Topics

26

Living Room / Donation Coder Fever

« on: March 01, 2011, 04:45 PM »

DC Fever - with apologies to John Masefield

I must go down to DC again, to hassle that mouser guy,
For all I ask is a donation app and a license to install it by,
And the forum's chat and the gossip lets me know what's shaking,
And a regular letter in my email with all the news that's breaking.

I must go down to DC again, to fix my buggy app
there's a forum post a-waiting: "error found, please fix asap"
And all I ask is a quiet day with the phone left off the hook,
but noooo I've gotta release new code for some ungrateful schnook.

I must go down to DC again, to the vagrant coding life,
To the Java way and the Delphi way, where the bugs give me so much strife,
And all I ask is a couple of bucks from a fellow Donation Coder,
So I can buy a myself a cup of coffee, or maybe a can of soda.

(here's the 'riginal: Sea Fever)

27

Living Room / Should I add ads to my website?

« on: February 28, 2011, 04:13 PM »

A question for the intelligentsia:

I have been asked if I would like to host an ad page on my cartoon site: Head in the Clouds

Apparently I would have to post some pre-defined text in my blog, and have it linked to a page where you are invited to download some wallpapers.

I actually removed google ads from my site a couple of years back - they were making it look a bit crummy. But this was an interesting, generous and slightly flattering offer from a large telecoms company so I promised I'd give it some thought.

I also figured it would be quite a fun thing to run as a poll - how do you guys feel?

28

Living Room / A point of grammar

« on: February 25, 2011, 01:57 PM »

It's not "it's" unless its "its" is "it is" not "its", otherwise it's "its" 

29

Timns Apps / Auspex Build 1.2.4.104 uploaded

« on: February 24, 2011, 06:43 PM »

You can now use Auspex from any location. Simply set up your icon with a path similar to this:

<YourPathTo>\Auspex.exe -inifile <YourPathToItsDataFiles>

e.g. t:\Program Files\Auspex\Auspex.exe -inifile t:\portable\auspex

The rest is just mini fixes - but you folks who have to "wake up" the program before it starts to work: it should get itself going straight away now.

30

General Software Discussion / Does DoCo have a "How To" Section?

« on: February 22, 2011, 02:03 PM »

I have to admit, I only had a quick look. But just as DC has a nice reviews section, which is well worth reading, does it also have a section where folks can post mini-articles on "how I did such-and-such?"

This popped into my head after reading superboyac's thread on setting up a simple shared todo list between two users. Sounds to me like an ideal case of saying "well, if you download and install software abc, and then use service def to map a secure shared drive, off you go - and this is how to do it"

That would make a really nice little article that I think quite a few people (including me, a few months back) could really make use of. There's some top-notch expertise on here and I can envisage not only coding snack requests, but perhaps requests for coding help and generally getting more out of one's computing experience.

Off the top of my head, I could think of some other How-To's+Recommendations that I'd love to see:

• How to create a VM from your current PC
• How to set up a nice unattended daily backup
• How to organise your email more efficiently
• How to get the most from DC 
• How to get started with Regular Expressions
• etc. etc.

Certainly some of Paul Keith's posts fall into a similar category.

31

Living Room / One for the musicians

« on: February 21, 2011, 01:24 PM »

Ok, I'd like to gather the DC orchestra:

32

Timns Apps / March Fundraiser Pledge: teaser

« on: February 16, 2011, 05:10 PM »

Dunno what the standard is for a pledge, but I can always clean it up later.

And, by the way, I sure hope there's nothing like this out there already!

If there is, tell me now before I carry on  

So here is my Pledge for the March 2011 fundraiser. An app that allows you to browse the DoCo forums outside of the usual browser interface. I expect, but have not checked, that it will also work for other SMF forums too.

This is a Java application with a little database that allows you to interact with the forums in a more natural manner. The program will automatically group messages by thread, and show you what's new in the forums by updating itself on a regular basis.

So reading and replying to messages now becomes more like using your email.

You can also filter messages in or out by various criteria, such as (but not limited to) by date, username, tag etc. allowing you to focus on the stuff that interests you. Or even ignore entire threads if they are no longer of interest.

I think the screenshots will tell a better story:





It's usable already, but there's a lot missing at this stage. I'll post more details as things come along. Now's also the time to hit me with questions and ideas.

33

Timns Apps / Auspex Build 1.2.3.101 uploaded

« on: February 12, 2011, 01:22 PM »

One key new feature: a new Replacement type that is activated automatically, without needing any trigger character.

34

Living Room / DC Front Page

« on: February 12, 2011, 01:13 PM »

I sent someone to DC yesterday. They were favourably impressed, which is nice, but they did mention (and I think it's a fair comment) that's it's kind to tricky to really get a good feel for what's available.

Is there anywhere you can find all the DC apps grouped in some logical way?

Second point was to make it more obvious that the forum is a big, big part of the DC experience.

35

Living Room / All Hail...!

« on: February 09, 2011, 09:38 PM »

All Hail the Mighty DonationCoders!

Enter your name, and hit the button to earn your title.

36

Timns Apps / Auspex Build 1.2.2.98 uploaded

« on: February 05, 2011, 06:23 PM »

Here she be. Several bug fixes and improvements. Please see the history for a brief overview.

@cranioscopical, I finally updated the Completion handling for you. If you now choose 'Space' as your trigger character, a space will be appended to the word when it's auto-typed for you. Hope that's what you were looking for!

You can bulk update all your existing Completions - simply select them all in the tree, and change the trigger combobox.

37

Timns Apps / Auspex Build 1.1.1.92 uploaded

« on: January 29, 2011, 01:49 PM »

You can get it here:

https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=25315.0

Mini-release, but with a couple of nice updates under the hood.

38

Living Room / The 419ers have outdone themselves...

« on: January 28, 2011, 01:05 PM »

She's on top form:
 

(various waffle removed)
I am Mrs. Brenda Binti Samir ,the daughter of Mr.Ahmad Samir, both of  us are
citizens of the Brunei. my father worked  with the Chevron/Texaco in Brunei
 
for twenty years before he  died in the year 2003.He were married for ten
 
years without a child.  My Father died after a brief illness that lasted for only
 
four days.  Before his death he both got born-again as dedicated Muslims.
 
When my late father was alive he deposited the sum of 7.5million GBP with
 
a bank in europe and the bank just wrote me.
 
etc etc blah blah blah
 

... so where exactly did she come from?

39

General Software Discussion / General and Casual Questions about SAP integration

« on: January 27, 2011, 03:51 PM »

Anyone on the forum have any experience with talking to, or being called by, SAP?

I just want to get a feel for what can and cannot be done.

40

Timns Apps / Auspex Tips, Tricks and Uses

« on: January 25, 2011, 04:34 PM »

I'll keep this thing updated with any good ideas that come my way.

To start things off:

Fast, Automatic Text
Create useful Replacements for repetitive typing. Good examples would be:

Your email signatures - perhaps you have a different way of signing your messages depending whom you are addressing.

Mnemonic: rj
Replacement:
Regards,
Joe
Purpose: Very quick and smooth way to sign your emails

Mnemonic: m@e
Replacement: [email protected]
Purpose: speed up and improve the accuracy of typing your email address

Spelling Corrections

This example uses RegEx
Mnemonic: crit[e|i][c|s][e|i][s|z]e
Replacement: criticize
Purpose: Corrects all of the most common misspellings -> criticize

Tags
Mnemonic: htm*
Replacement: <html></html>
Cursor position: 6
Purpose: fast creation of HTML/XML tags

Create simple Replacements to enter those irritating special characters and symbols
For instance:

    * create a Replacement called 'gbp' to enter the £ symbol
    * create a Replacement called 'cpy' to enter the © symbol
    * create a Replacement called 'reg' to enter the ® symbol
    * create a Replacement called 'qrt' to enter the ¼ symbol

The possibilities are endless!

Nest replacements if they share the same text

For example, if several of your replacements all reference the same webpage, make a simple replacement for just the webpage itself, and then reference it in your other replacements. That way, if the webpage address ever changes, you only need to make one correction and all the references will work.

Block words that you do not want to keep seeing as suggested auto-completions

You may frequently type words that Auspex will track, but that you do not want to see popping up all the time. Set their status to Blocked and they will never show up again. For example, passwords  

Auspex also tries to auto-detect password fields, and also password-like typing. In both cases, the text is NOT stored anywhere.

41

Finished Programs / DONE: Drop target to move files to predefined folders

« on: January 25, 2011, 04:21 PM »

I once tried out a little program (probably an old Yahoo widget) that created several target icons on my desktop. When a file was drag-dropped onto one of them, it was automatically moved to some designated folder.

Unfortunately it never worked properly on my PC for some reason, and I didn't really like the whole Yahoo widget thing after a short time.

Does anyone fancy having a go at this?

More info if it piques anyone's interest, since I know how I'd like it to work.

42

General Software Discussion / SpamCombat <-> MailWasher

« on: January 23, 2011, 05:51 PM »

Anyone here have much experience with Spam Combat compared to Mail Washer?

I used Mail Washer 6 for years, and liked it very much. Then MW2010 came along and as far as I am concerned, the wheels fell off. First there was the disastrous decision to change to the "pay per year" license model. Then there were the shocking number of bugs, the horrible interface, the not-so-good spam detection... and finally it takes a good minute or so to start up these days.

So! Hunting around, I came across Spam Combat which looks like it might be freeware, and has what appears to be comparable capabilities. Does anyone use it in anger? Any good advice or opinions before I download and spend ages setting it up?

43

Timns Apps / Build 89

« on: January 23, 2011, 05:40 PM »

Folks,

I just uploaded build 89 here

A few bugs fixed, and some new features to bring the program to a point where I can start adding the features I've got in mind after nudone's wondrous suggestions.

I am especially interested to learn if this build works in a more friendly way with a few of the programs mentioned in Redmine:

* Forte agent
* JP Soft products
* Roboform
* iScribe
* Spam Combat

Also, I'd like to know if we're doing better with things like ctrl+enter, win+G, alt-something-or-other

Thanks!

44

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / NANY 2011: Techniques, Tributes and Tribulations

« on: January 20, 2011, 10:08 AM »

Ok it's just me, but I have a great interest in such things. So would the NANY crew be willing to share:

• Why were the NANY applications coded? (I mean why decide to code this particular app)
• What IDE did you use, if any?
• What language(s) is the application written in?
• Does it rely on any 3rd party libraries / code / graphics?
• Were any clever design principles used?
• Or any really hairy algorithms that you'd like to boast about?
• What was the trickiest part?
• Would you like to make a mention of any other DC members who helped out?

Edit: Actually, we all have an interest in such things, so in lieu of the regular survey maybe the NANY Entrants would like to fill this? Thanks Tims for posting the questions! 

45

General Software Discussion / Structurer for Windows?

« on: January 18, 2011, 09:19 AM »

Is there anything like Structurer for Windows? Boy I could make a lot of use of that thing!

"This app allows you to rapidly create file/folder structures for your new projects. Less than a month later, the developer, Cesar Tessarin, is back with a much improved version which now provides support for template creation, as well as assigning custom content automatically to newly created files."

If not, I'll post it into the DC ideas section!

46

Timns Apps / Auspex 1.3.5.118 Download (May-14 2012)

« on: January 17, 2011, 07:35 PM »

This is the spot where you can always find the latest build.

Auspex1.3.5.118.zip (2904.15 kB - downloaded 5648 times.)

Auspex is my entry for the NANY 2011 competition here on Donation Coder.

Build 1.3.5.118
Improvements
    * Faster startup / shutdown

Bug Fixes

    * Black text on black background fix

Build 1.3.5.117
Bug Fixes

    * Finally got rid of the dumb taskbar button
    * Fixed a couple of Access Violations

Build 1.3.5.109
Bug Fixes

    * When launching Auspex at Windows startup, it should become responsive immediately
    * Small portability improvements


Build 1.2.4.104

Spoiler

New Features

    * Portable mode! You can now run Auspex from your thumbdrive or wherever
    * Updated the About screen - more information, and a link to the DC website
    * Run at startup now working

Bug Fixes

    * Auspex should now begin to respond immediately, without needing to open its main window

Build 1.2.3.101

Spoiler

New Features

    * Fast Replacements - these are Replacements that are typed for you on-the-fly. No trigger character required. Highly recommended for such things as spelling corrections, special character insertions etc.
    * Double-click on the tray icon now restores the main window
    * Item type combo now has 6 lines, no more scrolling required
    * If there is now only one Completion showing, Up/Down cursor keys are not blocked

Build 1.2.2.98

Spoiler

New Features

    * Multiple selection of items allowed in the tree for bulk deletion
    * Multiple selection of items allowed in the tree for bulk update
    * Completions can now use Space, TAB or Return (or all three) as triggers
    * Completions will add a trailing space if 'Erase Trigger' checkbox is un-checked, and the Trigger is space

Bug Fixes

    * 'Active' item in the system tray now globally controls if Auspex monitors keyboard input
    * If the gauges are hidden, they remain hidden for next time Auspex is run
    * Access violation during pop-up of Completion
    * Access violation during Replacement
    * Access violation during clean-up

Build 1.1.1.92

Spoiler

New Features

    * Can customize the colours in the popup (go to Options->Defaults)
    * In-line calculator now handles floating point numbers
    * Auspex is now faster still, and less CPU

Bug Fixes

    * Restoring the application brings the main window back to where it was last time
    * Completions now created correctly from the Wizard

Spoiler

Build 1.1.1.91

Bug Fixes

    * Re-enabled TAB for Replacements

Build 1.1.1.89

Spoiler

New Features

    * Significant improvement in friendliness to external applications
    * New day / month tokens to help auto-insert the date in any required format
    * Restore feature now enabled
    * Bulk import of Replacement texts
    * Basic Wizard form now in place and working

Bug Fixes

    * Splash form can be disabled from the Options screen
    * Minimize to tray now removes the taskbar button
    * Restore from tray icon no longer 'freezes' the program

47

DC Website Help and Extras / Something screwy on the forum

« on: January 17, 2011, 07:30 PM »

...and I think this may be related to Wraith808's posting issue that we talked about over the weekend.

I just posted a message, but now when I look at it, it appears to come from joiwind!



This is this entry here:
https://www.donation....msg232366#msg232366

That's potentially quite bad isn't it? I would not like someone else to be able to post as me.

48

General Software Discussion / Editor able to handle very large files

« on: January 17, 2011, 11:59 AM »

I have a 35mb xml file here that I need to make some small changes to. So far I've tried notepad++ and also e but they are apparently unable to open it successfully.

Anyone got some solid suggestions for something I can use instead please?

49

Living Room / Forum / Thread Etiquette

« on: January 15, 2011, 10:51 AM »

Feels like I missed quite a few fiery threads here on DC in the past, but just recently there have been one or two instances that seem to me to contravene the spirit of the site.

Does DC have a set of unwritten rules about what is and is not acceptable? Maybe a set of written rules that I should have read when I joined but did not? (Much the same way as I gaily click "I agree to the terms of the license" radio button the moment it appears when installing software)

I ask purely out of interest in the opinions of the fine DC population.

50

Living Room / Should I work for free?

« on: January 14, 2011, 01:46 PM »

My nephew just dumped this in my skype:

http://shouldiworkforfree.com/



Very enjoyable... tempting to add a DC strand to the chart?