Solved Force shortcut/program to start minimized?

[b00t]

Well, basically I want to force a program to start minimized.

I tried making a shortcut and changing the Run property value from "Normal window" to "Minimized". Sadly, that didn't seem to do anything this time...

Just for the record (I hope I'm not breaking any rules), here's the program I'm talking about: Download | experienceit.pl

 

[MilesAhead]

Search "RunInTrayMod" if starting hidden to tray will suffice. Forcing minimization tends to mess up the state of the client app's window.

 

[b00t]

That sounds nice, but I can't figure out how to use it.

I mean, I get that I'm supposed to use it as an AutoIt script, but I'm not sure where and what exactly I need to enter as specific information to make it work (inside the script itself).

 

[MilesAhead]

You can get an AutoIt installer from here

Once installed, you can run the script by double clicking. Just save the script to file name RunInTrayMod.au3

If you wish, it can be compiled to an exe that has the AutoIt intrpretter code built in. That way it will run on systems that don't have AutoIt installed. The exe will also run on systems that have AutoIt installed, but it will ignore the installed version and use the embedded interpreter.

For help getting scripts to work, compiling them etc.. you can post on this forum:
AutoIt Forums

Another similar tool is AutoHotkey_L. Between the 2 of them you can customize many actions in Windows. Especially hitting a hotkey to perform some action.

Both programming languages and libraries are free. Also both have code contributed by users to make certain operations easier. The forums are a fun place to ask questions and contribute/download user code.

(In my original reply I had a bunch of detail lost when typing into a library PC. So before trying to remember it all I decided to find out if you were interested in the hide to tray concept. Guess I need to type into Notepad first in case the PC connection glitches in the future.)

edit: btw I hope you are using the RunInTrayMod script that was put through Obfuscator as it is stand-alone. You won't have to include other files to get it to compile. I mean the one on this Page

 

[b00t]

I must be doing something wrong, because I get an error...

Here's what I did:
- went on the page you linked and copied everything from "#Region ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****" to "EndFunc ;==>_WinGetByPID".
- pasted it on SciTE and saved the file as .au3
- launched it with AutoIt3

And here's the error (I can't make anything out of it, I'm afraid...):

"Line 254 (File "D:\test.au3"):

Here's the source for the shortcut generator stripped of includes. See zip attachment for custom icon.

Error: Unterminated string."

Man, I'm confused.

 

[MilesAhead]

You can get the shortcut generator from here

The original idea is to start a program in the tray by putting a shortcut to it in the Startup Folder. Since RunInTrayMod has to launch the client program I made a shortcut generator to simplify creating a shortcut with the proper delay and other switches.

Sorry, but I've been away from this stuff for awhile and not having my web site running is a pita. Maybe I'll recreate the web page using space on DonationCoder. But it's tough to do anything with hamstrung public PCs. Looks like I need to get a laptop or other WiFi capable machine soon.


edit: you don't have to use the shortcut generator. It's just a convenience. But since there are quite a few command line arguments it's simpler. You can always drag the created shortcut from the Startup Folder and drop it anywhere.

 

[b00t]

Oh, now I feel like an idiot. I didn't even think about the possibility that the source code ends earlier on... Oh well, thanks for the help once again. Now it works.

 

[MilesAhead]

Glad you got it going. Stuff that's run through the obfuscator is confusing. But it has the advantage of avoiding include files.. which can be tough or a nuisance to chase down. The main reason I did it as stand-alone was I got a msg from the author of the original RunInTray and wanted to provide my mod as a single file. Turns out he never posted the mod anyway that I know of. But the obfuscator is a useful tool.