Shortcut launcher question revisited.

[fitwell]

<sigh> Sorry, guys, but a persistent problem doesn't just go away
even if one doesn't find a solution for it.

Here's hoping that someone who hasn't read my two other posts
throughout the last year, who knows of a solution, comes across the
thread this time.

Here's the problem: my Agent instances. I now have 12 of them. And
each time I go to update my Agent ngs, I'm still only needing to
access a group of them and the particular combination of shortcuts I'm
going to launch varies each time, pretty much.

The problem - program launchers _don't_ launch shortcuts. As many
know, Agent runs off of ONE executable file, but an instance is
created by the commands found in a shortcut that tell it which folder
ot go to. That folder contains the INI file with all the pertinent
info for that particular instance.

The problem - launchers usually only launch up to 5 apps
simulataneously. So sure, there are boxes so you choose 1, 2, 3, 4 or
all 5 apps to launch, but they ONLY handle 5 apps. Coupled with the
fact that they only launch EXEs and they are not a solution.

The problem - the launcher needs to be fast. I need to get at the
list by one click to launch the app itself and then there the list is.
I go into my Agt ngs too often to be bothering with clicking all over
the place just to get to the launcher's data (yes, _some_ did have
unnecessary interface to get through before getting to the actual
launch screen). Even one mouse click too much is one mouse mouse
click too much <g>.

Here's hoping someone knows of something.

**********

And, yes, tried to write a batch file. The batch people very helpful
and we attempted it 3 times, very painfully. It's just that they were
really too busy to read the thread or understand the problem and I'm
too ignorant of batch file creation above pretty basic stuff for us to
come up with something that works. I think they didn't use Agent
either, because they didn't fully comprehend the problem. At least,
that's the conclusion I came to. They're a wonderful group of people,
though, I must say.

What would be great is a box that comes up with 15 boxes or radio
buttons where the names of the Agt instances are listed, 1 to 15.
Then we'd just need to click on one button or any combination of those
15 buttons and those items are launched. The need is simple; there
just hasn't been a solution.

Thanks.

 

[John Fitzsimons]

Here's the problem: my Agent instances. I now have 12 of them.

< snip >

Would you mind explaining to us why you have 12 instances of Agent
please ?

Regards, John.

 

[charles]

<sigh> Sorry, guys, but a persistent problem doesn't just go away
even if one doesn't find a solution for it.

Here's hoping that someone who hasn't read my two other posts
throughout the last year, who knows of a solution, comes across the
thread this time.

I haven't read your previous posts.

You can accomplish what you're trying to do (update several instances of Agent
simultaneously) easily using AutoIt command scripts.

AutoIt home - http://www.hiddensoft.com/AutoIt/
User group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/autoitlist/

The only trick is to name each of your Agent windows uniquely, (Options/User and
System Profile/System/Title Bar or in agent.ini [View] Title=). Use AutoIt's Run
command to start the .exe in the appropriate folder.

These would be commandline scripts, you could create shortcuts or whatever
interface you want to run them separately.

If you need a simple sample, let me know and I'll post or email something.

 

[fitwell]

I haven't read your previous posts.

You can accomplish what you're trying to do (update several instances of Agent
simultaneously) easily using AutoIt command scripts.

Charles, I've never figured AutoIt out and I'm leery of trying again.
I've tried several times. At first, since it seems to be something
sort of like PowerPro in concept, thought it would be easy, but it's
not.

AutoIt home - http://www.hiddensoft.com/AutoIt/
User group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/autoitlist/

The only trick is to name each of your Agent windows uniquely, (Options/User and
System Profile/System/Title Bar or in agent.ini [View] Title=). Use AutoIt's Run
command to start the .exe in the appropriate folder.

They all are named uniquely. As you can imagine, very easy, then, to
know which one to maximize on the taskbar due to labels.

These would be commandline scripts, you could create shortcuts or whatever
interface you want to run them separately.

That's why, then. I've never gotten a handle on anything that
resembles commandline stuff. I'm okay with running EXEs and simple
stuff in RUN, so it's not completely beyond me, but AutoIt goes beyond
and that's why I can't get beyond.

If you need a simple sample, let me know and I'll post or email something.

Thanks. But I'm going to, again, look for a launcher on the net.
Maybe today I'll get lucky. Just because I haven't in the past,
doesn't mean today will automatically follow, eh?

Thanks much!

 

[John Fitzsimons]

The only trick is to name each of your Agent windows uniquely, (Options/User and
System Profile/System/Title Bar or in agent.ini [View] Title=). Use AutoIt's Run
command to start the .exe in the appropriate folder.

They all are named uniquely. As you can imagine, very easy, then, to
know which one to maximize on the taskbar due to labels.

< snip >

But you haven't told us why you need 12 shortcuts to Agent. Why
bother with a complicated method if a simpler one will achieve what
you want ?

Presumably there are regular combinations of programs that you use.
Knowing what you are doing/trying to do would help.

As would an approximation of the number of different groups commonly
used.

Regards, John.

 

[fitwell]

The only trick is to name each of your Agent windows uniquely, (Options/User and
System Profile/System/Title Bar or in agent.ini [View] Title=). Use AutoIt's Run
command to start the .exe in the appropriate folder.

They all are named uniquely. As you can imagine, very easy, then, to
know which one to maximize on the taskbar due to labels.

< snip >

But you haven't told us why you need 12 shortcuts to Agent. Why
bother with a complicated method if a simpler one will achieve what
you want ?

Geez, Louise. I wasn't even going to bother going there, but I will
after all.

_Why_ is it necessary for you to know this, John? What relevance does
this have to the problem at hand? If a person has something, doesn't
it follow that it's because one needs it???

Presumably there are regular combinations of programs that you use.

Not really. I choose to edit ngs differently each time. Depends on
the problem I'm tackling at any given time. The _only_ ngs I
regularly look at is in the instance this ng is in.

Knowing what you are doing/trying to do would help.

As I mentioned before, _only_ need a program launcher that does 2
things, and I'll repeat again:

- launches shortcuts
- can deal with 15 shortcuts

Why? Because 1) program launchers usu. _don't_ handle anything other
the EXEs (or COMs), and 2) are limited to usu. 5.

As would an approximation of the number of different groups commonly
used.

What relevance does this have to the problem?

 

[charles]

But you haven't told us why you need 12 shortcuts to Agent. Why
bother with a complicated method if a simpler one will achieve what
you want ?

Well I have no idea at all why fitwell might need 12 shortcuts but just to give
you an academic/generic reason -

One of the serious deficiencies with Forte Agent is that it can only handle one
server per instance. If you want to monitor newsgroups on different servers,
multiple Agent instances is the only way to do it (using Agent anyway).

 

[fitwell]

Well I have no idea at all why fitwell might need 12 shortcuts but just to give
you an academic/generic reason -

One of the serious deficiencies with Forte Agent is that it can only handle one
server per instance. If you want to monitor newsgroups on different servers,
multiple Agent instances is the only way to do it (using Agent anyway).

Thanks, exactly. But why this is pertinent to this situation is
beyond me; it would just lead off in another direction.

p.s., tried again in the batch group. There are, apparently, some
abandonware DOS menu building apps that might be what I can use (i.e.,
a link that lead to this type of thing:
http://home.pmt.org/~drose/aw-dos-15.html), _if_ I can find them
somewhere, that is. Also, playing again with Batchrun inadvertently
led me to a possible solution to one part of the problem I'd never
considered: I found that a launcher that only seemed to accept EXEs
did launch a batchrun file. Problem here is that launchers only seem
to launch ONE item at a time and limit the launch often to only FIVE
programs at any given moment. Too limited all around, but at least
the issue of shortcut launching limitations might be gotten around by
the Bathcrun BRS files.

Will post back. This is a 2-year problem and is still a frustrating
one. If I _do_ find a workable solution, be sure that I will share
the info. I can't be the only one using several instances of Agent
and who, after all this time, still gets tired of all the clicking
just to launch combinations of instances dependent on what projects I
have ongoing.

 

[charles]

p.s., tried again in the batch group. There are, apparently, some
abandonware DOS menu building apps that might be what I can use (i.e.,
a link that lead to this type of thing:
http://home.pmt.org/~drose/aw-dos-15.html), _if_ I can find them
somewhere, that is. Also, playing again with Batchrun inadvertently
led me to a possible solution to one part of the problem I'd never
considered: I found that a launcher that only seemed to accept EXEs
did launch a batchrun file. Problem here is that launchers only seem
to launch ONE item at a time and limit the launch often to only FIVE
programs at any given moment. Too limited all around, but at least
the issue of shortcut launching limitations might be gotten around by
the Bathcrun BRS files.

Batchrun is a good bet. It should be able to solve the basic problem. (just FYI:
Your launcher was able to launch the .brs file because the Batchrun installation
sets that as a runnable extension in your OS.)

Will post back. This is a 2-year problem and is still a frustrating
one. If I _do_ find a workable solution, be sure that I will share
the info. I can't be the only one using several instances of Agent
and who, after all this time, still gets tired of all the clicking
just to launch combinations of instances dependent on what projects I
have ongoing.

Well good luck. The basic problem is solveable with a 2-3 line AutoIt script.
The DOS menu generator thing is a neat idea though to provide a frontend to the
scripts.

 

[Simon]

how many sessions (on average) do you open at any one time??

If it's a lot, eg more than say 7 or 8, a simple solution may be to write a
batch that opens ALL your instances of Agent (in one go), then just close
the ones you don't want....

while this obviously isn't the answer to your original request, it may get
someone thinking in a different direction...

hope this helps (I'll be interested in any 'final' solution you come up
with)

 

[Blinky the Shark]

how many sessions (on average) do you open at any one time??

If it's a lot, eg more than say 7 or 8, a simple solution may be to write a
batch that opens ALL your instances of Agent (in one go), then just close
the ones you don't want....

while this obviously isn't the answer to your original request, it may get
someone thinking in a different direction...

hope this helps (I'll be interested in any 'final' solution you come up
with)

Thanks, I'll...no, wait...you weren't talking to me, right? Who *were*
you talking to? Hey, I've got an idea, here!

http://home.online.no/~shughes/a57998/quote.html#001a

 

[Simon]

Thanks, I'll...no, wait...you weren't talking to me, right? Who *were*
you talking to? Hey, I've got an idea, here!

http://home.online.no/~shughes/a57998/quote.html#001a

what was I thinking!!

sorry, I figured that the fact that I responded to the posters original
request (despite the aforementioned lack of quotes) would have been
sufficient (if you'd been following the thread - if you hadn't, it probably
wouldn't have made sense anyway)

So, after all that, do you have an idea??

S

 

[John Fitzsimons]

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 12:47:59 +1000, John Fitzsimons

Geez, Louise. I wasn't even going to bother going there, but I will
after all.

_Why_ is it necessary for you to know this, John?

Because if you tell us why you need 12 shortcuts to Agent then there
may be a way to get the result you require without doing that.

Is this a "national secret" ? Why don't you want to tell anyone why
you have 12 shortcuts to Agent ?

What relevance does
this have to the problem at hand? If a person has something, doesn't
it follow that it's because one needs it???

No it doesn't. I know plenty of people who use multiple newreaders to
get to multiple servers when they could instead simply use one
newsreader. Because you refuse to tell us why you need 12 shortcuts to
Agent one cannot ascertain whether you fall into that category or not.

Not really. I choose to edit ngs differently each time. Depends on
the problem I'm tackling at any given time. The _only_ ngs I
regularly look at is in the instance this ng is in.

I wasn't talking about newsgroups. Your query was about different
combinations of Agent instances via shortcuts. Not about different
combinations of newsgroups.

Are you saying that the 12 Agent shortcuts are giving you different
subscribed newsgroup lists ? Is that why you have 12 ?

How about explaining what you are doing with a few examples ?

As I mentioned before, _only_ need a program launcher that does 2
things, and I'll repeat again:

- launches shortcuts
- can deal with 15 shortcuts

Repeating your question doesn't tell anyone why you need 12 shortcuts
to Agent. Obviously you have the 12 shortcuts to do something in
particular. What is that ? Why will one shortcut not work ?

Why? Because 1) program launchers usu. _don't_ handle anything other
the EXEs (or COMs), and 2) are limited to usu. 5.

Agent is an .exe file. Just because you use a shortcut to a different
ini file that doesn't change that situation. A program launcher I
mentioned to you last time executes more than five items at once.
As do batch files etc.

What relevance does this have to the problem?

To know how many possible "combinations" you might be using. I don't
know how many "combination" could be made from a list of 12 items but
it sure is a lot. Reducing that number to the "actual" ones used would
make things easier to satisfy.

Regards, John.

 

[John Fitzsimons]

I can't be the only one using several instances of Agent

< snip >

That would depend on what one wanted to achieve. Multiple
copies of Agent are generally a pretty silly way of doing things.
Other newsreaders, or methods, usually work better.

Regards, John.

--
****************************************************
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/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
\_,--.x/ http://www.aspects.org.au/index.htm
v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/

 

[John Fitzsimons]

Thanks, exactly. But why this is pertinent to this situation is
beyond me;

< snip >

Charles obviously thinks you have 12 Agent shortcuts to access 12
different servers. Most people reading your posts over the last two
years would probably think the same thing. How would anyone know
differently ? You haven't told anyone why you need 12 variations of
Agent.

Had you explained what you are doing, AND given some examples, then
IMO you would have had a number of worthwhile solutions offered ages
ago.

Regards, John.

--
****************************************************
,-._|\ (A.C.F FAQ) http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html
/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
\_,--.x/ http://www.aspects.org.au/index.htm
v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/

 

[John Fitzsimons]

Well I have no idea at all why fitwell might need 12 shortcuts but just to give
you an academic/generic reason -

One of the serious deficiencies with Forte Agent is that it can only handle one
server per instance. If you want to monitor newsgroups on different servers,
multiple Agent instances is the only way to do it (using Agent anyway).

It isn't the only way. I can use one copy of Agent and get newsgroups
from as many different servers as I like.

Multiple copies are NOT required. One just needs a local news server
like Hamster.

Regards, John.

--
****************************************************
,-._|\ (A.C.F FAQ) http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html
/ Oz \ John Fitzsimons - Melbourne, Australia.
\_,--.x/ http://www.aspects.org.au/index.htm
v http://clients.net2000.com.au/~johnf/

 

[tlshell]

Multiple copies are NOT required. One just needs a local news server
like Hamster.

I downloaded Hamster Classic this morning, but I'm not sure what it
can do. I really downloaded it to try to filter out the Swen viruses
et al that are swamping me, because (for example) during the time I
was at work today, my e-mail account received 997 e-mails, most of
which were viruses, and time consuming to download/delete. I'd like to
be able to filter them directly on my ISP's mail server without doing
any downloading (similar to a shell account if possible). I also would
not mind being able to use several servers with Agent, so that's a
plus. Where can I read a step-by-step explanation of how to use
Hamster Classic? The web page did not seem to lead to such resources.
I've never used a server before, so I'm sure there will be some
terminology that I'm unfamiliar with. Will Hamster Classic give me the
capabilities that I need, or should I go for something like Mailwasher
instead?

 

[Blinky the Shark]

what was I thinking!!

sorry, I figured that the fact that I responded to the posters original
request (despite the aforementioned lack of quotes) would have been
sufficient (if you'd been following the thread - if you hadn't, it probably
wouldn't have made sense anyway)

So, after all that, do you have an idea??

Yes: quoting a bit for context is a good thing. Thought I expressed
that.

 

[fitwell]

Because if you tell us why you need 12 shortcuts to Agent then there
may be a way to get the result you require without doing that.

Is this a "national secret" ? Why don't you want to tell anyone why
you have 12 shortcuts to Agent ?

Nope. Not a "national" secret at all. I have different servers I
access (i.e., MS, WP and my ISPs) and I have 2 email ones, one for
personal use and one for the business that use different email
accounts since I only use Outlook 2000 strictly for friends/family.
Lastly, a couple have different user namers or handles to make web
searches easier and I've grouped the ngs within those to be pertinent
to such searches. This is because I'm constantly doing back searches
as these ngs go back to the very beginning and I don't bother keeping
copies of the messages all the time.

The instances are a combination of all three of the above that have
evolved over 4 years of usenet usage. There is NO other way around
this, that's all, so is not pertinent to this problem. If Agent could
handle all the differences that would be great. This also cuts down
on what I update and what I just "bring up to date" without dl headers
for. It's an efficient system. The instance I use the most is this
one with this ng and this server, so I access it the most and run all
the "important" ngs from this one that I update all the time without
fail. Some of the other instances (i.e., the one dealing only with
Lotus apps, for example) I run only once every few weeks as there is
little activity and only when I have a job in the govt that has Lotus
as the standard.

See what I mean about this going off on a tangent into something not
relevant to the problem?

No it doesn't. I know plenty of people who use multiple newreaders to
get to multiple servers when they could instead simply use one
newsreader. Because you refuse to tell us why you need 12 shortcuts to
Agent one cannot ascertain whether you fall into that category or not.

Yes, I do, and not refusing to say, just irritated that I'd have to
justify using multiple instances when that isn't part of the problem.

I wasn't talking about newsgroups. Your query was about different
combinations of Agent instances via shortcuts. Not about different
combinations of newsgroups.

Are you saying that the 12 Agent shortcuts are giving you different
subscribed newsgroup lists ? Is that why you have 12 ?

How about explaining what you are doing with a few examples ?




Repeating your question doesn't tell anyone why you need 12 shortcuts
to Agent. Obviously you have the 12 shortcuts to do something in
particular. What is that ? Why will one shortcut not work ?

Explained above to a certain degree and, yes, still need the 12
shortcuts.

Agent is an .exe file. Just because you use a shortcut to a different
ini file that doesn't change that situation. A program launcher I
mentioned to you last time executes more than five items at once.
As do batch files etc.



To know how many possible "combinations" you might be using. I don't
know how many "combination" could be made from a list of 12 items but
it sure is a lot. Reducing that number to the "actual" ones used would
make things easier to satisfy.

John, just need a system that lists the 12 shortcuts to launch.
That's it. By clicking on radio buttons (or, if a DOS menu, being
able to just type in the numbers of the ngs to access at that time)
that will launch any combination at any given time would solve this
problem.

I tried the obvious way of creating batch files to run combinations,
but that just didn't work as in that case would need a ton as you say.
Whereas just having a menu with the 12 instances listed and my being
able to choose what I need each time would do the job.

Currently looking at dos menu programs, which I didn't even know
existed before yesterday. Also, creating a batchrun file for each
shortcut worked fine. Tedious, but I only have to do it once. It
seems that BRS files may be treated lilke EXE files by some programs.

Only difficulty I've run into re the DOS menu programs is that they
_may_ only allow for one entry to be selected at once. If that's the
case, that will put me right back to square one. However, I don't
doubt that something will turn up despite this. Just have to find it.

Will report back. If I ever manage to find a solution, it'll be seen
how the problem will have been cut down to nothing, as it should be.

There is not _one_ single case in my quest for solutions at any given
time in the past 16 years I've been using computers that I haven't
eventually found something that will do the job even if it's taken a
long time. It's my lack of asking for the right thing here or in
google that is the problem. Blame that on not knowing computers
beyond a power-user-newbie level despite the experience. But I know
what I need, so that make the difference.

 

[fitwell]

It isn't the only way. I can use one copy of Agent and get newsgroups
from as many different servers as I like.

Multiple copies are NOT required. One just needs a local news server
like Hamster.

Tried Hamster on 3 different occasions over last 4 years. Like
AutoIt, there are just some things I can't seem to wrap my brain
around. Nothing I can do about that, some things just are. Maybe one
day I'll try it again and something will click, or maybe a later
version will code things in such a way that understanding will dawn.
At present using this roundabout way, John. It works for me except in
the launching part.

I have about 150 ngs or my I access at different times and at
different frequencies. One day things might be more efficient, but
this works so I'm happy.

Thanks.