CLaunch - Release Notes

Changes in Ver. 4.23

Non-Activating Mode A mode that allows you to operate other applications with the keyboard while keeping CLaunch visible.
When performing operations on the active window using plugins such as "Window Operations" or "Keyboard Actions" by clicking buttons in CLaunch, you need to switch to Non-Activating Mode.
By assigning the special item "Show Without Activating" to a button, and assigning a hotkey or Direct Mouse Launch to that button, you can display CLaunch temporarily in a non-activating state.
When using Non-Activating Mode, enabling the "Make transparent only when inactive" option allows you to easily distinguish the current mode (normal / non-activating).
Note that CLaunch cannot be operated using the keyboard while in Non-Activating Mode.
Option "Icon Size" The Source Icon Size option for button icons has been removed and merged into Icon Size. The optimal icon size to retrieve from files is now selected automatically based on this setting and the display scaling factor.
Icons displayed in menus are also now selected automatically according to the menu Icon Size setting. As a result, the Use large icons option has been removed.
Menu Option "Use extra-large system icons" When the new Use extra-large system icons menu option is enabled, icons displayed at larger sizes are retrieved from the 256 x 256 pixel Windows system image list. Files that have high-resolution icons registered in the system image list are displayed with smooth images. However, other files may be displayed with extremely small icons. For this reason, it is generally recommended to leave this option disabled unless you specifically want to prioritize high-resolution icon display.
The /il menu option provides the same behavior as this setting. Therefore, if you want to use high-resolution icons only for specific folder items, it is recommended to leave this option disabled and specify /il for those items instead.
This option applies only to folder contents menus and does not affect the display of submenus.

Changes in Ver. 4.21

Option "Include tooltip text in item search" When searching for items, items whose tooltip text contains the search keyword will also be included in the results.
Items whose names contain the search keyword will continue to be included as before, even when this option is enabled.

Changes in Ver. 4.20

Button Layout In previous versions, button positions were stored as a sequential index. As a result, changing the window width could alter the line breaks and cause the button layout to shift.
Starting with this version, button positions are stored using row and column coordinates, which eliminates this issue.
Horizontal Button Scrolling When more files are registered by drag-and-drop than can fit in a single row of buttons, they are now placed beyond the visible area instead of wrapping at the right edge as in previous versions. These buttons can be accessed by scrolling horizontally.
When registering multiple files by drag-and-drop, the registration direction (horizontal / vertical) can be selected using the Item Fill Direction setting in the Design 2 tab of the Options dialog.
Button Row/Column Operations You can now insert or delete empty rows and columns.
Option "Separate designs per View Mode" When this option is enabled, the behavior remains the same as in previous versions. Design settings, button layout, and the Item Fill Direction setting are stored separately for each view mode.
When this option is disabled, the design settings and button layout are shared between both view modes, while only the window size (number of rows and columns) and the search window position are stored independently.
If you switch this option from enabled to disabled, all design settings and button layouts will be overwritten with the settings of the current view mode, and the settings of the other view mode will be lost. If you may want to restore the original design later, back up the settings before disabling this option.
The default setting for a new installation is disabled. However, when updating from an older version, this option remains enabled.
Changes to Keyboard and Mouse Operations
- Added the mouse actions Middle button + Wheel Up and Middle button + Wheel Down
- Added the following commands for keyboard operation assignments
  - Select First Button (default: Home)
  - Select Last Button (default: End)
  - Scroll Left (default: Ctrl + Left Arrow)
  - Scroll Right (default: Ctrl + Right Arrow)
  - Run as Administrator (default: none)
- Added the following commands for mouse operation assignments
  - Scroll Left (default: Middle button + Wheel Up)
  - Scroll Right (default: Middle button + Wheel Down)
  - Run as Administrator (default: none)
- Removed the following commands from keyboard and mouse assignments for submenus
  - Open Child Menu (merged with the Select Right Item command)
  - Open File Location (merged with the Open Folder command)
- Changed the behavior of the submenu keyboard command Select Right Item (default: Right Arrow key)
  In a single-column menu, it opens a child menu. In a multi-column menu, it moves the selection to the right.
- Changed the behavior of the submenu keyboard command Select Left Item (default: Left Arrow key)
  In a single-column menu, it closes the child menu. In a multi-column menu, it moves the selection to the left.
- Changed the behavior of the submenu keyboard command Open (default: Enter) when a folder item is selected
  In a single-column menu, the selected folder opens in Explorer. In a multi-column menu, the selected folder opens as a child menu.
- Changed the behavior of the submenu keyboard command Open Folder (default: Ctrl + Enter)
  If a folder item is selected, that folder is opened. If a non-folder item is selected, the parent folder of that item is opened.
File Name Length Limit In previous versions, the maximum length of file names or URLs that could be registered as items was limited to 260 characters. In this version, this limitation has been removed.
All editable strings in the Item Properties dialog, including Parameters and Start in, no longer have a length limitation.
Timing of Mouse-Assigned Functions Functions assigned to mouse operations for CLaunch built-in features are now triggered when the mouse button is released.
This change allows the mouse operation Shift + Left click and the button move operation Shift + drag to coexist without conflict.
Click Functions themselves still trigger when the mouse button is pressed, as before.
Changes to the Skin XML Specification
- Added the lockedbutton element, which allows a dedicated image to be displayed for locked buttons instead of the normal button image
- Added the following attributes to the arrangement element of the lockmarker element (lock marker settings)
  - offset attribute (offset from the outer edge of the button)
  - New zOrder attribute value "bottom" (drawn behind the button)
  With these attributes, the lock marker can extend beyond the button area and be displayed as part of the background.
  The included skins Glass and Solid Black use this new lock marker specification.
For details, see Skin File Specification.
Changes to the Plugin Interface Specification Due to changes in the internal data format used to store registered items, the plugin interface specification has been revised.
As a result, plugins created using plugin development kits version 1.07 or earlier are no longer compatible.
For details, see the plugin development guide included in the Plugin Development Kit.

Changes in Ver. 4.10

Advanced options for "Action if the program is already running" See here about it.
Option "Use low-level mouse hook" If you experience problems with the games, enabling this option may improve them. This option combines the previous version's "Set priority of click functions to high" and "Set priority of circle functions to high" into one option.
Option "Emulate a click when no action is performed" Changes the behavior if a function is assigned to the double-click or triple-click of the middle button, X1 button or X2 button, and nothing is assigned to the single-click of those buttons.
When this option is enabled, a single-click of the mouse button will not trigger the system processing immediately, and when the double-click time (500ms by default) has elapsed, the behavior of single-click will be performed. (The double-click time can be changed in the mouse properties of the control panel.)
For example, suppose the display of CLaunch is assigned to double-click of the X1 button. When this option is disabled, when you double-click the X1 button on your browser, the first click will execute the browser's "Back" operation, and the second click will display CLaunch. When this option is enabled, when you click the X1 button once and then click again within 500ms, CLaunch will be displayed, and if 500ms passes without clicking, the browser's "Back" operation will be executed.
This option does not apply to left and right buttons because it has a significant usability impact.
Option "Use the Windows key as the shortcut key" Enables the use of the Windows key for basic operations and item-specific shortcut keys.
When this option is enabled, the OS default functions using the Windows key (Windows key + D to display the desktop, etc.) will be disabled while CLaunch is activated, and inputs of Windows key will be passed to CLaunch.
Note that hotkeys are not affected by this option setting.
Option "Start searching by typing a character key in the main window" Even if the search window is not displayed, typing a character key in the CLaunch window will display the search window and start an immediate search. Note, if a single character key is assigned to a basic operation or item-specific shortcut key, that will take priority. In addition, the operation typing a character key multiple times will no longer be available as an item-specific shortcut key.
When this option is enabled, the search window will close when all search words are deleted.
Option "Select the first button in the next row when looping" This option affects the button selecting operation as below.
If a button on the right side of the window is selected, and you press the right cursor key, the leftmost button on the same row will be selected by default. When this option is enabled, the leftmost button one line below will be selected.
This option was added in response to request from user who use keyboard with knob.
Search window's skin Design settings for the search window have been added to the skin specification.
In the previous version of the skin specification, parts images for submenus were used commonly for the search window design, but from this version it is now possible to specify parts images specifically for the search window. Note, about fonts and text margins, there are no settings specific to the search window and the settings for the submenus are used commonly.
The <searchwindow> element in skin.xml is the design settings for the search window.
Hotkeys with Windows key alone or modifier key alone If pressing the Windows key alone is assigned to a hotkey, the assigned function will be performed when the key is released. This makes it possible to assign different functions to pressing the Windows key alone and the combination of Windows key + character key.
For example, if you assign pressing the Windows key alone to display CLaunch and Windows key + A to launch item A, nothing will be executed when you press the Windows key, but if you release the key, CLaunch will be displayed, and if you press A without releasing the key, item A will be launched.
Data folder location From this version, if you install CLaunch to a folder where write access by standard users is restricted, such as Program Files, the setting data will be saved to "C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\CLaunch".
If you install it to a folder without access restrictions, the setting data will be saved to the "Data" folder under the installation folder as before.
In addition, if you install the new version in an environment where a previous version is installed, the original Data folder location will be inherited.

Changes in Ver. 4.05

Unhook There have been reports of problems with some game apps, such as the game cannot be started or performance is decreased due to CLaunch. These are likely caused by mouse and keyboard hooks. If you experience such problems, first try changing the settings to solve the problem.
If changing the settings does not resolve the issue, unhook before launching the game will be a solution. For details of unhooking, please refer to the "Unhook'' section of the "Useful Features'' -> "Suspending the Functions" page in the attached help.
If you launch the game from CLaunch, you can set to automatically unhook before launching the game and resume the hook when the game exits.
See here for how to set it up.
Continuous Launch If you click the item button while holding down the Ctrl key, or press the space key while the button is selected, the item will be launched in Continuous Launch mode. (If the space key or Ctrl + left click has already been assigned to other functions in the settings when using the old version, there is no initial assignment operation for Continuous Launch.)
In Continuous Launch mode, the CLaunch window continues to be displayed even after launching an item, so you can launch any multiple items in succession. Unlike the Pin function, CLaunch maintains the foreground state, so you can launch items continuously with only keystrokes.
Continuous Launch mode is automatically canceled when you hide CLaunch or perform a normal launch of the item with a simple click or Enter key.

Changes in Ver. 4.04

Special item "Recent Items" Displays the history of items launched from CLaunch as a menu. You can set the item properties to launch the last used item directly.
Special item "Last Displayed Menu" Redisplays the last displayed submenu or Folder Contents Menu. You can set item properties to limit redisplay to submenus or Folder Contents Menus.
Special item "Clipboard Folder Menu" Displays the contents of the folder copied to the clipboard as a menu. This is the same functionality as the previous version's special item "Folder Contents Menu" with the Target Folder set to "Folder in Clipboard".
Hotkey List Transfers a list of all registered hotkeys to the clipboard in tab-delimited text format. Select "Maintenance" > "Hotkey List" from the main menu and click "Copy to Clipboard" in the displayed dialog box to copy.

Changes in Ver. 4.02

Startup option "/r" Discards the cache data and retrieve the icon images.
This is implemented as an alternative to the removed option "Cache icon images" (because of receiving a request to restore the option). By specifying it at startup, the behavior will be the same as when the old option is set to OFF.

Changes in Ver. 4.00

Submenus You can create a submenu on the button and register items in it. You can also create a submenu as a child menu within the submenu.
You can move the items registered in the page to the submenu by dragging and dropping, and vice versa.
The appearance and operations of the submenu is basically the same as the Folder Contents Menu, and the option settings and skin images are also shared.
See help for more information.
Item search While CLaunch is displayed, press Ctrl + F to display the search window and enter the item name, corresponding items will be listed. The display position and width of the search window can be changed by dragging with the mouse.
Select the target item on the list with the cursor key and press the Enter, or click with the mouse to launch it. If you display the property of the item, that will switch to the page where the item is registered.
The appearance of the search window is the same as the submenus. The option settings of icon size and font, and skin images are also shared.
If the skin supports it, a search button will appear in the main window. (The attached skins "Glass" and "Solid Black" support to the search button.)
See help for more information.
Overlay icons In addition to the conventional main icon, an overlay icon can be additionally displayed in the button. When multiple items with the same icon such as folders and document files are registered, displaying the individual overlay icons makes it easier to find the desired item.
You can set to display the overlay icons with "Change icon" button in the item properties.
Settings of disabling for each application In addition to the method of specifying the file name to the "File Name" field in the "Settings to disable for specified applications" of the option "Disabling", a method of specifying the path name of the folder is added. If you specify a folder path, all programs under the folder will be tagets of disabling.

Ex.1) When "C:\games\main\abc.exe" is specified, "C:\games\main\abc.exe" will be judged as the disabling target and "C:\games\sub\abc.exe" will be excluded.

Ex.2) When "abc.exe" is specified, both "C:\games\main\abc.exe" and "C:\games\sub\abc.exe" will be judged as the disabling targets.

Ex.3) When "C:\games" is specified, all of "C:\games\main\abc.exe", "C:\games\sub\abc.exe" and "C:\games\sub\xyz.exe" will be judged as the disabling targets.

Changes in Ver. 3.29

Support for high DPI environment The problem related to the coordinates of the mouse cursor, which occurred in the environment where the display scale of more than 100% is specified by the display setting of the Windows, has been resolved. It also supports Per-Monitor DPI adopted in Windows 8.1 or later.

Changes in Ver. 3.28

Supports UWP apps Registration and launching of UWP apps (such as Microsoft Edge and settings of Windows 10) has been supported. However, there are following restriction.
- Application-specific icons can not be obtained.
  (There are some exceptions that are able to obtained icon such as Microsoft Edge.)
- The privilege level can not be changed. (Can not use "Run as administrator".)
- Depending on the applications, "Window state", "Priority" and "Behavior of Multiple Launch" that are set in the properties of the buttons may not function properly.
How to register UWP apps to the buttons Register the UWP apps by the following procedure.
1. Launch the application that you want to register.
2. Right-click on a blank button and select "Register Item" from the blank button menu.
3. Click the "Existing Windows" button in the "Register Item" dialog box.
4. Click a window of the application you want to register, then Application User Model ID of the application will be displayed.
5. Click "OK" button to complete the registration.
* Depending on the applications, if the position that you click in step 3 above is bad, the information required for registration may not be obtained.

ex.) When you register the "Settings" of Windows 10.

If you click the client area of the window,
=> "windows.immersivecontrolpanel_cw5n1h2txyewy ..." will be displayed.
(OK. The necessary information has been obtained.)

If you click the title bar,
=> "C:\WINDOWS\system32\ApplicationFrameHost.exe" will be displayed.
(NG. The necessary information has not been obtained.)
Dragging and dropping a text data to the program buttons You can drag the URL from the address bar of the browser and drop it to the button another browser is registered.
Command line option "/a" When CLaunch is initially displayed by /n, /l, /m or /s of command line parameters at startup, it will not be automatically hidden even if you move the cursor outside the window. But if you additionally specify the /a, the auto-hide function will be enabled.

Changes in Ver. 3.27

Scrolling feature of buttons If there are hidden buttons outside of display area of CLaunch window, the buttons became able to be scrolled by mouse wheel rotation.
The scroll state can be reset automatically at specified timing by setting of "Auto-reset of scrolling state" in the "Pages" tab of options. This feature is usefull if you place less frequently used buttons to the hidden bottom area. (These options affect individually to each page)
Key operations for scrolling When you select a button to direction that is outside of CLaunch window with Up key or Down key, the buttons will be scrolled and the hidden buttons will be displayed.
However, if you enable the "Don't scroll with keyboard selection of buttons" in the "Keyboard" tab of options, buttons will not be scrolled and the button on the opposite side will be selected. Even if this option is enabled, you can scroll buttons by Ctrl + Up and Ctrl + Down.
Mouse operations for scrolling The default mouse operations for scrolling are "Wheel rotation up with right button" and "Wheel rotation down with right button", but these assignment can be changed at "Mouse" tab of options.
Mouse shortcuts can be assigned individually for "Buttons" and "Title bar". So if you assign the "Scrolling" to the wheel rotation on the buttons and "Page switching" to the wheel rotation on the title bar, you can scroll the buttons by wheel rotation on the button area and switch the display page by wheel rotation on the other area.

Changes in Ver. 3.25

Restriction settings for particular applications You can suspend hotkeys, Direct Mouse Launch or display operation of CLaunch when a specified application is being activated.
This function can be set by clicking the button that is added to at bottom of the "Disabling" tab of the options.
Click functions of the screen corner In addition to the conventional edge functions, the four corners of the screen have been added to the target range of click functions.
Clipboard replacement tag for URL items You can view a website with standard browser by clicking an URL item. If you set <clipboard> as a parameters in button properties of the URL item, the clipboard string will be joined after the URL.
For example, register the string "https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=" as a URL item, and set as a parameters in the button properties. Click this button after copying any words that you want to search for to the clipboard, then you can search the words by Google.
The option "Assign shortcut key automatically when item is registered" The function that initials of the filename is assigned automatically to the shortcut key when an item has been registered became optional.
You can set enable or disable this function at "Keyboard" tab of the options.
Changing of the start-up method of the items The problem that Flash videos cannot be played with the browsers that are launched by CLaunch might be improved.

Changes in Ver. 3.23

ClAdmin In Windows Vista or later, CLaunch cannot be displayed by mouse operation or hotkey when the applications that are running in the administrator privilege are activated due to UAC(User Account Control).
If you start CLaunch with the administrator privilege you will be able to work around this restriction, but CLaunch will not be able to accept the files by drag-and-drop from the applications that are running in standard user privileges such as Explorer.
ClAdmin can resolve these issues simultaneously.
Please refer to the help for more information.
The option "Show shell menu by right-click" for buttons Context menu of the Windows will be displayed when you right-click on the buttons by this option.
When this option is enabled, the default button menu can be displayed by right-click while holding down the shift key.
Clipboard replacement tag for the parameters If the tag is included in the parameters of the program buttons, it will be replaced by the string in the clipboard.
For example, set "http://www.google.com/search?q=<clipboard>" as a parameters in the properties of a browser button. (Double quotes have to be included)
Click this button after copying any words that you want to search for to the clipboard, then you can search the words by Google.
If you assign a hotkey to this button, it will be more usefull.
"Blank space of Explorer" of click functions in Windows 7 "Blank space of Explorer" of click functions which was disabled because of specification change of Windows has been reactivated.
However, if "Set priority of click functions to high" in the "Clicks" tab of the options is activated and "Blank space of Explorer" of click functions are used, it will cause reduction of system performance. So combination of these options cannot be used.
"Set priority of circle functions to high" in the "Circles" tab does not affect to this issue.
Folder Contents Menu options "/is" and "/il" You can specify the size of the icon of the Folder Contents Menu individually for each button.
If you set "/is32 /il" to "Menu options" in the properties of folder button, 32 x 32 pixels icons will be displayed on the menu.
Opening Start Menu with Folder Contents Menu. Start menu of All Users and login user became to be merged and displayed in integrated Folder Contents Menu.
You can use it instead of the Start menu which was removed in Windows 8.
Skin images of JPG format You can use photos taken with a digital camera to the background of the skins.

Changes in Ver. 3.22

Open Folder (Keyboard shortcuts, Mouse shortcuts) This command was added to open a folder directly with Explorer if default behavior of the folder button is set to "Open as Menu".
If you invoke this command for the program buttons or document buttons, it will work the same as "Open Parent Folder".
"Right-click while holding down the left button" and "Ctrl + Enter" are assigned to this function by default.
Open This Folder (Keyboard shortcuts, Mouse shortcuts) It's a dedicated command for the Folder Contents Menu.
It opens the folder that is being displayed by the Folder Contents Menu with Explorer.
"Right-click while holding down the left button" and "Ctrl + O" are assigned to this function by default.
Copy Path Name (Keyboard shortcuts, Mouse shortcuts) It's a dedicated command for the Folder Contents Menu.
Copy the path names of the selected files in the menu to the clipboard.
If more than one file are selected, it will be separated by carriage returns.
"Ctrl + Shift + C" is assigned to this function by default.
"Target Folder" option for the "Folder Contents Menu" of special items "Last opened folder as menu" option has been added. It opens the folder that was displayed in the last at the bottom level of the menus.
"Folder in clipboard" is a conventional operation, but dedicated option "Always open parent folder" has been added. When this option is enabled, the parent folder will be displayed as in the case of files even if path name of folder is copied to the clipboard. This option is usefull when you use this item together with a mouse gesture software. (see below)

Changes in Ver. 3.21

Clipboard launch Opens the files that have been copied to the clipboard with registered program.
If registered file is the document, it will be opened by the associated program.
"Folder Contents Menu" of special items It displays the folder that has been copied to the clipboard by the Folder Contents Menu.
It is implemented to display the Folder Contents Menu with the mouse gesture software as follows.
1. Register the "Folder Contents Menu" of special items to a button and assign the hotkey.
2. Assign the following operations in setting of the mouse gesture software.
  "Press Ctrl + C" -> "Wait 500ms" -> "Press [Hotkey*]"
  * Hotkey that was assigned at procedure 1.
3. Select a file on the Explorer and operate the mouse gesture that was assigned at procedure 2, then selected folder will be displayed by the Folder Contents Menu.
The following are setting example of MouseGestureL.ahk

- - - - - - - - - - - (Can be imported via the clipboard) - - - - - - - - - - -
[Explorer]
WClass=ExploreWClass
WClass=CabinetWClass
WClass=Progman

[CLaunch]
Exe=CLaunch.exe

[MB_→]
G=MB_R_
Explorer=;Folder Contents Menu<MG_CR>if (!MG_Defer()) {<MG_CR><MG_TAB>if (!WinActive("ahk_id" . MG_HWND)) {<MG_CR><MG_TAB><MG_TAB>WinActivate<MG_CR><MG_TAB>}<MG_CR><MG_TAB>SavedClipboard := ClipboardAll<MG_CR><MG_TAB>Clipboard =<MG_CR><MG_TAB>Send, ^c<MG_CR><MG_TAB>ClipWait, 1<MG_CR><MG_TAB>if (ErrorLevel == 0) {<MG_CR><MG_TAB><MG_TAB>Send,+^e<MG_CR><MG_TAB>}<MG_CR>} else {<MG_CR><MG_TAB>Sleep, 500<MG_CR><MG_TAB>Clipboard := SavedClipboard<MG_CR><MG_TAB>SavedClipboard =<MG_CR>}

[MB_←↑]
G=MB_LU_
CLaunch=;Open Parent Folder<MG_CR>MG_StopNavi(1)<MG_CR>MG_Move()<MG_CR>Send, {BS}
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In this example, the hotkey "Shift + Ctrl + E" is assigned to the "Folder Contents Menu" in the button properties of CLaunch.
When you select a file on the Explorer and move a cursor to right while holding down the middle button, selected folder will be displayed by the Folder Contents Menu.
When you move a cursor to left and up on the menu while holding down the middle button, the parent folder will be displayed.