Workaround for Amistart and public screens

ntromans · 816

ntromans

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on: September 18, 2022, 02:58:31 PM
This is a bit too trivial to upload to the AROS archives, but i thought I'd share it here in case it's of use for anyone else.

The title says it all, really. I like the features of Amistart, but find it really annoying that it still grabs mouse presses when you are on a public screen. Of course, the workaround is to use the hotkey to show & hide Amistart as you move to and from Wanderer, but if you switch screens regulalry that's tedious and every so often I forget and wonder why a gadget on a public  screen isn't responding. So the little program attached automates this. It works by checking once a second which is the frontmost screen and if it isn't Wanderer it hides Amistart, and if it is it shows Amistart unless you've chosen to manually hide it.

Edit: Please note this is for when using Wanderer in backdrop mode, not windowed mode.

If anyonw wan't t use it too, here are the requirements:

  • To make it small enough to upload here, it's compiled as a Hollywood applet (.hwa), so you will need HollywoodPlayer for AROS installed somewhere; I've got it in C: but if you want it elsewhere just edit the tool path in the icon. I've also included the source (.hws) so if you have a copy of Hollywood you can compile a stand-alone executable.
  • Set Amistart's hotkey to 'ctrl z' (this is because ctrl z can be put into the input stream as a simple ASCII charcacter).
  • To insert the ctrl z into the input stream, Paste2IEvents is needed from the AROS archives; put this into C:
  • Add the Fix_Amistart.hwa to the WBStartup.
In usage it's generally quite transparent, just automatically showing and hiding Amistart as you swith screens. If you want to manually hide Amistart, press Fix_Amistart's hotkey (default is 'ctrl t' but you cn change this in it's icon tooltypes) and select show or hide from the requester, Fix_Amistart is a commodity, so if you want to remove it just use Exchange.

It's possible that if you manually issue Amistart's hotkey (needs to be ctrl z as mentioned), it's possible Fix_Amistart will get 'out of sync' i.e. hiding Amistart when on Wanderer and vice versa. To fix this, just go to Wanderer, hit Fix_Amstart's hotkey to ensure it's set to so show Amistart and then hit ctrl z to show Amistart; everything will then be re-synced.

Cheers,
Nigel.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2022, 07:24:48 AM by ntromans »



AMIGASYSTEM

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Reply #1 on: September 19, 2022, 03:36:10 AM
The Amistart Bar also disappears when from the system menu you attach or disable Backdrop, see video.

In any case, it was also solved well with just using CTRL-t

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16ZWU8RwsIxl7oFxIxdzd5xhM_BRFFGCO/view?usp=sharing


ntromans

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Reply #2 on: September 19, 2022, 04:00:05 AM
The Amistart Bar also disappears when from the system menu you attach or disable Backdrop, see video.

In any case, it was also solved well with just using CTRL-t

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16ZWU8RwsIxl7oFxIxdzd5xhM_BRFFGCO/view?usp=sharing

True, but you have to do both of those manually; I wanted a  fix you could run at system start and then not have to bother to remember to hit ctrl t every time I switch screens.

Cheers,
Nigel.



AMIGASYSTEM

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Reply #3 on: September 19, 2022, 04:33:11 AM
It doesn't reappear to me automatically, when "Backdrop" hides AmiStart, where am I wrong ?


ntromans

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Reply #4 on: September 19, 2022, 07:21:01 AM
It doesn't reappear to me automatically, when "Backdrop" hides AmiStart, where am I wrong ?

This is for when always using Wanderer in backdrop mode, not when switching betweeen windowed and backdrop (my preference is to have Wanderer always as backdrop so when clicking windows to front and back none get hidden behind Wanderer).

Cheers,
Nigel.



ntromans

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Reply #5 on: September 19, 2022, 07:25:41 AM
It doesn't reappear to me automatically, when "Backdrop" hides AmiStart, where am I wrong ?

This is for when always using Wanderer in backdrop mode, not when switching betweeen windowed and backdrop (my preference is to have Wanderer always as backdrop so when clicking windows to front and back none get hidden behind Wanderer). I've just edited the original post to make that clearer - thanks for pointing out the ambiguity,

Cheers,
Nigel.



AMIGASYSTEM

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Reply #6 on: September 19, 2022, 08:31:05 AM
Ok thank you useful application, Fix_Amistart has been installed on the new version of AROS One v1.9, of course it will not be started from the WBStartup, this is because it would be useless for those who will choose to Use other ToolBars like "BoingIconBar" or "uCommander:"

The Fix_Amistart package has been installed in the Amistart folder and will be run from the dedicated User-startup, see screenshot.


ntromans

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Reply #7 on: September 19, 2022, 02:05:26 PM
Ok thank you useful application, Fix_Amistart has been installed on the new version of AROS One v1.9, of course it will not be started from the WBStartup, this is because it would be useless for those who will choose to Use other ToolBars like "BoingIconBar" or "uCommander:"

The Fix_Amistart package has been installed in the Amistart folder and will be run from the dedicated User-startup, see screenshot.

Thanks for the inclusion  :D One quick note about starting from the shell (you've probably already spotted it), you need to include arguments to set the hotkey and prevent the Hollywood splah screen popping up, i.e.

run [path to Hollywood player]HollywoodPlayer [path to applet]Fix_Amistart.hwa -cxkey "ctrl t" -quiet

Cheers,
Nigel



AMIGASYSTEM

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Reply #8 on: September 19, 2022, 02:33:39 PM
Not necessary, Fix_Amistart is executed by the user-startup through the WBRun tool, which in turn also executes the parameters included in the Icon Tooltypes, already tested and it seems to work well :)


ntromans

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Reply #9 on: September 19, 2022, 04:59:41 PM
Not necessary, Fix_Amistart is executed by the user-startup through the WBRun tool, which in turn also executes the parameters included in the Icon Tooltypes, already tested and it seems to work well :)

Ah, I see!  :D

Cheers,
Nigel.