VoiceAttack Beta v1.5.8.17 is out on the site (and other stuff)

[Gary]

Hiya, guys.  New beta out.  I'm thinking about branching and making the current set of features that which will be available in release version v1.5.9 (finally).  In this release, you'll want to take note of the first item below that talks about the change to mouse button down actions.  For the most part, you wont even know it's happening.  However, I'm sure there's something out there that relies on the functionality to be the old way, so, there's an option to keep it like it was.

If you go over to get the beta, check out the new VoiceAttack website.  I think it's a little less scary than the 2009 one (I spent more than a Saturday on it).

Also, the new forum will be opening soon (well... by, 'opening' I mean have a published link).  You can go over there now and sign up if you want:  http://www.voiceattack.com/forum   The forum has actually been in place since September 2014... just not published.  Pfeil found it just short of a year ago and tried to sign up (I didn't see it until just the other day).  Welcome to the forum, Pfeil!  ;)  

I'm going to try to run in parallel for a bit, but at some point that's where it's all going to be happening.

The beta can be downloaded here: http://www.voiceattack.com/beta    

The zipped version of the latest beta is here: http://www.voiceattack.com/filesend.aspx?id=VoiceAttack_15818.zip

The rollback to the previous beta can be found here: http://www.voiceattack.com/filesend.aspx?id=VoiceAttackInstaller__Beta15816.msi

As always, the release notes are below ;)

Gary

v1.5.8.18

   - Design changes (important)

     -  All mouse down actions will now make the application

        that is under the mouse the current process target

        (set as process target, move to foreground and focus).

        The process target will remain for the duration of

        the command.  This is to simulate what a hardware

        mouse would do and this should be the expected 

        behavior.  The old way would maintain the process

        target throughout the command, and when a mouse

        click was used to access another process, the 

        messages were not being sent to that other process

        (which was expected).  If this causes problems for

        existing macros, my apologies.  There is a new

        option on the Options screen to help with this:

        Bypass Mouse Targeting.

        This will keep things the old way and not potentially

        set a new target.

   - Improvements

   

     -  Set text feature, 'replace text' now accepts tokens

        in the 'replace' and 'replace with' fields.  'Replace'

        will now accept spaces and 'Replace with' will now 

        accept a blank (empty) value.

        

     -  Increased, 'add a comment' action from 64 characters

        (yikes!) to 512.  Not really an improvement... not

        really a bug, either ;)

        

     -  Added, 'Shortcut only executes when all buttons are

        released' option to the joystick button trigger for 

        commands.  You can now have commands that execute on 

        button down as well as button up... finally ;)  Note 

        that this option will eliminate superseded button-up 

        commands (just like it does now for keyboard hotkeys).  

        For instance, if you have button up triggers for button

        'A' and 'A + B', only 'A + B' will be invoked.

        

     -  Added option 'Shortcut is invoked when no other buttons

        are down' to joystick button trigger for commands.  This

        provides an exclusive mode for your button/combo, so that 

        if you have a trigger for button, 'A' and any other button

        is down when 'A' is pressed (or released), the command

        will not be invoked.

     

     -  Added, '{LASTSPOKENCMD}' token to provide the last-spoken

        and executed command phrase.  Useful from within subcommands 

        where you need to know what was said to invoke the root 

        command, or if you need to know what was spoken prior 

        to the current command.

        

     -  Added, 'Set command to target this window'

        option to the, 'Display' feature of the, 'Perform a 

        Windows Function' action.  This will allow you to

        change the VoiceAttack process target to the indicated

        window or process.  This was automatic when used with,

        'Active Window', but now it is not.  This was a bad 

        design choice, so it needed to be changed.  Sorry to those

        that are using it...  you'll need to update your actions

        and check this option.  The good news is that now it

        changes the process target for both, 'active window' and

        specified process targets for the duration of the 

        command.

        

     -  Added, 'Exit command immediately if window/process not 

        available' to the 'Perform a window function' action to 

        allow you to jump out of a command if the target is not 

        available (or the wait time is exceeded).

        

     -  Added an advanced section to the, 'Run an application'

        action.  In addition to the, 'wait for exit' feature

        that captures stdout and exit codes, there is now a 

        'wait for start' feature that waits until the launched

        application has started (that is, ready enough to be

        accepting windows messages).  With the, 'wait for start'

        feature, there is also the option to set the newly 

        launched application as the process target (Set command

        to target launched application).  The, 'wait for start' 

        and 'wait for exit' features can now have a specified 

        wait time before giving up.  If the launched app fails 

        to launch properly or exit in the time specified, you 

        can now use the, 'Exit command immediately if launch 

        has failed or wait time exceeded' option to jump out 

        of a command.  This should help out a lot of folks 

        having trouble with process targets.

        

     -  Holding down the left control key while clicking on the

        edit profile button on the main screen will now take you

        straight to the last command that was edited in that 

        profile.  Also, an attempt is made to highlight the last

        edited action in a command (hitting enter will edit the

        action).  These are just for convenience... I used them

        while testing and thought it would be good to leave

        them exposed for everybody.

        

     -  Added token, '{WINDOWTITLEUNDERMOUSE}' which returns the

        title of the window that is currently under the mouse.

        Another item that I was using this for testing and then

        just left for anyone to use.

        

     -  Added token, '{WINDOWPROCESSUNDERMOUSE}' which returns 

        the process name of the window that is currently under 

        the mouse.  Used this for testing, too (lol).

        

     -  Added, 'Application Focus (Process Target) Guide' to the

        help documentation to give a little bit of assistance

        in dealing with process targets.

     

   - Bug Fixes

   

     -  Fixed issue where process target was not picking up

        all processes.

        

     -  Fixed issue where mouseclick-triggered commands 

        could not be the only trigger.

        

     -  Joystick button trigger reset to, 'Not Set' from

        command screen fixed.

        

     -  Joystick button set screen on, 'Extra Large' size

        text fixed to fit.

        

     -  Fixed, '{CMD_AFTER}' token getting too much text.

        

v1.5.8.16

   - Bug Fixes

     -  Fixed keyboard shortcuts not enabled introduced in

        v1.5.8.15.

v1.5.8.15

   -  Added new command trigger by mouse button click.  

      You can set up any combination of the five standard mouse

      buttons, including mouse up (release).  On the command

      screen, you'll now find, 'When I press mouse'.  Combined

      with the new state tokens, this should give a fair amount

      of flexibility.  To turn the mouse shortcuts on and off, 

      there is an icon on the main screen, plus an icon in the 

      notification icon in the system tray.  Profile screen 

      command list and export command list updated with new mouse 

      column.  The column will only be displayed if there are 

      commands that have mouse triggers.  There is also a filter

      button to hide disabled mouse commands on the profile

      screen.

      

   -  Added new actions for mouse:  Stop Mouse Shortcuts and

      Start Mouse Shortcuts (just like the actions for hotkeys

      and joysticks).

      

   -  '{CMDACTION}' token has a new return type of, 'Mouse'.

   

   -  Added, '-mouseoff' and '-mouseon' command line parameters

      to support enable/disable mouse shortcuts.  Note: These do 

      not affect the mouse listening feature (just the command 

      shortcuts).

   

   -  Added, '{CATEGORY}' token to allow accessing category

      of command.  For composite commands, '{PREFIX_CATEGORY}'

      will get the category of the prefix, and '{SUFFIX_CATEGORY}'

      will get the category of the suffix.  If, '{CATEGORY}' is

      used on a composite command, the result will be the prefix

      category plus the suffix category, separated by a space.

     

   -  Added, '{ISCOMPOSITE}' token to allow checking if the

      called command is a composite command (a command that

      uses prefixes and suffixes).  The result will be "1" if

      the called command is composite and "0" if it is not.

     

   -  Added, '{COMPOSITEGROUP}' token to allow accessing of

      the composite group that the composite command belongs

      to.

     

   -  Added '{ISLISTENINGOVERRIDE}' token to allow checking if 

      command was called using the listening override keyword.  

      This value will be "1" if called command was prefixed with

      a listening override keyword and "0" if not.

      

   -  Added '{TXTPOS:txtVarOf:txtVarIn:intVarStart}' token to check

      the position of text (txtVarOf) within more text (txtVarIn)

      starting at a given point (intVarStart).  It does use three

      variables that must be set prior to using.  

      

      Notes: The text search is case-sensitive.  If the text is

      found, the result will be the zero-based index of the 

      start of the text, otherwise the result will be "-1".

      

      If txtVarIn or txtVarOf are not set, the result will be "-1".

      If intVarStart is not set, 0 is assumed (for convenience).

   

   -  Added {STATE_CPU} and {STATE_CPU:coreNumber} tokens to return

      cpu usage.  Per request, as I understand, this is to check if 

      your, 'ship' is running hot ;)  {STATE_CPU} will return the 

      average for all cores. The value will be "0" to "100".  

      {STATE_CPU:coreNumber} will allow you to specify a certain 

      core (probably never be used, but the code to do add this 

      is mostly what is used in the average).  Just indicate the 

      core number to check: {STATE_CPU:5} will get the cpu usage 

      for core 5.

      

   -  Added, '{STATE_RAMTOTAL}' and '{STATE_RAMAVAILABLE}' to return

      the total and available ram on your system in bytes.

      

   -  Updated profile export to properly include referenced commands

      (commands used in execute and kill actions).  The onus used to be

      on the user to include referenced commands.  This is now automatic.

      There is now an option on the export screen to exclude referenced 

      commands (for times when you do not want the referenced commands 

      included.  For instance, if you are exporting to HTML).

      

   -  Added, 'Reset Screens' button to options screen that allows

      the reset of all screen sizes/locations to default values (in case

      you change resolutions and screens are too big).

      

   -  Tooltip for the command count on the profile screen now shows

      derived command count (count of commands as a result of 

      composite and dynamic commands as well as overrides).

      

   -  Number of displayed entries in log is now user-selectable.

      Minimum of 20, maximum of 10000.  This setting can be accessed

      by right-clicking on the log.

      

   -  Grouping (by category) now hides the category column.

   

   -  Listening, keyboard shortcuts, mouse shortcuts and joystick

      state are now remembered on load.  So, if your listening is

      off when VoiceAttack is closed, listening will be off when

      VoiceAttack starts up the next time.  Command line parameters

      take precedence over these.

   - Bug Fixes

   

     -  Fixed issue {PREFIX} and {SUFFIX} tokens not

        providing values if command was overridden with,

        'Override listening if my spoken command begins with'

        prefix.

        

     -  Fixed issue with listening override against a composite

        command not offsetting suffix properly, respecting

        confidence or respecting process overrides.  Basically,

        this is the code that time forgot o_O.

        

     -  {TXTRANDOM} token no longer removes empty entries.

     

     -  Fixed environment variable issue breaking on nulls

        introduced in v1.5.8.12.

        

     -  Saving a profile that does not involve a change to a

        spoken command phrase no longer causes the speech engine

        to be reset.  Not really a bug... not really an improvement

        either ;)

        

     -  Editing a command from the log that has been deleted

        no longer results in an edit screen with a GUID for the

        command name.

        

     -  Perform a Window function display will now set the 

        window as the active, foreground window when applicable.

        

     -  Column positions on profile screen now persisted again.

v1.5.8.14

   - Bug Fixes

   

     -  Fixed issue with keypress/release introduced in

        v1.5.8.13.

v1.5.8.13

   - Improvements

   

     -  Added missing POV/hat tokens (see docs for more

        complete details):

        {STATE_JOYSTICK[1|2]POVENABLED}.  Indicates whether

        or not POV is enabled for the indicated stick.

        

        {STATE_JOYSTICK[1|2]POV[1|2|3|4]TYPE}.  Indicates

        the type of POV switching mode set in joystick

        options.

        

        {STATE_JOYSTICK[1|2]POV[1|2|3|4]}.  Displays the

        direction the indicated stick/POV controller is

        being pressed (depends on switching mode).

        

        {STATE_JOYSTICK[1|2]POV[1|2|3|4]_NUMERIC} - Use this

        token to get the numeric value of the POV (for 

        finer level of control if the switching mode does

        not suit the need).  

        

     -  Added a whole BUNCH of new joystick state tokens

        to give all kinds of info about your joystick's 

        state.  You can use these for your stuff like

        command modifiers or as triggers if used with some 

        fancy looping.  There are like 28 different

        types, so, I won't list them here (they're in the

        docs in the tokens section).  Finally a way to handle

        some of the, 'analog' controls on joysticks ;)

   

     -  Added new action, 'Write Text to File'.  This will

        allow you to specify text to write to a file that

        you choose.  This action accepts tokens in both

        the text and file boxes.  As always, use with

        caution ;)

   - Bug Fixes

   

     -  Fixed issue where if listening was suspended,

        'reject pending speech' was selected, and a

        command was issued when the listening was off and

        then enabled mid-command, the command would still

        execute.

        

     -  Fixed POV options not saving properly on joystick

        options page.

        

     -  Added some helper functionality to work with directional

        keys in DirectX mode.  Before, if you had numlock

        on and issued a command to press a directional key,

        the numpad numeric value for the same key would be

        pressed.  The helper code looks for certain elements

        and helps produce a directional key press.

        

     -  Fixed issue where exec command dialog would not

        save if referenced command was deleted before

        saving profile.

        

v1.5.8.12

   - Improvements

   

     -  Windows environment variables (such as %WINDIR%, 

        %APPDIR%, %PROGRAMFILES%, etc.) will be parsed

        out any place that takes tokens.  Note that the

        environment variables need to be surrounded by

        percent signs (%).  You already knew that, 

        though ;)

        

   - Bug Fixes

     -  Fixed introduced issue with linked profiles

        from v1.5.8.11.

v1.5.8.11

   - Improvements

   

     -  Added the ability to inhibit the execution

        of multiple commands with hotkey shortcuts.

        This is only available if all involved commands

        have the, 'Shortcut is invoked only when all keys

        are released' option set in the, 'When I press...'

        Command Shortcut screen.

        For instance, let's say you have three commands:

        One that executes when F1 is released, and

        another that executes when CTRL + F1 is released.

        Before, if you pressed CTRL + F1 down and then 

        happened to release F1 first, the command associated 

        with F1 would execute, followed by the command 

        associated with CTRL + F1.  In this release, only 

        the command associated with CTRL + F1 will be executed.

        F1 will still execute when pressed on its own.

        Apologies to anybody that's gotten used to this 

        behavior, but this is the way it should have been 

        since the beginning o_O.

        

     -  Added new data type: Date/Time.  With the new data

        type comes a new Set Date/Time feature, plus an 

        extra tab on the, Condition (If and Else If statements)

        and Loop start screens.  There are also some new

        tokens that work exactly like the existing date and

        time tokens (except the new tokens accept a variable 

        name).  Plugin interface has been updated to include 

        the date/time values (this is now version 3... still 

        backward compatible).

        

        

v1.5.8.9

   - Improvements

   

      -  Added yet another larger screen size,

         mostly for those with 4k monitors that

         maintain 100% scaling size (and not the

         default 150%).

         

   - Bug Fixes

    

      -  Fixed issue where grouped commands was 

         throwing an exception on key press when 

         focused and collapsed.

         

      -  Fixed issue with dynamic commands containing

         tokens breaking under certain conditions.

v1.5.8.8

  - Improvements

  

    -  Added, 'Select All' and 'Select None' in 

       command action list.  'Select all' has

       always been there (CTRL + A)... just needed

       some user interface to indicate that it's 

       there ;)

       

    -  Show latest entry only added to log as an

       option.

       

    

    - Bug Fixes

    

      -  Fixed issue where End Condition 'Exit when

         condition met/not met' were not exiting.

      

v1.5.8.7

  - Improvements

  

    -  Added 'Else If' action for condition blocks.

       Reduces the need for multiple begin/end 

       blocks.  You can finally do if/else if/else.

       

    -  Added Loop start/Loop End actions.  While a 

       condition is met, you can loop a section of

       your command.  Loops can be nested.

       

    -  Added explicit 'Exit Command' action (no longer

       need to add a jump and set a flag unless you 

       want to).  Added this to make it a little bit

       more obvious.  Note this also does not stop

       any executed subcommands (it just exits).

    

    -  Moved delete, export, import and create to

       new, 'More' button on the main screen.  The

       profile lists are becoming a lot longer than

       I had anticipated, so I've consolidated 

       everything under one button to clean things up

       a bit.

       

    -  Added new global hotkey option for listening:

       'Listen then stop listening after recognition

       completes.'  This turns on listening only

       until the speech engine recognizes speech.

       The command itself can be recognized or

       unrecognized.  This is available for hotkeys,

       mouse and joystick button.

       

    -  Listening and stop command icons on main screen

       now include hotkey info in tool tips.  The 

       info provided also indicates if the hotkeys are

       overridden at the profile level.

  - Bug Fixes

  

    -  Fixed suffix issues when using condition actions.

       

    -  Fixed mouse button state tokens not reporting

       correctly when multiple buttons pressed.

       

    -  Fixed keyboard state tokens sometimes sticking

       on first access.

       

    -  Mic level bar not drawing correctly for larger

       size screens has been fixed.

       

v1.5.8.6

  - Improvements

  

    - New set of tokens for state of keyboard,

      mouse and joystick.  What I see this being 

      used for mostly is to alter behavior for 

      commands based on the state of your devices.

      For instance, if the right mouse button

      is down when I say, 'fire weapons',

      missiles are fired instead of photons 

      (lol).  Also, if the 'x' button is down,

      fire both photons and missiles.

      

      There is one keyboard token:

      

      {STATE_KEYSTATE:key}

      'key' parameter can be any key you can type in

      a token:

      'A', 'B', 'C', 'ß', 'ö', 'ñ', 'ç',

      as well as keys you can't type in a token: 

      ENTER, TAB, LCTRL, ARROWR (see documentation

      for full list).

      

      So, if you want to test to see if F10 is 

      down, just use the following token:

      {STATE_KEYSTATE:F10}.  To test for the letter

      'A', just use this token: {STATE_KEYSTATE:A}

      

      If a keyboard key is down, the replaced value

      of the token will be "1".  If the key is not

      down, the value will be "0".

      

      There are five mouse tokens:

      

      {STATE_LEFTMOUSEBUTTON}

      {STATE_RIGHTMOUSEBUTTON}

      {STATE_MIDDLEMOUSEBUTTON}

      {STATE_FORWARDMOUSEBUTTON}

      {STATE_BACKMOUSEBUTTON}

      

      These should be pretty straight forward. If you

      want to test for the right mouse button, use

      token {STATE_RIGHTMOUSEBUTTON}.

      

      If the mouse button is pressed down, the replaced 

      value will be "1".  If the mouse button is not 

      pressed, the value will be "0".

      

      

      Lastly, we have two joystick tokens:

      

      {STATE_JOYSTICK1BUTTON:buttonNumber}

      {STATE_JOYSTICK2BUTTON:buttonNumber}

      

      The, 'buttonNumber' parameter is the number of the

      button on the desired stick.  To test if button 10

      is down on joystick 2, just use this token:

      {STATE_JOYSTICK2BUTTON:10}

      

      Once again, if the button is down on the tested

      stick, the replaced value will be "1".  If the

      button is not down, the value will be "0".

      

   -  Added token {STATE_AUDIOLEVEL} token to indicate 

      the currently reported audio level from the speech

      engine.  The replaced value will be from "0" to 

      "100".

      

   -  Added token {STATE_LISTENING} to test if VoiceAttack

      is, 'listening'.  If, 'listening' is on, the replaced

      value will be "1".  If, 'listening' is off, the 

      replaced value will be "0".

      

   -  Added token {STATE_SHORTCUTS} to test if VoiceAttack's

      shortcuts are enabled.  If shortcuts are enabled, the 

      replaced value will be "1".  Otherwise, the replaced 

      value will be "0".

      

   -  Added token {STATE_JOYSTICKBUTTONS} to test if VoiceAttack's

      joystick buttons are enabled.  If joystick buttons are 

      enabled, the replaced value will be "1".  Otherwise, the 

      replaced value will be "0".

v1.5.8.5

  - Bug fixes

  

    - More DirectX mapping issues resolved.

    

    - Updated order of event handling on

      startup to see if it helps with some of

      the exceptions that are cropping up

      related to the speech engine.

v1.5.8.3

  - Bug fixes

  

    - Fixed application launch issue introduced in

      v1.5.8.2.

v1.5.8.2

  - Improvements

  

    -  Mouse action screen organized a little bit.

       Move actions are now on one tab, click actions

       are on another.  Navigating to mouse actions

       from the command screen is now from a flyout

       menu with move and click items.

       

    -  Mouse move position can now be set as relative

       from any corner.  Top-left is still default.

       

    -  Mouse move position can now be set by text or

       token.  If the value in place is evaluated as

       a valid integer, the position will be used. 

       Otherwise, no movement will occur (info given

       in log).  If the evaluated coordinate is outside

       of the boundaries of the area, the boundary will

       still be used.

    

    -  The 'wait for exit' option for launching 

       applications now allows you to capture the stdout

       and exit codes of apps that provide them.  Simply

       add a text variable name for stdout and/or an 

       integer variable name for the exit code and those

       variables will be filled.  Access the values via

       token or test using conditional (if) statements.

       

    -  Added ability to set a pause duration to a decimal

       variable.  If the variable value is Not Set, the

       pause will be zero seconds.  Note that decimal 

       variables can be set to random values ;)

       

    -  'Add pause' action on command screen is now set by

       flyout menu.  You can choose either, 'Add pause'

       or, 'Add variable pause'.

  

  - Bug fixes

  

    - Fixed font of main screen not following new sizing

      rules.

      

    - Fixed dynamic tts caching replaced token values.

    

    - Fixed issue where duplicating set decimal action 

      was not capturing both random values. 

      

    - Fixed issue where jump marker/jump located both

      in a suffix was not jumping to proper location.

      

    - Fixed issue with execute command by name not

      finding dynamic commands.

      

    - Fixed 'stop command if target window focus is lost'

      not unchecking if, 'repeats continuously' was 

      selected.

v1.5.8.1

  

  - Improvements

  

    - Support added for three screen sizes : 

      Normal, larger, largest.  The setting for this

      is on the options screen.  I decided that the

      screen sizes should be independent of the

      Windows scaling.  It was a lot more work, but

      I think that forcing the user to have to globally

      change their font to get a larger screen is not a 

      good idea. 

    

    - Added option, 'Disable Acoustic Echo Cancellation'

      to attempt to aid in recognition.

      

    - Added dynamic responses to text-to-speech.  Just as with

      using dynamic commands, you can now use square brackets to 

      have more dynamic responses with text-to-speech.

      Before, if you wanted a random response with slight

      variation, you would have to explicitly indicate each 

      variation:

      [fire;launch;dispatch] the [missiles;weapons;porcupine] will result

      in a random response of:

      

      fire the missiles

      fire the weapons

      fire the porcupine

      launch the missiles

      launch the weapons

      launch the porcupine

      dispatch the missiles

      dispatch the weapons

      dispatch the porcupine

      

      

  - Bug Fixes

  

    - Recorder screen now actually resizable.  Looks like

      I either started that job or reverted some code.  

      Works now ;)

[Pfeil]

Haha, finally! Yes, when you said there was forum software in place it was easy enough to find at the default location :P

I invite all of you to come over and join. Makes for much nicer reading over Google Groups, in my opinion.

[Tenebrous]

I'm also moving over to there, much nicer!

[Rhaedas]

Gary, definitely love the new website look. The old one worked, but this one looks very professional, and that's appropriate, because your software is in that league now.

Also love the idea of moving to the forum on the site. Not a big fan of Google Groups and how it works. The hardest part is going to be transitioning the good knowledge base her over there, but perhaps that will take care of itself as questions, suggestions, and updates happen.

And I saved the problem for last. I've registered over at the new forum, but I cannot get the validation email sent. Tried three times over the past two days. Any suggestions? It obviously works for some people.

[Gary]

Thanks, bud.  I spent a little more time on this update ;)  I'll go over to the forum now and get you squared away (thanks for letting me know).

Gary

[Gary]

Alrighty... you should be good to go now (it's activated).  Welcome to the forum!  

I guess I need to get the link published on the site.  That will probably be tomorrow/this weekend.  

Gary

On Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at 1:40:59 PM UTC-5, Rhaedas wrote: