AC and Windows Shutdown/Reboot

Something in Windows has recently changed and AC is no longer getting proper notifications for a shutdown. If you use the Clipboard Bar, Window may complain that "Clipboard Bar" is preventing Windows from restarting down. If you copy some items right before rebooting, AC is likely to lose those items on the next reboot. By default, AC saves the in-memory Popup Clips to disc every 10 minutes.

AC's code to handle these events hasn't changed in years. So, I'll have to figure out some sort of workaround. Even if Windows fixes the issue, it's going to take quite some time for them to do so.


EDIT: This was an easy fix, but my code was broken for years. Windows, however, changed behavior recently and stopped sending a second event on restart.

Rename Master Issue on Win11(?)

I've been tracking an issue that may only occur on Win11 systems. There are two possible symptoms. The first symptom is that an exception is shown, in red text, on the status bar when starting. The second symptom is that the auto-preview feature will stop functioning when loading a Renaming Script.

When loading a Renaming Script, the auto-preview feature is temporarily disabled and then enabled once the script is fully loaded. Since the script never fully loads, the auto-preview is never re-enabled.

In the latest Public Beta, I've updated the debug logging to help me pinpoint the exact location where the error might occur. To enabled debug logging in RM, create a folder named "debug" in the same folder where RenameMaster.exe resides. When the program exits, it will generate a debuglog.txt file.

If you are having any issues, feel free to send me an email. This is a tedious issue to track down and I need all the help I can get.

EDIT: The current Public Beta test fixes this issue and it wasn't a Win11 problem. A setting for new installs in v4.03 triggered a very old bug that wouldn't interfere with the auto-preview feature.

JMoveIt Delay

I've found a few timing hitches that I'm verifying. JM needs to evaluate the monitors layout for the Monitor Watcher. If triggered to late, the watcher will also refresh the program positions after Windows dumps them all on one monitor. JM will think that nothing needs to be moved at this point.

JM also needs to "fix" the position of the main window when the process is triggered. There's also a timing issue where it may be adjusted while it's being moved by Windows. This causes the location to show up weird.

I've been testing this on my system during different situations, but it's a slow process. Trying to simulate the process doesn't reproduce the exact timings. Using verbose debug logging helps, but is very imprecise.

EDIT: The current Public Beta test addresses the first timing issue, which may also fix the second issue.

EDIT2: Despite being ready, the release will be after April 1st.

The Current Beta Roadmap (Part 5 - Final)

RM v4.02 has been released. The next week will be used to listening to feedback about the new version. Only hotfix changes will be made during this period. There's currently no planned changes.

AC v5.45 is currently in feature freeze. I've one outstanding issue that I'm trying to diagnose with a user. AC will likely be released next week, depending the diagnoses.

JMoveit v1.0 will likely be released at the same time AC is released. This will require creating a dedicated page for the new program.

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I've altered the updating process slightly. First, the "Plans and Ideas" page is updated when I receive user feedback and/or when I'm working on an issue/feature. I'm also emailing links to the Plan and Ideas page to users, so they can track progress. Previously, emails would be tagged, but I'd have to skim the email to find the actual issue/feature request. It was too easy for feedback to get lost this way. The Plans and Ideas page was also updated to show posts sorted by their edit date, instead of creation date. It's much easier to find the latest updated plans.

The Current Beta Roadmap (Part 4)

Both RM and AC Public Betas are currently just addressing fixes, but both are open for new features. Both programs will likely remain open for a week or two before entering feature freeze. These releases will likely be smaller and mostly addressing bugs. As always, most of the current changes are due to recent user feedback.

In RM, Dark Mode support has been updated. This was originally added as an experimental features. There, however, were some issues that made text hard to read. Some of the custom controls used now are "style aware" and will translate colors as needed. There's also now a way to disable support for Dark Mode (by editing the rm.ini file), just in case of future issues.

The major feature for RM will be support for Explorer Details meta-variables. This lets RM use almost any data you see in a file's Properties>Details list. The minor features are improvements to speed and smoothness.

For AC, the major feature is JavaScript improvements. AC will detect the Windows version and update the "JScript" version. For most users, the support level will be the same as IE11's JavaScript support. The Permanent Clips lists have also been updated to nicely show the types of clips and their global hotkeys.

ArsClip Beta Changes

When hovering an icon on the Popup for a Clip, the Clip Menu is shown. One of the items on the menu is shown in Bold. This bold menu is executed if you click the icon.

This "Click Action" setting in a bit hidden in the Configuration window under "Menu Items ... Popup Clip Icons". I've added a link to this setting under the Keystrokes/Clicks section, but it could probably be included in other locations to help discover it.

The current Public Beta upload has a new option for the "Click Action". It can be assigned to any of the pre-defined menu items and now also any Custom Menu items. "Custom Menu" is the same as the "_Clip Menu" Permanent Group.

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JavaScript AC specific routines has been updated to better support the Clip Menu. JavaScript in the "_Clip Menu" group can now specify to 'Stay Open'. Clips that begin with //@[STAYOPEN] will not close the Popup when executed. The "Insert JavaScript" menu has an "Enable STAYOPEN Mode" item under "Clip Menu" that will mark a script with this setting.

The Edit Permanent Clip window has also been updated to show help links for AC Macro Commands for both ArsClip Macro and JavaScript clips. Since commands can be embedded in a JavaScript, it makes sense for it to show links for both JavaScript functions and Commands.

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Lastly, the Permanent Clips/Macros list visuals have been completely reworked. It's been a while since this was created and many features have been added. It really needed to be updated to better show the new data.

Clips now show an icon for the clip type. This includes: JavaScript, ArsClip Macro, HTML Clip, RichText, and Pictures. This makes it very easy to find clips by their type.

The Global Hotkey is now displayed on the right side of the list. This also makes it easy to find clips with an assigned Global Hotkey.

For the "_Clip Menu" group, clips that are "Enabled" are now shown with checkmarks. This group is special, because only clips in this location with the "Enabled" setting are shown on the Clip Menu.

Small Page Update

I've updated the -Plans and Ideas- page to list items by the last edited date. I've also updated the page description.

Current, in-progress, and possible future changes for Public Beta Test versions are listed there.

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.