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5726

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Save Session for Windows (processes, open files, window positions)

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 14, 2010, 06:57 PM »

This app seems like it would at least save window positions and move windows to those when it spots a matching window according to several criteria.  It may be worth a look:

http://www.softpedia...nts/HandyThing.shtml

5727

General Software Discussion / Re: TicTac 1.7.0.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 14, 2010, 05:25 PM »

TicTac 1.7.0.0 Added .ini file option to set the margin(how many pixels away from the Work Area edge the window is positioned.)  Valid range is 0 to 12 pixels. Default is 4.  Be sure to edit the .ini file while the program is not running. Otherwise it will overwrite the setting when it saves the .ini on close. This setting is likely to be set once and forgotten.  For that reason I didn't add a command to the menu for it.  Likely you would only change the setting again if you changed monitors.

5728

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Notepad that remembers the font (and other settings) used per file

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 12, 2010, 12:57 AM »

Basically what I wanted was a way to just copy & paste the website capsule description. At the end, I got it to work fairly well, considering the limitations.  But, I implemented it as 32 bit shell extensions.  As soon as it's finalized, 64 bit comes along and obsoletes it.  I coded it more to learn how to do the extensions rather than to get the actual utility. Probably why it wasn't popular.

Of course the weakness of the Tooltip popup is, you don't remember which ones have comments, so you hover the mouse waiting for something to happen. It's a flawed design.

btw on the remembering last line caret position, it occurs to me you might want to look at some of the Scite based editors.  Seems to me either or both of Scite4AutoIt3 or Scite4ahk remembers the position in the file when you go back.  Could be only for the last file edited though. I'm not sure.

5729

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Notepad that remembers the font (and other settings) used per file

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 11, 2010, 11:10 PM »

Searching around I haven't noticed anything that does that with plain text.  A word processor type app has the advantage that either the info is embedded in the file, or it can use a storage, like MS Word.  Multiple streams inside a file.  Plain text carrying around external baggage would be an unlikely choice since it's a problem that's already been "solved" by having the formatting info included in the file/storage.

I tried to do something similar only have external comments for downloads. I had a small flat file in each folder.  When you hovered the mouse it would show the comment in a Tooltip.  But even if you adjust the hover time, the system isn't exactly snappy.  The OS/file system doesn't give all that much support unless you want to do multiple stream handling/storage etc..

If you don't want to alter the file at all, as in it will still generate the same checksum, then it's not an easy task. I wasted a lot of time on it already.

5730

Developer's Corner / Re: vs2008 express vc++ has anyone gotten RegisterHotKey to use mouse?

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 11, 2010, 04:42 PM »

Since RegisterHotKey has VK keys for mouse buttons I thought I'd try them.  Even if they register without error, nothing happens when you click in combination with a modifier key.

I suspect it's dead otherwise it would be simple for AutoIt3 to use global mouse hotkeys. I know it's done in c++. That leads me to suspect the facility is either totally broken or convoluted enough to be unusable.

So again it looks like if you want global mouse hotkeys ahk is the choice.
I'd prefer coding with something with more scoping structure.. but it's tough to beat it for ease of mouse hotkey creation.

Just thought I'd post in case someone has done it.  But, if it was easy the AU3 guys would probably have done it already.

5731

General Software Discussion / Re: TicTac 1.6.0.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 11, 2010, 03:28 PM »

Thanks for the feedback.  I'm updating both so that the Margin can be set to a range 0 to 12 pixels. I have an old CRT monitor and 4 pixels keeps the frame from looking chopped.  But with new flat screen people probably want 0.

The programs don't test if the window is actually full screen size(which would usually be larger than the Work Area) or even bigger.  In that case I'd suggest putting it in the uppler left corner to at least be able to get at the caption bar.

I think with TicTac Lite I'm just going to use a command line number instead of messing with .ini file.  Just to keep it self-contained.  For instance:
c:> TicTacLite 8

would set the margin to 8.

Just make a shortcut with the param to avoid typing if you like.

5732

Developer's Corner / vs2008 express vc++ has anyone gotten RegisterHotKey to use mouse?

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 11, 2010, 02:33 AM »

I know AutoIt3 is written in C++ and it doesn't accommodate mouse hotkeys the way ahk does. I'm wondering if the reason is that vc++ RegisterHotKey doesn't, if you use any mouse virtual keys. At least I couldn't get one to work with an hour of effort.  The keyboard keys work fine with WinKey or Alt or whatever.  But any mouse key, VK_LBUTTON or whatever, even if the RegisterHotKey call succeeds, press the hotkey and you get nadda.

Is there a secret or is it just broken?

5733

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Notepad that remembers the font (and other settings) used per file

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 11, 2010, 02:29 AM »

I would bet it's a rare feature since the app would have to maintain a mini-database just to track which settings go with which file.  Files with formatting can stick the info in the file.  Which is probably why Wordpad picks up on font size and color when it loads the file in.

With plain text, even if you track it, what if you edit the file in another program?  There's no way to know.

5734

General Software Discussion / Re: TicTac 1.6.0.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 10, 2010, 07:23 PM »

TicTac Lite is available from the same page. It works the same as TicTac, but instead of using a Tray Icon Menu, it just uses an invisible window and hotkeys. I implemented it as a vc++ Win32 message loop with no icons or other resources to keep it small.

When run, if it loads successfully you should hear a chime. Press Alt-F1 for About box(with opportunity to donate.)   Press Win-NumberPad0 to get a Quit confirmation dialog.  Win-NumPad1 - 9 moves the active window same as TicTac.

The download link is directly below the one for TicTac.

5735

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 09, 2010, 08:08 PM »

My user account is in admin group anyway.  So launching cmd.exe for me is an administrator command prompt. In fact if I don't change the caption to GlassPrompt, on my machine it says "Administrator: C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe - cmd"

Feel free to post a snippet though. I'll post the latest c++ source I used if anyone wants to put them together.  Guess I'm old school. I don't mess with all that UAC and sub user accounts. If I need to use a prophylactic I run whatever Sandboxed.

I've mentioned it before but the set up I liked in Windows was NT Server 4.0. If you made a user account in the System Operator's group, you could install programs, register .ocx etc.. but not delete system files.  It was a happy medium I thought.  A regular user account on Windows I don't consider worth the effort of creating. Windows Seven may have improved on it but I haven't bothered to check it out.  One thing I hate is having to remember what flavor of Windows I'm booted into. That's why I use little utilities. To work the same on everything as much as possible.


btw the command prompt only comes out looking cool if the default black background is used. Unfortunately the Blur Behind effect looks like crap otherwise. I'm hoping Windows8 comes out with easy ways to draw on glass. Right now it's more complex than the rest of the program, at least for my small utils. I'm hoping it gets back to sanity soon.  In c# at least the buttons will draw correctly if you do Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(true);
in Program.cs.  That's the main reason I did IniEdit in c#.  At least I wouldn't have to owner draw the buttons in the Glass.

edit: btw I also have a PromptHere utility that optionally uses a blurred prompt if Glass is enabled. It has a bit more utility as you can highlight one or more folders in Explorer, then hit the hotkey to open a prompt with each as current directory.  But it has to sit in the tray.  This app just launches the prompt and dies.

edit2: according to UAC entry in Wiki, there's now a "runas" verb for ShellExecute().

5736

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: SIIG USB 3.0 Card $29.99

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 09, 2010, 05:56 PM »

These have shown up on special again.  $29.99 limit 5 per customer.

http://www.newegg.co...15-150-161-_-Product

5737

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 09, 2010, 04:37 PM »

Updated GlassPrompt download. I reimplemented it using vc++.  The executable is Glass.exe.  Now it accepts a /c command line switch to force the prompt window to the center of the desktop work area. I just got tired of the thing opening at a random position.

There's no command line switch to change the starting directory but you can accomplish the same thing using a shortcut's Start In field as noted in the Readme.

Enjoy.

5738

General Software Discussion / Re: TicClick 2.2.0.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 08, 2010, 07:53 PM »

TicClick 2.2.0.0 Made improvements to included .ini editor. Made the window a bit wider.  Will handle Tabs.  Control-t transposes 2 chars to the left of the insertion point if they are on the same line.

5739

General Software Discussion / Re: PromptHere v. 2.6

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 08, 2010, 07:50 PM »

PromptHere v. 2.6 Added Check for Updates to Tray Menu. Improved the included IniEdit .ini file editor.

5740

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Verbatim 8x dvd+r dl a buck ea

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 08, 2010, 03:30 PM »

If you want to give another try using x264 I would do a run with Quick AVI Creator. It has the virtue that it does not try to resize the frame unless you explicity put a resize filter in the script.  If the input is 720x480 that will be the size of the output. Only tricky parts with x264 is it tends to use a very low bit rate.  I just substituted 4000 and then made adjustments as I experimented with various inputs.  For .avi input to .mkv output it should work fine.

As you can see by the page, it's pretty versatile afa input formats accepted:

http://download.vide...VICreator/index.html

Plus the author is good about answering questions:

http://forum.videohe...VI-Creator?p=1989965

5741

General Software Discussion / Re: BD Rebuilder Beta

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 05, 2010, 02:55 PM »

v. 0.34.08 out today.  Now has some support for 64 bit x264 on 64 bit OS.  Also fixed the bug I mentioned where one pass abr mode option was not in effect even though it showed as selected. I fixed the link in the first post so it opens the thread where you can download the latest.  But you can also download via videohelp.com.

edit: use the FFDShow and Matroska Splitter versions from the BD Rebuilder thread, rather than the latest versions.  Most often if the video encode will not start, it's due to using other versions of these tools.

5742

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Save Session for Windows (processes, open files, window positions)

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 05, 2010, 02:49 PM »

This PCMag utility looks like it may be helpful:

http://www.pcmag.com...,2817,2339650,00.asp

Usually on these things you can download free if you sign up for zdnet and let them send you emails.

Hmm, just took another look.  They don't seem as generous now.  But there must be some rough equivalents on sites like Softpedia, Snapfiles etc..

5743

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Save Session for Windows (processes, open files, window positions)

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 05, 2010, 02:29 PM »

Basically you would have to freeze the state of things to some storage.  Then later load it into memory, and have it thaw.  Only thing is, as f0dder points out, there are dynamic things that don't react well to being frozen.  Stuff like network connections etc..

Probably the best you could hope for would be a window tracker that would save the positions of all top level windows.  You may be able to get the desktop to come up with apps open at certain positions.  But in the case of things crashing, if you perfectly save the memory state of the app that crashed, chances are high you've reinstated the conditions that caused the crash. It will just crash again. Most crashes are memory issues.  Invalid access, uninitialized pointers etc..  you're just freezing it only to crash again when you thaw it out.

5744

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 05, 2010, 02:20 PM »

Thanks for the info.

5745

General Software Discussion / Re: Back on the Chrome dev.

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 04, 2010, 08:31 PM »

For anyone tempted to try it, the built-in sync utility seems to be working now.  No dupes, has favicons.  I still use LastPass to cross sync pws with Firefox though.

5746

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 04, 2010, 07:45 PM »

btw the FreeBasic is a fun compiler for that reason. Small, tight exes. I just wish it had an out and out RAD gui tool instead of message loop and window proc code.  The gui designers are all user-supplied volunteer efforts.  Still, it is great for small utilities. A nice example of what can be done with gcc on Windows. It has a lot of header files similar to C type languages, to make API calls easier.  Also has classes.  Unfortunately does not implement inheritance though.

5747

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 04, 2010, 07:42 PM »

Yeah, I was looking at that.  Didn't see the library that was supposed to be in the link list for automatic handling, on my system.  Are you sure the feature is in Express editions of vs2008?

edit: nevermind.  Got it.  Must have been looking at the page for 2005 where you had to add it manually.  Seems good. I'll know next time I boot XP and try it.

5748

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 04, 2010, 05:13 PM »

Ah I see, kinda impressive for FreeBasic assuming that 9kb includes the interpreter.

If should you want small size and standalone-ness look into using a smaller custom CRT, for example Tiny C Runtime Library.

-Eóin (September 04, 2010, 04:37 PM)

No, the FreeBasic is a front end for gcc.  Actually is uses gas assembler, which is why the stuff comes out so small.  I'm not fixated on small.  I just wanted to produce some stand-alone exe and brush back up on c++.  ahk and AutoIt3 are fine, but sometimes I just want to spit out some real machine code.

I haven't really messed around with vc++ since 6.0.  So the vs2008 is new to me. Just for grins I changed the min platform setting to 5 and made a Hello World! messagebox app, just to see if it would run on xp.  The glass program craps out as soon as it doesn't see dwmapi.dll since I didn't do the LoadLibrary bit as in the FreeBasic version.  But the glass thing is useless on XP anyway.

I definitely didn't put any .NET 3.0 stuff on XP, so the fact that it did the messagebox bit tells me it's stand-alone .exe. I was just surprised MS compiler spit out something so small.  Granted it just calls functions in dlls, but even so, I expected more bloat.

5749

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 04, 2010, 04:14 PM »

FreeBasic does the same program in about 9KB if you don't use resources, such as icon, version info etc..

This app should be stand-alone .exe and came in about the same, until I added an icon and version info. It's not managed code.

5750

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 04, 2010, 02:42 PM »

I had vs2008 Express with SP1 kicking around so I put vc++ on.  It's been years so I thought time to scrape some of the rust off.

Starting with something wicked easy, doing Glass in vc++. It uses the same "trick" FreeBasic programmers use of compiling a console app as Win32 to avoid the command prompt flashing up when the program runs.

[Select]

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <windows.h>
#include <dwmapi.h>
#include <shellapi.h>

BOOL VistaOrHigher()
{
    return((LOBYTE(LOWORD(GetVersion()))) >= 6);
}


int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
                   HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                   LPSTR lpCmdLine,
                   int nCmdShow)
{
    BOOL isEnabled = FALSE;

    if(! VistaOrHigher())
      return 1;
    DwmIsCompositionEnabled(&isEnabled);
    if(! isEnabled)
      return 1;
    if((int)ShellExecute(0,L"open",L"cmd.exe",0,0,SW_HIDE) < 33)
      return 1;
    Sleep(50);
    HWND h = FindWindow(L"ConsoleWindowClass",0);
    if(! h)
      return 1;
    DWM_BLURBEHIND bb = {0};
    bb.dwFlags = 1;
    bb.fEnable = TRUE;
    bb.hRgnBlur = (HRGN)h;
    bb.fTransitionOnMaximized = TRUE;
    DwmEnableBlurBehindWindow(h,&bb);
    SetWindowText(h,L"GlassPrompt");
    ShowWindow(h,SW_SHOWNORMAL);
    SetForegroundWindow(h);
    return 0;
}

edit: Suprised me a bit.  Compiled as stand-alone .exe with a low res icon and version info, only 17KB.