SyMenu Forum

Gianluca

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07/03/2016 Topic: Select all apps for download/install Gianluca Administrator	sl23 wrote: However, I seriously disagree with the current TPFC constellation of categories We surely can work to improve that list
09/03/2016 Topic: SyMenu v5.01.5911 Update Gianluca Administrator	You beat me to the draw with this post for the 5.01 :-) Anyway these are my comments for some of the main news: The big floating icon can (finally) be minimized. So when you execute a full screen application, watching a film, using a terminal server session or whatever you like, you can hide the SyMenu floating icon. It appears again when you click on the little icon in the notification area. So no more excuses for not using the floating icon... The contextual menu tooltip is now a useful feature. It doesn't blink anymore when you focus the bottom items and it's skinned as your menu. The SPS programs can be installed inside a container named as their own category. So you can install in one time all the suite programs without crowding your context menu at its root. Multiselect is allowed for the SPS using the SHIFT button modifier and the mouse click. @ls23 As I already said in a previous thread the new and updated SPS are not so different. The two little overlayed icon banners are more than enough to differentiate them. I highlight the background for these new/updated SPS to help you recognizing them but it's not a decent solution in my opinion. I hate randomly used colors and we are currently in this situation so I'm awaiting for some graphical suggestions. If there is a designer out there that wants to help me with SyMenu knock once please. @ls23 The new filters are not related to the SPS condition but to the state of your already installed programs. If the updatable filter returns nothing it means that you've been good and you've already updated all your installed programs. edited by Gianluca on 14/03/2016
09/03/2016 Topic: SyMenu v5.01.5911 Update Gianluca Administrator	sl23 wrote: Re: colours. Are you aware that the red is no longer shown? That it worked previous to this update? That both Updates and New are shown in blue? It did work but now doesn't. Perhaps it's some kind of limitation? The behavior should be: - new SPS: little blue overlay on icon (NEW) and blue pastel background color on the entire row - updated SPS: little red overlay on icon (UPD) and blue pastel background color on the entire row If it doesn't work that way it's a bug. The previous behavior was different because we didn't have different icons for new and updated but only a single icon and the background was only red. Is the change from red to blue color a problem? Or the problem is that I should use different background colors for new and updated SPS... Here in Italy we have a traditional character born in the 16th century from an improvisational theater that we call Commedia dell'arte. His name is Arlecchino (Harlequin) and his characteristic is a multicolored costume. Well maybe it's famous abroad too. When someone dresses with too many colors or makes a PPT presentation with too many colors or even creates a program with too many colors we say that he's doing an Arlecchinata... and it is not a good thing. Simply I don't want to transform SyMenu in an Arlecchinata so less colors is always better
23/03/2016 Topic: Modifying the format of an item Gianluca Administrator	Well so I'm forced to succumb to the community will No promise on the feasibility and, above all, on the estimate timing for that because I'm currently working on two features that require my complete attention. For those who want to know more they are the extension of the search on the items description too (customizable and changeable on the fly such as the search on the file system elements) and the scripting engine (the after install part plus bug fix on the before install). Anyway your proposal it's in the TODO list now. edited by Gianluca on 23/03/2016
12/04/2016 Topic: Modifying the format of an item Gianluca Administrator	Hello guys. I confirm that the "emphasize this item" mode will be available with the next version. I will probably release SyMenu during the next weekend so stay tuned.
20/04/2016 Topic: Item Multiple select for easiest customization Gianluca Administrator	lupusbalo wrote: Why don't you use existing categories for Nirsoft/SysInternals/SPS .... I'm using the Nirsoft categories exactly as they are in the Nirsoft pad file http://www.nirsoft.net/pad/pads.zip. In particular I'm using the tag Program_Specific_Category. Maybe do you prefer the tag Program_Category_Class? Is it clearer in your opinion? Why? Regarding Sysinternals I'm using exactly the same categories they publish in their web site so your suggestion is not so clear. Which kind of categories am I assumed to use if not the original ones? lupusbalo wrote: Is there any way to have multiple select in the configuration panel Unfortunately not because it would be too complex to manage. Think about Windows Explorer and its treenode view. Does it allow to use the multiple selection? Of course not. With Explorer MS decided to split the problem in two: you have the treenode view on the left that contains only folders and the files and folders detail view on the right. In the right box you can do a multiple selection only because the elements, the files and the folders, are all contained inside the same parent which can be another folder, an archive file or a disk. But a multiple selection inside different parent is never possible and I don't know any other program allowing that because the effects will be to difficult to manage or even unpredictable. SyMenu mixed the two explorer views in one only: you can see folders (SyContainers) and files (SyItems) in a single treenode. It's a more practical way to represent a node hierarchy but this came to a price: no multiple selection is available. Maybe in a future far far away, I can implement a multiple selection inside the same parent but is not a priority now. If you have a lot of item and understand a bit the xml format you can try to manually edit the configuration file, but I don't recommend that. If you want to try the same, do a backup before.
20/04/2016 Topic: SyMenu Update v5.02.5953 Gianluca Administrator	sl23 wrote: As always, thank you so much for your hard work Gian As always you are too fast for me.... you beat me to the punch with the post for the new version... again First one consideration about the new version. You will find a completely new way to search your items through the context search bar: now you can search for words or portions of words contained inside the description as well as the program name. The search inside description and name is the new default, customizable indeed, and it allows to use more than one word in whatever order you like. Give it a try. I'm waiting for feedback. The other news are available as usual here Now your questions. sl23 wrote: Folders (Containers) can't be saved as Bold, even though they can be Emphasised in the Configuration form. Is this a bug or currently not possible? It's a bug. I'll fix it in the next version. sl23 wrote: Maybe a little reorganisation of this context menu. While emphasising the folders I accidentally clicked the Remove Item option, an inadvertant click on Yes instead of No and I would've lost around twenty entries! I suggest move Batch Import directly below Get New Apps, as these are for adding apps. Then move Remove Item to bottom of context menu. The reorganization makes sense. Anyway if you remove something and confirm, you haven't removed your items yet. It's only a scheduled action shown graphically with a strikethrough font that won't be effective until you press the Save button. You can undo the single action with the reverse command (Reset item) or even with the general button Reset.
20/04/2016 Topic: SyMenu - Error in command Gianluca Administrator	Ciao Fulvio. Unfortunately I can't reproduce your issue. Is your network path a real network path such as \\NAS\Download or a Windows mapped folder that points to the \\NAS\Download folder? Is it an admin share? Something like \\NAS\D$\Download. Are you able to reach the same folder with the Windows Explorer? Is it possible that your SyMenu is blocked by a firewall?
21/04/2016 Topic: SyMenu - Error in command Gianluca Administrator	Nothing... can you send to me your configuration? It's the file [SyMenu]\Config\SyMenuItem.zip
26/04/2016 Topic: Item Multiple select for easiest customization Gianluca Administrator	You can add a program instructing SyMenu to automatically create a folder using the program category's name. http://www.ugmfree.it/SyMenuManual.aspx#SPSFormAdd If you prefer a different organization compared to the proposed categories/folders name you can surely re-organize the installed programs through the configuration form creating or renaming a proper SyContainer. lupusbalo wrote: Freecommander can select multiple items in a "right panel" from different sources as soon are you are using a "flat view") Well also FreeCommander considers too difficult to implement the multi selection from a hierarchical structure and simplifies the problem. In fact when you choose the Flat view (Plain view according to my version) you are viewing all the folders and files starting from a certain root in a flat mode. In this way the starting multi selection problem is simplified but only try to move all the files and folders from the plain view to a parent subfolder and count all the errors you'll get: "The destination folder is a subfolder of the source folder", "The source and destination file names are the same", besides if you get more than one file with the same name in more than one subfolder, that's a perfectly legal thing in Windows, you'll get even a confirmation for the overwriting file. I'm not saying that this is the wrong way to solve the problem, but I'm saying it's a really complex way to operate. My choose will be to allow the multiselection of SyContainers (folders) and SyItems (files) from a single container. I think this approach is easier to understand for a user. But as I already told you this is a really low priority task.
05/05/2016 Topic: 1000 apps!!!! Gianluca Administrator	The target has been hit. Starting from today SyMenu is offering 1000 freeware portable programs with its three valuable program suites. Guys it's a terrific moment for me and for the people who are helping the project. I would like to thanks all the people who are working on the SyMenu suite feeding it with new programs. Thanks to Åke, Scott, Regmos, Luis, Jess, Euphoria, Cesar, Cristov, Magz, tpan... and sorry if I forgot someone.
08/05/2016 Topic: Freefilesync 8.1 Cannot open GlobalSettings.xml Gianluca Administrator	Hello ltRam. The FFS problem is a well known one. You can try this workaround here (http://www.freefilesync.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1716&start=50). And please ignore the flame by critternyc because it is useless for your needs.
19/05/2016 Topic: How can I backup SyMenu? Gianluca Administrator	A user asked me this question and I decided to reply in the forum because the problem is not trivial. When we speak about a backup related to SyMenu we could speak about a configuration backup, a programs backup, or both. The partial backup, only configuration files or only program files, is sensless because they can't exist one without the other. Besides with the SPS the links between programs and configuration have become more and more close. I will analyze the SPS first. If you delete the SyMenu entity created by an SPS program, the corresponding physical program will be deleted as soon as you enter in the SPS Manager. The SPS Manager in fact checks if any folder available inside the current suite is related to a configured item, otherwise it will be removed. Conversely if you physically remove an SPS program folder, when you enter in the SyMenu configuration form or in SPS Manager the corresponding logical item won't be removed. Anyway you'll find the item between the orphans scanning for unlinked items. The not SPS items, the normal ones, are instead completely disconnected. You can have the configuration without the program or the program without its configuration. SyMenu helps you to track these occurrences with two features that are, correspondingly, Scan for unlinked (again) and Batch import. Having a full configured menu without the corresponding programs or having the programs without the corresponding configuration is a big problem in SyMenu so my advise is to backup everything. SyMenu itself is a portable application, its programs are portable the same. So if you backup the entire SyMenu folder and file structure you can restore it wherever you want and everything works well again. A backup plugin exists but I advise against it because it is really old, not completed, only compatible with the .NET Framework 4 (SyMenu works well with 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and all the 4.0 family) and the author is disappeared. BTW if someone wants to write a new backup plugin for SyMenu, be my guest. Instead you can use a simple compression software or, if you prefer, a backup software that could do the job automatically. For example you can use the SPS Back4Sure that support the command line and so it is suitable to be configured with a SyMenu autoexec action.
19/05/2016 Topic: The SPS scripting engine: Script after install Gianluca Administrator	Hello guys. And finally the script after install is quite ready. The syntax is changed a bit since my last post. I think this syntax is easier to understand and use but, since I'm still in development, everything can be changed. So I'm awaiting for your suggestions. This is the syntax: The event occurs just after the program installation. Every command is launched from the app root folder so every path is a relative one. The use of absolute paths causes the script fail. Syntax: # - Comment # [whatever] Ex. # This is a remark MakeDir - Creates a new folder MakeDir < NewFolderPath > Ex. MakeDir NewFolder MakeDir "New Folder" MakeDir "New Folder\New Sub Folder" RenDir - Rename a folder or move it or both RenDir < OldFolderPath > < NewFolderPath > Ex. RenDir Folder FolderRenamed RenDir Folder "Folder Renamed" RenDir Folder\SubFolder SubFolder (it moves the SubFolder to the root) RenDir Folder\SubFolder MainFolder (it moves the SubFolder to the root and changes its name) RemoveDir - Delete a folder and all its elements RemoveDir < FolderToDeletePath > Ex. RemoveDir "Temp Folder" RemoveDir "Folder\SubFolder" RenFile - Rename a file or move it or both RenFile < OldFilePath > < NewFilePath > Ex. RenFile file1.exe file2.exe RenFile Folder\file1.exe file1.exe (it moves the file1.exe to the root) RenFile Folder\file1.exe file2.exe (it moves the file1.exe to the root and changes its name) CopyFile - Copy a file CopyFile < SourceFilePath > < NewFilePath > Ex. CopyFile file1.exe file2.exe CopyFile Folder\file1.exe file1.exe (copy the file1.exe file to the root) DelFile - Delete a file DelFile < FileToDeletePath > Ex. DelFile file1.exe DelFile Folder\file1.exe CreateFile - Create an empty text file. By default the econding is ANSI but it can be changed CreateFile < FileToCreatePath > [/ANSI \| /UTF8] Ex. CreateFile file1.ini CreateFile file1.ini /UTF8 CreateFileStart / CreateFileEnd - Create a text file with a content. By default the econding is ANSI but it can be changed CreateFileStart < FileToCreatePath >[/ANSI \| /UTF8]...content...CreateFileEnd Ex. CreateFileStart file1.ini paramA = 2 # the remarks are ignored even inside the content path = ./ folder ... CreateFileEnd
30/05/2016 Topic: Feature Request/Idea Gianluca Administrator	Sometimes the manual can be helpful http://www.ugmfree.it/SyMenuManual.aspx#SPSFormAdd
03/06/2016 Topic: Feature Request: Notes Gianluca Administrator	Welcome Sam. Your idea to have a multiline text area for the description is good. I have to find a way to give it a little space inside the configuration form but you can be sure I'll do that. Why do you give up in inserting you tags inside the description? After you load the built in description you can add your custom tag without any problem. I won't add another field for the notes above all if I make the description field more usable and larger so you have to use it for you tags.
03/06/2016 Topic: Item Tooltip disappears too quickly for me Gianluca Administrator	The tooltip persistency It's not customizable by the user. I can experiment with a customizable timer or with longer delays.
05/06/2016 Topic: Feature Request: Notes Gianluca Administrator	sffdb8 wrote: My concern is regarding updates: I want to load the description from each update to see if any changes. This replaces my custom description (i.e. I need to manage it manually - either copy/paste, or don't save changes. Certainly manageable, but that was my primary reason: not mixing the developer's description with my own custom notes. Well..usually you can't see a program news through its description. IMHO what you need is a visit to the "what's new" program/web site section. But, I'm not used to judge the users behavior, so let's examine your needs and see if any solution is viable. 1) you need to search the programs through custom tags. 2) you need a place where these custom tags must be located. The first point is so important that I'm thinking about a revolutionary change in SPS itself. Today, during the installation process, the SPS takes the program description and fills the corresponding field in SyMenu. My idea is to add, at the end of this text, some tags taken from the SPS program categories. In that way the original SPS categories can be searched even in SyMenu and won't be lost. An example: In SPS the program CCleaner is classified with the categories "System - Disk Cleaners" and its description is "CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your PC. It protects your privacy and makes your computer faster and more secure!". With this new feature the description of a fresh installed CCleaner becomes: "CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your PC. It protects your privacy and makes your computer faster and more secure! #System #DiskCleaners" Naturally the built in tag system for SyMenu won't be a completely new thing but an old well known system, the hashtag. An hashtag inside the description will become sacred. In case you reload the description from the program (build-in description not SPS description this time) the text will be analyzed and any hashtag will be saved and inserted again at the end of the new description. It won't be necessary that the hashtag is inserted by the SPS engine. It can be a completely custom hashtag and it'll be untouchable the same. The only way to trash an hashtag inside a description is to delete it by hand... but if it is an SPS program, at the new update you will get it again. So hashtag into the description for SPS will become mandatory, for other programs will be optional. Naturally the SyMenu search tool is already able to search for a text like an hashtag... because it is a simple text with an # in front. You won't have a new notes field but you will have a complete way to customize the program description through tags, and to search for your tags. What do you think?
05/06/2016 Topic: Running SyItem in Elevated mode - Challenges Gianluca Administrator	Well a program that absolutely needs elevation should be created with the proper manifest to inform Windows about that but it not depends on me. Other programs can run with or without elevation according to your will. Unfortunately SyMenu lacks on this field. You can configure an item to be executed on SyMenu start or end, and you can configure if this item must be executed elevated or not. But it is a feature only available on autoexec on start/end. I know, I know... I should implement it directly as a program option. For now be patient and use the action modifier. Why isn't "Run Elevated" available in the 'Configure Item' window? No reason for that. I have to introduce it. Be patient again.
28/06/2016 Topic: Item Tooltip disappears too quickly for me Gianluca Administrator	Unfortunately I have a limited control on closing an opened tooltip. In certain circumstances the tooltip stay opened even when the main menu closes. If I extend the timeout you'll have a tooltip hanging for a longer time. But I can introduce the option at the configuration level instead of at program level. It means that you have to manually modify the configuration file to modify the default timeout period. Stay tuned for the next version.