional scaling feature for the display of .bmp images on a button, it can resize to the actual button size if the image path/filename is prefixed with a dash (like '-flower.bmp', no quotes).
This isn't a big release but the versions got to go up, so here we go:
WinButtons 3.3.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) and WinButtonEdit 0.9.3.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) (RC10) are now available from the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037).
The only extra is the WinButtonEdit.ico added to the zip-file, for those that might like it :tellme:
Bugreports and/or feature requests still welcome :up:
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WinButtons 3.3.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) and WinButtonEdit 0.9.3.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037) (RC10) are now available from the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037).
-Ath
I see version 3.3.1.2 via the Version tab of WinButtons.exe Properties. FWIW, I do see the included WinButtonEdit.ico.
Perhaps I got the wrong zip file?
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I see version 3.3.1.2 via the Version tab of WinButtons.exe Properties.-ewemoa
Ah, I see what happened, after updating the version info I didn't hit the compile button :-[, but the new feature(s) should be there, as it was compiled just before that.
I won't be able to update before I get home though, I'll bump the version to 3.3.2.1 then.
-
Thanks for the clarification :)
-
I bumped the version info by this time actually compiling after updating the version number in the source :-[, and updated the download on the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037).
Nothing else was changed.
-
Thanks for the update :)
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Since there have been no further support requests on WinButtonEdit for several weeks, I decided to make a formal release of
WinButtonEdit 1.0.0.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
It's only a version-bump since the last RC10 release, but to get it requires a re-download of the zipfile at the original release post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Support questions, feature requests or remarks are, as always, welcome :D
-
WinButtonEdit 1.0.0.0
There's a milestone, well done!
-
Congratulations on the release :)
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I've just come across this, Keypad Pro, http://keypadpro.dopplerthepom.com/Home.html whilst trying to find a touchscreen app that would work with an old HP 5500 Pocket PC.
Okay, you need an iPad, but I'd consider buying one specially if I didn't already have one - the benefits are that you can create your own layouts to use with specific programs.
I'm going to buy it and test it out.
(I was still hoping to buy a mini touchscreen to use with WinButton but the reviews I've seen for many touchscreens seems to indicate there are many problems with 64 bit drivers. Which means I kind of abandoned the mini touchscreen idea. I'm pleased to see that WinButton is now 1.0.0.0.)
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Okay, I'm still liking the capabilities of WinButton over the iPad, Keypad Pro. The important feature being program aware context switching layouts.
I have to ask, though, has anyone had WinButtons working on a mini touchscreen, such as a MIMO or a Lilliput device.
The main problem I foresee is that when pressing the touchscreen to activate WinButton, it will cause the mouse cursor to jump to the touchscreen button location - where it will then stay and require moving back with the mouse - which isn't really what is desired when using a touchscreen. (Sorry, if this problem has already been resolved and I've just not been keeping oup with the thread.)
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I'm pleased to see that WinButton is now 1.0.0.0
-nudone
It's WinButtonEdit, the configuration editor for WinButtons, that has gone the 1.0 release :-[, WinButtons is already on v3.3.2
I tried to do something for Android devices acting as the controller-device by using/modifying PRemoteDroid (http://code.google.com/p/premotedroid/), but I couldn't get it to work (no WiFi - dev-PC connection available, and USB also doesn't work for me) and the project seems to be abandoned by it's developer(s) :(
-
cause the mouse cursor to jump to the touchscreen button location
-nudone
I didn't get that far into it, so I don't have any solution for that built in. I'll see if I can anticipate a fix for that 8)
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Ah, right, sorry, Ath. I wondered why you'd changed the name to WinButtonEdit - because you hadn't.
If the reviews were more positive for the available touchscreens I'd buy one right now and then try and help out with testing WinButtons.
I think I'll try the iPad thing. See if I can tolerate having to manually swap the button layouts for each program I switch to, hate it, then just order a MIMO screen...
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I added a new feature to WinButtons: CursorRestore, on a request from nudone in this thread (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=27751.0).
When enabled, the cursor is restored to it's last know position, outside of the WinButtons window. To be used if WinButtons is positioned on a (external) touch-screen.
WinButtons 3.4.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Next to supporting the new CursorRestore option, WinButtonsEdit also displays the current (Top, Left) position of the preview window (if enabled), and has a menu-option to copy those coordinates to the Global Top and Left fields, so the preview can be dragged to the desired position, and used as startup coordinates for WinButtons.
WinButtonEdit 1.0.1.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
It really needs real-world testing, but any feedback is welcome :)
-
Great. Looking forward to trying this now. The touchscreen was delivered today BUT I was out, so it's now on the way back to the local depot; which means I won't be able to collect it until Monday (two days away).
-
Ath, pm me your address details and I'll look for a MYMO touchscreen to send you. Amazon (UK) looks like they are out of stock for a while, so might have to try elsewhere.
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I thought I'd put together a set of WinButtons for testing out for when I'll have the touchscreen configured. I think I've got the hang of constructing a matrix of buttons using WinButtonEdit, seems relatively simple for something that could be very difficult :up:
One major problem I've hit immediately is that I'm incapable of sending a simple keyboard hotkey combination. I know this must be simple to do, I've managed to make a button send words, i.e. keystrokes, to a text editor (Notepad++). I just can't figure out how to send something so basic as "ctrl + n", for "open new file". I've tried several combinations of what I think might be correct by reading the winbuttons readme, the WindSendKeys webpage and the autoit send keys list - which only confuse matters as they don't have identical instructions.
So, any idiot-proof instruction will help. Do I need to use pauses between keystrokes or something, or put things is square brackets, or ???
(Obviously, I'll be wanting to send more complicated hotkey keystrokes than ctrl+n when I know the correct syntax to use.)
Thanks
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Okay, I've got the basic CTRL + N working with {ctrldown} n {ctrlup}. Now, another problem, I can't get the button to recognise Photoshop, which I assume is because Photoshop's window title doesn't actually contain the word "Photoshop" in it.
But, I do see that it the word "Photoshop" does appear in the ahk_class when I use the window spying tool that comes with autohotkey.
Is there a way to use these non window title program names with WinButtons. (If not, then that's pretty much the end of my touchscreen experiment before it even began.)
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Okay, moving slowly but making progress; I now have Photoshop responding by using [CLASS:Photoshop]. Now, just need to figure out how to make the buttons layout change depending on which program has focus.
edit:
right, I see "Groups" control the button layouts depending on the the program in focus. So, that's good.
I think I'm ready to start putting together a real set of buttons to now.
One thing I've just noticed is that it takes a while to redraw the buttons as they flick between the Groups. I've got 40 buttons on display in each group; is this pushing WinButtons to its limits?
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@nudone, I'm glad you are getting the hang of it already :up:
I was out for a party, yesterday, so I didn't get to see your messages until now.
The Ctrl-N keystroke could also have been specified using {ctrl}n (without spaces), but that's just a minor detail, and some applications can need the keystrokes to be sent a bit slower, as will happen if you send {ctrldown} n {ctrlup} using WinSendKeys.
One thing I've just noticed is that it takes a while to redraw the buttons as they flick between the Groups. I've got 40 buttons on display in each group; is this pushing WinButtons to its limits?
-nudone
I haven't tried WinButtons with that number of buttons yet, I usually work with 10 to 12 buttons, but as I have quite fast PC's atm, I don't notice any slowness. I'll have to try on a less capable system, but I'm not sure I have much tuning options there, while using plain AutoIt3 code.
The main event-loop is triggered every 100 msec, maybe it would help if you tune that to say 50 or 60 msec, so the response on changing application focus is somewhat more snappy. Setting it lower than 20 msec is going to get you into performance trouble, I guess, as the processing during each loop does need some time.
This value needs to be changed in the source directly (WinButtons.au3, find the line with 'Sleep(100)' and change it accordingly, then run the au3 file or recompile using AutoIt3), I'll probably add a setting for that to a next release of WinButtons/WBE.
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Ath, I've got the touchscreen setup up now. It works better than I could have hoped for. Because of it being a new "project" to talk about I've started a new thread here: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=27865.msg260706#msg260706
I'll get the touchscreen ordered for you later today. You are going to love it - it's revolutionary!
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I updated the CursorRestore feature of WinButtons, giving it a configurable buffersize so the "can't restore the mouse cursor because I don't remember any more positions" situation should happen a little less often.
The setting is renamed from 'Restore cursor after button' to 'CursorRestore buffer' on the Global parameters page in WinButtonEdit.
Selectable values are Off, Small, Regular, Medium and Large. The old default was a buffersize of Small.
Here's an update release of:
WinButtons 3.4.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
and
WinButtonEdit 1.0.2.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
nudone is already doing a lot of real-world testing :Thmbsup:, but more feedback is welcome, as usual :)
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(Ath, I've posted in the other thread about problems with the update.)
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I've not tried this, so apologies for being lazy, but can WinButtons send a command to the last active program, or does it do this by default.
I was planning in making a generic button layout that would act like the number keypad on a typical keyboard. For this to be of use it would have to be able to send the standard number keypad commands to a whole range of programs - to make that simple I'd assume it to be the last active window - excluding any program windows that are in the WinButtons "groups".
Extending this a little further, if a "group" related program was active and therefore its button template was active too, could this special group be overridden with a toggle button to then display the more "generic" number keypad button layout.
I'm unsure of how sophisticated WinButtons already is so this might be a feature already included, i.e. a toggle button template override kind of feature.
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to make that simple I'd assume it to be the last active window
-nudone
Haven't tried that (yet), but it would be a nice feature, expect improvements after I receive the touchscreen 8)
display the more "generic" number keypad button layout.
-nudone
A feature similar to that is on my todo list, I was thinking of a 'DisplayAlways' group, but temporarily hiding it would be useful too.
This can be nearly achieved by running 2 instances of WinButtons, one on the left or top half and the other on the right or bottom half of the TouchScreen. WBE has a feature to use current Preview location as Top/Left coordinates, so positioning would be fairly easy :)
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I guess a "lock" template feature would be nice too, i.e. force a "group" template to appear all the time regardless of whether its related program is in focus.
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I guess a "lock" template feature would be nice too, i.e. force a "group" template to appear all the time regardless of whether its related program is in focus.
-nudone
Yup, that's what I had in mind. :up:
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Oops, so now I've found the bug that stopped WinButtons 3.4.1 from working properly :-[
A quick update is available:
WinButtons 3.4.1.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Please re-download from the original release thread (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
WinButtonEdit wasn't hindered by this issue, so wasn't changed.
I have a list of some feature requests, compiled from what was said in this thread and this 'praise' thread (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=27865.0) by nudone, but any other comment, tip or whatever is welcome :D
It was suggested (by PM) that a mouse-position-buffer wouldn't be needed if I kept the last position of the cursor outside of the WinButtons window, but I'll test with the touchscreen that is due to arrive, and eventually remove that code if it doesn't add anything useful.
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After the generously receiving a 7" MIMO touchscreen (http://www.mimomonitors.com/products/mimo-720-s) from nudone (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=13) I was able to do some real touch-testing myself. :D It's been real fun ;D
I solved some issues with application focus, and added a few features, like getting program updates by selecting that option from WinButtonEdit (using mouser (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2)'s dcuhelper (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=9607)),
and a feature I called FlipKeyColor, reverting the button colors on activation for at least 250 msec. to better indicate a button was touched effectively.
All this was on my (private) todo list (there's some more), distilled from these threads and PM's received 8), and improves the usability of WinButtons combined with a touch-screen, IMHO.
WinButtonEdit got a few bugfixes, all details are in the readme.txt files.
Here's an update release of:
WinButtons 3.4.2.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
and
WinButtonEdit 1.0.3.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
Any feedback is still welcome, as usual :)
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Marvellous.
One main feature I've been meaning to request is a button "state" toggle, i.e. when you hit a button it then changes appearance, which means it could change background and/or text colour OR the button image file.
As an example: I use the buttons to toggle "modes" or program states in Photoshop like "snap to grid", but I can quickly forget whether I've enabled that mode or not - so a visual cue of the related button being red, for enabled, and black for disabled would be very useful.
Maybe this kind of feature would lead to more confusion, though, as the button wouldn't reflect any program (Photoshop) state changes that were performed via menu commands or keyboard shortcuts.
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Maybe this kind of feature would lead to more confusion, though, as the button wouldn't reflect any program (Photoshop) state changes that were performed via menu commands or keyboard shortcuts.
-nudone
I think this is the biggest disadvantage of a button/function like that. What if you changed it from the application menu, or using a keyboard shortcut? The state wouldn't be in sync with what WinButtons is displaying to you. Unless ofcourse there's a way to retrieve the setting from somewhere :-\ And if those states could be explicitly set, but lots of times it's a toggle, and not one menu-item for On and another for Off.
In fact, a toggle-button is currently possible, by defining 2 adjacent buttons with conditionmode set to 0 (or conditionmode 2 and arrangement 2) and having a reverse condition state. I've done so in the copymenu.ini example layout (it's an early version of a layout that is in actual use). But it requires the state to be measurable, as is a directory or file that exists or not, or set to a :varVariable:.
Hm, I have 2 more items for my todo list ;)
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I've been doing some more testing, mostly of WinButtonEdit as it had a few annoyances. Most of that is fixed now (what's not fixed, I didn't see or find ;)) And not unimportant, I added the missing .dcupdate files, for dcuhelper :-[
Details are in the WinButtonEdit.readme.txt file, and WinButtons.au3 source.
I received a template from nudone, to be used with the touch-screen, and I modified and expanded it with some numkeypad samples (also in the zipfile).
Screenshots are in the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037).
Here's an update release of:
WinButtons 3.4.2.3 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
and
WinButtonEdit 1.0.3.3 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
Any feedback is still welcome, as usual :)
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Ath, is it possible to change the colour of the button borders?
Maybe just as a global thing or, if possible, global AND individual buttons.
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Are you talking about an extra border around/behind each button with a specific color, different from the background color, or about a part of the current button?
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When using the default buttons (without any icons or bitmaps) I have a thin, 1 pixel width, blue border around each button. They are always blue.
I just wondered if it was possible to change the blue to another colour, preferably from within WinButtonsEdit. Doing it globally for all buttons would be good but it would nicer if individual buttons could have this blue border changed too.
In other words, currently, the default WinButton button border colour appears to be blue. I'd like to make it red. And then have a few specific buttons with their own individual border colour, i.e. not the global default colour.
So, I'm not referring to the overall background colour, just each individual button's border.
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AFAIK that's the Windows selected/hovered-button-color, not sure how to change that :huh: I'll look into it.
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Oh right. Just thought it would be something to do with autoit. If it's not possible/simple then I'll just create a series of buttons that use graphic files instead.
Changing the background colour is a bit too much really, the 1px width border lines are minimal enough to be noticeable without being too distracting.
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I couldn't check during my earlier messages, but now I see what you mean, it's the dark-blue borders that are the actual _borders_ of the button surroundings. Hm, I kinda like the thin hair-lines between the buttons, probably because of my fat fingers :P, makes it easier to aim at the right function.
I've been playing a bit with the colors, and by selecting blue text color (0x0000FF) it looks rather Ok to me:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Still, let me see what closer to your taste solution I can come up with ;)
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Normally, I wouldn't have thought much about it, but I've a MS Sidewinder keyboard and this has illuminated keys - red being the only choice (though there are orange ones on the macro keys).
So, as the MIMO is placed at the top of the keyboard, it would be nice to have a similar "red" theme for the buttons. It's a minor thing but I think will just make the desk look a bit nicer.
Here's what I meant (though, I think you understand now by the sounds of it).
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
All red borders.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Mainly red borders with a single button different.
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Well, compared to my previous screenshot, I've come to this:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
But it has no button-borders at all (unless I set a background color different from the buttoncolor), so that's what I'll be working on :)
The buttons do work, but I still have some issues with images :(
Colors do work:
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ] and when pressed: [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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That's starting to look like the Windows 8 desktop (which I like in aesthetic terms), that could be a good bandwagon to jump on.
If you are working on a new way for adding images to buttons, I'd like to add another request: is it possible to add a small image to a button so that it appears above the buttons text/name/label?
Just thinking it could help to identify buttons with image and text, though, I appreciate an image could be made that includes the text anyway. No problem for me, just thinking of others that might not be able to create perfect image based buttons.
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If you are working on a new way for adding images to buttons, I'd like to add another request: is it possible to add a small image to a button so that it appears above the buttons text/name/label?
-nudone
That's one of the parts of the stuff that doesn't (and didn't before) work :( A limitation of the standard Button control, AFAIK.
I've been busy the last couple of days, rewriting the whole shebang in Delphi (7) (spare-time only), but that's hardly showing anything yet (doing it in OO but I didn't write/draw anything on paper before I started coding :-[).
It will probably be easier to solve all the graphics related stuff/issues with Delphi, but I'd like to have it working for 'most of the fancy stuff' in this AutoIt version also. The re-write is going to take some time, as my Delpians is a bit rusty :huh:, but google has been patient with me ;)
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Sounds good, something to look forward to.
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I've been hacking away on the AutoIt version, and I'm slowly getting somewhere:
- Colors
- Images (bmp, gif, jpg/jpeg)
- images combined with (bottom) labels work
(these last 2 features only on border-less buttons):
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ] and when pressed (x4y3): [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Still got a lot of testing to do, maybe I can make a release during the weekend :)
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Good work. As you are making great progress I'll stick another request in, though I think this may be too much (because of what you've said before),:
As you've managed to get jpg to work, could you get png to work too - and if so, could that be png with alpha transparency so the harsh edges can be avoided (that gif produces).
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I've been working on the graphics support, and am now displaying all filetypes that are supported by the GDIPlus routines (most likely the supported types are: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, WMF, and EMF, and maybe even Exif, but I'm not sure that's an actual filetype).
That is in addition to existing Icon display capability, but because of a lack of transparency in the corresponding control I won't promote that feature much ;)
All this new graphics support is 'limited' to the new borderless type of buttons, that aren't actual buttons :-[, and can best be used combined with the FlipKeycolor feature, to indicate the button has been pressed, instead of the standard 3D effects that buttons have.
Here's a teaser: :P
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ] And with Opacity 96 pressed: [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
It allows for stretch-scaled and exactly sized images that can be 'shifted' within the rectangle space, most in the example are resized because they share the button-space with the caption label.
The specialities in the sample are (by button caption):
- gif image: A gif image and a caption combined
- x3y3: A 'simple' colored button with no image
- Metro image button (bmp): A double-width button, with a bmp image shifted to left and down, left aligned caption text, like 'Metro' WPhone7/Win8 UI
- x3y4: A button with an ico file (WBE), and the label on top. (Labels can also be on left or right)
- Opacity 96: Displays the label on top, and a PNG image with opacity set to 96 (out of 255)
- to Right >|: Text only button, right aligned
- Opacity 255: The same Rose PNG image, but with opacity 255 and label at the bottom
I'll be working on the docs and testing some more, and hope to release later today.
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Now that nudone kept asking for .png support, I couldn't resist the challenge, so I added that. :P
It requires a different approach of the concept 'Button', so that's why I introduced the 'Borderless button'. And that was another feature request of nudone fulfilled 8)
This Borderless button offers several new layout features, like combining images and captions in several ways, resizing the image, adding offsets to the image-location within the button, and as usual, it's all optional and backward compatible.
With these features it's possible to create a Metro-like UI, as introduced with Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8, by Microsoft. It doesn't mean that I like or dislike that design style, it's just possible to mimic it with WinButtons ;D
Here's an update release of:
WinButtons 3.5.0.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
and
WinButtonEdit 1.0.4.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
Updates can be downloaded also from the WinButtonEdit File/Check for updates option, using DCUpdater when installed.
I'll be doing more testing in the next couple of days.
Any feedback is still welcome, as usual :)
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Fantastic work, Ath. This really opens up a lot of potential.
I can't test the new version until tomorrow so I have another question: is there no way of defining borders with the new button system.
Maybe just something like custom spacing between the buttons to reveal a different background colour would be good (like WinButtons has done previously).
edit:
I've managed to get back to my main pc so have downloaed the new WinButtons and now see that the border spacing feature is already implemented. :Thmbsup:
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Just another little cosmetic request, if possible...
...could the button labels be made to understand a "new line" kind of syntax? So, similar to how HTML works you could wrap long text labels onto new lines.
e.g. something like this command:
"this is the top line<br />and this is the 2nd line<br />and this the third"
would produce on the button:
this is the top line
and this is the 2nd line
and this the third
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That is one of the features I was going to work on next :up:
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That is one of the features I was going to work on next :up:
-Ath
excellent.
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Did some work on the Borderless button with split captions. They can be forcibly wrapped using a @LF@ macro at the desired position(s). That's another feature request of nudone fulfilled 8)
Next update will be for WBE getting a better configuration of all Image parameters (7 comma separated values is a bit cumbersome)
Here's an update release of:
WinButtons 3.5.1.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
and
WinButtonEdit 1.0.4.4 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
Updates can be downloaded also from the WinButtonEdit File/Check for updates option, using DCUpdater when installed.
I'll also be doing more testing in the next couple of days.
Any feedback is still welcome, as usual :)
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My feedback is that this all is stellar! Truly, it's first-class work.
I'll have to go back through the relevant topics as I'm having the problem of the cursor wanting to be on the MIMO but that's my fault, I just haven't yet figured out how/where to nail it. I'm sending from buttons, the target is receiving (at least it's reacting) but I've yet to get the desired result.
Now that I have more time I'm looking forward to playing with this some more.
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@nudone
I was trying the template you posted.
Whether to Photoshop or to Illustrator, any key action causes a debug dialogue like this
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
to appear. Clicking OK dismisses that and then performs the action.
This is with CS5 on W7-64.
Any ideas?
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OMG, I left a debug message in :-[ won't be able to really fix that till tonite, after I get home :(
I'll hang an attachment here in a sec...
False positive...
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@Cranioscopical: You'd better update your WinSendKeys (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=26516.0), it's an outdated version that had this 'additional info' feature :D
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Have you configured WinSendKeys? The path is probably different.
Edit:
Ath beat me to it.
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@Cranioscopical: You'd better update your WinSendKeys (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=26516.0), it's an outdated version that had this 'additional info' feature :D
-Ath
Thanks! I ran the updater and didn't pay much attention :-[ To make matters worse, I see this was discussed near to the very beginning of the topic. For a modest fee I'm prepared to go away and leave you in peace.
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Have you configured WinSendKeys? The path is probably different.
-nudone
Yes, I managed to get the right path. That's one out of ten so far, I believe.
Nice job on those templates :Thmbsup:
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Have you configured WinSendKeys? The path is probably different.
-nudone
Yes, I managed to get the right path. That's one out of ten so far, I believe.
Nice job on those templates :Thmbsup:
-cranioscopical
Simplest would be to *only* configure the path to WinSendKeys in WinButtons.wbuc (or WinButtons.ini if you have only that), as all other templates fall back to the setting stored there. And yes, that's a feature 8)
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Simplest would be to *only* configure the path to WinSendKeys in WinButtons.wbuc
-Ath
Great! I had no trouble with WinSendKeys but that saves explicit pathing in each wbuc. I used to know about this but I've forgotten everything, did I mention that I used to know about this?
So, a semi-colon marks a comment. Is there a block-comment syntax? (Doesn't matter if not).
Everything's rolling along just fine. Now I have a simple-to-program, context-aware touch-screen controller with as many (or few) buttons as I need in order to drive just about any mainstream application.
:Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:
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(Don't forget to post a photo of your 10" screen when you've set some buttons up.)
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(Don't forget to post a photo of your 10" screen when you've set some buttons up.)
-nudone
I mentioned that I looked at the 10" screens but I decided against one — for the time being at least. Now I'm glad that I did: the 7" screen seems just right for the job.
I've yet to decide whether or not I want more than very basic graphics on the buttons. Colour groupings, probably, but icons/images — not so sure.
I was up most of the night working on this, trying to see what I could stitch together but I think I finally found the ideal button layout.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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I didn't see that one coming. Well done.
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@Ath Has this one been covered?
Is there now a way, or what is the best way to send a series of key strokes, then a delay, then another series? Or a series, then wait for an event, then another series?
I have a friend whom I'd like to set up with a MIMO and the fruits of your labour.
I'm thinking that will need either a couple of days of setup, while we figure out habits and needs, or some kind of Procrustean utility that can auto-generate a fixed screenful of buttons then loop through each one, requesting:
| application context | | filepath | |
| a caption | forced format | text | |
| an image | forced format | filepath | |
| executable | | filepath | params |
| keystrokes | | keys | |
the problem with the latter being subsequent editing for omissions, errors etc.
[ this post copied to the WinSendKeys thread (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=26516.0) ]
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Chris,
This feels more like something to pick up in the WinSendKeys thread (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=26516.0), I'm quite sure (most of) it can be taken care of.
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Next update will be for WBE getting a better configuration of all Image parameters (7 comma separated values is a bit cumbersome)-Ath
Promises are there to be fulfilled, so I added an Image parameters configuration window to WinButtonEdit. 8)
It can be set to auto-update changes to the preview (default off, there's an Apply button), and the sliders max. range can be set (default 128)(both from the Options menu)
When pressing a button in the preview, the selected button is activated in WBE, and the Image parameters windows is updated as well (when open), any image parameters changes made are 'saved' to the associated button.
A screenshot was added to the release message.
WinButtons version was only bumped to align the update with WBE.
Here's an update release of:
WinButtons 3.5.1.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
and
WinButtonEdit 1.0.5.1 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
(Extra emphasis to WBE this time)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
Updates can be downloaded also from the WinButtonEdit File/Check for updates option, using DCUpdater when installed.
Any feedback or feature requests are still welcome, as usual :)
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Thanks, I'm off to have a game with it!
:Thmbsup:
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Very good. Will try as soon as my new pc arrives (hopefully it will work for more than a week unlike the one bought recently).
I'm finding that my entire pc is labouring now that I have several screens attached to it; I've only got 32 bit at the moment and it seems that having two graphics cards, three monitors plus the MIMO are reserving a very large chunk of ram. Almost anything I do forces the hard drives to start thrashing away with the cache.
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Almost anything I do forces the hard drives to start thrashing away with the cache.
-nudone
I thought I had system-speed issues after installing the DisplayLink drivers, so I defragged my boot-drive (using MyDefrag (http://www.mydefrag.com/) with the Systemdisk-daily script), and it has helped quite a bit, but it's still slower starting up then it was before the DisplayLink drivers. Guess there isn't much more we can do about that. I don't have speed-issues after the initial slower start.
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I added an Image parameters configuration window to WinButtonEdit.
-Ath
This is good stuff, Ath :Thmbsup:
Next up, mind reading?
I think the next requirement for me will be a bigger touch screen. I can use my file manager by touch on the MIMO, even though it's tiny, so accuracy isn't a problem. Size defeats function, however, in that I need visible labels for the buttons that I use now, unless and until I can come up with enough meaningful button images. For me, 12 point type seems to be comfortable and that eats up screen real estate.
Thank goodness for @LF@ ;D
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I added an extra confirmation before starting the DCUHelper program. It also asks to save the current wbuc/ini file if that's not saved since the last change.
A minor update for:
WinButtonEdit 1.0.5.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
Updates can be downloaded also from the WinButtonEdit File/Check for updates option, using DCUpdater when installed.
Any feedback or feature requests are still welcome, as usual :)
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Okay, as I mentioned I probably won't be trying any WinButton stuff until the new pc arrives (which I've now been informed won't even be posted until the 20th) but I have one suggestion to keep you busy; busy pondering if nothing more.
Is it possible to make the buttons transparent? The idea would be to create all the graphics for the buttons in one large single background image - all carefully arranged, of course, so that the positions matched the transparent buttons above. This just strikes me as the quickest way to develop a series of buttons that have icons on them, especially if there are forty or more buttons in the layout.
Maybe it's just something to consider if you do a rewrite of the program.
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The idea would be to create all the graphics for the buttons in one large single background image - all carefully arranged, of course, so that the positions matched the transparent buttons above.
-nudone
You're thinking of something like a background prepared from a psd with one 'icons' layer and another layer (or multiple layers) with only the text above that? That locks out multiple-state buttons but that doesn't matter a lot to me. Sometimes I'd like to see 'down' or 'up' but usually it's obvious from context.
What a pain about the delay with your machine! Then there'll be the faffing around getting it set up the way you want it to be. Win7 pretty much forced me to change the way I set up machines and I still find myself going for hotkeys that 'don't do that' anymore.
Thanks for the update, Ath! Any additional 'safety checks' are welcome.
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Yes, the idea would to have a psd like that, maybe even with the text on a layer too.
Okay, another related idea and this might be a bit too radicle: could HTML and CSS be used to control the button layout and appearance? This is what win8 metro is using (isn't it), which would make even more sense with winbuttons if the layout was just an HTML page.
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Is it possible to make the buttons transparent? The idea would be to create all the graphics for the buttons in one large single background image - all carefully arranged, of course, so that the positions matched the transparent buttons above.
-nudone
I've been experimenting with that a few weeks back, but couldn't see a use-case for that, but this way it sounds plausible ;)
Worries me though if you'd want to move some button(s) to another spot in the grid, you would have to re-do the graphic background (guess it'll be implemented in that way) for that. :-\
Maintaining several smaller images separately sounds easier to me, but I'll see what I can do.
That locks out multiple-state buttons
-cranioscopical
That is another feature I've been thinking about, maybe semi-transparent colors for each state would work, will be in the same test as above I guess :)
Maybe it's just something to consider if you do a rewrite of the program.
-nudone
What I started a month ago has been 'postponed' for now, as I decided it's better not done in Delphi 7. My original, rather ambitious, plan of re-doing it in wpf/c# (back in March/April, geez was it that long ago?) is much more likely to succeed, but it's probably not going to happen before 2012 is on the calendar.
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and this might be a bit too radicle
-nudone
Maybe so, but it would need a totally different approach anyway. Maybe something to consider for that re-write 8)
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Hmm, it would make button repositioning difficult wouldn't it. It seems that there isn't a perfect solution.
If you can ever manage it, it would be brilliant if you could do drag and drop button arrangements. Maybe that's another HTML, CSS plus JavaScript idea.
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Is it possible to make the buttons transparent? The idea would be to create all the graphics for the buttons in one large single background image - all carefully arranged, of course, so that the positions matched the transparent buttons above.
-nudone
I've been experimenting with that a few weeks back,
-Ath
Did some more experiments (and been busy with work-stuff, so it took some time), but reversed it all, because all I could get working was a set of nearly invisible buttons, with no graphics on it. I think I'll leave the transparent stuff out for now, unless it is very important to anyone.
I have other things on the list that are imho more useful, like a multi-state button, and combining button-groups into 1 layout, that would like some attention, but time is still a bit limited ATM.
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a multi-state button, and combining button-groups into 1 layout
-Ath
Sounds good to me FWTW. I can see the appeal of transparent buttons but I'd rather not see progress mired by one feature.
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Sounds good to me. Groups could be an interesting feature if you can move the buttons around as a group; could be a way to speed up the design of button layouts.
(I'm still waiting for the new pc to arrive.)
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I've made a post here about why I'm not using the MIMO touchscreen anymore: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=27865.msg270234#msg270234
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After a year of silence in the development department of WinButtons, now there is another release for both WinButtons and WinButtonEdit.
A Coding Snack request by ConstanceJill in this thread (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=32031) prompted me to suggest WinButtons as a solution, but it was missing the feature of parameter entry.
That is now solved :tellme:
And WinButtonEdit is also updated to support these new features of WinButtons.
Some screenshots are added to the release message.
Here's an update release of:
WinButtons 3.6.0.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
and
WinButtonEdit 1.1.0.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
Updates can be downloaded also from the WinButtonEdit File/Check for updates option, using DCUpdater when installed.
A ToDo for a QuickEdit feature is noted but not available yet, that'll be the next thing I'll work on.
Any feedback or feature requests are still welcome, as usual :)
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Looking forward to trying it.
Using your earlier work and a MIMO screen (and Nudone's input on the topic) I was able to create quite a useful setup for a friend of mine with very bad arthritis. Part of his business involves video editing: being able to touch buttons instead of chasing menus with a mouse and/or hot keys with a keyboard afforded him considerable relief.
:Thmbsup:
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I'm glad to see that you are still working on WinButtons, Ath. One day I'll start using it again - just need a compatible PC setup that works with the horrible touchscreens (that assume you are using a single monitor setup).
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that assume you are using a single monitor setup
-nudone
I'm still using the dual-monitor (from a single video card, NVidia GeForce GTS 250) setup I've been using ever you so generously sent me the MIMO. I updated to the latest DisplayLink drivers, a few weeks ago (and also a few months ago, with the previous major update). The initial flashing during/after boot is still there, but it works as expected, and flawlessly fwiw.
I recall your issues are caused by the dual-videocard setup, that isn't properly understood (http://www.displaylink.com/support/ticket.php?id=230) by the DisplayLink drivers, as they are in fact an alternative to a multi-videocard setup.
There are even a few standard-size monitors (22"/27", Full HD) that are just USB connected (and using DisplayLink technology).(Philips (http://www.philips.co.uk/c/pc-monitor/s-line-21.5-inch-54.6-cm-usb-monitor-221s3ucb_00/prd/), Samsung (http://www.samsung.com/sg/consumer/pc-peripherals-printer/monitor/led-monitor/LC23A750XS/XS?pid=sg_monitortype_keyvisual2_lc23a750xs/xs_20120104)), but these aren't in the league you require for your graphics work :-[
I'm glad to see that you are still working on WinButtons
-nudone
This was triggered by a feature request/coding snack, but it was fun to be pounding on the code again, after a year of silence (though I did a lot of other type & languages programming in the meantime) :D
I've been trying, a few times already, to re-do WinButtons in .NET/WPF, just to get acquainted with WPF, but I've not found the motivation to complete that yet, and there are a lot of bears on the road. Some things that are easy function-calls in AutoIt3, are quite daunting tasks in plain .NET C# code :huh:
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Some bugs where swatted out of the new showParams feature of WinButtons and WinButtonEdit.
So here's an update release of:
WinButtons 3.6.0.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
and
WinButtonEdit 1.1.0.2 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
Updates can be downloaded also from the WinButtonEdit File/Check for updates option, using DCUpdater when installed.
Any feedback or feature requests are still welcome, as usual :)
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WinButtons just learned a new trick: Drop a .ini or .wbuc file (with a valid WinButtons config inside) on it and it'll open that configuration, if no On Drop command is defined for the button you dropped it on. (Also accepts if dropped on the background or on an input control)
Some bugs where ironed out of WinButtonEdit.
Another update release of:
WinButtons 3.6.1.0 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
and
WinButtonEdit 1.1.0.3 (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037)
Download available from the release message (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=25167.msg240037#msg240037), linking to my DCMembers pages.
Updates can be downloaded also from the WinButtonEdit File/Check for updates option, using DCUpdater when installed.
Any feedback or feature requests are still welcome, as usual :)
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Nice :up: