SynthMaker SynthToolz Bar

Neptune · 21 Apr 2009

🙂)) Great 🙂))

I have the same idea since one year on my mind and want to replace the windows start menu by a single SM selector showing my favorite apps only.

But i dont have time to make it at the moment

aliasant · 21 Apr 2009

Very nice little app. I love it! Nice work.

philter5 · 22 Apr 2009

this is great! thx a lot jay 😀

philter5 · 22 Apr 2009

would you tell me the secret how you did this?

Jay · 23 Apr 2009

cheers guys 😀

ive been working on this a little since posting and have added a few features like - user module count, user modiles list,fixed the parser and set up an automatic file browser to allow for users who have filepaths other than C:\progs\Outsim\Synthmaker to mark their synthmaker install,this sets up a preset run path and saves it as a txt file that it reads on load thereafter 😀 any ideas for features are welcome ,will post soon!!

@philter i did it with VBScript learning as i go and a couple of other tools!

regardies jay

philter5 · 23 Apr 2009

thx for the answer, i am very interested in creating such nice little apps , in other words: time for me to download some VB tutorials!!! 😀 i have a nice idea for a feature, but i don´t know how hard it is to realize it: a little popup over the tray icon when a new version is out or something like that. like this

a bit off topic here but a while ago i asked malc for a rss feed with the latest synthmaker news or fixes (but of course i added that there are fore sure many things that are more important than this 😉 ). my main idea was a synthmaker screensaver that displays version updates or news about synthmaker 🙂

aliasant · 24 Apr 2009

philter5 wrote: thx for the answer, i am very interested in creating such nice little apps , in other words: time for me to download some VB tutorials!!! 😀 i have a nice idea for a feature, but i don´t know how hard it is to realize it: a little popup over the tray icon when a new version is out or something like that. like this

a bit off topic here but a while ago i asked malc for a rss feed with the latest synthmaker news or fixes (but of course i added that there are fore sure many things that are more important than this 😉 ). my main idea was a synthmaker screensaver that displays version updates or news about synthmaker 🙂

An excellent idea if it is possible to create. Maybe you need to do this together with Malc Jay? If this program works as well as I think it does, I would love it to be installed together with SM in the future? As a part of SM but maybe that is not what you want and I can understand that for sure. Any way you do this, it is a nice addition to SM.

Tom7777 · 24 Apr 2009

-1 vote for the beta check idea, i prefer SM as an offline app, im guessing to check if a new version was out it would have to go online every load. Since everyone here is obviously using the forum just check the forum for them. Not that i object to the ideas just if that was part of SM i wouldn't use it so it would have to be customizable.

philter5 · 24 Apr 2009

Tom7777 wrote: -1 vote for the beta check idea, i prefer SM as an offline app, im guessing to check if a new version was out it would have to go online every load. Since everyone here is obviously using the forum just check the forum for them. Not that i object to the ideas just if that was part of SM i wouldn't use it so it would have to be customizable.

related to my post, i have never thought about integrating it in synthmaker itself, my idea was only to make this an option for jays tray app so that every user can decide if he wants to use this feature or not 😉

Tom7777 · 25 Apr 2009

Ok np, it was more in reply to what aliasant said because he suggested it should be added to the installer. But yeah as an additional/optional tool feature it would be good. 🙂

aliasant · 25 Apr 2009

Tom7777 wrote: Ok np, it was more in reply to what aliasant said because he suggested it should be added to the installer. But yeah as an additional/optional tool feature it would be good. 🙂

Nono. I didnt suggest it should be. I suggested that maybe it could be. Sometime in the future....

Jay · 28 Apr 2009

hi guys i love the idea of Rss feeds from the forum ect and that would be no probs,i recon that could be handled in some sort of echo script,ive done a lot of these for a lot of Forums and irc channels in the past, most of them were browser based but i reckon i could shoehorn them into the tray app! i will start some tests soon 🙂

the tray app has evolved into a fully fleaged toolbar now see post below!!

Jay · 28 Apr 2009

stuff done......

I have added a new toolbar mode to the app as well as a few basic tools and functions.

i have set it up to show a folder box if it cant find synthmaker at the default location,this allows the user to select his synthmaker Install folder.the app won`t run unless it can see Synthmaker,ive also added a function to disallow wrong folder selection

if you have synthmaker installed at default location, SynthToolz will run without the above measures,you can try them out by deleting the Preset.dat from the SynthToolz Folder then running the app! dont worry the app will create a new dat file on selection of the correct Synthmaker folder!

next i have included a simple user module counter - takes a couple of seconds if you have a huge amount of user modules.this is also available from the toolbar and the tray menu!

i have put in place a user module list maker that creates a txt list and places it in the synthtoolz folder very basic and needs some refinements and part of a future plannned .hom and .osm file handler and database! this is also available from the toolbar and the tray menu!

The calc function has been moved from the Tray to the toolbar and has been enhanced so that instead of just simply calling up the calculator it now calls it,sets it to scientific mode then snatches it from the desktop and shoehorns it into an always on top window thus getting rid of those annoying vanishing acts it normaly does when giving mouse clicks elswhere! grab the Blue handle to move about the screen

the knobman function has also been moved to the toolbar but other than that it remains the same and will only work if at the default location! ie C:g200kg\Knobman\Knobman.exe. will fix soon and add a locator for those without C Drives. NOW FIXED!

Appication HotKeys - ive added two of them HK1 & HK2, with right click-browse to application and left click-run the application.so allowing you to run your favourite Synthmaker companionsfrom the toolbar the applications you select with these HotKeys will be preset until you implicitly change them, in otherwords if you assign notepad to Hotkey1 then the HK1 tab will continue to Launch notepad until you rightclick and select another application.

the toolbar has a menubar with New,Open,Save and close - synthmaker file functions assigned also the Synthmaker stats function is here too

next in the menubar is Horizontal & vertical slide-rule tools.they are set to 8px per grid step at the moment. they are always on top floating tools! grab the jade handles to move them about the screen

and finally for this update,i have added the floating mousecam magnifyer with simple on\off buttons,zoom bar control and crosshair on\off this is also an always on top floating tool! grab the Black body to move about the screen

the red x button on the toolbar minimises the toolbar but does not exit SynthToolz! to exit you must right-click the tray icon and select exit or click the black moving handle on the toolbar and press escape

the installer within the rar is used to keep the filesize down for distribution only it makes no reg changes just folder,file and shortcut placment but with its compression its 3.6 times smaller 🙂

enjoy this and any Feedback\problems i would be pleased to hear

regardies jay

philter5 · 28 Apr 2009

😮 GREAT 😮

stw · 28 Apr 2009

really neat! 🙂 Thanks

Jay · 2 May 2009

ive given a couple of the tools an update.... i thought the horz and vert sliding rulers were very chunky & obtrusive so ive slimed them both down a fair bit, they now sport a white background and have a set transparent mode ie the blue switch with left-click = On and right-click = Off ive also given them handling tabs at bot ends for more flexible use.

ive also upped the resolution of the mousecam and given it a little bigger viewer!

another thing ive been working on this week was to rip the toolbox out of Synthmaker and make it float with the result that i can get it into a seperate window (or at least a duplicate of it)and drag modules out of it! but Synthmaker crashes when i drop the said module onto the workspace lol 😕 if i can somehow get this to work i`ll add it to the toolbar!!

ive also managed to make the entire synthmaker app transparent! but i dont know if that would be of any use to anyone,i suppose it would allow you to monitor another application running on the desktop whilst still viewing synthmaker at the same time....

and ive been working on an rss reader and as i suspected was no problem(tested with various feeds) and will be adding this when we have a feed,if we ever get one!

anyway heres the tools update,just run and it will replace the existing tools

more features in the pipeline,also if anyone else hase made any small apps relevant to Synthmaker and would like them added to the toolbar i can do this also

regardies jay

philter5 · 2 May 2009

Great stuff , as expected! 😮

infuzion · 3 May 2009

Jay wrote: anyway heres the tools update,just run and it will replace the existing tools

What is this EXE supposed to do please?

Spirited Machine · 3 May 2009

infuzion wrote: Jay wrote: anyway heres the tools update,just run and it will replace the existing tools

What is this EXE supposed to do please?

You need to download the first one, then run this. There is nothing that pops up, it just works basically instantly. Took me a minute to figure that out.

Spirited Machine · 3 May 2009

Jay,this is great stuff. Thanks a lot.

I'm a very graphics-oriented guy, and I'm not sure what you have planned for this, but a nice GUI would make my day.

Not trying to discount what you've done so far at all, this is fantastic. 😀

aliasant · 3 May 2009

Spirited Machine wrote: Jay,this is great stuff. Thanks a lot.

I'm a very graphics-oriented guy, and I'm not sure what you have planned for this, but a nice GUI would make my day.

Not trying to discount what you've done so far at all, this is fantastic. 😀

I agree =)- Nice guy would make it....

Edit: Lol! Not a nice guy. A nice GUI ... made by a nice guy maybe...

Spirited Machine · 4 May 2009

For some reason even though I have the 1.1.3 Beta installed, SynthToolz opens 1.1.2, even when the regular desktop shortcut starts 1.1.3. Not sure what's up with that. I started Synthmaker from the executable itself in the Program FIles/Outsim folder, and it starts 1.1.3, so I can't figure out where it's even getting 1.1.2 from...

infuzion · 5 May 2009

Spirited Machine wrote: Not sure what's up with that. I started Synthmaker from the executable itself in the Program FIles/Outsim folder, and it starts 1.1.3, so I can't figure out where it's even getting 1.1.2 from...

Maybe SynthMaker.exe is embeded inside his exe illegally?

Nu Audio Science · 5 May 2009

infuzion wrote: Maybe SynthMaker.exe is embeded inside his exe illegally?

I think that is doubtful to be honest 1) His EXE is way way way smaller than the SM exe 2) It boots whatever SM i have installed here

I think maybe Spirited Machine has two versions of SM installed thats all

NAS

Spirited Machine · 5 May 2009

I just remembered that I have an old installation of XP on the C drive, but I've been using Vista installed on E. It must be reading the old synthmaker off the C drive by default. False alarm.

Jay · 6 May 2009

hee hee Spirited Machine! to fix that i would change the folder name of your old install for a sec then run synthtoolz,which will report synthmaker not found and open a folder box and allow you to guide it to youre chosen SynthMaker install,SynthToolz should then save the new location as a default setting,you can then fix the folder name for the older version back to normal 🙂

i could get the toolbar to present a choice of SynthMaker installs to run,for the ppl who have the beta`s installed besides the 1.1.2 but i dont want to clutter the app so i would do this if it is of help to enough users. just let me know!

thanks for the feedback everyone! 😀 and yeh i am at the moment making a cool Gui for the app,will be making it skinable too!

would a bitmap,png ect editor be of use? not talking Photoshop or nothing but an app similar to Ms Paint with a few more tools and features,float on top of course like the rest of the toolz?

hom and osm file database on its way too! it has direct file to Zip/Rar,open file to workspace ect

regards all jay

Spirited Machine · 11 Jun 2009

I do all my graphics work in dedicated programs like photoshop, so I don't see a need for any kind of basic editor. I'm looking forward to the next version...

Jay · 11 Jun 2009

yes i agree with you there Spirited Machine,i was thinking much the same so ive dumped that idea!

what i have done is ive created and added a slightly better screen grab ie it has Wholescreen,Window and selectable area grabbing to save on having to go crop before posting. alas, i have broke it 😊 it should save images to 5 different formats including .png but on saving as png its not working! instead its saving a bitmap and labeling it as a png 😕 this works fine in visual studio before i compile it, so i will get it fixed

ive skinned the app and added another format of measuring tool and a very simple direct to disk audio recorder

a friend also gave me an app he created that echoes a forum and informs you of new posts in a particular thread instead of an email you get an sms to you mobile phone! idk if you ppl would want that or not! it would perhapse get a little annoying if set for a busy thread.

ive nearly finished an integrated RTF and PDF document maker so users who want to make small manuals for their finished products can.

and i have a few other ideas to be added also!

sometimes its hard to know what is useful to other ppl rather than just useful to me and the way i work. anyway,im hopeful of getting the capture device fixed and doing a release by the end of the week 🙂

regards jay

Spirited Machine · 13 Jun 2009

Haha it sounds like you are throwing in a little bit of everything..

McBarGig · 1 Nov 2009

Jay have managed to hook into any of the SM controls? I ask because some stuff that SM does not do natively I would like to write some apps to do externally. However, as you no doubt already know, you need to get the handle of the child/parent windows when the SM plug is running. Thats has been impossible to find at present..

Jay · 3 Nov 2009

Ah i lost all of what i had done already! i had given it a nice gui, some new tools and found lots of ways to interact with synthmaker and turned them into commands! until my dog decided to lick my 1tb Lacie external drive and knocked it over! now it just makes screeching noise when i plug it in! all my work was on it.

I am just contemplating recreating it all again! what i can tell you though, is that one of the main tools i used to check handles n stuff comes with Autoit 3 i can't remember what its called but if you dl the Free Autoit package you'll find it. i also used another small freeware tool that snoops on function calls sent to windows api's from running apps! its name eludes me also but, a m8 pointed me in its direction before so i will find out its name for you since it was way better than any other of its kind i found on google.

what r you planning? 😀

P.s sry for my memory! I have been battling metatastic cancer for four months now and my head is a bit fried atm

Regards

McBarGig · 10 Nov 2009

Jay don't feel bad I'm only battling my7 wife and I can't remember anything! You're doing great!.

What I want to do is be able to have a separate application running that watches my plugin, it can then inject values into my plugin as need be, like into a text box or something. It would be great to get out of trying to handle any type of arrays in SM, it would also be great to be able to inject path information without using a text file. Read from the Registry, etc, etc.. If there was some way to hook into a simple label or edit box or something then that would be perfect, the sky would be the limit as they say..But I have not been able to find ANY useful window information...

Anyways man thanks and really, take care..