Recent Posts

1151

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Text Expander for Medical Transcription and general purpose

« Last post by rjbull on September 25, 2011, 11:09 AM »

BartelsMedia, how does this fit into the PhraseExpress family?  It looks like a lot of power for a freeware.  Are you planning to introduce charges when it's out of beta?

As you know, the Ribbon is a love/hate affair.  Is there an option to turn it off and revert to normal Windows behaviour for those who prefer it?

In another thread, tranglos says - I think, haven't gone back to check - that he hasn't found a text expander that has a "macro language" powerful enough to have flow control.  Maybe that's more suited to a dedicated macro progam anyway, but does anything like that appear in any of your programs?

1152

Living Room / Re: Would you trust this ... ?

« Last post by rjbull on September 25, 2011, 11:00 AM »

I too am in the UK and used the mail2web service for several years without problems, though not much in the last two years.  At one point my ISP (Plus.net) tried to set up their own Web mail service, made it insecure, and while they thought about improving it, recommended their customer use mail2web.

I was under the impression that passwords for e-mail were sent in plain text anyway.  Has SSL changed that?

1153

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: PhraseExpress v8, Pro Edition, on BdJ, Tuesday 12 April, 2011

« Last post by rjbull on September 22, 2011, 02:58 PM »

I was wondering if there are any of these autofill programs that can automatically grab information from a website or database. I can program my own server side script to deliver  the customer date, but Im looking for a program that has the ability to pull it.

-madmanx33 (September 21, 2011, 06:17 PM)

I haven't seen a text expander program that can what you're asking.  However, there will soon be a Bits du Jour offer on iMacros, which apparently can (I haven't tried it):

Web Scraping, Data Extraction and Web Mining with iMacros
Do you need to screen-scrape web data into your database, spreadsheet or any other application? In just minutes, you can create a simple iMacros solution that does all the web-harvesting and web crawling for you automatically.

Note that iMacros comes in several versions, some very expensive (and included in the BdJ 50% offer), but there's also a free iMacros addon for Firefox.

1154

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA ~ Show List of Shortcuts overlaid on Desktop

« Last post by rjbull on September 18, 2011, 10:43 AM »

What's the procedure for scaring away skwire from a coding request one wants to work on?

-mouser (September 16, 2011, 04:42 PM)

I wondered the opposite - what happens if you gene-splice skwire with skrommel

1155

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Hall of Fame

« Last post by rjbull on September 18, 2011, 10:29 AM »

I don't recall the DOS program name that became InfoSelect

-barney (September 15, 2011, 07:51 PM)

Tornado Notes.  It was mentioned in another DC thread recently.

1156

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Hall of Fame

« Last post by rjbull on September 18, 2011, 10:27 AM »

Getting online into mailbox systems with 300 bd, later with a lightspeed modem at 1200 bd and a software that somewhat sounds like Qemm, don't ask

-TomD101 (September 15, 2011, 04:26 PM)

QModem? 

1157

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Hall of Fame

« Last post by rjbull on September 16, 2011, 04:19 PM »

It was a little more than just kinaesthetic (if I understand that term correctly) - at least for the 'core' navigation keys.  [...] This idea of placing the commands to mirror the action works well enough that I could remember the actions of those particular keys even after not using the Wordstar layout for more than a decade (which I think is unfortunate, but I got tired of fighting to have to configure every last bit of software to respect the Wordstar commands).

-mwb1100 (September 16, 2011, 03:48 PM)

That's true, there is an "intellectual logic" to the WordStar Diamond, if not always the other keys.

It's one of my grievances against Microsoft that they pirated WordStar keys for other things, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X and so on.  There are a few Windows editors that can be configured to use them - e.g. WSedit, freeware by Dr. Martin Vieregg.  That's one of the most extensive sets I've seen.

1158

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Hall of Fame

« Last post by rjbull on September 16, 2011, 03:25 PM »

Nothing masochistic about WordStar. The command sequences were considered arcane by many but had a certain amount of logic [...]
But far and away the most important thing about WordStar was the fact that you could do everything without moving your hands away from the home keys.

-oblivion (September 16, 2011, 03:54 AM)

Exactly, the logic was kinaesthetic, not intellectual.  Once you'd trained your fingers, they knew what to do without needing your brain thereafter.

1159

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: PhraseExpress v8, Pro Edition, on BdJ, Tuesday 12 April, 2011

« Last post by rjbull on September 16, 2011, 03:05 PM »

Most of my repetitive keystrokes are scripture verse references, where I use a software program to find copy and format.  So if "1T316" expands to a formatted copy of the verse 1 Timothy 3:16 (RTF would be nice

-Steven Avery (September 15, 2011, 11:51 PM)

As an alternative, you might find it useful to consider one of the clipboard extenders and/or code-snippet holders, like mouser's Clipboard Help+Spell, or AceText, or one of the many others.

1160

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: PhraseExpress v8, Pro Edition, on BdJ, Tuesday 12 April, 2011

« Last post by rjbull on September 16, 2011, 02:32 PM »

Do we have a super "text expander-- autocomplete -- autotext" thread somewhere ?

-Steven Avery (September 15, 2011, 11:51 PM)

Just a few    Take a look at these:


Donation Coder threads, which deal with text expanders, completers and the
like:

jgpaiva's abbreviations importer
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=2598.0
link to jgpaiva's AHK tools
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=3461.0

Harrie's review of Instant Text, and following posts
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=2631.0


Word AutoCompleter
https://www.donation...1036.msg6713#msg6713 (mentions IntelliComplete, AutoTyping, LetMeType, AllChars, Type Pilot)

Auspex
https://www.donation....msg231091#msg231091


External links:

Productivity Talk - Harrie's own forum site for (primarily) Medical
Transcriptionists
http://www.productivitytalk.com/

Jon Knowles site on typing productivity
http://home.earthlin...net/~agjon/index.htm

Jon Knowles' ABCZ typing abbreviation system
http://home.earthlin.../~agjon/abczrule.htm

1161

Living Room / Free camera reviews from OTC

« Last post by rjbull on September 13, 2011, 03:48 PM »

OTC are a British company supplying manuals and reviews of cameras and other photographic equipment.  I've dealt with them a few times myself.  Here is a limited free offer.

As well as being the world's leading supplier of printed camera manuals, OTC also offers reviews from two of the leading photographic magazines and, for a limited period, you can download the last three months of reviews free of charge.

Free Camera Reviews

If you are thinking of buying a new camera or lens you should first read what the experts think. OTC now offer compilations of reviews from both Amateur Photographer and What Digital Camera and supply them as downloadable, bookmarked files.

As a special offer, available only until September 17th, you can download every review from Amateur Photographer from June to August this year - http://srv.ezinedire...7228&s=125036813 - and every review from What Digital camera from June to August this year - http://srv.ezinedire...7229&s=125036813 - free of charge.
 
Printed Portable Camera Manuals

Don’t forget about our manuals, which are now supplied as small bound books which will fit into your camera bag or your pocket.

Don't underestimate how much it will cost you to print a 150 plus page manual yourself.  Buying a proper printed manual from us will cost you far less than you would spend in paper and toner if you printed the manual yourself.

We can supply a printed manual for almost every camera ever made. It doesn't matter if your camera is new or 50 years old - we will have the manual for it. Visit our website - http://srv.ezinedire...7230&s=125036813 - to find the manual for your camera or accessory today.
 
Training DVDs

DVDs are a great way to increase your knowledge of your camera and how to use it.  These instructional DVDs offer a comprehensive guide to using your camera.

The information on the DVDs is presented in an interesting and in-depth way.  The high production quality provides easy-to-understand and well-illustrated video footage covering all the key features of your camera.

These DVDs are available for most digital SLRs.  A full list can be found here - http://srv.ezinedire...7231&s=125036813 - or you can go to our website search - http://srv.ezinedire...7232&s=125036813 - for your model of camera and see the DVDs listed under the printed instruction manual for your camera.
 
 
Contact us

We welcome hearing from our customers. Either email us at [email protected] or call us on 01707 273773. We are open 9.00 to 5.00 Monday to Friday. When you call us you will speak directly to a person - you will never have to deal with an automated switchboard!

1162

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Early Beta: Ethervane Echo

« Last post by rjbull on September 12, 2011, 02:30 PM »

Yeah, I only remember testing a version of ArsClip a long time ago. [...] if there is a special menu command to initiate search, it's probably not the kind of "instant search" that I am after.

-tranglos (September 12, 2011, 09:01 AM)

You have to hit a key on the popup to invoke Search.  After that, it is what I think people mean by an "instant search" feature.  That is, press "d","o","n" and you get everything that includes those, add an "a", and you start to see only those entries with "donation coder" in them.  The more letters you add, the more you close in on your target, and removing letters widens it in real time, the list of possibles widens to match.

As for anandcoral's program, I think of it as in the (smaller) class of "clipboard manipulators" that includes Text Monkey, Clippy, and FDC.  I'm happy enough for them to remain a separate class of software, especially for the more specialised functions.

1163

General Software Discussion / Re: Does "OS Transition" software exist?

« Last post by rjbull on September 11, 2011, 10:48 AM »

Question 1: Is there software I could use to make the OS transition less onerous? In other words, does software exist that would catalog my current programs so re-installation wouldn't be the nightmare it currently is? (I've already purchased Recover Keys)

-MamasBoy (September 11, 2011, 10:18 AM)

Not sure if this's what you mean: Bits du Jour has periodically offered programs that claim to be able to (relatively) painlessly migrate your application software between OSs, so you don't have to reinstall as such and set eveything up again.  I haven't tried them.  One of the ones they mention is PCmover.

1164

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Early Beta: Paste Text Like

« Last post by rjbull on September 11, 2011, 10:35 AM »

One suggestion, [...] would be to have a preview of how the text will be formatted before it is pasted.

-nudone (September 11, 2011, 04:58 AM)

Text Monkey gives you a preview, but, sometimes it gets in the way.  You end up doing extra Alt-Tabbing between apps.  Clippy has a particularly nice approach in that you can set up one or several operations in a group, and apply the entire group in one go with a hotkey.  You change between groups with a right-click on the tray icon, but, I think you can only have one hotkey at a time.  I haven't tried FDC.

@anandcoral: you're simply saying your program focusses on offering the most commonly-needed text manipulations, with a specially easy interface?

1165

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Early Beta: Paste Text Like

« Last post by rjbull on September 10, 2011, 02:47 PM »

Er, not to throw a wet blanket, especially as yours will have your own slightly different twist.  You might like to look at these similar apps:

• Free Data Capture Tool (FDC)
   first mentioned on DC by kfitting, I think
• Text Monkey
   both freeware Lite and payware versions
• Clippy
   The one I found first and used most.  The Web site is often down, and the file is small, so I'll attach it here.

Clippy doesn't have sentence case, which is something you might like to consider.

1166

General Software Discussion / Re: insightful post on gui design, and why it can be faster than the command line

« Last post by rjbull on September 08, 2011, 02:21 PM »

I am quite curious to see how much could be done to better integrate scripting with GUIs. There are in fact GUIs specifically designed to *create* scrips

-JavaJones (September 08, 2011, 01:29 PM)

mouser's Drag and Drop Shell Robot is sort-of related.  I felt that the real work lay in figuring out the command lines of the programs, and I'd then have put everything in a batch file, so the idea of using drag + drop to feed in files didn't quite gel.

1167

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by rjbull on September 08, 2011, 02:14 PM »

what if i export to xml format -- so presumably any number of conversion tools could post-process the export file.

-mouser (September 07, 2011, 02:45 PM)

I realise that real programmers are able to get to grips with XML, so that would be a nice addition.  The trouble is that I don't understand XML.  It's a more complex format that I meant [...] I'd like a really simple format that ordinary computer users with modest skills can work with easily.

-rjbull (September 07, 2011, 03:10 PM)

I suppose that XML is now what programmers immediately think of when asked about exchanging data between programs.  For the end user, something like ClipMate's Templates would be much easier, and more versatile than what I suggested above.  They're just plain text files that allow you to freely mix fixed text with tokens representing the clip itself and its various attributes.  That's pretty close to the idea of merging CHS with FLM that others have suggested.  However, ClipMate appears to apply the templates as the clip is captured.  As I said before, I'd rather apply them at pasting time.  That would allow many different "views" of the same data, for different purposes.

1168

General Software Discussion / Re: insightful post on gui design, and why it can be faster than the command line

« Last post by rjbull on September 08, 2011, 10:24 AM »

As an old-time DOS person, if I had to do something once... GUI.  If I had to do it repeatedly, make a batch file wrapper for CLI tools and just run the batch, or indeed via a scheduler.

And as I understood it, early versions of Windows were just a GUI wrapper for DOS anyway 

1169

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by rjbull on September 07, 2011, 03:10 PM »

what if i export to xml format -- so presumably any number of conversion tools could post-process the export file.

-mouser (September 07, 2011, 02:45 PM)

I realise that real programmers are able to get to grips with XML, so that would be a nice addition.  The trouble is that I don't understand XML.  It's a more complex format that I meant, and one would have to find tools to do what one wanted.  On the other hand, even I can write simple AWK scripts, and used to use a lot of them.  Very convenient for modest data-twiddling tasks.

That is, I'd like a really simple format that ordinary computer users with modest skills can work with easily.

1170

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by rjbull on September 07, 2011, 02:28 PM »

Offer a configuration option to include the URL on a line at the bottom of a clip, so that when you want to paste the clip into a document, the URL automatically comes along with the text, without needing any extra action?

-rjbull (August 21, 2011, 03:58 PM)

mouser, I've had a supplementary thought.  I know it's possible to export from CHS, but only into a CSV file and only, as far as I can see, the entire list in the current folder.  Please can it be made possible to only export marked clips, and in a user-specified tagged-field format?

I'm thinking of something like the following, with the tagged fields based on the display columns, but allowing the user to (a) specify whether the tag is open (single tag at the beginning of a field) or closed (separate tags to start and end the field, like HTML or BBcode) and (b) give the tag a different name from the CHS column, as appropriate:

Tags Open[X] Closed [ ]
Column      Tag
Excerpt     {Title:}
Notes       {URL:}

Tags Open[ ] Closed [X]
Column      Tag - start       Tag - end
Excerpt     [Title]           [/Title]
Notes       [URL:]            [/URL]

It might be necessary to allow only so many characters of the Excerpt field, or direct editing of it, to give more sensible titles/headings.

This should help with the following:

• Manipulation of the text with scripting programs like AWK, PERL, REXX, etc.
• Modification of the text with editor/word processor macros for formatting for presentation.
• Merging of the data with data from other sources.
• Import into other data storage systems, e.g. DB/TextWorks®

Here I'm thinking, perhaps too much, of the job I used to do but do no longer, where this would have been extremely useful.

Quick (probably) request: currently, when you export, CHS automatically pops up Notepad containing the export file.  Please can it optionally not do that?

1171

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by rjbull on September 05, 2011, 02:51 PM »

Do you think it may need to made into a commercial exercise, so that it could be profitable?

-IainB (September 05, 2011, 10:32 AM)

Well, that's up to mouser, who doesn't seem supremely commercially-minded    But if it's going to be the King PIM, and will take work, effort and expenditure on tools and libraries to maintain, then it could command a fair price.  Of course, there are so many PIMs out there already.

Have you looked at NANY 2012 Pledge & Early Beta: Ethervane Echo?  A new clipboard extender with

Virtual views with user-defined sort order and filters

1172

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by rjbull on September 05, 2011, 09:51 AM »

@rjbull:
1. Requirements: Your requirements are included in the [...] @mouser will be able to easily identify from that which requirements he might not want to implement.

-IainB (September 04, 2011, 11:55 AM)

Inconsistent, perhaps...  but while I don't feel too bad about asking mouser for "another little feature," or what seems to me a little one, I'm less comfortable about making this look like a big commercial project.  It's just one of mouser's personal projects: and just one of the ones he doesn't make any money on.  What mouser really needs to do is

Spoiler

finish his Ph.D and

get well-paid work...

1173

General Software Discussion / Re: Realtime backups

« Last post by rjbull on September 04, 2011, 02:31 PM »

I remember being quite impressed with 12ghosts backup

-iphigenie (September 04, 2011, 05:19 AM)

+! for 12Gosts, it's the best thing I've found for individual files, or for folders.

-cranioscopical (September 04, 2011, 07:08 AM)

I don't know if they're one of the companies that have a permanent discount, but, at present, 2011-09-04, their site says:

Special offer!
12G-Complete™
(including all our tools)       $74.95    $49.95    
12G-Security™                   $49.95    $34.95         
12G-SysTools™                   $49.95    $34.95         
12G-Automation™                 $49.95    $34.95         
12G-Files&More™                 $49.95    $34.95         
 
12G-Backup                      $29.95    $19.95

1174

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by rjbull on September 04, 2011, 10:18 AM »

There are 21 or so items that he would need to review to see whether he is prepared to change CHS to meet the defined requirement.

-IainB (September 03, 2011, 08:57 AM)

Be aware that there have been suggestions - not, I think, recently - that mouser should merge CHS with his other program, The Form Letter Machine.  That might present synergies, but it would more likely move CHS away from your requirements.

I can't see that there's any need for you to "read tomes on relational database theory", though.

-IainB (September 03, 2011, 08:57 AM)

That's what you said you you were doing, in another thread!

the use if IT for information management - and especiallly knowledge management - is something that I find quite absorbing, but it's not everybody's cup of tea.

-IainB (September 03, 2011, 08:57 AM)

Just as long as the IT staff truly understand end user requirements, rather than imposing a solution from above without consultation because "they know what the user wants."

1175

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Feature request: Web clipping, permanent note keeping

« Last post by rjbull on September 02, 2011, 02:32 PM »

Oh, dear.  This is way over my head.  Quoting my OP:

improving CHS as an application for keeping permanent notes, particularly when they're Web clips.

And that's all, really.  I'm certainly not going to read tomes on relational database theory.

On Edward de Bono, you might be interested in this quote:

"De Bono though is a child of the Enlightenment: he really believes that people can do better, and only shoddy thinking prevents them from so doing.  He has no idea that much inefficiency is deliberately caused by the power-hungry, paranoid, back-stabbing, glory-hunting, spiteful, grudge-bearing human beings who infest the world of organised work."
  -  Robin Potts, reviewing Edward de Bono's "Simplicity" in The Guardian, 5 Sept. 1998.