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Last post Author Topic: New program: Ethervane ActiveHotkeys (freeware)  (Read 253740 times)

TomTrottier

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #25 on: May 07, 2009, 02:35 PM »
Very useful.   :-*
One suggestion: How about capturing which programs have which active hot keys, by having the program capture this whenever programs come to the fore, eg, by a delta with previous active keys. Put the program path in a new column, "Path", but if there is already an entry in "Path", then create a new entry for the key(s) with the new Path filled. This would be in addition to the Notes.
This would naturally be incomplete, as current apps will shadow new apps, but over time, could approach a complete picture.
 :Thmbsup: tOM

Carol Haynes

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #26 on: May 07, 2009, 04:37 PM »
Thanks - nice little tool.

Request: Is there any way to identify the application that registered the keys in use?

Bug: If the "About" tab is open when you click "Test Active Hotkeys" you get an error. You need to force it to open the Active Hotkeys tab before attempting to test.

tranglos

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #27 on: May 07, 2009, 05:15 PM »
Request: Is there any way to identify the application that registered the keys in use?
-Carol Haynes (May 07, 2009, 04:37 PM)

Alas, no, it doesn't seem possible under Windows. There is no API for that. Maybe if you're a deep hard core API hacker it's possible, but I doubt, since even at StackOverflow no-one seems to have an answer.

Bug: If the "About" tab is open when you click "Test Active Hotkeys" you get an error. You need to force it to open the Active Hotkeys tab before attempting to test.
-Carol Haynes (May 07, 2009, 04:37 PM)

Thanks, you're right. I'll post a fix. (I wanted to add a couple of features first, but this is an ugly error message, so I'd better not wait til then.)

tranglos

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #28 on: May 07, 2009, 05:23 PM »
also featured now in ghacks and freewaregenius  :huh: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:

http://www.ghacks.ne...ive-windows-hotkeys/

Ouch, did you see the screenshot under Vista?

windows_hotkeys-500x345.jpgNew program: Ethervane ActiveHotkeys (freeware)

I hate theming - it's only human to hate what I can't understand :) The application is themed, but I had to set the blue color for the checkbox groups manually, since by default they used clWindow, which was ugly. So now under Vista the color I set manually clashes horribly with the OS theme. Just great!  :o

tranglos

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #29 on: May 09, 2009, 09:22 AM »
Can you put the .ini files in the ActiveHotkeys folder?

Done - please download the latest version (1.1.0). This is still a non-default setting, so you will need to use the /localconfig switch on the command line (you can add it to the Start menu shortcut used to launch AH).

tranglos

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #30 on: May 09, 2009, 09:23 AM »
Bug: If the "About" tab is open when you click "Test Active Hotkeys" you get an error. You need to force it to open the Active Hotkeys tab before attempting to test.
-Carol Haynes (May 07, 2009, 04:37 PM)

Fixed in the new release (1.1.0)

tranglos

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New version: ActiveHotkeys 1.1.0 (Play/Pause edition)
« Reply #31 on: May 09, 2009, 09:25 AM »
- Added support for multimedia and browser keys that some keyboards have. Typically, these keys will be shown as inactive, even though they "work". That is because the operating system does not register these keys as hotkeys with itself. However, some applications (e.g. Winamp), can register these keys, and then you'll see them listed as active.

- The "Show only active keys" option has been replaced with a three-way toggle: Show all, Show only active keys, and Show only inactive keys. The F5 key now cycles through these three options.

...and more (see the History section in the Readme post)

Download links at the bottom here and in the top post.

mouser

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #32 on: May 09, 2009, 11:38 AM »
If one *wanted* to discover what applications the hotkeys belonged to.. you could have a special mode that starting closing/killing applications and watching which hotkey assignments were released, and keeping that on record.

tranglos

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #33 on: May 09, 2009, 12:48 PM »
If one *wanted* to discover what applications the hotkeys belonged to.. you could have a special mode that starting closing/killing applications and watching which hotkey assignments were released, and keeping that on record.

I've been thinking about that, yes. I could include a "comparison" mode, where you would run the test twice and compare results. That will take a while though, since for such a feature to work well I need to drop the listview and use a more powerful control, a grid maybe, where I could filter lines and mark them with color (like file comparison apps do).

That would still not help with hotkeys defined by Windows (Win+E, Win+R, etc.) - though these are pretty much standard - or with hotkeys registered by apps that start with the system and aren't easy to shut down, such as various firewalls and a/v programs. It's definitely worth a try though.

mouser

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #34 on: May 09, 2009, 12:51 PM »
It's definitely worth a try though.

i don't know if it really is.. but it's at least worth thinking about.

i mean there may still actually be a way to investigate the memory used by windows system and find out directly which programs have registered which global hotkeys, though obviously not easily.  i wouldn't start implementing this other method just yet -- but at least it's something to consider for the future.

tranglos

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #35 on: May 09, 2009, 01:30 PM »
It's definitely worth a try though.
i don't know if it really is.. but it's at least worth thinking about.

I forgot to add (though it's almost obvious) that what we are describing is already possible, with some manual work. You can save a report to file, close an app (or start a new one), then create and save another report and compare the two reports with a file compare tool.

If anyone tries this, please remember to use the same exact key selections and sort order for both reports, otherwise the comparison will be too messed up to work with. (Just don't change any options between the two runs.)

i mean there may still actually be a way to investigate the memory used by windows system and find out directly which programs have registered which global hotkeys, though obviously not easily.

I wonder if anyone has access to a program called WinHex. It comes in several editions, quite expensive all. One of the top editions has a feature to make a dump of (all?) system memory. I don't know if that includes kernel memory and other regions of RAM reserved by the OS, or only application-side memory. With some luck though it might be possible to find out where the registered hotkeys are stored. OTOH, I'm not at all sure if I could then replicate such a memory dump in Delphi. It's quite a deep-hacking thing.

dpradov

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KeyNote
« Reply #36 on: May 12, 2009, 01:07 AM »
Hello tranglos
It seems that you are Marek Jedlinski, the author of the program KeyNote. I tried to contact with you through your mail but it was impossible.
I only wanted to give you thanks for your KeyNote program and tell you that as I am a very active user of that program, someday I decided to download your source and added some funcionality I missed. I did share that new version (fork) in SourceForge and finally in Google Code as "KeyNote NF"
http://code.google.com/p/keynote-nf/

Although my first intention was only to add a few things, I keep maintaining that new version, at least in the short free time I encounter.

You will be welcome there
Regards
Daniel Prado

PD: Sorry for this intromission in the thread.  :D

vinayakjoshi

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #37 on: May 12, 2009, 03:28 AM »
Marek, looks like you have started hobby programming again.  :)

Keynote is one of my most favorite programs that I have ever used.

I hope you get the motivation to restart on keynote at least, if not the other programs.

kartal

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #38 on: May 12, 2009, 12:02 PM »
Hello tranglos
It seems that you are Marek Jedlinski, the author of the program KeyNote. I tried to contact with you through your mail but it was impossible.
I only wanted to give you thanks for your KeyNote program and tell you that as I am a very active user of that program, someday I decided to download your source and added some funcionality I missed. I did share that new version (fork) in SourceForge and finally in Google Code as "KeyNote NF"
http://code.google.com/p/keynote-nf/

Although my first intention was only to add a few things, I keep maintaining that new version, at least in the short free time I encounter.

You will be welcome there
Regards
Daniel Prado

PD: Sorry for this intromission in the thread.  :D

Hey great job with updates. I just gave it a go it is looking nice however there is one major feature went missing. What happened to drag and drop support? In previous versions I could drag and drop text files from explorer. It does not work now.

I thing Tranglos will get back to Keynote eventually, it will haunt him :)

PhilB66

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #39 on: May 12, 2009, 05:55 PM »

tranglos

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #40 on: May 13, 2009, 07:40 AM »
I only wanted to give you thanks for your KeyNote program and tell you that as I am a very active user of that program, someday I decided to download your source and added some funcionality I missed. I did share that new version (fork) in SourceForge and finally in Google Code as "KeyNote NF"
http://code.google.com/p/keynote-nf/

Hi Daniel, thanks a lot for posting! I've seen the KeyNote NF thread at DC, but I don't think I ever got your email. It's great to hear that you are continuing KeyNote. I'll add a link on my site to your project right away.


tranglos

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #41 on: May 13, 2009, 07:44 AM »
I thing Tranglos will get back to Keynote eventually, it will haunt him :)

It does haunt me, but honestly, not in a good way. Long ago my wife and me decided we we never going to live on credit, so thankfully we have no loans to repay in the real world, but the feeling I have about KeyNote is like a huge unpaid debt. Or unfulfilled promises, which is really the same in a way. I guess that's why I registereed a new domain to publish any new stuff I do - but trying to forget an unapid debt is rather futile!

dpradov

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #42 on: May 13, 2009, 03:38 PM »
Hi Marek,

Well, I sent several emails around november of 2007 to the public directions I found about you and KeyNote: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]
But now I suppose that my emails would be lost among hundreds of emails you should have been receiving about KeyNote. And logically, because of the fealing you have about KeyNote, you simply ignored that emails.

It seemed a pity to me not to share my adaptation to Delphi 2006 as well as the changes I had made, particularly the possibility to play with hidden nodes. It taked much acceptance because there are still many (and very loyal) users of your original program, eager to see this program push ahead.
After doing some other small fixes and improvements I found very interesting and instructive to try working on a version control system. In my company is still used SourceSafe and want to make the leap to a more modern system. When I knew about Subversion (and TortoiseSVN as a client) I liked it so much and thought that could be a good idea to try it in a real case, and in an Open Source environment, which had no experience. KeyNote was an excellent candidate.

And changed its name to "KeyNote NF" because it seemed to me correct to differentiate it from your original version. Besides, looking for "keynote" in the Internet never was easy; now with "keynote nf", yes.
I chose to Google Code because I found it very agile, fast and intuitive. Well, now I'm very happy with the experience.

I do it for pure hobby and because I think making the effort to improve the program (because at first I do it to meet my needs) and not share with the community it is a lost effort and a lack of respect for those who like you have offered programs as free software.

I also admit you that there are times I feel a burden that there is so much demand (and mine is not the merit that the program is so well worth) because I have neither the time nor can always dedicate it to this task, I have other hobbies and liabilities.

Finally, for me it's an extra effort to respond in English. I have to help me many times with the program "Lingues". In Spanish would be much easier.

Anyway, this is more or less the story of KeyNote NF

Regards
Daniel

mouser

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #43 on: May 13, 2009, 03:45 PM »
Welcome Daniel  :up:

One of my very favorite aspects of this forum is seeing conversations like this when we get to meet new programmers with these surprise guest visits!  :-* :-* :-*

Here's hoping you stay around for a while and make yourself at home.  :Thmbsup:

dpradov

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #44 on: May 13, 2009, 04:44 PM »
Hello mouser, thanks very much for your kind welcome !  :)

It will be a pleasure to be able to participate in this forum from time to time

cranioscopical

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #45 on: May 13, 2009, 05:51 PM »
It will be a pleasure to be able to participate in this forum from time to time
And thanks for making the extra effort to do so in English. No hablo espaƱol.

kartal

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #46 on: May 13, 2009, 06:37 PM »
I thing Tranglos will get back to Keynote eventually, it will haunt him :)

It does haunt me, but honestly, not in a good way. Long ago my wife and me decided we we never going to live on credit, so thankfully we have no loans to repay in the real world, but the feeling I have about KeyNote is like a huge unpaid debt. Or unfulfilled promises, which is really the same in a way. I guess that's why I registereed a new domain to publish any new stuff I do - but trying to forget an unapid debt is rather futile!



I agree about debt stuff, and I am debt free as well. :)




mouser

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #47 on: June 18, 2009, 12:00 PM »
ActiveHotkeys got a top "QuickPick" in PCMag's 2009 Windows Utility Giude!

http://www.pcmag.com...,2817,2348850,00.asp

Screenshot - 6_18_2009 , 11_59_49 AM_thumb.png

MrChris

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #48 on: August 03, 2009, 06:23 PM »
Great program!  However, I noticed that it does not show the Alt-F4 as active (the key that brings up the "turn off computer" dialog box in Windows XP, or closes whatever application window you're in).  

40hz

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Re: New program: ActiveHotkeys (freeware)
« Reply #49 on: September 14, 2009, 09:17 AM »
And now showing on Maximum PC's website! Congrats! :Thmbsup:

http://www.maximumpc...keyboard_krazies-525