Author Topic: Development Cleaning Suite Submission (Read 51921 times)

mjfreelancing · « **on:** May 20, 2006, 06:33 AM »

Here is my initial submission for this contest. The suite is fully functional and has performed well for me (I just cleaned 400+ MB of temporary files from my development machine).

The "Development Cleaning Suite" (DCS) is a utility that provides a cleanup handler for Widows 2000 and above. Additionally, the suite includes a configuration tool as well as an independant host (DCSUtil) for the handler - providing for additional benefits and more advanced features.

You can download the installation and a PDF file explaining everything (8 pages) from the bottom of this page.

I won't start on help files until the tool is finished due to major screen changes.

An example of its presence with the Windows Disk Cleanup Tool:

Clicking the "Review" button shows a detailed view of all files found and allows you to indicate which files should / should not be deleted.

Using the DCSUtil to perform the scan/purge

Here is a screen shot of the configurator

Note: Although I have thoroughly tested the provided tools please test carefully. By default, all deletions are sent to the recycle bin.

mouser · « **Reply #1 on:** May 20, 2006, 06:35 AM »

looks great

mouser · « **Reply #2 on:** May 20, 2006, 06:40 AM »

i'm trying to think if there are cases where .obj files are needed and shouldn't be deleted (if so might want to disable that one by default).

mouser · « **Reply #3 on:** May 20, 2006, 06:42 AM »

ps. users with old versions of windows pay heed, this is for Widows 2000 and above.

mouser · « **Reply #4 on:** May 20, 2006, 06:52 AM »

some suggestions (you asked!):

1) i can't imagine too many cases of wanting to apply different masks in different directories, so having to specify same dirs for each mask seems really painful. better to just have a single list of dirs i think.
2) and then a list of masks (with checkboxes to let you temporarily disable each?)

3) the ability to drag and drop folders (or a shell extension) to scan a folder (and children) would be to me my #1 request, especially for testing purposes.

4) i think it pays to explain more about how DCS integrates into Windows Disk Cleanup and how to use Windows Disk Cleanup; it's not something i am familiar with and i bet im not alone, and its one of the unique features about this app that people might like.

5) results might also be a candidate for not putting each dif mask on its own tab (have to check each tab to see whats scheduled for deletion might be a bit cumbersome).

just some ideas - feel free to ignore

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #5 on:** May 20, 2006, 07:00 AM »

My approach to the multiple masks and folders/mask is based on my own requirements - this is a definite must.

OBJ files for example : I want them deleted from my own projects but not from 3rd party products.

As for the explanation of the Windows Cleanup Manager - I'll do some work in the final docs.

On this issue of Windows 2000 and above, this is only the case if you want to use the Windows Cleanup tool only. If you are using an earlier version of Windows, my utility DCSUtil will do the same job for you.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #6 on:** May 20, 2006, 07:03 AM »

Just to clarify one thing - the folders are excluded folders, not included folders. if nothing is defined then the entire drive is scanned.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #7 on:** May 20, 2006, 07:11 AM »

To justify putting masks on each tab - I have another application where I placed them in a list with checkboxes and it become a pain (mainly because I could not easily filter which folders to exclude). This suite allowed me to clear out over 400MB of files within 4 parses today (modifying the configuration until I was happy).

Using the tabs, I quickly dropped 4000+ files down to 2000+ - and then cleared nearly half a gig !

With the amount of development I do, this tool is perfect in design (in my opinion).

I don't like the config tool much so am open ears for suggestions on GUI changes - I especially want to get rid of the grid and replace / update it with something better.

The current code is completely pure VCL (including my own framework that complements the VCL) except for a single component to display folders (from Shell Control Pack). Over time I'll update with better components as required - starting with the configuration layout.

mouser · « **Reply #8 on:** May 20, 2006, 07:19 AM »

OBJ files for example : I want them deleted from my own projects but not from 3rd party products.
..
Just to clarify one thing - the folders are excluded folders, not included folders. if nothing is defined then the entire drive is scanned.

ah that makes a lot of sense now.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #9 on:** May 20, 2006, 09:07 AM »

@mjfreelancing: thank you so much for submiting yet another entry to this contest!
This sure is a very interesting program, i think i'll have a look into it, as i tend to keep my computer a complete mess, with a loads of temp files and such!

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #10 on:** May 20, 2006, 06:19 PM »

If there are any users who want to test under an operating system before Windows 2000 let me know. The current setup.exe requires Win 2000 and above only because I haven't tested for the OS version in my code (to determine whether I should be creating certain registry keys).

If I know someone wants to test DCSUtil.exe to achieve the same result as Windows Disk Cleanup then I'll make the appropriate changes and update the installation.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #11 on:** May 20, 2006, 06:55 PM »

I'm starting to plan a new layout for the configurator. It needs to be easier to use (drag and drop options will come once I sort out the main layout issues).

Rather than having two grids on each filemask tab, I was thinking along the lines of this:

The checkboxes would indicate if the folder's sub-folders are also excluded. I'm looking for suggestions on how to make this more obvious to the end user.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #12 on:** May 21, 2006, 01:57 AM »

I might be able to live with this variation:

The filter would allow you to list all entries, or just the entries specific to a volume (such as C:\ or E:\ etc)

I might start on this approach over the next few days and post a new beta. Get your comments in early.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #13 on:** May 24, 2006, 03:02 PM »

I've implemented most of the GUI changes to the Configurator but am considering changing the way the config data is stored. I need to know to what extent this will affect people (are you using it). Please reply to this post if you want to continue testing but don't want to have to reconfigure the scan/purge options.

As you can see I also have filtering now. Am wondering if I should have a hide/show option for the filtered data.

Comments ?

mouser · « **Reply #14 on:** May 24, 2006, 05:25 PM »

speaking for myself, feel free to change the way data is saved; won't bother me to reconfigure.
ps - i know i'm not alone in prefering options be saved in files rather than the registry.

new gui is looking really nice!

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #15 on:** May 24, 2006, 05:48 PM »

Yes, I'm intending to move out of the registry. The initial code is using a framework I've written that made development extremely fast. I have an adaptor class that can save to an INI file (even nested keys) so I'll be updating it over the next few days.

There are some collections I need to store that is not immediately supported in my framework so I might work on improving that first.

Stay tuned.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #16 on:** May 25, 2006, 08:15 AM »

Ok, I have a new version - see bottom of this message for the setup.

The new version has the following changes:

Configurator
-----------
* Mask / Folder representation has completely changed
* Volume filtering is possible (greyed out or hidden)
* Available volumes are now listed under the Edit menu and a check mark next to an item indicates it is excluded from scans / purges
* Several cosmetic issues corrected

DCSUtil
-------
* Does not show volumes that have been excluded by the configurator
* Abort operations (from scanning) are now more responsive

The majority of changes have occured in the configurator so the logic for add/remove/delete folders (especially with filtering enabled) has completely changed. I cannot find any bugs but please let me know if you find something.

The next stage will be modifying the data persistence (removing it from the registry).

I'd like some feedback while I'm doing this.

I recommend un-installing the previous version first just to ensure the additional COM interfaces are registered correctly. All current configuration information will NOT be lost.

mouser · « **Reply #17 on:** May 25, 2006, 10:22 AM »

i'll give it a try and report back.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #18 on:** May 25, 2006, 04:05 PM »

Excellent.

For those of you reading the C++Builder Developer's journal (http://www.bcbjournal.com) you can find my configuration framework (used within this project) discussed in issues Vol 9, No 12 - Vol 10, No 1 - Vol 10, No 2.

I look forward to your results. I'm even looking for reports of cosmetic issues (such as controls not moving when forms are resized, glyph/icon transparency issues and so on. Functional issues are obviously the highest priority.

It will be a few days before the next beta as I'm going to update my configuration framework to handle a few situations not currently supported.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #19 on:** May 28, 2006, 06:25 AM »

Next beta is now available.

Functionally, this version is almost identical to the previous. This version, however, now reads from a "dcs.cfg" file for all configuration options rather than the registry.

I recommend un-installing the previous version before installing this version since some of the previous version information was not updated correctly.

All current configuration will not be removed, but you can remove it manually from the registry at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MJ Freelancing\DCS

If you need help in removing this just let me know - it's really easy.

The configuration framework used in this application has had some major work added to it to better support future requirements. If you notice any aspect of the configuration not persisting correctly please let me know.

I have tested this on my real development system and found no issues but please perform your own testing with all cautions in mind.

At this stage, I may continue to build my "future feature list" while I work on some documentation / help. If you have any comments or suggestions I'd love to hear from you.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #20 on:** May 29, 2006, 01:28 AM »

I'm quite happy with the current build (as per previous message). I just installed DCS on another development machine and successfully filtered 4000+ files to just over 2000 in less than 5 minutes and cleared 1.53GB of temporary files.

All future purges will only take as long as it takes to scan the disk since the filtering is now setup - always remember to verify the files about to be purged in case you add new 3rd party folders that you don't want cleared.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #21 on:** June 03, 2006, 10:39 PM »

Version 1.0.0.16 is now available for testing. Some runtime files are not yet 'versioned' so please uninstall the previous version before installing this one to ensure they are installed correctly.

Apart from some enhacements in my configuration framework, the main difference in this build include:

* Configuration can be exported to HTML

* DCSUtil can now be used to select ANY folder as the starting point. The next beta will include the ability to select any shared folder on the network. This facility is not possible using the standard Windows Cleanup Manager.

* DCSUtil is now designed as "stay on top" and can be minimized.

* Minor (cosmetic) bug fixes

Here is the new dialog with a custom folder selected as the starting point:

If you have any features you'd like added be sure to let me know soon. I'll be freezing development soon so I can get started on the documentation.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #22 on:** June 09, 2006, 07:24 AM »

Version 1.0.0.22 beta is now ready. All files are correctly versioned now so there is no need to uninstall any previous versions.

The executables all report their version - and have the same build number since it is all fully automated.

I am now working on the reference manual / help file so apart from these menu items this will more than likely be the last beta.

If you find any bugs (and none have been reported since I started so I'm quite happy) please let me know before my final submission is made.

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #23 on:** June 12, 2006, 11:20 PM »

Release Candidate 1 is now available - version 1.0.0.27

The file http://www.mjfreelancing.com/download/dcs/dcs_rc1_manual.zip is a 31 page PDF conversion of the help file.

The file http://www.mjfreelancing.com/download/dcs/dcs_rc1_setup.zip is the full setup including a complete help file.

There are no known bugs in this release so please report any issues before I submit the final version (which may well be this release if no issues are reported)

mjfreelancing · « **Reply #24 on:** July 04, 2006, 11:27 PM »

Just a short note to say that version 1.0.0.27 is my submission version. I've been running it since it was released without any issues. I hope it helps you to keep your system clean !