AutoHotkey Community

[gwarble]

i wrote this function to create and position multiple simultaneous tray area notifications, from any number of different scripts... Notify() can display fully-customizable, timed (or not) notification windows that can display any type of information quickly and easily (i like using it for debugging; Notify("var",var) works well), each of which can perform actions when clicked or time out, etc... try it out and let me know what you think!

stdlib compliant, just drop in your Lib folder and call Notify() to see it in action
no globals, no dependencies, _Notify_***: labels only

Notify() v0.44 - Download Notify.ahk or read the incomplete Documentation

[hugov]

Nice and easy to use. In NotifyWait there is a reference to an icon in notifier.exe you may wish to comment out for people just downloading notify.ahk
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Tut 4 Newbies
TF : Text file & string lib, TF Forum

[gwarble]

thanks, fixed

also made the function file alone able to run for testing, so you can just download Notify.ahk and run it without Notifier or including:

^+F12 for test notifications, doesnt show all options but lets you see the multiple window detection (also, run 2 copies of it to see how it handles two scripts using notify() )

Edit: code updated in initial post

Download:
http://arcadefanatic.com/notifier/Downloads/Notify.ahk

thanks for trying it out

- gwarble

=====================================
anyone know a better way to have seperate timers/timer lengths (dynamically) than this cob solution:

[gwarble]

worked out all the kinks for multiple guis, now need to clean up the code a bit, but now multiple can show, while each retaining its own timer

here's some screenshots of it in use in my other app:

i'd love to see it in use in your scripts
- gwarble

[hugov]

Some ideas:

- I prefer rectangular notifications vs rounded, perhaps you could introduce a style or rounding parameter for the winset

- I also use ToasterPopups which I modified to be able to include images in the TP

- The border is drawn with transparency perhaps allow colours so you can have a red border for example

Edit: re timer question, for some ideas see http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48670, lexikos post
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Tut 4 Newbies
TF : Text file & string lib, TF Forum

[gwarble]

for now its easy to comment out the lines for winset,region (rounded corners) and manually change the background guis color (or if you want it to look like a tooltip you could drop the second gui altogether)

to make it parameter based, would you prefer
Notify(title,msg,dur,......,colorthis,colorthat,thicknessthis,thicknessthat)
with tons of parameters, or:
Notify(title,msg,dur,action, "FClrRed GClrBlue BClrGreen FSize12 FWght500")
letting notify parse a single parameter for all these options

i'm thinking the latter, which could have lots easily including:
font size,color,titlesize,messagesize,font face,weight,modifiers(italic etc)
gui color,size,flashcolor, backgroundcolor, opacity, clickthru or not, clickaction and timeoutaction, background border thickness, lots more, gui numbers, etc

let me know what approach to go which is most appreciated
-gwarble

EDIT:
oh yeah, and i'm adding images at the moment, the whole reason i made this function is for that last screenshot, to replace the bottom gui with this dynamically positioning Notify() gui, so images are being implemented now, but again i'd love to know the way you would prefer to call the function

[hugov]

Vote+ for the images

For the parameters, some suggestions close to yours:
http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19254&highlight=named+parameters
http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=280766#280766

Edit: alternative could be an NotifyInit() function where a used can define some prefered standards like style, font, color, border etc which would be global vars of course __NotifyStyle=Rounded, __NotifyFGC=cc0000 etc
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Tut 4 Newbies
TF : Text file & string lib, TF Forum

[gwarble]

i like the init function idea, but i don't like having globals

how about using either:

Notify("Notify_Configure",blah,blah.....blah,blah)

which would prevent a notification called Notify_Configure or something, and set static variables this way...

or i think the best is the options parameter, which set statics if used, but statics are default if they are never used, therefore not needing to be specified each call unless you want it to change... so:

[hugov]

I would prefer TS=10 over TS10 as you can see from the examples above it is easier for the user to understand and parse. I don't mind much how you do it either with init or options, currently I use Notify(A_ScriptName, "Done", -3) a lot so that is nice and short, images, colours & styles are just a bonus
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Tut 4 Newbies
TF : Text file & string lib, TF Forum

[Guest]

oh crap are you using -3 to exitapp after the three seconds? cuz i removed that functionality, thinking you could use Notify(title,msg,3,"ExitSub") as an action...

but if yo ulike it i kind of do too, and its easy to have in there
-gwarble

[gwarble]

or if it saves all variables as static,

You could call:
Notify(A_ScriptName, "Done", -3)
once
and then call
Notify()
every other time for the same notification

also, personally i don't like the "=" in the options since it isnt consistent with other uses of =, of which there are already 2... but i'm not opposed and will start that way... if its there the option names could be long and descriptive, but i kind of like the two letter approach...
??
- gwarble

edit: do we want:
Notify(Title,Msg,Image,Dur...
or image file in with the options
different uses would make either one more convenient... although my use would call for a different image being used on each notification (having a dedicated parameter being easier), i think most people would set the image to an image for the script and use it for all notifications... especially with two scripts using notify()

- gwarble

[hugov]

Edit: you types while I was typing. So this refers to -3

I like it yes, the Notify is so much nicer to have then the regular MsgBox Done to indicate when a lenghty script is, well, done

Currently I use costum (per script) toasterpopups to either use with windows taskschedular to remind me of stuff or give feedback while a script is running, in all of these cases I like the script to close after the last notify (its done), so by using -3 it saves me a line in the script and it is easier to type then an another notify command/line.

Re: images mmm not sure what would be best, perhaps per notify so you can use different images for start/working/paused/ready/exit type of messages?

Perhaps also introduce some basic system icons as with MsgBox? That way you don't have to include an image with a script that uses Notify.
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Tut 4 Newbies
TF : Text file & string lib, TF Forum

[gwarble]

great feedback, thanks, back in it goes

[hugov]

I was typing again while you was reading/typing so just to let you know: look above
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Tut 4 Newbies
TF : Text file & string lib, TF Forum

[gwarble]

sounds good man, thanks for the feedback

i'm putting back in -duration, adding images, and converting to an options parameter now, i'll get a new version up shortly

- gwarble

edit:
HugoV:
got back to it, no images yet but try this for no corner rounding, option testing, color control, let me know what oyu think about the usage syntax for your script