AutoHotkey Community

[Rajat]

This function is now a joint effort by me and toralf

Background:
I made a script that was to be used by others. It saved its settings in a .ini file but to configure it I didn't create a GUI (why... coz its too much work, and one might as well use notepad to edit a damn ini file!). But i recd requests from friends that its too geeky to edit settings in notepad and they're having trouble so i should give them a better user interface! (damn!)

So instead of building a simple settings editor in that script I went the loooong waaaay... I made a function that can be just plugged into any script that saves its options in a .ini and you'll get an instant Settings Editor GUI !!

Ok, that was the background... (i know you didn't ask for it, but bear with me)


Back to Current Day:
toralf made wonderful improvements to the original function and took it to newer heights and added many features to it. Then i did some mods to it and then he modded my mod which was originally his mod which in turn was my original script. (blah.. blah)

Anyways, today we have a great working function that can easily be plugged into any script that saves its settings in a .ini file, and it has an instant Settings/Options window (screenshot below). And it doesn't use a single global variable (that was the tricky part for me!), so its completely compatible with any script.

Ini Editor:
Also, toralf made a very nice editor for .ini files (screenshot below), to be used specifically with the above function. Though any .ini can be directly used with the function without any modification, this editor enables you to avail some great features of the function.


Downloads:
(Usage instructions in the function file)
Ini Settings Editor Function Version 6
Ini File Creator Version 8 (requires Anchor 3.3)


Screenshots:

Ini Editor Function


Ini File Creator

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[Kerry]

Wow, that's perfect, I was thinking I might have to do something like this myself, just started to use INI's pretty frequently, and trying to make my programs as simple as possible of the computer illiterate, and this will be perfect! haven't tested it yet but will very shortly!

Thank you,
Kerry

[Kerry]

Hey, I got an error while trying to use:

Error: This variable or function name contains an illegal character. The Current Thread Will Exit

IDInstallation Options
ID%CurrSec% := TV_Add(CurrSec)

any suggestions?

EDIT:

The error is that it doesn't like sections with spaces between them, don't know how to fix this myself, nor if you want to go through the trouble to do so.

[toralf]

Thanks, that is a wonderful idea. I was creating the settings dialog for my GUIs always from scratch. This will make a lot of things easier. I'll take a look at the code later. Thanks for sharing.
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Ciao
toralf

[Thalon]

Nice idea!
And yes, I love you ;D

I have only two possible improvement for reliability:

1)
You should use "Gui, Destroy" instead of "Gui, Submit".
The reason why should be clear after this lines of code:

[Rajat]

Kerry,
spaces did occur to me while making this but i only thought about keys, and they probably don't support spaces so i thought no problem... but thanks for bringing this to my notice. i first thought of useing my Hex2Asc / Asc2Hex to fix spaces but now i've thought of a better approach that just might work... keep watching ths space!

Thalon,
hey that Gui Destory thing is really good, thanks for that! and about the other tip, it might (as u've already mentioned) mess with future GUIs in script so i guess i'll be sticking with Gui, 54!
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[toralf]

I created a mod. And over time it evolved.

See Rajat's first post for our joint work.
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Ciao
toralf

[toralf]

Added key types "file" and "folder", with functionality
Added key types "Float" and "Integer", with consistancy check

to the above script.
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Ciao
toralf

[Rajat]

wow toralf! you've greatly improved the function! (and made it too complicated for me to understand! )

for supporting spaces i'd also thought of using IDs instead of names to make variable names. i've not yet seen what've u used to replace the 0.5s sleep.

by the way for future enhancements:
- i don't think editing desc/key/section is reqd, as i've not yet seen an app that allows to 'ADD' options to it, instead of modifying them.
- adding support for date and hotkey controls could be useful
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[Rajat]

by the way i've updated my function above to accept all chars including spaces too... though toralf has already beaten me to it!
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[toralf]

[Rajat]

yeah the edit control can be hidden for these value types and the hotkey and calender controls can be un-hidden just like the Browse button.
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[toralf]

Added key types "DateTime" and "Hotkey" with their own controls
in above script
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Ciao
toralf

[Rajat]

man u're fast!

next request:
- a button, when pressed gives me 100 bucks
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[toralf]