deskrule 1106 beta

[nikos]

the alpha version didn't get that much notice or remark, so here is a beta version
www.zabkat.com/test/deskrule_setup_beta.exe (32 and 64 bit)

you can do some things that no search engine has ever done before


for those who don't get the point I will do a blog this sunday with some useful examples
don't let it upset your christmas at any rate

[Kilmatead]

didn't get that much notice or remark

That's because there are only 6 people on this whole planet who understand why you would want to make something so complex and useful yet so ergonomically abstruse as to be impregnable. Two of those people are us, another 3 don't speak English (and know what GREP stands for), and the 6th guy already wrote his own in assembler and he wouldn't deign to order a pizza in anything less than Klingon or High Valerian anyway.

Face it dude, Apple has turned the Western world into Zombies who only want what they're told to want, and only search for things that someone else already found. And MS is doing its best to imitate that entropic model of social conditioning. We are entering the medieval period ("dark ages") of the Information Age, but it's really weird how few people realise this and instead jump around all excited about how shiny their navels have gotten.

We're just too old to buy into it, ourselves.

(And ironically I [of all people] would be happier if this new Complex-Mode worked with WDS, but you can't have everything. Integrate that, and you shall have all the bagels and muffins in the land.)

Also, you know me... I only comment when I have something negative to say, but all the tests I tried actually worked the first time (or at least presented the expected results) so I was mightily disappointed with my Failure to Flummox and didn't dig deeper. And I hate it when I fail to flummox something.

That being said, I still think you're underestimating the uses for pre-1970's dates, but then again maybe only Elvis would agree with me about that...

[nikos]

if you have any suggestions how to make this more ergonomic, please oblige us! At some point I will add autocompletion for the property names so you can easily type these things. But it isn't that hard as it is, surely?

[Kilmatead]

But it isn't that hard as it is, surely?

Well, you'll remember that I started out with the version that only had the "Complex:" toolbar available, so all this newfangled GUI dropdown stuff is for chumps. (And what the heck possessed you to call it "Desktop Detective"? That's like something Elmo would dream up for the Sesame Street computer.)



Never mind that it's a misnomer without WDS anyway, but why split hairs when there's the usual WTL "look" to complain about...

As I always said, if you'd try out a few of the available Search programs (actually try them out, not just look at screenshots) you'd see how their GUI's are somehow (usually) more naturally arranged and predictable (instantly usable), whereas DR somehow always seems to hide its power behind something that looks like your man's haircut in Quadrophenia. The number of times I've had banjaxed results because some bloody toolbar "helpfully" remembered the context text I searched for last time is legion - difficult to clear all fields without having to recreate them again just to use them. I'm thinking something like what x2 already has (yes, x2) but... you know... "bigger, airier, better". I'm scientifically accurate that way.

I put up with it because I'm used to things that are socially awkward and generally survive on the fringes of post-apocalyptic society , but (if you'll remember when DR was in its nascency) I was saying the same thing then, and you just kept grumbling something about "appreciative power, blah blah" and ignoring my ability to describe sunsets over Venice, compared to your taste in... um... what comes to mind here... contemporary Christmas Trees?

[sanferno]

I found interesting the new feature but, since I have a 64bit system, I was not able to test it until this point.
Autocompletion would be a nice "ergonomic" improvement, but you have already done a great job so far. thank you!

I will test this beta and I will give you some feedback.

[nikos]

you'll remember that I started out with the version that only had the "Complex:" toolbar available, so all this newfangled GUI dropdown stuff is for chumps

you did? you didn't say anything about it so i thought you were just in christmas slacking off mode

The number of times I've had banjaxed results because some bloody toolbar "helpfully" remembered the context text I searched for last time is legion - difficult to clear all fields without having to recreate them again just to use them

deskrule has this /F switch (hit F1 to see all the command line options) that stops deskrule loading the last filter if that's troubling you. Or just click on the recyclebin (clear) toolbar button to clear all fields. You see the functionality is there, you just have to open your eyes and discover it

[Kilmatead]

i thought you were just in christmas slacking off mode

I've spent the majority of my whole life in one "slacking off mode" or another! One learns very early in this world that all human endeavour inevitably comes to nought, so I'm just a blade of grass who's rather adept at ducking his head when the "lawnmower of expectation and responsibility" comes my way. Ever since I was 3 years old people have been unable to tell when I'm slacking off and when I'm just happy in my own little world.

Or just click on the recyclebin (clear) toolbar button to clear all fields. You see the functionality is there, you just have to open your eyes and discover it

Since you've always had a scurrilously doubtful relationship with DPI, you wouldn't know that small-icons may as well not even exist in the real world. I want menus, damn it! Real traditional menus! I don't own a smart-phone, or tablet, or any other kind of non-sexual finger-toys, so I expect my tools to have menus (or at least actual toolbar labels, not tooltip-types).

And, on that same point, sometimes the toolbars have a strange habit of "collapsing on themselves" and defaulting to some kind scrunched-size. Particularly noticeable with the location-bar thing. The problem is I can never reproduce it - it'll open 5 times in a row just fine, but the 6th will inevitably be a botched suicide.

And why are they all so bloody small? I'm sure pansy-arse nonsense like Verdana font size 8 was great back in the days of pac-man, but most people have screen resolutions that would make your laptop weep, and that design modality just doesn't pass muster anymore.

<Bah humbug!>

[nikos]

i should really make the toolbar icons at least 24x24, so sorry old man!
also if you RTFM you will see that F8 clears all the fields too

[Kilmatead]

How was I supposed to know there was actually a manual? I've been drowning in Alphas and Betas for so long that "winging-it" has become the norm for me.

That being said, the manual doesn't say snot about increasing the toolbar text size, now does it? And I can't even modify the resources for that one.

(And if I'm a bit narky this morning, forgive me - one of the bloody horses just broke my nose and I've got that kind of headache-and-nosebleed feeling that reminds one that his teenage years playing sports and having fisticuffs over potential girlfriends were not actually the best time of his life and it really doesn't seem to improve much after that either. I haven't had two black eyes at Christmas since I was 6 and had the usual habit of not watching where I was going. And you expect a guy like me to find a manual of his own free-will? I need chocolate. Chocolate makes everything better.)

[sanferno]

for those who don't get the point I will do a blog this sunday with some useful examples

That would be nice. A couple of test I have done worked nicely, but I cannot run the following one due to "pdf". How is it supposed to use strings?

($System.DateModified > 21/12/2015) & $System.FileExtension = "pdf"

[Kilmatead]

You have the right idea, but the extension needs to be prefixed with a '.' as part of the text, so...

$System.FileExtension = ".pdf"

Strings are interpreted literally (and concatenated: "." + "pdf" is also a valid expression), though wildcards and regex's don't seem to work in context as they should...

However, since we're on the subject of looking forward to this mystical blog, I would love to see a "practical and real-world example" that uses Modulo ... because I always get a giggle from seeing that operator... I can come up with plenty of ridiculously contrived examples, but none of them would ever have real-world value...

[sanferno]

the extension needs to be prefixed with a '.'

Thanks, I think I tried that yesterday, but now works.

[nikos]

I would love to see a "practical and real-world example" that uses Modulo

it's all in the interest of completeness, see?

also for strings, you can use the ~ (approximate) operator instead of = in case you need a partial string match

[Kilmatead]

you can use the ~ (approximate) operator instead of = in case you need a partial string match

Yeah, but I don't trust things whose "approximation parsing" is done by routines I can't fathom. Are dates considered ± 5 days, ± an epoch or two, or what?

But more pertinently, why don't wildcards and regex's count within complex expressions? Your RTFM says they should... "each keyword can be a wildcard or a regular expression — DeskRule guesses what it is from what you type". Yes, I know that's in a different "mode", but users aren't interested in "modes", they're interested in intuitiveness, consistency, and the lies they were told when they were children about how the world really works and exactly why Mommy could be seen kissing Santy.

Worse, the error message doesn't say anything about such limits, it just says "I can't find diddley squat", which isn't helpful if you're a normal insecure guy who might need a few pints for Dutch courage before trying to use regex's.

Are even mere wildcards "too complex" for Complex mode? PathMatchSpecW works on plain string literals, so you don't even need to write the parsing routines yourself. And your DEELX doesn't exactly require a degree in pseudo-science to match a string. (Never forget that "a little bit of knowledge" is a terrible thing for professional smart-arses to have! )

I'm not supposed to lose my faith in humanity on Christmas Eve, of all times, am I? What a bitter legacy that would be after the shock of Mum's infidelity.

(And I still want menus. And... maybe a new nose, mine kinda aches on the left side now.)

[nikos]

you should put all wildcards and regex in 'single quotes', bah humbug!