Messages

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 11, 2009, 12:07 PM »

Hi awopbamboo.  Thank you for this cool proggy!  I can't believe more folks aren't interested in this SuperDuperRoboPrinter proggy yet... or maybe they just aren't saying anything yet.  Oh well... I think its pretty neat!     I was having some trouble spitting out PSD files in Vista but that's really not necessary.  The files can just be converted to PNGs anyway.  I have a question now... Is making a proggy like this in my future if I keep up with batch scripting or do I really need to move on to vbs scripting or some other language?

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 09, 2009, 10:34 AM »

Hi again awopbamboo!  I'm very sorry that I haven't been able to reply until now.  I downloaded the new and improved SuperDuperRoboPrinter and it is really is a SuperDuperRoboPrinter now!  The scheduler is really neat.    I am using a Vista machine from Windoze... so the Image viewer seems to have changed.  But this thing prints standard files really nicely.  It seem to like files that have been hijacked by specific programs like Photoshop psd files.  I haven't tried any document files yet.  I'll test it some more soon. For now this thing is really doing great! I'll comment back when I've tested a few more things than just printing jpegs and bmps. 

I have some free icons you might like for this little proggy.  I got them on free sites from the intwernet.    I've attached them as a zip file. 

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 08, 2009, 06:57 AM »

Okay I found that the diaolog windows is labeled "Print Pictures"  and it seems to only pop up for files that are not Photoshop files... I was wrong in my previous post.  The options in the window are to "print" or "cancel" and the default choice is what I want anyway to print a full page image. 

Here is what it looks like..  I hope this attach button thing works...

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 08, 2009, 05:56 AM »

Morning awopbamboo!  Aha I got it right this time by copying and pasting your name.  hehehehe. 

The printer dialog monster is popping up when I try to print images but it seems they are associated with Photoshop...   Which program should I associate it with to get rid of the dialog box?  What program do you have associated with your images?

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 07, 2009, 01:25 PM »

Hi again awapbamboo!  Ooops I spelled it wrong again... I just realized that I have mutilated your screenname in almost every post till now and then I did it again.. oh dear.. Anyways..  I can hardly wait to see the scheduler toy!  I've got my fingers crossed and I'm whispering assurances to my Windoze machine and reciting incantations so everything will work out well! 

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 07, 2009, 07:19 AM »

Hi awopbambo!  No it runs minimized in the normal execution of the proggy.  With the /CHECK parameter, it started minimized but it failed to run...

The error message that says "The operation has completed successfully?" pops up every time its run even without the /check parameter.  I have tried /CHECK and /check.  I don't know if it matters but I tried both just to be safe.  I also tried /? just to see if it would tell me what to do but I guess that's not really important...

By the way if the toggle button for the printer dialog is too much of a headache, maybe bypassing it altogether would work fine...

I have no idea how you are building your program... but I use nircmd on all of my computers for batch scripting so I thought maybe it's ability to send keys might help here... Maybe it (or something like it--I heard AutoIt can do similar things but I was too scared when I looked at the program.  ) could press enter when the print dialog appears so that the printer's default choice would be picked.  --please remember that I am not a code muncher so I have very little idea of what I am talking about... I'm just yapping again... 

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 06, 2009, 08:03 PM »

Oh my... am I dreaming?  I totally didn't expect such a rapid response... Thanks for taking up this project awopbambo!  The thing actually works!  I tested out the SuperDuperRoboPrinter Version 1 and I have a few observations to share.  I put a few images in my Print folder and I browsed to the folder and then I selected my printer and hit the magic "check now" button and then I heard the chirping in the background.  chiiiirp  hummmm  chirppp hummm...   The pictures spit out with really nice quality and looked good.

Is it easy to add the following?

A toggle button that can turn full page printing on and off.  When its on it will bypass the irksome printer dialog window that pops up asking which layout I want for the picture... 1 on a page,  4 on a page, etc....

Can the program start in a normal window instead of minimized and what is the error message about that says.. "The operation has completed successfully?"  

By the way.. just in case anyone cares to know... This SuperDuperRoboPrinter even handled a .PSD file without a hiccup!  When will I ever be able to accomplish these kinds of scripting feats... 

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 06, 2009, 01:04 PM »

Yip yip hurray.  Yip Yip Hooray!  First thanks to the moderator for cleaning up my double post about the Printerator.  Next I am super excited to see that this might help others.  I can hardly wait now.  Hi Awopbambo!  Using the Task Scheduler is still great, its just that my wild imagination has options that seem much easier to access than even the task scheduler but if that would be too hard... then we can leave that alone for now...  Really... its not a problem...   ... really... jk    But I'll just yapp about it anyway... if that's fine...  

I was thinking that maybe we could have few drop down boxes that have options for a delay for the SuperduperRoboPrinter (just Printerator for short).  These drop down boxes would say something like Print in 5,10,15,30,45,or sixty minutes.  Another drop down box would have the option to print in hours, and a last drop down would have options to print in days.  I think weeks is a bit outlandish... but what the heck... how about a drop down box to choose to print the files weeks later just in case the printer is in a bad mood.  

Okay... now that the imagining is done the imagining is almost done... is it hard to add the ability to include commandline switches so that this SuperduperRoboPrinter can be fed different folders and added to .... wait for it.... A batch script!  Oh... now that would be sheer bliss!

...am I making the SuperDuperRoboPrinter an impossible creature now?  There is one more thing I wonder how hard it is to do.... Can the SuperDuperRoboPrinter have an option for the user to simply Type when they want the files to print and would that be easier than the drop down box?  For example... Could the user just type.. Monday 4:00 pm and have the files print exactly at that time?  Now I know I'm dreaming...

Alright... please ignore any ideas I have added that would make this Printerator too difficult to fly.  At the very root of all this gibberish, I just want to see how easy it is to make a tool that can watch a folder on a schedule and print all of the common file formats in that folder.  I love tomo's idea of being able to print the subfolder stuff as well but it seems that might be more difficult... sort of like my daydreams above... whether that schedule is made with the Task Manager or not is not absolutely important.  Nice but not urgent....

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 05, 2009, 05:22 PM »

It's no problem mouser, your point and that of Lanux were well taken and I hope this can turn into a really neato creation.

....I would like to contribue my 20 cents worth of info to this project... Just in case commandline parameters for common programs might be useful for this... Here they are from Someone I consider a king of Batch...

http://www.robvanderwoude...mandlineswitches.php#Word

...and then he started speaking a foreign language on one of his pages.... Foreign to me anyway  embarassed ... This might be of some use for this project too...
 http://www.robvanderwoude.com/printfiles.php

Sorry about the posting mess I have created below... I just wanted to condense all of my over excited yapping into a single post... 

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 05, 2009, 05:17 PM »

Thanks for the replies even on a Saturday!!  I wasn't expecting to hear a response until sometime next week.  Wow....  Well I remember the good old days of PrintFile but sadly I never could get it to work with anything more than plain txt files and it would sputter on my printer for some reason... As far the commercial apps go, well um... I was hoping that this could be another proof of concept type of thing where we can see that this sort of project really isn't as hard as it seems...   I'd like to think of it as my batch file ascension project that will lift me out of my current low level batch world and move me into the realm of the coding initiates...  I'm not really looking for a Rolls Royce or am I?       

Am I wrong to think that this is a batch script on steroids?  If it is, then lets give it some Cough Medicine in high doses and I'm sure it would work like a charm... tee hee hee (Oh dear that sounded cheesy even to me...)

Anyways... I had a glance at the FinePrint and the iPrint proggies and they don't seem to hold a candle (er... lightbulb) to my SuperDuperRoboPrinter Project.  Just think... With this DC Printerator, you could simply save your files to this "magic folder from any program and then schedule your Printerator to Attack at a certain hour and then as you chant "By the Powers of Grayskull"... whabang!  The printer will start chirping for the rest of the afternoon while you go to enjoy watching reruns of McGuyver and Superman.... Am I missing anything?   

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Post New Requests Here / IDEA: SuperDuperRoboPrinter

« on: September 05, 2009, 03:17 PM »

Hello This is my very first post.  I hope my idea isn't too lame...  What about a proggy (definition of a proggy: Ancient English for program...maybe it was easier to say program after all....  )  that can scan a "C:\Print_Jobs" folder for any files that are put into it and then print them out using the default printer and maybe the default program for that file type... if practical...

...hmmm maybe not for all file types.. that would be impossible.. how about just for jpeg, bmp, tiff, txt, rtf, doc, and other simple files like that.  I think a program like that would be super cool. 

...and while we're at it, how about adding the ability to schedule the run time so that you can collect all of your files in nice big batches and then print them all at the end of the day or the end of the week in a big lump.

...and since this is a dream anyway, how about adding the ability to shred the files after they are printed so you can keep your Print_Job folder Nice and tidy.

...what the heck... Lets add a logo that says, "D C Printerator" and have an animated gif playing Michael Jackson doing a moon walk while it works... (okay okay...... I'm just kidding on this one folks...but wouldn't it be interesting though...

I am a neophyte batch scripter so to me this project is an impossible beast but I wonder if its possible for you code munchers out there.