Category Archives: Windows

How to Install your Android APK with One Click

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I’ve been learning Corona lately, a tool for building mobile apps. Overall there is a lot of good stuff, though rough around some of the edges especially if you are building “business apps” – you know, anything that isn’t a game. :) But one thing that I really miss from building Android in Eclipse is the auto-install to my Android phone. Here is a way to get 1-click install to your Android device, in Windows.

  1. You’ll need to have the Android SDK installed on your PC. More about that here.
  2. You’ll need to have your Android device plugged in.
  3. You’ll also need to install a freeware app called FileMenuTools – a fabulous tool that I’ve used for years.
  4. Open FileMenuTools and in the top left, click “Add Command”.
  5. In the Properties pane on the lower left, select “Run Program” for your action, for Menu Text I chose “Install on Android“, for icon browse to the SDK Manager.exe because it is an easy Android icon, for Element Types I chose “Only Files“, for Folders I chose “No“, for Files I chose Yes, and for Extensions I typed apk, then for Program you need to browse and find adb.exe in your SDK\program-tools\ directory, and for arguments enter install %FILENAMES%.

Now, if you right click on an APK file that the Corona SDK provides after a build, this should briefly pop up a command window while it copies and installs it to your device.

It will bypass the Install prompts and should show up directly in your Applications folder.

Windows Run Box Doesn’t Suggest Anymore

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If you are a regular user of the Windows Run Box, you probably have gotten very accustomed to a feature called “Inline AutoComplete”. This feature is very handy. You simply start typing for the file or folder that you want, and the Run Box suggests it as you type.

However, for some reason, my Run Box decided to stop suggesting files or folders on my C:\ drive or any of my networked drives. This makes work so much more difficult, especially when you rely on this feature and don’t remember the names of all of the folders.

Open the Windows Run Box in Windows XP (by clicking Start à Run or typing Win+R on the keyboard). Then start typing the location of a file on your computer. You can start by typing “C:\”. If you Inline AutoComplete is working, you’ll see this:

autofills or autocompletes as you type

If Inline AutoComplete is not working, you’ll see this:

when it doesn't suggest - no autofill

Of course, you wouldn’t know that it was called “Inline AutoComplete” just by looking at it, and it will drive you mad if you go looking for it. You won’t find this in the properties of the Start Menu.

To enable Inline AutoComplete, you have to go to Internet Explorer. Yes, this is a feature of IE. Under Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, scroll about half way down and check “Use Inline AutoComplete”.

Check "Use Inline AutoComplete"

There is no indexing necessary, and the change is immediate. Now when you go back to the Run Box, it will suggest as you type. See the Microsoft Knowledgebase Article here for more info.

Run a Batch File Invisibly

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Running a batch file invisibly can come in handy, especially if you manage computers for other users. It allows you to perform a task without the user knowing anything about it.

Its very simple. Instead of telling the batch file to run, you tell a Visual Basic script to launch the batch file; and Visual Basic has the ability to launch things invisibly.

Follow this demo and you’ll be up and running in just a few seconds

You’ll create two files: the vbs script and a sample batch file

 

Open Notepad, and paste this content, then save the file as invisible.vbs to the Desktop

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run chr(34) & "C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Desktop\1.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing

 

Open Notepad again, and paste this content, then save the file as 1.bat to the Desktop:

echo hello > "C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Desktop\1.txt"

 

Now double click on invisible.vbs. You should see a 1.txt file get magically (invisibly) created on the Desktop.

That’s it! Modify to your liking!

Automatically Upload Photos to Flickr

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Here’s how this will work: you’ll plug in your card reader or digital camera and all your photos & videos are automatically copied to the folders of your choice in about 3 to 5 seconds. Once the photos are copied to the PC, they are automatically removed from the card (this is optional, but recommended). After they have been deleted from the card, they are automatically uploaded to your Flickr account (as private, public, tagged, not tagged, whatever). All in the background without you having to do a thing.

I set this up because my photography workflow had turned into something horrid: I have two digital cameras that we use. One of the two has video, but I don’t use Flickr for my videos, I use Motionbox. So to get photos or videos off the cameras involved the following:

  1. Plug in each card
  2. Copy the pics from the card to the PC, name the folders, etc
  3. Copy the videos to the My Videos folder
  4. Delete the photos & videos from the card
  5. Use the Flickr Uploadr and hope it successfully uploads all the pics
  6. Upload videos to Motionbox.
  7. Come back later and delete the photos & videos off the PC after they got uploaded

I decided to put a little thought into it and get a better setup. I now do the following:

  1. Insert flash card into card reader right after taking pictures – pictures & videos download automatically in less than 10 seconds – card automatically formats (optional, but recommended)
  2. (photos are now uploading to Flickr in the background – so I leave :) )

I’ve completely eliminated my involvement with the computer. I simply plug in the card reader (or camera) and the computer takes care of the entire process of copying the photos over to the computer, then deleting them from the card. It then automatically uploads the photos to Flickr as private. All in the background without any of my involvement.

You can modify the batch file to upload all photos and videos to Flickr.

There are several steps you’ll need to take in order for the process to be completely automatic. Here is an outline of what all is involved. Start to finish the process takes about 15 minutes.

  1. Give Digital Cameras persistent drive letters (E:, F:, G:)
  2. Download Python
  3. Download the “Uploadr” python scripts
  4. Download the batch file for your camera
  5. Install TweakUI and add Batch file to the AutoPlay menus
  6. Configure AutoPlay for your digital camera
  7. Test it out

First Step

Give Memory Cards and Digital Cameras persistent drive letters (E:, F:, G:)

In order for you to be able to reliably copy images from a particular card or device, you should set it up so that every time you plug in the device it uses the same drive letter. With your memory card or device plugged in, right click My Computer and select Manage:

my_computer_manage

Select Storage ⇒ Disk Management (see picture)

In the right panel, your devices will be listed, probably with letters like E, F or G. Do not change the drive letter of the C: drive, and you probably shouldn’t change a D: drive if you have one either. Right click on the flash drive that you need to change and select Change Drive Letter and Paths: (see picture)

The next box shows you the letter that is already assigned. Just click Change:
change_drive_letter_box

This box will ask you what letter you want to assign to it. I start from the bottom, in this case, Z: (see picture)

It will ask you to confirm this. Click Yes. (see picture)

Repeat this for each card or camera that you would like to setup for this.

Now if you go to My Computer, your drive letters should be updated to the new letters.

Next Step

Download Python

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Application Download Folder

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Here is a huge, no wait, a huge time-saver for me, so I felt I must share it:

I keep a folder called “Downloads” inside the My Documents folder. Inside “Downloads” I’ve created three subfolders:

  1. Applications
  2. Drivers
  3. Operating Systems

Most people wouldn’t need all three of these, but everyone should use both the “Applications” and the “Drivers” folders.

Anytime I’m downloading a new application, driver or operating system, I keep the install file (.exe, .msi, or .zip). This saves a ton of time waiting for downloads, but in my experience the real time-saver is not having to go out and find the download again. It is just right there in my downloads folder whenever I want it again. This is especially helpful when it comes to drivers.

If you are good about keeping it organized, you can get quite a collection of applications going. My current tally puts my collection at close to a gigabyte of applications (not including operation systems).

If you just use one PC, you may not think you would need this. But after you have to reinstall a program or two, you’ll find this shortcut can really help. What’s more, if you keep this folder on the network, you can use this for any PC you are using!

I’ve found that these three sub-folders have kept it pretty well organized after having been doing this for several years.

Bonus Tip: Don’t include version numbers on folder names. Instead of “Adobe Reader 8.0”, name the folder “Adobe Reader”. Then keep the most current version in the root of that folder, and old versions I move to a sub folder called “Archive”.