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Recent Posts

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25876
General Software Discussion / Re: how do you write a .chm file?
« Last post by mouser on August 18, 2007, 12:13 AM »
There are a lot of "Help File" maker tools.  I also am a huge fan of (the very expensive) Help+Manual.  There may be another discount on it at DonationCoder but it's still out of the price range of many.

Most people don't need the power of H+M, and probably most tools are fine.  I can, however, think of a few features you might really want to look for:

1. integrated spell check
2. can it create pdf documentation?
3. can it create nice pure web documentation?

those last 2 features are bound to rule out most entry-level help makers, but they are very important features.

please keep us updated on what program you finally settle on, and whether it can do #1,2,3.
25877
UrlSnooper / Re: URL Snooper - WIN98/ME Crashes - possible workaround
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 11:09 PM »
I've uploaded a new build (v2.20.01) here:
https://www.donation.../URLSnooperSetup.exe

I'd really like to know if this solves the problem that win9x users have been reporting.  Please someone let me know?
25878
Finished Programs / Re: SubDude, a subtitle renaming program
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 06:26 PM »
clever  :up:
25879
General Software Discussion / Cybernet Recommendation: Windows Sidebar Resizer (Resize the Vista Sidebar,etc.)
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 02:43 PM »
Back in June Ashley reviewed a free application called the Windows Sidebar Styler. It’s a nifty little application that gives users the ability to style the sidebar with different skins. Yesterday a new version was launched, and one of the big new features is a sidebar resizer. Instead of gadgets overflowing onto multiple pages, they will then show up in multiple columns.
...
Windows Sidebar Styler is described as an application that takes advantage of new technology introduced with Windows Vista to provide “extensions to the existing functionality of Windows Sidebar.” In other words, it allows users to tweak their Sidebar so that they’re presented with a customized interface. Today I’ll be explaining how to style your sidebar through the use of Windows Sidebar Styler and Sidebar Styles from WinCustomize.


Make sure you see their original review of the utility: http://cybernetnews....dows-sidebar-styler/
25880
Living Room / Hacking Starbucks - Tricks and Sites to Manipulate The Matrix of Reality
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 02:34 PM »
Various tricks to maximize your Starbucks Coffee experience.. personally i just drink tea at home.

The ghetto latte joins a pantheon of hallowed Starbucks hacks. Tim Harford of Slate contributed a classic to the genre, "Starbucks Economics: Solving the Mystery of the Short Cappuccino," where he revealed that the best-tasting cappuccino, the short cappuccino, is not on the menu. When Starbucks introduced its store locator, someone devised an effective delocator, which directs you toward independent cafes. The site Consumerist recently explained how to get a Tazo Chai Latte at half the price.


from http://news.com.com
25881
General Software Discussion / Re: Some HomeSite Replacement Help?
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 01:47 PM »
Welcome to the site, Nick, nice to see you here  :Thmbsup:
25882
General Software Discussion / Re: The software awards scam
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 01:15 PM »
freshmeat is particularly good for linux software.
25883
General Software Discussion / Re: The software awards scam
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 01:06 PM »
Back on topic, we should also post links to some of the software sites whose awards actually matter, because they are serious and done by real people who test the software and know what they are talking about:


What else?
25884
General Software Discussion / Re: The software awards scam
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 01:00 PM »
This reminds me of the case of a prank by some guy who submitted random junk of scientific words to science journals and got them published in few.

For the page where they did that, along with actual video from them presenting the paper(!), and a paper generator, see: https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=4876.0
25885
Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.135 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - July 17, 2007
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 12:30 PM »
just let updater install the plugins in the "Available for Installation" tab.
25886
General Software Discussion / Re: Outpost Suite 2008 BETA
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 10:42 AM »
LOL - anyone dare to install this?

heheh that was my first reaction too. ;D

Don't get me wrong, I love Outpost, but i view all of their releases as potentially buggy betas, so when even THEY label something as an experimental beta.. look out!
25887
DcUpdater / Re: For developers who want to add update checking to their apps: dcuhelper.exe
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 10:41 AM »
After the -r call, launching DcUpdater by itself should list your program in the complete list of all known stuff that can be updated.  If it doesn't, check to see if the file "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\DonationCoder\DcUpdater\RedirectFiles\PROGRAM_LABEL.dcupdateredirect" is being created, and if the contents of that file point to the directory of your program.
25888
Developer's Corner / YSlow: FireFox plugin to diagnose how long it takes to download your website
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 10:38 AM »
The cool YSlow plugin for firefox is discussed in detail on the Coding Horror blog.  He likes it but has some warnings about taking the numbers too seriously..

This plugin evaluates the current page using the 13 rules and provides specific guidance on how to fix any problems it finds. And best of all, the tool rates the page with a score-- a score! There's nothing we love more than boiling down pages and pages of complicated advice to a simple, numeric score. Here's my report card score for yesterday's post.


Link to YSlow: http://developer.yahoo.com/yslow/
25889
General Software Discussion / Re: CCleaner 2.0 Beta Released - Clean the Crap off your Computer
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 10:16 AM »
i wonder if ccleaner didn't delete the file?
maybe run ccleaner again and see if it wants to delete it for some reason?  sure seems odd that it would have..
25890
DcUpdater / Re: For developers who want to add update checking to their apps: dcuhelper.exe
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 10:08 AM »

I don't fully understand what "program_labelname" should be, should this correspond with the filename part of my dcupdate file, should it correspond to the local -> label  value or can it be anything (if so what's the use?)

yeah sorry i should have explained what that was used for.. it's just used to name the file that is created in, for example:
[Select]
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\DonationCoder\DcUpdater\RedirectFiles\PROGRAM_LABEL.dcupdateredirect

so the answer is it doesn't really matter what you pass, as long as it's unique to other programs.


getting back to your comment about running it with -r:
a commandline window flashes up with no text in it, and my program is not recognised by dcupdater.

the -r says to create that file above, it does nothing else.  That file just allows DcUpdater to find your program when DcUpdater is run independently (like from Start Menu), rather than being launched from within your program.  You should call ShellExecte with the SW_HIDE parameter so that the user doesnt see the blank window pop up.

You can make the -r call every time your program starts, or just once, OR you can use the -ri commandline parameter mode with dcuhelper to create that file each time you invoke it to check for updates.

To actually call the updater to check for updates from your program you use the -i or -ri commandlie options for dcuhelper.

Does that clarify things a bit?
25891
Living Room / Xinu: Check quickly your PageRank, backlinks and much more
« Last post by mouser on August 17, 2007, 02:26 AM »
Xinu: Check quickly your PageRank, backlinks and much more

Nice site lists stats about your website..


from http://www.veign.com/blog/
25892
DcUpdater / Re: For developers who want to add update checking to their apps: dcuhelper.exe
« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 08:56 PM »
ps. you can use dcupdater and dcuhelper to add update support to pure data/file packages that contain no executable component at all -- just provide a shortcut that invokes the dcuhelper.exe tool.
25893
DcUpdater / Re: For developers who want to add update checking to their apps: dcuhelper.exe
« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 08:54 PM »
I need to say a bit more about using DcUpdater to add update checking support to your programs/downloads:

  • There are a lot of other update checking tools (commercial + free) -- hey we should start a thread in dev corner listing all the ones we can find.
  • Most of them either compile into your program, or are a dll you load into your code and invoke.
  • Some are standalone executables that your program can launch.

The DcUpdater tool is most similar to #3, in that it is a standalone update checking executable, which does not have to be compiled into your code.

However where it differs from other such tools is that the full update checker tool is not really meant to be included with each individual program that uses it.

Instead, the intention is for the DcUpdater tool to be installed like any other application on a users computer, and provide a centralized update checking system for many programs.

That is, the user installs DcUpdater to their system, and other programs can "invoke it" to check for updates.  You can see this at work in my software -- so far 8 of my programs know how to invoke the DcUpdater tool to check for updates.


The tiny 100k dcuhelper.exe tool is not the updater itself(!)  It's a helper utility meant to be packaged in your program, whose only job is to find and communicate with the main big DcUpdater tool installed on the user's computer, OR help the user to download and install it if it's not already (if they want to).


What this means to you as a developer, is that your users will have to go through an extra step if this is the yours is the first program they have installed that uses the DcUpdater tool and they haven't installed it yet.  They may find this confusing and irritating.

So probably you want to go find yourself an update checking solution that is self-contained and you probably don't want to use DcUpdater.

However, if you do want to use it, i'm here to help.  It may be a good match for you if one or more of the following is true:
  • You are a programmer who hangs out at DonationCoder.
  • You have a bunch of tools, each of which needs update support.
  • You use plugins or other user-written content and want an easy way to check for updates for lots of independent items.
  • You like the idea of not bloating up each program with its own update checking code.
25894
DcUpdater / Re: For developers who want to add update checking to their apps: dcuhelper.exe
« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 08:41 PM »
This is early release without much documentation, so you'll surely need some initial help from me getting everything to work, so don't hesitate to ask.
25895
DcUpdater / DcuHelper.exe v1.10 (7/12/11) - Update checking for your apps (dcupdater compat)
« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 08:40 PM »
latest version of the dcuhelper.exe utillity.

So if you want to add update checking support to your program, you can do so by creating a .dcupdate file in your program directory, and distributing this dcuhelper.exe program with your program.  When you or the user wishes to check for updates, you simply execute this utility (e.g. ShellExecute) and it will:
  • Locate the DcUpdater installed on the user's computer and invoke it for your program (and any plugins your program might have).
  • OR if the DcUpdater tool is not installed, it will do a quick update check and let them know if a new version is available, and bring them to the web page where they can download and install it if so.

Size: 117k (could be compressed if you like to make it even smaller).
Download Latest: https://www.donation...nloads/dcuhelper.zip

The dcuhelper.exe tool can also be used to "register" your program with DcUpdater so that it will appear in the default list of installed programs known by DcUpdater which can be checked for updates.

Version info:
  • v1.10.01 - July 12, 2011 - if launched as a hidden window (common in old versions of dcuhelper) the new dialog would not display; thanks worstje
  • v1.09.01 - July 2, 2011 - now bypasses cache explicitly when checking for version update -- could cause old files on some pcs; thanks wortje
  • v1.08.01 - Mar 23, 2011 - completely new dialog with buttons to open web pages shown when update detected; support for showing whats new
  • v1.07.01 - Jan 5, 2011 - improved the -u unregister parameter; added icon to dcuhelper to improve message boxes (thanks Worstje)
  • v1.06.01 - Jan 4, 2011 - added overide and redirect options in versioninfo file (see readme)
  • v1.05.01 - October 8, 2010 - added better help
  • v1.04.01 - Decmeber 30, 2009 - added new built-in quick web version checking into dcuhelper itself; see https://www.donation....msg189826#msg189826 for more info
  • v1.03.01 - August 1, 2008 - added -t commandline option; fixed bug in opening dcupdater page; improved dialog on updater not installed; if no commandline options are passed it will try to load .dcupdate file in current dir and check for updates
  • v1.02.02 - September 8, 2007 - added a few more easier exported funcs.
  • v1.02.01 - September 8, 2007 - added dll exports, improved help; opens program webpage if updater not installed; added version info to usage display (invoke with no arguments).
  • v1.01.01 - August 16, 2007 - first public release
25896
Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.135 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - July 17, 2007
« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 07:51 PM »
I think this may be a one time bug due to the new code i added that lets it install these plugins new from the web, and no longer includes them with farr.  please let me know if it ever comes back after you install them (you can install the new versions over existing).
25897
Living Room / Re: Flash Game: Anti Tower Defense
« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 03:53 PM »
yes, this does violate one of the pleasure of this type of game which is minimal micro-management.
25898
ProcessTamer / Re: DCUpdater not picking up on Process Tamer installation
« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 03:50 PM »
yep, thats a bug on my part because i havent uploaded a version of PT with update support yet.

By the way, all the other entries in the "installable" tab of the updater are actually new builds of my programs, with new updater support, which is why they are reported as not yet installed.  once the new versions of these programs are installed, they will forever after be recognized as installed and be available for update checking (see their Help->Check for Updates) menus.  Another advantage of the new builds is that they will auto-close during update install, so no more need ot remember to shut them down from the system tray on upgrade.
25899
DcUpdater / Re: Program freezing with non-typical program directories
« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 03:39 PM »
Oh really!  That's pretty nifty, how in the world does it know?  I'm assuming DCUpdater has to be running when I run the other programs, right?

nope, actually the way it works is that if a program wants to "register" itself with the updater, it creates a file in
(the equivelent of): C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\DonationCoder\DcUpdater\RedirectFiles

very simple.
25900
Living Room / Re: Flash Game: Anti Tower Defense
« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 03:03 PM »
That is extremely clever and well done.
(for some reason i can't say i'm having a lot of fun playing it, but it's a great game to study for those that like this genre).
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