Messages

1

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a single timeline task planning tool

« on: July 13, 2011, 05:55 AM »

Try this, simplicity itself:
http://thetimelineproj.sourceforge.net/

-urlwolf (June 19, 2011, 12:08 PM)

I had a look at it. Looks like a tool to describe an historical timeline. Too bad nothing for time projection. I fear this tool is a little too simple

Anyway, thank you for your hint!

2

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a single timeline task planning tool

« on: June 13, 2011, 11:52 AM »

Hi Nwclark.

My usual time frame is a few months (max 6)
My tasks vary between few hours (usually i don't plan them) to a couple weeks.

My customer assigns me tasks in random order and, on a time-to-market basis gives me some priorities. This usually is the starting point of all the chaos. Then a stream of priority changes comes (this is what i'm calling "good organization") then i must answer to questions style "what if you bring this task before that one?".

You may feel al that silly but... er... that's it. * Sigh *

This is the reason i'm looking something based on duration and floating start date, not on a static begin/end date. Sure weekends and holidays should be kept in consideration during the start/end date "projection".

Umberto

3

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a single timeline task planning tool

« on: June 13, 2011, 06:43 AM »

@joywind: I suppose this tool is not designed for planning, but for reporting. Too bad it doesn't match my needs. Moreover, i see that tasks can live on the same row, but they cannot touch one another, when you try this the task you are working on jumps on another parallel timeline. This doesn't fullfill my need of "stacking" tasks. This is not vital anyway. The mosto noticeable missing feature is the auto recomputation.

@elvisbrown: This is a really complex tool. Nothing against it, it looks complete and full of juice but it's not possible to decide the order of tasks. Yes you can, but only by tewaking the priority field. And there is not recomputation of dates by rearranging tasks.

Both tools work "upside down" respect of my needs. I mean: both need a "start date" and a "end date". To refactor i need to accomodate the start date and end date of all tasks (by dragn' drop or other means, but all of them need to be arranged manually).

On the countrary, i'm looking for something based on "the length" instead of a couple of dates. I know how much effort a task will need from me, but i don't know when i'm available for that effort. And i accomodate manually the order of my task list until i see a good result for start/end dates.

I seen there is a "budget" field in TaskCoach, but it looks somewhat separated from the core part of the planning.

Again, thank you for your hints. Umberto

4

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a single timeline task planning tool

« on: June 13, 2011, 03:20 AM »

Thank you Ath for your feedback.

Too bad OpenProj (like, GanttProject, MSProject and so on) falls under the cathegory of what i feel "too-much-complicated-to-be-useful".

I mean... all those are good tools, but are they really useful to plan a single resource time allocation? I feel they are useful only for project planners that need to fit each resource in its time slot.

I found myself wasting lots of time to set up a scheduling with those tools and, due to the intrinsic complexity and rigidity of the tool, the schedule always had a really short life before being out of sync (in my work i need often to re-schedule and those tools are too much "static" for this kind of use).

So I decided to stop looking for gantt tools and trying to find a one where each time slot is on a single, sequential, timeline.

I't more effective for my needs.

Thank you anyway! Umberto

5

General Software Discussion / Looking for a single timeline task planning tool

« on: June 10, 2011, 09:53 AM »

Hi all...

I'm looking (with no luck until now) for a really simple task planning tool with the following features:

• Single timeline (i hate gantt complexity)
• Single resource.
• Being able to define tasks (description, notes, color, duration in days and hours)
• Tasks will "stack" or "append" to each other (i need only sequential tasks)
• By setting the starting date of the sequence, all tasks will compute start/end date, considering weekends and holidays
• By reordering tasks (drag'n drop) all date recalculation will refresh automatically
• A timeline graphical representation

My search is driven by the need to get some tool that will fast allow me to recompute due date of my tasks with near-to-zero-effort. I don't need to plan a complex project. There are many other complex project planner used by other people, i need only a fast tool for a single resource planning (me)

Anyone knows something like that?

Thank you! Umberto

6

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 23, 2011, 11:22 AM »

Just for information...

1.1.3.0 is out. Enjoy!

http://www.uderzo.it...niffer/download.html

7

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 20, 2011, 08:11 AM »

RJ,

Thank you for your corrections! I'll apply them to the manual then, last test round (you never know...) and i'll release.

Greetings! Umberto

8

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 16, 2011, 03:35 PM »

Sure.

Here it is an extract of the User Manual about the folder name filter:

"The filter by file name mask applies only to files. Sometimes you may want to search only under some folders, say, temp folders. You don't know where they are and at which nesting level on you media device, but you know they are there, and possibly more than one.

In this case you can use a folder name mask filter. Folder name mask filters are the same as file name mask filters, except they apply to folders. To identify a pattern as a folder mask pattern, simply prepend it by the '\' (backslash) char. The backslash char doesn't have the meaning of "root folder", it is simply a switch. It has been choosed as "switch" char because it is forbidden in file and folder names (it is a path separator), hence it cannot exist into an element name.

When you apply a folder name mask filter, only files whose path contains a matching folder are inluded. Moreover, folders which name matches the mask are hilighted with the BOLD style in their name. This makes easy to understand why stuff has been included by the filter. If, on the other hand, you are using an exclusion filter (by prepending the whole pattern string by the negation pipe (|) char), excluded folders are not hilighted just because they will not be displayed.

Example: by typing \temp every file under a temp folder (at any nesting level) is included. For example, C:\Windows\temp\data\abc.txt would be included.
Example: on the countrary, by typing |\temp every file under a temp folder (at any nesting level) is excluded.

Hint: You can consider folder and file masks as a two dimensional filter. The first axis is the folder mask, the second axis is the file mask. Both axis work independently. When you apply a folder+file mask you are defining some kind of "coordinate" in a 2D space. You first "cut" the directory tree structure and isolate the searched folders, then examine the wanted file names by the other mask."

...and, on the online quick tip window...

By folder name
        Same as by file name, but prepend with '\' (backslash) (|).
        The folder mask considers files whose path contains elements
        that match the mask at any nesting level.
        Matching folders are renderer with BOLD font.
        The mask itself cannot include the '\' char.
        Example: \temp will include only files whose path contain
                 at least a 'temp' folder.
                 For example, C:\windows\temp\data\abc.txt is ok
        Example: |\progr* will exclude files whose path contain
                 at least a 'progr*' folder.
        The starting backslash char does not mean 'the root', it has
        been choosed as switch because it is a forbidden char
        in files and folders name.
        (Note: Folder masks are slower than file masks)

Honestly, i'm still looking for the "magic words" that make the user understand the concept with less text. Sometimes i've a bit of difficulty because i'm not english native. Hints are welcomed!

Greetings! Umberto

9

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 14, 2011, 03:57 PM »

RJ,

I think that if one wanted to explore just folder*, he would start the snif operation from that folder instead of the entire drive. A folder* behavior wouldn't add in flexibility. It would be only a different mean to obtain the same result.

So, do you consider the current release candidate behavior useful?

Greetings! Umberto

10

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 14, 2011, 07:47 AM »

Please forget my last post.

Release Candidate will be out soon. Only a last burst of tests.

Greetings! Umberto

11

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 14, 2011, 02:45 AM »

Contro, you will need to wait some other few days...

Tomorrow i changed my mind about the folder name filter. Having two different pattern match methods is pretty confusing. Now i propose another solution to the problem (more efficient).

If the pattern doesn't contain the backslash (*.jpg) the pattern matching is applied only to the file name itself. So, this will make SpaceSniffer behave exactly like the released version.

If the pattern contains che backslash (\temp) the pattern matching is extended to the whole file path (final file name included).

Example: (\temp) which doesn't contain a wildcard, is implicitly extended to (*\temp\*), so "c:\windows\temp\data\abc.txt" is found

Example: (*\temp\*.jpg) will match any jpg file under a temp folder at any nesting level (because the second * will match any char sequence, hence any folder nesting)

Example: (*\temp* ) will match any file under a temp folder or any file whose name starts by temp

The only drawback is that i lose the BOLD hilight because il will need too much CPU power to do realtime.

But... maybe working always with the full path will be limiting... I wonder if the folder pattern should be extended the the full path (file name included) or only to the path (file name excluded). I still wonder which case is the most flexible...

12

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 13, 2011, 04:25 PM »

I don't think I really understood the syntax before.  Just to check I've got it right now, the release candidate is looking at all folders, and shows all their sizes.  But, it is set to filter folders that start "program*," and within those, it considers JPG and ZIP files.  SpaceSniffer's main statistics at the top of the screen now show those files in those folders only, and those are the ones where text is in bright white, and specially coloured.  Other folders and files are shown with their sizes, but not considered in the main statistics.

Is that correct?

-rjbull (January 13, 2011, 02:49 PM)

Well... not. I think that this way it should be difficult to understand. Maybe i lacked of explanation in my previous post. In the posted example, the filter is composed of two main parts: a folder mask and two file masks.

If you consider the disk structure as a tree, the purpose of the folder mask is to cut all branches whose paths don't contain "program*" in at least one nesting level.
After the tree has been cutted down, the file mask will search for the file extensions. It's like a two dimensional filter: the first axis is the folder dimension, the second axis is the files dimension. Both are perpendicular and not directly related.

Consider this example:

root
|
+Program Files
|     |
|     +Data
|
+Users
|     |
|     +Programs
|     |
|     +Data
|
+Windows
|     |
|     +System

The previous folder mask will consider all files under "Program Files\..." and all files under "Users\Programs\..." but not other branches because they don't contain "program*".

The statistic of a folder is always the sum of the size of their direct children, hence in the screenshot you will see that the C:\ drive contains 1.7Gb of JPG or ZIP files that are stored under a program* folder (at any nesting level). Actually, the C:\ drive is 300 Gb in size (without filters).

Suppose that your disk structure contains many folders with similar names, but you don't know how many and where they are (and at which nesting level they are). Without a folder mask you must examine each branch of the disk structure to find them. With folder mask you can find every "temp" folder with a click.

I think that the semanthics is simple (perhaps only to me because i programmed the algorithm, eheh), but if you have any other interpretation please let me know. I need to understand if the behavior of SpaceSniffer is what people expects.

Thank you! Umberto

13

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 12, 2011, 06:13 PM »

I'm concerned about adding too many synonims... at the moment i think it's better to keep only the backslash switch.

I attach a screenshot of the candidate 1.1.3.0 release. You can notice 4 new features over the many other features added):
1. Filter by folder name (here it's not shown but also negative filters are supported). After playing a bit with this feature i can say that it's cool.
2. Notice that the folders that match the folder filter pattern are displayed with name in BOLD font. This makes easier to understand why stuff has been included by the filter.
3. I filtered also by zip and jpg files. Notice they are colored with different colors (optional) because they belong to different file classes (customizable)
4. The selected element will drop a shadow (optional) to make it easier to visually track.



Greetings! Umberto

14

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 12, 2011, 05:33 AM »

Good to know.

I have still some dubts about the "\" switch, which may be confused with the "root" specifier, but available forbidden chars are \, /, :, *, ?, ", <, >, |...

* and ? cannot be used because they are part of the pattern match syntax, | is used to negate, " sounds odd, as long as < and >...

The only survivor looks like :, that i already used as switch specifier starting char ( see :tag:, :attr: and so on). For sake of uniformity i should add the :folder: switch, but looks rather long to type. Maybe i can add both "\" and :folder: synonims.

Any hint? Umberto

15

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 11, 2011, 04:18 PM »

Well, filter patterns are file related.

But i'm currently working (fighting) with a parallel folder patterns syntax.

It will be unusable to apply the same filter pattern also to folders. Results would be reallt weird.
So, the default will still be to filter on files, which is natural to most users.

If one wants to filter also on folders, it should use the new syntax, that is to prepend a backslash to the pattern.
The backslash will not mean "root", it will be just a switch that will assign the pattern to the folder filter.
I choosed the backslash just because it is one of the forbidden chars so i don't risk to find a element with this char in the name.

With the new syntax, if you want to filter, say, all jpegs into temp folders (wherever they are) you will write:

*.jpg;\temp

Does it sound useable? Umberto

16

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 11, 2011, 03:16 PM »

RJ, can you please elaborate on this? I know that there is the directory attribute and i use it internally. I don't see any point in exposing this attribute to the user. But perhaps it's me i don't see it.

I mean, in SpaceSniffer folders are "file filter driven": they appear only if the filter populates them with files (or other folders that are recursively populated ecc ecc...). So, telling SpaceSniffer to filter only folders is useless because they will be empty. I understand the use of a folder name filter anyway.

If you can list an example of use of the directory attribute it would be nice so we can elaborate on this.

Thank you! Umberto

17

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 11, 2011, 02:23 AM »

Well... i think i managed to add the filter for folder name feature. At least the positive filter. I'll need to think more about the negative (exclusion) filter.

Anyway... the semanthics is the following:

Say you want to filter folders by name, you are looking for temp folder. Then you type "\temp" as filter pattern (*, ? are supported). The backslash is the switch that tells SpaceSniffer that you want to apply the rule to folders instead of files.

SpaceSniffer will show all files which path contains the "temp" folder. All files directly under the root search (drive) are automatically excluded because the drive is not a folder. So, if a file has complete path, say "c:\program files\myapp\temp\abc\log.txt", it will be included by the filter. This means that if the temp folder contains any other number of folders, all of them are included because all of them share the temp folder.

Is this behavior correct?

Umberto

18

General Software Discussion / Re: FolderSize o DirectorySize with rules or filters

« on: January 10, 2011, 10:20 AM »

I put an email to Uderzo. i think small folders are not considered. But my folder contains two important dwg files. So I think is not a good space sniff.

-Contro (January 09, 2011, 04:52 PM)

Small folders are considered, but not necessarily shown on video due to the small screen area. However, their size is considered in the computation of the parent folder size.

You may want to try lowering the "Min element size" parameter in the configuration dialog to check if the small folder appears. If it doesn't appear it means it's too small (consider that the main purpose of SpaceSniffer is to find big elements, not small elements) but, still, it is considered in the parent size. It's only a display "issue".

You may want to check it by using the File/Export function. This function will export each filtered item, even the smallest one.

In next version (1.1.3.0 few days to release) there will be more filtering/exporting capabilities. I'll try to squeeze into the new version also a "filter by folder name" function.

Let me know if this is of any help.

Greetings! Umberto Uderzo

19

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Keyboard locale auto-switcher?

« on: June 04, 2010, 08:38 AM »

Lanux, thank you for your hint...

I copied from the source of your app and changed this way:

#InstallKeybdHook
ifWinActive, ahk_class Photoshop
{

è::
SetLayout( 00000409 )
Send, [
SetLayout( 00000410 )
Return

+::
SetLayout( 00000409 )
Send, ]
SetLayout( 00000410 )
Return

}

SetLayout(Locale) {
  DllCall("LoadKeyboardLayout", Str, %Locale%, UInt, 257)
}

Now Photoshop looks like it understands the command, but it does not revert to italian layout after Send command (i love being able to write text with correct keys, you know)... what should I check?

Thank you!

20

General Software Discussion / Re: Per application keyboard remapper?

« on: June 03, 2010, 10:34 AM »

I'm, using CS3... I purchased the English version because of lower price but trying to make correctly working the brush size keyboard shortcuts on the italian keyboard is a hassle... i'm forced to switch keyboard from IT to US every time but that's soo annoying... 

Anyway... thank you for your time!

21

General Software Discussion / Re: Per application keyboard remapper?

« on: June 03, 2010, 10:11 AM »

No way... sigh! Looks like PS intercepts keyboard events in strange way...

22

General Software Discussion / Re: Per application keyboard remapper?

« on: June 03, 2010, 04:58 AM »

Nope... with your script i get exactly the same result.

I tried to unload AHK and to press ALT+[ and ALT+] combinations and the result is identical, so I guess that photoshop interprets AHK keystrokes in an unusual way...

On italian keyboard, "è" and "+" keys are on the same position of "[" and "]" keys of US keyboard. If I switch to US keymapping with ALT+Shift i get the wanted behavior, but i get also all other unwanted key remappings and moreover it's annoying to switch keyboard each time you switch app...

Any oter hint please? AHK looks so good...

23

General Software Discussion / Re: Per application keyboard remapper?

« on: June 03, 2010, 04:35 AM »

Thanks for your hint skwire...

I'm trying to remap "è" and "+" keys (on italian keyboard) to "[" and "]" to control brush size under photoshop.

I wrote down this script:

#ifWinActive, ahk_class Photoshop
{
è::sendinput {raw}[
+::sendinput {raw}]
}


if I try, say, with notepad (changing window class name) it works well, but photoshop seems to receive the equivalent of ALT+[ and ALT+].

I also tried send {[}, send [, sendinput {[} and so on... but always the same result.

Sure my mistake, but cannot guess it...

24

General Software Discussion / Per application keyboard remapper?

« on: June 03, 2010, 03:18 AM »

Hi guys! I'm looking for a per-application keyboard remapper.

I mean... i wish to remap some keys only when a specific application is on foreground.
Any hint?

Thank you! Umberto

25

General Software Discussion / Re: RSS feed editor

« on: April 29, 2010, 11:05 AM »

Thank you joiwind, had a quick look at it...

Looks like a bit simplistic to me... and doesn't look it features the ping function...

Anyway, a possible choice, but Tristana is still better to me.