I am trying to build an applescript dialog that helps me keep track of the things I am working on. To make it really effective I'd like to have it look up items from my todo list and suggest them as I type a la google suggest or other javascript autocomplete functionality.
I was thinking it would be fairly simple if I just captured the input of the # key, which I wanted to use to denote project or the # key for tasks and at that point started matching the input to my list of tasks or projects. For example, lets say I type:
"Worked on feature for #"
At this point the input of the # would start capturing keyboard input and try to suggest one of the projects on my todo list. This is where I am stuck. It seems like I should be able to attach a listener or something to my input box but I can't seem to find any examples or reference to such functionality.
You can't do this with applescript. You need to build your own window in a cocoa application and then hook into the NSTextField's methods to do this. It's not too difficult but it requires a whole different set of skills than applescript.
Related
I have a very big Tcl/Tk application with a lot of widget. In order to allow easy access to modify widgets configurations without having to type it in the console per widget/configuration parameter I want to build a dialog for that.
To do so I need an option to easily select the widget to be configured.
I thought to write a function which lets the user to click any widget in the application (any dialog) and retrieves the widget path.
Any ides?
You can convert a global-coordinate (e.g., from a <Button-1> binding's %X and %Y) to a widget name using winfo containing:
bind . <Button-1> {
set w [winfo containing %X %Y]
puts "You clicked on $w"
}
Be aware that this can interact quite significantly with other bindings! You may need to investigate using a grab (carefully; global grabs can cause trouble!) and configuring the -cursor in order to tell users what is going on. It's quite do-able, but some thought may be necessary to make it work the way you want.
(Did you know that winfo containing is a scripted interface to the functionality at the core of most drag-and-drop handling? It uses exactly the system for mapping positions to windows…)
Heloo there? Is there any way to change the color [back and forecolor] of a Messagebox? Iam using VB6.0... Thanks in advance!
To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to do this. There is, however, a typical workaround.
The most common method for creating custom "message boxes" in VB6 is to create a new form in your project that acts specifically as a message box. You Show it when you need it, and then Hide or Unload it when the user clicks "OK" or "Cancel" or whatever. You can size the form the same as (or differently from) a MsgBox, create the buttons you want, make the colors as you choose, etc. Whenever you would have a message box pop up to tell the user something, you will instead call this form and change the text/color/other variables to whatever you need them to be.
This may seem annoying at first, but once you've done it once, it's very easy to see how useful a tool this new form template can become. It's code you might find yourself frequently reusing between various applications.
If you need any help with forms or form events, this is a pretty good basic tutorial which should tell you most of what you need to make this work:
http://www.vb6.us/tutorials/understanding-forms-vb6-tutorial
Good luck!
Babylon dictionary and a couple of other dictionaries allow to click on any word in any windows program
and automatically recognize the word under the cursor, and at once open the dictionary window while searching for that word in installed dictionaries.
You can on the other hand open your dictionary, type in your word and press Enter, the result will be the same.
There's a Delphi form, containing a text label, for example with the word "Automaton".
My question is:
How to send a word from my Delphi application right into the dictionary window, as if you typed it manually and pressed Enter?
The best solution is to send some message through the Windows mechanism, but if it is too complicated, there's another solution, and so the second answer: as I described, we need to model a [Ctrl+left mouse] click on a form where this word is displayed on a form [ a visual label on the screen of my Delphi application], to be exact, on some central pixel of this label.
Could you kindly give an advice how to do one thing or another in Delphi ?
** edit:
The problem with AppActivate is this: Babylon dict has a daemon part that seats in the tray.
In the task manager a real window where the text should be input also is named 'Babylon'.
So AppActivate('Babylon') tries to bring to front the non-visual part of the application.
Do you have any suggestion how to determine the windows handle or something of a real visual part of the application? In the task manager, I repeat both visual and non-visual parts are named 'Babylon'.
I cannot offer an answer so much as some insight and advice...
There are certain applications which "intercept" keyboard and mouse instructions, and essentially "nullify" them if they are being immitated by software. Generally-speaking, you'd only see this in proper AntiVirus software such as Kaspersky by design... however:
The way some (not many, but some) programs hook keyboard and mouse inputs, as a side-effect, behave the same way. If you have attempted all of the advice given as comments above, and cannot get Babylon to trigger an action as a result, it is likely Babylon behaves as I have described.
If what I suspect is true, then the method you are attempting is simply not possible (at least, not using any simple Pascal code on its own... ASM might be able to do it but that's beyond my knowledge).
A better solution may be to do a little research to see if any of the following options are available to you:
1) Does Babylon have a Pipeline or API you can use to interface your application(s) with it?
2) Is the particular functionality you require of Babylon accessible through one (or more) DLL files distributed as part of Babylon?
3) Is there an alternative to using Babylon for your needs?
I know it's not an answer as such (certainly not one you'd want to hear), but it may point you in a better direction.
i dont sure if this question is for this group but i don't know where to ask
im looking for GUI examples that gives the user for example make X in 4 steps
kind of GUI especial for none teachi folks
Do you mean like a Dialog Wizard type interface?
The idea of a wizard is you have a single window where you can step through a number of frames containing different selections using a next button and a back button to go back and change selections? Sometimes you have a finish button to use the default selections on the remaining frames.
What language and GUI toolkit are you using???
I have an application that displays a dialog when the user needs to enter information. The reason for this, is to keep the main form readonly, and only when you need to add/edit data will a dialog appear.
The problem I'm wrestling with is what to display for the label names in the dialog. The application is a WPF desktop app and traditionally desktop apps are very short on label names (usually one or two words). I want to make the dialog user friendly and be more descriptive about the information that is required. Web developers seem to be catching on to this and are much more descriptive with their label names, but most of the forms I've looked at are forms that are only filled in once, whereas I will have data that can be edited.
An example: If I had a label that asked a user if an employee smoked, in most a destop apps the label would normally be something like 'Smokes?' with a checkbox, whereas I want something like 'Does the employee smoke?'. My issue with this is, that the first time you come across this dialog and enter the data, then it seems OK, but what about when you are editing data that is already there. Does this label now make any sense. Past tense and present tense seem to be getting in my way and I was interested in what people think or ways they have approached this. The application I'm writing is a WPF app and I feel that traditional label names are a bit old in the tooth now.
Another example would be entering contact details for a person. Do I just have labels that say Phone, Fax, Email or something more descriptive. i.e. a label that appears before the textboxes stating 'Enter the contact details below' and then the single word labels?
Maybe I'm just being pedantic about all this, but I would like to take a step forward so that my application contains more than single word labels that are sometimes unclear to the user about what is required.
Why not make use of the concise labels and use Tool tips for a longer explanation.
The longer explanation is only required when a user is unfamiliar with the application anyway.
Also, you could re-word a label to make it sound more like a question such as "Is a Smoker?"
Since you are using Stack Overflow, take note of their use of tooltips, I think Jeff Attwood has a blog post or comments in a podcast about the use of tooltips in SO. I can't remember where I heard / read it.
Have you thought about creating a "quickstart" flow or wizard for entering data for the first time? This would give you the opportunity to guide the user through the process, using labels with descriptions, so that they learn to associate the description with the label you've chosen (hopefully something succinct but intuitive). Then when they need to edit data, they have learned the application taxonomy.
If you are running into issues with tenses, steer clear of using verbs or only use the present tense. I would try using nouns - "smoker?" instead of "smokes?"
When you're asking for common data like phone numbers, email addresses, you can probably assume that the user will understand what you mean. Just be clear as to whose contact information you are asking for - using a title for the field set that is explicit is a good idea ("Employee Contact Details"), adding a short description above the field set will help too.
Of course, you should always do some level of usability testing on your application before you launch it to uncover any issues with the interface.