Messages

1

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013: Please post requests!

« on: May 30, 2013, 08:06 AM »

I'm afraid, I'm gonna top your "finally" by far – I just didn't manage to follow up on this earlier; sorry for the extremely late response to your tips.
I just downloaded EitherMouse and played a little with it (though not under "real life conditions" yet) and I agree, this seems to work pretty well. Every now and then some applications appear to "go offline" for a few seconds (i.e. they don't react to being clicked or on keyboard input), but up to now they've all returned after a few seconds.

Thanks for the great suggestion, and sorry again for the long delay.

P.S. It works even with a third device; just tried a little external touch pad in addition to the main mouse and the track ball on the left .

2

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013: Please post requests!

« on: December 16, 2012, 06:43 AM »

Not sure whether this would work at all, and maybe it's just a crazy idea, but it might be a useful little helper: What about a "second mouse pointer agent"?

• It allows to temporarily switch to a second mouse pointer on the screen, leaving the first (or main) mouse pointer where it is (and I think, it is important for the visual feedback to really have two mouse pointers rather than having one pointer hopping around; however, they need not be movable simutaneously, at least not for my purposes).
• The switch-over between the pointers can be triggered by a definable keyboard shortcut, maybe also a mouse key or a combination.
  Ideally (and that was my original idea) it is also possible to connect a second mouse to the computer (thanks to USB, this shouldn't be a big deal any more), and this one would automatically be assigned to the second mouse pointer (or even a third, fourth... ;-).
  
• It can restrict/define the area where this second mouse pointer can be moved.

Purpose: I frequently have these mechanic actions where I need to repeatedly do a certain procedure, consisting of some mouse clicks, fill-ins etc. in one application and then clicking a button or field and maybe typing an ALT/CTRL key sequence in another application. It's not really that much of a deal (or in parts not consistent enough) that it would be worth struggling with a macro application. And actually, having a second mouse that would allow me to do the one click in the other application seems to be all I'd need to do it really efficiently without having to move forth and back and to target with the mouse all the time.

In the days of touch screens, this suggestion might appear somewhat outdated, because you would think you just do this "separate click" on the touch screen. But my experience at least on my Win7 desktop system is that I rarely use the touch functionality of my desktop monitor for various reasons, if I want to work efficiently. And using it then for this one click would again mean that I have to take my hands away from keyboard and mouse and to target at the right spot of the screen, which just makes the process slower and more laborious.

I've been wondering whether this functionality isn't available as a standard product or mouse driver feature already. But as far as I could see, two or more mouse pointers seem not to be supported up to now (except for special applications, where the second mouse pointer is available in that application only).

3

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: $249 Debenu PDF Maximus FREE today only

« on: July 09, 2012, 04:33 AM »

Just another heads up: The policy box says "You must instal/register the software within 3 days, and cannot do so afterwards."

4

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: InfoRecall - $5.99?!?!

« on: July 06, 2012, 05:39 AM »

Not sure whether it's an alternative, but "myBase 6 + Add-ons package" is available 50% off (=>39.50 USD) on Bitsdujour today (http://www.bitsdujou...desktop-addons-pack/).

I feel the same as some others before that a PIM/general data base software has to also have a mobile client nowadays, so that I can maintain the data on my PC(s), but can also at least retrieve, if not maintain the data on my mobile device (and this without having to place my data somewhere out in the cloud). The myBase webpage, e.g. on http://www.wjjsoft.com/products.html, mentions a "lite version" for Windows mobile, but nothing for Android or other mobile platforms, and I'm not sure how to read that part in terms of how commited they are to serving the mobiles.

Does anyone here use myBase? For example, I also wonder, how easy it would be to import data from other applications (e.g. Video and MP3 collections) to really have one retrieval application for all my stuff (particularly on the mobile end ;-).

5

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Ashampoo Photo Commander 9: $9.99

« on: December 23, 2011, 12:38 PM »

Wow, they actually give 70% discount to their entire program until tomorrow – see https://www.ashampoo.com/en/eur/lpa/xmas ...

6

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Auto-push/pull clipboarder?

« on: July 24, 2011, 04:18 PM »

Hi mouser,

thanks a lot for adding the stack feature to CHS. I finally started using it in some real live scenarios and found it extremely time-saving. I can only recommend to everybody to check it out as soon as you have to transfer a number of strings from one location to another (e.g. when filling a form, doing a series of file activities or dealing with callouts in screenshots). Also, having these functions available via shortcuts is excellent.

If time permits (some day... ), it would be great if you could do one more step and extend, I guess, the grid in a way that reflects the stack mode and status. Right now, it has somewhat of a blind flight when I use the feature. I know there is the pop-up from the tray, and I can't really tell why, but I think the use would be much more intuitive if the users could see in the grid where the stack pointer currently is, and which way it will go. Maybe it just needs a sort of special icon in the first column of the grid (which probably should appear in the Clipboard > New  subtree only to work in a safe way, but that might be sufficient) – would this be much effort?

Btw, thank you very much also for the image capturing. It's so great to have these new features and means a huge step ahead at least for me! I like the way how you deal with the images, keeping them as separate files outside the data base, so that they are accessible from other applications and the path can easily be handed over. Great!

7

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Digital Painting/texture creation software bundle

« on: July 24, 2011, 08:53 AM »

Sorry, I should have mentioned in my first post: I got notice about this bundle from one of the participants, the Dogwaffle newsletter; I also found a link to this page in the forum of Curvy 3D.

So I don't think it's an illegal offer; I rather thought of restricted or older versions. My first impression was that it's only Dogwaffle who participate with the previous version, but I just did some more research and figured out the following:

• As mentioned already, Project Dogwaffle is currently at 5.1b, but participates with 4.1 (and they promote this bundle quite a bit, so I guess, it's primarily driven by them; however, they don't hide the version difference in any way)
• Curvy 3D is at 2.0 right now, but is listed in the bundle with 1.6. However, the forum contains a post saying that you can upgrade from 1.5 without extra costs.
• TwistedBrush is at 18.07 right now, listed in the bundle with 16.24, and their FAQ says "Upgrades to the next major version will be available for a fee" (30$ apparently); the regular price listed as a saving would apply to 18.07 though.
• Genetica is at 3.6, but listed with 3.0 in the bundle; I haven't figured out yet, though, whether 3.6 is a free upgrade then.
• The others seem to be current or do not specify a version number.

Just sent an e-mail to them and asked for further information.

8

Found Deals and Discounts / Digital Painting/texture creation software bundle

« on: July 23, 2011, 11:11 AM »

In case that someone is thinking about buying one or more of the following programs:
- Curvy 3D 1.6 by Aartform (3D modeler)
- TwistedBrush Pro by Pixarra (2D paint)
- Genetica 3.0 Basic by Spiral Graphics (Textures)
- Dj D Artagnan by John Somnitz (music)
- Project Dogwaffle 4.1 by Dan Ritchie  (2D Paint - this is not the latest version, but anyway) 
- Archipelis Designer 2 by Archipelis (Basic photo-to-3D modeler)
- Texture anarchy by Digital Anarchy (Textures) 
- AnyFX for Project Dogwaffle by Pixelan (Visual Effects)
- Dynamic Auto Painter (DAP) by Mediachance (2D painting (literally) program)

Then check this web site: http://www.coolcreativebundle.com/
I'm still wondering where the catch is, but they offer all nine for a total of 59$.
(I'm not related to any of these guys, just thought, some of you would like to know as I would have when I bought one of the programs some time ago)

9

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AnVir Task Manager Pro 60% off Today Only

« on: May 29, 2011, 08:33 AM »

Thanks, guys, for your comments; that's always helpful. I'm subscriped to the bitsdujour notifications, too, but since the offers frequently sound more promising than what the software actually provides, it's helpful to find some comments from trusted people or websites – one more reason why I like DC.

Just for clarification: I got a little confused by your edit, Curt, that the license is for one year only. As far as I understand their website (http://www.anvir.com/order.htm), you can use the software without limitation and even on several machines*, it's just that upgrades and support are limited to one year by default and to four years (three additional years) at 31.96$.

Not sure though whether any server communication, which the software must be doing to discover security issues, is disabled after the support time (that's what I find so weird with some antivirus software nowadays: they do not just disable updates, but disable the full software if the subscription ends – that's really in the sense of providing protection...)

* They say in the FAQ on the order page ("Buy now"): "You're welcome to use a single license code on any computer you personally own and use". The license text during installation is a little more restrictive, limiting it to "use on one computer at a time" (as far as I remember the text; I checked it during installation, but can't find any file or help page containing the license text). However, I think that's fair (and one could argue what "use" means for an interactive software like this, anyway )

10

Official Announcements / Re: 2011 Fundraiser Giveaway Extravaganza - WINNERS POSTED

« on: April 03, 2011, 03:43 PM »

Thank you so much, Carl and mouser and all others who made all this possible . I love this site and all the stuff I've found here already. Though... hm...  no excuses any longer for being disorganized... with getting my( )life( )organized now 

11

Clipboard Help+Spell / Anone using CHS (+ maybe FARR) for URL favorite collection?

« on: November 28, 2010, 03:14 PM »

Since I'm jumping between different browsers and computers, I wonder what might be the best way to organize my "URL collection", i.e. to store all those URLs that I come across over time and find worth memorizing. Now I'm thinking of using CHS for this purpose, since it is independent of any browser and provides a pretty fast and easy access via shortcuts to store and recall the URLs.

Is anyone else doing this already and has some tips how to organize this in the best way? Or has anyone other tips in this direction? Actually, one question that I don't have a good answer for is how to keep such collections on different machines (in different networks) in synch. I do not really like the solutions that require a dedicate web service provider for this. Maybe using a USB stick in some way might be an option, even though I'm sure, I would forget it taking with me all the time...

And another thought (which is actually triggered by my laziness, I guess...): Is there a way to connect CHS and FARR, so that I could list or even call certain URLs stored in a child group in CHS by calling FARR and typing e.g. the group name or a part of the URL or clip name?

12

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Auto-push/pull clipboarder?

« on: October 19, 2010, 11:37 AM »

This sort of utility wouldn't be that hard to write from scratch.  Let me know if you can't make something work with any of the existing clipboard managers.

-skwire (August 19, 2010, 10:01 PM)

If these don't quite suit your needs, have you thought of using a full-fledged macro program like Macro Express?

-rjbull (August 19, 2010, 03:11 PM)

I'm sorry, I left your posts unresponded for far too long.

Re macros: I have to admit, I've been planning for years meanwhile to check out some macro tools (I saw some reviews about Auto Hotkey and Auto-It, hadn't known Macro Express yet), but I haven't managed yet to get beyond downloading the related installers. Also, I'm not sure, wether such an approach would really help here, because I'd probably have problems to convince the people whom I have in mind to install and prepare all this stuff (some of the guys are pretty remote for me and no "techs" at all)

Re skwire's offer: Thanks for your kind offer. Actually, I'm wondering whether having the principal load/shoot function in a separate application wouldn't make sense, because it would be available for any kind of clipboard utility then (if it had a parsing option to split a single clipboard entry at certain regex/grep matches, it probably could be combined with the "glue" option in most clipboard utilities to transfer an entire sequence of clipboard entries without a special hand-shaking API). However, I think, the potential of the other functionality (particularly the integration of interim copy actions, switching forth and back between "load" and "shoot", and managing the sequences in a context like CHS would make it much more powerful if it were integrated in the clipboard utility.
But I might be getting back to you some day…

13

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Auto-push/pull clipboarder?

« on: October 19, 2010, 11:19 AM »

I finally managed playing a bit with ClipMate's trial version and particularly with their "PowerPaste" option as rjbull had pointed out (thanks again). I found the concept not as intuitive as I thought it should be, but I guess, this is the price for fitting into the bigger concept of the tool, and the main concepts made sense , once I had got more familiar with them. There are a few weak points in my opinion, but it actually might become more intuitive and faster to use with just a few improvements.

I tried two slightly different approaches, one using the "inbox" (standard clipboard list in ClipMate), and the other using a "collection" (folder like in CHS) that I explicitly created for this purpose (however, there are no options to dedicate a folder for this purpose, see below).
I think, using an explicit collection for this type of application makes more sense, because it separates the "stack" of clipboard items to be used for a specific paste sequence from the arbitrary stuff gathering together in the default "inbox".

How it works in ClipMate:

• Create a collection explicitly for the "PowerPaste" task (e.g named "PP" or "PowerPaste" or so; however, since there are no dedicated folder properties or implicit automatisms, the name is arbitrary)
• Before starting copy-to-clipboard, select the PP collection in the tree. If you re-use it, it's probably wise to delete the remainders from a previous usage (see below).
• Start copying things as required.
  Note that the copied entries do only appear in the PP collection now, not in ClipMate's "inbox" folder. Generally, ClipMate's philosophy apparently is to have every entry in one folder only (you can only move entries, but not copy them, even though a "plus" icon during drag&drop implies a "copy" action).
• Activate PowerPaste mode in ClipMate window.
  You have to select one or more entries, otherwise you cannot activate PowerPaste (which makes sense under certain circumstances, but can make the handling a little clumsy, see below).
  If a single entry is selected, pasting starts with this entry and processes the rest of the list, even if the entries are not highlighted. If you select multiple entries, only those entries are processed during PowerPaste.
  Note: The order, in which you highlight entries, does not matter for the paste order; pasting always starts at the first highlighted entry and steps through until the last highlighted entry (with the "PowerPaste Down" option; vice versa with the "PowerPaste Up" option);
  (-) PowerPaste cannot be activated via hotkey from other applications, thus requires to use the mouse or to switch to the ClipMate window (via hotkey, e.g. Ctrl+Shift+Q), activate "PowerPaste" (Ctrl+U or Ctrl+D), switch back to the application (Alt+Tab) and then run the paste sequence.  I personally would prefer having an easier option to enable the PowerPaste option by keyboard; however, maybe this is not really an issue, because a paste sequence probably will include using the mouse for fast navigation, anyway.
  Optional "Loop" mode: Starts over, if sequence is finished. A corresponding icon can be put to the icon bar (no default though). This mode cannot easily be enabled/disabled via keyboard (not even an active key in the menu option). It remains active even if the PowerPase sequence is switched off (which is sometimes good and sometimes unexpected...).
• Paste as usual
  In the ClipMate window, the next entry to be pasted is highlighted. However (and this is particularly why the extra collection makes sense): you cannot see wich entries are actually part of the sequence, if you created the sequence by highlighting a number of clipboard entries instead of using the entire list.

The approach works pretty well; due to the separate collection and its explicit scope, it is easier to see which entries are part of the PowerPaste sequence. Also, the order can be rearranged without interfering with the rest of the clipboard (rearranging could be more intuitive though; also, rearranging via keyboard should be possible). To start a new sequence, it proabably makes sense to select the folder, delete all entries (CTRL+A, DEL; entries are recoverable from the "trashcan") and then start the new copy sequence. For specific (recurring) paste sequences, it can make sense to use multiple different "explicit PP collections".

Ideas for CHS:
Since CHS's folders are similar to ClipMate's collections, I guess, something similar to the PowerPaste approach would be useful in CHS, too. However, here are some thoughts, how usability could be improved in my opinion, particularly to support several "load/shoot" actions one after the other with little overhead and to have a better control of the paste list during a ... well, let's call it "Sequenced paste" action for now. Please don't take this too literal though, I might have missed quite a few details …:

• There should be a sort of hotkey that enables/disables the Sequenced Paste mode from other applications, but leaves the focus in the current application (or returns it).
  
  A note on the Quick-Paste option that is available in both ClipMate and CHS:
  I did not find it very helpful for a paste sequence, because the focus and thus the way of processing switches during the action: The first paste action is performed in the Clipboard utility by double-clicking an entry in the list there, but since the focus goes back to the main application then, you have to use Ctrl+V or the menu there to continue with the further paste actions. Actually, I think, the interaction with the clipboard utility should be as little as possible during such load/shoot sequences. Ideally, the users get the feeling that they are exclusively dealing with their main application, because they have to spend quite a bit of energy and concentration to do the right assignments with their copy&paste sequences.
   
• It should be possible to assign folders in CHS's folder list to the sequenced paste actions by providing the following options:
  Sequenced pasting:
        [Off|Down|Up]
  Loop sequenced pasting:
        [Don't loop|Loop]
  New "Copy" items during Sequenced paste: (should maybe set in the general options, not in the folder properties)
     Folder to be added to:   
        [Add to highlighted folder|Add to folder <xyz>|Add to default clipboard list]
     Position to be added at:
        [Add before current position|Add after current position|Add after last entry|Add before first entry]
  Access via Sequenced Paste hotkey:
        [On|Off]
        (If the hotkey is pushed, all folders with an "on" option are stepped through one after the other)
  Paste to specific application windows only
  (use default clipboard list otherwise):
       [<list of regex or grep strings>*]
  Accept Copy entries from specific application windows only
  (use default clipboard list otherwise):
       [<list of regex or grep strings>*]
  (* to be matched by application window; this way, it should be possible to address both application names and even file names)
  
  
• "Paste stack": If Sequenced Pasting is active, there should be an optional little panel near the mouse pointer that shows the paste list (or the most relevant part of it). This is actually similar to CHS's Quick-paste list and maybe could be realized in a similar way. However, the current Quick-Paste list is too bulky and too static for this purpose and does not reliably display the next entry to be pasted next to the mouse pointer, thus forces me to re-focus and to realign all the time (also, it does not follow the mouse pointer at all on a second monitor).
  For example: If the list panel is below the mouse pointer, the next entry to be pasted should be the uppermost in the list; but if the mouse is too close to the lower screen border, the list panel should display on top of the mouse pointer and the list should be top down, showing the entry to be pasted as next at the bottom of the list to have it next to the mouse pointer (Would it be possible to fade the font color along the list with decreasing paste order to sort of visualize the relevance this way, too?). Also, ideally, the list has an adjustable transparency and maybe even an adjustable width and height (=number of entries displayed; I guess, I'd restrict it to displaying the next 5-8 entries to be pasted by default). 
  
  If the loop mode is enabled, the pasted entries should be re-inserted at the end of the list, and a line or a color code should show the user where the loop point is (i.e. to show when the list is done)
  
  If more than one Folder has an active "Access via Sequenced Paste hotkey" setting, the panel should also display the name of the folder used for the current Paste sequence. This way, the user needs not check the CHS window at all. The folder name should appear at the remote end of the panel relative to the mouse pointer and should have a different color or background or so.
  
  Even though I don't think, scrolling the paste list is a standard requirement, it might turn out to be useful over time, e.g. to pick up an interrupted paste sequence or to repeat a failed paste or so. However, such a scroll feature should probably stick with the "stack" paradigm, thus should not move a highlighting bar up or down the list, but should rather roll the entire list "underneath" the panel. For example, if the panel is displayed below the mouse pointer and thus shows the next entry to be pasted on top, pushing the Up key should move the entire list one entry back (in this case: down) to as it was displayed before the previous paste action.
  
  
• Interim Copy actions: If Sequenced Pasting is active, new copy actions should not break the paste  sequence, but should be integrated according to the options listed above. This way (if I haven't overlooked some details), it should be possible to use the Sequenced pasting in a very dynamical way, all the more as the "Paste stack" panel should get updated correspondingly and thus will show the changes to the stack right at the mouse pointer.
  

Please let me know what you think, or if you have questions.

14

Find And Run Robot / Re: What hotkey(s) do *you* use to trigger FARR?

« on: October 02, 2010, 11:08 AM »

Maybe a little misplaced, but I thought it's better than posting a whole new topic:

I'm running more and more into problems because I've too many applications where I want to use shortcuts (global or local ones) and the usual Windows scheme "Modifier + one letter" just runs out of reasonable (memorizable) possibilities (btw., I love the system based on key sequences starting with ESC used in FrameMaker...). Therefore I wonder, whether it would be a big deal to extend this concept by (internally) introducing a two-stage trigger concept. I take FARR's hotkey option as an example to make clear what I mean:

• [1] Right now, there are the four checkboxes for the modifier keys (Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Win), plus the selection box for the actual character key.
• [2] For the two-stage trigger, I'd add another entry field that allows the user to specify some further characters or even a string.
• [3] The key combination in [1] is the global Windows hotkey and triggers FARR as usual; FARR does not start any action yet though (unless the entry field in [2] is empty), but waits for a string to be entered. As soon as a string specified in any hotkey is matched, the assigned action is triggered. In case that any other string is entered, FARR presents a corresponding message after a configurable time (e.g. 1000 ms); alternatively, any (maybe configurable) default action could be started that even might take the entered string as part of the input.

Another idea crossed my mind today, which might also be a very useful option under certain circumstance: If FARR was able to understand the context where it has been called (e.g. based on the window title of the calling application), the same trigger hotkey could end up in different actions matching the given context, and a single hotkey could fit many slightly different needs.

The idea was actually triggered by the thought that I'd like to search a specific web page for a code reference matching e.g. a function call highlighted in my text editor (jEdit in this case). Since different languages are covered by different web pages, I'd have to introduce a different hotkey for each of my languages used (e.g. perl, html, css, xslt). However, since the editor usually specifies the current file name in the window title, FARR could understand from the window title (and the file extension there, matched via a regex), which file type I'm currently working on, and could choose the appropriate web search to be applied.

This way, I'd just have to introduce (and memorize!) a single hotkey for the function "Get matching code reference", no matter which programming language or even application I'm working with (well, unless I let FARR switch to different actions depending on the application name specified in the window title, too, of course ).

PS: I'm still experimenting with my hotkeys. Since I noticed that ALT+Space (or was it Ctrl+Shift+Space?) in MS Word suddenly did no longer apply the "Reset character style" option, but started FARR instead, I disabled this option in FARR and tend to use the Break key instead. Also I assigned Win+"<" and Win+Shift"<" (German keyboard) for my two most-used FARR applications, two specific web searches.

15

Best Text Editor / jEdit is worth a closer look, too, meanwhile

« on: October 02, 2010, 10:01 AM »

I just came across this review and forum and thought I shoult put in a good word for jEdit, which has improved a lot over the years. I remember that, some years ago (maybe actually about the time when this text editor review was written), I tried jEdit, found it way to slow (as also stated in some old posts in this forum) and lost interest. Last year or so, I tried it again, and it has become by far my favourite OpenSource/freeware text editor for my programming edits in Perl, XSLT, XML etc., even though it primarily addresses the Java world (The PSPad descriptions here made me think though, I should check this one again, too, as a supplementary editor).

jEdit has become extremely powerful, and editing is not slow at all any more. Depending on the amount of plug-ins installed, it still takes some time to load though and then is not an option for a short edit on the quick; however, this is not really an issue for me, because I usually start it once and then let it run all day. Also I have a lot of plug-ins installed (hum, many of which I had installed just for checking and have actually never used again...).

I can't give an in-depth review right now (time flies, you know...), but mentioning a few features that have fundamentally changed my way of editing, might be good to make you curious:

• Various quick search modes, search results shown per search task in a pane docked at the left and repeatable
  In my installation, a search bar is permanently visible and accessible by different shortcuts, activating different modes, e.g.
  Ctrl+Comma: find the text typed in the search bar and jump to the first/next occurence
  Alt+Comma: dito, but taking over the currently highlighted text string
  Ctrl+Period: Find all occurences of the currently highlighted string and list them in a separate pane (which I docked at the left, see below). This is called "Hypersearch" in jEdit.
  The hitlist after Ctrl+Period shows all matchig text lines sorted by line in a collapsible node list; the actual match is highlighted within the hitlist line, and clicking on the line directly jumps to the word in the text. If you run another search, the former results stay available as a collapsed node so that you can check them again later and even redo them via the context menu of the node.
  Since it is so handy (particularly with the side pane and the persistent result list), I use this feature all the time e.g. to quickly check where are declarations and references of a variable, how did I actually spell a word, how often does it appear, etc.
  Full regular expression support and also searching several files at once are very helpful features, too (and an alternative plug-in, xsearch, provides some even more powerful functions, e.g. a "find all" that highlights all occurences in the text at once and allows you type the replacement life into the text - see also column editing below).
• Powerful column editing: copying and pasting entire blocks at any place, and typing text in several lines at once
  I've never seen a column editing like here: I just keep Ctrl+Shift pushed and use the mouse to highlight a rectangular block independently of line starts and ends. Then I can paste this block somewhere as a new text block as usual. But I can also highlight another block and even a "column" of zero width (!) and paste the previously copied block into this newly selected area (you might have to try this out to really grasp it). I can also highlight such a zero-width column and type text (or spaces) which appears in every line of the highlighted block then. And I can even highlight several blocks/columns one after the other somewhere in the text and copy/paste/fill them alltogether (by using the "rectangular selection mode" and the "multiple selection mode" together).
  This is extremely helpful, if I have to do formal edits or want to re-arrange table-like texts, where the first part of the lines should remain unchanged.
• File tabs can be displayed at the side (instead of top or bottom) and sorted alphabetically
  I tend to work with a lot of files at once, usually. The usual file tabs being on top (or bottom) of the view frequently become awkward in this case: Either I have permantently to scroll in a single-line tab row, or I have several tab rows, which change their order all the time. Also, I personally have problems to find things, if they are arranged as a field; I find things easier if they are listed as a single row or column. I had the same problems in jEdit until I detected that I can also put the tabs at the right (or left) of the view, and that they even can appear sorted by file name and can get different colors depending on the file extension. This way, I have a pretty stable set of tabs which makes it much easier to jump between tabs (if I could even highlight certain tabs sometimes, that would make it even better, but there are always things to improve...). Actually, if I open too many files, it creates two or more columns, too, and I have the same problem as described before, but I can open far more files in this mode, before this happens.
• Highlight plug-in: Simultaneously highlighting different text strings all over the text in different colors (with regex support)
  The "Highlight" plug-in is particularly helpful to analyze existing code or e.g. XML documents: Since I frequently need to understand how different text strings (e.g. XML tags) are used in relationship to each other, the search functions do not really help, because they cannot visualize relationships. The highlighter does not solve all these cases either, but frequently is a quick first helper in this case.

There is a lot more stuff, that I should describe here (e.g. keyboard shortcuts and/or macros assignable to virtually everything, language support capabilities incl. tag pairing in XML). And no question, there is also quite a few of things that could use improvement still. Also, since it is very extensible and adaptable, you will need a certain time to really take advantage of the possibilities (note that quite a few features are provided via plug-ins, e.g sorting text (including deletion of duplicates if wished) and also some of the column editing described above requires the TextTools plug-in). And: I suppose, this editor will not fit all your needs either, probably. For example, the hex editing plug-in is very rudimentary still (I'm sure though the jEdit community will welcome new contributors; unfortunately I do not have any Java skills at all). But even though I'm not part of the active jEdit community (not yet at least), I guess, you can sense my excitement caused by this editor, and I thought I should share this with you. If you like, give it a try.

16

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Auto-push/pull clipboarder?

« on: August 19, 2010, 02:47 PM »

Thanks, guys, for the tips, that sounds very interesting. As soon as I have a little more time, I think I will play a little with ArsCache and with ClipMate's trial version and give you feedback. They both seem to come close to the "workflow" that I have in mind; I'm not sure though whether they are really comfortable when you have to do this with a lot of "load and shoot" actions one after another (and Clipmate seems to be surprisingly poor in terms of hotkeys, at least on the first glance). I also had thought about something like the "Exploding PowerPaste" already, so I'll definitely check that out, too (curious, whether they support splitting via regex), as well as the automated keystroke's to fill a series of form fields in sequence; I hadn't even been aware of that I have this in CHS already.

Btw, I just saw the old screenshot in the CHS help with the "Try to AutoCopy on Mouse Select" checkbox in the Startup options dialog; I had thought about something like this in the context of the auto-push/pull mode (yeah, the name is clumsy...), too, and I still think, it would be a nice thing at least for the paste part. It would require another hotkey then to toggle between normal/copy mode and paste mode, because copy-to-clipboard requires to select the string to be copied first, so that just a click for "copy" would not work here; and I'm not sure whether this switch-over wouldn't kill the entire flow. I guess, that needs some more conceptual work still...

17

Clipboard Help+Spell / Auto-push/pull clipboarder?

« on: August 16, 2010, 05:33 PM »

I wonder whether I'm just too stupid too find it, or whether there is really no function like that available somewhere (which would be an excellent extension for CHS then, I guess):

You know the situation where you have to copy a set of data from one window or document to another, from a document to a web form or a spreadsheet or whatever? And you have to do this again and again and again. Don't laugh, there is quite a few people out there who have to transfer a lot of little pieces of data this way, because an automated solution is too expensive, e.g. for managing small web sites, content management systems, maintaining meta data, filling forms etc; I have some colleagues who have to do this quite often (and the situation isn't even that rare for myself).

And their job made me wonder: Why isn't there a clipboard utility that has an auto-push/pull mode? When I switch into this mode, every CTRL+C puts the selected item on top of the clipboard stack (as usual), and every CTRL+V pastes it at the cursor and removes it from the stack.* Since I easily fall into a delirium after doing such a job for a while (just a guess ...), a little frame showing the current stack at the mouse cursor would be helpful to ensure that I'm still on track. Also, it wouldn't be bad to have an Undo shortcut at hand that allows me to fully revert the pace and to undo the previous few actions, i.e. removes the previously pasted content (and ideally even restores any potential content that might have been overwritten by that paste) and puts the thing back on the top of my stack. We all make mistakes, and all the more during such a mechanical job... 

This way, I could go through e.g. a table, pick, let's say, the five cells of a row with five quick "double-click and CTRL+C"s in sequence, then I go to the form or whatever, drop the five values with another five quick "Click and Ctrl+V"s, go back to the table etc. I think, this would tremendously speed up this type of work, wouldn't it?
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* Maybe, internally, two clipboard stacks would make sense in this case, the one displayed at the mouse cursor, which reflects the push/pull status, and another one, where the pasted stuff stays in the stack. This way, the clipboard utility could keep up its clipboard history functionality without bothering the push/pull workflow.