Environment: VC6 SPx, Win: All
I’m a funny chap. I actually have the desire to load multiple projects first thing in the morning in different Dev Studios. Perhaps I’m alone in this desire but if I’m not, then this might well be the tool you’re after!
So what does it do?
Simple, it scans a preset directory for all .dsw (Dev Studio Workspace) files – either recursively or not. You then see these projects (with their path in brackets) in the main window (sorted on path – think about it – it makes sense). You can then check which ones you want to launch, click launch and – each project is loaded into it’s own Dev Studio and the app gracefully exits. To make it useful, the app will store your settings in the registry, and the next time you load it – re-scan the directory and re-check any projects you previously selected.
At this point you’re either with or against me. No matter 🙂
As a bonus the app will find out how to load Dev Studio via the registry – it checks HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT for the appropriate shell command (this was a pig, since Dev Studio is an ‘Open With’ app). So it should work where-ever it’s installed.
Project Ninja also features a quick launch mode – double click on an item to instantly launch the relevant app! Now you never need those horrible file open dialogs again 🙂
List of current features:
This a free tool, use at own risk etc – but let me know if you thought any of this was in ANY way a good idea. And yes, the icon is Dr. Evil….
Updated to Version 0.5
What’s new in 0.5?
- Added: SORTING, can now sort on directory or project name. Yay!
- Fixed: bug in project selection when changing dir
- Added: Help dialog
- Added: Combo-style History for filemasks. 10 items maximum (to keep it sensible) I’ve also made this reasonably intelligent – adding an 11th item will remove the first item added (first in, first out 😉 but the list will be alphabetically sorted to make it easier to use! History is, of course, backed up to the registry too!
- Added: Combo-style History for directory. 10 items maximum (to keep it sensible)
- Question: anyone want auto-search when you change a combo item (either mask or dir?) I’ll put it in if I start wanting it in the interim to 0.6 🙂
Updated to Version 0.4
What’s new in 0.4?
- Fixed bug which meant nothing worked 😉
- Tested (again) with .txt, .xls, .doc, .dsw all fine
- Added: New launcher mode. Double click on an entry to launch it – NOW! Project Ninja
will remain loaded when you launch apps rather than quitting after launch
Updated to Version 0.3
(in a hurry as i made some very dumb mistakes)
What’s new in 0.3?
– Fixed bug when opening devstudio windows – they object to SW_MINIMIZED so i’m going for
SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE which seems to work better.
– Fixed bug in searching registry for the correct commandline to launch your file. Amusing
that the very thing i wanted it for (.doc) didn’t work correctly (doh!). If you find
filetypes that aren’t supported please let me know (and if i’ve got the app installed
i can fix it – else i’ll need you to send me bits of your registry 🙂
– Tested now on: DevStudio 6, Office XP, Notepad
– Programmer now knows better than to release code after a long day’s hacking
Updated to Version 0.2
BIG CHANGE folks, you can now use Project Ninja to launch ANY type of file (providing you have an application associated with it!)
This was a request of my wife, who wants to load a ton of .doc files in the morning. Gawd bless her…
What’s New in 0.2?
– Added ‘all’ button for selection
– Added ‘none’ button for selection
– Added super-hi-tech ‘about” button for those who can’t find the menu…
– Changed: now only saves registry entries for projects that are checked (doh!)
– Now does search as soon as you selected a new dir from the browse dialog (yay!)
– Major change: Now intelligently (hahahaha) recurses through your registry based
on the file extension you ploink in. Should be able to launch pretty much anything
now so long as it has a ‘command’ entry under the class defined for your file extension.
Format for masks is ‘*.xxx’ where xxx is the three letter file extension of the files
you want to search/launch with.
– Added ‘start minimized’ checkbox: will attempt to launch apps as minimized taskbar apps
(good if you’ve not had your coffee yet). Saved to the registry too… nice.