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.

Script Paths in Rename Master

A few versions ago, a new Save Script window was introduced that fixed several problems visually by explicitly showing the information saved in a script. While this solved many problems, it didn't help show exactly what happens when a script was loaded. The Filter field will change color when a non-default setting is used, but that's it.

In the current Public Beta, the Path is now highlighted when opening a script that contains a path. Even if the path doesn't exist and the last path is loaded instead. Also, the cursor is changed to the "busy" animated icon while the script is loading. On most systems, the loading will occur rather quickly, but if it doesn't, the busy icon will explain why the scripting area isn't visible. Having the scripting area disappear serves two purposes: it speeds up the process and visually signals a new script load.

These small visual cues help show what happens implicitly with a minimal amount of intrusion. A window popuping up would also solve the problem, but also causes new problems.

A Sound Argument

One of my favorite features in ArsClip is the ability to play a sound when a clip is placed on the clipboard. Copying a clip in Windows, otherwise, has no cue at all to let you know it triggered correctly. There are times, like when trying to cop web content, were the highlight is removed and nothing is actually copied.

The way AC implemented sound is to use the Windows built-in application events that are now tied to a Theme in newer versions of Windows. What I don't like about this method is that it requires a write to the registry - which isn't portable. I'll end up re-writing this to not require a registry edit for the sake of portability. This older routine relied on using the Control Panel for the interface to set sound, without any meaningful way to link the two. Under [Configuration>Misc], there was a blurb about this, but that's just a terrible way to do things.

For the current Public Beta upload, I've created a new configuration category for Sound. This new settings page emulates the Control Panel by including a Browse and a Test button. Also, the "chimes" sound is used by default when enabled. Changing the Theme can undo this setting, so this is another reason to re-write the sound routine, beside portability.

What I haven't thought of are clipboard events that may be improved if a sound is played. The 'New Clip' event was obvious, but any event that may go unnoticed could be a candidate. 'New Clip' also may be a bad name, placing anything on the clipboard does create a new clip - even if it's the same as the old clip. ArsClip, however, may not copy a clip for several reasons. Clips that are already on the popup are ignored, non-text clips that are too large are ignored, and monitoring can be disabled both globally or for the specific program. Any feedback on this topic is more than welcome.

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This will be the last of new features for the version 3.2.1 of ArsClip. The only new public beta versions will be for fixing bugs, but if none are found, an official release is near.

Variable Formatting

In Rename Master, a few things always bugged me. One specific problem was showing that meta-variables were special in a textbox. When you click one, the program would automatically highlight it. If you right-clicked, you'd be shown the standard copy/paste menu with a special Format Variable option added.

This routine was the best I could think of to show visual cues. It didn't work well. First, some formatted meta-variables were not correctly detected and highlighted. Next, clicking on "Insert" in the Format Window replaced the text, but didn't highlight it again and close itself. Unlike the Insert Meta-Variables Window, there's no reason to remain open after the selected variable is replaced.

To fix these problems in the current Public Beta upload, I've corrected the highlight routine to be work as expected. Next, a mini-popup is automatically shown when a meta-variable is click, directly under the textbox. It's small enough to not be invasive and can be dismissed easily. Last, I fixed the Format Window to replace the variable as expect and close. The workflow now seems to be intuitive and graceful.

This is a small step in the right direction. What I'd eventually like to do is replace the plain textbox with a text and pictures, so a meta-variables could be represented graphically. This would make reading, showing visual cues, and editing much easier.

Missing History

Another concept missing from the previous version of ArsClip was a centralized location for history settings. The Removed Clips settings where located in two different locations and the Popup Clips settings where located under Show Options.

In the current Public Beta version, all these settings have been moved to a new History category. Also, buttons have been added to display the windows related to these settings. This makes navigation much easier. In the previous version, a Configuration button was added to these windows to make finding their configuration settings just as easy.

I've not decided if version 3.2.1 will include the following, but my goal is to combine the Popup Clips and the Removed Clips into a single Edit History window. There will still be two lists separated using a tabbed view, but this will also help conceptualize the idea that both caches are the clipboard history. These windows are so similar, that combining the two probably is more intuitive for the user than otherwise.

Missed a Spot

Now that I've already officially released the ArsClip "redux" version, I've found more stuff that needed fixing and should have been in the previous version. I didn't even look at the Edit History and Removed Clips windows.

The next version of ArsClip will address these two windows and fix any issues created in the previous version. The current Beta upload contains a revamped Edit History window that adds the new Destroy Clip feature and adds a way to create Permanent Clips from this window.

The External Editor routine has improved timing that makes it more responsive and closes the tooltip hint if the editor is closed within 3 seconds. I've also found a very long existing bug where the Removed Clips could show up as empty on the next run.

ArsClip's Version Jump

After looking at the amount of changes, I thought it fitting to change to version 3.2.0. The versions numbers chosen are rather arbitrary, but it fits.

The goal of the 'redux' was simply to go back to older sections and clean up clutter and fix old problems. This meant improving the initial experience by simplifying the default popup state, organizing the configuration window, centralizing settings in one location, and fixing old problems along the way.

The official release of verison 3.2.0 is close, but there's still one last item to address: editing clips. The new feature of editing clips with an external program is inconsistently used. Currently, only the Edit Clipboard function defaults to using this function. My last change will be an option to use the old Edit Clip window instead of a real text editor -- defaulting to using an external editor.