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Find And Run Robot / FARR feedback/first impressions
« on: August 14, 2016, 01:00 PM »
Hi,
I'm a long time (ex?) user of Launchy. I like tinkering sometimes, but I dislike having to. When Launchy broke for the nth time I set out to find an alternative. FARR seemed to fit the bill - it's way more flexible, powerful, and customizable.
Setup was easy - added folders, executables for some, music from other locations. I like the option to exclude file types as well - filtered out the playlist files for example.
I ran into a few things that I can't do as easy - showstoppers for me. At first I thought I should ask for help here, but a few forum searches convinced me I should just leave some feedback instead. So:
1. there's no way that I found to run a control panel item without having to type some alias name first. I saw some talk about godmode folder, but that's about it. Which is strange - launchers are there to type less, not more. I'd like to type "feat", not "cpanel feat", to access the add/remove program list.
2. FARR doesn't memorize different searches, just the end result. The author of the program liked the idea of learning before:
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=36265.msg339351#msg339351
As is, I should use aliases for each and every typing shortcut I got used to - else an another program might overtake them in the list.
3. Can find, but not launch files with latin alphabet letters with diacritics.
4. I couldn't find an (easy) way to launch something with a parameter - say sending an URL to a non default browser.
A comparison:
in launchy - f <TAB> url opens what I want
in FARR - I have to set F as alias and possibly make an alias/delve into regexps for sending a parameter?
Overall it just feels I'd have to tinker much more to achieve what Launchy does out of the box. Which is a shame - I wouldn't mind using the fancier features later on.
I'm a long time (ex?) user of Launchy. I like tinkering sometimes, but I dislike having to. When Launchy broke for the nth time I set out to find an alternative. FARR seemed to fit the bill - it's way more flexible, powerful, and customizable.
Setup was easy - added folders, executables for some, music from other locations. I like the option to exclude file types as well - filtered out the playlist files for example.
I ran into a few things that I can't do as easy - showstoppers for me. At first I thought I should ask for help here, but a few forum searches convinced me I should just leave some feedback instead. So:
1. there's no way that I found to run a control panel item without having to type some alias name first. I saw some talk about godmode folder, but that's about it. Which is strange - launchers are there to type less, not more. I'd like to type "feat", not "cpanel feat", to access the add/remove program list.
2. FARR doesn't memorize different searches, just the end result. The author of the program liked the idea of learning before:
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=36265.msg339351#msg339351
As is, I should use aliases for each and every typing shortcut I got used to - else an another program might overtake them in the list.
3. Can find, but not launch files with latin alphabet letters with diacritics.
4. I couldn't find an (easy) way to launch something with a parameter - say sending an URL to a non default browser.
A comparison:
in launchy - f <TAB> url opens what I want
in FARR - I have to set F as alias and possibly make an alias/delve into regexps for sending a parameter?
Overall it just feels I'd have to tinker much more to achieve what Launchy does out of the box. Which is a shame - I wouldn't mind using the fancier features later on.