Showing posts with label windows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label windows. Show all posts

Monday, May 10, 2021

On screen numeric touch keyboard – AutoHotKey

OnScreenKeyboardNumeric

Many new small 12” or 14” laptops come with a touch screen in combination with a small keyboard, missing the numeric input keys. When using azerty keyboards, the numeric keys need to hold shift key, which resulted in some annoyance when often needing to enter Windows credentials with Windows Hello PIN. Off course, Windows 10 allows you to open an on screen keyboard (OSK) and even has a nice keyboard shortcut for it: Win + Ctrl + O, but I preferred to use a small numeric touchscreen keypad entry so I created one using AutoHotKey.

The AHK script can easily be converted into and .exe executable using Ahk2Exe that can be added into the Windows start menu to launch at Windows startup: just add a shortcut to this .exe into folder “%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup”.

The script will monitor all windows and whenever a windows having the text “Windows Security “ would pop up, it will activate the on screen numeric keyboard on top and allow you to easily enter the numbers, press Enter or press backspace (<).



Wednesday, December 18, 2013

iTop running on Windows portable PHP/MySQL MoWeS

Based on my previous topic informing about the nice functionalities of MoWeS to get easily and quickly a PHP/MySQL environment, I did set up an iTop environment in order to discover and play with the CMDB/ITIL ticketing service desk tool.

While doing so, I also discovered the MoWeS Mixer is not available any longer. Apparently the company Chsoftware behind this tools has stopped in 2012. But the MoWeS tool still works very well on Windows 7 x64 and new packages can easily be added by updating the mowes.ini and packages.ini files manually.

In order to get iTop running, some other parameters had to be updated as well: extra memory allocation is to be allowed in php.ini by changing the memory_limit from 32M to 64M. The php_soap.dll extension needs to be loaded as well by uncommenting it in the php.ini file. For mysql, the allowed packets needed to be extended by adding a parameter max_allowed_packet=500M within the [mysqld] section of the my.ini file.

I’ve created an archive containing a clean MoWeS environment with clean iTop. The iTop still needs to be configured using the web wizard upon first connection to the iTop site (localhost/itop) (mysql username: root, password: <empty>. I’ve also a MoWeS environment with base demo iTop installed (itop username: admin, password: itop).

Friday, January 21, 2011

Salling Clicker - Windows Mobile

Salling Clicker is a remote control software. It lets you control popular applications from a mobile phone or handheld computer through a user interface similar to a portable media player.
You can choose to have the computer take action when you make or receive a phone call or get close to your pc. For instance, Salling Clicker can automatically mute the system volume while you're on the phone or automatically lock the pc while your gone.

  • Control PowerPoint, iTunes, Windows Media Player, and more with your mobile device.
  • Works with all major Bluetooth stacks (no configuration required).
  • Amazingly easy-to-use WiFi connectivity for long-range control.
  • Works with over 300 devices.
  • Easily extend support for other applications using JavaScript or VBScript

Scripts

Salling Clicker is installed with a set of default scripts (JavaScript for Windows) to support many different applications (PowerPoint, iTunes, MediaPlayer, etc.). On the forums of Salling Clicker many other custom scripts can be found, created and shared by the community.
I've created a set of personal scripts, some are base on the official scripts, some are based on the scripts found in the forums and some are completely new. I just list all the scripts I use:
  • De Slimste Mens: as explain in this separate blog post, I've created a complete interface to control the Flemish game "De Slimste Mens".
  • myT Mouse Keyboard: full control for mouse and keyboard. Specially made for Windows Mobile devices with hardware keyboard (tested on Samsung Omnia B7310 and HTC Wizard (Qtek9100)). Use the screen to move mouse, use 'Menu' button to get context menu (mouse right click), use 'Help' button for extra options. To get a good overview of all options, I’ve put some screenshot online.
    Use hardware keyboard to send all keys. The used keys will be displayed on the main screen for easy action tracking.
    The extra option are:
    • switching of Shift/Ctrl/Alt/Win keys
    • sending special characters
    • sending function keys (eg F1-F12, pause, insert, delete, etc)
    • sending media keys (play next song, webbrowser control, etc)
    • sending long text: text input on device
    • open a file on pc: navigate to folder and open a file, recent file history, easy access to favorite locations (eg start menu, 'my documents', etc)
    • Zoom screen using freeware ZoomIt application, all ZoomIt options supported (pen, break, etc)
    • Show a screenshot of the pc on the main screen.
    • Exchange data from pc clipboard to device and/or put text into the pc clipboard
  • PowerPoint: distribuated by Salling Clicker
  • MediaPlayer: distribuated by Salling Clicker
  • MediaPortal: from forum
  • MediaCenter: from forum
  • iTunes: distribuated by Salling Clicker
  • BSPlayer: from forum
  • VLC: from forum
  • WinDVD: from forum
  • MSN Online status: from forum
  • uTorrent: from forum
  • ShutdownControls: shutodown/hibernate/standby/screen on-off/lock
  • Device Info: distiribuated by Salling Clicker
  • Disconnect: distiribuated by Salling Clicker
  • System volume: control pc volume
  • MuteWhileOnPhone: distribuated by Salling Clicker
  • CallNotifier: distribuated by Salling Clicker
  • LockComputer: distribuated by Salling Clicker
  • MonitorAway: distribuated by Salling Clicker
  • Show Message: show message on pc

Monday, January 17, 2011

Toshiba Tecra S11

We recently replaced our old portable Lenovo ThinkPad T61 by the Toshiba Tecra S11, Intel® Core™ i5 M520, 2,40GHz, 4GB Ram.
Although this new one is certainly not the best device available, as can be read in this technical review, it has some nice new features like a finger print reader, SmartCard reader, webcam, DisplayPort and a larger HDD (320GB).


Drivers


When we received the laptop, not all drivers were installed correctly. Additional drivers can be download and should be installed in the provided order:

Toshiba official software download site: http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/, 64 bit drivers

Extras



  • The build-in SmartCard reader can be used to read the Belgian eID cards, and thus also to login on the Tax-On-Web pages. After installation of the SmartCard driver (see above) and a reboot, install the eID software and reboot again.

  • AutoSensitivity allows you to define different mouse sensitivities (speeds) for your touchpad and mouse and automatically switch between them (based on mouse connect / disconnect). This can be useful since the touchpad on this Toshiba is rather slow.

  • Windows Explorer extentions

Update 22/05/2012: As I moved to Windows 64 bit, I added the link to download 64 bit drivers.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

How to choose the right WiFi channel

If you setup your wireless access point, you may want to configure it in such a way minimizing interference in your neighborhood. I found this interesting post with some tips:



  • There must be a spacing of at least 5 channels (or more) between each WiFi network in order to avoid interferences. Two WiFi networks operating on the same channel are forced to share bandwidth, as they can't "talk" simultaneously, which halves each network's bandwidth. In order to evade this effect, you need to change your access point's channel, but taking the adjacent one won't do it, as WiFi channels are arranged in an overlapping pattern, as you can see in the scheme below. The default channel of most wifi devices is channel 6, so in many cases channel 11 or higher are a good choice. Using NetStumbler one can very easily see which channels is used for each access point.






  • If all your WiFi-devices support 802.11g (the 54 MBit/s WiFi-variant), you should set your router to 802.11g-only mode, as the 802.11b-compatibility impacts on bandwidth and range even among 802.11g-devices.

  • Another possible cause of low performance may be proprietary WiFi acceleration modes like "SuperG", "MAXg", "125 High Speed Mode" or "SpeedBooster", if not all devices in your network support the very same mode, why you should disable those.

  • Also note that a lot of cordless phones in NZ operate at the 2.4 GHz band like Wifi and so most of them cause interferences WiFi, that can't be avoided by a channel change, since those phones use a very broad spectrum or perform permanent frequency hopping.


    If you own a 2.4 GHz phone, try switching it off and removing the power supply of it's base station. In case your wireless signal improves, replace your cordless phone with a new one operating at 1.8 GHz or 5.8 GHz.

  • A cheap and easy solution to extend the coverage of your WiFi environment is to place a repeater at the correct location. It will repeat the wireless signal and extend the coverage (no cables needed), without creating a new network. Many very cheap (+-10euro) wifi access points (for example my DLink DWL-G700AP) can be configured to work as a repeater instead of the default access point functionality.

  • Transmit power: In most cases, the transmit power should be set to the highest value. This maximizes range, which reduces the number of access points and cost of the system. If you're trying to increase the capacity of the network by placing access points closer together, set the power to a lower value to decease overlap and potential interference. Lower power settings also limit the wireless signals from propagating outside the physically controlled area of the facility, which improves security.

  • Service Set IDentifier (SSID): The SSID defines the name of a WLAN that users associate with. By default, the SSID is set to a common value, such as tsunami for Cisco products. In order to improve security, you should change the SSID to a non-default value to minimize unauthorized users from associating with the access point. For even better security, some access points let you disable SSID broadcasting. This keeps most client device operating systems (e.g., Windows XP) from sniffing the SSID from access point beacons and automatically associating with the access point. Someone could, however, obtain the SSID using other sniffing tools that obtain the SSID from 802.11 frames when users first associate with the access point.

  • Data rate: Most access points allow you to identify acceptable data rates. By default, 802.11b access points operate at 1, 2, 5.5, and 11Mbps data rates, depending on the quality of the link between the client device and the access point. As the link quality deteriorates, the access point will automatically throttle down to lower data rates in an attempt to maintain a connection. You can, however, exclude specific data rates. For example, you may want communications only at 11Mbps or not at all. This could be necessary to support higher bandwidth applications.

  • Beacon interval: The beacon interval is the amount of time between access point beacon transmissions. The default value for this interval is generally 10ms, that is 10 beacons sent every second. This is sufficient to support the mobility speed of users within an office environment. You can increase the beacon interval and have lower overhead on the network, but then roaming will likely suffer. It's best to leave this setting alone.

  • Request-to-send / clear-to-send (RTS / CTS): The RTS / CTS function alleviates collisions due to hidden nodes, which is when multiple stations are within range of a common access point but out of range of each other. In most cases, it's best to disable RTS / CTS, but refer to a previous tutorial for cases where RTS / CTS may be beneficial and what threshold values to use.

  • Fragmentation: Fragmentation can help reduce the amount of data needing retransmission when collisions or radio frequency (RF) interference occurs. As with RTS/ CTS, refer to a previous tutorial for cases where fragmentation may be beneficial and applicable threshold values.


Wifi security



  • The impact on the performance by using WEP or WPA really depends on the router. Underpowered old routers don't like the encryption overhead and will slow down somewhat. It is expected to be about 10-15% for either WEP or WPA on older units. In many cases, it's also affected by the speed of the client computer, especially if the WPA encryption is done in driver. Fortunately, this hasn't been the case for many years. These days, there's hardly any slowdown of using WEP or WPA on the performance. However, there's a huge difference in security between WEP and WPA.

  • A nice overview on the weakest to the strongest wireless security capacity is:




    • Considered as not safe:




      • No Security

      • Switching Off SSID: same has No Security. SSID can be easily sniffed even if it is Off

      • MAC Filtering: only to be used if nothing else is available, MAC number can be easily Spoofed

      • WEP64: Easy to "Break" by knowledgeable people

      • WEP128: A little Harder, but still easy to "Break" by knowledgeable people




    • Considered as safe:




      • WPA-PSK: Very Hard to Break

      • WPA-AES: Not functionally Breakable

      • WPA2: Not functionally Breakable







  • If you use Windows XP bellow SP3 and did not updated it, you would have to download the WPA2 patch from Microsoft.

  • The documentation of your Wireless devices (Wireless Router, and Wireless Computer's Card) should state the type of security that is available with your Wireless hardware.

  • All devices MUST be set to the same security level using the same pass phrase. Therefore the security must be set according whatever is the best possible of one of the Wireless devices. I.e. even if most of your system might be capable to be configured to the max. with WPA2, but one device is only capable to be configured to max . of WEP, to whole system must be configured to WEP.

  • Even when using WPA2, one still has to be careful and never use the default WEP or WPA password and default SSID. Different applications exist to recover the default WEP/WPA password based on the SSID. For Alcatel / Thomson SpeedTouch router this online generator can be very easy to recover the default password based on the SSID.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Folder structure creator - Excel VBS

If you need to create a lot of folders and subfolders, Excel_2007.jpgwith some specific structure, it can be usefull if you can use the power of Excel to make up your folder names and structure. All kind of easy and quick formulas can be used, and once the strucuture is set up, you can easily create the empty folder structure with just one click by using this little VBS macro. The base folder used will depend on the location of the Excel file, so make sure it's saved or copied in the correct folder.
Sub CreateFolderStructure()
'Create folder for all vlues in current sheet
'folders will be created in folder where the excel file was saved
'folders will be created from first row, first column, until empty row is found
'Example expected cell structure: (data starting in current sheet, column A, row 1)
'folder1 subfolder1 subsubfolder1
'folder2
'folder3 subfolder3
'...
'this will result in:
'\folder1\subfolder1\subsubfolder1
'\folder2
'\folder3\subfolder3
'...
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
For iRow = 1 To 65000
pathToCreate = ActiveWorkbook.Path
For iColumn = 1 To 65000
currValue = Worksheets(ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name).Cells(iRow, iColumn).Value
If (currValue = "") Then
Exit For
Else
pathToCreate = pathToCreate & "\" & CStr(currValue)
'MsgBox (pathToCreate)
folderToCreate = pathToCreate
If Not (fs.FolderExists(folderToCreate)) Then
fs.CreateFolder (folderToCreate)
End If
End If
Next
Next
End Sub


The Excel sheet with the macro can be downloaded here. Before running the macro make sure the rows and columns of the active sheet are filled in correctly. Next simply run the macro by using the button. foldercreatorexcel1foldercreatorexcel2 foldercreatorexcel3foldercreatorexcel4


If you created to many empty folders by accident, you can easily remove them again using this little tool: Remove Empty Directories


Update 13/11/2009: Modified the Excel VBS script to let you navigate to the desired base folder upon launching the macro, so the Excel file may now be saved at any location, the base folder will have to be specified upon launching the macro.


Update 21/04/2012: Someone commented the VBS code is not working correctly when using some special characters. This is because some characters are not supported by Windows to be used in a file or folder name.


FolderChar


I updated the VBS code in the Excel sheet to make sure these special characters are removed before trying to create the folders.


The Excel sheet is updated, also an Excel template is available.


An example with special characters and the resulting folders created:


FolderSpecialCharsExample


The new VBS code used is:


Sub CreateFolderStructure()
'Create folder for all vlues in current sheet
'folders will be created in folder where the excel file was saved
'folders will be created from first row, first column, until empty row is found
'Example expected cell structure: (data starting in current sheet, column A, row 1)
'folder1    subfolder1  subsubfolder1
'folder2
'folder3    subfolder3
'           subfolder4
'...
'this will result in:
'\folder1\subfolder1\subsubfolder1
'\folder2
'\folder3\subfolder3
'\folder3\subfolder4
'...
    baseFolder = BrowseForFolder
    If (baseFolder = False) Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
    Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    For iRow = 2 To 6500
        pathToCreate = baseFolder
        leafFound = False
        For iColumn = 1 To 6500
            currValue = Trim(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Worksheets(ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name).Cells(iRow, iColumn).Value, ":", ""), "*", ""), "?", ""), Chr(34), ""), "<", ""), ">", ""), "|", ""))
            If (currValue = "" And leafFound) Then
                Exit For
            ElseIf (currValue = "") Then
                parentFolder = FindParentFolder(iRow, iColumn)
                parentFolder = Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(parentFolder, ":", ""), "*", ""), "?", ""), Chr(34), ""), "<", ""), ">", ""), "|", "")
                If (parentFolder = False) Then
                    Exit For
                Else
                    pathToCreate = pathToCreate & "\" & parentFolder
                    If Not (fs.FolderExists(pathToCreate)) Then
                        CreateDirs (pathToCreate)
                    End If
                End If
            Else
                leafFound = True
                pathToCreate = pathToCreate & "\" & currValue
                If Not (fs.FolderExists(pathToCreate)) Then
                    CreateDirs (pathToCreate)
                End If
            End If
        Next
        If (leafFound = False) Then
            Exit For
        End If
    Next
End Sub

Function FindParentFolder(row, column)
    For iRow = row To 0 Step -1
        currValue = Worksheets(ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name).Cells(iRow, column).Value
        If (currValue <> "") Then
            FindParentFolder = CStr(currValue)
            Exit Function
        ElseIf (column <> 1) Then
            leftValue = Worksheets(ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name).Cells(iRow, column - 1).Value
            If (leftValue <> "") Then
                FindParentFolder = False
                Exit Function
            End If
        End If
    Next
End Function


Function BrowseForFolder(Optional OpenAt As Variant) As Variant
     'Function purpose:  To Browser for a user selected folder.
     'If the "OpenAt" path is provided, open the browser at that directory
     'NOTE:  If invalid, it will open at the Desktop level
     
    Dim ShellApp As Object
     
     'Create a file browser window at the default folder
    Set ShellApp = CreateObject("Shell.Application"). _
    BrowseForFolder(0, "Please choose a folder", 0, OpenAt)
     'Set the folder to that selected.  (On error in case cancelled)
    On Error Resume Next
    BrowseForFolder = ShellApp.self.Path
    On Error GoTo 0
     
     'Destroy the Shell Application
    Set ShellApp = Nothing
     
     'Check for invalid or non-entries and send to the Invalid error
     'handler if found
     'Valid selections can begin L: (where L is a letter) or
     '\\ (as in \\servername\sharename.  All others are invalid
    Select Case Mid(BrowseForFolder, 2, 1)
    Case Is = ":"
        If Left(BrowseForFolder, 1) = ":" Then GoTo Invalid
    Case Is = "\"
        If Not Left(BrowseForFolder, 1) = "\" Then GoTo Invalid
    Case Else
        GoTo Invalid
    End Select
     
    Exit Function
     
Invalid:
     'If it was determined that the selection was invalid, set to False
    BrowseForFolder = False
     
End Function

Sub CreateDirs(MyDirName)
' This subroutine creates multiple folders like CMD.EXE's internal MD command.
' By default VBScript can only create one level of folders at a time (blows
' up otherwise!).
'
' Argument:
' MyDirName   [string]   folder(s) to be created, single or
'                        multi level, absolute or relative,
'                        "d:\folder\subfolder" format or UNC
'
' Written by Todd Reeves
' Modified by Rob van der Woude
' http://www.robvanderwoude.com

    Dim arrDirs, i, idxFirst, objFSO, strDir, strDirBuild

    ' Create a file system object
    Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

    ' Convert relative to absolute path
    strDir = objFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(MyDirName)

    ' Split a multi level path in its "components"
    arrDirs = Split(strDir, "\")

    ' Check if the absolute path is UNC or not
    If Left(strDir, 2) = "\\" Then
        strDirBuild = "\\" & arrDirs(2) & "\" & arrDirs(3) & "\"
        idxFirst = 4
    Else
        strDirBuild = arrDirs(0) & "\"
        idxFirst = 1
    End If

    ' Check each (sub)folder and create it if it doesn't exist
    For i = idxFirst To UBound(arrDirs)
        strDirBuild = objFSO.BuildPath(strDirBuild, arrDirs(i))
        If Not objFSO.FolderExists(strDirBuild) Then
            objFSO.CreateFolder strDirBuild
        End If
    Next

    ' Release the file system object
    Set objFSO = Nothing
End Sub


11/10/2012: I updated the VBS code in the Excel sheet to make sure these special characters are removed before trying to create the folders. Extra input information and validation is added to make sure invalid characters can not be used. The Excel sheet is updated


08/08/2013: Updated sheets, added a trim to remove spaces at begin and end of cell value, since this could result in macro exception (see comments)


17/02/2014: I’ve extended this workbook with a new sheet in which the nested folder structure of the filesystem can be imported. Each folder name will be stored in a separate cell respecting the nested structure


The new VBS code is:


  
Sub ImportFolderStructure()
'Import folder structure starting from selected base folder
'each subfolder will be stored in a separete cell
'eg:
'Folder 1|Subfolder1|SubSubfolder1
'Folder 2|Subfolder2
'Folder 3|Subfolder3|SubSubfolder3
'...
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    baseFolder = BrowseForFolder
    If (baseFolder = False) Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
    Application.StatusBar = "Folder structure below " & baseFolder & " will be stored in the sheet " & ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name
    StoreSubFolder baseFolder, 1, 0
    Application.StatusBar = "Folder structure below " & baseFolder & " has been stored in the sheet " & ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name
    Range("A2").Select
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Sub StoreSubFolder(baseFolderObj, ByRef iRow, ByVal iColumn)
    Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set folderBase = fs.GetFolder(baseFolderObj)
    Set folderBaseSubs = folderBase.SubFolders
    iRow = iRow + 1
    iColumn = iColumn + 1
    For Each subFolder In folderBaseSubs
        Worksheets(ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name).Cells(iRow, iColumn).Value = subFolder.Name
        StoreSubFolder subFolder, iRow, iColumn
    Next
End Sub

Sub ClearImportData()
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    Range("A2").Select
    Range(Selection, ActiveCell.SpecialCells(xlLastCell)).Select
    Selection.ClearContents
    Range("A2").Select
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Sub CreateFolderStructure()
'Create folder for all vlues in current sheet
'folders will be created in folder where the excel file was saved
'folders will be created from first row, first column, until empty row is found
'Example expected cell structure: (data starting in current sheet, column A, row 1)
'folder1    subfolder1  subsubfolder1
'folder2
'folder3    subfolder3
'           subfolder4
'...
'this will result in:
'<currentpath>\folder1\subfolder1\subsubfolder1
'<currentpath>\folder2
'<currentpath>\folder3\subfolder3
'<currentpath>\folder3\subfolder4
'...
    baseFolder = BrowseForFolder
    If (baseFolder = False) Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
    Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    For iRow = 2 To 6500
        pathToCreate = baseFolder
        leafFound = False
        For iColumn = 1 To 6500
            currValue = Trim(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Worksheets(ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name).Cells(iRow, iColumn).Value, ":", "-"), "*", "-"), "?", "-"), Chr(34), "-"), "<", "-"), ">", "-"), "|", "-"), "/", "-"), "\", "-"))
            Worksheets(ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name).Cells(iRow, iColumn).Value = currValue
            If (currValue = "" And leafFound) Then
                Exit For
            ElseIf (currValue = "") Then
                parentFolder = FindParentFolder(iRow, iColumn)
                If (parentFolder = False) Then
                    Exit For
                Else
                    pathToCreate = pathToCreate & "\" & parentFolder
                    If Not (fs.FolderExists(pathToCreate)) Then
                        CreateDirs (pathToCreate)
                    End If
                End If
            Else
                leafFound = True
                pathToCreate = pathToCreate & "\" & currValue
                If Not (fs.FolderExists(pathToCreate)) Then
                    CreateDirs (pathToCreate)
                End If
            End If
        Next
        If (leafFound = False) Then
            Exit For
        End If
    Next
End Sub

Function FindParentFolder(row, column)
    For iRow = row To 0 Step -1
        currValue = Worksheets(ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name).Cells(iRow, column).Value
        If (currValue <> "") Then
            FindParentFolder = CStr(currValue)
            Exit Function
        ElseIf (column <> 1) Then
            leftValue = Worksheets(ActiveCell.Worksheet.Name).Cells(iRow, column - 1).Value
            If (leftValue <> "") Then
                FindParentFolder = False
                Exit Function
            End If
        End If
    Next
End Function

Function BrowseForFolder(Optional OpenAt As Variant) As Variant
     'Function purpose:  To Browser for a user selected folder.
     'If the "OpenAt" path is provided, open the browser at that directory
     'NOTE:  If invalid, it will open at the Desktop level
     
    Dim ShellApp As Object
     
     'Create a file browser window at the default folder
    Set ShellApp = CreateObject("Shell.Application"). _
    BrowseForFolder(0, "Please choose a folder", 0, OpenAt)
     'Set the folder to that selected.  (On error in case cancelled)
    On Error Resume Next
    BrowseForFolder = ShellApp.self.Path
    On Error GoTo 0
     
     'Destroy the Shell Application
    Set ShellApp = Nothing
     
     'Check for invalid or non-entries and send to the Invalid error
     'handler if found
     'Valid selections can begin L: (where L is a letter) or
     '\\ (as in \\servername\sharename.  All others are invalid
    Select Case Mid(BrowseForFolder, 2, 1)
    Case Is = ":"
        If Left(BrowseForFolder, 1) = ":" Then GoTo Invalid
    Case Is = "\"
        If Not Left(BrowseForFolder, 1) = "\" Then GoTo Invalid
    Case Else
        GoTo Invalid
    End Select
     
    Exit Function
     
Invalid:
     'If it was determined that the selection was invalid, set to False
    BrowseForFolder = False
     
End Function

Sub CreateDirs(MyDirName)
' This subroutine creates multiple folders like CMD.EXE's internal MD command.
' By default VBScript can only create one level of folders at a time (blows
' up otherwise!).
'
' Argument:
' MyDirName   [string]   folder(s) to be created, single or
'                        multi level, absolute or relative,
'                        "d:\folder\subfolder" format or UNC
'
' Written by Todd Reeves
' Modified by Rob van der Woude
' http://www.robvanderwoude.com

    Dim arrDirs, i, idxFirst, objFSO, strDir, strDirBuild
    ' Create a file system object
    Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    ' Convert relative to absolute path
    strDir = objFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(MyDirName)
    ' Split a multi level path in its "components"
    arrDirs = Split(strDir, "\")
    ' Check if the absolute path is UNC or not
    If Left(strDir, 2) = "\\" Then
        strDirBuild = "\\" & arrDirs(2) & "\" & arrDirs(3) & "\"
        idxFirst = 4
    Else
        strDirBuild = arrDirs(0) & "\"
        idxFirst = 1
    End If

    ' Check each (sub)folder and create it if it doesn't exist
    For i = idxFirst To UBound(arrDirs)
        strDirBuild = objFSO.BuildPath(strDirBuild, arrDirs(i))
        If Not objFSO.FolderExists(strDirBuild) Then
            objFSO.CreateFolder strDirBuild
        End If
    Next

    ' Release the file system object
    Set objFSO = Nothing
End Sub


The Excel file can be downloaded as XLS (template for easy reuse). My Excel sheet with combined macro’s has been updated as well, see this blog post.










Update 27/05/2014: cleanup of the cell types (some cell were saved as type ‘Scientific’ resulting in some strange representation after import of folders named with numbers, Thanks to Jean for reporting)

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Mouse rocker gestures

Mouse Rocker
Based on the AutoHotKey script from Adam Pash on the Lifehacker site, I made my own version to fit my personal mouse rocker gesture needs.

Basically, a mouse rocker gesture requires that you press one mouse button, hold it down, then press the other. You can rock across the mouse from right-to-left or left-to-right; each direction you rock gives you a different result. Once you get used to this gesture, the name makes perfect sense, and you'll wonder why you weren't mouse rocking your whole life.


I changed the way the script is configured so one can now easily add process names in the rocker.ini file to change the behaviour for a specific application. And I added extra navigation combinations so one should be able to easily make it fit his own needs.
For example in excel you can now easily switch to the next or previous tabbed sheet using mouse rocker gestures. UltraEdit switching between open files is also supported by sending 'Alt + up' or 'Alt + down' keys with the mouse rocker gestures. On first run, it will now also ask if you want to start the tool automatically during windows start. The ini file is created on first run in the directory from where the rocker.exe file is launched. The different groups denote the keys that will be send when a mouse rocker gesture is detected, one can easily add or remove any process name to change the behaviour in a specific application.
[Preferences]
CtrlGroup=itunes.exe
CtrlTabGroup=notepad++.exe,dreamweaver.exe,pidgin.exe
CtrlUpDnGroup=empty
CtrlPgUpDnGroup=excel.exe
AltGroup=firefox.exe,iexplore.exe,opera.exe,feeddemon.exe,explorer.exe
AltUpDnGroup=uedit32.exe
AltPgUpDnGroup=empty
BckspGroup=empty
IgnoreGroup=empty
Startup=1
UpdateCheck=0
Version=0.3



No installation is required, just download the zip file, extract and run the exe. The AutoHotKey source script is included in the zip file.

Update 19/02/2011: links updated

Update 20/12/2017: links updated

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Find-Replace text in files from command line

In Linux one can easily find and replace some text in files by using the sed application. In Windows, I couldn’t find a decent build in equivalent. I ended by using the ported version of sed for Windows. I works quite well using the same syntax and doesn’t require to be installed. Just make sure sed.exe, libiconv2.dll and libintl3.dll are existing in the same folder or on the classpath.

One should know any file altered by sed for Windows will result in this file being also converted from Windows line ending (using 2 characters: Carriage Return + Line Feed) to Linux line endings (only 1 character: Line Feed). This can sometime give some strange results. To overcome this, one should make sure the last replacement in the file is set to replace the Line Feeds back to Carriage Return + Line Feed:

sed -i "s/$/\r/" "%DIR%\file.txt"


Some other useful sed commands are available from sed sourcefourge:



FILE SPACING:
 # double space a file
 sed G
 # double space a file which already has blank lines in it. Output file
 # should contain no more than one blank line between lines of text.
 sed '/^$/d;G'
 # triple space a file
 sed 'G;G'
 # undo double-spacing (assumes even-numbered lines are always blank)
 sed 'n;d'
 # insert a blank line above every line which matches "regex"
 sed '/regex/{x;p;x;}'
 # insert a blank line below every line which matches "regex"
 sed '/regex/G'
 # insert a blank line above and below every line which matches "regex"
 sed '/regex/{x;p;x;G;}'
NUMBERING:
 # number each line of a file (simple left alignment). Using a tab (see
 # note on '\t' at end of file) instead of space will preserve margins.
 sed = filename | sed 'N;s/\n/\t/'
 # number each line of a file (number on left, right-aligned)
 sed = filename | sed 'N; s/^/     /; s/ *\(.\{6,\}\)\n/\1  /'
 # number each line of file, but only print numbers if line is not blank
 sed '/./=' filename | sed '/./N; s/\n/ /'
 # count lines (emulates "wc -l")
 sed -n '$='
TEXT CONVERSION AND SUBSTITUTION:
 # IN UNIX ENVIRONMENT: convert DOS newlines (CR/LF) to Unix format.
 sed 's/.$//'               # assumes that all lines end with CR/LF
 sed 's/^M$//'              # in bash/tcsh, press Ctrl-V then Ctrl-M
 sed 's/\x0D$//'            # works on ssed, gsed 3.02.80 or higher
 # IN UNIX ENVIRONMENT: convert Unix newlines (LF) to DOS format.
 sed "s/$/`echo -e \\\r`/"            # command line under ksh
 sed 's/$'"/`echo \\\r`/"             # command line under bash
 sed "s/$/`echo \\\r`/"               # command line under zsh
 sed 's/$/\r/'                        # gsed 3.02.80 or higher
 # IN DOS ENVIRONMENT: convert Unix newlines (LF) to DOS format.
 sed "s/$//"                          # method 1
 sed -n p                             # method 2
 # IN DOS ENVIRONMENT: convert DOS newlines (CR/LF) to Unix format.
 # Can only be done with UnxUtils sed, version 4.0.7 or higher. The
 # UnxUtils version can be identified by the custom "--text" switch
 # which appears when you use the "--help" switch. Otherwise, changing
 # DOS newlines to Unix newlines cannot be done with sed in a DOS
 # environment. Use "tr" instead.
 sed "s/\r//" infile >outfile         # UnxUtils sed v4.0.7 or higher
 tr -d \r <infile >outfile            # GNU tr version 1.22 or higher
 # delete leading whitespace (spaces, tabs) from front of each line
 # aligns all text flush left
 sed 's/^[ \t]*//'                    # see note on '\t' at end of file
 # delete trailing whitespace (spaces, tabs) from end of each line
 sed 's/[ \t]*$//'                    # see note on '\t' at end of file
 # delete BOTH leading and trailing whitespace from each line
 sed 's/^[ \t]*//;s/[ \t]*$//'
 # insert 5 blank spaces at beginning of each line (make page offset)
 sed 's/^/     /'
 # align all text flush right on a 79-column width
 sed -e :a -e 's/^.\{1,78\}$/ &/;ta'  # set at 78 plus 1 space
 # center all text in the middle of 79-column width. In method 1,
 # spaces at the beginning of the line are significant, and trailing
 # spaces are appended at the end of the line. In method 2, spaces at
 # the beginning of the line are discarded in centering the line, and
 # no trailing spaces appear at the end of lines.
 sed  -e :a -e 's/^.\{1,77\}$/ & /;ta'                     # method 1
 sed  -e :a -e 's/^.\{1,77\}$/ &/;ta' -e 's/\( *\)\1/\1/'  # method 2
 # substitute (find and replace) "foo" with "bar" on each line
 sed 's/foo/bar/'             # replaces only 1st instance in a line
 sed 's/foo/bar/4'            # replaces only 4th instance in a line
 sed 's/foo/bar/g'            # replaces ALL instances in a line
 sed 's/\(.*\)foo\(.*foo\)/\1bar\2/' # replace the next-to-last case
 sed 's/\(.*\)foo/\1bar/'            # replace only the last case
 # substitute "foo" with "bar" ONLY for lines which contain "baz"
 sed '/baz/s/foo/bar/g'
 # substitute "foo" with "bar" EXCEPT for lines which contain "baz"
 sed '/baz/!s/foo/bar/g'
 # change "scarlet" or "ruby" or "puce" to "red"
 sed 's/scarlet/red/g;s/ruby/red/g;s/puce/red/g'   # most seds
 gsed 's/scarlet\|ruby\|puce/red/g'                # GNU sed only
 # reverse order of lines (emulates "tac")
 # bug/feature in HHsed v1.5 causes blank lines to be deleted
 sed '1!G;h;$!d'               # method 1
 sed -n '1!G;h;$p'             # method 2
 # reverse each character on the line (emulates "rev")
 sed '/\n/!G;s/\(.\)\(.*\n\)/&\2\1/;//D;s/.//'
 # join pairs of lines side-by-side (like "paste")
 sed '$!N;s/\n/ /'
 # if a line ends with a backslash, append the next line to it
 sed -e :a -e '/\\$/N; s/\\\n//; ta'
 # if a line begins with an equal sign, append it to the previous line
 # and replace the "=" with a single space
 sed -e :a -e '$!N;s/\n=/ /;ta' -e 'P;D'
 # add commas to numeric strings, changing "1234567" to "1,234,567"
 gsed ':a;s/\B[0-9]\{3\}\>/,&/;ta'                     # GNU sed
 sed -e :a -e 's/\(.*[0-9]\)\([0-9]\{3\}\)/\1,\2/;ta'  # other seds
 # add commas to numbers with decimal points and minus signs (GNU sed)
 gsed -r ':a;s/(^|[^0-9.])([0-9]+)([0-9]{3})/\1\2,\3/g;ta'
 # add a blank line every 5 lines (after lines 5, 10, 15, 20, etc.)
 gsed '0~5G'                  # GNU sed only
 sed 'n;n;n;n;G;'             # other seds
SELECTIVE PRINTING OF CERTAIN LINES:
 # print first 10 lines of file (emulates behavior of "head")
 sed 10q
 # print first line of file (emulates "head -1")
 sed q
 # print the last 10 lines of a file (emulates "tail")
 sed -e :a -e '$q;N;11,$D;ba'
 # print the last 2 lines of a file (emulates "tail -2")
 sed '$!N;$!D'
 # print the last line of a file (emulates "tail -1")
 sed '$!d'                    # method 1
 sed -n '$p'                  # method 2
 # print the next-to-the-last line of a file
 sed -e '$!{h;d;}' -e x              # for 1-line files, print blank line
 sed -e '1{$q;}' -e '$!{h;d;}' -e x  # for 1-line files, print the line
 sed -e '1{$d;}' -e '$!{h;d;}' -e x  # for 1-line files, print nothing
 # print only lines which match regular expression (emulates "grep")
 sed -n '/regexp/p'           # method 1
 sed '/regexp/!d'             # method 2
 # print only lines which do NOT match regexp (emulates "grep -v")
 sed -n '/regexp/!p'          # method 1, corresponds to above
 sed '/regexp/d'              # method 2, simpler syntax
 # print the line immediately before a regexp, but not the line
 # containing the regexp
 sed -n '/regexp/{g;1!p;};h'
 # print the line immediately after a regexp, but not the line
 # containing the regexp
 sed -n '/regexp/{n;p;}'
 # print 1 line of context before and after regexp, with line number
 # indicating where the regexp occurred (similar to "grep -A1 -B1")
 sed -n -e '/regexp/{=;x;1!p;g;$!N;p;D;}' -e h
 # grep for AAA and BBB and CCC (in any order)
 sed '/AAA/!d; /BBB/!d; /CCC/!d'
 # grep for AAA and BBB and CCC (in that order)
 sed '/AAA.*BBB.*CCC/!d'
 # grep for AAA or BBB or CCC (emulates "egrep")
 sed -e '/AAA/b' -e '/BBB/b' -e '/CCC/b' -e d    # most seds
 gsed '/AAA\|BBB\|CCC/!d'                        # GNU sed only
 # print paragraph if it contains AAA (blank lines separate paragraphs)
 # HHsed v1.5 must insert a 'G;' after 'x;' in the next 3 scripts below
 sed -e '/./{H;$!d;}' -e 'x;/AAA/!d;'
 # print paragraph if it contains AAA and BBB and CCC (in any order)
 sed -e '/./{H;$!d;}' -e 'x;/AAA/!d;/BBB/!d;/CCC/!d'
 # print paragraph if it contains AAA or BBB or CCC
 sed -e '/./{H;$!d;}' -e 'x;/AAA/b' -e '/BBB/b' -e '/CCC/b' -e d
 gsed '/./{H;$!d;};x;/AAA\|BBB\|CCC/b;d'         # GNU sed only
 # print only lines of 65 characters or longer
 sed -n '/^.\{65\}/p'
 # print only lines of less than 65 characters
 sed -n '/^.\{65\}/!p'        # method 1, corresponds to above
 sed '/^.\{65\}/d'            # method 2, simpler syntax
 # print section of file from regular expression to end of file
 sed -n '/regexp/,$p'
 # print section of file based on line numbers (lines 8-12, inclusive)
 sed -n '8,12p'               # method 1
 sed '8,12!d'                 # method 2
 # print line number 52
 sed -n '52p'                 # method 1
 sed '52!d'                   # method 2
 sed '52q;d'                  # method 3, efficient on large files
 # beginning at line 3, print every 7th line
 gsed -n '3~7p'               # GNU sed only
 sed -n '3,${p;n;n;n;n;n;n;}' # other seds
 # print section of file between two regular expressions (inclusive)
 sed -n '/Iowa/,/Montana/p'             # case sensitive
SELECTIVE DELETION OF CERTAIN LINES:
 # print all of file EXCEPT section between 2 regular expressions
 sed '/Iowa/,/Montana/d'
 # delete duplicate, consecutive lines from a file (emulates "uniq").
 # First line in a set of duplicate lines is kept, rest are deleted.
 sed '$!N; /^\(.*\)\n\1$/!P; D'
 # delete duplicate, nonconsecutive lines from a file. Beware not to
 # overflow the buffer size of the hold space, or else use GNU sed.
 sed -n 'G; s/\n/&&/; /^\([ -~]*\n\).*\n\1/d; s/\n//; h; P'
 # delete all lines except duplicate lines (emulates "uniq -d").
 sed '$!N; s/^\(.*\)\n\1$/\1/; t; D'
 # delete the first 10 lines of a file
 sed '1,10d'
 # delete the last line of a file
 sed '$d'
 # delete the last 2 lines of a file
 sed 'N;$!P;$!D;$d'
 # delete the last 10 lines of a file
 sed -e :a -e '$d;N;2,10ba' -e 'P;D'   # method 1
 sed -n -e :a -e '1,10!{P;N;D;};N;ba'  # method 2
 # delete every 8th line
 gsed '0~8d'                           # GNU sed only
 sed 'n;n;n;n;n;n;n;d;'                # other seds
 # delete lines matching pattern
 sed '/pattern/d'
 # delete ALL blank lines from a file (same as "grep '.' ")
 sed '/^$/d'                           # method 1
 sed '/./!d'                           # method 2
 # delete all CONSECUTIVE blank lines from file except the first; also
 # deletes all blank lines from top and end of file (emulates "cat -s")
 sed '/./,/^$/!d'          # method 1, allows 0 blanks at top, 1 at EOF
 sed '/^$/N;/\n$/D'        # method 2, allows 1 blank at top, 0 at EOF
 # delete all CONSECUTIVE blank lines from file except the first 2:
 sed '/^$/N;/\n$/N;//D'
 # delete all leading blank lines at top of file
 sed '/./,$!d'
 # delete all trailing blank lines at end of file
 sed -e :a -e '/^\n*$/{$d;N;ba' -e '}'  # works on all seds
 sed -e :a -e '/^\n*$/N;/\n$/ba'        # ditto, except for gsed 3.02.*
 # delete the last line of each paragraph
 sed -n '/^$/{p;h;};/./{x;/./p;}'
SPECIAL APPLICATIONS:
 # remove nroff overstrikes (char, backspace) from man pages. The 'echo'
 # command may need an -e switch if you use Unix System V or bash shell.
 sed "s/.`echo \\\b`//g"    # double quotes required for Unix environment
 sed 's/.^H//g'             # in bash/tcsh, press Ctrl-V and then Ctrl-H
 sed 's/.\x08//g'           # hex expression for sed 1.5, GNU sed, ssed
 # get Usenet/e-mail message header
 sed '/^$/q'                # deletes everything after first blank line
 # get Usenet/e-mail message body
 sed '1,/^$/d'              # deletes everything up to first blank line
 # get Subject header, but remove initial "Subject: " portion
 sed '/^Subject: */!d; s///;q'
 # get return address header
 sed '/^Reply-To:/q; /^From:/h; /./d;g;q'
 # parse out the address proper. Pulls out the e-mail address by itself
 # from the 1-line return address header (see preceding script)
 sed 's/ *(.*)//; s/>.*//; s/.*[:<] *//'
 # add a leading angle bracket and space to each line (quote a message)
 sed 's/^/> /'
 # delete leading angle bracket & space from each line (unquote a message)
 sed 's/^> //'
 # remove most HTML tags (accommodates multiple-line tags)
 sed -e :a -e 's/<[^>]*>//g;/</N;//ba'
 # extract multi-part uuencoded binaries, removing extraneous header
 # info, so that only the uuencoded portion remains. Files passed to
 # sed must be passed in the proper order. Version 1 can be entered
 # from the command line; version 2 can be made into an executable
 # Unix shell script. (Modified from a script by Rahul Dhesi.)
 sed '/^end/,/^begin/d' file1 file2 ... fileX | uudecode   # vers. 1
 sed '/^end/,/^begin/d' "$@" | uudecode                    # vers. 2
 # sort paragraphs of file alphabetically. Paragraphs are separated by blank
 # lines. GNU sed uses \v for vertical tab, or any unique char will do.
 sed '/./{H;d;};x;s/\n/={NL}=/g' file | sort | sed '1s/={NL}=//;s/={NL}=/\n/g'
 gsed '/./{H;d};x;y/\n/\v/' file | sort | sed '1s/\v//;y/\v/\n/'
 # zip up each .TXT file individually, deleting the source file and
 # setting the name of each .ZIP file to the basename of the .TXT file
 # (under DOS: the "dir /b" switch returns bare filenames in all caps).
 echo @echo off >zipup.bat
 dir /b *.txt | sed "s/^\(.*\)\.TXT/pkzip -mo \1 \1.TXT/" >>zipup.bat