Author Topic: NANY 2013 Release: Customizable Remote Administration Panel (CRAP) (Read 118294 times)

hamradio · « **Reply #50 on:** April 13, 2018, 10:45 AM »

Hey there .o/

I've been thinking about a possible improvement : since having spaces in the variable field can prevent some commands from working (but not always, and one might even want to add parameters that way), how about adding a checkbox option in the add/edit button window for that button to automatically "remove" spaces from the variable string before passing it to the command?

Note: then it would be nice if the tooltip that shows the command preview and status of the "run confirmation" also stated about that.
-ConstanceJill (April 13, 2018, 03:31 AM)

Just from the left and right side of the variable correct?

hamradio · « **Reply #51 on:** April 13, 2018, 12:36 PM »

Hey there .o/

I've been thinking about a possible improvement : since having spaces in the variable field can prevent some commands from working (but not always, and one might even want to add parameters that way), how about adding a checkbox option in the add/edit button window for that button to automatically "remove" spaces from the variable string before passing it to the command?

Note: then it would be nice if the tooltip that shows the command preview and status of the "run confirmation" also stated about that.
-ConstanceJill (April 13, 2018, 03:31 AM)

Just from the left and right side of the variable correct?
-hamradio (April 13, 2018, 10:45 AM)

I decided to go on and do the above as figured it was the most logical. It is now updated and can find the link on original post.

Note: It does not remove the whitespace from the variable combo, but will ignore it if set to when it is needed, so that the combo entry is normal behavior.

ConstanceJill · « **Reply #52 on:** April 13, 2018, 02:26 PM »

Yes, that would be the idea: only ignore those at the beginning and end, since those are likely to be introduced by mistake when copying and pasting.
Thanks a lot!

Edit: now that I think a bit more about it, I can't quite see any reason not to ignore whitespace as long as it's only at the beginning and end of the variable string but... anyway, it's still good to have the option, I guess

hamradio · « **Reply #53 on:** April 13, 2018, 02:50 PM »

Yes, that would be the idea: only ignore those at the beginning and end, since those are likely to be introduced by mistake when copying and pasting.
Thanks a lot!

Edit: now that I think a bit more about it, I can't quite see any reason not to ignore whitespace as long as it's only at the beginning and end of the variable string but... anyway, it's still good to have the option, I guess
-ConstanceJill (April 13, 2018, 02:26 PM)

Hope the new checkbox layout is okay for you as well. If not I can change them around, but they all wouldn't fit on the top line so I moved the variable one's to the middle bottom.

ConstanceJill · « **Reply #54 on:** April 16, 2018, 03:55 AM »

Yeah, it's OK

By the way there's a very minor issue: while the tooltip which appears when hovering the mouse over a button does show the command as it will be ran (removing whitespace at the beginning and end), the one that appears in the status bar does not.

hamradio · « **Reply #55 on:** April 16, 2018, 11:06 AM »

Yeah, it's OK

By the way there's a very minor issue: while the tooltip which appears when hovering the mouse over a button does show the command as it will be ran (removing whitespace at the beginning and end), the one that appears in the status bar does not.
-ConstanceJill (April 16, 2018, 03:55 AM)

Thanks! That minor detail should be fixed in the minor update to build 2.

ConstanceJill · « **Reply #56 on:** April 16, 2018, 01:11 PM »

Thank you :]

hamradio · « **Reply #57 on:** April 16, 2018, 01:40 PM »

Thank you :]
-ConstanceJill (April 16, 2018, 01:11 PM)

You're Welcome

ConstanceJill · « **Reply #58 on:** December 07, 2018, 07:24 AM »

Up!

Would it be possible to make it so that, when creating a new button, the icon can be retrieved from / linked directly to an .EXE or .DLL file (like in Windows shorcuts) ?

hamradio · « **Reply #59 on:** December 12, 2018, 11:02 AM »

Up!

Would it be possible to make it so that, when creating a new button, the icon can be retrieved from / linked directly to an .EXE or .DLL file (like in Windows shorcuts) ?
-ConstanceJill (December 07, 2018, 07:24 AM)

Just got back to computer after being away again. I will take a look as soon as possible.

hamradio · « **Reply #60 on:** January 10, 2019, 12:55 AM »

Up!

Would it be possible to make it so that, when creating a new button, the icon can be retrieved from / linked directly to an .EXE or .DLL file (like in Windows shorcuts) ?
-ConstanceJill (December 07, 2018, 07:24 AM)

Okay...I think I will be able to do exe for sure by attempting to extract and save the icon in an icons folder in 3 different sizes. (Attempting sizes of 32x32, 24x24, 16x16).

With that said I am close to having it implemented and ready to go since I am reusing some code from another one of my apps.

It is suppose to default to 32x32 and work down as well as determine if any valid icons exist that it can get and if not will ask you to try again.

ConstanceJill · « **Reply #61 on:** January 10, 2019, 05:07 AM »

Hi there :]

I only tested the beta you PMed me a link to a little for now as I'm home this week, but it seems to be working fine.

I would have preferred if the user could actually link to the .exe (or a .dll), and also be able to chose which icon to select when there are several inside of it (just like when modifying a shortcut from Windows), instead of just automatically extracting the first icon, but it's still an improvement over the previous versions where any icon had to already be extracted somewhere

hamradio · « **Reply #62 on:** January 10, 2019, 10:11 AM »

Hi there :]

I only tested the beta you PMed me a link to a little for now as I'm home this week, but it seems to be working fine.

I would have preferred if the user could actually link to the .exe (or a .dll), and also be able to chose which icon to select when there are several inside of it (just like when modifying a shortcut from Windows), instead of just automatically extracting the first icon, but it's still an improvement over the previous versions where any icon had to already be extracted somewhere
-ConstanceJill (January 10, 2019, 05:07 AM)

Heres a little more of an explanation of why I got it doing what it is with the beta I let you try...

Loading from the executable directly each launch of CRAP could add second(s) to the load of program is one reason I am trying to keep it as images. (See footnote below.) Especially since I have not figured out the way currently for C Sharp to do as is possible with shortcuts, which would allow choosing of icons. I could let it load the default icons from the program each time, but it is essentially the same exact ones I am saving which also reduces the load time of CRAP initially. I have looked briefly...so if I figure out how to do as with shortcuts and other programs I will explore adding that method more at that time.

Footnote: I got both methods in Portable Extension Warlock. The difference is noticeable in my opinion.

ConstanceJill · « **Reply #63 on:** January 11, 2019, 01:51 AM »

Alright, that makes sense.

I wonder if the load times increase that much when using a SSD?

hamradio · « **Reply #64 on:** January 11, 2019, 10:29 AM »

I wonder if the load times increase that much when using a SSD?
-ConstanceJill (January 11, 2019, 01:51 AM)

I am not sure as I do not have one of those.

hamradio · « **Reply #65 on:** May 01, 2019, 12:16 PM »

CRAP v1.0.152 build 10 was private beta just getting around to making it the official version. If you already have that version you should not have to re download this version again as it is identical to it.

New in this version is an icon extractor to get the icon from executable files.

All others see first post for download link.

hamradio · « **Reply #66 on:** October 30, 2019, 01:01 PM »

I have been working on a few areas of the program and cleaning up some code. See screenshots of the button editor (icons might get redesigned) coming in a future release...

NANY 2013 Release: Customizable Remote Administration Panel (CRAP)

ConstanceJill · « **Reply #67 on:** October 30, 2019, 04:00 PM »

Alright then, I'm still using it every day at work so I'm available if you have a version you want tested

hamradio · « **Reply #68 on:** October 30, 2019, 10:51 PM »

Alright then, I'm still using it every day at work so I'm available if you have a version you want tested
-ConstanceJill (October 30, 2019, 04:00 PM)

Any thoughts on the new look? Personally I think it looks cleaner and easier to read.

Note: It does cleanup the caption for the display in list by removing the \n from the captions if it finds that in it along with making the separator and linebreak information for display in the list different but it doesn't mess with the original data as it just does that for the display version in the list any thoughts on that?

ConstanceJill · « **Reply #69 on:** October 31, 2019, 02:44 AM »

Well so far I only really noticed 2 differences between the version I'm using and your screenshots:

1 - in your screenshot, a small sized version of the icon associated to the button is visible next to the checkbox: I like that

2 - in your screenshot, there is no grid or visible separation between the column headers: I'm not sure if that's related to Windows 10's theme or due to a change you made, but I must admit I'm not a fan of this

… imho it's better to have a visible indicator of where you should move the mouse cursor if you want to resize the columns, like I circled on the attached screenshot.

From the screenshots only, I didn't figure about the "\n"s not being visible, but since they can't be seen, that wasn't obvious… and I don't think I quite like that either

.
Since it is a dialog box intended for the user to review/change settings, and they are a part of those settings, I don't see much point in hiding them here. On the contrary, I suppose them not being visible might cause issues in figuring out exactly why a button is displaying as it is.
If you're editing the contents of a specific caption field, do the \n in that very field become visible then? If not, how do you make them visible, so you can know if there are any and where they are?

I'm interested in the "linebreak" feature. Does that make like a horizontal line splitting the space in the interface into different areas, or am I misinterpreting it? If that's what it does, is there a way for the user to add some sort of header/title caption to the different areas?

hamradio · « **Reply #70 on:** October 31, 2019, 06:42 AM »

2 - in your screenshot, there is no grid or visible separation between the column headers: I'm not sure if that's related to Windows 10's theme or due to a change you made, but I must admit I'm not a fan of this … imho it's better to have a visible indicator of where you should move the mouse cursor if you want to resize the columns, like I circled on the attached screenshot.
-ConstanceJill (October 31, 2019, 02:44 AM)

At the time of screenshots I was still working on that but at the time as well the columns resized to fit the contents somewhat.

It should now be displaying the right side of the column.

From the screenshots only, I didn't figure about the "\n"s not being visible, but since they can't be seen, that wasn't obvious… and I don't think I quite like that either .
Since it is a dialog box intended for the user to review/change settings, and they are a part of those settings, I don't see much point in hiding them here. On the contrary, I suppose them not being visible might cause issues in figuring out exactly why a button is displaying as it is.
If you're editing the contents of a specific caption field, do the \n in that very field become visible then? If not, how do you make them visible, so you can know if there are any and where they are?
-ConstanceJill (October 31, 2019, 02:44 AM)

All of the \n will still show up in the editing of the button. I could probably make it an option to display the original caption or the easier to read caption in the list if you would like?

I'm interested in the "linebreak" feature. Does that make like a horizontal line splitting the space in the interface into different areas, or am I misinterpreting it? If that's what it does, is there a way for the user to add some sort of header/title caption to the different areas?
-ConstanceJill (October 31, 2019, 02:44 AM)

I believe that should be in the current version and what that does is tells the next button after a linebreak to goto next line and any buttons will start from there but it still will not allow for a header/title as its mainly just something that the panel where the buttons go allow to set to do what I mentioned. Use Linebreak for the button caption like you would use Separator for a separator.

ConstanceJill · « **Reply #71 on:** October 31, 2019, 07:30 AM »

All of the \n will still show up in the editing of the button. I could probably make it an option to display the original caption or the easier to read caption in the list if you would like?
-hamradio (October 31, 2019, 06:42 AM)

Yes, please, that'd be nice

I believe that should be in the current version […]
-hamradio (October 31, 2019, 06:42 AM)

Indeed it is! I should have read tips.txt again.

hamradio · « **Reply #72 on:** November 01, 2019, 08:03 PM »

Indeed it is! I should have read tips.txt again.
-ConstanceJill (October 31, 2019, 07:30 AM)

No worries. I believe I have got a plan to make em more official anyway. (Separate from the add button caption all together.)

I also have a few other major things I have been able to do. In turn people who have been using the program will need to do some action's on their own with this new version when I release it. I promise it will be worth it though. Don't click spoiler unless you want a little bit more info.

Spoiler

Like create a directory within the program directory and move their button data file to it...

hamradio · « **Reply #73 on:** January 12, 2020, 09:35 PM »

Custom Remote Administration Panel v2.0.0 build 1 - Public Beta

1. Redesigned layout editor.

NANY 2013 Release: Customizable Remote Administration Panel (CRAP)
2. Multi-layout support.

NANY 2013 Release: Customizable Remote Administration Panel (CRAP)
3. Support for reading of 32x32 icons from executable and dll files.

NANY 2013 Release: Customizable Remote Administration Panel (CRAP)
4. Can now link to other layout files from within a layout.
5. Separator and Linebreak split up from using the same dialog as a button.
6. Several optimizations to other parts of program.

hamradio · « **Reply #74 on:** January 13, 2020, 08:14 PM »

Not just a bump but a bump with more information...

I have fixed a few things I have noticed and optimized the new exe/dll selector some more. I have also decided to add a couple more macros for icons; which namely are the system directory and systemX64 directory (That could be useful for example if the system drive letter is on another drive letter than what you created the button on).

Also, has anyone tried the public beta and wouldn't mind sharing what they are thinking?