Author Topic: TicTac 1.7.0.0 (Read 23231 times)

MilesAhead · « **on:** July 30, 2010, 03:22 PM »

TicTac 1.0

No, it doesn't play the game. It just positions the active window to a section that would correspond to a tic tac toe position. The positions visually correspond to the NumPad number keys. 3 is Bottom Right, 8 is Center Top etc..

Download: http://www.favessoft.com/hotkeys.html

Usage: Leave running in Tray. To position the active window, press the Windows Key and a numberpad key 1-9. Win NumPad5 would center the window. Win NumPad1 would position it on the bottom left.

Only single monitor setups are supported. However on each hotkey press it does get the desktop work area from the OS. It should not cover the Taskbar or get thrown off by a change of screen res.

The active window is not resized or changed. It's only moved such that the entire window should show(if it fits in the work area that is) either flush to an edge of the work area, or centered, depending on the numberpad key used with the Win key.

parkint · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2010, 05:52 PM »

What a really cool idea!
Since it 'sticks' the window in a (new) place I would suggest the name "TicTack". Like a thumbtack that sticks a piece of paper on the wall.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #2 on:** July 30, 2010, 08:44 PM »

What a really cool idea!
Since it 'sticks' the window in a (new) place I would suggest the name "TicTack". Like a thumbtack that sticks a piece of paper on the wall.
-parkint (July 30, 2010, 05:52 PM)

Thanks. Glad you like it.

edit:

WindowMenuPlus had this as one of its menu commands, but insisted on resizing the window at the same time. I prefer just moving the window as directly as possible without altering it. So I did it via hotkey.

See the Readme for the sordid details.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #3 on:** July 30, 2010, 08:51 PM »

TicTac 1.1 Version 1.1 adds commands to the Tray Menu such as Show Readme to display the Readme file, Visit Hotkey Page, Donate etc... Also double clicking the Tray Icon brings up an About dialog displaying the current hotkey, version and copyright info .. the usual soporifics.

I also added the ability to change the hotkey modifiers using an .ini file setting. If you don't like using the Win Key you can change the modifier setting in the .ini file. Shift is not advisable as that changes the state of the number pad. If the hotkey assigment fails, I assume something illegal was specified in the .ini file, and the program quits. If it seems broken a quick way to get it back on track is shut it down and delete the .ini file, and start over.. but this is in the Readme.

Each time the program is run, on exit it writes TicTac.ini to the same folder as TicTac.exe. The .ini file has comments explaining the format of the HotKeyModifier setting. Default is # for the Win Key. Remember to quit the program before editing the .ini file, otherwise your changes will be overwritten on program close.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #4 on:** July 31, 2010, 07:00 AM »

Hey there!

I tried this but whenever I got three windows in a row it drew a line through them and told me I'd lost

Seriously though, you've become quite an asset to DC and we're lucky to have you around.
Thanks for all you contribute!

MilesAhead · « **Reply #5 on:** July 31, 2010, 01:07 PM »

Now I need to find an animated gif of a head swelling.

Thanks for the compliment.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #6 on:** July 31, 2010, 01:12 PM »

TicTac 1.2 Added Change Hotkey Modifier command to the tray menu.

Now you shouldn't need to edit the .ini file. If the hotkey modifier is changed using the Input Box, the change will take effect immediately. The setting will be saved to .ini on program close.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #7 on:** July 31, 2010, 04:08 PM »

TicTac 1.4 Now the hotkey modifier is checked for valid character combinations( any combination of the 3 chars '^ '!' and '#') both when reading the .ini file, and when processing the InputBox.

If an invalid modifier is detected on start up, it is reset to the default( the Win Key) and an error msg is displayed. If during InputBox processing, the current one is kept and an error displayed. The program doesn't quit unless it gets a failure setting the first hotkey.

edit: if everything seems to work except one position, another program may have that hotkey. Try changing the hotkey modifier to get around it. When you change the modifier, all hotkeys are released and reset to the new combination.

tomos · « **Reply #8 on:** July 31, 2010, 05:29 PM »

damn

I keep downloading & you keep updating :p
:-)

MilesAhead · « **Reply #9 on:** July 31, 2010, 06:40 PM »

damn

I keep downloading & you keep updating :p
:-)
-tomos (July 31, 2010, 05:29 PM)

Hehe. I think it's pretty stable now. Don't think I'd add anything unless I figure out how to do it with the mouse instead of keys. But that won't be for awhile.

PhilB66 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 01, 2010, 12:19 AM »

Canoot play TicTac... 'Numbpad' nonexistent on my lap top.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #11 on:** August 01, 2010, 02:33 AM »

Canoot play TicTac... 'Numbpad' nonexistent on my lap top.
-PhilB66 (August 01, 2010, 12:19 AM)

I'm working on a mouse addon for it. I should have it ready to upload in a day or so. The way the mouse handling works, you Winkey click on the active window and a grid pops up with buttons for the 9 positions. You click a button and it sends the corresponding hotkey to the numpad handler program.

I've got all that part done. Now I just need to add an option for it to the Tray Menu of the numpad handler and write functions to launch and kill the mouse handler exe when the option is enabled/disabled or if you change the hotkey modifier from the Tray Menu etc..

You won't even see the mouse handler program unless you look in task manager. It's just easier to split the job into 2 tasks to take advantage of the strengths of both programming languages(AutoIt3 and ahk.)

MilesAhead · « **Reply #12 on:** August 01, 2010, 03:21 AM »

Canoot play TicTac... 'Numbpad' nonexistent on my lap top.
-PhilB66 (August 01, 2010, 12:19 AM)

There is the possibility if the keyboard does not actually have the keys, the hotkey registrations may fail. I don't have a laptop to try it. But let's see what happens.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #13 on:** August 01, 2010, 11:29 AM »

Canoot play TicTac... 'Numbpad' nonexistent on my lap top.
-PhilB66 (August 01, 2010, 12:19 AM)

btw, could you try running it anyway? Or have you? If it gets an error trying to assign the first hotkey, it should pop up an error msgbox. If it doesn't then the way I have it should work. I'll probably come out with a mouse-only version after a bit so that people who don't want to use the numberpad and assign 9 hotkeys can just mouse click. The grid is a bit large now. I'm not the greatest with ahk guis. But it's working. I'll try to improve the looks eventually.

Edit: Not necessary. I've got a mouse-only version working using just one ahk program. I'm putting the polish on it now. Tray menu commands etc.. I think I'm going to call the mouse version TicClick.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #14 on:** August 01, 2010, 06:19 PM »

Directly under TicTac on my page you can download a mouse-only version called TicClick.

tomos · « **Reply #15 on:** August 03, 2010, 12:58 PM »

That's really nice, thanks Miles. I might try the mouse version too as I'm not used to using the numberpad with numlock on (although I always intended getting used to it)
some credits gone your way

MilesAhead · « **Reply #16 on:** August 03, 2010, 03:41 PM »

Thank you.

btw, I updated the mouse one so that it moves the mouse pointer to the center of the grid. That works better than trying to move the window under the mouse. Simpler is often better(mainly because I can't figure out how to do complicated.)

MilesAhead · « **Reply #17 on:** August 04, 2010, 02:06 AM »

TicTac 1.5.0.0 Added Check for Updates command to Tray Menu. (I would appreciate it if anyone using dial-up internet would try it out as I only have broadband.)

MilesAhead · « **Reply #18 on:** August 04, 2010, 02:49 PM »

That's really nice, thanks Miles. I might try the mouse version too as I'm not used to using the numberpad with numlock on (although I always intended getting used to it)
some credits gone your way
-tomos (August 03, 2010, 12:58 PM)

btw, on that program it's not difficult to put in duplicate hotkeys so that it will work if Numlock is on or off. Only thing it won't do is work with Shift. I already tried it. It must confuse the hotkey handling mechanism. I'll be updating it soon so it should work with Numlock set either way. If Check for Update works as designed, you should be able to automatically download the zip file when the new version is on the server.

tomos · « **Reply #19 on:** August 04, 2010, 03:10 PM »

That's really nice, thanks Miles. I might try the mouse version too as I'm not used to using the numberpad with numlock on (although I always intended getting used to it)
some credits gone your way
-tomos (August 03, 2010, 12:58 PM)

btw, on that program it's not difficult to put in duplicate hotkeys so that it will work if Numlock is on or off. Only thing it won't do is work with Shift. I already tried it. It must confuse the hotkey handling mechanism. I'll be updating it soon so it should work with Numlock set either way. If Check for Update works as designed, you should be able to automatically download the zip file when the new version is on the server.
-MilesAhead (August 04, 2010, 02:49 PM)

Havent installed the latest yet. I've decided to try sticking with this 'version' with numberlock on - I only ever used those keys for home and end, which are duplicates anyways (I'm now getting some interesting results when typing!)

> I'll be updating it soon so it should work with Numlock set either way
that sounds good too though

MilesAhead · « **Reply #20 on:** August 04, 2010, 03:30 PM »

I spoke too soon. Since AutoIt3 and AutoHotKey are so similar I confuse the two and forget which app I did in which. ahk you can just lay another hotkey on top. But not all the number keys have a function when numlock is off.

The best I could do is detect if Numlock is off, and if so, turn it on. I could put it as an .ini file setting. I think I'd have it default to not interfere with Numlock unless the user sets it to '1' in the .ini file. That's probably the safest bet.

tomos · « **Reply #21 on:** August 04, 2010, 03:41 PM »

I spoke too soon. Since AutoIt3 and AutoHotKey are so similar I confuse the two and forget which app I did in which. ahk you can just lay another hotkey on top. But not all the number keys have a function when numlock is off.

The best I could do is detect if Numlock is off, and if so, turn it on. I could put it as an .ini file setting. I think I'd have it default to not interfere with Numlock unless the user sets it to '1' in the .ini file. That's probably the safest bet.
-MilesAhead (August 04, 2010, 03:30 PM)

no need to do it for my sake anyways - cause, as I say, I'm going to stick with numlock on

MilesAhead · « **Reply #22 on:** August 04, 2010, 04:09 PM »

That's ok. I think it's a good feature since I can forget to have Numlock on too. It's already done.

edit: I must say it was kind of fun to use the Check for Update on my other machine. Usually I have to open the browser to my hotkey page, download and replace to make sure the downloaded file works. It's a kludge but if the user clicks Yes to download the newer file, it's downloaded into the home folder of the program, the zip file and folder are opened, and the program quits. Just drag & drop from the zip file to update.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #23 on:** August 04, 2010, 04:14 PM »

TicTac 1.6.0.0 Added TurnNumlockOn option to .ini file. The program checks the Numlock state on startup. If Numlock is off, and TurnNumlockOn setting is 1, then it will turn NumLock On. Otherwise it leaves it alone.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #24 on:** September 10, 2010, 07:23 PM »

TicTac Lite is available from the same page. It works the same as TicTac, but instead of using a Tray Icon Menu, it just uses an invisible window and hotkeys. I implemented it as a vc++ Win32 message loop with no icons or other resources to keep it small.

When run, if it loads successfully you should hear a chime. Press Alt-F1 for About box(with opportunity to donate.)

Press Win-NumberPad0 to get a Quit confirmation dialog. Win-NumPad1 - 9 moves the active window same as TicTac.

The download link is directly below the one for TicTac.