Author Topic: NANY 2009 Release: Lacuna Launcher (Read 48960 times)

app103 · « **on:** December 12, 2008, 02:58 PM »

NANY 2009 Entry Information

Application Name	Lacuna Launcher
Version	1.0.0
Short Description	Open multiple files with a single click, set delay for launching, set a pause between launches. Also can be used as a portable launcher.
Supported OSes	WinAll (as far as I know)
Web Page	http://appsapps.info/lacunalauncher.php
Download Link	http://appsapps.info...s/LacunaLauncher.zip
Version History	v1.0.0 initial release - December 12, 2008 + Spanish translation of readme - February 21, 2009
Author	app103

Description
Have you ever wished you had more control over the way applications are launched? Maybe setting a delay for launching applications at startup? How about spacing out the launching with a pause in between each one? Or control the order in which applications are opened? Or perhaps you just want to launch many applications with a single shortcut?

Features
Lacuna Launcher will allow you to set a group of files to be opened with a single shortcut by creating a text file with the paths to all the files you wish to open.

You can include

applications (.exe)
shortcuts (.lnk)
internet shortcuts (.url)
images
music
movies
anything that is a file on your system that you wish to open

You can also set an initial delay time that it will wait before opening files, as well as a pause time that it will wait between files it launches.

Planned Features
None planned at this time.

Usage
Installation
Just unzip to its own folder.

Using the Application
Open the included "list.txt" file in notepad and make a list with the paths to files you want to open. Place one per line. You can add as many as you like. (a sample entry that opens Notepad on XP has been included as a guide - you may remove that line)

NOTE: If you want to launch files with command line parameters, create a shortcut with the parameters set, and use the path to the shortcut file (.lnk) in the list, instead of a direct path to the application.
Web pages can be launched through the use of .url files.

When you want to launch the entire group, just click the "ll.exe" file (or a shortcut to it) and they will all be launched, one right after the other, in the same order that they appear in the list.

The command line parameters give you more control over timing of the launches by allowing you to set an initial delay time and a pause time between each one, and the ability to create multiple lists and specify which you would like to use. (see the included README.txt for more information)

You can set up multiple lists for various tasks, and place shortcuts on your desktop or Quicklaunch, or use it from the Run dialog.

the format is
[full path to Lacuna Launcher] [full path to text file to be used] [initial delay (in seconds)] [pause time between items (in seconds)]

Note: there is a space between each one and the order listed is important! You must use all parameters. You must also enclose any paths that contain spaces in quotes.

Examples:

"C:\Program Files\Lacuna Launcher\ll.exe" "C:\Program Files\Lacuna Launcher\list.txt" 60 10

"C:\Program Files\Lacuna Launcher\ll.exe" "C:\Program Files\Lacuna Launcher\different list.txt" 0 5

"C:\Program Files\Lacuna Launcher\ll.exe" "C:\Program Files\Lacuna Launcher\another list.txt" 0 0

Let's say you have a number of tools that you need to launch to do a particular job, like maybe webdesign. You could list all the paths to all the tools you use for this, your page builder, Photoshop, various browsers, etc., in a .txt file, place a shortcut on your desktop (with command line parameters) and use Lacuna Launcher to launch them all with a single click.

You can place a shortcut with command line parameters in your startup folder, include the paths to all of
the applications you want to start in your list, and then remove all of the other shortcuts from the folder,
leaving only Lacuna Launcher's shortcut.

Uninstallation
Just delete ll.exe, list.txt, readme.txt, and any shortcuts and additional lists you may have created.

Known Issues
~~This has not been tested in Vista. I can't guarantee it will work as described. If it does, please let me know.~~
User reports says it works just fine.

~~It may or may not work with relative paths in the "list.txt" file, so I am not sure if it can be used as a portable launcher. If you try it and it works, please let me know.~~
It does work with relative paths and can be used as a portable launcher when placed at the root of your portable drive.

If you need a little help getting paths to files, there are many utilities you can install that will add an option to your Explorer context menu to copy a file's path to your clipboard. ClipboardPath is just one freeware option that you may use.

^{02-02-2009 edited for clarification on a few points.}

skwire · « **Reply #1 on:** December 12, 2008, 07:30 PM »

Slick. I like.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #2 on:** December 12, 2008, 11:05 PM »

Drag and drop for entry into list.txt?

app103 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 12, 2008, 11:14 PM »

Well, there really isn't anywhere to drag & drop it.

And it can use any .txt file list, not just list.txt

I don't suppose that was a request for a notepad application that would place the path to the files dropped into it, was it?

cranioscopical · « **Reply #4 on:** December 13, 2008, 10:08 AM »

It struck me that your tool would be ideal for those who are a bit uncertain about how else to achieve what Lacuna Launcher offers to do. Despite your lucid instructions on how to find path information, I wondered if some of that group would be a little shy about adventures in notepad. Just a thought, probably the game is not worth the candle.

hamradio · « **Reply #5 on:** December 13, 2008, 04:32 PM »

You could always make a helper program and filename could be something like "ll_config.exe" and you run it then you can drag and drop to a listbox on the form and it adds it to a listbox. Along with that it could have possibly a button for new list, open list, save list, and a option to toggle stay on top. Another thing you could build in is like my launcher for cd's and dvd's you could build in a thing like "<APP_PATH>\path\filename.extension"; which would then read in the directory of the ll.exe in and it would allow for portable use much better. You search for the <APP_PATH> and if it is there you replace it with the path to ll.exe.

app103 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 14, 2008, 04:42 AM »

I just tested it with relative paths, and as is, it does work as long as the ll.exe file is at the root of the USB drive, or anything in the list that is the same or subfolder of its location. I still would like it if someone else would test it with their collection of USB stuff and let me know how it works for them, before I declare it portable.

majorspacecase · « **Reply #7 on:** December 22, 2008, 02:37 PM »

Just to let you know that lacuna launcher is being mentioned today over at ghacks.net.

app103 · « **Reply #8 on:** December 23, 2008, 12:03 AM »

Cool! Thanks!

app103 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 08, 2009, 03:29 PM »

A review of Lacuna Launcher was submitted to Digg today.

usemyname · « **Reply #10 on:** January 09, 2009, 04:59 PM »

This is an excellent application! But one thing is missing that I think will help a lot of people…

How about launching any thing with a specified position and size? This would be very helpful to those who wants to set a working environment…

app103 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 12, 2009, 01:30 PM »

This is an excellent application! But one thing is missing that I think will help a lot of people…

How about launching any thing with a specified position and size? This would be very helpful to those who wants to set a working environment…
-usemyname (January 09, 2009, 04:59 PM)

I am not sure I would know exactly how to do that in a way that it would actually work consistently and still be easy to use & configure, especially with the way this is written.

DocSavage · « **Reply #12 on:** February 02, 2009, 08:01 PM »

Lacuna Launcher works fine with just a list, but I cannot make it delay
C:\Program Files\Synergy\synergy.exe 10 10
C:\Program Files\FindAndRunRobot\FindAndRunRobot.exe
this just skips synergy & goes to FARR
Can you tell me what I am missing?

app103 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 02, 2009, 08:10 PM »

You can't set a delay for an individual program, only a delay for processing the list and for a pause in between each item that affects the entire list.

You use the time numbers as command parameters for Lacuna Launcher itself. It affects the processing of the entire list. It does not go in the list itself.

Either using the Run dialog in Windows or by changing Lacuna Launcher's shortcut target, you add the 2 numbers, as was shown in the screenshots in the original post.

Any errors in the text file will cause the item line in which the error occurs to be skipped. This is why Synergy was never launched and it skipped right to FARR. (much better than crashing, don't you think?

)

DocSavage · « **Reply #14 on:** February 03, 2009, 07:40 AM »

Yea! Got it!
Next, I think I will use Skromell's IdleRun to automatically start LacunaLauncher when Windows is all loaded & settled down.
Thanks for a great tool.

DocSavage · « **Reply #15 on:** February 03, 2009, 07:46 AM »

Oops. Forgive me.
I should have looked at your site before jumping to mention Skromell's IdleRun. I see you have IdleStart which would probably make a good combination.

app103 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 05, 2009, 05:42 AM »

IdleStart doesn't exit after launching. It sits in your tray and waits till you are idle again, and repeats the process. It also is user idleness based and not CPU idleness.

Using IdleStart would be like setting an application to run like a screensaver, rather than as a typical launcher might run it.

This means, if you set IdleStart to start Lacuna Launcher after 10 minutes of idle time, then it will run it whenever you haven't used the PC for 10 minutes, every time you don't use it for 10 minutes.

So after 10 minutes of idle time after startup everything on your list will load, just as you may want, but if you step away for a coffee break, you will come back and find that it ran Lacuna Launcher and everything on your list was launched again.

It is more suited for repetitive maintenance tasks that you wouldn't want running while you are actively using the pc, or you might want to start after you have finished for the day.

adeliyannis · « **Reply #17 on:** February 07, 2009, 12:23 AM »

Great tool! I put it in my startup list to delay the start of a batch of programs. This is very useful to speed-up startup as programs don't wrestle each other for resources.

It works with no problems, whereas with AnVir Security Suite's delayed startup ( http://www.anvir.com/securitysuite/ ) some programs refused to start.

Brilliant!

DocSavage · « **Reply #18 on:** February 07, 2009, 07:44 AM »

For a couple of days I have been running IdleRun and LacunaLauncher together. Slick!
After Windows is settled down, IdleRun starts LacunaLauncher which then loads FARR & Synergy.
I really like this combination of apps!

app103 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 21, 2009, 09:25 PM »

Slight update:

No new features or changes to the application itself, so the version number will not change.

Added Spanish translation of the readme.txt file. (thanks scancode!)

If anyone would like to offer to translate the readme file to other languages, it would be much appreciated.

mouser · « **Reply #20 on:** September 08, 2009, 06:27 PM »

featured on freeware genius today with a long writeup:
http://www.freewareg...with-a-single-click/

congrats app

Kamel · « **Reply #21 on:** September 10, 2009, 11:10 PM »

I really love what you've done here. I think a slight modification could be done to make a great thing even better though.

NOTE: If you want to launch files with command line parameters, create a shortcut with the parameters set, and use the path to the shortcut file (.lnk) in the list, instead of a direct path to the application.

If there is a way to directly interpret the commands inside the text file as if they were entered in the run dialog, it would allow for use of quotes. The inclusion of this ability would allow for command line switches to be added right in the text file.

This is a huge shortcomming for me, as most apps I launch are with command line switches. This causes me to have to make many shortcuts which are otherwise useless to me