Guts - ArsClip

Some of the code in ArsClip is over 10 years old, and not all of it has aged gracefully. It can take more effort to update code than to rewrite the entire block because it's not structured well. The latest group of changes required some rewrites.

When both a picture and text was detected on the clipboard, only one of the items would be copied depending on a configuration option. When picture clips are enabled, it seems more logical to just copy both so the user can decide which one they wish to paste. While this sounds like an easy change, the Clipboard Monitor is designed to only handle copying a single clip. The copy routine also would only ever choose a single format based on the configuration options. This code has been reworked into something more simple and easier to maintain to support this feature. While updating this code, it was discovered that the drawing routine for picture also had some color issues. This routine was also reworked.

The bad part of rewriting is there are many exceptions to test and it's easy to miss some. I'll probably be working on these issues for the next few days.

Visual Tweaks - ArsClip

Now that the Popup is being updated, it's not a bad time to re-evaluate some of the decisions made for the look. Many of the "eye catching" features of the interface have been muted in the Test 8.

Expandable menus are now more subtle in look. The previous design definitely made the menu distinguished, but also added to the overall clutter. The highlight has received the same treatment. It's now a flat color instead of a gradient with a possible outline.

These changes are similar Windows changes to the UI. I'm not trying to copy the OS, since its look is always a moving target. I am looking at if the change makes sense for ArsCip. For example, using the Segeo UI font made sense. The Popup defaulted to Arial for compatibility with Unicode and WinXP. Now, a new default font is used for Vista and above.

Caption Bar - ArsClip

When ArsClip was first created, Win2K was current operating system and monitor resolutions were low. The Popup was designed to be compact and mimic a Context Menu as much as possible. Much has changed since that time and the Popup's feature set has expanded quite a bit.

The latest new feature found in the current Public Beta is a Caption Bar, aka Title Bar. This location serves two purposed on the Popup; a convenient drag location, and a location for special controls. There's a hidden purpose behind the new Title Bar, removing clutter. When showing all menus, there's a lot to display. Even using expanding menus, there's a bit of information overload. Having some special purpose menus changed to just graphic helps separate them visually and makes them more intuitive to learn.

This feature is also being released a bit earlier than usual. While it's taken two days to get the feature stable and polished enough for a Beta, it's going to take feedback to evolve into a final form. For example, I'm already thinking about moving the System menu button the the left. The buttons also can have shortcut keys assigned to them, but can only be discovered by hovering the item.

Search and Paste - ArsClip

Apparently, this window has been broken for over a year. Since I don't use it, it's not unreasonable to assume that other users don't use it either. The "Filter" option for Clip Sets on the Popup does almost the same job and doesn't require opening a separate Window.

In Test 4 of the Public Beta, the Search and Paste window has been reworked to make it both stable and extremely fast. Searching though thousands of clips takes less than a second. While I've no current plans for adding more functions to this window, it will perform well for those that already use it.

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The Filter option is getting a performance boost in the upcoming Test 5. The "Search Removed" option when filtering had the same issue that the Search and Paste window did. It performed poorly for larger sets of clips.

Also, having Alt+Tab work on the pinned Popup is being researched. For keyboard users, there is no method to focus the Popup without mouse clicking it.

New Feature - Pin to Desktop

The current Public Beta adds a new Pasting Tool, in the form of a Pin to Desktop mode. While similar to Form Mode, this mode has one key difference, it can paste into multiple programs.

Normally, the Popup is bound to a single program. The Popup will automatically focus the bound pogram before pasting a clip or macro. The Pinned Popup will paste into any previously focused program - it is not bound. The Popup can remain on the Desktop and function as a quick paste list.

In this mode, the Popup detects keyboard focus states. To make things more intuitive, keyboard shortcuts are removed from the Popup when focus is lost. After focus is returned, keyboard shortcuts are added back to the Popup.

ArsClip v5.11 Second Beta

This collection of fixes was tough. Many of the issues fixed are obscure, to say the least. 4 of the 6 fixes directly effect Form Mode. This mode isn't popular, but many of these issues needed to be dealt with before starting the "Pin to Desktop" mode. The two modes are very similar and would share many of the same routines.

The Pasting Tools menu has received some visual tweaks. It doesn't make sense to show all the items of this menu when using Form Mode and the special key macros are only visible in this mode. Cleaning up this expandable menu also makes room for the future "Pin to Desktop" menu item, if needed.

ArsClip v5.11 First Beta

First, the Clip Menu is getting some tweaks. The default configuration for items shown has also been changed, so only the most important are shown. The "Show More" menu will expand the menu to show all the items.

In v5.04, the clips database was updated to fix an issue with the database treating text as a number. The clips table was rebuilt but the indexes were not recreated. This caused a small delay when showing the Popup as the number of clips grows. Fixing this reduced the processing time from 250 milliseconds to about 10 milliseconds on my system.

Compatibility issues with lesser used configurations and features are being worked on. A condition where the current foreground window and current keyboard focused control are two different programs was discovered. This case caused AC sometimes to focus the wrong program when pasting, depending on the mode. For example, this condition was caused by Mimic Typing when the Popup was shown using the Clipboard bar.

The Clip Menu was not receiving clicks when keyboard shorcuts are disabled on the Popup. The Popup, also, could sometimes be dismissed when focus was lost when in Form Mode. These edge cases are now detected when a Hide request is made of the Popup.

Post Release Plans

As usual, a few days will be reserved to address any important issues that may be discovered in ArsClip. After that time period, there are two new features that will be created.

First, a "More" button will be added to the Clip Menu. This will let me cleap up this menu without sacrificing functionality. Other lesser used Clip Menu items will also be disabled by default, since "More" makes it easy to discover and use.

When testing a fix to Form Mode for v5.10, some issues were discovered. It appears a timing issue can cause the Popup to change to Clipboard Only mode. This will be addressed and more testing will be done to make sure this mode is stable. No features are planned for it.

Second, the "Pinned" Popup feature will be researched. This mode will be limited to mouse-only, but can be used to paste into several programs. By default, the Popup is locked to a single application. This feature was a user suggestion - and a rather good one.

Lastly, the Popup's visual may be updated. The bottom of the Popup may be extended to add some more special controls. Currently, only a "drag" indicator is used. This location would be a good to host the "Pin" button. The "Show More" item seems like it would be more intuitive as a special control than a menu item. The System and Program Options menus also would be more intuitive as special controls.