Submitted by drew on

 

 
When you create a project in MPLABX, none of the files that it creates can be used to open MPLABX. Instead, you have to open MPLABX and then open your project by navigating to it (or leave it open in MPLABX when you close the IDE). I have devised a means to open a project in MPLABX by double clicking on a file.
 
(MPLABX is based on Netbeans version 6, so I imagine something similar could be done to open Netbeans projects. I'm not familiar with the native Netbeans or other types of Netbeans projects, so I'm just guessing here.)
 
Basically, it works by saving a script that opens MPLABX with a command line, sending it the project's folder path. I rename the script file with extension ".mplabx" and then set up an association that calls the scripting engine for that type of file. I chose to use VBScript as the language for this.
  1. Create a VBScript file. See attachment for source code. It looks for a folder that ends with ".X", in the same directory as the script file. If more than one is found, it looks for a folder with a similar name as the script file, e.g. MyProject.mplabx will open the project in the folder named MyProject.X.
  2. Rename the script file to ".mplabx".
  3. Add an association to the Windows registry for opening .mplabx as a file that can be run by the Windows scripting host. The most important part here is the HKCR\MPLABXFile\ScriptEngine\(Default Value) needs to be set to "VBScript". The attached registry file sets up this association and sets the icon for the new file type. This reg file is based on the built-in .vbs and VBSFile keys.
  4. Add an environment variable named "MPLABX" which points to the installation location of MPLABX. The command sent by the script uses that variable to determine the location, like this: "%MPLABX%\mplab_ide\bin\mplab_ide.exe"
 

 

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Software
Windows

Timer

The timer can count up from a time in the past or count down towards a time in the future.

The timer's appearance and the format of the time (and text) is very configurable. You can hide it's border, it's background, set the color and glow effects.

Sound Recorder

This is a simple recorder that records directly to an MP3 file. Recording can be paused and resumed.

The recording window has a compact mode and can be set to stay on top of other windows, so it can be out of the way, yet still visible.

When done recording, you can playback the recording or upload the file to an FTP site.

Download

RocketDock with multiple bars\docks

Submitted by drew on

It seems there is plenty of interest about how to make RocketDock work with two or more docks or bars. Most answers say to use additional docking programs--one for each dock you want. Or use a commercial program that offers multiple docks. I think RocketDock is excellent except I want more than one. I finally figured out how to do it!

Let's first point out that RD is licensed under the Creative Commons license and it explicitly says "You are free... to Remix--to adapt the work." And also to redistribute.