MultiLaunchBox - Application Launching and Key Broadcasting for the mac.

[Norrin]

Keyclone has inspired me to create an Application Launching and Key Broadcasting software for the mac.

http://www.fivemasted.com/MultiLaunchBox.aspx

A few features.



Easy to configure application groups.
Set size and position of application windows
Launch complete application group or single application at a time.
Full Key Broadcasting support with WhiteList and BlackList key filtering.
Hot key toggles for Key Broadcasting as well as toggling the Key Filters on and off.



[edit]
Also wanted to let everyone know. The Demo is not locked down on a 'Day' basis. It only allows for the adding of 3 apps to an app group. And the Key Broadcasting only last for 45 minutes.
Wanted to make sure people knew that the Key Broadcasting stopping to work after 45 minutes is an intended feature (as it were).


Please let me know what you think.


I do hope you enjoy it,
Shane -Norrin- Cleavelin

[lacitpo]

Seems like a decent application. I downloaded the trial and tested the window arrangement stuff. Still same problem of not allowing arbitrary dimensions but nice that it will lay the windows out for you.

I'm still using plexer as my primary tool but we'll see where things stand in a few months.

[Norrin]

Yeah I am looking into removing the window frame much like the way KeyClone does it. So far though I am not yet successful.
You can resize and position, though you are still constrained to how mac does the resizing.

I used Plexer since the day he release it. Very fine app. I wanted the App positioning and resizing though, which is what motivated me to create my own. That and I am looking into multi computers support, especially Mac to PC for the next major version.

[Jayne]

Dang this is exactly what I want in Plexer. Will give him some time and see if it gets updated tho...

[Norrin]

Thanks.

Yeah I think Plexer will be following. He has been talking about adding similar features.
I don't know the creator of Plexer personally, but he seems very dedicated to his product.

[Norrin]

I just realized my documentation sucks. Actually there isn't any.
I work on that.

Anyway I wanted to share a few things that might help out.

HotKeys:

SHIFT+Left Arrow
To toggle the Key Broadcasting

SHIFT+Right Arrow
To Toggle the Key Filtering. Not sure if anyone even cares about this. I like it though.

Would you guys want an easy way to configure these hotkeys to what you want? I was thinking of adding a configuration screen to set these but not sure if anyone even really cares.


Saving app window size and position:

Add WOW (or what ever game your playing) to the app group.

Launch the game (from MLB or from file system).

Resize the application to your desired size. (I am not sure exactly how to turn off the aspect ration resizing that WOW on mac does. I am looking into that).

Move the window to where you want it to open at.

In MLB on the Application grid right click to bring the Popup menu up and select Set Dimensions. This will save the size and location for launching later on.

Next time you launch the Application from MLB it will also resize and move it.


Hope that helps a little.

I will be creating a video tutorial things for the website shortly. However I have wasted about a month of my current RAF time, so I am going to be taking a little break and getting my first team to 60 :)

Thanks,
Norrin

[Norrin]

In my haste to get the initial app out, I do believe I made the Trial broadcast period 20 seconds, not 45 minutes. Goto to love debug code.

Anyway, I figured 45 minutes probably wasn't enough time to probably evaluate it so I bumped it up to 2 hours.

You can get the lastest demo at http://www.fivemasted.com/MultiLaunchBox.aspx.


Also, next version will have Mac to Mac broadcasting. Its something I really could use.

Thanks

[ViralInfection]

Hi,

I've been using MLB for the last day or two and I like the trial. It's snappy. I'll even report a bug (when you add applications if you CMD+Click the applications you can overload the limit of 3 applications at once).

Will you be adding anything for supporting layouts? I know the whole Mac/Osx WoW resizing stuff is pretty much a hell-hole, but I'd thought I'd ask.

I'd really like to be able to switch my Master & Slave(s), and have the applications switch size and space.

Thanks,
- V

[Norrin]

Hey Viral, glad you like it.

It does support layouts currently, but you are still restricted to aspect ratio.

To use this follow these easy steps.

1. Launch MLB.
2. Add some WOW accounts.
3. Launch the WOW's (this doesnt need to be done via MLB yet).
4. Resize and position the accounts where you like them.
5. On MLB right click the WOW account in the table and select Set Dimensions.

Then next time you launch from MLB it will remember your window sizes and positions.

I just re-read your original post, Viral, and to answer your actual question, currently it does not switch positions based on the Master/Slave relationship. I am looking into how to do that. Well actually I am looking into how to make it happen quickly. Also how do I give the user the ability to configure it. That maybe the major feature for version 2.

As far as the Trial bug, nice catch. But I think I am removing the Trial all together with the next version, which is ready to go now actually. The next version supports multiple computers. I have been testing the last two weeks and I think I very happy it. So look for that very soon.

Thanks again.

[Norrin]

Hello Everyone,

MLB has been updated and new version is available to download.
You can find it at http://www.fivemsted.com/Mulitlaunchbox.aspx

I have removed the trial for this version. The trial version wasn't really hiding or hindering any real functionality anyway. And what it was limiting, was easy to circumvent. So I just removed it all together.

Even though this is one of my main source on income, I really made for myself. And sharing is always a good thing right.

New Feature.
I have added Bonjour (Network) support. You can now use MLB on multiple computers and the keystrokes will shared between the two. Much like KeyClone.

Its very simple to use.

Just start MLB on the two computers.

That's it. If they are on the same network they will auto connect to one another.

Just make sure both MLB's have broadcasting enabled. Also, the Key are filtered using the KeyFilter list from the MLB that is active.

I would really like know what you guys think. I have been now for two weeks to multibox my friends mac pro (mine died the day I finished the network code) and my MacBook Pro. Other then being really surprised that my Macbook Pro can run two accounts, it has been working very smoothly for me.

[dozigden]

Hi - Basic broadcasting is working ok for me (but always defaults to white list)

However window positions seem to randomly arrange/resize my windows on one machine and work fine on the other...

I can't get network support to work at all, if this worked you'd have me, I've tried disabling both machines firewall but no joy.

[Norrin]

Hi Dozigden

Did you download the latest version, which was put up yesterday, Feb 9th?
The current version is the version with network support. Both clients need to have Broadcasting turned on.
I should probably add some sort on indicator that other clients are connected.

The client does default to Whitelist, I am not saving KeyFilter list selection state. To be honest that never occurred to me. I will add that to the list of changes for the next update.

The default window arrangement sets the Windows to 1024x768 and places them in the top left corner of the screen, now with the window at 22 pixels down (was a bug in the original release). If you don't 'Set Diminsions' in MLB they will default there. But since you said it worked on one machine but not another I assume then you set them correctly and something is broke. I will add that to my list of bugs to look into.

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it.

[dozigden]

Hi Norrin,

Yup - pretty sure its the release from yesterday, the reason I mentioned turning the firewall off was that one machine prompted me to allow incoming connections and the other didnt, which made me think "firewall". I'll try redownloading though to be completely sure.

[Norrin]

Thanks Dozigden

Firewall would block it for sure. being a fairly new Mac Developer (I came from the windows side of things) I am not totally sure how Bonjour handles the firewall settings.

[Norrin]

Amjr wrote: (In the plexer thread)

Another keyboard broadcasting solution for Mac. Very nice and with network support! If Netowrk support is functional I can reduce the load of my main-Mac by off-loading two WoW-copies into laptop.

I'll try it as soon as I get home!

Does it support window-scaling positioning? One annoying thing with WoW is that it keeps it's window-settings. I've used shell-script to launch 5 copies of WoW but they will start on top of each other. My current solution is apple-script shown in some post which writes the preference-file before starting each client.


MLB does support window resizing and positioning upon launch. There is one catch, your windows are still constrained to MACs forcing of aspect ratio.

[lacitpo]

Whichever one of you guys is the first to hack the window size is gonna be my hero. Positioning is nice, but arbitrary window sizing will be epic.

[Norrin]

I was looking into arbitrary window sizes and removing window chrome.
I stopped researching awhile ago with lack of interest in MLB.

When my current project dies down I may pick it up again.

[Norrin]

I have made some minor modifications to MLB.

The pop menu options where changed to be more clear. They are now Launch Application (for Launching) and Set Size and Position (for saving the Window Size and Position).

The window title now displays the version number and registration state.

Bug Fix: If Caps Lock were on, broadcasting would stop unless caps lock keys were in the key filter list. Caps Lock modifier key (NSAlphaShift) is being ignored for the moment. This will have a negative impact on the Key Filters if you add an entry for CAP_LOCK + KEY. It will ignore the Caps Lock part. Use Shift instead.

You can get the new app from the website. http://www.fivemasted.com/MLB%20APP/MultiLaunchBox.app.zip


I would like to thank Aki for his feedback.

[mpfiv]

hmm i might take a peak at this, i have been using plexer for quite some time now, so i cant say that im not fond of it, so we will see how this compares, anyhow thanks for the network support link.

[Norrin]

I used Plexer for a while too. Its a great app. But being a developer the challenge of making a launcher (then network support) was almost more fun then actually using the app. Almost :)

[amjr]

I tried to mail my recent findings - but for some reason my messages are bouncing back. Anyways - I thought I post them here instead...



Quote from my email....

Sorry that I wasn't able to test MLB yesterday. Had some real-life stuff I had to sort out.

I now managed to try the version you sent me and I got it working with networking. Keys are being transmitted nicely.

There is one strange thing though. I setup my whitelist to accept shift+1, shift+2 and so on. Now the machine I use to type everything works. But at the same time the another machine receiving the key-strokes through network doesn't seem to realize that it is a combination.

Example:
Machine A) which is used to type
Machine B) which receives the key-presses

Both machines have Textpad and Textmate in launcher group.

I click shift+1 on machine A)
-> Textpad and Textmate receive '!'
-> Textpad and Textmate on Machine B) receive '1'

It looks like the modifier is lost during transmit.

I've setup the whitelists as identical on both machines.



I also had some strange double-keypresses until I realized I have Plexer running and happily also broadcasting...

[Norrin]

My hosting provider upgraded servers and software Monday sometime. Had to change all my email configurations yesterday. Not that the upgrades would have forced a bounce back. Anyway I did get your email this morning. Thanks again.

I will look into both issues later today, or probably more likely tomorrow.


I just noticed your comment on the double key presses with Plexer running. That made me laugh.
Its nice they play together :)

[wowunderachiever]

So far I like this except I can't get the keybind to toggle broadcasting to work. My understanding is that it is supposed to be Shift-Left Arrow.

This does nothing - even if MLB is the active app on my Mac and not the game or whatever.

What is the current button to toggle broadcasting on and off?

[Norrin]

Hi there.

The toggle hot key for that is SHIFT+LEFT_ARROW. SHIFT+RIGHT_ARROW to toggle the WHITE/BLACK list on or off.
This should work on all Keyboards, although I have not tested it on non us keyboards.
The button on the app itself still functions though correct? Just not the Hot Hey?

[wowunderachiever]

Hi there.

The toggle hot key for that is SHIFT+LEFT_ARROW. SHIFT+RIGHT_ARROW to toggle the WHITE/BLACK list on or off.
This should work on all Keyboards, although I have not tested it on non us keyboards.
The button on the app itself still functions though correct? Just not the Hot Hey?

Yeah I can click it with my mouse and it works, but holding shift down while pressing my left arrow key does not work.

I'm using a regular American keyboard on an iMac Late 2009 fwiw.

I'll fiddle in Mac preferences with the keyboard settings and see if anything is awry there. Thanks for the quick response!

Edit: I did go in and have it re-recognize my keyboard - that did not fix the issue. It turns out that for some reason shift+left arrow doesn't work at all on my Mac for anything. For example, I can't select text a char at a time by shift+left or right arrow key, but I can select lines of text by shift+up or down arrow.

[Norrin]

Sounds like your keyboard might be at fault there.

I have not looked at the code (until today) for about a year.
I don't even have my main mac anymore, so its hard to trouble shot.

[wowunderachiever]

Not the keyboard. Tried it with a regular Logitech keyboard and the one that came with the iMac.

If you ever update this program it would be great if you added the ability for the user to set her/his own hotkeys.

Anyway, thanks again for your response. Doesn't look like the problem is with MLB.

[wowunderachiever]

Actually I just determined that the problem IS Multi-Launch Box.

When MLB is running, Shift+Left Arrow and Shift+Right Arrow do not work on MLB as expected and they are both broken in all other applications - such as selecting one character of text at a time.

When I close MLB, I can use Shift+Left Arrow and Shift+Right arrow to select text again.

Does anyone know a good key broadcasting program for Mac? Besides the handful that are mentioned in the stickies on this site?

[Norrin]

I can look into it, but it probably will not be real soon.
I need to find a way to reproduce it.

[lightrusher]

Hey, so I was using your app (which by the way is amazing) for a game online on my web browser. I use Firefox so yea just information. I really dislike how I'm unable to use my mouse (cursor) for both of the screens. I do have an earlier version of the app so that may be the problem. Also I am unable to open up two instances of firefox and control both of them. If you could help that would be great thanks!

[Norrin]

Hi Lightrusher

Sorry, but I have stopped supporting MLB many years ago now.
I no longer own a mac which makes it hard to troubleshoot anything.