Messages

2976

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: abbreviations importer

« on: March 08, 2006, 09:17 AM »

You're getting me interested in all sorts of things now!  Speaking of PowerPro, I believe I had tried that.  It's a program I didn't give enough time to.  I found it difficult.

-Harrie (March 08, 2006, 08:28 AM)

Harrie,

It's not just you.  PowerPro is amazingly powerful, but so hard that it seems like nearly everybody gives up on it.

Abstracting journals - that sounds very interesting.

Depends on the journal 

It's called TextSTAT and it's free.

Downloaded, yet to be tried.  Thanks!

Gotta check out ColorPilot.  Another good expander is Shorthand for Windows.

You personally need the best and can justify the cost of Instant Text, and I doubt you'd now find anything "less" appealing.  However, it would be nice to find the "best at an affordable price" for the rest of us.

AHK:

I've seen reviews that say it is "easy."  To me, it isn't easy to learn to program in AHK.

I think that's true of all the macro programs I've seen, with the possible exception of one-purpose wonders like the free version of Press That Freakin' Button (PTFB).  Even programs like Macro Express that watch and save your keystrokes and mouse movements, and let you edit them afterwards, are still far from trivial.

Maybe one day I'll talk about ActiveWords!

I'll look forward to the review 

freeware site, I think it's called Pricelessware, and I think it offers up a lot of older programs, unless I'm mistaking it for another site.

That's the place where the usenet group alt.comp.freeware post details of their favourite freeware applications.  From memory, they mention AHK, PTFB. and AllChars in this category.

2977

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Instant Text V Pro - more than the usual features of a text expander

« on: March 08, 2006, 08:48 AM »

someone who doesn't think they need such an application -- I guess I'm just a stickler for improving my typing speed

-allen (March 05, 2006, 10:04 PM)

Allen,

It's not just typing speed, it's the monotony of typing the same thing over and over, and in my case at least, a means of entering things in a standard format. That even includes words I'm apt to routinely misspell...  And, don't forget that most of these programs aren't limited to expanding just single words.  A short-form trigger can expand to whole paragraphs.  If you need those sort of features, a shorthand expander can be invaluable.

2978

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Instant Text V Pro - more than the usual features of a text expander

« on: March 08, 2006, 08:41 AM »

instant text sounds quite good, but at $189 (ouch!!)

this may be a ripe category for a freeware/donationware alternative..

-mouser (March 05, 2006, 09:50 PM)

Mouser, it occurred to me that FARR's interface is part-way there, but I'm not sure this class of program is popular enough to justify a lot of effort.  The more so as a number of free or cheap alternatives already exist, some of them listed in the abbreviations importer thread

2979

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« on: March 08, 2006, 03:54 AM »

it automatically looks for relationships between notes based on keywords and content

-tonyp (March 07, 2006, 09:59 AM)

This thread has been veering somewhat closer to the idea of a database that stores full text, and indexes every word of it.  That's more or less what you get in the mighty commercial system Dialog that I access at work, but desktop-size versions are rare and expensive.

Dialog "Providing more than 15 terabytes of content from the world's most authoritative publishers, and the tools to search every bit of it with speed and precision."


Nobody seems to have mentioned UltraRecall yet; this is yet another tree-type notetaker, but I seem to remember hearing that it's fully indexed.

2980

General Software Discussion / Re: Auto-synchronize FTP folders with HD folders?

« on: March 07, 2006, 09:54 AM »

I use SyncBack.

-NewKreation (March 06, 2006, 03:12 PM)

brotherS,

SyncBack is recommended in MarkTAW's favorite smallwares

He has related articles, featuring SyncBack, on Automated Hands Free Backup and Recovering from Catastrophic Failure

2981

General Software Discussion / Re: Clipboard manager

« on: March 06, 2006, 05:58 AM »

A heads-up from alt.comp.freeware  (TalkAboutShareware):

ClipMagic has now gone freeware  http://www.clipmagic.com/

    What is ClipMagic ?
   
    ClipMagic is a powerful Clipboard Extender and Information
    Manager for storing Images and Text, either automatically or
    manually in a categorised format, with details of the URL if the
    text is from an Internet site.
   
    To save something simply copy it to the Windows Clipboard by
    pressing CTRL-C or right click on the mouse and select Copy.
    ClipMagic then automatically stores it and if you have set up
    Rules & Filters the clip will be moved into a particular
    category.
   
    Clips can easily be retrieved either by copying from ClipMagic
    and pasting into your application or by using HotKeys or using
    the new PastePicker.

Notice the automatic assigment to categories by rules and filters.

2982

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: abbreviations importer

« on: March 06, 2006, 04:26 AM »

I'll definitely make a separate post about Instant Text, and ask you some questions I have.  Usually, I find non-MTs have no interest in this, not really, so I'm happily surprised!

-Harrie (March 03, 2006, 07:34 AM)

Harrie,

I have to abstract lots of journals, hence I find this kind of tool useful.  Apart from PC-Write's built-in feature, the only one I've tried myself is AHK, apart from a very quick dabble with PowerPro.  That is an impenetrable program, except that text snippets are the easiest part of it.  They're attached to buttons rather than hotstrings (I daresay you can have those too, but I never got that far).

I hadn't realised the quality of Instant Text when I first posted.  I see it costs $189, and if price is anything to go by, it should be good!  The ColorPilot one is only about $25 (from memory).  The author of the KeyNote organizer/outliner recommends IntelliComplete, which is about $50.  IntelliComplete is here http://flashpeak.com/icomp/

In his smallwares list, MarkTAW  http://www.marktaw.c...voriteSmallware.html
says he uses PC Magazine's RoboType for standardized text like signatures and bits of code.  You have to pay an low-cost annual subscription to access PC Magazine utilities, but subsequent use is free (i.e., I think, subscribe for a year, grab what you want, and use if forever without further payment).

Of course, the good thing about AHK is that's it's completely free (with donation possible) and hotstring files are simple plain text, which makes them very easy to share, though AHK hotstrings on their own don't have a point-and-shoot interface.  Also they won't work on Win9x, if anyone but me is still a dinosaur   


<later>  as well as the ColorPilot ones mentioned in an earlier post, here's another
SuperKeys  $10 *donationware* 

2983

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: an "importer" for abbreviations into AHK

« on: March 03, 2006, 03:53 AM »

Harrie,

The first program I ever learnt - I started in late 1988 - was a mid-period version of the best DOS shareware word processor, PC-Write.  I still use a later version today.  PC-Write has what it calls "shorthand expansion," which is very like AHK hotstrings, though naturally limited to the program.  It's easy to remember ones I use frequently, but not so the rare ones, and there were times when I wanted a point-and-shoot means of adding boilerplate text.  In my case, that's normally short phrases, words I often mis-spell, and bibliographic references so I get them in consistent format.  I never found a freeware or shareware one, and didn't discover commercial medical transcription text expanders until far too late.  In retrospect I could probably have used the DOS macro program Newkey in earlier days, but it doesn't work very well in a Windows DOS box.

Recently, I find that under Windows2000 at least, AHK hotstrings work even in a DOS box (which is now an emulation apparently, not "real" DOS).  It isn't perfect if you insist on using DOS programs, but it does mean I can port the relevant bits of my shorthand expansion file into AHK to make it available to other programs, both DOS and Windows.  This is a great convenience, or it will be when I get round to doing it, but I'd still like a point-and-press pop-up so I can access less frequently-used phrases.  Hence, I'd certainly be interested to hear about Instant Text, when you a moment.

As for the "language bit," it seemed a pity for jgpaiva to build a new tool when (with a small amount of augmentation) ones already exist to do the job, and might even be faster on big files.  However, as an old-tyme DOS hand, that's just the way I'm used to working.

2984

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: an "importer" for abbreviations into AHK

« on: March 02, 2006, 10:33 AM »

**Error: Problem Found: AWK not found under "knowledge" database
But if you can do it, please do!

-jgpaiva (March 02, 2006, 10:16 AM)

A good place to start is Eric Pement's Web site  http://www.student.n...du/pemente/index.htm
Follow the AWK link (by the way, if you follow his SED link and keep paging down, you get to an excellent summary of text search-and-replace tools, though that's not relevant here)

Mr. Pement has a link to the AWK FAQ  http://www.faqs.org/...mputer-lang/awk/faq/

which has onward links for various places to get AWK.  There are implementations (usually interpreters) for just about every platform, most of them free.

2985

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: an "importer" for abbreviations into AHK

« on: March 02, 2006, 10:00 AM »

I hope it doesn't have errors now

-jgpaiva (March 02, 2006, 09:11 AM)

jgpaiva,

Seems to be OK.  Many thanks!

Alternative suggestion for finding duplicate triggers: maybe something like a simple AWK script that takes the first "word," i.e. the trigger, up to but excluding the "=" sign.  Pass output through  SORT and some version of UNIQ/UNIQUE with -d option to show duplicate triggers?  Something like this;

trigger.awk
--------------
BEGIN {
  FS = "="
}
{ print $1 }
---------------

awk -f trigger.awk filetoread.txt | sort | uniq -d

if filetoread.txt is

afmq=aftermarket
avq=available
avq=availability
bawq=black-and-white

the only output you get is

avq


Leaving out the AWK script would show you completely duplicated lines.


Next suggestion - documentation 


Harrie;

How do you remember that many shorthand triggers?

Have you looked at freeware Speed Typing and shareware Type Pilot from Two Pilots http://www.colorpilot.com/typepilot.html  ?  In fact you would need the shareware version to import/export phrases, so you might be better off with AHK.

2986

General Software Discussion / Re: Clipboard manager

« on: March 02, 2006, 04:38 AM »

There's also AceText -- which is the one I use the most -- it's a good balance of

-allen (March 01, 2006, 10:17 AM)

Allen,

I notice this on the AceText site:

When a thought hits your mind, write it down in AceText. When you come across useful information on a web site or in a document, copy and paste or drag and drop it into AceText. Never again forget a good idea or lose a scrap of paper with valuable notes.

Use AceText's full-featured text editor to take notes and write down ideas at any time. Quickly jot down a brief thought, or hold a long brainstorming session writing down, organizing and sorting out ideas. Easily store web site addresses, text snippets or even whole documents. Drag and drop or paste them directly into an AceText collection. Move or copy previously captured text from the clipboard history and other AceText collections.

How would that feature relate to the "General brainstorming for Note-taking software" thread  https://www.donation...pic=2362.0;topicseen

2987

What's the Best? / Re: AddressBook Utility

« on: February 28, 2006, 05:05 AM »

a pervasive Address Book built right into the OS itself.  You could enter an address once into this address book and then call it up from ANYWHERE in ANY app and use the information.

-LuckMan212 (February 26, 2006, 11:29 PM)

Is it possible to make a direct shortcut to the Outlook address book, so you don't have to load the rest of it if an address is all you want?  I seem to remember seeing this suggested in one of the magazines.

2988

What's the Best? / Re: Master Category List for the "What's the Best" section... please help finali

« on: February 27, 2006, 08:45 AM »

if you have a moment, could you post any additions

-LuckMan212 (February 26, 2006, 07:36 PM)

Desktop - Best Sticky Notes  (to an extent, this would overlap with alarms)
Desktop - best clipboard extender

2989

General Software Discussion / Re: NeoMem organiser update

« on: February 23, 2006, 03:37 AM »

ASRT (Advanced Software Reconisence Team).. has morphed into a full fledged call for reviewers:

-mouser (February 22, 2006, 09:40 AM)

<gulp>  Beyond my pay grade...

Sure you don't want an area for quick "heads-up" notices as well?

2990

General Software Discussion / NeoMem organiser update

« on: February 22, 2006, 04:53 AM »

Organiser / organizer freaks may care to know that NeoMem has been updated:

NeoMem
New Version 1.2a released February 20, 2006

New features include:

    * Export entire file or selected object (recursively) to csv (this has limitations, as far as being imported to other programs - Excel has a 32k character per cell limit and Access a 64k character per row limit, which makes this feature less useful than one might hope. But someday there will be an export to XML feature...)
    * Uses an ini file instead of the registry for storing options
    * Added File, Folder, Email, and Website property types, to replace the Hyperlinks type (which is still available, though deprecated)
    * Added Strikethrough format
    * Insert date/time from Edit menu or F5 key
    * Use Alt+, and Alt+. for back/forwards
    * Use Alt+Backspace for undo, in addition to Ctrl+Z
    * Various bug fixes, including the one of printing extra blank pages

More here http://www.neomem.org/neomem.htm

Mouser, what happened to ASRT?  Is there another area for update announcements?

2991

General Software Discussion / Re: Text/Books Database

« on: February 21, 2006, 04:02 AM »

I think Jot+ Notes has compression    http://www.kingstairs.com/jot/

2992

General Software Discussion / Re: batch programs and stuff

« on: February 21, 2006, 03:59 AM »

Personally, I have used Rob Van der Woude's scripting pages as a reference for some time now.

-Edvard (February 20, 2006, 11:37 AM)

That's a good one.

I also dabbled with PowerBatch (no longer available, quite old) that promised to make batch files into .exe's but I never got it to work.

There were others, like Extended Batch Language (EBL), BatLite, and FromBAT, but I suspect most of them have gone during the rise of Windows.  Some people had reasonable success with PC Magazine's Bat2Exe, BAT2EX15.ZIP.  I always found I had too many external programs to make these very useful.

I'll look into these others you mention, as NT's batch language is quite different from even 95 and 98's.

Also take a look at Acme Software (now Swanson Software) batch file reference for Windows 2000 and XP at  http://www.acmesoffw...erence_BatchFile.asp

2993

General Software Discussion / Re: batch programs and stuff

« on: February 20, 2006, 11:14 AM »

@rjbull: His name is Stefan

-brotherS (February 20, 2006, 09:21 AM)

Apologies to Stefan.

I just mentioned Bob Stephan, author of GET.  That really is Bob's surname.  At my age, maybe you should expect neuronal crosstalk... 

PD version of GET:

  GET -- Bob Stephan's Batch file enhancer -- a public domain utility
         Syntax:  GET command argument
Purpose             Command       Argument   Environment Errorlevel  Extended
---------           -------       --------   --(GET=)--- --(Exit)--  --[E]---
Get character       C[E] ["prompt"] [chars]  Character   ASCII dec.  No Echo
Get yes/no aNswer   N[E] ["prompt"]  None    Character   ASCII dec.  No Echo
Get string          S[E] ["prompt"]  None    String      Length      No Echo
Moving Text(GetaKey)T[E] "Filespec" [chars]  Character   ASCII dec.  No Echo
Get DOS version     D[E]             None    Major Vers. MajorMinor  MinorEnv
Get environment left    E[E]         None    Bytes left  Bytes left  Bytes/10
Get file size (DIR=0)   F[E]  Filespec       Hex bytes   Kilobytes   Kb/10
Get disk space          K[E] [driveletter]   Kilobytes   Kilobytes   Kb/10
Get memory free         M[E]         None    Kilobytes   Kilobytes   Kb/10
Clear (Blank) Screen    B[E] [New attribute] Current or last attr.   HexAttr
Check for printer(PRN)  P[E]         None    1=yes,0=no  1=yes,0=no  Initialize
Get/set video mode      V   [New mode]       Current or last mode    None
Check coprocessor       7            None    1=yes,0=no  1=yes,0=no  None
Check for ANSI.SYS      A            None    1=yes,0=no  1=yes,0=no  None
Get current directory   Y[E]         None    Directory   Level/Drive Drive
 Surrogate [char] args: } is Carriage Return, ~ is Escape, ` for Extended Keys.


Version 2.8 needs three pages of online help screens.

2994

General Software Discussion / batch programs and stuff

« on: February 20, 2006, 09:00 AM »

Talking about batch
Batchman.- Multi-function batch program.

Old (1989) but packs 48 batch functions into a single 6K program.

-Stefan (February 20, 2006, 05:42 AM)

Stephan,

Two more small but powerful multi-function multi-purpose utilities, both shareware;

Bob Stephan's GET   http://www.redshift....bstephan/bs01000.htm
Should also be on BFDS link above.  Very early versions of GET were public domain.  Later ones, with 3.5 being the last, were free for personal use (and still do plenty); the last few are all-payware.

PocketD - author site seems to have gone, here's a link for a description and download link
http://www.digibuy.c...uct.html?93930276892

2995

General Software Discussion / Re: Living without AutoHotkey - possible?

« on: February 20, 2006, 05:00 AM »

My favorite use is to automate batch processing stuff through command-line utilities.

-Edvard (February 09, 2006, 07:18 PM)

Good grief, all those languages?!   

It's probably too late now, as these are almost all plain DOS, but if you're into batch processing  via command-line utilities, you might like to know about
BFDS  http://www.filegate.net/bfds/
which is the repository for the Fidonet BATPOWER echo's files.  It contains lots of useful tools, including some not radily available elsewhere.  Also, don't overlook Horst Schaeffer's DOS batch ("PBATS") and Win32-bit command-line tools at
http://home.mnet-online.de/horst.muc/

2996

Find And Run Robot / Re: CTRL+SPACE

« on: February 20, 2006, 04:39 AM »

you who uses a IBM Thinkpad and found the lack of "WinKey" on the keyboard a big annoynance

-taichimaster (February 18, 2006, 03:02 PM)

Rats.  Only listed for Win2000 and XP.  My T22 (which is in the hardware list) is Win98SE...

2997

Find And Run Robot / Re: CTRL+SPACE

« on: February 20, 2006, 04:37 AM »

rjbull, you might want to check out WinKey.

-jdmarch (February 18, 2006, 02:43 PM)

Thanks!

Have you noticed how many DC participants like AutoHotKey for kb remapping?

link here  http://www.autohotkey.com/

2998

General Software Discussion / Re: Multiple desktops

« on: February 10, 2006, 08:05 AM »

PowerPro has multiple desktops, and is supposed to run light - if you can figure out PowerPro...

PowerPro, freeware macro program for Windows
http://powerpro.webeddie.com/index.html

PC Rangers third-party PowerPro support
http://powerpro.pcrei.com
Contains archives of the user groups, the "Wink" based Flash demos, etc.

Beginners user group / mailing list:
http://groups.yahoo..../powerpro-beginners/

2999

Screenshot Captor / Re: Is Screenshot Captor not capable of capturing text for editing in text file?

« on: February 10, 2006, 07:46 AM »

THANKS rjbull!

-jgpaiva (February 10, 2006, 06:40 AM)

Thanks, but actually, I think we should all thank Google   

And, to repeat; it only works with some versions of Windows.  Not with Win9x, as I recall it.

3000

Find And Run Robot / Re: CTRL+SPACE

« on: February 10, 2006, 03:40 AM »

I had trouble with that because I use Alt-Space (N|X) all the time for minimising and maximising windows.  Sorted now, thanks to that pointer.