URL Monit@r

[Midas]

I noticed the use of an absolute path for the browser executable. From my experience, one thing that can greatly enhance portability of a program is accommodating for relative paths, as well as for environment variables (e.g., '%USERPROFILE%' and '%APPDATA%')...

[allclownsareevil]

No comment at all? Weird...

Comment

... replied like a teenager trying so hard to be cool in front of her friends. Sorry Baas, that was just rude.

[tactictoe]

I noticed the use of an absolute path for the browser executable. From my experience, one thing that can greatly enhance portability of a program is accommodating for relative paths, as well as for environment variables (e.g., '%USERPROFILE%' and '%APPDATA%')...

I never thought about that. How comes?
Thank you for the input.

edited: too quick answer. That is what the proto does (see previous post snapshot of the proto); environment variable are naturally manage inside the software already by just declaring the shell to the software, since Delphi XE they are no need to retrieve them unless for display reason. Management: windows itself.

Note about relative path: I use a personal way to create this path that is absolutely bullet proof and stand in two functions; each with only 5 lines of machine code language. The result is on the snapshot of this proto. What you see in the final implementation is the absolute path of the browser, not the path that is created in the background by the software.
This absolute path adapt with the work in the background each time the software start. What is saved is the configuration file will be: Relative path and name of the browser. Then at startup the software REBUILD this absolute path with these infos read from the INI file. It has a lots of advantage:
- Can determine if the browser choice is still present on its path. Software acting accordingly with modification.
- At the User's end, a non chocking looking path, completely transparent. To resume: when choosing a browser an absolute path is given to the software but at start up a saved relative path and exe name rebuild the path giving the impression the software use magic (may be not that strong type of word) absolute path adapation. And indeed it does. Just a question on how to present to the majority of the public (who might not understand these technicalities) a simple path for a simple choice. In this case a browser path.
JOKE:
KISS has we say in Australia: Keep It Simple St****. Dare to say Keep IT Solution Simple as a relative comment from an absolute all rounder saying in Australia, just joking. Joke is on me,

[tactictoe]

ghacks review at http://www.ghacks.net/2016/02/27/url-mo ... addresses/

Thank you to bring this review to my attention.
Pondering how an individual has managed in a so short period notice to find this software without referral who knew (The same day of publication). Oh well, it's positive, creative and it is the main thing. If there is a referral behind this one: thank you for bringing attention of URL Monitor to this honest and reputable journalist.

Not a bad review at all IMHO, and very constructive. It also suggest some Idea I never think about to enhance the software. Mainly input of massive list of URL via the clipboard.

One limitation that URL Monitor has is that the monitoring components picks up only the first address if you copy a list of URLS to the Clipboard.

Which is for me a very good idea indeed if:
- you can avoid bottleneck on the network due to validation in real time of URL (Main feature or URL monitor is validation of URL passed to the clipboard)
- control the usage of bandwith on limited system and prioritise URL monitor up or down regarding user input.
- create a practical definition of maximum input to this passed list before the software crash due to lack of memory. When I say Practical definition read Functions and procedure routine handling any cases for this type of work

Viable Solution
Create a queue list in memory with secondary priority for validating URL from the clipboard, leaving first priority to the clipboard.
To implant this idea, I will have to find the best suitable way to display this queue list (floating window?). Suggestion from anyone welcome.

While waiting this idea
You can still add a Huge list of URL via drag and drop of a text file containing this list into the URL list container. Alternatively you can open a huge list saved as text file via the open button. Acting a bit in this case like import URL.

Misc.
Martin Brinkmann → the journalist who created this article also mentioned a date stamp for URL input. I already thought about it. Unless I start with a stringgrid and go database way, which I have in mind for late version of this software, I will not implant it into the checkbox list. Export to HTML result in creation of an HTML file already containing a date/time stamp of creation. That is my original solution. Otherwise windows date of creation can be read and add this option to the right click mouse button on a URL from the list. Very unpractical thought, two functions are already present at that spot. Another button? You got the drift, a solution will come with a study of the GUI in the software's main windows and options.

Conclusion
Still a lots of work to do with all the wishes. And they are all different, no common one, it is a good sign and will involve great time sacrifice for me. Remember, I do create software in my private time, sacrificing time I could have use for other hobbies or time with the people I love. Managing this balance with private life and work for the community with no demand back whatsoever is key here. I see what I can do for the rest of us: wait and see, only good things will come out for this software. All for the benefit of the community.

Thank you Martin Brinkmann for your honest review, if you ever read this forum topics.

Have all a nice day.

[I am Baas]

No comment at all? Weird...

Comment

... replied like a teenager trying so hard to be cool in front of her friends. Sorry Baas, that was just rude.

Oh spare me your BS... TPFC is mostly a very small community of regular contributors; all volunteering their free time and effort for the benefit of others. One does that without expecting anything in return, that is at least my approach to participating here. It is all about sharing and giving back. There are hundreds if not thousands of unanswered single-post / message threads on here. To "demand" a comment to a post one has made after one day is, IMO, rude. My one-word reply to tactictoe's post was cute and thought-provoking.

[tactictoe]

No comment at all? Weird...

Comment

... replied like a teenager trying so hard to be cool in front of her friends. Sorry Baas, that was just rude.

This is borderline online bullying. Some should be carefully reconsidering the way comment could be interpreted and think twice in the future.
There are LAWS against bully in Australia. These laws can conduct to jail time. It is a serious offence over here. Some online bullying has conduct to suicide, depression of young (mostly) person or even damage in Australia. It is so serious it made the TV news more than once. Australia acted correctly and accordingly. Laws were voted and enforced. Not that I will ever sue anyone, I am not the type. They are other less dramatic way. Like this post to warn someone of bad behaviour with documentation provided of what could have happened. A peaceful act of kindness is the way to go.
So, am I mad at the person beyond 'I am Baas'? No, I respect anybody, for my part this case is closed and will go no further than this post in this topic. But when respect does not go both way, I act accordingly: the peaceful way most likely. Considering all options before acting is sign of maturity especially when it concern others. That is all I am saying about it. And this was MHO.
Hopefully this post will help the community to have a better understanding of what to post and not to post.

Australian Anti-On Line Bully laws explained in a very simple way:
Don't believe me? Please read on this simple article: http://www.lawstuff.org.au/sa_law/topic ... llying#wic
And the official Australian Human Rights Commission article: https://humanrights.gov.au/cyberbullyin ... fact-sheet

My wish now is we move on and use this topics for what is designed for: Submission of URL Monitor to this site, suggestion, bugs report and who knows what else about this product.

[tactictoe]

@I am Bass

To "demand" a comment to a post one has made after one day is, IMO, rude. My one-word reply to tactictoe's post was cute and thought-provoking.

The goal of my post was to have a positive reaction, it did not neither yours. No intention to be rude but to relaunch a post moving relatively fast to the bottom and menacing to be totally ignored. Don't get me wrong, it's a good sign for this site: it is well alive. And it's a tricky reaction, I admit. That was my idea and certainly not being rude. Please note idea is not opinion and does not have to be shared. Having so many view and absolutely no reaction was a frustration, I explained it on the spot. On the other hand as I still new to this forum why did you not explain your reaction more clearly like you just did now:

Spoiler!   

Oh spare me your BS...

TPFC is mostly a very small community of regular contributors; all volunteering their free time and effort for the benefit of others. One does that without expecting anything in return, that is at least my approach to participating here. It is all about sharing and giving back. There are hundreds if not thousands of unanswered single-post / message threads on here

I would have understand ('... that is at least my approach to participating here.') your opinion. Anyway, I moved on. And that is enough for me.
Next time I post something with intention to attract attention to a topics, I will specify. Hope you can do that too, at least on my post.

P.S.: If you ever travel to Australia, will you agree to share a drink with me? Shout's mine.

Have a really nice day.

[Midas]

KISS has we say in Australia: Keep It Simple St****. Dare to say Keep IT Solution Simple as a relative comment from an absolute all rounder saying in Australia, just joking.

• Actually, I'm a card holding member of the KISS church.
  
  Mine was just a casual (and admittedly somewhat unenlightened) observation -- haven't tested URL Monitor yet...

My one-word reply to tactictoe's post was cute and thought-provoking.

• Now that you cleared that for me, I can finally let go of the smirk that was mangling my good looks.

[webfork]

No comment at all? Weird... 73 views and nothing... nada chipolata. Is that bad?

You have to understand that if you make a program that solves problems people are having today, you are a hero. However, if you solve problems people only have once every 6 months, it might take some time to get a response. For example (at least for me) if you make an easy-to-use, portable, open source video editor, you will have all my praise. From me, this would mean an entry, bug reports/feature suggestions, and whatever else I could generate. Conversely, if you save me from rare system failures as both the excellent AutoVer and Recuva have, it might take some time.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I do have a need for your program but it isn't critical and I've got a lot on the docket right now.

[tactictoe]

V1.1.0.1 is up

Notice the 'Set browser...' button. It opens a sub-options windows...

... where you can set a default browser for URL monitor only.

Path saved in the INI file are relative, path displayed are absolute path.
At startup the software looks for relative path in its configuration file if you ticked Remember browser's choice, otherwise default are loaded.
Then it rebuild the absolute path from the relative path.

So what does that mean?
It means the selected browser MUST be located in the same drive (e.g. C:, J:, L:) of URL Monitor but not necessary in the same folder.
You can still select another browser for the session thought irrespective of the rule explained above. e.g Google Chrome as default system browser but Mozzilla Firefox for URL Monitor. Relative Path are verified at startup, if broken the default are loaded.

Please note you are required to select an executable browser but the software cannot verify if it's a browser or not unlike the prototype.
Control of browser selection validity can be done by launching it without URL test inside the software sub-options window... click on the earth looking globe button.
I wish I could use the implementation code of the prototype but it cuts the Validation of the URL. Looking into it anyway.

Important:
reset of option are respective of the location window. E.g. if you click it into the main windows, it will reset all its options but any sub options window.

Save is general (all options wherever they came from)
done via the 'Save options to application folder' or automatically if 'Save options on exiting the software' is ticked

Hope joby_toss is happy, a wish come true. Now where do I send the invoice to? Kidding.

[joby_toss]

When you're visiting France just make a stop in my country and give me a call so I can make up for it!

[smaragdus]

@tactictoe
I confirm that URL Monitor version 1.1.0.1 (both x32 and x64 builds) saves settings properly and uses them on restart.

However I think that URL Monitor window doesn't resize properly when maximized, please see the screen-shots below:
- normal state:

- maximized state:

What about monitoring of FTP links as well, for example ftp://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/?

Open a previous saved list offers to open Any file, Text file and URL list, but no HTML file- choosing Any file works for HTML but a dedicated HTML file would be better.

I have also spotted that URL Monitor web-page contains wrong information:

Search and delete is a windows portable desktop application written in Delphi (Pascal Language)

I tested URL Monitor with 3 browsers besides the default Firefox (K-Meleon, Opera & QupZilla) and it worked fine with all three.

I still insist that an option to minimize/close URL Monitor would be great- clipboard managers work better when they are visible only when needed. If you implement minimize/close to tray you may also add an option for a cutomizable hot key for calling URL Monitor from tray.

Off-topic
A very old messenger- BitWise (which however still works fine) offers a similar function, it collects all the URLs in all messages (received and sent) in a database, screen-shot below:
- BitWise URL History:

BitWise 1.7.3 - 2016-03-01 - URL History - 001.png (5.05 KiB) Viewed 15684 times

As far as I know this is the only messenger that has such a feature.

[tactictoe]

@smaragdus

@tactictoe
(A) I confirm that URL Monitor version 1.1.0.1 (both x32 and x64 builds) saves settings properly and uses them on restart.

(B)However I think that URL Monitor window doesn't resize properly when maximised, please see the screen-shots below:
- normal state:...

(A) Thanks for the confirmation,

(B) It is the correct look.It does respect the anchor I placed on for all components displayed. I am just not a champion of cosmetic, what would you suggest to improve the look when maximised?
Edited: What a huge screen you have. I wonder the resolution you use. Mine is 1768x992 on a 45'' home mad(e) OLED screen. All visual test of this software made on it, at max and low resolution. Minimum resolution is 800x600, under that display resolution the main form is too big. The software restrain the resizing down to a certain value.
Here it is:

Code: Select all

procedure TMainForm.FormConstrainedResize(Sender: TObject; var MinWidth, MinHeight,
  MaxWidth, MaxHeight: Integer);
begin
  //Screen support min Res is 800x600.
  MinWidth := 733; 
  MinHeight := 473;
  ScreenValidTest;
end;

As you can see there is no constrain upward and result position of component looks different regarding: resolution size of the display, actual size of the software in pixels. I cannot validate and work out all existing possible display on the planet but can constrain to a maximum resolution which I think is VERY poor option. Especially when the software will age.
On the other hand I am working on 'Autosize' buttons and toolbar on user demand, also possibility to move a control where the user want. But this is for later and NOT priority one for me. Cosmetic change comes always last with me.

What about monitoring of FTP links as well, for example ftp://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/?

Good idea. Never thought about it. I will implement it on a next release or two, for now URL Monitor is evolving. See link at the end of this entry.

Open a previous saved list offers to open Any file, Text file and URL list, but no HTML file- choosing Any file works for HTML but a dedicated HTML file would be better.

Done.
Also I include for the Export: save HTML as LINK on top of save as HTML Text List of Link. So both format can be use. I also work on Bulk entry of web page source as input (Parsing, find : <a href ....>)

I have also spotted that URL Monitor web-page contains wrong information:
Search and delete is a windows portable desktop application written in Delphi (Pascal Language)

...
You lost me here... You might explain a little better, please.

EDITED: OOPS I saw the error. Will modify the page
Now it read: URL Monitor is a windows portable desktop application written in Delphi (Pascal Language)
Thank you for bringing this issue to my attention,

I tested URL Monitor with 3 browsers besides the default Firefox (K-Meleon, Opera & QupZilla) and it worked fine with all three.

Thank you,
However it should work with any browser. URL Monitor target the clipboard, not the browser. E.g. if you copy a valid URL to the notepad and copy this URL, URL Monitor will grab it as it was from a browser. Of course, it's main target is and stills web browser, I just did not advertise well all the possibilities. I might do that on the software home page later on.
A tip and trick page dedicated to this software... or the like. I won't go like I did with Movie Info Search and pull the lots in bulk on the same page, still need to correct that one but have no will for it for the moment. Most due to new features inside that software. Same with the help file. I will post one, as soon as URL Monitor is hard to understand out of the box not before. Web page management, new article, correction of page due to new release, correction of help file... continue to evolve the software, beta test new function, correction to the code, code suddenly broken because this of that and CATS ... Pfff that's a lots of time investment. Only two hands, two foot and one head... but I give my best.

I still insist that an option to minimise/close URL Monitor would be great- clipboard managers work better when they are visible only when needed. If you implement minimise/close to tray you may also add an option for a customisable hot key for calling URL Monitor from tray.

And I agreed, still waiting and trying all sorts of solutions to make it works under Windows 10 (so far more then 2500 lines of wasted code but more experience on Windows 10 api call). BTW they sent me part of a solution, bugged. Anyway still trying a viable solution before release.

Edited: Solution in my mail box, friend of mine send me a way to do it. Fun to say, I sent it to him in 2002 when they were no real solution for tray icon. He tested my old code in windows 10 environment and IT WORKS. No tool tips thoughts, but I can work it out later. So, yes, it will be done.

Off-topic
A very old messenger- BitWise (which however still works fine) offers a similar function, it collects all the URLs in all messages (received and sent) in a database, screen-shot below:

That is part of the evolution of URL Monitor, already in progress, not for message though but URL contained in a web page : Check this page: http://www.geocities.ws/tactictoe/URLMo ... gress.html , it talks about the work on URL Monitor.

My to do list is HUGE on this software. But the community is huge too,
I need to prioritise the task to be done, I never thought I will arrive at that stage for a so humble software.

Thank you for your all your input, I do appreciate it.

[tactictoe]

When you're visiting France just make a stop in my country and give me a call so I can make up for it!

J'ai l'intention en fin d’année de visiter ma famille et amis en Europe. Une partie, vis en France... Nord et sud. Merci, pour l'invitation.

[tactictoe]

Version 1.2.0.0 is up

V1.2.0.0 - Release date: 03/03/2016 13:14:38 AWST - UTC +08:00

New feature: URL Monitor integrated browser window created. NEW
URL Capture: Save as HTML - URL are plain text added. UPGRADE
Various tweak here and there, too many to list. IMPROVEMENT
URL Capture:Save as HTML major bug fixed, now the link shows properly. FIXED
Other minor bugs. FIXED

Addition of a new button: access to the integrated browser window.

A new option for the integrated browser window
By default it's : http://www.google.com but if lots of people here would like to change factory default to: about:blank, I will update.
I thought a lot of it, and to be honest I cannot really decide. So choice of the community, majority win.

The new integrated browser

Permits to grab all URL inside a framed/non framed page.
Enjoy!

Have all a nice day.