For those of you who are using my Windows Layout Manager (WiLMa) and who have asked for command line support will hopefully be happy to learn that version 1.1.0.0 has the ability to apply a layout by using the Windows Layout Manager via the command line and in batch files. There have also been a few minor bugfixes and some changes to the documentation. Nothing too earth shattering, really, but the command line support was really high on the list of requests.
You can download version 1.1.0.0 from its page or directly by clicking here.
This looks really interesting but the Help isn’t working so I can’t work out how to use it. (Vista)
The “documentation” (or what passes for it) is also available online.
I’ve been meaning to develop one of these myself for quite some time. Fortunately, I knew that if I procastinated long enough, someone else would take the bait. Thanks for being that fish!
Great application, like the way it works and how customizable it is. One suggested: add an option to “Start up with Windows”. Meanwhile, I’ve added it to my Startup folder.
Cheers!
Great app, thank you!
BTW is it possible to enable option “Enable live monitoring” in layout editor? Will it automatically apply layout when defined windows shows up? That would be awesome, no need for shortcut clicking 🙂
hi could you tell me some thing 6/8 screen visor how much would the 6 set system cost for input via set load. speed responce on screen to screen set send, ie pic to audio thanks john
Errr… John, I honestly have no idea what you’re asking.
Stefan, have you considered adding a “Run command” option to each layout? This would allow users to specify a command line to invoke when the layer is applied. In my case, I use BgInfo on a 30″ screen. When I log in remotely via my 14″ laptop and then go back to the 30″ desktop, the BgInfo wallpaper is tiled instead of stretched. By being able to specify BgInfo.exe in the “Run command” option I can layout my windows and reset BgInfo in one shot! What do you think?
Launching apps and executing commands would be easy but so far I’ve had a few people ask for this in a different way; launch the app and then apply the layout.
The problem with that approach is that it’s a bit unreliable. Not all systems are equally fast and depending on how windows are created by the app itself, chances are that the windows don’t exist by the time the layout wants to apply itself. That means having to work with timers and intervals, a time-out or wait-cycle. But then it gets to be a bit trial and error and I wonder if this would end up being more of a problem than a feature.
I tried everything but can’t make this work. Nothing happens when I test, apply a captured layout.
Strange. I’ve not heard that one before. I guess since you can start it up there’s nothing wrong with the requirements and that the .NET Framework is installed and functional. What OS are you running?
Been using this for quite some time and love it. Recently, I’ve noticed that it seems to hang certain applications. We use Lotus Notes at work and I have IE9. I have one layout with about 20 apps configured by exe. When I press my hotkey sequence to force a layout, Lotus Notes and IE9 both hang; I have to kill the processes to restore them. I’ve since removed those two apps from WiLMa. No other apps appear to be affected the same way and all continue working fine. Any ideas? Thanks.
Hi,
I am from Brazil. Thanks for your dev efforts. I highly appreciate them, but unfortunately, after trying hard to make your Windows Layout Manager work with My Notes Keeper (www.mynoteskeeper.com), I could NOT make its main windows FULLY maximized (I mean here also as though hitting the window maximize button with a mouse left click) nor could I make its login File Access Password child window to be shown on top or be brought forward. Frustrating. Anyway, your program seems fine and thus I’ll give it some further try to assess all its possibilities with other program windows.
Kind regards.
MCHAL
Niterói, Rio de Janeiro
It is possible that some applications are designed that they won’t allow their windows to size or go full screen or even be moved in the depth buffer to be top/bottom, etc.
Hi,
Thanks for your support.
I am afraid it’s not the case of the program involved. Manually, I can make its main window fully maximized by hitting its max button. Anyway, thanks again. I’ll keep coming back and hanging out around here for any news, updates and improvements, if any.
Regards.
Awesome App.
How can i set WiLMa to recognize multiple media player classic windows (say 3 of them in different positions), since it has the same window title, process name and class name? I tried to set them (only those 3 of them) in a layout and while testing they just overlapped each other.
Thanks and Regards,
Red.
Hi Red,
Unfortunately, there are situations where a window/process has absolutely nothing that makes each instance unique enough for WiLMa to find it and tell it to modify the window properties.
Cheers,
Stefan.
Hello Stefan,
First thank you for Wilma, which I haven’t tried yet.
I’m working on a Windows XP system.
Could you tell me if your application allows to “remember” both the size/position of the window AND scroll bar position. Let’s say I am working on one of the t… files of a a very big folder, open the file then close the folder window. Now I want to come back to the the files beginning with a “t” in this folder, not scrolling trough all the columns, so for this the scroll bar should be at the same place it was the last time the folder was closed. Hope I am clear.
Thank you.
Greeting from Belgium.
Hi Olivier,
Ah, hello Belgium! That means that I can just switch to het spreken in het Nederlands. Nou ja, het schrijven dan, eigenlijk. 🙂
WiLMa won’t keep track of components of a window like buttons, sliders, scrollbars, etc. But it sounds there is an easier solution to your problem. If you open an explorer window on the desktop and you get your long list of files, just hit the first letter of the files you want to start with. If you hit the “T” key, you will automatically scroll all the way to the first file starting with T… that’s been part of Windows since, I think the days of NT.
Greetings,
Scenario:
I have Linux Virtual Services(LVS) Heartbeat/Ldirectord http cluster comprised of 5 Oracle Linux(OL) 5.6 vSphere VM’s [lvs1-5.dionne.net]. lvs1/2 are the VIP brokers and lvs1-5 are reals. I use tsung for all my load generation needs and I’m about to assault this cluster.
On my Dell M6500 Win 7 laptop I have 14 SecureCRT windows open to monitor the cluster as well as the tsung server and it’s clients. I carefully placed all the windows.
Goal:
1. Save the layout as LVS5-Tsung associated with ctrl+win+alt+l hotkey
2. Reboot M6500
3. Log in
4. Actuate ctrl+win+alt+l
5. Get that exact same layout back
Is this possible?
That exact scenario wouldn’t work because WiLMa does not have a feature where you can use a hotkey combination to save an entire layout that basically is “everything” or a predefined set. You have to define the layout first, before you can apply the layout.
Hi,
By accident I found this very usefull application – Thank you! 🙂
Sometimes it’s working as expected.
But frequently I experience the exception below.
Environment: Windows7
Even the Compatibility mode (XP SP3) or admin rights did not resolve the issue.
Any ideas?
Cheers,
Mac
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: Zugriff verweigert (Comment =Access denied)
bei System.Diagnostics.ProcessManager.OpenProcess(Int32 processId, Int32 access, Boolean throwIfExited)
bei System.Diagnostics.NtProcessManager.GetModuleInfos(Int32 processId, Boolean firstModuleOnly)
bei System.Diagnostics.Process.get_MainModule()
bei Ignytion.App.WinLayoutManager.WinManager.GetAvailableWindowsProc(IntPtr winHandle, IntPtr param)
bei Ignytion.App.WinLayoutManager.WinManager.NativeMethods.EnumWindows(EnumWindowsProc enumFunction, IntPtr value)
bei Ignytion.App.WinLayoutManager.WinManager.GetAvailableWindows()
bei Ignytion.App.WinLayoutManager.MainForm.ApplyLayout(DesktopLayout layout)
bei Ignytion.App.WinLayoutManager.MainForm.ApplySelectedLayouts()
…
Through try and error testing I figured out that the issue is caused by the option “Include invisible windows”. This option could be set in either in /Options/Configuration…/ or in /Layout/Edit…
Active -> Bang
Inactive -> Okay
Cheers! 🙂
Hi,
What an awesome tool!
I have two monitors @work, one horizontal one vertical and I tailored my own window layout which gets messed up whenever I connect to that machine with a remote desktop session. But thanks to WLMN not any more! 🙂
One thing I’d like to ask whether this is a bug or a feature:
I specified to move some windows to “Relocate to screen 1”
But when I apply the Layout repeatedly the window jumps to the other screen with each apply.
I would expect the Windows to stay in the same place after each time applying the layout.
Kind Regards
Thomas
That might be a bug. There has been something odd going on in combination of screen/display device numbering/ID and different graphics cards/drivers that I have never been able to fully figure out and deal with.
Stefan –
Got this app because of an issue I’ve got but this isn’t going to fix it. I’m in need of keeping relative window positions when my screen changes. My situation is that I have a 30″ monitor at work and just use the laptop screen at home and on the road. The laptop has a pretty high res but not like my 30″ monitor.
I was hoping for a % function and to be able to change the relative point. For example, my skype window should always be at the bottom right corner and be about 20% width of the screen. My outlook should be 80% of the screen height and leave a margin of 10% from the top. (These are just examples.)
Any chance of an app update to include this?
It sounds like a useful feature but I have to be honest that I have no idea when I might actually be able to sit down and do some Windows related development again. Things have been crazy busy to the point where free time feels like this strange distant memory where you wonder whether it ever existed or was imagined. 🙂
Hello Stefan,
many thanks for that great tool!
One question concerning Live Layouts – where are the corresponding settings?
Ahh, and did you get my PM?
Many thanks and greetings
GeFoxy
It’s a feature that was never finished and had a lot of problems.
Hello Stefan,
thank you for so many useful options in WiLMa!
Just one missing – Live layouts, as GeFoxy mentioned. Is it implemented in 1.1.0.0?
Many thanks, have a nice day.
Mirek
Unfortunately, no. There have been lots of issues with that feature and eventually it never matured so isn’t included in any of the versions.
Awww… Can you try and implement a live mode that would match the window when it is created? That is all I need for Live mode. If I move it, it won’t move it back unless I manually activate the profile or I close and relaunch the monitored window.
Has any consideration been given to allow WiLMa to start any applications that are not running before applying the layout?
I’d like a layout that configures multiple PuTTY, RDP and/or NoMachine! sessions but for the most part, I don’t want them running until needed and manually starting them is just icky! 🙂
I tried shutting down MS Outlook and applying a layout and it didn’t start it first. Maybe I’m just missing something.
THanks!
It’s something I’ve toyed with in the past but unfortunately can’t be done in a reliable fashion because there aren’t good ways to detect when windows are present of a process getting started. It ends up being polling and looping and causing more trouble than it’s worth.
Thanks for the response….I could see how that is an issue and how a smarter dynamic detection would be desirable, but a simple polling + configurable timeout seems fairly straight forward putting the onus on the user to adjust each application timeout as needed.
A similar tool called “TaskLayout” does start applications, but the startup timeout is a global setting. It sort of works but it must be set for the worst case startup delay. It also has a global flag to disable concurrent startup allowing for slow systems.
I’d be curious to understand your typical workflow for handling different layouts. Do you have all applications in Windows Startup so they are all running and you simple rearrange them based on the current task or do you manually start ones you need before running the new layout?
Right! You’d end up with a few additional configuration options to deal with systems that are slow, under stress, etc. plus the fact that a window of an application under control might not be the main window or open after start, etc. I did at some point go over all those things before dropping the idea.
My typical workflow was just to hit a few shortcuts to start things up. Never really had anything startup when doing an actual startup/login. Most of the time layouts were task based on what I was doing. If I was moving towards more heavy debug sessions I’d have the layout changed to that. If I was more e-mail focused I’d change the things I wanted in direct view, etc.
Stefan,
Thank you for creating WiLMa. I think some of the features that would be good to hit upon is the peer to peer and command line features on this application. Any more details on those features are much appreciated.
On the other hand, I’m totally new to this application and would greatly appreciate any help possible. I’m currently trying to launch this application as a User but it will only error out unless the User has local administrator privileges. Is there any specific folders I would need to give this user modify access in order for the application to work correctly? Do you know what else may fail upon adding these permissions?
Thanks
Hi Stefan,
I really like your program it works an absolute treat and is very hand. The one thing it is missing however is to start automatically with windows. I tried putting a shortcut to it in my startup folder but that doesn’t work. If you could make an automatic startup option that would be fantastic. Another feature to automatically apply a specific layout would also be awesome. To get around the slower machines startup times perhaps a configurable timer ie I have a decent system so I set the auto layout option to 10 secs after startup, people with slower systems could set it to 15 or 20 secs then people can trial and error adjust until they get what works for them im no coder but I imagine it shouldnt be that hard to implement?
hi,
sound like a great application but it does not work for me yet, I capture a layout, and remove all the invisible windows (it capture them anyway so I remove them manually) run test and most of the windows get in line with the layout but two are not (skype and jabber) they move from one monitor to the other for some reason,
if I save the layout and use the hotkey they disappear (minimize) -strange,
anything I might be doing wrong ?
Hi,
Does WiLMa also starts those applications registered in a certain layout?
It would make a wonderful functionality, because the user would press the shortcut and all his programs would start and their windows restored and ready for work.
Hi Stefan,
Are you by any chance thinking of putting the code of WiLma as open source? That would allow more features to be written by the community as this is the only real option for saving the layout of the windows and a great workaround for the Microsoft bug of not properly detecting the monitor after the machine wakes up from sleep.
Thanks!