Topics

201

General Software Discussion / DE Coffee Manager

« on: May 01, 2007, 10:14 AM »

The most fun we had in our office since friday (when we installed the new coffee machine):
The Coffee Manager. There's an administrator who makes a coffee group, the DECM manages who's turn it is to make coffee. You can then select what drink you want and all orders will be delivered to the right person. You can even print out statistics. 

Are you always the one who's stuck getting coffee for your colleagues? How does Keith in accounts take his coffee again? You're going to get a coffee, but is there anyone else who wants one too? The Coffee Manager is the answer!
The Coffee Manager is a small application for your work computer, which asks everyone in the office if they would like a coffee, then gathers all the drinks requests and selects a person to make the trip to the coffee machine! The Coffee Manager can also present you with a graphic display of statistics to chart the drinking habits and rituals of your team. 

202

DC Website Help and Extras / recent post link to topic start instead

« on: April 30, 2007, 05:01 AM »

I just noticed I always press the home key after opening topics. When we go to the recent topics list and click on a topic title we get sent to the last reply. It's good to see what the latest addition is but I think it would be better to get the context of the topic as it is unlikely we've already read it. So from that point of view it would make more sense to go to the topicstart instead.

Not a biggie but maybe something to think about.

203

Developer's Corner / AutoHotkey how to allow multiple inputs?

« on: April 30, 2007, 04:41 AM »

I've created an AHK script that takes multiple folders and copies all files inside to a destination folder, making a flattened copy as it were. At the moment I specifiy the folders in the script but to make the script more general I would like to allow the user to specifiy an 'unknown' amount of input folders and one output folder.

What would be the way to go? I could create an ini file but am not sure how to read in unknown amount of keys? I've never created an interface like that either.

code below

[Select]

;
; AutoHotkey Version: 1.0
; Language:       English
; Platform:       Win XP / Vista Tested
; Author:         justice <>
;
; Script Function:
; Copies photos from multiple folders without subfolders into 1 target folder
;

#NoEnv
SendMode Input
#SingleInstance,Force
Menu, Tray, Icon, Shell32.dll, 174
SetBatchLines, -1  ; Make the operation run at maximum speed.
CopyDest = c:\temp
NewFilesCopied = 0


; Example: A moving progress bar overlayed on a background image.

Gui, Color, White
Gui, Add, Picture, x0 y0 h350 w450, %A_WinDir%\system32\ntimage.gif ;doesn't exist in vista
gui, font, s16, Arial
Gui, Add, Text,BackgroundTrans x10 y10, PhotoUpdate
gui, font, s9, Arial
Gui, Add, Text, BackgroundTrans, Copying updated photos into `n%CopyDest%.

Gui, Add, Progress, vMyProgress x10 w430
Gui, Add, Text, vMyText wp  ; wp means "use width of previous".
Gui, Add, Picture, w140 h170 x155 y90 BackgroundTrans vMyPic,
Gui, Show

IfNotExist, %CopyDest%
FileCreateDir, %CopyDest%

CopySourcePattern = d:\temp\01\*.jpg
GoSub, CopyIfNewer
CopySourcePattern = d:\temp\02\*.jpg
GoSub, CopyIfNewer
Sleep, 10000
ExitApp


; Example #5: Copy only the source files that are newer than their counterparts
; in the destination:
CopyIfNewer:
timesCalled += 1
GuiControl,, MyText, %timesCalled% (%NewFilesCopied%) - Reading %CopySourcePattern%...
i = 1
; Caller has set the variables CopySourcePattern and CopyDest for us.
Loop, %CopySourcePattern%,0,1
{
Sleep, 10
if i > 100
{
i = 1
}
GuiControl,, MyProgress, %i%
i +=1
copy_it = n
StringReplace, FileNoSpaces, A_LoopFileName, %A_Space%,, All ;Take out spaces
IfNotExist, %CopyDest%\%FileNoSpaces%  ; Always copy if target file doesn't yet exist.
copy_it = y
else
{
; File exists
FileGetTime, time, %CopyDest%\%FileNoSpaces%
EnvSub, time, %A_LoopFileTimeModified%, seconds  ; Subtract the source file's time from the destination's.

if time < 0  ; Source file is newer than destination file.
copy_it = y
}
if copy_it = y
{
NewFilesCopied += 1
GuiControl,, MyPic, %A_LoopFileFullPath%
GuiControl,, MyText, %A_LoopFileFullPath%
FileCopy, %A_LoopFileFullPath%, %CopyDest%\%FileNoSpaces%, 1   ; Copy with overwrite=yes
if ErrorLevel
MsgBox, Could not copy "%A_LoopFileFullPath%" to "%CopyDest%\%FileNoSpaces%".
}
}
GuiControl,, MyProgress, 100
GuiControl,, MyText, %timesCalled% (%NewFilesCopied%) - Finished copying %CopySourcePattern%.
Return

GuiClose:
ExitApp

204

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Use locate32 with Farr -- outdated use plugin instead

« on: April 27, 2007, 10:12 AM »

I wanted Locate32 to work with FARR but there's no document describing commandline options for the locate32 executable. after I noticed that the first word after locate32 that started with a dash lost part of the searchstring I knew I was on the right track...

After some fiddling I present you the results: If you want to search with locate32 from the command line you can use this:

[Select]

locate32 keyword

(to bring up the locate window with your keyword as the search, but it does not run)

[Select]

locate32 -r keyword

(to being up the locate window with search results for your keyword)
I couldn't find any documentation on any switches so I assume it's unofficial and might break in the future?? Maybe using some debug tool someone might find other switches, to search for extension for example.

To do this straight from FARR paste this as an preformatted alias group:

[Select]

1000>>>locate32>->loc $$1 |C:\Program Files\Locate\Locate32.exe -r $$1>+>^loc (.*)

or create a new alias like this screenshot (change the path to locate32.exe depending on where you installed it):


 

[attach2]

BTW it shouldn't be hard to write a plugin to use the locate.exe executable to return the search results inside the FARR window, as locate.exe <keyword> does a search for keyword and returns all search results in a dosbox.

205

General Software Discussion / Auto ftp v2

« on: April 27, 2007, 03:58 AM »

For months I have been looking for a good program to keep my preferences in sync between home and work. For example I have evernote and keepass databases, and opera bookmarks etc. I want to use the same data at work and at home, but I don't want to have to leave a PC on.

I've been using Syncback SE(slow comparison), synctoy (no ftp), allway sync (no ftp -- novell netdrive doesn't work in vista), foldershare (both pcs need to be online + annoying temp files) and looked at many other utilities who can't do ftp, or can only upload, or cannot create profiles, or cannot run them manually / scheduled...

I present Auto FTP:

Auto Ftp v2 is the new big brother of the original Auto Ftp. It can perform multiple ftp sessions simultaneously (fully multi-threaded). You can choose between straight file copy or synchronisation in either direction (local to remote or remote to local). Sessions can be started manually, timed, change triggered or daisy chained. Multiple sessions can be started from the command line making it a great batch file tool. Now you can have as many upload or download ftp sessions as you like configured and ready to go with one click.
Updated: 11 Mar 2007 | Version: 2.04 | Size: 306KB | D/L: 7057

It can schedule or run manually, upload / download / sync (oneway  ), doesn't cost hundred's of dollars. And by the looks of things it is quite a personal project! So it deserves some support and love.  http://www.glenn.delahoy.com/software/ plenty of other software gems to be had from the same author.

206

General Software Discussion / File container / file type translators

« on: April 26, 2007, 03:42 AM »

If you have ever used BeOS you might recall they had a system called translator kits [1][2]. Basically you could add kits to the OS to enable reading / writing to a particular filetype. So you had a GIF translator kit, PNG etc. Any appllication with support for translator kits could then use these file formats.

Seeing how often particular software on Windows does not support a filetype (Try converting SVG files to PNG for instance, fireworks and photoshop don't support them, illustrator doesn't have a batch mode etc), I would have thought the translator kits idea would be a popular way to solve a major computing annoyance? Why is this not the case? How much better would it be if Windows had a centally managed filetype reading writing mechanism with addins provided similar to how they extend the indexing service at the moment (probably the addins would be very similar? a PDF indexing service addin already allows the indexing service to read and make sense of pdfs)

It seems to me (but I am not a programmer) that they already do it for video and music files: both AVI and MOV files for example are just container formats that support codecs. Why couldn't we have an .ADOBE container format with the codecs for all their software, or ultimately just .graphic, .music that can be opened by any program supporting the container (which the codecs doing the read/write to the software)? Or the end of file extensions.

Interesting idea or am I just clueless   ?

207

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Run Before / After something

« on: April 24, 2007, 03:40 AM »

Some software allows you to run a command before or after the software itself is run. For example: Syncback allows you to run a command so that you can do something with the backup. I would be interested in using a program that does this on a more general basis:

For example I could set up a "link" to download the newest  Keepass database from ftp before running the Keepass program (synchronisation) and upload it again afterwards.

ideally

Ideally It would be good if it worked with a list of entries, each entry specifying program and the commands it should run before / after. This is easier to maintain then something decentralised.
Ideally it would still allow you to run a program the usual way (run Keepass from the start menu and FARR). I guess it would intercept the run call or modify the shortcut or some other clever way.
I guess that some people would want to run more than one command, although of course you could just run a script or batch file.

Hopefully this sparks someone's interest or someone could point me to a similar program.

Thanks!

208

General Software Discussion / Localdeli -- Instant delicious search on your windows desktop

« on: April 10, 2007, 05:18 AM »

  The program I have been looking for for a long time now has finally been made: Farr for delicious. Find And Run Robot, Powermarks and Locate already beat all competititors in my bookmarks / files department but it doesn't work with the webservice, however localdeli does a terrific job.

Forget to add in: you can download it here

209

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: DVD File Arranger

« on: March 09, 2007, 05:08 AM »

I have several DVDs worth of projects that I would like to backup to DVD. I would like to see a coding snack that can sort (grouped by folder) files into multiple folders of a fixed max-size, in a way that all folders all as full as possible. It would be excellent if I could specify the max-size of each output-folder to make it flexible (CD-R, DVD-r, or X MB etc.) It might exist already but I cannot come up with the right search query.

It's a little hard to explain so please see the example below. Say i've got the following projects:

• Project a: 100mb
• Project b: 10mb
• Project c: 60mb
• Project d: 40mb
• Project e: 20mb
• Project f: 120mb

Now I want to back them up on my special 150MB discs, what projects should I put on which disc to use the least amount of discs?
I'd run the program and it would move the folders around the output could be:
Folder '01': project b,e,f (150mb)
Folder '02': project a,d (140mb)
Folder '03': project c (60mb)


What do you think? Thanks for your time, Sander

210

General Software Discussion / Desktop state snapshot & recall software

« on: January 18, 2007, 06:32 AM »

I was wondering if something like this exists: a desktop state snapshot & recall software. The functionality would be easier to describe with an example:

I am working on Task a: I have browser windows open, dreamweaver, loads of other programs. Now I want to work on Task b and return to task a later.

Can I save the state of all the programs, start afresh, complete task b, and then resume where I left off?

(=In writing this topic I realise I could maybe achieve this with Virtual Desktop software, although some software will not support multiple instances. But are there any other solutions?

211

Find And Run Robot / Fantastic app - idea for faster searching

« on: December 11, 2006, 05:33 AM »

Fantastic app, can't live without! One suggestion, could it be possible to speed up searching by caching a list of 'found results', load that in instantly, then check it for changes in the background? That way you'd get instant results with a small chance of them not existing anymore, while the list is updated when you're idling.

As i've set up FARR to go through Program Files it now takes a second or two to go through everything, so any performance improvement would be welcome!

edit: sorry nevermind i must be the million-th person to suggest this! my apologies.

212

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Context menu organiser

« on: December 07, 2006, 05:21 AM »

I was wondering if a thing like a Context Menu organiser exists. Can't find any with google. It's not been discussed on here before (according to my search), but for me it is becoming a nuisance. When I right click a folder I have so many options:

I am looking for a small app that would allow me to delete context menu entries and move them into 'subfolders'. Nothing more. Does software like this exist and perhaps it can be made into a coding snack?

213

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Closed Program Bin / Reopen accidentily closed software

« on: November 29, 2006, 07:08 AM »

Sometimes you accidentily close a program but then want to retrieve it. Opera browser has a "closed pages bin" that gives access to your closed pages from this session. It would be good to have a "closed software bin" where any program that was closed would go and stay out of sight for a time period (say 60 sec) and then close by itself. if the software was minimized before sending to the closed software bin (could be a tray icon or part of the taskbar) I believe windows frees up memory.

Obvoisly  the point of it all is that you can reopen a program you accidentily closed without losing the information you were working on.

It wouldn't work well with games so perhaps it needs an exception list. Could this be realised? Thanks