Program Launcher

[kaotkbliss]

New version - sorry to make everyone redownload again, but I made some tweaks to the icons (more like fixes)

I forgot to update the code in renaming of files to update to the correct icon. I also tweaked the folder icons so it is no longer the default, only files that aren't url, lnk, exe or folders will have the default icon of the main program. (in case anyone was unaware, txt, docs, jpgs and other various files do work in the program launcher)

Also removed the show option in the tray menu and changed it to double clicking the tray icon.

Except for thinking of a way to run more than 1 instance of the program, I think this is near done.

[toddcbrf2]

Not sure where the credit goes but very nice work to both of you taietel and kaotkbliss! Terrific GUI, very usable and intuitive, nice color scheme and extremely useful indeed. I'll definitely use this as an excellent starting template - I'd like to add several additional Tabs for setting up internal intranet web links, linking to automated tasks, starting additional GUI's, etc. It will take some time as I'm new to AutoIT but wanted to take a few minutes to say its brilliant and most importantly, THANK YOU to both of you for sharing your experience and expertise.

[toddcbrf2]

One question - can I execute a separate AutoIT script while this is running? Thanks in advance!

[kaotkbliss]

If you mean more than 1 instance of this program, then it will cause problems with itself.

If you mean other, unrelated autoit scripts, yes there will be no problems.

[kaotkbliss]

New update (2.6.1.0) see first post for download link

Had a request to show the Launcher in the taskbar so it could be alt+tabbed to so I added an option in the configuration to select this.

Also a report of the about and config windows dissapearing causing the main gui to become unresponsive. While I've not had or seen this issue with those windows dissapearing, I added a check to return to the main gui if these windows dissapear. This should keep the main gui active if this should happen.

[mesale0077]

hi

Program Launcher nice but

Double click on the programs do not work

[kaotkbliss]

hmm, the only time I've had that happen is on an old xp where everything stops responding and closing then re-opening the program fixed that.

What are your pc specs and what were you doing when it stopped working?

[kaotkbliss]

More changes

Added new option in "Configuration" to turn off child window transparency. This should fix a reported problem of child window being 100% transparent

Fixed bug with last update where child windows did not move to front when alt+tabbing back to Program Launcher

Added an option in the configuration to show or hide the vertical scroll bar in list.

Check the download link in first post

[kaotkbliss]

Lots done to this little program throughout the week

Check the first post for new download!

Report that verticle scrollbar was too far off the main GUI, Fixed

Report that in certain setups the "About" dialog was too long for the Gui window, Fixed

When transparency was checked, if turned all the way down, child windows were near invisible, Fixed

Clicking outside any child window now closes the child Gui automatically

Issue with show on taskbar where when minimized, the program would not show in alt+tab and would not have the restore option when clicking the tab on the taskbar, Fixed

When memorize position is unchecked, the Gui will no longer load to the last saved coordinates and instead default to the center of the main monitor

Added 2 new skin colors, Grey and White.

[kaotkbliss]

Changes in 2.7.0.1

Fixed Fullsize/Minsize in windows 7

Previously this only worked in xp (maybe vista?) but did not seem to do anything in Win7

Optional parameters in lnk files work

I found after installing a game that used dosbox, the optional parameters to the exe would not work so instead of my program launcher running the game, it simply ran dosbox.

Fixed text color with the delete gui with the white and silver colors

I missed the text color change for the delete gui and still showed yellow text on a white background. Very hard to read

Added name length restrictions to keep the horizontal bar from appearing

I got irritated when rearranging my files of having to keep renaming different items to try to get the horizontal scrollbar to go away, so I added a restriction that at startup will automatically trim any name more than 13 characters to 13 and will only register 13 characters when renaming an item.

Fixed remember position if gui is moved then windows is shut down.

I found that if I moved the gui somewhere and did not perform an action that called the _RememberPos function and you shutdown windows or logged off, the next time my program launcher would run, the gui would load in it's previous position.

[kaotkbliss]

Changes in 2.7.1.0

Fixed Windows error message when closed by icon

Not sure why, but removing the @exitcode macros fixed this

Fixed gui not being restored when doubleclicked in tray

Had the switch reversed

Added autochecking for newer version (thanks AdmiralAlkex for the idea on how)

This function runs automatically at the start of the program so if you are like me and never close it, it will never check. If a newer version is found, a popup will alert you with a link to the newer file to copy/paste into your browser. (I was going to have it autonavigate to the download but since people use a wide variety of browsers I decided this was the best solution)

Added reorganizing of shortcuts (finally)

Added moving shortcuts from one tab to another

These 2 functions can be found in the options screen, reorganization of a tab works on the currently selected tab (so make sure you have the one you want to reorganize selected first)

Also in the reorder option, if there are any shortcuts not moved to the right listview, they will be deleted when you click done. (There will be a popup to remind you if this happens)

[kaotkbliss]

New update - see first post!

2.7.1.1

Shortened the code by over 1,000 lines

commented the hell out of the script so people can learn from it and/or modify easier

added a button in the config window to open the internet favorites folder (as these can be added to the list but people may not know where the folder is located or whatever)

Fixed an issue opening paths with spaces in some cases

rewrote the part of the code which controls which way the gui expands or shrinks when changing sizes

fixed the code where the about wondow did not open on the correct side if the program was on the left side of the desktop

[kaotkbliss]

Just a quick note:

I am making a quick fix to the new version. Apparently it transparency option is not applying correctly to the download window making it completely transparent and therefore causing the program to get stuck.

*edit*

The file has been updated

since this was also in the previous version, you will have to download from the link above and remove the shortcut from the startup folder for the old version

Edited August 10, 2011 by kaotkbliss

[kaotkbliss]

I put together a very quick helpfile to hopefully answer any questions or curiosities people may have.

it can be downloaded from here and will eventually replace the About window (being incorperated into the script)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34​474405/Allin1/program-laun​cher.chm

please leave comments, suggestions or bugs. I'd really like to know what people think.

Edited August 15, 2011 by kaotkbliss

[kaotkbliss]

So many updates since last time I posted here. Some major things to note

it's now packaged inside an installer that you can use for easy updating, installing, importing config files, and removal.

As long as each install is given a unique name, you can have as many instances running as your system RAM will allow.

Multimonitor now works correctly (I finally got a 2nd monitor to test on)

Check the help file under "Update Notes" for a full list of changes and improvements made.

Sorting and reordering cleaned up and moved to the right click menu

Let me know what you think

Updating the download link in the first post!

[kaotkbliss]

revisiting this thread as I've made another update which adds a button in the options screen to view and edit the tab config files directly.

I did this because sometimes a blank line would find it's way into the config file, or part of 1 line woulf end up at the end of another, both of which caused problems.

Now the file can be edited withough digging around for the file, editing it and re-loading the program launcher.

I also added a download button to the "new version" update so you don't have to copy/paste the link into a browser.

[qsek]

Very nice and usable script. I searched for a tool that would launch a couple of au3 scripts that i constantly need to be up.

I modified it to my needs: http://pastebin.com/2xwKcf83

Some changes i made:

- Line 1096: I noticed that the tool uses some CPU while minimized, this fixed it.

- Line 1335: Skipped tray exit confirmation window

- Line 1422: au3 files will be run no matter what you configured on Autoit Installation (Windows default behaviour: edit or run)

Bugs i noticed:

- If you set the skin color to white, you cant read the tray exit confirmation window

- If you click on the config button in the main window and hold a bit and release, the config window will close again immediately Line 1834: _IsPressed(01) will fire as long you hold the mouse button and trigger the "if click is outside the delete gui" check if you not release immediately. Maybe a global switch variabe or ConfigWindowVisible check would be a solution.

Edited May 17, 2012 by qsek

[kaotkbliss]

Thank you for the feedback

I will look into these issues

[kaotkbliss]

I have fixed the White skin issue, the config window issue, also I found that the download button was overlapping the close button during update and fixed that also changed the default directory in the installer from C: to "My Computer"

I think that's it but all the updates are detailed in the help file

[kaotkbliss]

Some updates since last post:

Ver 2.8.0.5 - Apr 12, 2012

Last fix doesn't seem to have worked when all monitors have been unplugged. Applying a new fix that should simply ignore the window position if there is no monitor attached.

If the gui is placed in the upper right corner of the screen, it would occasionally reposition itself to the upper left corner. While I don't know what causes this, I have attempted a fix to check if the gui is active or not before deciding any left click actions.

Ver 3.0.0.0 - Jun 28, 2012

Found the route cause of the random Gui jump to the upper left corner and removed that part of the code.

Updated the look of the main gui and was able to keep all features except the resizing which I may be able to re-add later.

Added purchasing requirement and payment checks.

Code cleanup removing many global variables that wasted ram.

Ver 3.0.0.1 - Jul 17, 2012

When removing the code that caused the GUI to jump to the upper left corner, I also had to remove checking if the GUI was overlapping the taskbar and reposition it accordingly. This has been re-added

Fixed when deleting a file from the list, the list would not update properly and would leave a hole where the item used to be.

Re-added the ability to resize the GUI.

Edited July 17, 2012 by kaotkbliss