RISC OS Desktop modernisation: LaunchPad update 02

Looks really smooth, Paolo – nice work. Will look forward to testing it out!

I wrote an app launcher for my personal use on Windows that pops up its window only while you hold down a trigger key (Caps Lock by default – normal Caps Lock behaviour is mapped to Alt+Caps), and the window vanishes when you release the trigger key. So to quickly launch something, you press and hold Caps Lock, type the first few letters of the name, then release Caps Lock. It’s quite nice for quickly launching things.

You can make the window stay open by double-tapping Caps Lock, or if you hold it down for more than 3 seconds (i.e. you’re faffing and can’t find what you’re looking for!)

I don’t know if that would be a good fit with your launcher, but it might be worth considering.

I don’t know if that would be a good fit with your launcher, but it might be worth considering.

Everything is worth considering :) and if it gets enough votes it becomes a requirement ;)

btw,
when LaunchPad will be completed, hopefully Matthew will be able to make a full instructional video on all the features, instead of my funky ones, so fear not! XD

I thought your video effort was pretty good! Perhaps you’re better at it than you realise…

thanks WPB!

Anyway no complains yet about the new video, so, good sign ;)

@ all

and, in honour of the BBC Micro 40 birthday, let me reveal that the whole new Launcher is fully written in BBC BASIC! So, I am sure, quite a few of people here will enjoy improving it after it’ll be released :)

I have promised there would have been some components written in BBC BASIC for the DME, and this was one of them. I tried to do my best to have it completed by today, for the Beeb 40 birthday, but having a busy life doesn’t help.

P.S. for this one I had to re-learn BBC BASIC after I think a good 25 years, so it has been fun so far! XD

Coming out of creepy lurk mode just to say I really like the launcher and the video updates on its progress, I’ve been keeping my eye on it for a while. I’m still very much trying to get to grips with RISCOS and this is excactly the kind of convenience I’ve got more than used to on pretty much everything else I use these days. The fact it is done in BASIC as well is a really nice touch, I’ll be interested to see how it works under the hood!

@ Pip

thanks a lot! :)

this is excactly the kind of convenience I’ve got more than used to on pretty much everything else I use these days.

I agree and feel the same.

IMHO, regardless if people feel more conservatives or radicals (to cite Charlotte), I think RISC OS is for fun and so, in most cases (either with new users or just old users), these days it go next to a modern OS. It’s mostly unavoidable and for many reasons, so by making it “less prickly” and have conveniences like LaunchPad together with the others I’ll try to finish after it which are: Global ShortCuts (to allow the user to define global key based shortcuts), Notifier (a desktop notification system), PowerFiler (a filer replacement that works like KDE/macOS/MS Windows filer) and few other ideas I have in mind, should make the experience of constant switching between a modern OS and RISC OS smooth and as painless as possible.

The fact it is done in BASIC as well is a really nice touch, I’ll be interested to see how it works under the hood!

I think this should be an easy task for most people. However, to make it even easier, I think, maybe, I could add some videos that describe the architecture and the internal code, if people like this kind of things. Any vote for this? :)

I could add some videos that describe the architecture and the internal code, if people like this kind of things. Any vote for this?

Yes vote

I think, maybe, I could add some videos that describe the architecture and the internal code, if people like this kind of things. Any vote for this? :)

Absolutely. I have a fairly decent grasp on many programming concepts (although I’m absolutely in no way a developer or anything like it) but things like how the application code integrates with the OS (i.e. WIMP based stuff and more) is the bit that I find a little mysterious still so anything that can de-mystify that is great in my book!

@ Kevin and Pip

Thanks guys, will do.

I spotted also a thread in this forum where people are asking about using nested windowing and panes, the launchpad does indeed uses nested windowing and panes and thanks god I had my old notes from coding on RISC OS 3.10 with the newer window manager, because some of the things that need to be put in place to have a nested window that has a writable icon are not documented as far as I could tell using google. Will show these on the architecture video.