SyMenu Forum

Gianluca

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23/11/2015 Topic: READONLY and recent updates Gianluca Administrator	A lot of stuff??? The ~Update folder is a temporary folder used to update SyMenu. You can find at most the file conained inside the SyMenu.zip package, it's the same package file you can download from the download page. What did you find inside the folder??? Since the ~Update folder is a temp folder, you can delete whenever you want. Usually SyMenu itself deletes it when it first run after an update but there is this bug that avoid the deletion. So the folder is absolutely useless for the user.
23/11/2015 Topic: Open command window in different directory? Gianluca Administrator	Well this is possible. Create a new program item Fill the Path textbox with the string: cmd.exe Go to Additional params in the bottom and press the tab Advanced Check the Enable advanced params checkbox Write in the Working directory textbox the full path you are interested in. Rememeber that inside the working directory you can use even the universal unit identifier (#:\) or a relative path.
23/11/2015 Topic: READONLY and recent updates Gianluca Administrator	This is what you should find inside the ~Update folder at most: - Lang\. [all the language files] - Plugin\SyMenu.Plugin.PAF\SyMenu.Plugin.PAF.dll - 7z.dll - 7z.exe - Innounp.exe - Ionic.Zip.Reduced.dll - SyMenu.Admin.exe - SyMenu.Admin.exe.config - SyMenu.exe - SyMenu.exe.config - SyMenu.Plugin.Resources.dll - SyMenu.Updater.exe - System.Query.dll - System.Xml.XLinq.dll The folder is not a simple placeholder. SyMenu unzip the entire new version inside this folder then the updater copy all the files on the root. Last thing if SyMenu itself finds the folder shows the new version installed message and delete the ~Update folder. If the folder is locked and SyMenu can't delete it, it repeats the message every time you run it.
24/11/2015 Topic: Version 4.14 recopilation of Bugs & Issues Gianluca Administrator	Sometimes for performance reasons the trash is not updated but if you quit SyMenu (not open and close the SPS manager but completely quit SyMenu) and re-run it, you force the program to phisically check again into the trash and get the real size of the files inside. Also check if you have the last SyMenu version installed (4.14.5796).
24/11/2015 Topic: Version 4.14 recopilation of Bugs & Issues Gianluca Administrator	I'm not able to reproduce you bug. Send to me your configuration files (SyMenuConfig.zip and SyMenuItem.zip) and I try to get the error.
26/11/2015 Topic: Version 4.14 recopilation of Bugs & Issues Gianluca Administrator	I think you've discovered the problem. I will confirm it whenever I'm able to work on it. Stay tuned.
27/11/2015 Topic: Version 4.14 recopilation of Bugs & Issues Gianluca Administrator	Dear VVV. I found some minor issues on the trash label but I need a further test from you to be sure that they are all fixed. What happens if you maximize the SPS Manager window with? Is the lost label re-appear?
27/11/2015 Topic: Version 4.14 recopilation of Bugs & Issues Gianluca Administrator	Yes sorry. It was a typo. The correct question was: What happens if you maximize the SPS Manager window width? The window width is fully resizable.
30/11/2015 Topic: Version 4.14 recopilation of Bugs & Issues Gianluca Administrator	Ok then since I can't reproduce the bug I ask you to wait for the next version. As I already told you I fix some bugs on the trash label and I hope that these fixes could solve your issue too. In the meanwhile clean up your trash regularly or use the program in English. Whenever I release the next version let me know if the bug is solve or not. Thanks
03/12/2015 Topic: Request - search improvements / menu contents Gianluca Administrator	1) Apply .exe filter before search (make search only in .exe files) Useful! Maybe I can add a new contextual switch, like the SY/FS, to activate this filter. It's in my TODO list now. 2) Show window start menu (currently - host programs) on top when use compact menu mode No need for this. I'm working on a better feature: you'll be able to decide for every built in item, if and where to show it. The compact menu will disappear because you'll be in charge to create your own preferred menu. In my developing version I currently have a single bar with all the elements, built-in and my custom items, inside the title bar. A super compact menu 3) Show recent used items on top when use compact menu mode Same as above. 4) When use unlinked item check, insert new option - "work directory", where program can search missing .exe for auto substitution Well it seems a lot of work for me to have a little helpful feature. In my experience the check is a rarely used option because the unlinked items are not so disturbing in SyMenu. 5) Simple run mode - run menu and exit (without hotkeys and etc) Are you speaking about a sort of safe mode? Well it's a possible future implementation. Currently you can avoid the Autoexec on start pressing SHIFT during the SyMenu start up but I will think about a more comprehensive safe mode. 6) Option for item - run as administrator You can have it with the Action modifier but don't worry it's an option that I really need for myself... sooner or later you'll have it. 7) Option - ESC key close all menus and exit SyMenu Not at all. ESC is already used to exit the contextual menu, both inside the configuration and SPS form. I don't want that a user inadvertently exits from a form because of an ESC key and much less that it shut down SyMenu. 8) Add "UAC shield icon" for programs that need UAC Possible but with a low priority.
03/12/2015 Topic: V.4.14-UAC features not work with built-in adminis Gianluca Administrator	I will study a solution sooner or later. Thanks.
09/12/2015 Topic: Request - search improvements / menu contents Gianluca Administrator	Why don't we think to a different approach? I mean a more general one. For example I can implement a command line switch for that particular operation. The feature allows you to directly write in the command shell something like this: d:\SyMenu>SyMenu.exe -xx"Irfanview" The result would be that the command: - opens SyMenu without autoexec on start - runs the program - exits SyMenu without autoexec on close. Naturally you can create a simple shortcut with the proper parameter to avoid the keyboard fingering. From that moment it's a simple double click matter. Why should you pass through SyMenu to execute a program? Isn't it a simple command to execute the program a more immediate means? Where is the usefulness of this approach? I can see some advantages: 1) You can execute a program only remembering its SyMenu name and not the exe name and path 2) You can execute a program that, for example, need a Java machine (read here for a simple example), without complex commands 3) You can have a smart solver for relative paths and removable unit's letters (it's SyMenu, isn't it?). Frankly, even with this extension, it doesn't seems to me a really useful feature. Anyway the discussion is open because, here, the users are in charge
12/12/2015 Topic: The fully customizable menu: beta version Gianluca Administrator	Hi. I'm working on a new version to implement a great feature: the completely customizable menu. When this version is released you'll be able to decide which elements to include in your menu and in which position. Naturally the current normal and compact menu will disappear because they are only two of the multiple configuration. I think this is the first breaking changes in all the SyMenu history. Since this implementation is really complex I decided to release a public beta if someone wants to test it. I'm not for the public beta versions, I think they are useless because people download them to use them and not to test them, but I could make a mistake so I'm ready to be disproved. Don't use this version as your main one because it is really buggy and you can easily lose your configuration. If you mess your menu and SyMenu doesn't load anymore or has some problems, you can reload the program with a particular command line argument (-msnormal) that reset your menu to the base one. There are other main new features: The file flag READONLY can be ineffective for a certain PC if the file name is followed by a dot and the machine name. For example READONLY.Mercury file makes SyMenu runs in readonly mode for every machine except for the PC called Mercury; The contextual menus scrollable buttons are now bigger to simplify the use on touch screen devices. Here is the download link. Let me know. [updated] 2015.12.17 Second beta version With this second version I solved various bugs besides implementing some minor features: There is a new option to show the contextual menu on start button mouse hover I fix a memory leak when thousands of elements are added The shortcuts to make the search bar appear and to change the current action modifier work only if the menu structure includes the corresponding element [updated] 2015.12.23 Third beta version Other bugs solved and some new features: The title element in the contextual menu can contain child elements, it's more similar to the old compact menu (R.I.P.) There is a new command line for user custom variables. The new flag is -cv (custom variable) followed from a key=value structure. The -cv flag could recur multiple times. Some examples here: -cvfoo1=text -cv%foo2%=text -cv"foo3=text" -cv"%foo foo 4%"=text -cv"%foo foo 5%=text text" I introduced a new element in contextual menu to directly go to SyMenu options http://www.ugmfree.it/public/SyMenuBeta/SyMenu.4.14.5835.beta.zip edited by Gianluca on 23/12/2015
13/12/2015 Topic: The fully customizable menu: beta version Gianluca Administrator	Ok url fixed. It's an interesting bug of the link function for this forum editor. If you use the hyperlink button instead of publish the link directly it convert your absolute url in a relative one to the root of the forum. I have to report the bug to the jitbit guys
14/12/2015 Topic: The fully customizable menu: beta version Gianluca Administrator	@VVV_Easy_Symenu Great! I fixed the bug blindly because I've never been able to reproduce it. @Ilias I know, it's a problem for several languages but there is no solution (we are not in a web context where the text can flow). You should change the cutted sentences or use abbreviations
15/12/2015 Topic: The fully customizable menu: beta version Gianluca Administrator	Hi Glenn. Which kind of incompatibility you've found starting from your existing configuration? Can you detail that more? It could be useful.
16/12/2015 Topic: The fully customizable menu: beta version Gianluca Administrator	Ok Gleen. It is enough to change my mind about the beta value. Glenn wrote: I just noted you spoke of a breaking change, and but didn't say how or where the break was [...] If something is incompatible, though, you should mention what it is[...] If it is just the "compact menu" feature going away[...] The breaking change regards the menu structure and precisely the compact menu only. If you've already have a valid configuration, it'll be preserved entirely but if you chose a compact menu, it'll be replaced by the advanced one. This is the only breaking change but since you are using the advance menu, it doesn't affect you. You are right I should be more accurate to describe it. Sorry it was my first time with a public beta Glenn wrote: I was surprised not to find the new menu structure feature in the main configuration panel. And, I'm surprised that the "User items placeholder" exists... that is the antithesis of "fully configurable menu", because it artificially requires that there be no mixing of user items and built-in menu items. Ok we can change the feature name in "nearly fully configurable menu" if you prefer. The menu structure concern the built-in elements so its correct place is inside the Options form. The built-in elements and the user custom elements must remain separated by design because they are completely different elements. Think that the built-in elements have variable labels according with your current language, they are not subjected to the action modifiers, they could be filled on opening (think about the drive units in My Computer or the My Computer itself that changes the drive units according with the removable drives available at opening), they could contain an entire new world also (think about the search item and how it works), they could monitor the SyMenu status (think about the title bar with the feedback icons for the pinned, the readonly, and the moving status). Glenn wrote: What is truly the minimum menu structure required to operate SyMenu? I think it is "configuration" and "Exit". According to my analysis the title is needed too, because it allows to move the menu, to pin it, and to monitor the read only status. The second required element is the placeholder for user custom items. So my vote goes to: title, configuration, user item placeholder, exit. Anyway the poll is open! Glenn wrote: Everything else should be optional, and even those should be able to be renamed by the user, and described by the user (like all the SyItems have editable name and description fields). Well Glenn I've just created this new feature and it was a huge effort... we have time to improve it Anyway I like the idea to rename the built-in element too and to supply a user description. It's in my TODO list now. Glenn wrote: So if a user-modified menu structure doesn't contain the minimum entries somewhere, either they should get an error at save time, or those minimum entries should be added to the bottom of the top-level menu structure. I prefer the former, but either would be acceptable. I think I will leave the current solution. Why don't you mention it? You can't drag away a mandatory build-in element but you can move it wherever you want. In my opinion it works properly and better than throwing an error during the saving. Glenn wrote: "Tools" seems be just a "SyContainer" with a fancy icon. Yep. But since it is a different kind of animal than a SyContainer, I have to create it in a different mode and can't be mixed with user items. Glenn wrote: Would be nice to have a vertical separator also, for multi-column menus. I've mentioned before regarding large scrolling menus (folder lists, installed programs lists) that it would be nice if they were split in columns like the original Windows 95 Start menu... Nice. I'll investigate for that. I not even know if it is possible with the components I'm using for SyMenu... Glenn wrote: It would be nice if simply hovering over the Start Menu button displayed the start menu, rather than requiring a click. Maybe that should be optional. Consider it done! Glenn wrote: It would be nice if, when in READONLY mode, the built-in items that cannot be performed would not be shown in the menus, even if they are configured. Right! It's in the TODO list. Glenn wrote: You mentioned in another thread about having everything in the title bar. It's gone now. The title bar, similarly to the Tools and My Computer items, could contain elements, but I preferred to avoid a title bar with this ability because it was really buggy. Maybe it will come back in future. Glenn wrote: It would be nice if an icon on the icon bar could be the icon for a container, and hovering would produce a flyout menu. Item icons would produce the description tool tip when hovered. Note, hovering is not something that can be done on a touch screen. Not sure what the replacement is, if any.[...] Are you describing something else than SyMenu? Like RocketDock? Well this would be a completely new direction to explore. For now I'll leave it. Well don't trust too much this forum editor... sometimes it loses the messages while you are writing it. I hope the jitbit guys will improve it.
16/12/2015 Topic: The fully customizable menu: beta version Gianluca Administrator	I fully understand your point of view but changing a program so vast like SyMenu at its roots means rewrite almost entirely the code base. Creating a new super class and inheriting the built-in items and the user items from it is not like creating a new child class. It means that every element, graphical and not, must be rewritten to deal with the super class and not with two different classes. I can evaluate this change in at least 40 man-days work and for this reason it's outside my possibilities.
16/12/2015 Topic: The fully customizable menu: beta version Gianluca Administrator	Glenn wrote: Why can there only be one Tools container? Shouldn't it be more like Separator, that putting it in the active menu still leaves it available? For that matter, why can there only be one of most of the built-ins? Yes sure, in future we can have more than one element for passive items. Tools is one of them. For now you have one only because its name is not customizable. The not passive elements will be available in one copy only. Glenn wrote: Not sure if the title-bar bugginess extends to the icon bar idea Me neither. We'll see. Glenn wrote: One thing I'll mention again, but really only in passing... if the menu names are blank, and all there is is an icon, and size shrank, you almost get a vertical icon bar. It is about 3 times wider than the left-aligned icon, though. Together with vertical separators, you could make a little icon grid! Well the problem is not in showing the icons only, it is in the vertical separator. I'll study that. Glenn wrote: Not sure [...] if you just have a minimum width coded. If it disappeared, it would be even more grid-like. It's coded but honestly I don't remember why I'll do some experiment about. Glenn wrote: After taking my names away from my menu items, all of which were pointers to documentation files, I noted that the tooltip showed the path to the file, rather than the description, and rather than both path and description in two lines. Why have a description, if it doesn't show? Maybe it is a bug. An item without a name shows a full tooltip. The source for tooltip is decided by you in the general options form.
16/12/2015 Topic: The fully customizable menu: beta version Gianluca Administrator	Are we all crazy in this forum? Well Glenn I'm very grateful to you because your terrific analysis. My TODO list has growing again thanks to your suggestions and this is a good thing if you are asking. And, yes, the SyBuiltIn item is tickling my mind... now because of you I can't sleep anymore! And the new version hasn't been released yet...