PING RL: thoughts on a vital AI project ...

[fitwell]

Hi, R.L., hope you catch this msg <g>.

There is one other task that I think AI would be suited for, but I
don't know where to begin to start coding it up. You gave us a backup
program that we'd not been able to find in the available freewares.
LittleBackerUpper is such a great program that I know asking about
this concern is best idea.

I have a multi-launching bat file to launch one or more of my
instances for my Agent newsreader. Having a set launcher just was no
good as I don't open them all, or combination thereof, with any
regularity or consistency. I needed to be able to do this but could
never get the batch coding right. A lot of help in the ng proved that
there seemed to be nothing suitable or easy to use in freeware.
Ultimately, it was all coded for me by a wonderfully generous person,
Todd Vargo.

After working with AI and the script helper, I realize why I can never
get ahead with bat writing, there just aren't enough resources out
there to help. If you want to wade 3 hours for every snippet of code
you manage to unearth online, sure, but it's just not a practical
direction to go for anything beyond the basics. Although basics work
quite well in many cases.

But I think I could get somewhere with AI. But I don't know where to
begin to start with the GUI angle.

But meanwhile, here's the bat that works exceptionally well. I
substituted some standard Windows programs so that anyone trying it
out can see the purpose of a multi-launching bat. So a multi-launcher
is one of those things that does need creating as a windows app, I
feel.

Here's the bat:

***************************************
:: Was PizzaMenu.bat, posted in newsgroup alt.msdos.batch
:: Written by Todd Vargo in Windows 98 on Sep 23, 2003
:: Modified by Todd Vargo on Sep 25, 2003 for personalized usage
echo off
if GOTO:==%1 %1%2 (Subroutine Handler)
for %%? in (a b c d e f g h i j k l m) do set %%?=_

:menu
cls
echo
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
echo º AGENT INSTANCES TO LAUNCH
º
echo
ÌÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͹
echo º A. [%a%] - Launch Paint
º
echo º B. [%b%] - Launch Notepad
º
echo º C. [%c%] - Launch WordPad
º
echo º D. [%d%] - Launch calculator
º
echo º E. [%e%] - (empty)
º
echo º F. [%f%] - (empty)
º
echo º G. [%g%] - (empty)
º
echo º H. [%h%] - (empty)
º
echo º I. [%i%] - (empty)
º
echo º J. [%j%] - (empty)
º
echo º K. [%k%] - (empty)
º
echo º L. [%l%] - (empty)
º
echo º M. [%m%] - (empty)
º
echo º
º
echo º Q. QUIT - changed your mind? Just Quit.
º
echo º
º
echo º X. Start launch process.
º
echo
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
echo. If you change your mind about a selection, press the key
echo. again to toggle it off.
echo.
CHOICE /C:ABCDEFGHIJKLMQX /N " Choose your option(s), then press X. Or
press Q to quit.: "
IF ERRORLEVEL 15 GOTO continue
IF ERRORLEVEL 14 if not errorlevel 15 GOTO cleanup
IF ERRORLEVEL 13 if not errorlevel 14 call %0 GOTO: toggle M %M%
IF ERRORLEVEL 12 if not errorlevel 13 call %0 GOTO: toggle L %L%
IF ERRORLEVEL 11 if not errorlevel 12 call %0 GOTO: toggle K %K%
IF ERRORLEVEL 10 if not errorlevel 11 call %0 GOTO: toggle J %J%
IF ERRORLEVEL 9 if not errorlevel 10 call %0 GOTO: toggle I %I%
IF ERRORLEVEL 8 if not errorlevel 9 call %0 GOTO: toggle H %H%
IF ERRORLEVEL 7 if not errorlevel 8 call %0 GOTO: toggle G %G%
IF ERRORLEVEL 6 if not errorlevel 7 call %0 GOTO: toggle F %F%
IF ERRORLEVEL 5 if not errorlevel 6 call %0 GOTO: toggle E %E%
IF ERRORLEVEL 4 if not errorlevel 5 call %0 GOTO: toggle D %D%
IF ERRORLEVEL 3 if not errorlevel 4 call %0 GOTO: toggle C %C%
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 if not errorlevel 3 call %0 GOTO: toggle B %B%
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 if not errorlevel 2 call %0 GOTO: toggle A %A%
GOTO menu

:toggle
if _==%4 for %%? in (%3) do set %%?=X
if X==%4 for %%? in (%3) do set %%?=_
GOTO end

:continue
if X==%a% start "C:\Program Files\Accessories\MSPAINT.EXE"
if X==%b% start "C:\WINDOWS\Notepad.exe"
if X==%c% start "C:\Program Files\Accessories\WORDPAD.EXE"
if X==%d% start "C:\WINDOWS\CALC.EXE"
if X==%e% start ""
if X==%f% start ""
if X==%g% start ""
if X==%h% start ""
if X==%i% start ""
if X==%j% start ""
if X==%k% start ""
if X==%l% start ""
if X==%m% start ""

:cleanup
for %%? in (a b c d e f g h i j k l m) do set %%?=%=%
cls
echo.
echo.
echo TASK COMPLETED.
echo.
echo.
:end
::end of batch
***************************************

Now, why AI? Because although this DOS bat works well once you code
it, it's cumbersome. The GUI is ugly and you have to be so careful
when making any changes. I'd prefer to make up a launcher that just
allows you to set the paths to what you want to put in the GUI but
just by dumping in the path and then a title for what you want to
launch adn that's it. No touching the launching code itself.

Anyway, I'm also going to go over and actually post the bat file in
alt.binaries.freeware because of the word wrap above. It'll save
hassles if anyone interested just goes over there and retrieves the
file.

Let me know what you think. I don't know where to start, so any
beginning tip would be helpful.

Thanks!

D

 

[R. L.]

Hi, R.L., hope you catch this msg <g>.

There is one other task that I think AI would be suited
for, but I don't know where to begin to start coding it up.
You gave us a backup program that we'd not been able to
find in the available freewares. LittleBackerUpper is such
a great program that I know asking about this concern is
best idea.

I have a multi-launching bat file to launch one or more of
my instances for my Agent newsreader. Having a set
launcher just was no good as I don't open them all, or
combination thereof, with any regularity or consistency. I
needed to be able to do this but could never get the batch
coding right. A lot of help in the ng proved that there
seemed to be nothing suitable or easy to use in freeware.
Ultimately, it was all coded for me by a wonderfully
generous person, Todd Vargo.
[snipped]
But I think I could get somewhere with AI. But I don't
know where to begin to start with the GUI angle.

But meanwhile, here's the bat that works exceptionally
well. I substituted some standard Windows programs so that
anyone trying it out can see the purpose of a
multi-launching bat. So a multi-launcher is one of those
things that does need creating as a windows app, I feel.

Here's the bat:

[snipped]

Hi, fitwell, I looked at the bat and I am not entirely sure
what exactly do you want (sorry, I don't use very complex bat
here). However, here is my guess: is it you want something
that will launch more than one programs at the same time?
However, what do you want exactly that a muti-lunacher
wouldn't have? Is it that you want something that you can
choose the combination everytime? It seems that you also want
to monitor certain thing but I can't quite figure out by just
looking at the bat file.




--
RL
Unofficial Adaware Updater (+other goodies)
http://home.earthlink.net/~ringomei/page2.html
********************************
Pricelessware voting annual results and information:
http://www.pricelessware.org,
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org,
http://www.earths-ocular.com/mirror/www.pricelesswarehome.org/

 

[fitwell]

Hi, R.L., hope you catch this msg <g>.

There is one other task that I think AI would be suited
for, but I don't know where to begin to start coding it up.
You gave us a backup program that we'd not been able to
find in the available freewares. LittleBackerUpper is such
a great program that I know asking about this concern is
best idea.

I have a multi-launching bat file to launch one or more of
my instances for my Agent newsreader. Having a set
launcher just was no good as I don't open them all, or
combination thereof, with any regularity or consistency. I
needed to be able to do this but could never get the batch
coding right. A lot of help in the ng proved that there
seemed to be nothing suitable or easy to use in freeware.
Ultimately, it was all coded for me by a wonderfully
generous person, Todd Vargo.
[snipped]
But I think I could get somewhere with AI. But I don't
know where to begin to start with the GUI angle.

But meanwhile, here's the bat that works exceptionally
well. I substituted some standard Windows programs so that
anyone trying it out can see the purpose of a
multi-launching bat. So a multi-launcher is one of those
things that does need creating as a windows app, I feel.

Here's the bat:

[snipped]

Hi, fitwell, I looked at the bat and I am not entirely sure
what exactly do you want (sorry, I don't use very complex bat
here). However, here is my guess: is it you want something
that will launch more than one programs at the same time?
However, what do you want exactly that a muti-lunacher
wouldn't have? Is it that you want something that you can
choose the combination everytime? It seems that you also want
to monitor certain thing but I can't quite figure out by just
looking at the bat file.

Hi, R.L., sorry for the delay. I was away.

I can imagine if you were just looking at the bat that you would have
problems. Easiest thing to do is just to actually use it and see the
behaviour as just looking at the code can be very confusing, I know
<g>.

I _did_ ul the bat file itself to alt.binaries.freeware. I'm going to
do that again so that you can get it.

There is one thing that would need to be done, though, if your OS is
not Win98SE, like mine is. The bat requires slight editing to ensure
the correct path for the choices given. i.e., for MS Paint, for
example, the path below would have to be modified if MSPAINT.EXE
resides elsewhere on anyone else's OS:

if X==%a% start "C:\Program Files\Accessories\MSPAINT.EXE"

(In case anyone has forgotten, bat files are easily modified in
Notepad.)

******************************
There are _no_ multi-launching apps of this type. Oh, some come sort
of close, but they are always extremely cumbersome to operate and
require just as much fiddling as bat files to code so the bat one won
out hands down.

_All_ the apps tested (and there was an extensive list of ones looked
at in this ng last year) usu. pretty much launch a pre-determined set
of app/docts and _never_ do any of them allow user to choose at any
given moment which of a group of apps/docts, etc., could be
opened/launched.

Anyway, I just needed some pointers on how to get started. AI can be
_very_ complicated sometimes. I'm having trouble right now just to
get it to open a folder in an Exlorer window <sigh>. Such a simple
thing, yet despite all the heachaches and trials, all I get is the
root directory folder opening up. And this is with help from the
forum and the yahoo group!! <sigh> So I'm wondering if I should even
bother to try to code something as complicated as a multi-launcher. I
was confident enough when I posted the initial message in this thread
but a few days have me feel a little shakey <g>.

Ah well, tomorrow will be a another day and it would be worth having a
multilauncher in AI hopefully sometime in the foreseeable future <g>.

 

[fitwell]

fitwell <[email protected]> says in
news:[email protected]:

[snip]

I _did_ ul the bat file itself to alt.binaries.freeware. I'm going to
do that again so that you can get it.

[snip]

I "ul" it again to alt.binaries.freeware. Yup, Agent screwed up the
name again. I found that if one just changes the name upon saving, in
this case to make sure the extension reads ".bat" instead of the weird
thing Agent added to it, then it works just fine. So it doesn't get
corrupted or anything.

 

[R. L.]

[snip]

I _did_ ul the bat file itself to alt.binaries.freeware.
I'm going to do that again so that you can get it.
[snip]

I "ul" it again to alt.binaries.freeware. Yup, Agent
screwed up the name again. I found that if one just
changes the name upon saving, in this case to make sure the
extension reads ".bat" instead of the weird thing Agent
added to it, then it works just fine. So it doesn't get
corrupted or anything.

Hi, fitwell, sorry this one come so slow and late. The fact
is I have problem getting the alt.binaries for some reasons.
However, is it that you want a multi-tasks launcher that can
the feature of user's selection of combination (or some kind
of profile)? If so, it should't be too difficult. (btw, it
would be really nice if I could get a brief explaination from
you rather than having to figure out a .bat, if you wouldn't
mind).



--
RL
Unofficial Adaware Updater (+other goodies)
http://home.earthlink.net/~ringomei/page2.html
********************************
Pricelessware:
http://www.pricelessware.org,
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org,

 

[fitwell]

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 16:24:19 GMT, "R. L."

fitwell <[email protected]> says in
news:[email protected]:

[snip]

I _did_ ul the bat file itself to alt.binaries.freeware.
I'm going to do that again so that you can get it.
[snip]

I "ul" it again to alt.binaries.freeware. Yup, Agent
screwed up the name again. I found that if one just
changes the name upon saving, in this case to make sure the
extension reads ".bat" instead of the weird thing Agent
added to it, then it works just fine. So it doesn't get
corrupted or anything.

Hi, fitwell, sorry this one come so slow and late. The fact
is I have problem getting the alt.binaries for some reasons.
However, is it that you want a multi-tasks launcher that can
the feature of user's selection of combination (or some kind
of profile)? If so, it should't be too difficult. (btw, it
would be really nice if I could get a brief explaination from
you rather than having to figure out a .bat, if you wouldn't
mind).

Well, that's a toughie, then, as I have explained it <g>.

But I'll try one more time but in a different way. Hopefully I do a
better job this time. <g>

No multilaunchers do this, really. They have a pre-set sequence of
apps/files/folders to launch. You must launch that sequence and can't
pick and choose.

Here we go, here's a better way.

Let's say you have the possibility of needing to open files and
folders 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

One day you need 1 and 2.
The next day you need just 3.
The next day you need 2, 3 and 5,
while the following day you need to open all 5.

Tod Varga's pizza bat, on which my example is based, provides that
functionality. However, it's DOS-based and a b**tch to edit! <g>
Also, it didn't seem to like launching link files (*.lnk) that agent
needs and I had to create a complex series of files using BatchRun.
Again, more tediousness if I have to make a change to one of them.
Coincidentally, I did yesterday. That was a pain!

So, if something could be done in AI, I'd love to do that.

It should, ideally, allow user to enter up to 20 app, with the full
warning that one shouldn't attempt more than 4 or 5 or whatever. I
have 11 items in my bats, but know that I can't get more than about 6
anyway. But I never need to open more than 4 at once anyway. It's
just to have _all_ the items available for when I need them.

Anyway, let me know if that's still not enough.

(p.s., bats are so easy if all the coding is done and esp. if you have
an actual bat file to work with. What trouble were you having?? Just
curious. AI can get so much more complex than bats with the GUIs
stuff thrown in, so I was just chuckling here. <g>)

 

[R. L.]

On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 11:23:17 GMT, fitwell

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 16:24:19 GMT, "R. L."

fitwell <[email protected]> says in


[snip]

Hi, fitwell, sorry this one come so slow and late. The
fact is I have problem getting the alt.binaries for some
reasons. However, is it that you want a multi-tasks
launcher that can the feature of user's selection of
combination (or some kind of profile)? If so, it should't
be too difficult. (btw, it would be really nice if I could
get a brief explaination from you rather than having to
figure out a .bat, if you wouldn't mind).

Well, that's a toughie, then, as I have explained it <g>.

But I'll try one more time but in a different way.
Hopefully I do a better job this time. <g>

No multilaunchers do this, really. They have a pre-set
sequence of apps/files/folders to launch. You must launch
that sequence and can't pick and choose.

Here we go, here's a better way.

Let's say you have the possibility of needing to open files
and folders 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

One day you need 1 and 2.
The next day you need just 3.
The next day you need 2, 3 and 5,
while the following day you need to open all 5.

Tod Varga's pizza bat, on which my example is based,
provides that functionality. However, it's DOS-based and a
b**tch to edit! <g> Also, it didn't seem to like launching
link files (*.lnk) that agent needs and I had to create a
complex series of files using BatchRun. Again, more
tediousness if I have to make a change to one of them.
Coincidentally, I did yesterday. That was a pain!

So, if something could be done in AI, I'd love to do that.

Hey, this should not be difficult. Have you looked at the
"run" command in AI? For example, to run a few URLs in AI,
you do:

run ("C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
www.google.com") ;will go to google.com

run ("C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
www.hiddensoft.com") ; will go to AI homepage

Hence, if one day you just want to go to the first site but
not the second, put a semicolon in front of the line will do.

If you use "runwait" instead of "run", AI will launch the next
appl after the first one is finished.


It should be easy to do it with an AI script. However, the
GUI is doable but can be more complex and time consuming to
create. Having said that, it would be a fun thing to think
about doing it especially it is very similiar to the
Filebacker upper script (not really a promise here, but
perhaps this could be my next project - I currently am really
having my plate full; I still have not have time to update
the Adaware Updater yet and that got to be done very soon
first).

(p.s., bats are so easy if all the coding is done and esp.
if you have an actual bat file to work with. What trouble
were you having?? Just curious. AI can get so much more
complex than bats with the GUIs stuff thrown in, so I was
just chuckling here. <g>)

My problem was....I am not very fluent with bat but I can
usually figure it out. I only used bat to a limit extent and
some commands I can guess what they are but I want someone to
tell me they are actually what I guess they are.

As I said, looking at the bat I was guessing that you are
wanting the flexibility to have different combinations of
launching (and as you explain, that is the case). But you
know, I wasn't sure because it was just a guess, so hence I
want to see if my guess was right Now, after you have
explain it to me the bat you put in the orginal post have made
even more sense to me.





--
RL
My freeware here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ringomei/page2.html
*note: new UAUpdater is still being worked on.
********************************
Pricelessware:
http://www.pricelessware.org,
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org,