Recent Posts

1

Screenshot Captor / Re: Small pictures when pasting into a new e-mail

« Last post by perlguy on November 04, 2011, 04:49 PM »

Sweet.  Much appreciated.

2

Screenshot Captor / Re: Small pictures when pasting into a new e-mail

« Last post by perlguy on November 03, 2011, 02:10 AM »

A cmdline option for minicap, to set dpi would be perfect.

As for hotkey and SC... yeah, I know that's the typical use... probably 99+% of people would use it that way. But most of my capturing is regions, not window/object/fullscreen... so point-click feels more natural, especially for the less frequent use (don't have to think about what the hotkey is or navigate a menu to get to the desired action).

3

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extension "Download Statusbar" Now Adware - Maybe Malware

« Last post by perlguy on November 03, 2011, 12:10 AM »

Before jumping all over the extension author about silent updates... make sure you know exactly how firerfox itself is configured to update any/all extensions.  If FF is set to have extensions auto-update as the default, then *you* have to tell it which extensions you want to be notified of updates before they are install.  It's not really his fault if FF did it on your behalf.  Personally, I'm glad he backed out the change - whether it was because of the backlash, or because of hijacking.   And I have now reverted (again) to manual updates only, for all extensions. (default = no updates, and all extensions reset to default update policy).

4

Screenshot Captor / Re: Small pictures when pasting into a new e-mail

« Last post by perlguy on November 02, 2011, 11:06 PM »

Hey Mouser. I've seen lots of replies about ScreenshotCaptor and DPI settings - so I now understand what's going on, but it's minicap, not SC, that I'm having a problem with. 

Is there any way to set DPI for minicap? 

While writing down all the things that didn't make sense about the magnification level needed to get the image back to normal (313%)... it hit me: minicap is capturing at 300dpi, and sure enough, 313% of 96 == 300. I'm guessing that 300dpi is the default value in windows or some library you are using, for clipboard images? Even if you don't add a setting in minicap to adjust DPI, could you change the default to 96 (the usual value for XP)... or query the O/S for the current display's DPI?  (I know, that could get tricky, e.g. across multiple displays set to different values - if that's even possible with Windows).

I don't take many screenshots, so I don't normally keep anything running just for that.  And while I really love FARR (the most used 3rd party program I use with XP - bar none), I still prefer MWSnap to ScreenshotCaptor when doing more than minicap is suited to.  It may seem silly, but the one thing I find lacking in SC is a primary toolbar (one for main actions, not the paint widget tool pallete).  If not for that, I'd have dumped mwsnap a long time ago.  Reviewing the features again, SC is definitely more capable than MWsnap in other respects.

Maybe this sums it up better... there's no one-click way to trigger a capture with SC (hold-drag-release on a menu doesn't count )...  it just doesn't "feel" as smooth when compared to the other tool.

I'll probably go back to minicap for the occasional captures I do... now that I've found the right image "zoom" level to use in office apps.

FYI, the only thing I've found "wrong" in SC so far are some of the controls not looking quite right with XP styles. Prime example is the preview window - the tabs for Zoom/Nav are styled (for XP), but are too small to allow the text to show up, and even the rounded glass effect is clipped.  It might look a bit dated without theme/style support, but it definitely looks more polished that way (as your screenshots look).  With styles enabled, the GUI appearance is very inconsistent.  There are other interface issues too... like when you start resize the window smaller than the contained controls... they get clipped, instead of forcing a minimum window size.  And the gradients on the various menu/toolbar areas don't mesh well...resulting in a busier interface than if they were all flat.




So...  I'd give minicap a 10/10 rating if not for the dpi issue with Office apps (and others).

SC, 8/10 strictly on aesthetics (-1 for lack of main toolbar, and -1 for appearance). If it had a user customizable toolbar, I'd give it 11/10. 


I hope I don't come across as "bashing"' your app... it's truly not meant that way. Constructive criticism is more like it... with the hope that either minicap gets DPI fixed... or SC gets at least a default "capture" button (user selectable for which mode) in the main window.

....

I also just noticed that I missed out on donating anything to DC last year... an oversight that I've already corrected.

Thanks again for the amazing work (for your apps AND the DC site in general).

Jim

5

General Software Discussion / Re: I am looking for system wide proxy changer-configurator

« Last post by perlguy on October 09, 2008, 12:27 AM »

ProxySwitcherLite - free. full version is for $$$, but if all you need is quick switcher for proxies, works great.

http://www.proxyswit...er.com/download.html

For most day-to-day home-to-work-and-back situations, I wrote a proxy-auto-config file that uses a name lookup to detect if I was inside the corporate network or not, and set the proxy accordingly.  This works great for anything that supports PAC files. Not so great for those apps  that only understand hostname:port proxy settings.

snippet from my PAC file demostrating the name lookup logic.

[Select]

function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
        if (! isResolvable("somehost.somecorp.com")) { return "DIRECT"; }
        // fastest return, with no proxy, if not on corp network

        return "PROXY proxy.domain:8080; proxy2.domain:8080";
}

My actual pac is a few hundred lines long because of really tortuous network routing because of how our overall corp network grew.  So different internal sites need to route differently - some DIRECT, and some thru various internal proxies.  Think multiple cycles of acquisitions and mergers and no corporate wide network overhaul at the end... in some cases, we have multiple nat translations going on to get from one part of the company to another... I get dizzy just thinking about it.

Another option is to use a local proxy on your laptop that can (when appropriate) chain to an upstream proxy - the idea being that all browsers and the O/S itself point at your personal proxy, and you change that one proxy server to go direct, or chain, as needed.  I'd recommend delegate (http://www.delegate.org/).  It can be a bit overwhelming to configure the first time because of all the options... but it's extremely powerful.

There's also proxomitron (http://www.proxomitron.info/ or http://www.sankey.ws/proxomitron.html) - which is no longer actively developed (author discontinued it, and then died a year later), but might suit your needs.

If not for the bizarre network I have to deal with at work, I'd probably stick with 2 different delegate configs, that I switch between. I wrote an AHK script to restart the daemon with the desired configuation - just kills any running delegate.exe processes, and starts up a new one with the config I specify on the command line.  I actually use this method for apps that don't support PAC files (most non-browser network apps).

Whew... that went on much longer than I expected!

If you have any questions on any of my suggestions, I'd be happy to help.

--perlguy

6

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: always-on-top transparent picture viewer

« Last post by perlguy on October 08, 2008, 11:35 PM »

This might fit the bill... http://www.noping.net/kent/osiva/

drag the image you want onto the drop spot, size how you want, hit "T" to make transparent... Or, set the transparency level if you want translucency. then minimize the toolbar.

7

General Software Discussion / Re: Best password manager?

« Last post by perlguy on December 07, 2007, 12:49 PM »

PasswordSafe - started by Bruce Schneier, noted security expert (http://www.schneier.com/passsafe.html).  Now open source http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/, and there are compatible apps available for java and linux platforms.

I wouldn't trust my passwords to any other program.

The only thing it doesn't do itself is to launch a url AND autotype, together... so I wrote an AHK  macro to do that for me.  CTRL-L, popup a simple dialog to continue once the page is loaded, then switch back to pwsafe to CTRL-T.

Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention, the autotype on Windows works with just about any app, not just IE or Firefox... I use it for all my passwords, not just websites.  You can customize the autotype sequence as well, so for sites that have more than just username/password, you can adapt.

8

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: a Profile-able Workdesk Desktop

« Last post by perlguy on November 24, 2007, 01:58 AM »

More on this topic in this other thread - https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=10757.0

9

Post New Requests Here / Re: Change Desktop Folder

« Last post by perlguy on November 24, 2007, 01:45 AM »

Ok, cleaned up, refactored the bits that do all the real work into a function...  In addition to the menu, I set Win+1/2/3/4 as hotkeys as well.  Changed to pickup the user's profile directory from the environment.  Registry is used to remember which desktop is current between sessions, and if restarting the script.

The only thing missing is a routine to do the initial setup... you need to move your current %USERPROFILE%\Desktop to %USERPROFILE%\Desktop1, create %USERPROFILE%\Desktop2 thru 4, and then run junction.exe manually to point Desktop to Desktop1.  I thought it might be best for anyone wanting to use this to understand how junction.exe works, rather than just doing it for them.

For me, having the ini seemed overkill, so I left out those bits.

[Select]

;
; Change the location of the Default Desktop Folder through right-click menu on the systray icon.
;

#NoEnv ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
SendMode Input ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
#Persistent

HotKey, #1, DIR1
HotKey, #2, DIR2
HotKey, #3, DIR3
HotKey, #4, DIR4

SetDesktop(N){
  EnvGet, PROFILE, USERPROFILE
  RegWrite, REG_SZ, HKCU, Environment, DESKTOP, %N%
  RunWait, junction.exe Desktop Desktop%N%,%PROFILE%,Hide
  DllCall("Shell32\SHChangeNotify", UInt, 0x08000000, UInt, 0, UIntP, 0, UIntP, 0)
  Loop 4 {
    Menu,Tray,Uncheck,Desktop &%A_Index%
  }
  Menu,Tray,Check,Desktop &%N%
}

TRAYMENU:
Menu,Tray,NoStandard
Menu,Tray,DeleteAll
Menu,Tray,Add,Desktop &1,DIR1
Menu,Tray,Add,Desktop &2,DIR2
Menu,Tray,Add,Desktop &3,DIR3
Menu,Tray,Add,Desktop &4,DIR4
Menu,Tray,Add,&Reload,RELOAD
Menu,Tray,Add,E&xit,EXIT
Menu,Tray,Tip,%A_ScriptName%

RegRead, DESKTOP, HKCU, Environment, DESKTOP
If (ERRORLEVEL = 1 or !DESKTOP)
  DESKTOP=1
SetDesktop(DESKTOP)
Return

DIR1:
SetDesktop(1)
Return

DIR2:
SetDesktop(2)
Return

DIR3:
SetDesktop(3)
Return

DIR4:
SetDesktop(4)
Return

RELOAD:
Reload
Return

EXIT:
ExitApp

10

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: New C# FARR Plugin: FARRAltTab

« Last post by perlguy on November 24, 2007, 01:24 AM »

Oh... since someone was asking about how I use AHK to trigger FARR... pretty simple. For example, since I can't get FARR to bind to Win+Space for activation, I use AHK to do it for me.

[Select]

#space:: Send {Pause}

The old way I was invoking the AltTab plugin - which wasn't very reliable - some of the letters would sometimes get missed.

[Select]

#tab:: Send {Pause}tab{space}

The new, more reliable way, using AHK to trigger a custom FARR HotKey.
Press Win+Tab to send Ctrl+Alt+Tab to FARR, which I have a hokey defined to start the AltTab Plugin.

[Select]

#Tab:: Send ^!{TAB}

If I wasn't already using AHK for so many other things, I'd probably just live with using a different hotkey combo, but since I do have a set of hotkeys running all the time, this works great.

11

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: New C# FARR Plugin: FARRAltTab

« Last post by perlguy on November 24, 2007, 01:08 AM »

How did the FARR hotkeys sneak by me!?   As for Win+Tab, I get the "Unavailable" message too, and it doesn't activate when set that way.  However, it allows Alt+Tab to be set.   

12

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: New C# FARR Plugin: FARRAltTab

« Last post by perlguy on November 23, 2007, 07:33 PM »

Interesting, as AutoHotKey works with #Tab as a hotkey...  which is what I was using, to invoke iswitchw.ahk (which I found on the forms here I beleive).  I think now I'll setup a macro to invoke FARR with #Tab,  sending "tab\s" as you suggest.

13

Post New Requests Here / Re: Change Desktop Folder

« Last post by perlguy on November 23, 2007, 03:07 PM »

Yes, NTFS is default/standard these days...  one not so nice side effect using this method (so far) is that files copied/saved directly to the desktop folder don't show up immediately.  if you drag-n-drop to the desktop they do.

Also, the icons will auto-arrange, and sort, every time you switch desktops... so this may not be the solution for everyone... so far I like it, but only time will tell if the annoyances outweigh the benefits.

Right now, I'm just using it to split up downloads from everything else.  But I can definitely see using it for keeping project related files all together and at my fingertips.  Thank you to whoever started the thread!

Oh, one other thing - I use windows powerpro too, and used its context/contextfolder menu feature to create "Move To Desktop -> 1/2/3/4" context menus to move files between desktops, since copy/switch/paste doesn't work (for obvious reasons - you're changing the desktop folder in the middle of the operation).

If anyone knows how to do that with AHK, I'd sure appreciate a pointer/link.  I also pinged mouser on ContextMenu Commander status.

14

Post New Requests Here / Re: Change Desktop Folder

« Last post by perlguy on November 23, 2007, 12:33 AM »

Rather than use up a drive letter with subst, I chose to use junction.exe (from sysinternals) to delete/create junctions when selecting a new desktop.

It's not polished (e.g. no code to setup inital desktops, no detection of current desktop to indicate on the tray menu), but it works where the registry edit/refresh code wasn't working for me (XP SP2).

15

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR Release v2.107.04 beta - Sep 23, 2012

« Last post by perlguy on November 09, 2007, 02:23 PM »

Ah.  "noresults (.*)" ... why didn't I think of that... thanks! works like a charm now... I may never need the "Run" box again.

16

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR Release v2.107.04 beta - Sep 23, 2012

« Last post by perlguy on November 08, 2007, 08:49 PM »

I'm a little lost on how to get 'noresults' alias working... and couldn't find a complete example of how to set it up - looked in forum and help and google.  Is it broken, or do I just not have it configured properly?

I've tried

group alias name:  noresults, regex pattern: noresults, result(s): run $$1 | $$1
group alias name:  noresults, regex pattern: noresults, result(s): $$1
group alias name:  noresults, regex pattern: <empty>, results(s): $$1

none of them work... the first two at least seem to trigger the 'noresults' behavior - farr goes away, but nothing executes.  the last one, when you hit enter, nothing happens, and the FARR window doesn't disappear.

I really hope it's just a matter of configuring properly... would love to have it work.

I'm running 2.00.145.

17

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.45 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - February 6, 2007

« Last post by perlguy on February 09, 2007, 11:48 PM »

Agreed. Except for the scrolling list of all contents at current level. That's really the big thing that's missing.  Navigation is just retraining muscle memory from the Run box behavior.  But if there's a 100 folders, and you just want to browse through them, that's impossible to do unless you set max results to 100.

In addition to adding "max directory search results", how about adding a "max listbox rows" option. If your max results option is set high enough, and you have more than "max listbox rows" results, you get a scrolling listbox.

18

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.45 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - February 6, 2007

« Last post by perlguy on February 09, 2007, 11:23 PM »

That sounds like what I've been suggesting. When you do a tab completion FARR doesn't know yet which file you are looking for (maybe you don't either!) so the most helpful thing it can do is throw up a scrolling list of the folder contents, with the focus on the list. Right arrow drills down further if on a folder, left arrow backs out. Any character key echoes to the input box, shifts the focus there and narrows the results.

-JennyB (February 09, 2007, 03:36 PM)

Yes, that's a much better explanation of the behavior I'd like to see.

19

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.45 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - February 6, 2007

« Last post by perlguy on February 09, 2007, 01:52 PM »

Something else for a feature request: Edit Box and Display Results font selection. 

Is it by design that the new Edit Box font is different than the list results?

20

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.45 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - February 6, 2007

« Last post by perlguy on February 09, 2007, 01:24 PM »

Let's see how many of your requests already exist
you can now hide column headers, status bar, and toolbar (just drag toolbar to full right and buttons are gone

-mouser (February 09, 2007, 12:27 PM)

Hmm... gained 1 new feature (hide headers), learned about 1 existing feature (shoving toobar off the window) and lost one old feature: I can get used to it, but I really liked having the "Edit Bar at Bottom" option.  I could park FARR at/near the bottom of the screen, and the edit bar would always be in the same place, and the window would grow/shrink above it.

Also maybe already covered here) the Results Display Style radio buttons are greyed out - so no small icons/large icons available - which I never use, just thought I'd mention it.

Check out the path completion and hopefully it does what you want.
-mouser

-mouser (February 09, 2007, 12:27 PM)

Pretty close - again, it's not exactly the same behaviour as the Run box but it's something I think I could get used to.

Being able to scroll through all files/folders is handy sometimes.  But that would mean having an option to enable Explicit Directory Searching to use a scrolling listbox for output instead a static display of the N item, ordered search results window you currently use.  The scrolling list would be alpha sorted, preferably (or make options available to change sort order).

Another useful option related to this would be separate max limits for normal searches vs. explicit directory searches?  For normal searches, 9 items has always been plenty - I don't think I've ever gone past the 3rd result item. But for file/directory browsing, I could see needing as many as 50 results visible - if scrolling all results is not an option.

And if you add back in the option of "Edit Box at Bottom", could you add an option to reverse the display of the search results - #1 at bottom?

21

Find And Run Robot / Re: group alias bug #2

« Last post by perlguy on May 09, 2006, 10:24 PM »

good idea... was an odd bug, so I wasn't sure how to search for it in the forum.

22

Find And Run Robot / group alias bug #2

« Last post by perlguy on May 09, 2006, 10:48 AM »

Took me a while to pin this one down.  Try this alias, and notice the effect of simply having a "." in the description. 

1000>>>eh>->Edit hosts | notepad.exe c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts>n>Edit hosts. | notepad.exe c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

I'm guessing it's a bug, but could be a feature I just don't know about.  First one works find. Second one shows up very oddly in search results (Name col has "hosts", and Location has "etc\"), and doesn't actually do anything when selected.

I was creating an alias to shortcut to the config files I edit frequently, which tripped this bug, since I was putting the filename with extension in the description.  For now, I'm just omitting periods from the description to get it to work.

23

Find And Run Robot / Re: group alias bug

« Last post by perlguy on December 01, 2005, 01:09 PM »

update: The regex test results in the config dialog show the correct results, it's just the main window and the executed command that get the case conversion.

24

Find And Run Robot / group alias bug

« Last post by perlguy on December 01, 2005, 12:34 PM »

There's a bug in group aliases that converts $$N elements to all lowercase.  for most things windows that's not a problem, but in my case, trying to run putty via an alias with uppercase switches is not possible.

25

Find And Run Robot / Re: Feature Request (v2?)

« Last post by perlguy on November 04, 2005, 04:03 PM »

I had already pulled a few of his utils down, including the ahk versions of some of them.

I use powerpro mostly for binding actions to hotkeys,  window control (hide, ontop, size-to-WxH, etc), and a couple of screen bars.  Lately I have started doing more with it for general scripting.  The only reason I don't use a better language/tool for the scripts is that I already have ppro running so for small stuff it's faster, albeit more of a pain to code sometimes.

I think maybe my solution to the Run dialog would be to bind Alt+; to send Win+R.  Let's hope that will actually work.