Would you like to see macros for Total Commander?

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2003-02-13, 13:22 UTC

Dear friends,

I’m starting this poll to see how important users of Total Commander find the idea of macros for their favourite file manager.

For those who don’t really know what macros are… well, in very general terms, it’s a series of collections of conditions and instructions that can be applied to certain elements of your operating system and that can be grouped into single elements for easy and fast execution in the “altar of automation”!

Here is a simple hypothetical situation of how macros can help us make TC even more productive than it already is: I have a dedicated folder named Downloads where everything I download is temporarily stored there. Every now and then I distribute files of that folder into the categories they belong to. So if I have some mp3s I copy them to my mp3 directory, if I have software to the software directory and so on. Now, with the use of macros we can setup a series of instructions for TC under a single and easy accessible element to do the file distribution automatically.

I personally use an external application to do the job but I would prefer one build-in for Total Commander where I would have more control over the internal commands instead of catching mouse movements and setting up keyboard shortcuts with my external macro tool. Of course not to mention the added cost of such a tool!

So, although I belong into the: “I’m satisfied with my external macro tool but the integration with TC isn’t ideal!” category I personally vote: “Yes I would like to see macros as part of the core of TC” for apparent reasons!

Kind regards,

Panos

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2003-02-13, 21:49 UTC

Ok! I think I found a bug with the forum Christian.

I posted this thread and when I saw a typo I tried to edit it to correct the mistake. This had as a result though to loose the poll entries! When I tried to re-edit my post I got the poll options at the bottom (they where not there the first time I tried to edit). So, I added them again (twice till I figure out what was happening) and now I see every entry repeated three times!

Of course there are two types of viewing modes, one for those users that have voted and one for those that haven’t. I don’t know if both have been affected. Please, let me know if there is an error, if it is fixable and if not I can re-post the poll as I have it saved.

Thanks,

Panos

Post by *ghisler(Author) » 2003-02-13, 22:18 UTC

This seems to be a bug in the forum software.

Unfortunately I don't know enough PHP to fix this bug myself, so I suggest that you choose to delete the poll (just the poll, not the messages!) and then re-add it.

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2003-02-13, 22:49 UTC

ghisler(Author) wrote:This seems to be a bug in the forum software.

Unfortunately I don't know enough PHP to fix this bug myself, so I suggest that you choose to delete the poll (just the poll, not the messages!) and then re-add it.

How do I do that?! I don't get any options for deleting!

You have my permission to delete the whole thread/poll and I’ll start a new one hopefully without any typos this time!

Post by *ghisler(Author) » 2003-02-13, 22:55 UTC

2pdavit
Hmm, I see an option "Delete poll" when I click on the "Edit" button of the first message. Perhaps only admins have this option? Anyway, I have deleted the whole poll and re-added all your options! Unfortunately everyone has to re-vote.

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2003-02-13, 23:03 UTC

ghisler(Author) wrote:2pdavit
Hmm, I see an option "Delete poll" when I click on the "Edit" button of the first message. Perhaps only admins have this option? Anyway, I have deleted the whole poll and re-added all your options! Unfortunately everyone has to re-vote.

I guess it’s only admins unless it’s another type of bug.

Any way, now it works fine! It was the magic touch of the TC guru? Thanks Christian!

It’s ok that the votes have been lost. There is no expiration active for the poll and sooner or later the votes will show users’ preferences.

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2003-02-14, 00:22 UTC

By the way, here [http://www.unisyn.com/automate/] you can find information on an excellent application related to the subject of this poll.

Check here [http://www.unisyn.com/automate/screenshots.htm] for some screenshots.

But you will have to pay $79.95 (US) or a whopping $349.00 (US) for the professional version! Hmmmm!

TucknDar · Post by *TucknDar » 2003-02-14, 10:39 UTC

Paying that amount is clearly out of the question. I bet I could do this through the shell I'm using... /me digs into several readmes...

bago · Post by *bago » 2003-02-14, 11:05 UTC

I think the poll should ask what type of "macro" user would like to have.

The poll is about classical "record / play" macro that simply repeat set of actions, right?

I think that scripting capability would help more a programmer (like me)
For example this tool would help Christian implementing such a thing: http://www.ekassw.com/wshctrl/index.html

In a world where OpenSource "rule"

I think that a powerfull scripting tecnology could let users developing (scripting) more integrated features (plugins are powerful, but limited to specific subjects).

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2003-02-14, 13:12 UTC

2 bago

> The poll is about classical "record / play" macro that simply repeat set of actions, right?

Right!

> I think that scripting capability would help more a programmer (like me)

Well, fine but one thing at a time. We don’t have to have everything ready for v5.6, do we?

bago · Post by *bago » 2003-02-14, 14:00 UTC

pdavit wrote:Well, fine but one thing at a time. We don’t have to have everything ready for v5.6, do we?

I agree: but from the developer point of view (as I am) I'm not sure that "macro recording/execution" is faster to implement that "windows scripting host integration".

So there should be a choice: they are 2 different and distinct alternatives. I gave my vote to the macro support but I really prefer scripting.

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2003-02-15, 02:40 UTC

bago wrote:I agree: but from the developer point of view (as I am) I'm not sure that "macro recording/execution" is faster to implement that "windows scripting host integration".

So there should be a choice: they are 2 different and distinct alternatives. I gave my vote to the macro support but I really prefer scripting.

I personally know nothing about scripting (not the general term but how the term applies to macros) and I would appreciate some useful info here so that we can all have a solid opinion. I do know though that it is more powerful as it gives more flexibility. The application I suggested above does support scripting but on the professional version if I’m not wrong. What type of experience is needed by the user? It would be actually a good idea if you could start a new thread with a poll giving at the same time some info on scripting. Thanks in advance!

Edited: Wow! I went through your link on your previous post Bago concerning scripting and I can tell that things look really promising. Scripting seams to be really powerful. I’m a software engineer myself (although away from coding the past 2-3 years) and I think I will adjust soon but I don’t know about the majority of the users. Maybe a cleaver implementation where the complexity is encapsulated from the end-users can be beneficial.

What concerns me though is that the link you posted notes that scripting (or at least this type of scripting) is supported for Delphi 4, 5 and 6. I’ve read somewhere else in this forum that Christian uses v2!!!

Post by *Hacker » 2003-02-16, 13:21 UTC

And all the time I thought macros meant scripting...

Well, I vote for scripting.
In case you still need an idea, Panos, then

cd c:\my\downloads\
mv *.mp3 c:\my\mp3s
mv *.zip c:\archives
mv *.exe c:\bins

etc.

HTH
Roman

bago · Post by *bago » 2003-02-16, 14:38 UTC

pdavit wrote:What concerns me though is that the link you posted notes that scripting (or at least this type of scripting) is supported for Delphi 4, 5 and 6. I’ve read somewhere else in this forum that Christian uses v2!!!

I know this. I don't think Christian will use v2 forever. Delphi 2 is no more supported and new OS (WinXP, Win.NET) has new features that are hard to be integrated with Delphi 2.

BTW, we'll see what will happens!

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2003-02-16, 14:45 UTC

Hacker wrote:And all the time I thought macros meant scripting... Well, I vote for scripting.
In case you still need an idea, Panos, then

cd c:\my\downloads\
mv *.mp3 c:\my\mp3s
mv *.zip c:\archives
mv *.exe c:\bins

etc.

HTH
Roman

Thanks but that was just an example. And surely on the 21st century we shouldn’t depend our needs upon batch files! There are complex situations that batch files just cannot cope with!

bago wrote:I know this. I don't think Christian will use v2 forever. Delphi 2 is no more supported and new OS (WinXP, Win.NET) has new features that are hard to be integrated with Delphi 2.

BTW, we'll see what will happens!

I guess we just have to wait and see!