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Rainmeter + AutoHotKey == The Win

General topics related to Rainmeter.
TimmyMayes
Posts: 8
Joined: September 23rd, 2009, 2:15 am

Rainmeter + AutoHotKey == The Win

Post by TimmyMayes »

I've been working on a usage of Rainmeter & Autohotkey combined together that has given me quite a bit of dynamic functionality especially in terms of string manipulation. I am sure I've only touched on the tip of the iceberg as to what can be done when these two programs are brought together in sweet sweet glorious union and I can't begin to fathom what could be done if we thought about adding some functionality aimed at streamlining their interaction.

What the Hell is this guy talking about?

I have a lot of little projects I'm working on I'll outline a few here.
Here is a screenshot of what I'm working with:
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj170/timmymayes/Web%20Stuff/RainmeterAHK.jpg

#1 Dynamic Todo / Next Action list

This is basically a list of notes.

Current Functionality:
When you click the + button above "make daily report email function" the little "action" box pops up and takes focus. You simply type an action and it will create a new action at the bottom of the list.

How it works: (pseudo code)
Rainmeter INI
[Variable] section
Define look & feel (font color, face, various used sizes)
Define a Counter Variable (Used by AHK when creating new note sections)
[Header] section
sets up Next Action title
[divider] section
the ----- divider
[+ sign]
LeftMouseDownAction = !Execute ["Path to script\script.ahk"]
[Action_1] - First action item
[Action_2] - Second actio Item
[Action_3] - you get the picture....

AHK script
Reads current counter & current y value (absolute not relative) from the rainmeter INI
Generates a simple gui with an entry feild
Clicking ok increments current y value by 15
writes a new section to rainmeter INI using new string, counter as section ID
increments counter and writes it to ini variables section

What I want to add:
The ability to right click an item and have it delete that entry then slide all entries up.

Problem:
I could easily use a minus sign that pops up and asks for a DEL id (have it put 1. 2. 3. as prefixes) in a similar vein as the current add action program. However I would much prefer to right click an item and have it delete it. The problem though is identifiying the section clicked. I don't know how to have AHK determine that. Is there a way to make a rightclick action update a variable (DELETE_ID) in the variables section and then run a silent ahk script (without a gui) that reads the ini for DELETE_ID and performs the proper logic to delete?

Improvements:
Would a relative use of y work better than absolute? I am new to rainmeter and am not sure of the ins and outs of relative positioning.

CIT Tracking

This is a little setup I wrote for work. It tracks my team of processors and thier current state of workload. I do a daily report that modifies the numbers from the day before.

Basic functionality:
clicking the number on any of the sections will pup up a small box with one edit field to manually edit it it. This is rarely done and is really more to easily correct errors before running my full on daily report. I refresh the Rainmeter INI by clicking the CIT Tracking label(would LOVE to be able to send a refresh command easily to rainmeter from ahk).

My daily report is bound to a hotkey that pops up a multi line input program. I enter each field hit ok and it re calculates the numbers presented in CIT applet. I then refresh by clicking CIT Tracking label.

What I would love to add:
Going to add a AHK script to read the numbers and generate an email and send it.

Problems:
Only problem I have here is that it would be nice if I could refresh the applet after autohotkey has finished its processing.


Whats it all mean?

Alot of what I have created here is not really something I needed all that bad. The calculations in these instances are very basic. However I had an idea for using AHK & Rainmeter together in a sort of partnership...I like to think of it as symphony ;) that creates a full user interface on the desktop. Sort of personalized productivity software.

Ultimately I plan on using it to create a full on suite of applets to track & display data on my desktop. Think spreedsheets but more dynamic and alot cooler. Things I plan on tracking are various productivity reports I will use in tracking progress of my employees and my department as a whole.

If anyone likes the way this is implemented and has a better way to do it, ideas they would like to implement on their own or whatever feel free to post.

Cheers,
Timothy Mayes
dragonmage
Developer
Posts: 1270
Joined: April 3rd, 2009, 4:31 am
Location: NC, US

Re: Rainmeter + AutoHotKey == The Win

Post by dragonmage »

Your todo list would probably work best with a dynamically generated xml file that Rainmeter parses to display. I am actually working on parsing rememberthemilk.com's rss feeds and using jsmorley's RainInput to add, delete and modify todo items from the desktop.
TimmyMayes
Posts: 8
Joined: September 23rd, 2009, 2:15 am

Re: Rainmeter + AutoHotKey == The Win

Post by TimmyMayes »

I will look into it tomorrow when I have more time.

For the todo list you are probably right about that methodology.

I have bigger plans as far as functionality for an hidden ahk script for some things at work so for that stuff I think i'll stay on that train of thought.
sgtevmckay

Re: Rainmeter + AutoHotKey == The Win

Post by sgtevmckay »

Thanks for posting all this here.
It now makes a lot more sense to me.

My best hopes on your accomplishment(s) :D
TimmyMayes
Posts: 8
Joined: September 23rd, 2009, 2:15 am

Re: Rainmeter + AutoHotKey == The Win

Post by TimmyMayes »

Its def a work in progress but I'll keep posting updates when they are significant to warrant.
User avatar
JamesAC
Developer
Posts: 318
Joined: July 14th, 2009, 5:57 pm

Re: Rainmeter + AutoHotKey == The Win

Post by JamesAC »

I used AHK to create something similar to your notes thing, it just popped up when i pressed ctrl+T with a box let me add a new task to my enigma note file. Yours seems much more fleshed out though.
I'm interested to see if you get deleting to work and anything else you may come up with. :)
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TimmyMayes
Posts: 8
Joined: September 23rd, 2009, 2:15 am

Re: Rainmeter + AutoHotKey == The Win

Post by TimmyMayes »

JamesAC wrote:I used AHK to create something similar to your notes thing, it just popped up when i pressed ctrl+T with a box let me add a new task to my enigma note file. Yours seems much more fleshed out though.
I'm interested to see if you get deleting to work and anything else you may come up with. :)
I like the idea of adding in a hotkey to add actions. I'll have to add that in. I'll let you know how deleting works. last week or so has mostly been researching when i have spare time.