Calling All Programmers!!!

[Xade]

Hello again,

I tried out the registry keys and, lo and behold, it worked!

The basic program itself seems to work, in that you enter commands and it opens stuff up for you.

But yeah, at the moment it captures *every* key, as opposed to using the new method you've suggested Doom and just capturing F12.

Yeahhh, the 'Master' stuff - what's all that about?!?!

And it would be a nice feature if it cleared the text every time you load the program. At the moment, the last command you entered sits in the box instead of it presenting you with a clean command box every time. Also worth noting would be to have the cursor default to within the text box, otherwise you need to click it before you can type.

So far, so damned good though! Basically yeah, I guess the stuff that needs sorting (from what I can see) is:

1) An operational command input/deletion screen.
2) Deletion of previously entered commands (though it DOES close itself).
3) A limitation to only capturing the F12 key (or, perhaps a user-defined key).
4) Shell integration on right-click menus - possibly on website pages, too.
5) Optional web page keywords.
6) 'About' dialogue box on the right-click menu.
7) Possibility to enable/disable the tool starting from startup with Windows via the right-click menu on the system tray icon.
8) 'Smart' keyword detection - perhaps the ability to only enter the first few letters of your keywords, or a little list automatically appearing of similar keywords, for convenience.

Essentially that's it. In all seriousness, this would be a program probably everyone using this message board would use every day if the above changes were implemented well enough. It'd be one hell of an innovative bit of freeware, and best of all, totally non-instrusive - it just does the job.

I'm thinking, if you get this done at some stage, I'd be willing to write a quick help page/readme, and I'd provide a web page/hosting for people to download the thing from, too - I seriously think it should get a little promotion!

 

[bcrew1375]

Yes, it would be a breakthrough in user-friendliness, you would be famous Doom(and maybe Xade for the concept)! (Seriously, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but it'd still be cool.)

 

[Doomulation]

Hello again,

I tried out the registry keys and, lo and behold, it worked!

Great

The basic program itself seems to work, in that you enter commands and it opens stuff up for you.

But yeah, at the moment it captures *every* key, as opposed to using the new method you've suggested Doom and just capturing F12.

DirectInput will fix that

Yeahhh, the 'Master' stuff - what's all that about?!?!

Making you feel like a Master

And it would be a nice feature if it cleared the text every time you load the program. At the moment, the last command you entered sits in the box instead of it presenting you with a clean command box every time. Also worth noting would be to have the cursor default to within the text box, otherwise you need to click it before you can type.

Noted. It will be in the next version.

So far, so damned good though! Basically yeah, I guess the stuff that needs sorting (from what I can see) is:

1) An operational command input/deletion screen.

It works fine for me. If you're having troubles with it, tell me what you're doing. Wip 2 should be ready soon.

2) Deletion of previously entered commands (though it DOES close itself).
3) A limitation to only capturing the F12 key (or, perhaps a user-defined key).

4) Shell integration on right-click menus - possibly on website pages, too.

Will be in the next wip

5) Optional web page keywords.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Have you tried to enter an url as the action for a command?

6) 'About' dialogue box on the right-click menu.

Yes, I have an about box, but it's not ready yet and it has low priority.

7) Possibility to enable/disable the tool starting from startup with Windows via the right-click menu on the system tray icon.

That MAY be in the next wip, if I have time.

8) 'Smart' keyword detection - perhaps the ability to only enter the first few letters of your keywords, or a little list automatically appearing of similar keywords, for convenience.

Unfortunaly, that will require a database as windows registry functions are sophisticated enough, or I will use a slow, bad method of iterating through all commands and manually comparing them. Low priority for now; will not make it into the next wip.

Essentially that's it. In all seriousness, this would be a program probably everyone using this message board would use every day if the above changes were implemented well enough. It'd be one hell of an innovative bit of freeware, and best of all, totally non-instrusive - it just does the job.

I'm thinking, if you get this done at some stage, I'd be willing to write a quick help page/readme, and I'd provide a web page/hosting for people to download the thing from, too - I seriously think it should get a little promotion!

I have a web site where I can put it, so don't you worry. You can write that documentation if you want - the program will be finished. I'm well on my way to do that.

Expect wip 2 soon!

 

[Xade]

Hey again,

Good to see the progress that's happening then - this could shape up to be one nice little package!

I've got a readme wrote and styled (in a basic way), although in it I've made a couple of slight changes (eg. I gave the program the name 'Quicklinks', called the Command Launcher box 'Keyword Box', referred to the 'Keyword Browser', etc etc...). I figure your name for the program is just a temporary thing anyway, I guess. That can all get changed later though.

Yeah, I like the attitude though - tackle the main stuff first and put the icing on the cake when it's all said and done. Good work. I suppose the thing won't get a proper 'public' release until it's finished anyway - i.e. at v1.0 status or above. There wouldn't be much point...

So yeah, I'll finish off the readme in the mean time, and I look forward to seeing how you flesh all this out - I reckon there's some great ideas that have went into it, and it looks like it could be a fantastic little tool.

I await work-in-progress 2!

 

[Doomulation]

You are correct in assuming it is a temporary name. You select one you see fit and name the different parts of the program, as you see it fit.
Here's wip 2!

Changes:

- Made static link against the library (easier for me).
- Changed keyboard handling to DirectInput. However, it consumes a small amount of system resources when idling in the system tray (~5-7%). I hope this is acceptable for now.
- It now enumerates all the commands you've added so you can change and delete them at will.
- The keyword box is automatically selected when brining it up.
- Keyword box is cleared when having executed a command.
- The application now minimizes and disappears from view before the actual command is executed.

Still to do:

- Change the tray text to balloon type.
- Better error handling when missing information.
- Keyword search & suggestion (ie, entering "tes" would possibly find "test" and "test2").
- Shell integration. Should be on the next release, as it is next on my to-do list.
- Add option to start program with windows.
- Add option to integrate into shell (should be in wip 3).
- Finish options dialog with the two options above.
- Allow editing of existing commands.
- Some other misc stuff, I suppose.

Be sure to try this one out and let me know how it turns out.

 

[Xade]

Unless you've posted it somewhere else, it isn't there Doom...

 

[Doomulation]

I know that. Don't dwell on the past
It was late last night and I forgot to upload it, that's all.
But see it as a chance to get a better version this time. I'll work on it a little and re-release wip 2.

 

[smcd]

Here's my crappy version. Haven't had a chance to play with Doomulation's but mine's likely to be a little less resource intense (and doesn't use DirectX, why oh why not just use regular windows/mfc programming? ) but with just as many bugs and (lack of) features It still needs some work and it might get it sometime... if not I'll release the very poorly written and uncommented source code.

FEATURES:

hotkey support for launching command - Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F12

launch commands based on keywords

configurable list of commands, indefinite size

tray icon for easy access to configuration and launch

plaintext configuration file for easy external editing (commands.ini)

should work for any type of file/folder or website/url, see included commands.ini



TODO:

implement browse [...] button

make better documentation

allow changing hotkey?

fix minor focus bugs (sometimes it doesn't receive keyboard input until clicked)

fix it so pressing enter launches command & closes the window

better/more error handling

add a hotkey for the configuration dialog

better tray icon?

make ShellExecute launch processes in the proper folder...

fix crash on exit (windows 98???)

Additional Note: to edit an existing command, highlight it and click delete, then edit what's in the boxes and click add... sort of a round-about way but it works.

command

cmd.exe

explorer

explorer.exe

calc

calc.exe
google
http://www.google.com/
windowsfolder
c:\windows

Note: mostly tested on Win XP Pro SP2, use at own risk, blah blah blah. no warranties, no worries

 

[Xade]

Hey again,

Nice work! The basic program itself seems to work fine, really, although obviously it needs all those features you mentioned before.

And yeah, it'd be handy to be able to just press 'enter' instead of clicking the button. But... the program is actually fulfilling its function already, which is pretty impressive to be honest. I haven't found any stability issues myself yet whatsoever, either.

I also like the idea of the .ini file; pretty simple and no-nonsense.

Is there any chance of you and Doom swapping source codes with each other? Seeing a finished version of Doom's coding with some of the ideas featured in yours would be fantastic. ...The possibility of a dual-credited Quicklinks/launcher with my input would probably produce a fantastic result.

In all seriousness, I've talked to several people about this tool, got feedback etc... they're loving the idea and can't wait to give it a go. I think if a finished tool incorporating most of the ideas that've been thrown around here actually makes a v1 release, complete with icons, readme, 'branding' etc (I'm working on them at the minute, actually)... it'll be a huge success.

Now I'm *very* interested to see WIP2, Doom!

[Is a one-key shortcut key actually possible under standard Windows coding? Would the key be customisable? Obviously if it is, Doom would probably be really interested if it'd allow us to remove the whole DX9/DirectInput thing from the equation...]

P.S. Thanks for the credit there! Seriously though, I might have put a lot of ideas into this thing, and I'll try helping with the branding/readme stuff, but you're the one who's actually coded the damned tool for me - and I really appreciate it.

 

[smcd]

I just used RegisterHotKey to set it up and yes it can be fully customizable (using Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Winkey are optional, and you can set it to most any key you like), I just need to stop being lazy and look up how. As for the Win 9x crash, it was due to calling some stuff in the WM_DESTROY event, so I took it out and poof no crashing

Still plenty more stuff to do but yeah I'll clean up the source and release it sometime soon. It's not MFC so he may have to adapt a few things and it wasn't completely thought out so there are definitely better ways to do things. As far as the ini thing goes I prefer plain files to the registry. Applications don't need to muck with it

Thanks for the idea, I had a similar one before (hard coded list of apps I used a lot) but you managed to add a few things to it that make it even better. I'm starting to use it myself hehe

 

[Doomulation]

I still think mine beats that one in terms of functionality, now. Shell integration is finally here! Though I ran out of time to implemt an option for it, I included a reg file to allows you to make it work.

As for why I use DirectInput - it is simple: rock solid input, customizeable as much as you want (when I get around to implemting that), plus we all saw how bad that global keyboard hook was. And I didn't know any better way.

I have way better error handling if what was posted is true, since I basically check for errors all the way.

Some misc improvements and some bugs fixed.
Here is wip 2.

Oh and about the source, just pm me with an email address and I'll send it. I will only send to those who asks and I see fit, of course

Oh yes, you also need to change the path to where you put the application. Modify the reg file or the registry (see the reg file).

Shall we compare features?

hotkey support for launching command - Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F12 - here as well, but F12.
launch commands based on keywords - here as well.
configurable list of commands, indefinite size - here as well.
tray icon for easy access to configuration and launch - here as well.
plaintext configuration file for easy external editing (commands.ini) - can easily be edited in the registry.
should work for any type of file/folder or website/url, see included commands.ini - same here.

TODO:

implement browse [...] button - already done
make better documentation - ahaha, I have no documentation... but I will add tooltips!
allow changing hotkey? - on my todo list too
fix minor focus bugs (sometimes it doesn't receive keyboard input until clicked) - works rock solid for me thanks to DirectInput
fix it so pressing enter launches command & closes the window - already done for me
better/more error handling - it is always my purpose
add a hotkey for the configuration dialog - hmm, should I? It won't be hard.
better tray icon? - Yes, I'd like a better too, but I can't create icons.
make ShellExecute launch processes in the proper folder... - hmm, is that necessary?
fix crash on exit (windows 98???) - no such thing for me (afaik)

So hands down on features, I win! Probably more stylish too Although I haven't tested yours yet. I will, though.

EDIT: I just tested yours... it looks awful! You really need a better gui or you'll scare away your users. It worked when I tried it the short time, though. Still, mine is also more stylish Oh yeah, and your app isn't even signed so windows actually warns me when I try to run your file. Bad, bad boy.

 

[Xade]

Haha, y'know I don't really think seth's version of the tool was intended to do a better job than your own version of the code! Just for his personal use more than anything, and to showcase a few nice features. Which it does.

I mean if we're going to do a full-on public release, obviously it'd be with your code since it you started it first and, obviously, it's the most fully-formed. And you needn't bother with icons/readme etc, I'll take care of them. And we're calling the thing Quicklinks, right?

Which brings us to... WIP2!

I'm liking it; totally stable this time 'round, no issues adding and removing the keywords, cleaned up some issues...

But hey, I can't get shell integration up and running! I can't find the entry in the registry after I double-click your reg. shortcut. At the moment, the shell keyword option doesn't appear for me. It'd be snazzy testing that

Shell stuff aside, here's the latest test comments ...

Potential Fixes

- At the moment, the cursor (for me) doesn't default to the text box, meaning it needs to be clicked every time a keyword is to be entered.
- The 'Options' menu doesn't work, though I think you said you'd disabled it for now.
- Upon right-clicking the tray icon, it's impossible to click away from the menu you're presented with without selecting an option. It'd probably be better if you could just click somewhere else to close the tray menu.
- Pop-up/error screens might need revising at some stage. Perhaps cancel the error screen that's given if you hit F12 more than once? Instead, perhaps just leave the keyword box open without a comment?
- After a failed keyword attempt, the keyword box leaves the failed keyword in the box when you click off the error.
- How to best handle instances where a file or folder associated with a keyword has been moved/deleted?
- Initial pop-up, 'Ready to serve, Master!', above the tray never actually seems to close (for me). Perhaps this could be timed, or simply removed?

Potential Tweaks

- The option to hit F12 *again* when you've called up the keyword box to close it - hit it once to open the box, again to close it. If the box is closed using F12, the keyword box would be clear when it was next opened.
- Perhaps an F11 shortcut key to the options box. In this box, one would be able to choose their own shortcut keys, and perhaps enable/disable shell integration, and decide whether or not the program runs from startup.

Potential To-Do List (Subject to priorities, obviously!)

- Possibly the fixes and tweaks given above?
- Fully customisable options menu allowing for shell integration, shortcut key choice for both the options box and the keyword box, along with choosing whether it starts at startup.
- Error handling; when to display error messages and how, or when not to display them. What to do with missing files.
- The possibility of "smart" keyword selection; first few letters only, etc.
- *Re-branding (name, dialogue labels, text modifications, icons...).
- *Documentation.

*I'll probably be of some service here. For my copy of the program I'd like to you to rename the program, dialogues plus change the icons etc. I'll take care of the readme, too.

"Phewww". So yeah, that's what I can see from this release. It's looking better and better every day. Hit me back with your comments if you can.

Fantastic work though Doom, and keep it up please!

 

[Doomulation]

A last quoting before I go to bed.

Haha, y'know I don't really think seth's version of the tool was intended to do a better job than your own version of the code! Just for his personal use more than anything, and to showcase a few nice features. Which it does.

I mean if we're going to do a full-on public release, obviously it'd be with your code since it you started it first and, obviously, it's the most fully-formed. And you needn't bother with icons/readme etc, I'll take care of them. And we're calling the thing Quicklinks, right?

The name? You're the boss If you've decided with quicklinks, I'll change the name of the next wip.

Which brings us to... WIP2!

I'm liking it; totally stable this time 'round, no issues adding and removing the keywords, cleaned up some issues...

But hey, I can't get shell integration up and running! I can't find the entry in the registry after I double-click your reg. shortcut. At the moment, the shell keyword option doesn't appear for me. It'd be snazzy testing that

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Register\command. Modify the default value there to point to the program. Don't forget that the "/Register "%1"" part must remain!

Shell stuff aside, here's the latest test comments ...

Potential Fixes

- At the moment, the cursor (for me) doesn't default to the text box, meaning it needs to be clicked every time a keyword is to be entered.

Eh? No, that's fixed. If you mean the keyword box that is shown when pressing F12, it works fine on my system.

- The 'Options' menu doesn't work, though I think you said you'd disabled it for now.

Yes, it isn't finished yet.

- Upon right-clicking the tray icon, it's impossible to click away from the menu you're presented with without selecting an option. It'd probably be better if you could just click somewhere else to close the tray menu.

That's a windows issue I'm afraid. Currently I know of no workaround.

- Pop-up/error screens might need revising at some stage. Perhaps cancel the error screen that's given if you hit F12 more than once? Instead, perhaps just leave the keyword box open without a comment?

It doesn't complain if you hit F12 more than once...

- After a failed keyword attempt, the keyword box leaves the failed keyword in the box when you click off the error.

Noted. Will be fixed in next wip.

- How to best handle instances where a file or folder associated with a keyword has been moved/deleted?

I don't know. Obviously it won't be able to find it and it will report (or should) that it can't find the specified file / folder.

- Initial pop-up, 'Ready to serve, Master!', above the tray never actually seems to close (for me). Perhaps this could be timed, or simply removed?

It's timed for 5 seconds before it disappeared. OR alternatively, you could click on the bubble to remove it.

Potential Tweaks

- The option to hit F12 *again* when you've called up the keyword box to close it - hit it once to open the box, again to close it. If the box is closed using F12, the keyword box would be clear when it was next opened.

Alright, I'll give it a try.

- Perhaps an F11 shortcut key to the options box. In this box, one would be able to choose their own shortcut keys, and perhaps enable/disable shell integration, and decide whether or not the program runs from startup.

Then I will assign F11 as the default for the options dialog.

Potential To-Do List (Subject to priorities, obviously!)

- Possibly the fixes and tweaks given above?
- Fully customisable options menu allowing for shell integration, shortcut key choice for both the options box and the keyword box.

This is already planned and is under progress as I write.

- Error handling; when to display error messages and how, or when not to display them. What to do with missing files.
- The possibility of "smart" keyword selection; first few letters only, etc.
- *Re-branding (name, dialogue labels, text modifications, icons...).
- *Documentation.

*I'll probably be of some service here. For my copy of the program I'd like to you to rename the program, dialogues plus change the icons etc. I'll take care of the readme, too.

"Phewww". So yeah, that's what I can see from this release. It's looking better and better every day. Hit me back with your comments if you can.

Fantastic work though Doom, and keep it up please!

I totally agree with you on the priority there, though. I can't say when wip 3 will be ready, however. But sometimes I might post a little progress or post a little screen teaser.

 

[smcd]

Shall we compare features?
plaintext configuration file for easy external editing (commands.ini) - can easily be edited in the registry.

Bah, registry is t3h evil (and harder to use/edit)!

implement browse [...] button - already done

I'm lazy but it'll get there

fix crash on exit (windows 98???) - no such thing for me (afaik)
fix minor focus bugs (sometimes it doesn't receive keyboard input until clicked) - works rock solid for me thanks to DirectInput
fix it so pressing enter launches command & closes the window - already done for me

Fixed, no crashes and input is working and it's defaulting to the input window

add a hotkey for the configuration dialog - hmm, should I? It won't be hard.

Nah it isn't hard, I'll do it later.

make ShellExecute launch processes in the proper folder... - hmm, is that necessary?

Yes it is. If you launch "cmd.exe" for example it'll take on whatever folder your program is in, instead of something like c:\windows\system32 where cmd.exe resides in XP...

EDIT: I just tested yours... it looks awful! You really need a better gui or you'll scare away your users. It worked when I tried it the short time, though. Still, mine is also more stylish Oh yeah, and your app isn't even signed so windows actually warns me when I try to run your file. Bad, bad boy.

Form follows function and I like simple, to the point interfaces without a lot of junk/flash I don't sign my application because 1) it makes the file larger 2) it takes extra time 3)i dont have money to buy a 'real' signature



Anyhow, here's my current wip release attached with source code (watch out, it's scary). It's not really a competition I just thought I'd give it a go too

(new)FEATURES:
pressing escape closes the command window w/o launching
source code included

(still)TODO:
implement browse [...] button
make ShellExecute launch processes in the proper folder
better/more error handling
allow changing hotkey
add a hotkey for the configuration dialog
get tabstops working? not entirely important but nice.
make better documentation
better tray icon?

Quote:
- Upon right-clicking the tray icon, it's impossible to click away from the menu you're presented with without selecting an option. It'd probably be better if you could just click somewhere else to close the tray menu.
That's a windows issue I'm afraid. Currently I know of no workaround.

Check out my source in the traystuff.cpp file, it shows how to make the menu disappear

 

[Xade]

Ah, hey Doom...

I've tried the shell stuff out... looking good!

It seems to work for all file types, too, which is handy...

I might add though... it might be worth changing the 'Register' label to 'Keyword It!' or something else - I was confused at first

Ohhh, yes... and at the moment, you can't keyword folders from what I can see. And I don't know whether this is something you were wanting to go ahead with, but you can't keyword webpages by right-clicking them yet, either...

Aside from that, it works like a dream. I'm keywording some stuff now, actually!

Adios.

[EDIT] Hey-hey! I didn't see your post above mine, seth. Crap... I'll check it out tomorrow, I've got an essay to write now.

Nice job on the tray stuff anyway, it should come in handy for Doom to check out.

[POTENTIAL FIX RE. DOOM] The shell stuff? Great, but... when you enter a command and hit 'enter' instead of pressing okay, it shuts the window but doesn't actually register the command. Reckon that could be fixed?

 

[smcd]

@Doomulation:

The add/remove dialog menu item crashes the wip 2 build on my machine. This doesn't happen in the wip 1 build. it says it's caused the runtime to terminate in an unusual way.

 

[Doomulation]

Ah, hey Doom...

I've tried the shell stuff out... looking good!

It seems to work for all file types, too, which is handy...

I might add though... it might be worth changing the 'Register' label to 'Keyword It!' or something else - I was confused at first

Of course, this is subject to change.

Ohhh, yes... and at the moment, you can't keyword folders from what I can see. And I don't know whether this is something you were wanting to go ahead with, but you can't keyword webpages by right-clicking them yet, either...

Like in, right-clicking in the browser?

Aside from that, it works like a dream. I'm keywording some stuff now, actually!

Adios.

[EDIT] Hey-hey! I didn't see your post above mine, seth. Crap... I'll check it out tomorrow, I've got an essay to write now.

Nice job on the tray stuff anyway, it should come in handy for Doom to check out.

[POTENTIAL FIX RE. DOOM] The shell stuff? Great, but... when you enter a command and hit 'enter' instead of pressing okay, it shuts the window but doesn't actually register the command. Reckon that could be fixed?

Of course. No problem.

Seth: Weird that it should crash. I don't know anything that might crash it. I'll have to do a logging and get back to you. Or, I could send you the source and see if you catch it? Sounds good?

And I don't understand how you handle that tray menu (make it disappear, you know?)

 

[smcd]

I don't know MFC but try setting the dialog (even if it's not visible) to the foreground, make the menu appear, then setting the dialog to the foreground again...

below code is from traystuff.cpp

// hWnd is the handle to the dialog of yours, CWnd in MFC maybe??
SetForegroundWindow(hWnd);
// do whatever in MFC to pop the menu here
TrackPopupMenu(hMenu,TPM_CENTERALIGN,pt.x,pt.y,0,hWnd,NULL);
// after popping the menu up call the function again
SetForegroundWindow(hWnd);

Don't know why but it seems to work. Sure, you can email me the source, sethmcdoogle[@]hotmail.com and tell me how to enable trace logging etc since I'm not familiar with MFC. Thanks

 

[Doomulation]

I don't understand how that works. I use TrackPopupMenu too, but I pass it an option that tells it to return first when the user has selected a command from the menu. I wonder if it works differently if I do not do that?

I don't know about that trace logging, but if you look correctly, you should see OnInitDialog function in CManageCommandsDlg class which is the initialization code for the dialog. PM me an email address (unless you want to post it public here) and I'll attach it and send it tonight.

Btw, hey, Xade. Would these people you've referred to also maybe try the application? The bigger the testers the more likely it is to find bugs and make the app better.

 

[Doomulation]

Also now, I'll release wip 3 for you to try out. A bit larger than previous versions, but still...

Changelog:

- Better error handling when executing commands. It will not select all the text if the command somehow fails.
- Added more shortcuts: F11 for manage commands, F10 for options and also Ctrl + X to exit the application.
- Added an option dialog.
- The ability to register with the shell in the option dialog.
- The ability to choose if the app should start with windows.
- The ability to change shortcuts is there, but isn't working (will come soon).
- Pressing a shortcut to a dialog that is open now hides it (ie, press F10 to show options, press again to hide options).
- Added animation to each of the dialogs.
- Removed "Show" from the tray menu. Double click or press F12 to bring up the keyword dialog.
- Changed "Add / Remove commands" to "Manage commands"
- Pressing enter in the manage commands dialog defaults to adding the command now.
- Tooltips was added to the option dialog.
- That's all I think. Maybe more, but that's all I can remember.

This is quite a stable release and one that I'm pretty proud of. Wip 4 will probably be a little ways off. I'll enhance the "styliness" of the application as well as include some of the to-do features.

Oh, and could you sum up all the new things that should be added or changed?

Minimum requirements (are subject to change if inadequate):
OS: Windows 2000
Internet Explorer 5+