NiftyLink addon - Links using internal associations and more

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Juergen
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Post by *Juergen »

Hi sgp,

thank you for another good suggestion!
sgp wrote:

Code: Select all

; next line is in my wish list; search TC internal associations first
;Target=<commander>..\ahk\AutoHotkey.chm
I agree that something like that will be useful.
sgp wrote:

Code: Select all

; next line is in my wish list; open with N-th internal association
;Target=<commander N>..\ahk\AutoHotkey.chm
I think this construction is too "fragile", isn't it?
If a particular internal association currently is on position N, and I remove or add another internal association before it, then its position changes to N-1 or N+1, respectively. In other words, the N-th internal association then is not anymore the one that I wanted to use for opening my file.
In special cases, I think it's better (more robust) to specify the program that you want to open the file, like this:
sgp wrote:

Code: Select all

Target="%SystemRoot%\hh.exe" ..\ahk\AutoHotkey.chm 
In order to get a portable FlexLink, you can use a relative path not only for the respective file, but also for the program, e.g.
sgp wrote:

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Target=..\programs\hh.exe ..\ahk\AutoHotkey.chm
Using %commander_path% or %commander_drive% in a FlexLink also makes the link portable, if the TC is on the same drive. Using volume names instead of drive letters makes even absoute paths portable.


Thinking more about this whole issue, it occurs to me that the problem also could be the other way round: E.g. ODT files are normally associated with a program such as Open Office or Libre Office, and opened as text file for editing. However, technically speaking, an ODT file is a ZIP archive (which we can open in TC with [CTRL]+[PgDown]). So I think it sometimes could be useful, when FlexLinks would provide an option that forces an archive to be opened as an archive.

Maybe the dialog for creating FlexLinks should be changed, so that instead of

Code: Select all

[ ] System command
it would look somehow like this:

Code: Select all

Open link target
(o) automatically (best option in most cases)
( ) as archive in TC
( ) with the command associated internally in TC
( ) with the command associated in the system
( ) with this program:
    [......................................]
In the 1st and in the 4th case, the resulting FlexLink file will look the same as now. In the 2nd and in the 3rd case, there would be an entry such as <TCarchive> or <TCassociation> in the file.

What do you think?

Best regards, Juergen
My add-ons and plugins for TC: NiftyLink, mbox, Sequences
sgp
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Post by *sgp »

Juergen wrote:
sgp wrote:

Code: Select all

; next line is in my wish list; open with N-th internal association
;Target=<commander N>..\ahk\AutoHotkey.chm
I think this construction is too "fragile", isn't it?
Maybe I didn't explain myself well enough. What I mean by <commander N> is to run the N-th item associated with a given extension. For any given extension, when you double-click an icon TC will open the file with the 1st association for that extension. But you can have more associations and pick them with a right-click on the icon. I think it is very unlikely that someone will re-order the right-click menu of a given file type. If they will, they should also be aware whether they're using <command N> and break the link.
If a particular internal association currently is on position N, and I remove or add another internal association before it, then its position changes to N-1 or N+1, respectively. In other words, the N-th internal association then is not anymore the one that I wanted to use for opening my file.
So maybe I did explain myself enough after all :) I don't know. I have 4 internal associations for .doc files. The first one would be <command> for flexlink, and it links to TC's default internal association for .doc files. The second one is <command 2>, and so on.
In special cases, I think it's better (more robust) to specify the program that you want to open the file
I think that is more flexible, but not "more robust". I don't envision using such a feature very often. The reason is that I don't want to scatter associations inside flex files. I much prefer to keep all my associations inside one file, TC's portable associations file (mine is redirected from wincmd.ini), and edit just that file - I do it very often, I don't even bother to use TC's GUI for changing internal associations.
Maybe the dialog for creating FlexLinks should be changed, so that instead of

Code: Select all

[ ] System command
it would look somehow like this:

Code: Select all

Open link target
(o) automatically (best option in most cases)
( ) as archive in TC
( ) with the command associated internally in TC    [N] command position
( ) with the command associated in the system
( ) with this program:
    [......................................]
What do you think?
I agree, it looks good to me. I added one more entry, a text field "[N]" + "command position" to the right, for <TCAssociation N> (<command N>), if you decide to implement it.
Thanks
Juergen
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Post by *Juergen »

Hi,

please excuse the delay in replying, I'm currently short of time.
sgp wrote:Maybe I didn't explain myself well enough. What I mean by <commander N> is to run the N-th item associated with a given extension. For any given extension, when you double-click an icon TC will open the file with the 1st association for that extension. But you can have more associations and pick them with a right-click on the icon.
Oh, I wasn't aware of that. So I didn't understand exactly what you suggested. Thanks for the explanation.
sgp wrote:
Maybe the dialog for creating FlexLinks should be changed, so that instead of

Code: Select all

[ ] System command
it would look somehow like this:

Code: Select all

Open link target
(o) automatically (best option in most cases)
( ) as archive in TC
( ) with the command associated internally in TC    [N] command position
( ) with the command associated in the system
( ) with this program:
    [......................................]
What do you think?
I agree, it looks good to me. I added one more entry, a text field "[N]" + "command position" to the right, for <TCAssociation N> (<command N>), if you decide to implement it.
Thanks
Yes, I like the suggestion, and I'll certainly implement something like that.

Maybe instead of

Code: Select all

[N] command position 
the dialog window could contain a dropdown list with all commands that are associated with the given extension at that time. That would make it a little easier for the user to chose the desired command. The name of the chosen command could also be written to the FlexLink file.

Regards, Juergen
My add-ons and plugins for TC: NiftyLink, mbox, Sequences
sgp
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Post by *sgp »

Juergen wrote:Hi,

please excuse the delay in replying, I'm currently short of time.
No problem.
Maybe instead of

Code: Select all

[N] command position 
the dialog window could contain a dropdown list with all commands that are associated with the given extension at that time. That would make it a little easier for the user to chose the desired command. The name of the chosen command could also be written to the FlexLink file.
TC shows multiple programs associated with the same extension as a menu - of course, it's the right-click menu. Each menu entry corresponds to a substring of the command id in wincmd.ini. For example:

Code: Select all

Filter7=>image
Filter7_open=""%COMMANDER_PATH%\..\IrfanView\i_view32.exe" "%1""
Filter7_convert-&jpg-q85-96dpi="%COMMANDER_PATH%\..\IrfanView\i_view32.exe" "%1" /dpi=(96,96) /jpgq=85 /convert=$N-q85.jpg
Filter7_open-GIMP=""%COMMANDER_PATH%\..\gimp-aap\gimp\GIMPPortable.exe" "%1""
results in three menu entries, wrote: Open (Internal)
convert-jpg-q85-96-dpi (Internal)
open-GIMP (Internal)
Above are the strings that TC actually displays as menu entry labels.
Juergen
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Post by *Juergen »

sgp wrote:TC shows multiple programs associated with the same extension as a menu - of course, it's the right-click menu. Each menu entry corresponds to a substring of the command id in wincmd.ini.
I know. I've tested it in the meantime. :)
sgp wrote:
results in three menu entries, wrote: Open (Internal)
convert-jpg-q85-96-dpi (Internal)
open-GIMP (Internal)
Above are the strings that TC actually displays as menu entry labels.
Yes and my idea was/is, that the dialog for creating a new FlexLink offers a dropdown list, which would in this case contain the following entries:
Open
convert-jpg-q85-96-dpi
open-GIMP
from which the user can choose the one s/he wants to use in the new FlexLink. So when the user wants to choose say "open-GIMP", then s/he cklicks at that entry in the list, rather than typing "3" (for the third command) into a text field. And in the produced FlexLink file, the respective command could read say <TC_open-GIMP> rather then <TC_3>, which would make the FlexLink file better readable, wouldn't it?

Regards, Juergen
My add-ons and plugins for TC: NiftyLink, mbox, Sequences
sgp
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Post by *sgp »

Juergen wrote: Yes and my idea was/is, that the dialog for creating a new FlexLink offers a dropdown list from which the user can choose the one s/he wants to use in the new FlexLink. So when the user wants to choose say "open-GIMP", then s/he cklicks at that entry in the list, rather than typing "3" (for the third command) into a text field. And in the produced FlexLink file, the respective command could read say <TC_open-GIMP> rather then <TC_3>, which would make the FlexLink file better readable, wouldn't it?
That would be very sweet, especially if the flexlink file internally referred to the symbolic name of the command rather than its index, i.e., TC_open-GIMP vs. 3.
Juergen
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Post by *Juergen »

OK, then I'm going to implement it that way. I hope I'll have some time to do so soon.

Have a nice weekend,
Juergen
My add-ons and plugins for TC: NiftyLink, mbox, Sequences
Juergen
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Post by *Juergen »

Hi,

I've started working on the next version of the program. However, at the moment there is a problem:

Yesterday I got a cease-and-desist e-mail from a company named "FlexLink", that produces and sells conveyors and industrial automation equipment. They have registered this name as trademark, and they regard the usage of close variations of that trade name as a severe infringement of their intellectual property rights. So it seems I have to change the name of the program. :(

I had some ideas, but this time I googled them. And it became apparent, that many, many words which end with "link" are already in use (e.g. "FlexaLink", "FlexiLink", "FxLink", "PureLink", "PurLink", "SmartLink", "TotalLink", "TcLink"). Since I think "versatile" might be an even better description for these links rather than "flexible", for now I'm thinking of "VerLink" (e.g. "VersaLink" is already in use, too).
  • How does "VerLink" sound in the ears of native English speakers?
  • Do you have other ideas for a new name?
Any help is much appreciated!

Regards, Juergen
My add-ons and plugins for TC: NiftyLink, mbox, Sequences
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Post by *Hacker »

Hello Juergen,
Just BTW, you should be use the same name as long as you are not in competition and there is no way people could mistake your product for their product. That's why we can have Blizzard the game developer company and Blizzard the winter outfit / ski making (not sure) company. There was some judging about this in Germany in 2006.

Not sure if this helps anyhow, just wanted to let you know.
Roman
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Juergen
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Post by *Juergen »

Hello Roman,

thanks for your reply.

Generally speaking, I think this is a mine fileld.
It's a rather big company that produces and sells conveyors and industrial automation equipment. I'm pretty sure that these things are controlled by software these days. So there probably is software owned by the company "Flexlink", and my software with the same name. They could take me to court to try to stop me. I might even win, but I don't have time and money for this. I write Freeware programs because it's fun, and for the benefit of everyone who can make use of them. I don't want to invest time and money for legal disputes.

Regards, Juergen
My add-ons and plugins for TC: NiftyLink, mbox, Sequences
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MaxX
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Post by *MaxX »

2Juergen
So what's about "Flexilink" name? It sounds better. And, as I think, this will NOT be a problem for user to remember util's name, and there's no software company with such name. Or "Flexylink", as you wish...
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Post by *Hacker »

Juergen,
Or "TSFKAFL" or "TPFKAFL" (in honour of TAFKAP). :)

Roman
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Juergen
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Post by *Juergen »

MaxX wrote:So what's about "Flexilink" name? It sounds better. And, as I think, this will NOT be a problem for user to remember util's name, and there's no software company with such name.
There are products with this name ...
MaxX wrote:Or "Flexylink"
I like that one!
Hacker wrote:Or "TSFKAFL" or "TPFKAFL" (in honour of TAFKAP). :)
I like this idea, too.

Or I could use a recursive acronym such as "DINF Is Not FlexLink." ;-)

Thank you both! However, more ideas are always welcome. :-)
Regards, Juergen
My add-ons and plugins for TC: NiftyLink, mbox, Sequences
sgp
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Post by *sgp »

Juerlink sounds good to me, close enough to "your link" !
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Post by *ghisler(Author) »

Flexylink
In general, 1 character difference isn't considered as sufficient in trademark law - normally at least 2 characters must be different, even more if the name sounds too similar.
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