State of the Union 2

Here's a quick summary of the progress of all the works in progress.


Rename Master

Version 3.0 has been officially released. Any new uploads will only be for quick bug fixes.

ArsClip

While I'm mostly focused on bug fixes, some minor features and options are being added. My goal for AC v4.3 is to get it ready for an official release. I'm loosely planning on a release in about a week.

The current beta addresses a long-standing issue regarding how formatted text clips are placed on the clipboard for a paste. The new options allow for more flexibility to suit your needs. The default option is to use both a plain and formatted text, and the target program will chose the version it wants to use. This was the behavior of AC prior to version 4.0, but it is broken in version 4.0 through 4.2. The new options are to use the formatted text version only, or the plain text version only.

MouseWrangler and RatTrap

Only minor changes in the works for these program.

State of the Union

Here's a quick summary of the progress of all the works in progress.


Rename Master

My current goal with RM is to get version 3.0 ready for release. This program has been worked on for the past three months and had at least 15 test versions. I'm working on the final polishing touches. This will also be the first release of the program using the new compiler version.

ArsClip

My current goal is to get version 4.3 ready for release after RM version 3.0 has been released. The biggest changes in this version, however, are behind the scenes to support Unicode and the new compiler. Most of the other changes are bug fixes and improvements to existing features.

MouseWranger

I've just started updating this program again to fix some long-known issues. So far, the big features are a much improved per-program disabled detection and on-screen drawing. The first feature now ignored right-clicks as soon as the right-click is detected. The second feature also makes drawing gestures easier, but also removes some conflicts with foreground programs by creating a fullscreen invisible window that intercepts the mouse events.

RatTrap

This is a new program that's hardware specific to Cyborg RAT mice. This means the possible audience for this program is much smaller. Beside any bug fixes, this program probably won't require many changes since it's job is extremely simple.

Access is Denied Error

A new issue has surfaced, cause by the new compiler. Rename Master and ArsClip no longer trigger the VirtualStore when they are located in the Program Files folder. When trying to run the new betas from these locations, an "Access is Denied" error is triggered by my program's file write detection routines.

I'm currently researching a fix for this.


EDIT: I've updated the programs so that they will default to "Virtualized". This makes the compatible when installed in the Program Files location, but is only recommended for users that don't need a standalone program.

ArsClip Error

I've been getting reports of a cascade of error prompts that sometimes occurs when starting ArsClip. I've seen this happen once on a reboot, but I've been unable to reproduce the conditions that caused the error.

In the latest Public Beta, I've corrected the error logging features to catch this issue and record it to the debug log. When the program correctly catches the issue, it will display a prompt with an error saying "[Debug.txt] log created". If you encounter this issue, please send me a copy of this file from the ArsClip folder.

UPDATE: It looks like I've fixed this issue completely.

About Those Version Numbers

You may have noticed that the version numbers for the latest have changed. The new scheme used by the compiler requires some explaining.

Before, versions where in the following format:
3.2.1 build 9999.

Now, versions are in the following format:
3.2.1111 build 999999.

Only the first two numbers are now relevant. The third number, represented as 1111, is now part of a timestamp. The last numbers, represented as 999999, also part of the same timestamp.

The good part is that the timestamp is now guaranteed to uniquely identify the current build. Before, the build number often was not automatically updated and was unreliable.

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On my ToDo list is changing the About windows to show the new version in the following format: 3.2 build 1111 999999. This should make the version number easier to read and slightly less confusing.

Unicode Followup

Now that both ArsClip and Rename Master (AC, RM) have been migrated to the new compiler and uploaded as Public Beta versions, the hard part of the switch is over. While AC required the most rewriting, it also made a lot of the code much simpler.

Both programs feel much more responsive - especially the user interface. While the executable is 30 to 50% larger, it's a trade-off for speed and a more robust framework. For most, a 3 MB uncompressed file is still going to be a very quick download. AC, also, has improved the most by replacing a lot of very crude code used for primitive Unicode support. RM's improvements were noticeably small. Only those with Unicode filenames will notice a difference in functionality.

While replacing my 6 year old compiler has solved many issues, the new program versions don't have the luxury of being tested on thousands of systems. My own testing is limited to my personal Win7 64 bit machine and a virtual WinXP machine. It's very important to report even the smallest of issues with the programs, since it may be new.

ArsClip Redesign

As I thought, ArsClip is requiring a redesign of specific parts of the program. Now that everything is Unicode, some previous features don't make any sense in the program. As always, I try to make changes that are backwards compatible and do any conversion invisibly. With any luck, most of these changes will be mostly undetectable.

First off, the plain text version of the clip is now always Unicode. This means that the storage format for saving clips has changed. The program will, however, detect the old format of ".acy" files when reading and convert it to the new format when saved. This also means that popup clips and removed clips will not work for older versions of the program.

Second, Permanent Clips have also changed. Unicode characters can be used in the menu caption and clip just like regular text. Before, a Unicode clip was read only and could only be displayed. This also means that a new file format is used and it is automatically created.

Third, HTML and RichText clips will now always take precedence over Unicode when detecting new Clips on the clipboard. Before, ArsClip would always get two copies of a text clip: a plain text version and a Unicode, RichText, or HTML clip -- if those formats were enabled.

Fourth, the Tooltip hint window needed to be rewritten. Before, it was overly complex to support manually displaying Unicode and was barely functional. The code is now simplified and the window's behavior is reliable.

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A Public Beta should be available soon.

Unicode Notes

The latest Public Beta of Rename Master is built with a new compiler. Most everything will look the same, but there are some changes that needed to be noted:

- version numbers are wildly different
- the executable file size is larger, but performance is faster
- visuals of the filelist are slightly different on Vista and above

I'll be using what I'm learning about migrating RM to help with migrating ArsClip. It should make the process go smoother the second time.