ArsClip Tweaks

The External Editor routine has been re-worked. This is the default 'Edit Clip' action in newer versions of ArsClip. It now works asynchronously and doesn't freeze the program, but it still able to wait and detect when the program is closed. On close, the clipboard is updated if the file was saved and this item is also saved to the popup.

Any user set "Open With" file-type associations will be used over the system-wide settings. The "Edit" option is the default context menu item run, but it will default to "Open" if edit is missing. Current .txt and .bmp file types are supported with the Edit Clip options.

ArsClip and the Clip Menu

Long ago, I had an idea to show a menu next to the popup to edit clips. I had no idea how to get it to work and all experiments failed to produce something manageable.

In Windows, a popup window (context menu) is very specialized and extremely fickle. It only reports a very small amount of events and requires many dirty tricks to do thinks like detect a right click. Before, to show the 'item popup', it required holding down a keyboard modifier key to show this popup. In later versions of ArsClip, I found a sneaky way to detect a right click and used this for showing the item popup. Both methods, however, required closing the main popup.

In the current Public Beta, I've added a new Clip Menu that's shown when the Popup Clip or Permanent Clip icon is hovered. Showing the menu does not close the popup, but clicking on it does. While I'd like to use this menu to replace the right-click menu eventually, there are currently some issues that prevent this.

ArsClip's Scope and Feature Freeze

What I mean by "scope" is the minimalist definition: 'the purpose, end, or intention' of the program. When ArsClip (AC) was created, it was simply a program used to remember clipboard items and paste them. Anything that doesn't fit into the scope of the program was not added to the program. This is still the rule I use for adding features to the program.

Since that time, the scope of AC has been changed slightly because of practical reasons. For the program to specialize in pasting, it needed to be able to simulate keystrokes. While this is normally the job of a keyboard macro program, there was an intersection of functionality that both share. I definitely don't want to turn AC into a full-fledged macro program, but I also don't want to omit functionality that makes AC easier to work with. Permanent Clips grew from only simple static text items to also supporting flexible templates with optional global hotkeys.

I recently broadened the scope of AC to include copying to the clipboard. The clipboard only supports copying and pasting, but my program didn't do anything for helping users copy. As a true clipboard manager, I felt it needed to also support both. To do this, I've updated the Permanent Clip's already existing Keystrokes and Commands functions with new features. Once again, Permanent Clips has grown from supporting flexible template to also supporting text automation.

Most of the functions that works for text editing also work for copying and pasting. This functionality includes several methods of highlighting, copying, cutting, deleting, and pasting. There are several keystrokes available to perform these functions, so instead of adding every single combination, the Custom Key Combination takes care of anything not directly supported in the program. I also created an Examples section that shows how to do a few of these editing tasks.

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The current Public Beta is now in feature freeze until the official release of version 3.2.2 of ArsClip. Only very minor changes and bugfixes may be released until that point.

Breadcrumbs - Rename Master

The breadcrumb-like functions added in version 2.9.6 were a stop-gap solution. Double-clicking on a text path at a specific location to display was very unintuitive. The method exposed on the Folder Tools button was much better, but still required 3 actions to perform. To navigate deeper, the path itself required either double-clicking in the "correct" location, or clicking on the drop-down button. This required working in a completely different section of the path to activate. With the controls available, this was about the best I could do -- unless I invested a large amount of time and created a custom control.

In the latest Public Beta upload (shown in the picture above), I've replaced the clunky drop-down path with a breadcrumb style control. It works very similar to the paths in Explorer in Vista (and above). Each part of the path is a click-able control, with one button for the path and one button for a drop-down list of folders. Clicking in a blank area of the path turns it into a text control for manually typing or pasting locations and Enter or clicking on another control closes it.

Last Changes in Rename Master v2.9.6

While I always disliked adding so much Explorer-like functions to Rename Master, but a program that works with files needs some common functionality. The two buttons next to the file path didn't do the job.

For the last interface change, I've created a single button for Folder Tools to replace the previous buttons. Currently, it currently supports navigation and context menu operations. The "up one folder" is a common operation, but to supplant a one-click button, I've added breadcrumb style navigation to surpass it. This is shown on the Folder Tools popup menu as "Change to Parent" -- that also documents that double-clicking the path performs the same task. What it doesn't show that double-clicking on the name of any parent folder in the path will activate the new menu. This isn't very intuitive, but it's very convenient.

Like previous changes to the Scripting tab, the Folder Tools logically gathers functions next to the control without cluttering the interface with seldom used controls. It also adds a section that can be expanded later with new functionality.

Permanent Clips Identity Crisis - Part 2

I've come up with a solution to the ArsClip problem, mentioned in the post below, that seems reasonable.

The Permanent Clip edit window still shows a little as possible in default mode. Visual cues exist to show that there are advanced options in the form of a 'More' button and two disabled buttons. Once the advanced options are enabled, the description is altered to show the 'Clip to Paste' has advanced functionality. This, however, only solves part of the problem.

A picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case an Example is worth a thousand words. I took an idea from MouseWrangler and added an example submenu to the Keystroke and Command menus. Both show the description of a task and insert the variables used to complete that task. One of my favorites examples shows how the [RUN] variable is used to do a Google search using the clipboard contents as the search term.

These new Keystroke examples show off a few basic Windows text editing shortcut keys that some may not know about. While not an exhaustive list, it's a good starting point to show off some highlighting and editing shortcut keys. The new Command examples show off using the clipboard contents in external programs and formatting the contents of the clipboard. These examples show some basic ideas that can be extended to create very elaborate actions. The all around goal is to introduce functionality without using an external help file.

The only thing that's not really addressed in this update is the idea that all these clilps can be activated with global hotkeys - bypassing the popup. I'm not sure there is a non-intrusive way to introduce that concept.

Permanent Clips Identity Crisis

In the current Public Beta of ArsClip, some new command variables were added. Compared to previous options, having the ability to show windows like the Search window is a strange feature. Since these are Permanent Clips, users have the ability to assign a global hotkey. This creates some very flexible options for customization. For example, I'd never place a "Clear Clipboard" button on the popup (as I don't think it fits), but a user can now create one using a Permanent Clip and can assign a hotkey to the task as well.

There's a big problem, however, with the presentation. It's not intuitive to create a Permanent Clip to do things like clear the clipboard, insert the current date, or show the Search window. The current window is designed to show the most common usage, which is to save a clip and give it a name (a Menu Caption).

The goal of ArsClip changed a while ago from only remembering clipboard history to include enhancing copying and pasting. This is why there are keystroke emulations in the program, because they can help in the pasting process. Permanent Clips also changed to allow template style clips with clipboard text or popup clip text inserted at specific locations. Now they can do things like run URLs and email address as well as opening ArsClip's own windows. I also plan on adding more commands so that most any function of ArsClip can be performed in a Permanent Clip.

Simply changing the "Clip to Paste" text to include "or Commands to execute" might fix the problem, but it makes things very confusing. Much of the advanced options of Permanent Clips are not intuitive and not documented, and this also doesn't help. I'm not sure I can fix the "identity crisis" problem, but I do plan on working on this area more.

Users in Action

Long ago, I added an option to ArsClip to display the icon of the program when a new clip is detected. When it was disabled, the windows "generic" application icon was shown. The purpose, back then, was to distinguish Popup Clips from other menu items. In later versions, the icon was turned into a pseudo-button that allowed for editing the clip. Either way, something needed to be shown at this location.

In the current Public Beta, I've updated it to toggle between showing the program icon and an icon showing the type of clip [instead of a default icon]. This wasn't my idea, but it was a user suggestion. Now that I've seen it in action, it makes sense. Instead of showing "Where", this shows "What". This makes spotting text, formatted text, and pictures from the list very easy. I find both types of icons very useful, but I personally tend to visualize the program I copied from when I search for a clip rather than the type of the clip. In my case, over 95% of my clips are plain text with some RichText and Pictures mixed in.

The small "cliptype" icon shown on the right of the popup is still visible. This, also, was turned into a pseudo-button that forces the clip to be pasted without any plaintext version. While mostly redundant, it also servers a purpose.