Author Topic: IDEA: Auto-Tile open windows. (Read 25282 times)

thefritz_j · « **on:** July 19, 2007, 06:06 PM »

How about an app that would run in the systray and each time a window would open it would Auto-Tile, (auto fit) the new window with all of the currently open windows. So with each new opened window all of the other windows are still visible, but smaller of course, and re-tiled so that they all fit the screen.

Probably the snarkiest part would be to decide which method to tile, ... here's a suggested tile-method order:

1 window => 1x1 (

maximized)
2 windows => 2x1 (two tiled windows across)
3 windows => 2x2 (one blank tile)
4 windows => 2x2
5 windows => 3x2 (one blank tile)
6 windows => 3x2
7 windows => 4x2 (widescreen monitors!, one blank tile)
8 windows => 4x2
9 windows => what??? you really have 9 windows open at once!!!

I'd imagine the blank tile would just show the desktop below.

Good idea? Easy?

nite_monkey · « **Reply #1 on:** July 19, 2007, 10:36 PM »

just asking, have you ever right clicked on the taskbar? if someone has, maybe you could get an idea of how to tile the windows that way.

justice · « **Reply #2 on:** July 20, 2007, 01:48 AM »

BTW on a sidenote are there hotkeys for cascade windows, tile horizontally/vertically?
I guess it would be used more that way. I suggest the requester is looking for GridMove or is an featurerequest for GridMove?

thefritz_j · « **Reply #3 on:** July 20, 2007, 10:06 AM »

Yeah, maybe this is a feature request for GridMove,... like "Auto-Fill grid positions with newly opened windows"?,
but what about increasing the number of positions to handle the number of open windows? Is that still within the scope of Gridmove?

jgpaiva · « **Reply #4 on:** July 20, 2007, 03:24 PM »

This has been talked as being a part of gridmove, but i thought it wouldn't be that good idea.
BUT, i'm going to do this coding snack, as long as you don't ask me to make it "smart", by generating grids when you go over 8 windows

brett · « **Reply #5 on:** July 20, 2007, 04:42 PM »

BTW on a sidenote are there hotkeys for cascade windows, tile horizontally/vertically?
-justice (July 20, 2007, 01:48 AM)

None in Windowz xp, not sure about vista.
I had a talk with jgpaiva a little while ago about tiling, and as he is far more educated in scripting then myself, we will see what he comes up with.

Brett

jgpaiva · « **Reply #6 on:** July 20, 2007, 05:08 PM »

Actually, maybe you could post your script here, brett.

BTW.. why doesn't the rightclick taskbar-> title windows method not fit you, thefritz_j?

thefritz_j · « **Reply #7 on:** July 20, 2007, 05:26 PM »

Two things wrong with the Task bar Context menu tiling.

There's only vertical and horizontal options, and you'd have to manually do it (two clicks) after each time you open a new window. That's the "auto" part

justice · « **Reply #8 on:** July 21, 2007, 07:27 AM »

I can see you asking for 'ignore certain applications' options and 'remove apps toolbars' options right after v1 lol basically the lack of screen space and the fact you won't want all applications minimized might be a problem? Don't know how' you'll use it like but it seems logical.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #9 on:** July 26, 2007, 10:01 AM »

Ok... Let's see what you think about this.
Just unpack the attached zip, and run "AutoTile.exe". (or AutoTile.ahk, if you have autohotkeys installed).

added window height check and fixed misspelling

thefritz_j · « **Reply #10 on:** July 26, 2007, 02:42 PM »

Wow! it's BEEWTEEFULLLL!

Lemme try it for a day or so and I'll give you some feedback on it, sound like a plan?

Thanks again, I'm excited to try this!

nite_monkey · « **Reply #11 on:** July 26, 2007, 03:22 PM »

I don't know if it's just me, but when ever I try to run your autotile program I get bombarded with the error Can't find script engine "JScript" for script "file location".

thefritz_j · « **Reply #12 on:** July 26, 2007, 03:27 PM »

I extracted all three files into their own folder and it worked.

What does the js file do anyway?

jgpaiva · « **Reply #13 on:** July 26, 2007, 03:30 PM »

Oh damn... Do you get that error when you try to run the windowtitle.js included in the zip, nite_monkey?

That's a javascript file, but i supposed it was somehow installed on all windows instalations.

Does anyone know how this can be solved?

justice · « **Reply #14 on:** July 26, 2007, 03:31 PM »

on my work pc the js file is opened by my html editor because that's the standard app to open js files. everytiem i start an app lol

but i can see why.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #15 on:** July 26, 2007, 03:31 PM »

What does the js file do anyway?
-thefritz_j (July 26, 2007, 03:27 PM)

The js file is what actually tiles the windows. As ahk doesn't have any code for this, and it'd be quite a pain to code, i used some "help"

Glad to know it's working for you, fritz

justice · « **Reply #16 on:** July 26, 2007, 03:31 PM »

download windows scripting host 5.6 from
http://www.microsoft...22-86EB-95A22B832CAA

This download installs Microsoft® Windows® Script containing Visual Basic® Script Edition (VBScript.) Version 5.6, JScript® Version 5.6, Windows Script Components, Windows Script Host 5.6, and Windows Script Runtime Version 5.6.

nite_monkey · « **Reply #17 on:** July 26, 2007, 04:30 PM »

Thanks justice, I downloaded that, and now I don't get the error.

thefritz_j · « **Reply #18 on:** July 27, 2007, 10:08 AM »

Joy! I'm lovin' it!

(As a side note prior to trying this I was using the lifehack SweptAway program and just for kicks I didn't turn it off when testing this and.... I like the results. Things stay tiled but when you stop using one of the tiled windows it Auto-Un-Tiles it! WOW! So if I stay in one program for a long time, eventually it is maximized! So nice.)

My only comments are 1) that sometimes the windows switch positions, but now I see that you are using the built in Windows tiling there's not much you can do about that.

and 2) would there be a way to not tile when a tiny pop-up window comes up? Maybe you could tell me how to tweak the ahk to not do it when the window height is below... 200px?

I really like how the save, open, windows dialogs are tiled too! In the past I was always changing their size and now they are perfect.

Thanks again for this! Any ideas about #2?

jgpaiva · « **Reply #19 on:** July 27, 2007, 10:14 AM »

I see the combination with sweptaway, fritz.. Interesting!

About #2: It can be hard to identify those windows. Let's just specify better what you mean by "tiny pop-up" window. I can specify something like: if window is smaller than a specific height, do not tile.

BUT, if that window stays on the screen and a window is minimized / opened / etc, that window will be tiled too, because of #1. I have no control on which windows are tiled, all of the active windows are.

What do you think about this idea?

thefritz_j · « **Reply #20 on:** July 27, 2007, 10:24 AM »

jgpaiva,

Right, but perhaps you could not "invoke" the javascript from the ahk if... the height was less than 200px. Maybe?

I see what you're saying about it being tiled the next time, that would be okay because usually I've already clicked on the "yes/no" or "ok/cancel" from the pop-up by then anyway. ya know?

Thanks again for exploring this with me!

(Also, I'm just getting a feeling for things, has this gone beyond the "snack" stage?)

jgpaiva · « **Reply #21 on:** July 27, 2007, 12:13 PM »

Right, but perhaps you could not "invoke" the javascript from the ahk if... the height was less than 200px. Maybe?
-thefritz_j (July 27, 2007, 10:24 AM)

Ok, that's simple, I should have it in a few hours. (not that it takes much time, but i've got to go buy myself some clothes now

)

(Also, I'm just getting a feeling for things, has this gone beyond the "snack" stage?)
-thefritz_j (July 27, 2007, 10:24 AM)

You surely haven't seen GridMove's thread. THAT'S gone beyond the snack stage

jgpaiva · « **Reply #22 on:** July 27, 2007, 01:47 PM »

Ok... Done.
See the post above for download link.

The default height is 200 pixels, but it can be custumized. Just edit the ini file and change the "dialogheight" parameter.

thefritz_j · « **Reply #23 on:** August 29, 2007, 09:38 AM »

Wow, ya know I'm STILL using this and Love it!

Should someone (I dunno, maybe me?) move this to the "Finished" forum?

justice · « **Reply #24 on:** August 29, 2007, 10:02 AM »

When i'm using visual web developer studio express, everytime i pess the right mouse button all the windows are reordered so I can't run it fullscreen