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NANY 2015 Release: Active Text Notes

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anandcoral:
NANY 2015 Entry Information
Application Name Active Text Notes Version 1.0.0 Short Description Display text from a generated text file in a non-interactive mode Supported OSes WinXp and above Web Page https://sites.google.com/site/activetextnotes/home Download Link https://sites.google.com/site/activetextnotes/download

Description
We already have many electronic post-it-notes like notes for our computer. Most work just like paper paper version. Well they do most of the job, we normally require from them. They act as a static object, the text of which are added/ edited by us manually.

Well I needed similar desktop note but active. I wanted it to show the text content from a text file. The text file will get altered either manually by me or from another program. Not a big deal here. Well I wanted more. I want the note to run the program generate the text and display it. But, it should not disturb me. It should do it's work silently and update the text on the note on the desktop. I will, when I feel like, will glance at it to get the information.

My free app "Overlap Wallpaper" gave me an idea. I made Active Text Note, which is similar to it, but shows a text file content.

Features
Active Text Note runs a given program and displays the output text file on the desktop. We can display directory listing of a network folder, auto backup log file text, latest text info. from a url etc.
I made few helper programs for downloading url, html to text conversion, text extraction etc.

Screenshots
https://sites.google.com/site/activetextnotes/screen-shots

Usage
Installation
To install, extract the zip file in a folder, say "Active Text Notes", and run the "Active Text Notes" exe.
To uninstall, right click on tray icon of "Active Text Notes" and select 'Exit'. Then delete all files in the "Active Text Notes" folder and remove the "Active Text Notes" folder.

Using the Application
In settings option set the program to run and the text file name to be read. You can leave program name blank.

wraith808:
Nice looking program... once I got my head around it.

I'd suggest making your own file that does something non-intrusive, and showing the end result in your screenshots.  I think it would help with understanding the program.

Ath:
 :Thmbsup:
And another :up: for joining this year's NANY ;)

mouser:
Nice!  :up:

IainB:
@anandcoral:
Thanks! Nice. I tried this out. It didn't seem able to pass on the text filepath/name to the editor, though it did display that text file's contents correctly.
This is almost exactly the sort of thing I have been looking for ever since I had to abandon Samurize (it didn't work after Windows XP).
One of the features of Samurize enabled the user to display a text file (I have ToDo.txt) as an object on the Desktop wallpaper, complete with transparency, colour and objects as borders, etc. You couldn't edit the object directly, but by hovering anywhere over it (the text object) with the mouse, the user could click to edit the actual text file with the specified .txt file editor, or simply invoke the editor to open the text file using AHK hotkeys. Any changes made to the text file updated the object after you closed the file.
Example of Samurize, below:

NANY 2015 Release: Active Text Notes


The closest I had got to it since then was with a Stickies transparent note on the desktop wallpaper as a directly editable object. If the note is "ghosted", then the object is uneditable, and you have to enter Stickies to edit the text of that note. Either way, I would prefer a simple text file, as with Samurize (above).
Example of Stickies, below:

NANY 2015 Release: Active Text Notes

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