Recent Posts

5801

General Software Discussion / Re: TicClick 2.0.0.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 14, 2010, 03:06 PM »

TicClick 2.0.0.0 I have added U and Mouse Buttons to the position grid.

U Button:

If you should accidentally mess up a window using TicClick, such as flinging the transparent panel from RocketDock(the reason I added the button,) or just want to undo the last move, press the U Button.  The program has a guard against trying to move the desktop. If you are brining it up for an Undo, make sure some window has the focus, not the desktop, or nothing will happen.  Currently it only stores one undo but that should bail out of most scrambled window situations.

Mouse Button:

This is more for those situations where you might change screen res or something happens so that the caption bar for a window is not easy to get at with the mouse.  Click any part of the window to give it the focus.  Hit the hotkey, (optionally)move the Position Grid, then hit the Mouse Button.  The window you hotkeyed on will have its top left corner moved to the current mouse position.  Windows has a way to move a window that's off the desktop using the taskbar icon, but this is way more convenient.

5802

Living Room / Re: Flicks that struck you as odd or different in a good way?

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 14, 2010, 02:35 AM »

Another oddball flick I like very much is Valley of Flowers.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0392883/

The special effects are low budget.  But the music is hypnotic. Very unusual flick. I don't even want to say anything about the plot. It's best to watch it free of preconceptions. Just lose yourself in the music.

5803

General Software Discussion / HalfShell 2.4.0.1

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 13, 2010, 08:45 PM »

Available on this page:
http://www.favessoft.com/hotkeys.html


HalfShell 2.0.0.0 I've updated HalfShell so that you may use it with 3rd party file managers that accept command line params for folders to open on startup.  Seems Windows64 is erratic when it comes to the "32 bitness" of Explorer in the SysWow64 directory.  You can see some info about the issue here:

https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=21521.0

To work around that, you may specify a file manager to use instead.
FreeCommander is an example of the type of app I'm talking about,
but any similar program that will let you specify folders to open on
the command line should work.

Basically the strategy is, if you don't set any 3rd party file manager, if
you have a SysWow64 directory with an explorer.exe in it, it will use that.
Otherwise it will just use the default Explorer.exe.

If you specify a 3rd party file manager, it will use that.  You can check
and uncheck the option in the Tray Menu to toggle the behavior.

Now there is only one hotkey.  Shift-Enter.

If you are using the file manager or "alternative shell" option, only
the first 2 folders pulled from the clipboard will be sent to the program.
If not, as many folders as you highlight should be opened in their
own Explorer windows.

If you use a file manager nearly all the time this utility is of little use.
But I use Explorer most of the time. I invoke a file manager usually to
use a bunch of programs I have set up in the toolbar on files in a
particular folder.  For me it's worth it to have a way to invoke it with
a particular folder or 2.

edit: just to clarify, no matter if the SysWow64 explorer.exe is 64 bit or 32 bit,
hitting the hotkey should still open the folders.  The only issue with the "32 bitness"
is that if the explorer is 32 bit, your 32 bit Shell Extensions may work.  This is the
reason you may wish to use a 32 bit file manager as the "alternative shell."

5804

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Windows Text Editor that transposes last 2 characters typed on Control-t ??

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 12, 2010, 08:14 PM »

Looking around on ahk forum I saw that I was overly concerned about the clipboard when doing a hotkey for transposing characters. Using the clipboard has the advantage that I can move the caret, then later come back and fix a transpose typo.  This implementation is just a minimal macro.  It will not work correctly unless there are at least 2 characters to the left of the caret when you hit the hotkey. If the caret is at the start of a line or to the right of the first character, the macro will just end up eating a character. Also the app taking the input must be in Insert Mode.  Still, I get quite a bit of use out of it.  Anytime I want to add an app I just check that the app doesn't use ^t itself, then add its class name to the list for the window group.

[Select]

#SingleInstance force
#NoEnv
SendMode Input
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%
GroupAdd,EditorGroup, ahk_class TFormEditPadLite  ;EditPadLite
GroupAdd,EditorGroup, ahk_class wxWindowClassNR   ;FBIde
GroupAdd,EditorGroup, ahk_class SciTEWindow       ;Scite
GroupAdd,EditorGroup, ahk_class MAINFBEDIT        ;FBEdit
GroupAdd,EditorGroup, ahk_class Notepad           ;Notepad
GroupAdd,EditorGroup, ahk_class TFormMain         ;TreePad
GroupAdd,EditorGroup, ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_0   ;Chrome Browser
GroupAdd,EditorGroup, ahk_class MozillaUIWindowClass ;Firefox Browser

#IfWinActive, ahk_Group EditorGroup
^t::
  ClipSaved := ClipboardAll ; save entire clipboard
  Clipboard= ; clear clipboard
  Send {Shift Down}{Left}{Shift Up} ; select char left of caret
  Send ^c ; copy char
  ClipWait,0 ;give copy time to complete
  ; the caret is positioned to insert
  ; the char from the clipboard. Editor
  ; must be in Insert Mode for it to work.
  ; The char is inserted, and caret positon restored.
  ;
  Send {Right}
  Send {BackSpace}
  Send {Left}
  Send {Raw}%Clipboard% ; avoid puntuaction being interpreted
  Send {Right}
  Clipboard := ClipSaved
  ClipSaved = ; free memory
Return

5805

General Software Discussion / Re: TicClick 1.7.1.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 12, 2010, 01:47 PM »

TicClick 1.7.1.0 Now Edit Ini File command waits for you to edit the .ini file. After editor close it reloads the program to reset the options.

5806

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 12, 2010, 01:44 PM »

Now that I've switched to Windows 7, I'm finding Windows Explorer much improved! 

-CleverCat (August 12, 2010, 01:55 AM)

In XP and Vista pre SP1 I was using lots of file copy tools like TeraCopy and KillCopy. Esp. with Vista64 SP1 I notice the regular shell drag & drop copy honks.  Granted the stats shown under more info are inflated, but if you time it with a multigig file to get the real speed it seems to rival the copy apps, at least for large video transfers. My Windows Seven machine is 32 bit with only 1/4 the ram and a slower HD. Comparisons would be meaningless in that case.  Even so, I don't feel the need to use the copy tools anymore.  I mainly use file managers if I'm going to run a bunch of apps on the files. I have FreeCommander set up with stuff like MediaInfo, AviDemux, several video players and subtitle tools etc..

5807

Living Room / Re: A Silly Wish: EULA Summaries...

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 11, 2010, 08:50 PM »

I remember part of the consumer movement had to do with insurance policies being written in plain English.  Seems like we need something similar for licensing.  If you buy a piece of software for $15 you are obviously not going to stake an attorney $250 to explain what the license says.

But my all time favorite, I can't remember if it was an OS or another software, but it was an MS. On the outside of the shrink wrapped package in fine print, it said by opening the box you agreed to the licensing agreement that was inside.  Talk about a blank check!! Good thing it didn't say anything about first-born sons!! (Or maybe it did?)

5808

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 11, 2010, 08:45 PM »

MilesAhead
"Arguing" seems to be too strong word. But it is rather discussion about Lazarus overload comparing to Delphi.

-fenixproductions (August 11, 2010, 06:49 PM)

I can remember people squawking about Delphi 5 VCL setting a floor of around 260 KB for a single form app back when people's systems had less than a GB.  Seems kind of silly when PCs are coming off the rack with 8 GB.  Makes me think of "I can name that tune in 1 note."

5809

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 11, 2010, 06:16 PM »

Long time no see...

@MilesAhead
TC will come in 64bit flavour too thanks to Lazarus.

More info: http://www.ghisler.c....php?p=207805#207805

-fenixproductions (August 11, 2010, 04:38 PM)

I'll have to check it out.  I took a look at that thread where everyone is arguing about the exe size.  Those dudes should take up FreeBasic.  Those little apps are like 10 KB if you don't use a custom icon.

5810

General Software Discussion / Re: TicClick 1.7.0.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 11, 2010, 01:02 PM »

TicClick 1.7.0.0 TicClick takes no action if Desktop is the active window.  Also if it calculates the Position grid would extend off screen, it is centered on the desktop and the mouse pointer positioned over the 5 button.

5811

General Software Discussion / Re: BD Rebuilder Beta

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 10, 2010, 07:46 PM »

v. 0.34.07 released today.  Seems to still have the "2 Pass Abr" bug I noted in the post above.  I reported it on the forum bug thread.  It has an updated x264. I'm doing my first run now.  Seems to be proceeding normally.

5812

General Software Discussion / Re: TicClick 1.6.0.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 10, 2010, 02:58 PM »

TicClick 1.6.0.0 Now when .ini file is written it includes comments explaining options.

5813

Developer's Corner / Re: Is it easy to send a request to http://IP?password and make something happen?

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 09, 2010, 05:31 PM »

I don't know if there's a utility already written. You might check sites like SoftPedia.  If you have to roll your own I would look at Socket class and ShellExecute.  The machine with the images would listen and depending on some code or number, know which image to open.  ShellExecute could launch the display program with the image filename as param.

There may be some free presentation type utility out there.  SoftPedia has quite a few varied apps.

5814

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea - Return *new* lines from a text file (w/ example)

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 09, 2010, 11:51 AM »

Funny how information supplied later invalidates things. If all you are going to do is dump the tail to the console then just about anything that can move the file pointer back from the end x amount of bytes, dumps it to console, and stores the new file length should work.  Since it's guaranteed to be text it's already formatted with newlines etc.. supposedly.

btw how are you determining how often to call this function? Is there some notification or did somebody arbitrarily pick 250 ms sleep loop? Would it make a difference if you called it twice a second and just dumped more lines? Or is that part out of your control?

edit: I don't know what code you have to deal with or how much you can influence changing it, but it may be a better approach to test the log for modification 4 times a second, and just set a flag.. and do something to create the output maybe once every 5 seconds or 8 seconds or whatever depending if there's a pattern to the size of the appended data.  Shoving the stuff to output every time a line is stuck on seems kind of inefficient.  But I realize often one is stuck with something that can't be changed due to edicts from higher up.  With the thing being over 10 MB if the disk is fragmented even if your tail publisher is written in assembler it might not be able to go to end of file, back up, grab a chunk and stick it to console, which usually has pretty slow display routines, and come back for another drink 250 ms later.  Not much in the way of toleration for delay.

edit2: another consideration is, if you are sending the output to the same hard-wired destination it may be simpler to just use some mechanism to T it at a lower level.  What is appended to the file goes to the screen immediately, the console scrolling taking care of old stuff disappearing etc..  if that's an option under your control.

5815

General Software Discussion / Re: Sandboxie goes 64 bit

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 08, 2010, 06:42 PM »

From what he said in the thread, my impression is if he disallows your license, it reverts to free version behavior.  So I suppose at least if you need a newer driver for hardware compatibility you can update afa that goes. Fortunately 3.46 is working fine on both my systems.

We'll see what happens. He swore up and down and had me convinced he would never do 64 bit because of PatchGuard, but eventually changed his mind. It is frustrating when you try to just keep people from freely copying your program.  I took a look at some of the copy protection type services and libraries.  They seemed a bit oppressive to the user. So I hacked together my own primitive license string thing.  Seemed as soon as 2 people had it, it was everywhere.  Like, if it was only one person I'd know who to blame, but 2 then I can't accuse anyone.  So I just said to hell with it and went with the donation bit.  At least a few people actually sent me a few bucks.

5816

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the Best Movie Collection Organizer Program

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 08, 2010, 06:35 PM »

One thing that kept throwing me as I go for periods without using it, is I'd keep forgetting the easiest way to use it with IMDB.

-MilesAhead (August 08, 2010, 02:10 PM)

You mean as far as entering movies into the database?

I settled on doing this Ctrl-N, Type in the movie title with no other data, Ctrl Enter

Repeat for each movie

Then I select a bunch of movies from the left sidebar, and press Ctrl-Alt-I to update them all from the default web site (which for me is IMDB).

It's a little different because normally you see an Update button on the data form itself, but this way seems more flexible.

-daddydave (August 08, 2010, 02:42 PM)

My situation may be different. I use New Movie Master to get the dialog.  Then there's a globe icon at the bottom as I described.  The reason is many times if it's a foreign film, the list of hits won't have the English title.  If it's a very successful film like Shaolin Soccer it may have the English title, but it that movie wasn't a big hit, the list of hits may have "Siu lam juk kau" instead.  I'm not sure what to select unless I go to IMDB first many times.  The globe brings me there.  Then once I'm sure of the alternate title, I can just hit Go and know what to pick from the hit list.

5817

General Software Discussion / Re: Sandboxie goes 64 bit

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 08, 2010, 02:33 PM »

btw I would not blindly update from the latest stable 3.46.  The author seems serious about implementing some recurring activation scheme in the next release. According to the 3.47 beta forum topic, 3.46 will be the last release where you can install it and register it once and be done with it.

Seems like the handwriting on the wall is several hundred programs on my PC all wanting to validate activation on their servers at different times. I hope we don't go down that road. I want to use software, not be used by it.

5818

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the Best Movie Collection Organizer Program

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 08, 2010, 02:10 PM »

I've been using PVD for awhile. It has its quirks but the author keeps improving it.  One thing that kept throwing me as I go for periods without using it, is I'd keep forgetting the easiest way to use it with IMDB.  At least for me the best technique is to click on the little globe and the Add dialog box.  It brings up a list of search fields.  I mouse to imdb.titles to search for the title in the input line. Then I have an idea how IMDB has it listed. I do a lot of foreign films so often the titles oscillate between the English title and the original title.  Then when I hit the Go button I know which one in the list I want to select.  Just seems to work better that way.

Also users contribute plug-ins so it's not limited to English language online databases.  The only thing that drives me a little nuts is the author refuses to put a grid on the movies list with number justification so that the list doesn't sway to the right as the ID numbers get more digits. He keeps talking about it, but won't implement it. I think it's just to mess with us.  

Once you get the hang of the IMDB search(if that's the one you use) it's actually faster if you have broadband than those programs that let you insert the DVD and get the info automatically.  By the time the optical drive stops blinking you're already onto the next disc or 2 using PVD.

I would suggest keeping a couple of backup files because it can be quirky when you try to delete a box shot if you don't do it correctly.  You can get a corrupted database.  I usually save to backup every 1/2 dozen discs just to avoid wasted work.  I wish I had this program or something similar, and broadband when I started buying Jazz CDs. I'd have a searchable list of all my CD locations.  As it is, the stuff is just lumped together in turnstyles. It would be way too much work to go through 'em now.  I have to do it as I'm going along or it doesn't get done.

edit: another nice feature is table printout.  I use DJ cases to store DVDs so it's nice to also have a hard copy print out in the case.  By adding the ID number to the template for table printout, I can print out an alphabetically sorted list with the slot number of the DVD.

Now I have to check the sites for updates and also to see if users are still begging for a grid in the Titles list.

5819

Circle Dock / Re: Suggesting names for new derivitative of CircleDock

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 08, 2010, 11:45 AM »

How about HypnoLauncher?  And have that rotating swirl pattern that hypnotized people in the movies. 

5820

General Software Discussion / Re: Any Firefox addon to do multiple searches in same search engine?

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 08, 2010, 11:43 AM »

Common I would have to agree with to be honest.

OK.  I've stopped.

-barney (August 08, 2010, 12:57 AM)

I should clarify.. common refers to the tactic of finding the out of context snippet most amenable to a rejoinder and using that.  That's all.

What do I know? I lost an insult contest in the past to an A.I. algorithm(although I still think the human operator intervened when the program started to lose.)

To paraphrase LBJ.. these arguments are like pissing down your leg. Feels hot to you, but not to anyone else.

5821

General Software Discussion / Re: Any Firefox addon to do multiple searches in same search engine?

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 08, 2010, 12:18 AM »

So you manage it without trying. Must be a talent. No offense.

Believe me, that is not the least of my auto-offensive talents - although probably the most common .

-barney (August 08, 2010, 12:16 AM)

Common I would have to agree with to be honest.

5822

General Software Discussion / Re: Any Firefox addon to do multiple searches in same search engine?

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 08, 2010, 12:03 AM »

Edit:  As I reread this, I can see that it could be taken offensively - that was not my intent

-barney (August 07, 2010, 09:18 PM)

So you manage it without trying.  Must be a talent. No offense.

5823

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Send key or run app/function when window gets/loses focus or is hovered on

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 07, 2010, 09:27 PM »

Then I suggest you take up the task.  It's one thing to set a couple of priorities. It's another to react to mouse movement over windows, dynamically juggling priorities, and all through a script sandbox.  No thanks man. That's the type of stuff they pay system software engineers to do.

You can learn to program trial and error same as I. ahk is free for the download.

5824

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Send key or run app/function when window gets/loses focus or is hovered on

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 07, 2010, 08:36 PM »

The trouble is, when you start juggling around the priorities of tasks on the system, it's an easy way to turn a working system into something that hangs, blue screens, and otherwise makes the user mad.

I know I don't want to mess with it.

5825

General Software Discussion / Re: Any Firefox addon to do multiple searches in same search engine?

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 07, 2010, 08:33 PM »

Actually, why do they dislike automated methods?  Afraid someone will steal their results?  That kinda, sorta sounds reasonable, I guess.  Or would it be because of excessive traffic?  Is a puzzlement .

-barney (August 07, 2010, 08:20 PM)

I think it's a combination of both.  Otherwise it would be too easy to sell the unsuspecting public a service that just front ended some other search engine. Very low overhead.  Just some scripts to funnel the search off to somebody else, get back the results, and pretty 'em up as if you did it. In fact the search results seem so similar among these search engines I sometimes wonder if there's like one "real" search engine that scours the web and just licenses others to be a front end for it.  Either that or some graduate student wrote the program a long time ago and they all ripped off, er, emulated the same algorithm.