Messages

1

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommended replacemnt for Push The Friggin Button (PTFB)?

« on: May 11, 2015, 10:54 AM »

I'm not really sure.  The app is named folder-rss and I think it was actually written by someone here at donationcoder.com.   It gets a list of "new files" and builds an rss feed of them which I feed to my htpc so it can list both new recordings and shows that might have been downloaded via torrent etc.  All I'm really trying to accomplish is have it start minimized or ideally in the systray.   I used another app to put it into the systray but it still shows up on startup and has to be minimized to make it disappear.

2

General Software Discussion / Recommended replacement for Push The Friggin Button (PTFB)?

« on: May 11, 2015, 02:05 AM »

Is there a recommended free replacement for PTFB?  I find it's not working with some buttons...for example on one app I'm trying to auto minimize the app since it starts opened on bootup and it doesn't recognize the button.   Thanks!

3

General Software Discussion / Re: Fax Software

« on: May 11, 2015, 12:01 AM »

I had much the same problem, and my solution was to purchase a Brother MFC-J65IODW A3 lnkjet printer, FAX, scanner, which came bundled with all the necessary software. The price was NZ$200 net - $350 retail, less $50 store discount and less $100 cashback from Brother (you had to request the cashback online within 2 weeks or so of buying the thing).
I jumped through the hoops for the cashback and found the printer and the bundled software to be very good.
Unfortunately, the printer is not used frequently, and I discovered that, if it is not used frequently, then the inkjet print heads clog up and it's a mission and half to clean them. If you can't clean them yourself, then you will be able to get them cleaned by a specialist, under the extended 3-year warranty, which is another mission.
The printer functionality is kinda redundant in my case, as the functionality is rarely required anyway, and even then it is usually only my teenage daughter who needs it for a school project. Having an A3 scanner can be a very useful input device though..

The printer can be connected as a WiFi device and as a USB device. For Fax, it is plugged in to the phone adapter (ADSL on the other side). Incoming Fax is simple: incoming phone calls are detected and if they have the Fax carrier signal, then the Printer/Fax deals with it, otherwise it is handed over to the voice phone. Outgoing Fax is also simple.

Fax is for the birds. My objective is to go paperless, and so, working with paper is a PITA. If you don't need to print any incoming faxes, then you can manage them as PDF or TIFF image files, which means that clogged-up inkjet print heads might not be a setback.

-IainB (May 05, 2015, 09:15 AM)

When not in use remove the ink cartridges and put them in ziplock bags that have a folded wet paper towel in them.    This will keep them from drying out when left to sit for long periods of time.   Re-insert when you need to print.  

Also if you only need to occasionally send a fax you can use online services like faxzero.com,gotmyfax.com etc to send "1 or 2  a day"....free at the time of my posting anyway....you upload pdf's etc..some have max page counts for free sends some sites don't...mix and match for best fit.

4

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Hide Desktop for x seconds while program is being executed.

« on: May 08, 2015, 04:15 AM »

After a few more checks there is a brief flash of the desktop both before and after the loading mce... black screen...ideally that screen would stay up for at least a few seconds to cover the "transition" and then fade to show MCE already loaded.   Happy to be the guinea pig!

5

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Hide Desktop for x seconds while program is being executed.

« on: May 07, 2015, 03:00 AM »

Well I tried it "this morning" as it's 4am here.   It's not waiting the 10 seconds......it's flashing the "Loading MCE.... very briefly and I want to say it's showing the desktop both before and afterward before Media Center loads...it all happens pretty fast (I just switched to an ssd which resolved this issue somewhat) but I'm certain there is a flash of desktop AFTER the Loading MCE...just not positive about the Before.  Here's the 7MC.ini I'm using.....I get the same result when just running "Blankit.exe 7MC.ini" from the command line.

[Settings]
Program="c:\windows\ehome\ehshell.exe"
Timeout=10
Colour=000000
Text=Loading MCE...
Wait=True

The good news it does load Media center and media center stays running and does what it should but it's not actually doing it's assigned goal of keeping the screen/text up during the transition.  It might work for passing subliminal messages though.

6

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Hide Desktop for x seconds while program is being executed.

« on: May 06, 2015, 08:35 PM »

Thanks..I've grabbed it and will give it a try but if I understand you right it's an all or nothing setting?  Why not let a /wait parm or something be added so the user could have one application wait while another does not?   It will certainly do the trick in my case but might be an issue for others.

7

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox windows and CPU slow-downs and restarts

« on: October 26, 2014, 12:30 PM »

You might take a look at the "Suspend Tab" extension which auto hibernates tabs at a user configurable time setting....I've found it has stopped me from having to restart firefox when I have 30 tabs open I don't wanna close.

https://addons.mozil...x/addon/suspend-tab/

8

Living Room / Re: TrueCrypt is Now Abandonware?!

« on: October 26, 2014, 12:14 PM »

You folks might want to look into "Veracrypt" which is a fork of truecrypt that was done to provide stronger encryption protection.

http://www.esecurity...ypt-alternative.html

9

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Hide Desktop for x seconds while program is being executed.

« on: September 21, 2014, 05:46 PM »

Thanks!  Anything quicker than 6 months beats my response time.

10

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Hide Desktop for x seconds while program is being executed.

« on: September 20, 2014, 03:44 PM »

Wow..you folks are amazing.  I apologize for the late (6 months!) reply but for some reason I stopped receiving notices of posts to this thread so I assumed interest had been lost after mouser's comment about it being an interesting task.  I come back to find a full fledged program that has had multiple revisions.

To recap I use a plugin in mediaportal called multishortcut that can run up to 3 apps from a menu item.  I use it to call media center and when media center closes I am back in mediaportal.   I repeat this information because it appears relevant to the scenario listed below.

1) I modified multishortcut to call blankit and pass an argument of "7mc.ini" which was basically the default one except I changed the wording to "Loading MCE...".
2) 7mc.ini was setup to call c:\windows\ehome\ehshell.exe.
3) I ran mediaportal and clicked on the 7mc menu item.
4) A dos shell opened running Blankit.exe  (is there a way to hide the shell?)
5) Loading MCE... displays for 1 second or less. (the ini specifies 10 seconds)
6) Blankit.exe dos shell is visable again and then closes.
7) Screen is "blank" for what feels like about 10 seconds.
MCE is running but only displays for less than a second.
9) Loading MCE... displays for less than 1 second.
10) Screen returns to displaying MCE again.
11)  As soon as any key on the keyboard is touched I am bounced back into mediaportal.
12) After exiting mediaportal I found that MCE was still running in memory and had not closed.

I ran it multiple times to ensure I documented each step.  I've reverted back to calling ehshell directly again for the time being.  I think at least part of the issue is mediaportal see's blankit close and thinks the task is complete.  For my scenario it would probably have to continue running until the task it calls dies.

11

Finished Programs / Re: Folder-RSS: Monitor folder changes via rss

« on: February 25, 2014, 01:32 AM »

I realize this topic has not been active for quite some time but since it's the "support topic" for folder-rss I thought here was the most appropriate place for my post.

David,  I hope you are still monitoring this thread.

Is there any way you could add "start minimized" to folder-rss and a "scan on start" option?  I'd like to have this run in the startup folder on my htpc to build a file of recently downloaded or recorded shows....mediaportal then reads that file and scrolls the filenames acrosss the bottom of the screen.....it all works well now and I've used an app called "clickoff" which is a more modern version of PTFB (Push The Friggin Button) to have it click Scan whenever the program is first ran but the program refuses to start minimized.   I have chosen "minimized" as screen size but it ignores it.  At first glance it seems like a fairly minor change.

Thanks for your time.

FW

12

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Move tv shows older than 24 hours to external HD

« on: February 24, 2014, 12:48 AM »

Well I tried the program and I ran into a few issues....I took some screenshots to demonstrate......

In Screenshot 1 you'll see I filled in the info the process the files.  One deviation is I DID choose to recurse directories.
In Screenshot 2 you'll see the results of the simulation.
In Screenshot 3 you'll see the entry shown.  Problem 1 occured when I attempted to resize the columns to display the full information....the columns in question went blank and I couldn't get the data back...reloading the program didn't help as the following info will confirm.
In Screenshot 4 you'll see I closed out the program entirely and reloaded it.  I had previously done save.  When it reloaded the entry with regex was gone.
I re-entered all the information from Screenshot 1 and skipped the simulation...I changed the bottom entry to use Move instead of simulation.   I put a checkbox next to the entry I had added (and saved again) and I told it to run....it showed that it was processing the bitten file and then showed me screenshot 5.   In screenshot 5 if you look closely at the title bar you will see it says File Punter ERROR...but no information is apparent of what the error is.....the program appears hung as you can't close it...minimize or maximize it...get any of the menu buttons to respond etc.......I eventually went into task manager and killed the process.....upon reloading the program I was once again shown a blank screen with the entry I added lost.  The file did in fact move from C: to X: under a Bitten Folder and a Season 01....I don't know if it had issues with the fact Bitten folder already existed at the destination and I note the old Bitten folder on C: is still there but a utility called "DirClean" would handle deleting empty folders.  At this point I'm stumped how to make this work if the entry is going to be lost...if it kept the entry I could trigger task manager to run it daily and use a program called ClickOff to press the button to initiate the move.

13

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Move tv shows older than 24 hours to external HD

« on: February 23, 2014, 11:42 PM »

See if this screencast helps to explain things a bit:

Flash version: http://skwire.dcmemb..._punter_regex_01.swf
MP4 version: http://skwire.dcmemb..._punter_regex_01.mp4

-skwire (February 23, 2014, 07:35 PM)

Wow! You definetly went way above and beyond...even expanding past what I asked for (I tried to keep it as simple as possible and figured I would try to tweak it later on).....I can follow your instructions and can even see how I could adapt them for my movies folder to do a similar job.   The only thing I might have issues with is if I use copy I still need to clean up the from dir at some point.

I can't thank you enough...and I think that tutorial will be of use to others that want to use file punter!   One question.....if I only wanted to get the files that are 24 hours old or more how would I go about that...obviously the program itself isn't going to do it unless there is a regex to check for date modified.  If I had shows in sub folders I could also recurse and they would also get organized...I wonder would it work if the from and to were the same directory just to organize the files?  This is more directed at the movie folder where each movie could be in it's own folder.  Sorry if I asked something obvious and thanks again for your patience and willingness to share knowledge.

 

14

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Move tv shows older than 24 hours to external HD

« on: February 22, 2014, 07:16 PM »

Well using the sample filenames above I did some googling and found a sample regex of

"^((?<series_name>.+?)[. _-]+)?s(?<season_num>\d+)[. _-]*e(?<ep_num>\d+)(([. _-]*e|-)(?<extra_ep_num>(?!(1080|720)[pi])\d+))*[. _-]*((?<extra_info>.+?)((?<![. _-])-(?<release_group>[^-]+))?)?$"

I however have no idea how to convert that so that c:\fromdir\Showname.S01E01.whatever.mp4 ends up in c:\todir\Showname\
I see the box that is checkng for . _ or - before sxxexx but after that I feel like Vanna White when nobody gets a letter. 

In the program page I see it referencing c:\tmp\??1 without understanding where it's getting the value for ??1 from.

I'm referring to this pic:
http://skwire.dcmembers.com/apps/file_punter/img/main.png

15

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Move tv shows older than 24 hours to external HD

« on: February 22, 2014, 05:25 PM »

The program is remarkable and I'm sure will eventually do everything I wanted.  Unfortunately I feel like a dog trying to learn trigonometry when it comes to regex...will have to spend some time learning it online but will get there eventually.

16

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ: HTPC Util - Move tv shows older than 24 hours to external HD

« on: February 22, 2014, 12:11 PM »

The RegEx capabilities in my File Punter app could probably accomplish what you want.

-skwire (February 22, 2014, 01:56 AM)

Thank you!   I'll give it a try.

17

Post New Requests Here / REQ: HTPC Util - Move tv shows older than 24 hours to external HD

« on: February 22, 2014, 01:42 AM »

I know there have to be programs that already do this but the ones I looked at seem to loose folders as they do the copying.  In a nutshell I have a directory of tv shows and a directory of movies on C drive.....they get recorded and converted to mkv on this drive because it's a local drive and the transfer speeds are much faster but after everything is settled I'd like to move them to a USB HD with more space...the catch is if they are in folders by tv show I'd like them to STAY that way...and in an ideal world if they are NOT in a folder by tv show in the copy process it would create one and bundle them up but thats just wishful thinking.  Some sample filenames are:

Elementary-S02E13-All in the Family.mkv  Elementary-S02E13-All in the Family.srt  Elementary-S02E15-Corpse de Ballet.mkv
Elementary-S02E13-All in the Family.nfo  Elementary.S02E14.HDTV.x264-LOL.mp4      Elementary.S02E15.HDTV.x264-LOL.mp4

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E02-Trust Me.mkv        Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E05-Heart of Stone.srt
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E02-Trust Me.nfo        Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E06-Who's Alice.mkv
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E02-Trust Me.srt        Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E06-Who's Alice.nfo
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E03-Forget Me Not.mkv   Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E06-Who's Alice.srt
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E03-Forget Me Not.nfo   Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E07-Bad Blood.mkv
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E03-Forget Me Not.srt   Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E07-Bad Blood.nfo
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E04-The Serpent.mkv     Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E07-Bad Blood.srt
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E04-The Serpent.nfo     Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E08-Home.mkv
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E04-The Serpent.srt     Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E08-Home.nfo
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E05-Heart of Stone.mkv  Once Upon a Time in Wonderland-S01E08-Home.srt


As you can see each show COULD have a ( .mkv OR mp4 ) .. a .srt and a .nfo.....I have similar folders/files for Movies.  If someone could point me in the right direction I'd be appreciative.  I like the file2folder app but it did not appear to bundle while ignoring extension nor allow me to bundle based on showname...typically seperated from the rest of the filename by a dash ( - ) or a period ( . ) or another method would be the part of the filename before SxxExx.  Thanks for your time reading this.

18

Post New Requests Here / REQ: HTPC Util - Hide Desktop for x seconds while program is being executed.

« on: February 22, 2014, 01:29 AM »

There may be something that does this already but I've been unable to locate it.  In a nutshell I use Media center to record tv and Mediaportal to play shows....I have a "shortcut" in the menu of mediaportal that runs MCE but for a brief period while it's running the executable the user can see the desktop...I'm looking for a utility that will either blank the screen for x seconds or display a fake progress bar while blanking the screen until mce is fully loaded and running.  The same would be true briefly when exiting MCE and returning to mediaportal (the shortcut I use doesn't actually close mediaportal..it's just minimized so it comes back up fairly quickly compared to the load of MCE which I guess averages around 8-10 seconds.  The program could either call mce directly or just run and blank the screen while my "multishortcut" plugin runs.....the multishortcut plugin can run up to 3 programs at the same time when clicking the menu item so I could run the MCE program AND a small util to blank screen/provide status bar....or I could call the util directly and let IT call MCE.....I would however be using the same program to also call the Kylo web browser from mediaportal.   I'm trying to make the execution more "wife friendly" so to speak.

Has anyone heard of anything similar or can toss something quickly together in autohotkey that does the minimum of blanking the screen for x seconds while mce loads?  The rest is just pie in the sky hopes.  Thanks for taking the time to listen to my rambling.

19

Post New Requests Here / Re: Remember where I got the Download

« on: July 14, 2013, 03:43 PM »

Wouldn't the web browser history provide this?  You can even search within history on keywords. 

20

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Program to create subfolders and move files for list of shows BY name.

« on: June 21, 2009, 11:46 PM »

Well if your using an exclusion then yes but if a tp file exists you don't want to move ANY of it's files either (xxx.*).....cause it hasn't been converted yet and workfiles might exist.

You have the rare possibility that a .avi could be being written to at the time your job runs..if so it's not going to allow you to move the avi.....it's almost as though you want to try to move the avi and check the result....if positive you can move xxx.*......if an error occured you probably want to do some cleanup and remove the copy that might exist in the subfolder....was that clear as mud?

Here's a list of the files currently in the video dir.....

smb://[email protected]/G/Video/Airwolf-2009-06-21-0.tp
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/Airwolf-2009-06-21-0.tp.index.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/Airwolf-2009-06-21-0.tp.timeindex.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/airwolf-2009-06-21-0.xml
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/Hardy Boys_Nancy Drew Mysteries-2009-06-21-0.tp
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/Hardy Boys_Nancy Drew Mysteries-2009-06-21-0.tp.index.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/Hardy Boys_Nancy Drew Mysteries-2009-06-21-0.tp.timeindex.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/hardy boys_nancy drew mysteries-2009-06-21-0.xml
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/Return to Me-2009-06-21-0_cut.xml
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/Return to Me-2009-06-21-0.tp.index.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/Return to Me-2009-06-21-0.tp.timeindex.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/ts0.header.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/ts0.index.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/ts0.timeindex.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/ts1.header.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/ts1.index.dat
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/ts1.timeindex.dat


I show you all the ts0 and ts1 files cause they should never move....the tp's and their support files should be ignored.....you'd be looking for some like these to move:

smb://[email protected]/G/Video/The Listener/The Listener-(A Voice in the Dark)-2009-06-11-0.avi
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/The Listener/The Listener-(A Voice in the Dark)-2009-06-11-0.avi.chapters.xml
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/The Listener/The Listener-(Some Kinda Love)-2009-06-18-0.avi
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/The Listener/The Listener-(Some Kinda Love)-2009-06-18-0.avi.chapters.xml
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/The Listener/The Listener-(Some Kinda Love)-2009-06-18-0.csv
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/The Listener/The Listener-(Some Kinda Love)-2009-06-18-0.log


I'm cutting and pasting across the network so obviously the local paths would be G:\Video\Filename*

I think I've used up my "one hour of coding"....is your brain hurting yet? 

21

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Program to create subfolders and move files for list of shows BY name.

« on: June 21, 2009, 11:18 PM »

cool, many thanks

this might sound like a stupid question, but what i know about video isn't worth repeating, so just to confirm there could be files associated with the converted AVI's, eg XXX.AVI.XXX, XXX.AVI.YYY, etc  

-Target (June 21, 2009, 10:22 PM)

Yes there could be and they would need to be moved as well.   How about if you did you loop based on *.avi but when you got to the actual move you did it based on XXX.* or if it's easier the user could specify the masks in the txt file.

Real example:

smb://[email protected]/G/Video/A-Team/A-Team-2009-06-18-0.avi
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/A-Team/A-Team-2009-06-18-0.avi.chapters.xml
smb://[email protected]/G/Video/A-Team/A-Team-2009-06-18-0.csv

22

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Program to create subfolders and move files for list of shows BY name.

« on: June 21, 2009, 09:32 PM »

I'm still looking at this but I need a bit more info on what it is you're trying to do

From what you've said so far it sounds like you're -

• downloading TV shows (as a set of files)
• Converting each set of files to a corresponding AVI file
• Moving the final (AVI) file to an appropriately named subfolder
• deleting the original sets of files (?)

the last step (above) is an assumption on my part.

is this a fair précis of what you're doing?

-Target (June 21, 2009, 09:02 PM)

Your exactly onto what I'm doing.   The shows record in beyondtv as .tp files and as you saw, some have the episode name in parenthesis while older shows only have the name.   Beyondtv has a task that converts the .tp file to a .avi file and for me that runs from 12 midnight to 8am on any shows recorded that day or leftover from previous days. There may still be an .avi.chapters or something similar which is where the commercials have been marked for skipping when playing back.    The safest bet I would assume is to run the move job about 8:05am and have it only look at .avi files and their support files...skipping the .tp ones.    This, for me would get around the "file is being written to" issues....not sure how other beyondtv users would like it but in the end I'm the one requesting it and your the one being nice enough to code it..they can be happy with what they get just like I can.

Did I answer all the questions?

23

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Program to create subfolders and move files for list of shows BY name.

« on: June 19, 2009, 12:11 AM »

is there any way to just take the name till you get to the first "-" and ignore the rest?  Would seem to be easier to do that.

-famewolf (June 18, 2009, 11:23 PM)

Keep in mind that that logic won't work for one of your examples:  A-Team

-skwire (June 19, 2009, 12:04 AM)

Ouch...your absolutely right.

24

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Program to create subfolders and move files for list of shows BY name.

« on: June 18, 2009, 11:53 PM »

Well the in use is a concern...beyondtv saves the show as a .tp file....however it schedules a job to convert the .tp to a .avi (divx) which I have run from midnight to 8am....so I wonder if I should only copy .avi files and ignore .tp as they have not yet been converted....if they get moved to the subfolders I don't think the queued jobs are gonna work as they will point to the wrong place...I can schedule the move job to run after 8am but if a file didn't get converted in the time allowed it might still be a .tp.....like i said...clear as mud.

25

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Program to create subfolders and move files for list of shows BY name.

« on: June 18, 2009, 11:23 PM »

The older shows don't have episodes which is why the information wasn't displayed however when an episode name is included it will always be in parenthesis like that....is there any way to just take the name till you get to the first "-" and ignore the rest?  Would seem to be easier to do that.


Nothing is ever as simple as you think.