ArsClip and JavaScript Update

The JavaScript support in AC was using a much older set of language features. Technically, it's MS JScript and this version tied to Internet Explorer upgrades and service pack versions. JScript v5.7 was the default feature set used in ArsClip.

Now, AC (v5.45 Test 2) can select to use JScript 5.8 for XP (ECMAScript 5?). For Vista, the Chakra 9 version will be used (ECMAScript 5.1?). For Win7 and above, Chakra 11 version will be used (ECMAScript 6?). JScript 5.8 adds the JSON object. JScript Chakra 9 adds array methods (map, filter, forEach, etc). JScript Chakra 11 adds const/let.

The bad news is that MS no longer uses their own browser engine or JScript. JScript Chakra is now an open source project. So, AC will be be stuck with the last version of Chakra installed on Windows.

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There's scarce documentation and this "small" change took days of work to figure out if it was possible in my version of Delphi. There's also a bit of guesswork for which version of Windows supports which JScript version. Internet Explorer upgrades were available for previous versions of Windows, so specific service packs support higher JScript versions.

A new arsclip.ini hidden variable JScriptVersionCode will allow for version overrides, but AC will try to set the correct value automatically. A value of 0 means to use default, JScript 5.7. Value 2 means to use JScript 5.8. Value 3 means to use JScript Chakra 9. Value 15 means to use JScript Chakra 11.


NOTE: The version of JScript can be retrieved in a script using:
ScriptEngineMajorVersion()
ScriptEngineMinorVersion()
ScriptEngineBuildVersion()


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EDIT: Initial testing seems to indicate JScript Chakra 11 has all the same missing JavaScript features that IE11 had.

ArsClip and Displaying HTML Clips

A while ago, an "experimental" control was used to display HTML content in the Tooltip Hint window. This was/is an open source project that can show a decent representation of HTML Clips from the clipboard. The control, however, is much faster and more lightweight than using Windows browser component. It's a fair trade and the experiment was successful.

There were other goals for using this control. The source is available and can be customized to fit ArsClip's needs.

The first issue discovered was hard to read text. The control would sometimes render text that was darker than intended and wouldn't contrast with a dark background. This has been worked around by updating the "draw text" routine to darken or lighten text color as needed if it's too similar to the background's brightness.

The second issue was size. The Tooltip Hint is a small window designed to show a general overview of the clip contents. When drawing text, the HTML control builds a cache of fonts used to draw each HTML item, based on defaults and explicit styles. This has been updated to use a font scaling setting. Each font's size will be increased/decreased using a defined scaling setting when a font is added to the cache. The overall effect is that the clip is shown 20% smaller (by default). It uses the difference between the Menu Item's font size and the small text size for the Tooltip to generate the scaling factor.

JMoveIt Small Update

JMoveIt was updated, so you can used other programs to activate the move left/right routines. Global Hotkey options and command line options have been added for this purpose.

I've tested the command line options using Logi Options+. Because this program offers no options for command line parameters, this has to be set using a shorcut link in Windows. The software runs this shortcut link instead of the program directly. The other method is to create a hotkey that's very unlikely to be used and have the mouse software send the "Keyboard Shortcut".

While you could use a batch file to move left/right, this usually brings up a window and changes the foreground window. So, it would move the wrong window. You need to be able to run the command line silently so that focus is not taken away from the current foreground window.

The Current Beta Roadmap (Part 3)

Rename Master has one more feature planned for 4.02: A new Renaming Step - Change Case. This allows for defining when in the Renaming Script the case of the file is changes and combining with other steps (like the Skip/Execute Step). For special cases, the JavaScript Step will be best - especially for remapping characters that don't follow normal upper/lower case rules (like Turkish I's). The Public Beta v4.02 will remain in beta for a while.

ArsClip v5.44 is ready for an official release. Enough time has passed since the last release of RM. I'm happy with how the updated Paste Selected mode works. Also, being able to completely replace the Form Mode with the Pinned Mode makes things simpler. Pinned Mode broke a while ago, so getting it working stable was also a nice addition.

JMoveIt v1.00 was added to the Public Betas. The only plans for this program is to collect feedback and attempt to fix the program to work for a large range of multi-monitor configurations. There is no timeframe for making this an official release.

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Currently, there are no other planned new features for any program. While there are a few ideas for MouseWrangler, there's not much feedback for this program. The last v2.00 release of MW was to polish the program better and to fix a few issues that I have when using it. This was a test to measure interest in the program, since I prefer to spend my time working on the programs that get the most attention/feedback. Changes to MW are on hold, as are changes to NewFileGo until more feedback is received.

JMoveIt Added to Public Betas

I've included an RFC (request for comments} on the home page for JMoveIt (Just-Move-It). This new program is a multi-monitor utility that specializes in moving program to other monitors. This won't become an officially released program until there is a good amount of feedback for the Monitor Watcher feature. I've no idea how well this feature will work on other systems, because of the differences in how Windows reports events for monitors and how the drivers for monitors are implemented.

Explorer Details in RM (part 2)

The speed has been increased quite a bit in the current Public Beta. Normal file tags are still about several times faster and can reach a thousand per second on my system. They are still the preferred method for extracting data, but RM does not include support for all the data that can be found in Explorer Details.

The program has been optimized when only using a few Explorer Details meta-variables. Previously, it would load all variables available. While it would only take 20-40 MS a file, this would slow down scanning from hundreds of files a second to only about 25 or 50 files a second. Now, it pre-scans the Renaming Script for ?ed_? tags and will only query the system for tags that are explicitly used.

The second change for Explorer Details is using a threaded cache method for queued reads of Explorer Details. This is overly complicated, but it runs a bit faster and smoother. It is only used for Explorer Details tags, because it may have complicated issues.

With both changes, reading Explorer Details is about 5-10x faster than before, but is still 3-4x slower than normal file tags.

Lastly, the Status Bar indicator has been tweaks some more for smoother updating. It records the timing and averages the files per second processed using a exponential smoothing average. This makes the system a bit more responsive and doesn't completely freeze the interface while performing a Preview. While the file count may only be updated about once per second, the progress bar will show more updates.

Explorer Details

Explorer Details has been added to the current Public Beta of Rename Master. These should only be used when RM cannot directly detect the file tags, since they tend to be 10-40x slower to retrieve that other file tag data. This is the same data shown in Explorer under the [Properties>Details] tab.

Since they tend to be slower, the Preview process has been updated to detect slowdowns. Progress is tuned to update about once per second on the Status Bar, instead of every X files processed. This makes the program more responsive and there's a Cancel button that will show when slowdowns are detected.

I've tried several tests to speed up the process, but none have worked. I've one last thing to try that might improve things, but this will require a partial rewrite.

The Current Beta Roadmap (Part 2)

RM has been officially released first. I've already created support for extracting data Explorer's Details Tab in a test program. This is a feature I wish was available long ago. This way, I wouldn't have to support multiple file types and metadata formats.

The next Public Beta of RM (v4.02) will integrate the File Details meta-variables support. The variables will be in a "?FD_PropertyName?" format. Examples: ?FD_Image_Dimensions?, ?FD_Music_Artist, FD_Photo_CameraManufacturer?, ?FD_DateAccessed?, ?FD_DateImported?, etc. I may update the meta-variable format to include an identifier for dates, floats, and signed/unsigned integers. All values will be strings, but this would when using formatting options.

This will require updates to several parts of the program. The View Tags window will need to add the new variables. The Renaming Steps textboxes will need to be able to identify, convert, and format the new meta-variables. The Advanced Insert window will also need to be able to show the new variables.

This will be an OS version dependent feature. It is available for Vista and above, which should be over 95% of my userbase.

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After about a week, I'll release AC as an official version and begin work on the RM 4.02 update. I'm not expecting any issues from the release, but this give me plenty of time to create hotfixes.