Messages

1

Post New Requests Here / Ping with latency alarm?

« on: May 14, 2021, 08:49 PM »

I am looking for a program that can ping an address every 2 seconds and play a sound when the return time exceeds a certain value. It needs to display a timestamp and return time for every ping so I can capture this output to a text file, which I'll then import into Excel.

2

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: March 24, 2020, 03:45 PM »

The actual tested solution is as follows:

Go to this folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Brother\BrLauncher

There, you'll find a configuration settings file (ini) named for the printer model.

In my case it is MFC-L2710DW series.

Open it in Notepad++ and find in the [SCAN] section the following line:

ControlCenter_Scan=C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe /model="MFC-L2710DW series" /OpenTab=0x01

Select and copy the entire line.

Create a new tab in Notepad++ and select Batch file language.

Paste that single command line into the new unnamed batch file.  Modify it as follows:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe" /model="MFC-L2710DW series" /OpenTab=0x01

The most important things to note besides removing everything to the left of the equal sign is where the double-quotes go. The path is in double-quotes and the model name is in double-quotes.

Because I have a custom tab in CC4 I changed the 0x01 to 0x11 and it jumps directly to that custom tab.

When you test run the batch file a command window will open momentarily followed by the CC4 Control Center. Once it works, put the batch file somewhere safe and make a desktop shortcut to it. In the shortcut's Properties change Run= to Minimized and change the icon to a scanner found in SHELL32.DLL

3

Post New Requests Here / Looking for a scrolling rich-text displayer to show an AUP

« on: November 14, 2018, 09:15 PM »

I want to display an Acceptable Use Policy (rich text) in a scrollable window with OK and Cancel buttons (return different error codes). Has anyone seen such a program here?

4

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 19, 2018, 04:51 PM »

I recently had a similar wish to have a desktop icon that I could click on to get quick access to Control Center 4. I tried a number of things that seem similar to what timmy2 described at the start, and like timmy2, I had no success. My husband then suggested simply going into the Start Menu's All Programs and clicking on Brother (our printer). This produced a list of items, one of which was Control Center 4. I then just dragged that item to the desktop, and voilà, I had a desktop icon.  When I click on it, it produces the box I want with icons for the 4 Scan options: Image, OCR, E-mail, and File.  I should add that the CC4 version is 4.2.461.1, and my computer runs Windows 7 Prof. 64-bit. CC4 is apparently in the Startup menu, but I have not given it permission to start at the computer's startup, and Win Patrol assures me that it is currently not running.

I hope this may prove helpful.

-cyberdiva (August 12, 2018, 05:17 PM)

I overlooked your post. Thank you for the attempt to help, CyberDiva. I think what you did used to be possible. Maybe it's still possible with Windows versions prior to 10 or earlier versions of the Brother software. But recent installations for several Brother multifunction printers in Windows 10 all yield the same result: a single program, Brother Utilities, in All Programs > Brother. And the Control Center 4 icon cannot be dragged to the Desktop to make it a shortcut.

5

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 18, 2018, 08:37 PM »

Thank you for the continued effort! 

My Brother Utilities lists two printers in the drop-down box at the top. One printer is at my desk (but on the LAN) and the other is across the house, also on the LAN.

First, I tried the name of the printer at my desk. I figure I installed the latest Brother software when I added it to the network recently.

Model=MFC-L2710DW series LAN

then I changed the line to:

Model=L2550DW series LAN

Neither attempt caused the shortcut to open CC4.

6

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 18, 2018, 03:49 PM »

I feel you. Do you have "Start ControlCenter on computer startup" enabled in preferences? How about "Open the main window on CC startup"?

If you actually open CC4 and click on the Configuration button, which Mode are you using: Home or Advanced?

Lastly, I believe you made your latest app contingent on the path(s) of one or more programs. Please share those with me and I'll verify here.

I'll try it on another PC here and see what happens on it.

7

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 17, 2018, 10:24 PM »

Thank you for the additional effort, skwire. The new exe does not do anything discernible. I've been out and busy, and still am, but as soon as I can i'll look at your source to see if I can help troubleshoot what's going on.

8

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 13, 2018, 05:21 PM »

I think it's safe enough to count on this path: "C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\..." but how will you "add" it (I presume you me run it) and achieve anything different from using its built-in preference option to "open main window at startup"? As I wrote previously, the only catch is that the main window does indeed open on the desktop, which is a little disconcerting to a user who has no immediate need to use CC4 and must close the window. Now, if it could open minimized, especially minimized to the system tray, that would be a neat trick.  What are you proposing?

9

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 13, 2018, 03:13 PM »

Thank you, thank you, thank you skwire. 

In the event another Brother CC4 user finds this thread I should add that your shortcut will not open CC4 if it hasn't already been opened at least once since booting into Windows. To overcome this I went to ControlCenter4 Preferences and enabled "Open the main window on ControlCenter startup". This does cause CC4's program window to open during Windows startup, but that's a small price to pay to have it loaded and ready to use like any other program.

10

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 12, 2018, 10:02 AM »

Success!

Window Spy revealed that my having chosen "Home Mode" instead of "Advanced Mode" changed the class to:

ControlCenter4
ahk_class ControlCenter4_HomeMainWndCls
ahk_exe BrCcUxSys.exe

After changing the Mode to Advanced your shortcut app worked perfectly. So two shortcut apps are needed, one for Home and one for Advanced. Simple as that.

If you wrote it in Autoit or AutoHotKey would you mind sharing the source? I'd love to see how you did it.

11

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 09, 2018, 07:14 PM »

Would you please tell me which version of the Brother software you're using?

-skwire (August 07, 2018, 04:15 PM)

Can I help troubleshoot this problem?

12

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 07, 2018, 04:23 PM »

4.6.21.1

Can I help troubleshoot. Find in Task Manager? PID?

13

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 07, 2018, 03:50 PM »

Yes, running in the tray.

14

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: August 01, 2018, 03:31 PM »

Thank you for your effort, but I regret to say that nothing happens when I open your app or create a shortcut to it and open that. I tried putting your app in C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4, creating a shortcut to it, and running that shortcut but still no joy.

15

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: July 30, 2018, 01:27 PM »

I did some testing around in a virtual machine and here's the best I could come up with:

1) Right-click the CC4 icon in your tray, choose Preferences, and enable both options: Start ControlCenter on computer startup & Open the main window on ControlCenter startup.  Click OK.
2) Right-click the CC4 icon in your tray and choose Close.
3) Create a shortcut to BrCcBoot.exe and put the shortcut on your desktop.  Right-click the shortcut, choose Properties, and a /autorun parameter to it.  Basically, make the Target line look like this (your actual path might be different):  "C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe" /autorun
4) Click OK in the Properties window but do not start up the CC4 application yet.
5) Click your Start button and type in msconfig.exe and run that application.  Go to the Startup tab and uncheck the Brother Industries entries: Status Monitor Application & Brother ControlCenter.
6) Reboot your computer.  After rebooting, that desktop shortcut you created should launch the app and display the main window.  The only caveat is that you will have to exit the application via the CC4 icon and the Close option.  If you click the X in the CC4 window, it just closes the window and leaves the process running in the tray.  With it running in the tray, running the application from the desktop shortcut doesn't do anything, i.e., it doesn't redisplay the window.

If this method is unacceptable, and you don't mind the CC4 application running in the tray at all times, I could probably write a tiny app that you could launch from a desktop shortcut that would simply display the CC4 window once it's been "closed" to the tray.  Does that make sense?  Either way, let us know how you want to go from here.

-skwire (July 25, 2018, 02:44 PM)

Thank you for the detailed and working solution, Skwire.  It worked for me, though running it again is the catch. 

For the elderly people who will be using these PCs it would be much better if they could simply double-click on a Desktop icon and see the scanning solution appear.  Controlling how they close it is unpredictable. If it's not a big project could you please try the "tiny app" approach?

By the way, though my profile indicates I'm not a subscriber I actually purchased a Lifetime license several years ago. I just found the 2016 email from Mouser where he tells me how to try applying my license code under my gmail account so I'm going to do that now.

16

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: July 25, 2018, 01:40 PM »

Thank you skwire. I had tried finding the executable prior to submitting my post but I followed your steps and ended up where I have already been.

In Program Files (x86) there's a folder for ControlCenter4. In it are 3 possible "Applications" with .exe extents: BrCtrlCntr.exe is the filename for the currently open ControlCenter4 window. But if I right-click on BrCtrlCntr.exe and select Open, nothing happens. I closed the existing instance and tried opening the same exe, and still got nothing.

I chased down the program that is used at startup to load the icon in the System Tray and it is a different exe file in the ControlCenter4 folder: BrCcBoot.exe.  The third and last exe is named BrCcUxSys.exe.  If I disable "Start ControlCenter on computer startup" in its Preferences and reboot, -- so after bootup there is no instance of it running -- opening any of the above exe's does nothing.

As far as I can tell the only way to get ControlCenter4 to appear at all is to set it to load at startup in its Preferences.

Last bit of evidence: while the ControlCenter window is open (having opened it from the System Tray), if I right-click on its Taskbar button there is no option to save it as a Desktop shortcut.

17

Post New Requests Here / Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

« on: July 25, 2018, 07:39 AM »

Brother printers equipped with scanning ability come with a program called Control Center for using the scanner. It used to be that this was a standalone program one could run from the Desktop. But as of version 4 (ControlCenter4) it is only accessible from the System Tray/Notification Area.  Moreover, left- or right-clicking on it there reveals a popup menu that includes an Open command, which will then open the program. It is possible to open the program by double-clicking on this icon if you configure the Taskbar to always make it visible. Even then, some users forget that it's available, thus my desire to add a Desktop icon. See this old Experts-Exchange post (not by me) as an example.

18

Post New Requests Here / Re: Program to send Windows + Right (or Left) Arrow ?

« on: September 06, 2016, 08:25 PM »

Excellent suggestion!    So, map an unused function key to the desired keyboard combination. By all means!

19

Post New Requests Here / Program to send Windows + Right (or Left) Arrow ?

« on: September 06, 2016, 05:27 PM »

When I'm remoted into a distant PC I am unable to maximize windows left or right on the remote PC by by holding down the Windows key and pressing the left or right arrow key. The key combination is always intercepted by my own PC.  Does a program exist that I can place on the remote PC and simply double-click on it to generate the needed keystroke (one for left arrow, another for right arrow)?

20

Post New Requests Here / I need to monitor a tiny portion of a video playing and trigger an EXE on cue

« on: April 24, 2013, 02:39 PM »

I'm looking for a program that will help me achieve the following.

I would like to have executables (or macros) triggered by and during video playback.

I imagine that this program would be watching a tiny portion of the screen and when it senses a change there trigger an exe file (or control a macro program). It would be acceptable to me if the monitored portion of the screen needed to be a solid color, even black, and the "change" would have to be white or some other color highly in contrast to what's normally in that area.

What would be even more wonderful is for this program to monitor several tiny areas of the screen and depending on which area changes the appropriate exe would run. Branching!

Sort of ultra-simplistic bar-code recognition?

Obviously it would be nice if the screen area being monitored can be as small and discrete as possible so as not to be real obvious in the video playback. It seems like with video editing software it would be possible to insert a white square of only a few pixels, which my dream program could detect.

I realize that we would have to avoid using overlay mode for video playback but that should be doable.

Any idea if this capability already exists?

21

Finished Programs / rendering of shadows in animated gif images has a problem

« on: November 02, 2012, 09:59 AM »

When I use Frameless to display an animated gif that I created in Photoshop CS6 it renders shadows in white and turns the white background grey.  See the attached images for a comparison between how it's supposed to look and how Frameless renders it. I tried merging the layers in Photoshop but that killed the animation.

(as displayed in Irfanview)





(as displayed in Frameless)

22

Post New Requests Here / Re: seeking coder to convert batch file to autoit or autohotkey script

« on: November 02, 2012, 09:52 AM »

So I'm looking for a simple, preferably chromeless and borderless, image viewer that can display an animated gif without wanting to hug the left edge of the screen.

-timmy2 (November 02, 2012, 12:03 AM)

Perhaps my Frameless application will suit your needs?  It's a borderless, captionless image viewer with commandline support for image placement.  And, yes, it can display animated GIF files.  Check out the readme file here.

-skwire (November 02, 2012, 01:08 AM)

I've created screen captures and will post this issue in your Frameless forum. Thank you again!

23

Post New Requests Here / Re: seeking coder to convert batch file to autoit or autohotkey script

« on: November 02, 2012, 09:39 AM »

So I'm looking for a simple, preferably chromeless and borderless, image viewer that can display an animated gif without wanting to hug the left edge of the screen.

-timmy2 (November 02, 2012, 12:03 AM)

Perhaps my Frameless application will suit your needs?  It's a borderless, captionless image viewer with commandline support for image placement.  And, yes, it can display animated GIF files.  Check out the readme file here.

-skwire (November 02, 2012, 01:08 AM)

WOW!!!  Thank you skwire!  Your program is perfect for my application -- with one (hopefully minor) problem: shadows turn white. I don't see a way to insert a picture in this post so I'll visit your site and try emailing you. But I really do appreciate the helpful responses I've received in this forum. Thanks to all.

24

Post New Requests Here / Re: seeking coder to convert batch file to autoit or autohotkey script

« on: November 02, 2012, 12:03 AM »

You've supplied me with a possible solution to the GUI issue but I still have the problem of not being able to display animated gif files at a specified screen position. I've posted this on IrfanView's site and maybe someone will offer a solution but for now its built-in x,y positioning option fails with animated gifs (though it works fine with png files).

So I'm looking for a simple, preferably chromeless and borderless, image viewer that can display an animated gif without wanting to hug the left edge of the screen. Please note that ZMover can reposition the image to my desired location but it takes a few beats and the effect is rather lame.  It would be better if the image viewer has the ability to display an image at a specific screen location.

Thank you to all who have contributed!

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Post New Requests Here / Re: seeking coder to convert batch file to autoit or autohotkey script

« on: November 01, 2012, 11:56 PM »

I'd prefer a nicer looking Windows GUI

-timmy2 (November 01, 2012, 12:49 PM)

Do you know Horst Schaeffer's freeware utilities, specifically WBox?  If I understand it correctly, it's a way of getting a native Windows-UI for a batch file.

-rjbull (November 01, 2012, 05:12 PM)

Thank you rjbull and x16wda!  I'll look into Horst's apps immediately.