Topics

1

Find And Run Robot / How to pass a search result to an alias action as $$2

« on: July 13, 2016, 03:21 PM »

Hi all ....
I'm trying to automate logging in to remote hosts via ss and execute shell scripts saved in a local folder on the PC. The final commands looks like this

ssh user@host_name my_shell_script.sh

I have 2 variables. First is host_name and a second is my_shell_script.sh

I created 2 aliases ...
1) script_lib which does a 'dosearch' on the folder where scripts are saved
2) exec_ssh defined as 'ssh (.*) (.*) and the pass to the ssh binary 'c:\....\ssh.exe jsmith@$$1 $$2'

In the farr search box I type ....

script_lib get_host_name.sh +exec_ssh

This command passes the get_host_name.sh search hit as $$1 to action alias +exec_ssh. It needs to pass as $$2 since $$1 is the host name. The tool I'm using requires this ordering of arguments.

How can I do this in farr, please.

Thanks

2

General Software Discussion / Mylife Oragnized: is it still being developed?

« on: January 26, 2011, 02:18 PM »

I'm migrating from ListPro to MLO and would like to know if this app is still developed at all? The Google group seems obsolete and with no recent updates. I'm seeking ideas as to ...

- Is this app still developed?
- an alternatives in this category that provide the following ...
 - hierarchy of tasks in tree style.
 - search as you type
 - custom fields

Thank you.

3

Developer's Corner / C++ Development: win32 or .NET?

« on: August 06, 2007, 12:03 PM »

As you probably can tell from this question that the I'm beginning to delve into the world of desktop development. Having spent the last 3 months getting up to speed on C++ and VS IDE, I'm at a fork road now trying to decide which way to go, C++ with native win32 or .net.

Can the gurus on this site validate my understanding of this subject and provide their insights please ...

There are 3 ways to develop windows GUI apps with C++:

• by calling win32 API directly 
• using MFC
• using .NET 

My understanding is ...

1- Using direct API calls is obsolete and is not being done nowadays.

2- Most of the existing apps are probably developed using MFC. However, this technology is gradually and officially phased out in favor of .net

3- For a starter like myself and when developing apps from scratch, is there any reason why I should NOT abandon win32 MFC projects. In other words, what does win32 offer that .net does not?

4- If I do go for C++ .net, my next dilemma is why? C++ is not, by design, optimized for the .net. I should as well just go to C#. Can anyone think of any reason why I should look back to C++ to develop my app in respect to using C# directly.

5- Almost all books I read stated that apps written in C++ .net vs. win32 compare (if not faster) response-wise and are more stable. There are, however, a very limited number of apps on the high end of industrial performance that will always benefit from win32. Is is true if my scope is simply DK development, I should NOT be concerned about any stability or performance issue developing in .net?

6- Finally, can you by looking at an app on your DK tell if it was developed via win32 vs. .net? And how? For example, are there controls that can only be used via one and not the other?


Thank you all

4

General Software Discussion / Converting DRM protected music files: software recommendations

« on: July 24, 2007, 10:13 AM »

I have a need to convert some DRM protected music files that I purchased absolutely legally. However, I need to have them convert to an MP3 format so I can play them on my CD player, Treo, and IPod shuffle.

I searched the web and came up with these 3 contenders, TuneBite, SoundTaxi, and NoteBurner. I tested all, they all were able to do the conversion.
This music conversion tools business if full of crab and trashy vendors. To be specific ...

- I would like to hear from other users what their experience has been with any of these products, good and bad.
- If you used TuneBite, do you know if it can convert unprotected files too

Thank you

5

General Software Discussion / An open Request: Developing Plug-ins for MyBase

« on: May 31, 2007, 09:54 AM »

To start with, I have to state that I'm not affiliated with this product in any way other than being a long-time user of it. This long-term use has given me insights into how powerful and stable this fine piece of software is. I would like to briefly share with this forum hoping it will spark some genuine interest in exploiting its features (and specifically its SDK) to improve and extend it.
The product reside on this web site http://wjjsoft.com/ and it is described as ...

myBase is a versatile free-form database system that allows entry of unstructured text, webpages, images, documents, emails and even arbitrary files without regard to length or format. All information is compressed with the integrated zip utility and stored in the tree structured outline form.
...

Developed using C++ and laid on top of a solid rock SSG database engine (http://wjjsoft.com/nyf_sdk.html) using zlip compression (http://www.zlib.net/),  it has delivered such an unparalleled stability and performance beyond comparison to any other solution in its category. Best of all, the developer WJJ, has made pubic and an SDK that opens up the doors wide open to a limitless array of features and extensions. Something that makes me drool just thinking about it.

Wjj offers the SDK on his site (http://wjjsoft.com/nyf_sdk.html). The license terms indicate that you are FREE to use at no charge to develop extensions to MB. With this SDK, one can develop three distinct types of solutions:

- Stand alone applications built on top of the SSG databases.
- Plugins that integrate to the internal functionality of MB to add features.
- Add-ons that are external to MB, yet, integrate with it to capture, organize, and share information from any sources. Source may include any app like  a web browser, office suite, email clients, and so forth. The current WebCollect add-on is a good example (http://wjjsoft.com/nyf_webcollect.html).

Again, for plug-ins and add-ons, you are to use the SDK free of charge. For the first one, though, you have to pay a royalty fee and understandably so.

The SDK if very well documented, indeed. It contains the header files, the library DDLs, full API documentation, reusable code snippets that integrate right into your project, and code examples. It just can not be any more complete.

I would like to invite to readers of this forum, and especially the developers amongst them, to browse the above links to get an idea. Download the software for 30 days and try it. See how much you can benefit and help develop it. 

This software has changed the way I manage and interact with my data for years. I hope it will help you as much as it did for me.

6

General Software Discussion / Automation Tool that handles RTF Text

« on: May 21, 2007, 11:49 PM »

I have a need to acquire an automation tool (or macro app) that can save and retrieve formatted text (RTF). Almost all of the tools I searched handle plain text. I know there are some that do 'auto completion' but this is not what I'm looking for. It needs to be a macro program. I found Perfect Keyboard and it does allow to create 'clipboard macro'. This app saves the clipboard content including all its attributes (formatting, images, tables, ...). You can then retrieve it via a key or shortext. For some reason, however, the program has been acting funny lately and I need to find an alternative. I have used MacroExpress for years but unfortunately it does not support RTF text in any way or shape or form (very disappointing).

Any ideas will be very much appreciated.

7

General Software Discussion / Source Code Library & Clipboard Extender

« on: April 12, 2007, 06:28 AM »

I thought I've seen all, but obviously I missed this one. This the best code library snippets storage software I have seen so far. Take a look http://www.highdots.com/

8

Mini-Reviews by Members / SpellCatcher Plus. Best in Breed

« on: March 18, 2007, 08:12 AM »

Basic Info

Name of app reviewed	SpellCatcher Plus
App URL	http://www.rainmaker...ts/spellcatcherplus/
App Version Reviewed	3 (latest)
Test System Specs	WinXp Pro
Supported OSes	Mac and most of Windows including Vista
Support Methods	forum and email (i.e., forum, email, phone, etc)
Upgrade Policy	Policy for upgrades. If pay per upgrade, put price here for upgrades
Trial Version Available?	14 day trial.
Pricing Scheme	lite and plus version for $30 and $40, see here http://www.rainmaker...plus/difference.html
Screencast Video URL	http://www.rainmaker...ellcatcherplus/tour/
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product	REVIEWER: Just a user.

Intro:

Best I've seen in this category. It delivers on these features GLOBALLY in any application you work with:

- Check your spelling as you type
- Quickly access a  Dictionary and Thesaurus  so you can find just the right word when you need it...
- Helps you to type much faster by expanding shortcuts you've created into phrases.
- Performs checking on text selections that you've already typed.
- Processes text selections including counting the number of words, sentences, capitalizing sentences, removing multiple spaces, search and replace text strings, get statistics, convert case and more.
- spell Catcher is also a multi-lingual tool. It can check your words if you're working in nine different languages.
- Spell Catcher waits in the back ground until you want it, not taking up valuable screen space

See here for more details http://www.rainmaker...ts/spellcatcherplus/

SCREENSHOT OF APP INTERFACE HERE
http://www.rainmaker...ellcatcherplus/tour/

Who is this app designed for:

Anyone who uses a keyboard.


The Good


- It does what it says it can and does it very well.
- Used it for > 2 years. Stable and performing. Do not remember it crashing on me once.
- GLOBAL is global. It always worked in all applications I've used. Never had issues. You can selectively disable it on a any application you like too.
- Feature full. The option panel has at least over 100 different options.
- Developer is responsive via forums.


The needs improvement section


- development has been slow. No major updates over a year now except for a interim one for IE7 and vista compatibility.
- Some features can benefit from some improvements like the application executions lists.
- text expansion does not support RTF


Why I think you should use this product

- Offers 5 major text manipulation features, all in one package. Will never find these features in one app.
- Check spelling in any application as you type it and if already typed too.
- Run format scripts on any text e.g. remove line breaks, capitalize first letter, do a character count and much more.
- shorthand expansion is nicest I've seen. show a little popup for you to see before accepting it.


How does it compare to similar apps
- this Comparison applies on the ones I listed below.

- None has this many features.
- None offers stability and performance I've seen in this one.

This is what I tested with  ...

http://www.isota.com/product/4_3.asp
http://www.tech-pro.net/as-u-type.html
http://www.wamasoft.com/index.htm?app
http://www.humanized...products/enso/words/
http://www.flashpeak.com/
http://www.spellchec...here.com/default.asp
http://www.spellex.c...x%20Anywhere%20work?
http://www.smartlink.../XP&lang=English
http://www.alcodasof....com/spell-magic.htm
http://zwliang.bizha...om/p_screen_shot.htm
http://www.whitesmok...g_flash/grammer.html
http://www.crossword-compiler.com/

Conclusions

Best in breed software

9

General Software Discussion / Text xpander that can handle RTF

« on: March 18, 2007, 07:14 AM »

Does any know of a txt xpander that can handle rich text? I currently use SpellCatcher and MacroExpress, but none does RTF. I came across InstantText and FastFox. The former is outrageously priced at $190 and the later is unfairly priced as compared to its very minimal options.

If you have a suggestions, please make sure it does support RTF before you reply.

10

Find And Run Robot / FARR v2.00.56: Bugs in alias actions words

« on: February 25, 2007, 08:35 AM »

Mouser,
It was a treat to see 56 posted today. I grabbed it and started some testing on it. Here is the list...

- Searching folders not longer showes defined aliases. Fixed.

- The alias action keywords feature is still not working as documented and as I've seen it before (I tested exact same alias on an older version I have v2.00.48). You can confirm it using this test procedure...
1) create an alias 'vi'
2) I left regexp field blank.
3) results contained these 2 lines...
C:\windows\notepad.exe $$1
c:\program files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE $$1

action	v2.00.48	v2.00.56
typing 'vi'	shows alias results as defined	shows nothing
typing '+vi'	initiates a search immediately even if you type nothing afterwards	does not initiate a search immediately. You have to follow it with some path
selecting a file from search resutls	shows results as defined by alias along with selected file name as an argument	launches the file

- Also, I was testing this issue, I had on several occasions to remove and add aliases. This lead to FARR hanging as started using some of my defined aliases. This is same behavior I discussed in a separate thread here https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=7507.0. Removing the older ini file fixed it but I was able to capture the original file. Using it will consistently cause FARR to hang. I will e-mail to you.

11

Find And Run Robot / Bugs or Inconsistencies in FARR v2.00.55

« on: February 23, 2007, 05:07 PM »

Mouser,
I thought I should start a new thread to isolate my issues in one place instead of having them mingle with other unrelated issues in the main thread.

• Alias action keyword are not working.

I already described it in the main thread here https://www.donation...x.php?topic=6624.325

• Aliases are recognized even when they're part of another string

Typing these 2 strings will show alias contents...
'sys' and 'C:\windows\sys'. May be you can have it so that FARR knows when a string is intended for an alias (first word in line) or simply part of another string.

• Typing directory paths shows all aliases

Typing 'c:\' will list all aliases defined? Not sure why?

12

Find And Run Robot / FARR Occasional Hangs

« on: February 18, 2007, 09:23 AM »

Mouser,
I have been using FARR full day for the last 2 days and it really has not been acting up good.
this is what happens...

- hit alt+z to bring it up
- type any letter (or hit any key e.g. backspace)
- hangs for 30-40 seconds. No disk activity. Can't type or respond to hotkey
- results are showen

Facts...
- same things happens on new searches.
- If I disable incremental searches, I can type but hitting enter would make it hang again.
- disabling/enabling skins made no difference.
- I did not see CPU high usage when it hung.
- Bouncing FARR makes no difference. Still hangs
- I do not see memory usage, IO reads/writes change in taskmgr for FARR

Guesses...
- looks like it is somehow related to the actual search behavior because other operations on FARR are not affected such as getting in/out of options menu, adding aliases, and so forth.
- also it works fine when type an alias. I see the results just fine (no delay)

Any ideas?

13

Find And Run Robot / Hiding the FARR Title Bar

« on: February 12, 2007, 08:30 AM »

The fact that I'm used to having such utilities be so light and minimally consuming, would it be possible to give us the option to hide the title bar. I noticed that it takes as much space as the edit box itself for no use. It the reason it's still there is to move it around, can you have it so that we can move it by Kb shortcuts or some other area. The screen estate it occupies is to much of a cost for such a rudimentary function.

What do you think?

14

Developer's Corner / Seeking your insightful advice...Where to start?

« on: February 11, 2007, 09:37 PM »

Dear Mouser,
I have been reviewing and testing software for years now. I'm also a system administrator who's pretty savvy with fews programming/scripting languages such as Perl, VBS, SQL, and Unix shells. I'm at a point now where I want to get into the desktop development area. I spent a lot of time researching the different tools and technologies out there and I truly need the insights of someone like you to help guide me through.

Prinicipally, the first choice I have to make is what language/IDE to use. I know this is a question that can stir up a lot of political controversy which I really care the less about. My objective is to learn a platform that will eventually pays off the most in terms of features, scope, and abilities.

I would like to ask you to touch up on these inquires with your very valuable advice please...

- Looks like using the C++ language is the first choice for professional development. However, how about C# and the whole .NET plaforms (politics aside, of course).

- Writing a feature-full program certainly requires multi-faceted knowledge. There is the language itself, windows programming API, messaging , ... and finally Windows forms , and my be some servers side GUI tools such AJAX. Can you suggest some reference sites or books where you can put this knowledge together as you develop applications?

I spent few hours yesterday reading about donation coder and the whole concept behind donation-ware. I can not tell you how much impressed I was with your abilities and above all your insights into the different subjects and issues. I'm sure whatever your comments are on my inquires, will be priceless indeed as I can never find them in books or web pages.

Thank you in advance for your time and dedication.

15

Find And Run Robot / Questions on non-specific Directory Searches

« on: February 11, 2007, 08:24 PM »

Mouser...
I'm seeing an inconsistent behavior in my install of FARr (20046). Can you please explain...
- typing acc\not showes nothing. I thought this should at least show notepad as one of the results.
- I read your help notes on non-specific dir searches and my understanding is as follows...
this is how my dir structure looks like ...
c:\program files\clip_app
c:\program files\map_app
c:\program files\goole_app

To show clip_app and all its contents I can use any of these...
files\clip
les\clip
les\cli

However, all of these show 0 search results.
I have c:\program files added to my search dirs with a score of 100.

What am I missing?

16

Find And Run Robot / Alt+P Always crashes FARR

« on: February 06, 2007, 10:57 AM »

For last 3 releases, trying to access options with KB shortcut alt+p causes app to crash. Can you please take a look.

17

General Software Discussion / IMAP Account

« on: January 24, 2007, 10:58 AM »

I've been using yahoo and googlmail services for years and got to a point where I need a more robust IMAP account. I'm  looking mostly for features where I can manage my account folders and  probably be able to create rules.

Does any one know of a free or acceptably priced IMAP provider?

Any help will highly be appreciated.

18

Find And Run Robot / Thoughts of a new comer

« on: July 19, 2006, 04:38 PM »

Hi all,
Software as well as the forum are both impressive. I want to commend mouser for such a great accomplishment.

I've been monitoring FARR for more that a year now. Installed it several times but never became one of my essential tools. So far, I've been using the great TypeAndRun and to a lesser extent AppRocket. However, I have looked at every piece of software in this category. Futhermore, I evaluate software on a consistent basis and have learned across the years what really works and what does not. So allow me to add in my 1 penny worth of comments. In general, for any successful piece of software to succeed, developer must adhere to these principles...

1) know EXACTLY the scope and objective of the software. Users will always want everything. Unless developers have a clear vision of what the software can and should do, software will unquestionably deviate from its original scope and plunge in terms of stability and performance. FARR was initially started as a commandline launcher. Now, users want it to be a file navigator. This is fine as long as we stay focused on what FARR is and should be.

2) Exploit software logic and development tools to serve user needs not the other way around i.e. eliminate and trim down features due to restrictions in logic and tools. I have seen software trim down its features and introduce inefficiencies in user interface to comply with restrictions imposed by app logic and coding habbits and tools. This is a deadly mistake. 

Having said that and having experienced almost every app in this category of software. I can say a software MUST make the most use of these features.

- software MUST be respectfull in terms of resource usage. As obvious as it sounds, it gets ignored more often than we think. Take Luanchy for instance, on my system it was using 44MB of memory. This is close to outlook and firefox. AppRocket is another example, the indexing process or just simply loading index data in my opinion is severely limiting. As much as I loved it, I had to stop using it. This is one area where FARR truly shines with no competition, period. It searches as it needs to and you can elegantly stop it when you find what you want. This is probably the reason I started looking into FARR nowadays again.
- complete as you type (or auto complete). I need not retype a command/path every time I use it. Software should cache it and attempt to auto-complete as I type.
- Search as you type.
- Smart search or patterm match without the need to use wildcards.
- eliminate or reduce to a minimum the need to navigate with a mouse or keyboard. If I have 8 matches, I need not hit my arrow 8 times to get to target. Instead, I can simply hit '8' and I'm done.
- implement a plugin solution so other people can help out adding features. Total Commander is a great example on this along with firefox. Why should we bombard mouser for the rest of his life with feature requests if we can simply develop a new plug-in and deploy it ourselves.
- Use of keywords. This is a feature that I'm just beginning to realize its immense potential. Initially, it may sound trivial and it did to me for years. It was only when I was playing with a PALM app called Memoleaf that I started to love it. PowerMarks also uses it and believe me it is an indispensable feature. As far as data management, there 2 major operations. Retrieving data and organizing it. The problem with keyboard or command line operations is you can easily solve the retrieval problem by using search as you type or auto complete and both apps do this very nicely. The issue really is organizing the data. In otherworlds, you can simple dump all your executables and files in one big folder and think that you really no longer need a folder tree to organize all. I got into this situation now as I have one big folder in my document that have 3000 files. I no longer have to create folders to organize files by subject. I did this only because it really takes me seconds to get to any file I want. Now, I'm faced with a situation where I need to get all files that talk about volume management on unix, for examle. How can a program like FARR help me do that. It can only if I named my files in such a way that it contained some variation of the subject name. The truth is, I did not and probably never will. It is the concept of keywords that solves this problem. PowerMakrs does exactly that. It allows you to associate kewords as you add link. So you can simply type 'unix' and 'storage' and all relevant links are before you eyes. I'm sure FARR can use this concept. It may by that FARR can use file paths as keywords. There is program called LinkStach  that does this beautifully. It uses current folder names as keywords where you can simply type part of the path and it lists all relevant files for you. Truly nice.

So given all this and to help FARR plan for it future release, I would like to suggest these missing features (some I have read that they've been planned and probably is work in progress now):
- file navigation feature: the best way I've seen it AppRocket and TypeAndRun. Both cache the file system to be later auto-completed as you type the path or displayed as you provide them. Probably if FARR can recognise the '\' as path separator and narrow its search internally on folders.

I have some other ideas but I have written a post that is the lengthiest I've ever done in a forum. Please excuse me. take a look and let me know what you think.

Thanks again.