A "fake" front end

[Zathras]

I just posted about this in the projects announcements forum in my Jukebox project thread but it was an idea I hadn't seen elsewhere so I thought someone here might like to poke holes in it too.

I am working on a jukebox on a Win98 machine running VMJ and a XM PCR.  I was able to get VMJ running with the wrapper but I have yet to get any of the XM applications to cooperate.  

BUT I have always thought that a full frontend would be overkill  for just two applications.  So I started looking for alternatives and happened upon Hotkey Plus Which allows you to launch applications from a key stroke with or without a modifier (win, alt, ctrl).

I tried it out and it works great so I am thinking of deleting all desktop Icons, hiding the taskbar and having a wallpaper that says "Press left for xm and right for vmj."

Then to exit just set up a key (or keys) to alt-f4 to exit.  Which brings me to my first question - can you run one button to two inputs on a keyboard encoder (i'll be running a keywiz)?

The main problem I can think of with this setup is it is possible to open both applications - but in worse case scenerio you just exit both and re-open the one you want.

Another option to just pressing one button to launch the apps would be to have a button set up that is programmed to "alt."   You could setup hotkey to have Alt+left or right lauch the corresponding application and then just have a button programmed for F4 on top.  That would keep me from having two keys on one button and not having a single button that opens an app which could be pressed accidentally....

Am I missing anything obvious here? Or any other ideas to accomplish the same thing?

Thanks!

[Lilwolf]

btw, VERY cool program if it works well.  I will try it out (java doesn't like launching true dos applications that access hardware... so I can't easily configure my encoder).

Anyway, yes you can set more then one key to a button press.  Ground -> both buttons will work fine.

I will try it out when I get home tonight

[Zathras]

That is good to know - I thought it was the case but I had never tried it.

Now I am thinking two dedicated launch app buttons and an exit button would be simplist for the masses.

[Tiger-Heli]

BUT I have always thought that a full frontend would be overkill  for just two applications.  So I started looking for alternatives and happened upon Hotkey Plus Which allows you to launch applications from a key stroke with or without a modifier (win, alt, ctrl).

OT, but you can do this in WinXP without a separate program by making a shortcut and editing the shortcut properties (I know you're using Win98, just a point of interest).

Then to exit just set up a key (or keys) to alt-f4 to exit.  Which brings me to my first question - can you run one button to two inputs on a keyboard encoder (i'll be running a keywiz)?

Not sure if this will work for you or not -
Programming one KeyWiz Input to Alt and one to F4 is no problem.
(You will need to launch the KeyWiz app at boot up to load the new config, but that's just one line in your autoexec.bat file.)
Wiring a button to both inputs is not a problem (you are losing one keyWiz input, but no problem.)

What I am not sure is: The program is looking for "Alt followed by F4" and I think you might randomly get "Alt followed by F4" or "F4 followed by ALT" or "F4 and ALT at the same instant".

It would be easy to test and I would be curious as to the result.

Another option to just pressing one button to launch the apps would be to have a button set up that is programmed to "alt."   You could setup hotkey to have Alt+left or right lauch the corresponding application and then just have a button programmed for F4 on top.  That would keep me from having two keys on one button and not having a single button that opens an app which could be pressed accidentally....

Thinking outside the <juke>box here (sorry for the bad pun):  Having ALT held down doesn't result in a stuck key or beeping error - it might be possible to program the KeyWiz to use Alt for an input and "short" this input, basically the same as wiring the button held down.

Test this by trying to run the VMJ and XM apps with the alt key held down, but I'm not real hopeful.

Am I missing anything obvious here?

Not that I can see.

Or any other ideas to accomplish the same thing?

You might be able to use Howard Casto's generic wrappers http://www.oscarcontrols.com/lazarus/wrappers.html to end the programs with the Escape key rather than an Alt-F4 combination.

[Zathras]

I've tried the wrapper and while it works with VMJ the XM applications just don't work well with it (one doesn't exit and the other doesn't have focus and runs in the background behind the black background).


The Alt-F4 thing is interesting - I mentioned it to a guy here at work and he said one thing to try if it doesn't work all the time is that 30cm of wire is equivalent to one nanosecond - so perhaps put the F4 wire on a few extra feet of wire would be enough to make it work reliably.

[Tiger-Heli]

The Alt-F4 thing is interesting - I mentioned it to a guy here at work and he said one thing to try if it doesn't work all the time is that 30cm of wire is equivalent to one nanosecond - so perhaps put the F4 wire on a few extra feet of wire would be enough to make it work reliably.

I'm sure there a way to make a time delay circuit for it as well (don't know how though).

I'm not sure it wouldn't work anyway, just thought it MIGHT not.  Wouldn't hurt to just wire it up and see what it does. . .

[Zathras]

Ok ignore hotkey plus.

The new hotness is
Ultrakeyboard
Not only does it do all of the stuff that hot key does but it has a built in function that you can assign "exit current application" to any button... and it works GREAT.  

So don't even have to think about  alt-f4 wackiness...

[Tiger-Heli]

Ok ignore hotkey plus.
The new hotness is
Ultrakeyboard
Not only does it do all of the stuff that hot key does but it has a built in function that you can assign "exit current application" to any button... and it works GREAT.  
So don't even have to think about  alt-f4 wackiness...

Thanks for the link, worth getting just to be able to avoid Alt-F4 stuff (useful for Project 64 Nintendo 64 emulator).

[Zathras]

FYI I think it is a macro that sends an alt-f4 command because if you do it at a blank desktop it gives you a shutdown prompt screen.  Which is actually a nice thing for being able to shut down the cab.

[Tiger-Heli]

FYI I think it is a macro that sends an alt-f4 command because if you do it at a blank desktop it gives you a shutdown prompt screen.  Which is actually a nice thing for being able to shut down the cab.

Maybe .  .  .

BTW, it does NOT work in MAME but works in Project 64, which is a good thing actually.

For example, in MAME normally Alt+F4 does nothing.

If I have MAME running with Ultrakeyboard and press ESC, MAME exits, so Ultrakeyboard did NOT send Alt+F4.  If I reset UI Cancel to Insert and press ESC, MAME does not exit, so Ultrakey did not just shut down the app.  If I reset UI Cancel to Alt and F4 and press Esc, MAME does not exit, so Ultrakeyboard did not shut it down or send Alt+F4 . . .

Just FYI, but I thought it was weird. . .

[Brad Lee]

One thing you could try if you're only switching between 2 applications would be to write a simple batch file.

:start
app1.exe
app2.exe
goto start

Put this in your startup folder, and when you start windows it will start the first application. When you exit that, it'll launch the second. When you exit that, it'll hitthe goto and then loop around to start application 1 again.

Ideally to make this look best, youd be able to exit both aplications the same way, say with an [esc] button or something

[Tiger-Heli]

One thing you could try if you're only switching between 2 applications would be to write a simple batch file.

:start
app1.exe
app2.exe
goto start

Put this in your startup folder, and when you start windows it will start the first application. When you exit that, it'll launch the second. When you exit that, it'll hitthe goto and then loop around to start application 1 again.

Ideally to make this look best, youd be able to exit both aplications the same way, say with an [esc] button or something

He wants to be able to choose between App1 and App2, not have always App1 then App2.

Now that I think about it, there was an old DOS program called MenuWorks (I Think) that would have no problem with this.  I probably have it if you want it and can't find it on some abandonware site.