Recent Posts

1001

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 14, 2010, 11:42 AM »

also there is a Actual Window Manager mini review by tranglos.

-lanux128 (May 14, 2010, 11:28 AM)

oh right. i didn't know that either. i must have brushed past it when i wasn't after such a tool. thanks, lanux128.

1002

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 14, 2010, 11:27 AM »

i'm glad someone else is finding it interesting.

when you say AWM can be suspended automatically, do you mean it will suspend operation when a specific window has focus? i'd seen how you can set rules/exclusions but not a "global" kind of suspend.

1003

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 14, 2010, 11:11 AM »

thanks. i'd no idea about WiLMA. i'll probably not get chance to look at it until monday - it must be useful though when that guy has got about 50 screens plugged into it.

is there no end to this quest?

edit:
things were so simple back when i had only one screen - and yet, there is no going back now...

1004

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 14, 2010, 06:59 AM »

i said i didn't want to do it but i'm now using Actual Window Manager with everything else. This is probably overkill as it is only replacing functions that can be done with AutoHotKey - well, and it adds a few buttons to the titlebars that might come in handy.

the problem with all of these programs is that they never quite go for enough. e.g. AWM doesn't allow complete control of right clicking on the title bar buttons - so i've got WindowSpace still performing those functions.

it seems using ready made apps it's a trade-off all the time - whereas AutoHotKey would allow for total freedom in the long run.

1005

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: ATNSOFT Key Manager, Key Remapper, Text Paster - 30% Discount Coupon Code

« Last post by nudone on May 14, 2010, 06:23 AM »

thanks, this is something like what i'd hope for in a hotkey manager's GUI. i don't need the global remapping but something that allowed for the same easy drag-n-drop configuration could be nice. remapping within specific programs would be very handy - just not global. well, global and specific app is what is required i suppose...

...and accept mouse button input and simultaneous keys presses (i.e. f + j) and any/every other combinations that are possible with two hands, one keyboard, one mouse, one separate numeric keypad.

1006

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 14, 2010, 05:07 AM »

more standard alt+tab registry modifications:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
CoolSwitchColumns - set the number of icon columns
CoolSwitchRows - set the number of icon rows

there appears to be a bit of a delay when AWS displays the alt+tab box on all screens at the same time. it's a bit annoying having a slight pause when tabbing through the open programs - so, it looks like i'll be keeping VistaSwitcher (i posted a feature request on their forum to have simultaneous screen support).

1007

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: ATNSOFT Key Manager, Key Remapper, Text Paster - 30% Discount Coupon Code

« Last post by nudone on May 14, 2010, 04:30 AM »

i'm going to pass on RemoteKeys. it looks like it requires a bit of getting used to - and i'm not even sure it will do what i want. could be brilliant but it's not obvious what to do with it.

1008

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 14, 2010, 04:24 AM »

i've been running Actual Window Manager (AWM) for a while now and it could almost be described as a "super" tool. i say almost as it has not managed to replace 100% of the small apps i was hoping for - but it's still impressive.

so far, i've turned off these system tray running utils, as AWM replaces many of their functions:

1. DialogMove - my can't live without app (that jgpaiva was kind enough to make for me).

2. Taskbar Shuffle - drag taskbar items about.

3. WindowSpace - like win7 aero snap (i'm on vista).

4. UltraMon - multi-monitor support taskbars, etc.

5. AutoHotKey scripts that were needed to control specific program windows and dialogs boxes.

AWM has the ability to display the Alt+tab box on every screen on a multi-monitor setup. BUT, as it only replicates the default appearance of the alt+tab box it looks absolutely awful (does anyone on this planet think the Aero alt+tab is usable). i was hoping for a little more in this area and then i could have replaced the otherwise excellent VistaSwitcher - which is the best alt+tab replacement i've seen (you can make it very minimal) but it doesn't display on all monitors simultaneously.

(i've just been searching for a solution to the alt+tab situation.)
i've found that you can re-enable the old alt+tab in win7 by unchecking "Enable Aero Peek" in the Performance settings of System Properties (not tried it myself).

AND, in Vista use this in your registry to get the good old basic alt+tab back again.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"AltTabSettings"=dword:00000001

so, at the moment, i'm undecided what i'll be keeping.

Ultramon has better methods of sending windows to adjacent screens. but AWM has far better options for each taskbar on each screen

VistaSwitcher still looks the best (and has more options for alt+tabbing on multi-monitors in many ways).

WindowSpace might have more options for snapping windows around the screen, not sure yet.

DialogMove works more automatically at controlling small windows - but maybe AWM has more power in this area that i need to look into.

Actual Window Manager can do a lot of the functions i use AutoHotKey for - but nothing will completely replace AHK, it's just less convenient to use for a novice like me.

i was trying not to, but it might just be that Actual Window Manager will be running alongside all of the above tools (except for Taskbar Shuffle). the battle for supremacy begins...

1009

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: ATNSOFT Key Manager, Key Remapper, Text Paster - 30% Discount Coupon Code

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 05:59 PM »

RemoteKeys looks like it could answer a few of my other problems. i'll have to spend a bit of time on this one - will check how it works tomorrow...

1010

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 05:39 PM »

hmm, haven't tested Actual Window Manager yet (can't until tomorrow); just reading what it can do - it looks like it would instantly replace several programs i have constantly running.

looks pretty good to me.

1011

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 05:28 PM »

thanks. i've looked at Actual Window Manager a long time back - i might find it more useful this time around. i'll investigate and then say how i get on...

1012

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 01:23 PM »

i put the quote marks in as i just thought as the string had spaces in it (in File[space]has[space]changed) that's how ahk would work. i didn't realise it was clever enough to just take the whole string as it is - and i didn't understand what the partial match thing was doing. i definitely didn't expect it to match single words.

which all explains why my own ahk scripts tend not to work.

1013

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 01:03 PM »

ooooh, i think that's working properly now...

i did say it would take me several hours to do on my own - as you can see, i should pay more attention to whether ahk will actually accept things like " " thrown randomly around the place.

thanks very much, lanux128.

1014

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 01:01 PM »

erm, that's what i'd changed it to - BUT i'd put quote marks around the File has changed bit.

i'll try again though - perhaps it was looking for a title with " " marks in it - never thought of that.

1015

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 12:41 PM »

for the edit monitoring to work you have to open/edit a file from the panel inside FileZilla - otherwise it doesn't know you are editing things.

then you'll get the prompt to appear when you save your opened/edited file.

1016

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 12:24 PM »

aaaaargh. i can't believe it. it doesn't work. seems to have been just the stupid nature of how it comes into focus of it's own accord sometimes.

i'm blaming FileZilla on this. it's making itself unfocussed somehow. the swine.

edit:
i think the little ahk script is working - something just upsets it sometimes.

1017

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 11:43 AM »

excellent. i think this is working correctly.

thanks very much for that, lanux128. i'm sure it would have taken me a few hours to figure that out.

1018

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 11:09 AM »

yes, i think that might be the way to go. i'll see if i can figure something out - but i'll probably have to post a coding snack request.

1019

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 10:26 AM »

oh well. it nearly worked. it does display the dialog in the taskbar - BUT there still doesn't appear to be a way of using the keyboard to get to it.

alt+tab, ctrl+tab and using vistaswitchers ctrl+alt+tab doesn't work.

and yet, the dialog will come in to focus if you click on and use other programs that are running.

maybe it's a bug in filezilla.

1020

Living Room / Re: how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 09:47 AM »

ooh, that looks promising.

i shall test it out now.

thanks, lanux128.

(i'll say what happens later.)

1021

Living Room / how to get to a dialog window that won't come into focus by using the keyboard?

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 09:19 AM »

i'm using filezilla - which brings up a dialog asking me if i want to upload edited files that it is monitoring...

the problem is that this dialog hardly ever has focus when it appears - and i can't alt+tab to bring it into focus. okay, i can use the mouse to click the buttons on it but it's annoying as it would be about a million times more convenient to keep my hands on the keyboard.

any idea how to bring a dialog window into focus that doesn't respond to alt+tab?

thanks.

(is this vista being dumb or just me.)

1022

Living Room / Re: could two numeric keypads work at the same time

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 07:22 AM »

heheh. perfect. well almost. i'm sure Vangelis had something similar that went the whole way around the back too - it looked like he was sitting in a nest made out of keyboards. i guess i've got something to aim for yet...

1023

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: ATNSOFT Key Manager, Key Remapper, Text Paster - 30% Discount Coupon Code

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 04:17 AM »

i think we are starting to talk about different functions - which is easy to do with these hotkey managers. sorry, i should have tried to be more specific.

it looks to me like HotKeyz doesn't recognise mouse clicks as input but it will do it as output. in other words, if i wanted to associate a macro to a simultaneous left and right button click (that i manually perform) it won't do it. but it will allow me to create a keyboard hotkey that will then perform mouse clicks for me (i want to do the reverse of that, if you see what i mean).

the pause function i mentioned should also have been better described as a global hotkey toggle to stop all hotkey functions from being recognised.

i could well be wrong that HotKeyz doesn't do these things but i couldn't see how and the help file didn't explain how either.

until then it was looking like a very good hotkey manager.

1024

General Software Discussion / Re: Favorite Bookmarklets

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 04:04 AM »

The first is Double Back
It backs up 2 pages unless there's insufficient history, then it backs up 1 if possible:

javascript:N=history.length;if(N==2){history.go(-1)}else{history.go(-2)}

I wrote Double Back to fill in the gap between right clicking the back button to
get a list of pages, and hitting the back button twice.  Either way you're in the
position of hitting the back button 2 or more times to go back only 2 pages.
For some reason every backup button in the world overlooks the "backup
2 pages case." If there aren't 2 pages in the history then it tries to back up
one page so you don't feel like you clicked it for nothing!

-MilesAhead (May 12, 2010, 08:23 PM)

excellent. i've been wanting something to do that for years. thanks. (doesn't seem to work in Maxthon though?)

1025

Living Room / Re: could two numeric keypads work at the same time

« Last post by nudone on May 13, 2010, 03:44 AM »

yeah, i did wonder about that too. it's a bit strange: plugging both numeric keypads in just disables them both. the back lights go off and none of the keys appear to work (maybe they work if you mess about with the options somehow - i'm assuming they just won't).

it could have been something to show off at a LAN party (if i went to them); a double width keyboard with everything plugged in side-by-side. i could have pretended it gave me an advantage when fragging - and thereby set a whole new trend.