New version of WYSIWYG BBCode Editor Aug 31, 2009
Just a short note that our side-project - a free browser based WYSIWYG BBCode Editor has been updated to version 1.1. We've fixed some CSS stuff for the IE7 compatibility.
Macro Recorder: another trigger example - wait for pixel Aug 28, 2009
Another example of "triggering" events with our Macro Recorder software using its "IF" statement. Below is a macro-script that makes Macro Recorder wait until a pixel at the given coordinates becomes white. Since Macro Recorder does not have a "wait for pixel" command, we have to use the IF statement:
LABEL : start
IF PIXEL COLOR EQUALS : 351 : 535 : 16777215
GOTO : end
ENDIF
DELAY : 2000
GOTO : start
LABEL : end
MESSAGE BOX : Woohoo, the pixel is white. Exiting...
This macro checks every 2 seconds, and if the pixel at the coordinates "351:535" becomes white, the macro exits. Simply save the above text as a plain-text file with a ".mcr" extension and load it into the Macro Recorder to test how it works (or simply select and copy-paste the text above straight into the Macro Recorder).
LABEL : start
IF PIXEL COLOR EQUALS : 351 : 535 : 16777215
GOTO : end
ENDIF
DELAY : 2000
GOTO : start
LABEL : end
MESSAGE BOX : Woohoo, the pixel is white. Exiting...
This macro checks every 2 seconds, and if the pixel at the coordinates "351:535" becomes white, the macro exits. Simply save the above text as a plain-text file with a ".mcr" extension and load it into the Macro Recorder to test how it works (or simply select and copy-paste the text above straight into the Macro Recorder).
WYSIWYG BBCode editor (free) Aug 18, 2009
If you follow us at the Jitbit's Twitter account, you might already know that a couple of days ago I was searching for a WYSIWYG BBCode editor. I never found any. So we decided to build our own. Free and open-sourced.
Now I'm happy to announce that the first version has arrived. We are releasing a browser-based WYSIWYG BBCode editor to the public. It's called "Jitbit WYSIWYG-BBCode" (no surprise here), it is totally free and licensed under BSD. Feel free to use it in your projects - both free and commercial.
It works like any web-based WYSIWYG editor, but it inputs and outputs BBCode instead of HTML.
A modification of this editor is used in Jitbit products - the forum software and the web help desk software.
UPDATE:
Our open-source WYSIWYG BBCode Editor is now hosted at CodePlex: WYSIWYG BBCode editor.
Now I'm happy to announce that the first version has arrived. We are releasing a browser-based WYSIWYG BBCode editor to the public. It's called "Jitbit WYSIWYG-BBCode" (no surprise here), it is totally free and licensed under BSD. Feel free to use it in your projects - both free and commercial.
It works like any web-based WYSIWYG editor, but it inputs and outputs BBCode instead of HTML.
A modification of this editor is used in Jitbit products - the forum software and the web help desk software.
UPDATE:
Our open-source WYSIWYG BBCode Editor is now hosted at CodePlex: WYSIWYG BBCode editor.
Email support vs. Phone support #2 Aug 17, 2009
Today we received a phone call from a potential customer, who was trying to install our ASP.NET forum software and requested to speak to someone from the development team. John (that's not his real name) has refused to specify his questions by email, insisting on an phone call or at least an online skype/gtalk text-chat.
This is totally reasonable. But is it possible to provide great support without any phone calls? Yes. Email support can be even better and faster.
This is my second post on this topic and this is the second time I strongly recommend reading a great blog post called Why would you want to call me? at the 37signals company blog.
To be honest and straightforward, here are some facts about email support at Jitbit Software and why we prefer it over phone support:
This is totally reasonable. But is it possible to provide great support without any phone calls? Yes. Email support can be even better and faster.
This is my second post on this topic and this is the second time I strongly recommend reading a great blog post called Why would you want to call me? at the 37signals company blog.
To be honest and straightforward, here are some facts about email support at Jitbit Software and why we prefer it over phone support:
- We do the support ourselves. We do not outsource it to some huge overseas call-center in Philippines. Those call-centers, by the way, do nothing but log your request into some ticket tracking system if your question cannot be easily found in their FAQ-sheets.
- Support is done by the developers. If you send us a tricky question about, say, our web-based help desk you can be 100% sure that your question goes straight to the helpdesk developer. To the actual guy who writes the code and designs the database. And we guarantee that when he makes a break from his code-writing and designing, he will find some time to dig into your question and answer your email.
- We're most likely in a different time zone with you, since we're UK-based. This makes a phone call next to impossible. And the amount of time that we spend negotiating and scheduling the call - can be spent answering your question instead.
- "All fixed, please download the latest version" - that is the best answer you can get for a feature-request or a bug-report. Is it possible by phone? No. Can you request a refund by phone? Yes. But can you actually get your refund by phone? No, because a person who answers your phone-call is typically not the person who makes the decisions you need. More likely - it's just a person who sends an email to the decision-maker. Your question is being handled over email anyway.
Jitbit acquires HidesFiles.com Aug 14, 2009
Just a small note to announce that Jitbit Software is in the process of acquiring HidesFiles.com - a great tool to hide sensitive files and folders.
We are currently finalizing our agreements. A new improved version of the tool will be released within a month, fully integrated into the Jitbit family of products.
We are currently finalizing our agreements. A new improved version of the tool will be released within a month, fully integrated into the Jitbit family of products.
Jitbit Macro Recorder and locking a workstation Aug 8, 2009
From time to time we receive support questions, asking if a macro, created with our Macro Recorder can run while the computer is locked.
The answer is "yes" and "no". It depends on a specific macro you recorded.
If your macro automates user actions, such as playing back recorded mouse movements, clicking some objects, sending recorded keystrokes or emulating user input in some other way - this macro won't work. Because even if the Macro Recorder will send mouse-moves and keyboard strokes to the computer, the computer won't respond, since all we have is a locked-screen.
But if your macro consists of system commands, like "delete file", or "shutdown computer", or "establish a VPN-connection", or "run a program" etc. etc. - this macro should run fine. You can create a scheduled task that launches such a macro (or an EXE-compiled macro, which is preferred to save performance), and the task should run even if computer is locked (having some user logged-in though).
The answer is "yes" and "no". It depends on a specific macro you recorded.
If your macro automates user actions, such as playing back recorded mouse movements, clicking some objects, sending recorded keystrokes or emulating user input in some other way - this macro won't work. Because even if the Macro Recorder will send mouse-moves and keyboard strokes to the computer, the computer won't respond, since all we have is a locked-screen.
But if your macro consists of system commands, like "delete file", or "shutdown computer", or "establish a VPN-connection", or "run a program" etc. etc. - this macro should run fine. You can create a scheduled task that launches such a macro (or an EXE-compiled macro, which is preferred to save performance), and the task should run even if computer is locked (having some user logged-in though).