17/08/2021
Topic:
New SyMenu version 6.15
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Dear user the new version is finally out. I hope the new feature reported here https://www.ugmfree.it/Forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=819 is a good news for everyone. Stay tuned. |
19/10/2021
Topic:
Update programms
GianlucaAdministrator
|
The reason is simple.
When a program is updating, SyMenu can't know if the three items it found in the new definition were previously there and you deleted two or if it is a novelty from the updated package. It has to install everything it finds in the definition. To be clear, if the next Autoruns package will include four items, the updating system will create the missing one. It has no options.
Anyway I can suggest a different approach to accomplish your task. Configure the logical items Autoruns (x86) and Autoruns cmd (x64) to be hidden (from configuration form select the item and press F3). This way you won't see them in the contextual menu, nor in the search. Plus if they annoy you even in the configuration view, you can move them in a special folder named accordingly (Trash? Rubbish? WTF?) that you hide in the same way. Everything you put there will be automatically hidden. |
19/10/2021
Topic:
New SyMenu version 6.16
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Dear SyMenu users, The new version is out and there is some big news for you: the search engine for SPS apps has changed, a lot.
Now, by default, it searches in any field and if you want to refine your search , you need to use filter keywords.
Please read the inline guide in the program and the manual (https://www.ugmfree.it/SyMenuManual.aspx#SPSFormFilter) to get further clues.
In one of the next versions, I will add a tool to create your own templates and eventually to remove the default ones. This way the search process will become faster and faster.
The old clumsy search has gone forever and this is the new direction I took.
So please give me any suggestions to improve it and to make it more user friendly and intuitive. |
20/10/2021
Topic:
A new approach to the installation of apps
GianlucaAdministrator
|
sl23 wrote:
Great idea. But now you've changed the Search area, This new section for selected programs would be better positioned on the right hand side, imo. You could have the boxed section of selected apps placed there with the Apply button, etc underneath. The boxed area could have a scroll bar feature for when too many entries are listed and I think this would look much better whilst leaving the vertical space on the left for the list of apps and their description. What do you think?
Well I don't see the point in moving the "plan area" for two reasons. 1) the program description has a fixed height. Even if I gain space, the description doesn't take advantage of this; 2) the program list area can be increased by resizing the entire form because it's the only element with a variable height in this area.
Plus the right side will be used entirely for the new search engine. What you have today is only the first step for an entirely new way to search. |
20/10/2021
Topic:
A new approach to the installation of apps
GianlucaAdministrator
|
jibibi wrote:
Hello ; me the area is gone? I only have the search tools ??? is this normal ???
oh ok it a new system... sorry .... Yes it is. Please read here for further information https://www.ugmfree.it/SyMenuManual.aspx#SPSFormSearch
edited by Gianluca on 25/11/2022 |
20/10/2021
Topic:
A new approach to the installation of apps
GianlucaAdministrator
|
sl23 wrote:
Search area?! Can we have the option to hide this search area as a Sidebar then :-) Yes it's a feasible implementation. I'll take a note about this.
sl23 wrote:
Also, while I think about it, could we have an option to hide columns please. This is a bit more complex but I can give it a try. To tell the entire truth I also find some columns annoying and useless |
22/10/2021
Topic:
new update
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Hi jopa66,
Days ago I contacted you by email trying to solve your first problem but I never received any reply from you. Anyway I saw you solve the problem with the update by yourself and now you have a new one.
But, this time, it's not a problem.
The search engine has been changed and the filters now work in a totally different way.
Please read the manual to have full explanation
https://www.ugmfree.it/SyMenuManual.aspx#SPSFormFilter |
14/11/2021
Topic:
Absolute path with direct link folder
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Hi xavi, Welcome to the forum.
If you try to open a command shell and write this command on it: cd %systemdrive%\Users\%username%\Downloads the shell will reply this way: The system cannot find the path specified. This is the reason because SyMenu is not able to solve the path.
If you try to write this one instead: cd %systemdrive%\Users\%username% the shell will open your user folder a so will SyMenu.
Now try to search inside the above folder and you'll notice that no Download folder exists (anymore), neither as real folder, nor as a shortcut to another folder. That's because you redefine the path for it and its location is now D:\Downloads. BTW, it's the same path I redefine for my computers.
When you ask Windows to expand an environment variable such as %systemdrive% or %username% it can only expand that variable and can't understand that your target is some other folder. Windows can't do magic, in fact, in this case, it uses the registry and not the FS to read redefined special folders paths such as Documents, Download, Desktop, Music, Pictures, Videos...
Now let's see what you can do to workaround this problem. IMHO the easiest way is creating a symbolic link to the lost Download folder inside your %systemdrive%\Users\%username% folder. You can use a program for this or the Windows command MKLINK (https://ss64.com/nt/mklink.html). With a symbolic link you restore the lost link and the command shell and SyMenu are now able to work again.
The last one now. Why QuickAccessPopup works well? I don't know. It probably understands what you are searching for, reads the Windows registry to decode your request, returns the right folder path.
Please let us know if the workaround solves your issue because I suspect it could be useful for a lot of users. |
26/11/2021
Topic:
How to add more 'portable programs' to SyMenu
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Hi m.s., No rule indeed.
If you like the folder SyMenu\ProgramFiles, you can use it, otherwise use whatever path you want. After that you have to tell SyMenu to link your programs with logical items using one of these methods: - you can drag and drop the executable one by one over the floating button or over the Configuration form; - use the batch import; - force your repository folder to be searchable and use the Search feature instead (add Link to folder item - point it to your repository folder - make it Searchable. That's all). |
28/11/2021
Topic:
low space flash drive
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Welcome to the community.
You are right, the Brave installation process needs to duplicate the used disk space when updating to temporary preserve a program backup copy in the trash folder. I don't know exactly the file structure for Brave but trashing the entire folder, installing the new version and restoring the user folders, is a quite common way to proceed for our suite programs, especially for those ones that we don't know very well.
Anyway your problem is easy to workaround in two ways.
1)
Brave browser is built atop Chromium and for this reason the program has the same exact options and behaviors.
If I was in your shoes I will redirect the user folders in a path outside the Brave root. SyMenu has a special folder for this purpose called [SyMenu]\Profiles but you are free to choose whatever else folder you want. This way every update will ask for an additional 300MB space only for the temporary trashed copy.
How can you redirect the user folders?
For any Chromium browser is easy to do because you have to redefine the environment variable pointing to the appdata\local folder (SyMenu allows to do this kind of hacks with advanced parameters - environment variables - LOCALAPPDATA env var). Unfortunately Brave portable launcher already redirects the roaming folder to the Data folder located inside the program root folder. And the portable launcher is stronger than the SyMenu launcher.
To solve that you can bypass the Brave portable launcher, pointing to the real Brave executable and the trick is served.
To sum up:
- create by hand a Brave entry pointing to .\ProgramFiles\SPSSuite\SyMenuSuite\Brave_portable_(x64)_sps\app\brave.exe file. You can call it My Brave portable (x64);
- in the program advanced parameters add these environment variables: LOCALAPPDATA=.\..\..\..\..\..\Profiles\BraveRoaming or change the target folder as you desire;
- save the item;
- start the program through the new item to check if the paths is right (a bunch of folders and files must be created inside the Profiles\BraveRoaming folder);
- close the program;
- move the old Data folder, that one with your personal data, inside the new BraveRoaming folder (please respect the right relative paths);
- hide the old item pointing to the original Brave portable entry (please remember you have not to delete it, otherwise SyMenu will physically remove the entire program, only hide it with F3).
- done! From now on your Brave folder will weigh less than 300MB and the additional disk space required during the update will weigh accordingly.
2)
If the previous workaround is too much for you, the other way is simpler: increase the available space for your portable installation by buying a new disk and move the entire SyMenu to the new one.
If you choose the 1) method (the smarter one... that one I think you should choose), please report your experience and results here to be helpful for other users. |
29/11/2021
Topic:
Some programs dont auto update
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Normally a program is updated by SyMenu but in some cases we (me and the other editors) evaluate that it's better to leave this task to the program itself. FF and Tor are two examples.
What does the editor evaluation depend on? Some programs have a really good auto update feature that the users find active when they install the programs the first time.
Why do the two update methods (the SyMenu's and the built-in one) can't coexist? Because SyMenu can't understand when a program is already updated or not... when it receives the new version information through its program definitions, it needs to update the program no matter what. A successful update is registered by the file you mentioned (x.xx.xx.sps.version) that is the only way for SyMenu to realize the current version of a program has been already in place. For these reasons the answer to the question is: because I want to avoid a double update for the program with an active built-in updating method.
How can you realize when a program has an auto update feature in it? It should be simple: you have to leave the default update options as you find after the first installation. For FF the auto update option is on, leave it and everything will work as a charm. If you normally disable the auto update default feature, do a research for the 0.00.sps.version files you have in your SPSSuite folder (and sub) and you'll find all the programs that are not updated by SyMenu. With this list, you can re-activated the built-in update feature or you can force the update through SyMenu. |
01/12/2021
Topic:
Some programs dont auto update
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Well I forgot a little detail: the program icon you can see in the suite app list has a little AUT banner on it when the program is capable to auto update. And with the next SyMenu version you'll find a new search filter (:auto) to reach them all in a flash. |
13/12/2021
Topic:
New SyMenu beta version 7.00
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Dear users,
The next SyMenu version represents a great improvement with several new features and, for this reason, I prefer to publish it in a public beta before releasing to the public. So please test it as you like, but don't use it as your main version because it is still a bit raw.
These are the most important features I introduced:
- the search patterns for the SPS Manager are now fully customizable. You can edit the default ones, add your recurring search, even delete every template if they annoy you;
- the SPS Manager search tool has a new search instruction (:auto). It searches for every SPS program with a flagged built-in updater option;
- every program, folder and command item can be optionally started with a maximized or minimized window. This feature doesn't work for every program, especially for those one that use a launcher (every PAF for example). It's not a problem on the SyMenu side, but it's the program launcher that doesn't communicate the desired window size down to the main program... so shame on the third party launcher;
- the user entries tooltip now has a more flexible duration setting. The duration can be set from 1 sec. to 30 sec. If you set it to any value greater than 30 sec. or directly to 0 sec. the duration becomes infinite. This setting is available directly on the configuration file... RTFM to know how it works ;
- there is a new action modifier to open the documentation file for the program. The documentation file is searched at run-time following certain rules. Please let me know when certain doc files are not retrieved. If I can see a new general rule to find them too, I can implement it;
- the massive import function, now shows the folders in gray because the folders are never imported;
- during the same working session the options form remembers the last opened tab (finally!!!!);
- the combobox now is drawn with an homogeneous style;
- fix in the translation labels of the proxy form;
- fix in configuration form for the right hand side flow panels placement;
- fix in path editing: the double quotes are automatically removed where they are not allowed.
And as a Christmas present there is a breaking change too....
Breaking change When the working dir of an item was a relative path, the SyMenu resolution was wrong. The old resolution rule was based on the SyMenu root folder instead of the program root folder as asserted by the documentation. This version solves the bug so if you have some items configured with a relative working dir, please re-check your configuration.
That's all for now.
If someone wants to report something, you already know that you can get in touch with me with a post here in the forum, or through a forum private message, or through the contact form, or with an email.
Cheers.
Thanks for all your reports. A new beta version is ready to test: https://www.ugmfree.it/Public/SymenuBeta/SyMenu.7.00.8020.beta.zip
edited by Gianluca on 16/12/2021 |
04/01/2022
Topic:
New SyMenu version 7.00
GianlucaAdministrator
|
And here we are. The new year takes a new SyMenu version.
It's a big release with a lot of new features and I hope you can appreciate it.
This is the full list of the new features:
- The search patterns for the SPS Manager are now fully customizable. You can edit the default ones, add your recurring search, even delete the default templates if they annoys you
- The SPS Manager search tool has a new search instruction (:auto). It searches for every SPS program with a flagged built-in updater option
- Every program, folder and command item can be optionally started with a maximized or minimized window. This feature doesn't work for every program, especially for those one that use a launcher (every PAF for example). It's not a problem on the SyMenu side, but it's the program launcher that doesn't communicate the desired window size down to the main program
- The user entries tooltip now has a more flexible duration setting. The duration can be set from 1 sec. to 30 sec. If you set it to any value greater than 30 sec. or directly to 0 sec. the duration becomes infinite. This setting is available directly on the configuration file
- There is a new action modifier to open the programs' documentation files. The documentation file is searched at run-time following certain naming rules
- The massive import function shows the folders in gray because the folders are not imported
- During the same working session the options form remembers the last opened tab
- The combobox is drawn with an homogeneous style
- Fix in the translation labels of the proxy form
- Fix in configuration form for the right hand side flow panels placement
- Fix in path editing: the double quotes are automatically removed because they are not allowed in paths
Breaking change: When the working dir of an item was a relative path, the SyMenu resolution was wrong. The old resolution rule was based on the SyMenu root folder instead of the program root folder as asserted by the documentation. This version solves the bug so if you have some items configured with a relative working dir, please re-check your configuration.
As usual I'm here for bugs, issues, questions and whatever.
Have a great 2022!
Gian |
04/01/2022
Topic:
SyMENU need badly open menu delay!!!
GianlucaAdministrator
|
I know there is a sort of freezing during the search but I'm not sure what you intend when you refer to submenu opening. If you click on a logical container full of items, SyMenu shows you a flashing icon to notify it's loading them but you are not locked and you can open another folder with no delay.
So please let's take the two issues separated.
The first one (delay on searching) is known but not so serious. It's in my list with a low priority. Instead I've never heard about the second one (freezing during subfolders opening) so please detail it a bit more. |
04/01/2022
Topic:
SyMENU need badly open menu delay!!!
GianlucaAdministrator
|
IMHO it's senseless.
What's happened if you want to move fast to the an item hovering all the others? The first submenu remains frozen when you are already on the last one, cursing me because the delay. Furthermore, since I perfectly know my menu organization I'm used to go to the item I need and move the pointer immediately on the right to enter the submenu and eventually move again on the sub-submenu. If the opening is delayed at any level I should wait on every item until the submenu decides it's time to open...
I really don't understand why a delay should be useful but probably it's because my poor imagination.
Can you point me to a program that implements this delay intentionally? This way I can understand what the benefit really is. |
04/01/2022
Topic:
SyMENU need badly open menu delay!!!
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Ok now I understand. The delay is to avoid the immediate menu closing when the focus or the mouse hovering is lost.
Instead when the mouse pointer switches to another submenu, no delay is needed because the fast reaction is due.
Well it's a bit complicated.
SyMenu is build on top of a standard Windows component and all the behaviors related to the component interactivity are in charge of the OS. I can try to think about a solution for your request but I strongly doubt I can do anything.
Thank you. |
08/01/2022
Topic:
Security settings block access to SyMenu 7
GianlucaAdministrator
|
I think the block could be due to another reason. Which kind of AV software do you use in your company? I'm asking because the SyMenu version 7.00 is reported as dangerous by Malwarebytes which is a widespread AV software. See the VT report for the SyMenu last version here https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/7b580bf1730a8c8d440c0ade27ea8d770b38c9dbaf07279bfb54a4e19e0a894d Just in case you have this AV in your office computer, you should report to the Malwarebytes guys the false positive.
I strongly doubt that a company can create a policy to block SyMenu without blocking any other software. Unless your IT department wants to hit SyMenu in person... but I don't think such an evil department could really exist... |
11/01/2022
Topic:
Security settings block access to SyMenu 7
GianlucaAdministrator
|
It's not Defender unless the version your company is using is outdated... but you can't check it because of your rights. You can try another thing: - update SyMenu to 7.00v; - right click the executable and ask for the properties. Now check for the security block flag Windows set for files downloaded from the Internet. To have a clue on what I'm speaking, try to read this https://www.ugmfree.it/SyMenuManual.aspx#SyMenuPluginBlocked . It's related to SyMenu plugins but the main executable could be locked in the same way; - if the problem was the previous one, check the other executable and unlock them all.
And please report here the outcome. |
17/01/2022
Topic:
PrettyPrint SyMenu: a new tool for SyMenu
GianlucaAdministrator
|
Hi m.s.
Thank you very much for your effort! It's really appreciated.
I've just tested your program and it's very useful for sharing sections of the SyMenu configuration.
And BTW, I can not wait for SyMenu MD Exchange and SyMenu Undo!!!!!
Thank you again |