Thursday, September 21, 2006

Exposé on Windows

It brings me great excitement to announce that I have found a program that emulates the OS X Exposé function on Windows! Now this will mean nothing to ALL Windows users, and probably some Mac users too who don't know its name.

Gold Star Award!
Basically Exposé is a cool window organizing application that runs natively in OS X. To view a demo, navigate to Apple Exposé.

I have found this application an absolute heavensend due to its ease of use and sheer neato factor when you see all the windows swoosh about into a nice little arrangement, enabling you to see what you have open.

But F9, F10 and F11 only go so far. In OS X I reconfigured the left and right navigate buttons on the mouse to reveal all windows and reveal active application windows respectively. Obviously I couldn't do without this function in Windows. As sheer luck, fortune and fate would have it, I previously had downloaded a program to allow me to pause, play, skip and previous play iTunes when iTunes was not selected (very useful when Counterstriking or C&Cing). As I said above I reconfigured the mouse in OS X, so I've done the same in Windows!

Here are the links to the two AWESOMEFUL programs that have allowed me to become the smuggest Windows on a Mac user EVER.

And here is my AutoHotKey.ini file
; IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT GETTING STARTED: Lines that start with a
; semicolon, such as this one, are comments. They are not executed.

; This script is a .INI file because it is a special script that is
; automatically launched when you run the program directly. By contrast,
; text files that end in .ahk are associated with the program, which
; means that they can be launched simply by double-clicking them.
; You can have as many .ahk files as you want, located in any folder.
; You can also run more than one .ahk file simultaneously and each will
; get its own tray icon.

; Please read the QUICK-START TUTORIAL near the top of the help file.
; It explains how to perform common automation tasks such as sending
; keystrokes and mouse clicks. It also explains how to use hotkeys.

; Note: From now on whenever you run AutoHotkey directly, this script
; will be loaded. So feel free to customize it to suit your needs.

;Remap Left and Right Mouse Navigate to F9,F10
XBUTTON1::F9
XBUTTON2::F10

; iTunes Anywhere
; AutoHotkey Version: 1.x
; Language: English
; Platform: Win9x/NT
; Author: Polyphenol
;
; Script Function:
; Control iTunes from anywhere with hotkeys
;

#NoTrayIcon
#SingleInstance force
DetectHiddenWindows, on

#\::
IfWinNotExist, ahk_class iTunes
{
Run %ProgramFiles%\iTunes\iTunes.exe ;launch program
return
}

IfWinExist, ahk_class iTunes ; toggle minimize/restore
{
IfWinNotActive ; restores window
WinActivate
Else
WinMinimize ; minimizes windows
return
}

#SPACE::
IfWinExist, ahk_class iTunes
ControlSend, ahk_parent, {SPACE} ; play/pause toggle
return

#LEFT::
IfWinExist, ahk_class iTunes
ControlSend, ahk_parent, {LEFT} ; previous
return

#RIGHT::
IfWinExist, ahk_class iTunes
ControlSend, ahk_parent, {RIGHT} ; next
return

#F3::
IfWinExist, ahk_class iTunes
ControlSend, ahk_parent, ^!{DOWN} ; mute
return

#F4::
IfWinExist, ahk_class iTunes
ControlSend, ahk_parent, ^{DOWN} ; vol down
return

#F5::
IfWinExist, ahk_class iTunes
ControlSend, ahk_parent, ^{UP} ; vol up
return

;endofscript
I am pleased and/or smug. Also I award a Gold Star to Increment Software AND AutoHotKey for making me such a pleased and/or smug geek.