Author Topic: Latest FARR Release 2.250.0 beta - Mar 23, 2020 (Read 834741 times)

mouser · « **Reply #100 on:** July 04, 2008, 08:28 PM »

very minor update with 2.16.01, mostly of interest to plugin writers using html mode.

nitrix-ud · « **Reply #101 on:** July 05, 2008, 04:34 AM »

Hi mouser,

could you give us some exemples on how to use new FARR features ?

setfocus
setviewmode
pcommand
setsize

small bug : the wheel to scroll the htmlview from the search box does not work all the time... in particular it does not work with donationcoder.com ????

mouser · « **Reply #102 on:** July 05, 2008, 10:22 AM »

i've confirmed your report about wheel scrolling, i'll try to figure out what the problem is.

mouser · « **Reply #103 on:** July 05, 2008, 10:50 AM »

keep in mind that these new calls are mainly intended to be used by plugins.
from the help file:

setfocus searchedit | mainpanel - sets focus to either the search edit box or whatever output mode (results, memo, html) is currently showing (result list, htmlview, richedit view).
setviewmode list | memo | html - sets main panel view mode.
pcommand EXTRA_TEXT - sends a command to the current plugin and then to all other plugins if the current one doesn't handle it; sent via a plugin->set_strvalue("pcommand",EXTRA_TEXT) call -- so plugins need to return FALSE from this if they do not handle it. An ERROR will be announced to the user if no installed plugin accepts the command. This can be a useful way for plugins to talk to one another, so you should use EXTRA_TEXT strings that are uniquely identifyable.
setsize MINWIDTH,MINHEIGHT,MAXWIDTH,MAXHEIGHT - forces size of window to be within the specified range; you can use -1 or * for values to ignore.

If you wanted to load a web page and then change focus to the html view (since by default it stays in the edit box now), you could make your alias result like this:
htmlviewurl www.google.com ;;; setfocus mainpanel

setviewmode would be used by a plugin that wants to keep the display in html mode for example without having to reload a webpage again and again. it would be called by plugin like: farr->set_strvalue("launch","setviewmode html")
It's hard to think of a case where anything but a plugin would call this.

pcommand is intended to be used to call a function exposed in a plugin. there are no plugins that use this yet, but a perfect example of where this would be useful is in the console plugin for farr. this is a plugin meant to help out aliases and other plugins by running a command and capturing output for display. right now the way it works is if you want console to run something you actually have to pretend the user has typed some long search string, which affects the display and looks wierd. using the pcommand, an improved console plugin could support a few functions that you could call using the pcommand interface which would make for a much cleaner method of operation. a plugin would call this via farr->set_strvalue("pcommand","string to pass to plugin"). A pcommand will always be sent first to the plugin currently controlling the view, and then to all others if the current plugin doesnt accept it. If no plugins accept the command then farr will report an error, under the assumption that a helper plugin is not installed.

setsize is used to force the farr window within a size range.
so for example to force farr window to an exact height you could do: setsize 640,480,640,480
or to make sure its at LEAST 640x480 you could do: setsize 640,480,*,*
or to make sure it is no larger than 640x480 you could do: setsize *,*,640,480
or to make sure its at least 640 pixels wide: setize 640,*,*,*
EXAMPLE: htmlviewurl www.google.com ;;; setsize 640,480,640,480
OR: htmlviewurl $$1 ;;; setsize 640,480,640,480 ;;; setfocus mainpanel

mouser · « **Reply #104 on:** July 05, 2008, 12:29 PM »

small bug : the wheel to scroll the htmlview from the search box does not work all the time... in particular it does not work with donationcoder.com ????

try the new alpha v2.18.01 just uploaded

whippy · « **Reply #105 on:** July 06, 2008, 07:09 AM »

Hi Mouser , this is one of my most used programs and it does a great job thanks .
If it had a minimize button it would be even better , plus an easy way of choosing what directory to search . For instance I have 2 hard drives and the first is split into a few partitions . If on opening one could simply choose which ones to search it then would be real super.
Just food for thought .
thanks

mouser · « **Reply #106 on:** July 06, 2008, 11:59 AM »

If it had a minimize button it would be even better

the close button does a minimize, so that's already there unless you are saying something else?

plus an easy way of choosing what directory to search

you can do this using keyword modifiers. go to your Search Folders tab in the options and add your 2 main directories. for the first put "dir1" in the Optional Modifier Keywords section at the bottom of the search directory dialog. In the second directory put "dir2" in the keywords.

now when you want to search dir1, type your search like
+dir1 my search terms (or my search terms +dir1)

and to search dir2 type:
+dir2 my search terms

Keyword modifiers let you easily use keywords to search differently.

You can even make different hotkeys to bring up FARR with the +dir1 or +dir2 already filled out so you could use different hotkeys depending on what you wanted to search.

Christian.Eitner · « **Reply #107 on:** July 07, 2008, 09:01 AM »

Christian, can you give me an example of what happens (preferably using a built in alias that i also have) so i can reproduce and test?
-mouser (July 03, 2008, 11:04 AM)

Hmmm, the easiest example is one you won't have: hibernate.

If I type it, FARR first displays 'Alias - from myaliases.alias' (there is only one result).

If I then select this one entry, FARR displays 'Alias hibernate'. Only the second invokation triggers the command.

mouser · « **Reply #108 on:** July 07, 2008, 12:56 PM »

Christian, i think i might understand. You ay:

If I type it, FARR first displays 'Alias - from myaliases.alias' (there is only one result).
If I then select this one entry, FARR displays 'Alias hibernate'. Only the second invokation triggers the command.

this behavior happens if at the first time you hit enter, the alias is not fully spelled out. so the first time you hit enter it is autocompleting the alias. so: hibern -> [ENTER] -> hibernate -> [ENTER] -> launch

personally i like this behavior BUT i can definitely see how people would prefer farr just launch it straight away and that that would make more sense perhaps. i will either make an option to do it that way, OR make it work like that period.

nitrix-ud · « **Reply #109 on:** July 07, 2008, 01:14 PM »

i will either make an option to do it that way, OR make it work like that period.

mouser, i suggest you never change FARR behavior, FARR is too complex now to change a thing without having collateral damages !

please make it an option

s.newave · « **Reply #110 on:** July 07, 2008, 08:04 PM »

this one entry, FARR displays 'Alias hibernate'. Only the second invokation triggers the command.
-mouser (July 07, 2008, 12:56 PM)

this behavior happens if at the first time you hit enter, the alias is not fully spelled out. so the first time you hit enter it is autocompleting the alias. so: hibern -> [ENTER] -> hibernate -> [ENTER] -> launch

personally i like this behavior BUT i can definitely see how people would prefer farr just launch it straight away and that that would make more sense perhaps. i will either make an option to do it that way, OR make it work like that period.

hmm, correct me if im wrong but i was under the impression that the functionality to automatically launch an alias with only a single result was added a few releases ago

. So for your example above hitting enter once would launch the alias which i though was great. However im all for making it an option.

Christian.Eitner · « **Reply #111 on:** July 08, 2008, 07:35 AM »

hmm, correct me if im wrong but i was under the impression that the functionality to automatically launch an alias with only a single result was added a few releases ago

This was exactly my impression. But an option would be great.

whippy · « **Reply #112 on:** July 09, 2008, 12:44 AM »

Thanks Mouser for the explanation...... What I find with the existing minimize is that when you start a search and while it is going , should one click on anything else, it will like you say "minimize" to the tray . But when one double clicks it to maximize, the search has gone and one has to start over ok no great drama as it is still a great program

mouser · « **Reply #113 on:** July 11, 2008, 07:58 AM »

updated with new features mainly for plugin writers.

yksyks · « **Reply #114 on:** July 11, 2008, 11:33 AM »

Maybe a bit off-topic, but is it only me noticing that there's a checkbox missing "Run Find and Run Robot Now?" at the end of upgrade? It happens on my Vista Business laptop, not on the desktop XP.

kartal · « **Reply #115 on:** July 11, 2008, 11:49 AM »

mouser, what is the difference between the new and the old launch method? I do not see any mentioning in the help file.

mouser · « **Reply #116 on:** July 11, 2008, 12:14 PM »

there's a checkbox missing "Run Find and Run Robot Now?" at the end of upgrade? It happens on my Vista Business laptop, not on the desktop XP.

because of Vista's security measures, the setup program runs as an Administrator automatically. i don't offer the user the option of launching the program at the end of the installer because if i do, it runs as administrator instead of normal user account, and causes all kinds of havok. there may be a better way for me to handle this case but the safest is to just remove that option when installing on vista.

mouser, what is the difference between the new and the old launch method?

technically the differences is that one uses ShellExec and one uses ShellExecEx and attempts to specify the class name for documents. in PRACTICAL terms, you shouldn't leave the setting alone unless FARR has trouble launching files or documents for you. I don't really understand why but for some people one method works and not the other.

yksyks · « **Reply #117 on:** July 11, 2008, 02:05 PM »

Thanks for an explanation. Not a big issue, anyway.

TucknDar · « **Reply #118 on:** July 17, 2008, 05:59 AM »

A minor issue: In the 'Plugins and updates' dialog in options, under the Program Update Checking section, it says "Last Successful Check: [somedate]"

Well, try going offline and click the "Check for Updates Now" button. What happens is that even before the check is made, the date of "Last Successful Check" is changed, even if being offline obviously means the check can't be successful. So technically, the date is referring to the last check, regardless of whether the check was successful or unsuccessful!

Suggestion: Either change the caption to "Last check" and maybe information if it was successful or unsuccessful OR just don't change the date if the check is unsuccessful.

kartal · « **Reply #119 on:** July 18, 2008, 09:17 PM »

With recent versions some weird issue has been introduced. I find myself needing to restart Farr multiple times a day. What happens is that Farr becomes unresponsive, but not in a cpu wasting way. When I bring Farr window, first no history is shown, second typing keywords or commands do not do anything. It feels like Farr window is just a window without any functionality. I am pretty sure that this has been a result of frequent use of html view based functions - aliases. Because I seem to get this more when I use html view function to quesry some websites like dictionaries.

J-Mac · « **Reply #120 on:** July 18, 2008, 10:34 PM »

Whoa. Much, much weirdness. To the point where I just cranked up my old ObjectDock+ and started using it again, and I'm running without FARR for the first time in over a year.

I don't know what was done with the last few versions - or maybe the plugins - but I can no longer easily get FARR to find my programs - instead it is finding everything but. Program I am trying to launch is usually down around 10 or 12 on trhe list.

Dccupdater has been going nuts lately all with FARR + plugin updates - several a day. But I can't use it as is. Think I might disable Dcupdater and install an older version.

Jim

J-Mac · « **Reply #121 on:** July 18, 2008, 10:36 PM »

BTW, where can I get the previous versions - that a problem with using the updater - you lose the older versions.

Jim

mouser · « **Reply #122 on:** July 19, 2008, 10:42 AM »

Just a minor update but fixes an annoying bug people have been complaining about (sorry it took so long to fix):
[BugFix] - Pressing enter when a partial alias with one result should launch the alias but was autocompleting it instead; fixed.

I hope to have another release this weekend with some new good features.

J-Mac · « **Reply #123 on:** July 19, 2008, 01:28 PM »

I don't know if this is because FARR is being made into more of a search engine than a launcher, but some terms still bring up too much other junk than the application I want to launch.

E.g., when I type in "Music", trying to open Music Collector, I instead get about 30 URLs for various music stores/web sites. I right-click and tell FARR to ignore these but they come right back - I have never even been to these web sites and have no desire to go there.

What is doing this? If it is the plugins, how the heck do I lose them? Dccupdater installed all the plugins that I have NO use for.

Jim

mouser · « **Reply #124 on:** July 19, 2008, 01:33 PM »

ok first of all, there is a music alias that may be causing this trouble for you.
go to the alias tab in options, select Core_Aliases\Core-Search.alias at top
and UNCHECK the music alias (or if you prefer, disable this entire alias group by unchecking checkbox at top right).

see if that helps.

if not, go to your search folders tab in options and disable all but start menu folders. see if that helps.