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Topic: «Is there a way to make a window open without becoming the active windo , Active windows » on forum: General   Views: 9925
 
Kevin Wisner
Registered user
 
 Posts: 5
Joined: 07/14/2006
Posted: 07/14/2006 20:48:47
 
 
 Is there a way to make a window open without it becoming the active window?

For example, when I open a particular text file, is there a way to make notepad open up without it becoming the active window?  I want the program to open maximized, not minimized, but I just don't want it to take the focus away from whatever window I'm currently working on at the time.  Is this possible?

Thanks,
Kevin Wisner
 
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Alexey Fadeyev
Administrator

Moderator
 
 Posts: 1436
Joined: 09/30/2005
Posted: 07/18/2006 02:36:09
 
 
 Kevin, nice to see you again here. Currently I can't give a definite answer for your request. Please could you describe your situation more thoroughly? What sequence of actions exactly do you do? And how do you want to change or improve it with the help of our program? Thank you in advance.
 
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Kevin Wisner
Registered user
 
 Posts: 5
Joined: 07/14/2006
Posted: 07/18/2006 05:46:54
 
 
 Thank you for the kind words.  My situation is as follows.

I have a reminder program which triggers alerts at various times during the day.  At certain user-defined times during the day, a notepad file (.txt) opens up on the screen with a message reminding me to do something.  Unfortunately, this reminder message also becomes the active window.

Let's pretend that I'm reading a good article on the internet using Internet Explorer.  And let's pretend that I'm scrolling down through the article by using the arrow keys on my keyboard.  Now all of a sudden, notepad pops up in another area of my screen reminding me to do something.

Notepad at this point becomes the active window, which means I can no longer use the arrow keys in Internet Explorer to continue scrolling through my article.  Why not?  Because Internet Explorer is no longer the active window.

So what does this mean?  It means I have to move my hands from the keyboard over to the mouse, then move the mouse over to notepad, position the mouse at the precise X-spot to close notepad, click the mouse, move the mouse back to Internet Explorer, and move my hands back to to the arrow keys.

Wouldn't it be better if notepad (and other programs) could simply open up without necessarily becoming the active window?

I guess it should be noted here that I have four monitors attached to my computer.  I trade stocks daily, and so I need a lot of screen real estate.  So my point is that if I'm reading internet explorer on one monitor, notepad usually pops up on another monitor.  And I don't usually feel like "taking care of notepad" before I can continue my work.

Oh well, it's just a thought anyways.  I'm not sure if you can get your program to do this or not  :?:  , but I thought I would give it a try.

Thanks and take care,
Kevin Wisner
 
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Alexey Fadeyev
Administrator

Moderator
 
 Posts: 1436
Joined: 09/30/2005
Posted: 07/19/2006 10:06:55
 
 
 Thanks for such a detailed explanation. We will see what can be done in such case. The main difficulty I envision now is that we have no control on window appearance, all we can do becomes available some time AFTER window is already appeared. But we will do some investigation on this issue.

Quote
It means I have to move my hands from the keyboard over to the mouse, then move the mouse over to notepad, position the mouse at the precise X-spot to close notepad, click the mouse, move the mouse back to Internet Explorer, and move my hands back to to the arrow keys.

By the way, why you don't use the Alt-Tab hotkey to revert back to Internet Explorer? Using Alt-Tab means no necessity to move your hands away from the keyboard and far more quicker than the sequence you have described above. Just a thought. :)  
 
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Tobiel Sayre
Registered user

home user/amateur skinner
 
 Posts: 37
Joined: 07/14/2005
Posted: 08/02/2006 12:10:17
 
 
 You might want to try one of the free versions of key text by mjmsoft which brings up reminders of its own without using notepad and seeing what happens to them in interaction with ActWinMan´s priority and appearance settings.

Maybe these reminders dont compare to txts or you might even run the MAIN app, not the reminder from a macro of theirs which allows for force activating, bringing to front and things combined with an ActWinMan staying on top option, plus the new ActWinMan 4.1 builds multi-monitor support settings. Interesting. Glad someone using macros shares experiences.

Currently mjm soft are developing many new beta builds and looking for testers before the release of the 3.0 version, but their 2.25 which is available free or cheap is very powerful and could already be of interest for this.

SATYROBE/TAXIFUNK/Tobiel Sayre registered user; non-staff
 
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