Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Download it now from www.windowclippings.com.

Users running version 1.5 can upgrade automatically using the “Check for updates” feature.

The website unfortunately has not received as much attention as Window Clippings itself but I hope to remedy that in the next few days and weeks. It has the essentials however: you can download the latest version and order a license key. Once you receive your license key via email, simply open the About tab, enter the necessary information and click the Register button. All of the new features will be available to you immediately. Of course there are also a number of exciting improvements for those not wishing to register.

 

There are many new features in this version of Window Clippings. I’ve scarcely had time to stop and reflect but here are some off the top of my head:

Around the beginning of May I had to freeze new feature development so that I could focus on getting it to production quality and test all the new features thoroughly. There were inevitably things that didn’t make it into the 2.0 release. As such, I plan on releasing a 2.1 version in the near term to include those features or improvements that didn’t make the cutoff.

There are also some exciting new features that I’ve started prototyping and hope to introduce in future but as before I’m very interested in your comments and feedback so let me know what you like, dislike or would like to see added to Window Clippings.

There is so much more that I’d like to say about this release but that will have to wait for another day as I’ve been burning the midnight oil for too many nights getting this ready and desperately need some sleep.

I hope you enjoy this exciting new version of Window Clippings!

Stay tuned for more information and updates.

© 2007 Kenny Kerr

Published Sunday, May 27, 2007 2:01 AM by KennyKerr
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Comments

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 3:59 AM by Mike Dunn [MVP]

Congrats, Kenny! I've been using WC to do screenshots for my CodeProject articles, and it's made life *so* much easier. I'll definitely be using the new features in 2.0.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 4:47 AM by Karin Kerr

Kenny, I am so proud of you, Window Clippings is such a cool tool. I can't believe you got this done while looking after our 3 monkeys, while I'm away in England. you ROCK!!! and I love you

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 6:19 AM by Martin

Congratulations! I just registered it :-)

Short question: How can I include a menu in a screenshot? When its open before I activate WindowClippings (configured to use Shift PrintScreen), the menu closes when I click on the window to select it. After selecting the window it's not possible to interact with it to open the menu again.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 6:58 AM by berni2k

@ Martin: This could be a registered only Feature :(

@ Kenny: I remember the Feature SendTo Flicker, did it make it to version 2.0? Because I cant find it.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 6:59 AM by berni2k

@ Martin: Sorry didnt see at first that you registerd :P

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 8:11 AM by Stephen Mok

Hey Kenny, how much is registration? It doesn't say on the website (I'd like to know before I actually start the order process).

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:23 AM by KennyKerr

Martin: Thanks for registering! Regarding the menu, what you need to do first is set the “Delay before capture” option on the Image tab to give yourself a few seconds to open the necessary menu. Once this is applied you can start the capture process, with the keyboard hot key for example, and select the window. Once you double click to create the image, Window Clippings will give you a few seconds to open a menu.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:27 AM by KennyKerr

berni2k: yep, you need to register to use the “Delay before capture” feature that allows you to capture menus and other popups.

The “Send to Flickr” add-in didn’t make the cut. I will be releasing a bunch of additional add-ins now that 2.0 is released. The Flickr add-in is coming soon!

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:31 AM by KennyKerr

Stephen Mok: sorry about that. A license costs $10, as I mentioned in a previous blog post. I will update the Window Clippings website to make this clear. You can of course back out of the ordering process at any time. Payment is processed by PayPal (although credit card orders are accepted) and PayPal gives you ample opportunity to confirm your order before it is processed.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:35 AM by Dennis Riis

I just registered, since this is a great tool.

I have some ideas for custom add-ins - where can I find information on how to write an add-in ?

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:35 AM by KennyKerr

Mike Dunn: Thanks Mike! By the way, your articles are always a pleasure to read.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:44 AM by KennyKerr

Dennis Riis: Thanks Dennis! I wrote an article about add-in development that is a good starting point. It describes how to write add-ins in either native C++ or C#. You will need the Window Clippings header file for C++ add-ins or the Window Clippings assembly for managed add-ins. I’ll put them on the web today for download.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 11:17 AM by Nidonocu

Congrats on 2.0! Downloaded and registered! ^_^

One question, if I turn on the option to Freeze windows, what happens if this option is enabled and I snap a WPF window?

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 12:41 PM by KennyKerr

Nidonocu: thanks for registering!

Most of the time it shouldn’t cause any problems. In fact my testing with the final release didn’t reveal any problems with either WPF or DirectX applications and I may well remove the warning in a future build. Worst case it may affect the window rendering and you may need to restart the application. “Freeze window during capture” does appear to work without any side effects with Windows Media Center and WPF apps that I’ve tested.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 12:47 PM by Mike Conner

Applause for a nice little application.

I like the minimalistic interface approach, but usage may not be intuitive to all users. For that reason, it would be useful to gather all the previously blogged usage tips into a single Help page that's accessible via the options screen.

When I first initiated version 2.0 it somehow insinuated itself into my startup (bad behavior!), but I can't find it anywhere in the various XP startup folders. I want to run it only when I need it. I miss the "run at startup" check box that was present in the ver. 1.5 options--maybe I am not looking in the right place?

Finally, is there a way, perhaps in the registered version, to capture all or a portion of an entire Web page that is longer than the visible window, i.e., one that has to be scrolled to view everything? If not, is this planned for a future version?

# Window Clippings 2.0 Released

Sunday, May 27, 2007 1:17 PM by Brad Wilson - The .NET Guy

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 1:21 PM by Aaron

Kenny do you have some documentation explaining how to use window clipping? maybe a screen cast.  I can never remember how to use the thing after an extended break from taking screen shots.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 1:33 PM by Martin

Thanks Kenny, the delay function did the trick. Works perfectly :-)

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 3:38 PM by KennyKerr

Mike Conner: Thanks for the feedback. Documentation is a major missing piece that I hope to address in the very short term. www.windowclippings.com will grow to include many resources to help users learn to use Window Clippings for the first time as well as explore many of its more advanced features and extensibility points.

Version 2 uses the same mechanism as version 1.5 for auto startup. It is stored in the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run registry key. I realize not everyone will want to run Window Clippings automatically on login and that is why I’ve provided far greater control in this version for controlling this behavior. In addition, the first time you run Window Clippings 2.0, the Options window automatically appears allowing to you change or completely disable the startup behavior. You can then simply double click the executable or use a shortcut to create a window clipping as needed without any background processes. I’ve described these options in this blog post.

So Window Clippings 2.0 supports the same startup usage scenarios as version 1.5 but also introduces some new ones.

I hope that helps to clear up some of your concerns.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 3:42 PM by KennyKerr

Aaron: documentation is at the top of my todo list. For the time being please review this tutorial on using Window Clippings 1.5. The basic usage of the product remains the same.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 5:06 PM by Mike Conner

I don't remember being asked about auto-startup when I first ran version 2.0, but now that it has been set up, how can I change it?

Apologies for repeating myself, but the checkbox "Automatically run Window Clippings when I log on"  at the bottom of the General tab in version 1.5 Options is missing from ver. 2.0. So how do I stop this behavior? Please don't tell me I have to go into the registry!

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 6:03 PM by KennyKerr

Mike Conner: No need to use the registry. All the options you’re looking for are available on the General tab of the Options window. It works similar to the way it did in v1.5 but it is just more granular now with the icon and the hotkey being independent. If you simply don’t want the background processes then simply uncheck both options on the General tab and Window Clippings won’t start automatically. Specifically, uncheck “Use Print Screen key …” and “Show Window Clippings icon …” and click Apply. You will then need to run Window Clippings manually whenever you need it. You can use the /options command line argument to show the Options window in future or right click the capture window and choose the “Options” command.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Sunday, May 27, 2007 8:00 PM by Mike Conner

Thanks for your patient explanation, KennyKerr. I finally get it. The changed wording of that bottom checkbox confused me.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Monday, May 28, 2007 4:06 AM by Steve Crane

It's great to see version 2 available.  I've just registered my copy.

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Monday, May 28, 2007 4:46 AM by Mike Dunn [MVP]

hmmm, I don't like that new system, Kenny. It seems like it's too clever now. The way I used v1.5 was:

* Don't run it at startup.

* Manually run it from Start|Run when I need to take screen shots.

* Use Shift+Print Screen to take shots as necessary, and use the tray icon to open the dir where files are saved.

If I uncheck both checkboxes as you suggested, it sounds like I won't be able to do any of those steps anymore, but instead I'll have to run the EXE once per screen shot. :/

# re: Window Clippings 2.0 Is Now Available!

Monday, May 28, 2007 10:26 AM by KennyKerr

Mike: thanks for the feedback. It’s a challenge meeting the needs of all users at the same time. Some users have expressed that they much prefer the greater control and granularity while others such as you have expressed a desire for the old startup behavior.

For now what I can offer you is simply to suggest that you keep it running in the background. That way the hot key and the icon will be available. Alternatively, you can create BAT file that launches “wc.exe /hotkey” followed by “wc.exe /icon”. That would mimic the 1.x behavior. The only catch is that choosing “Hide Icon” from the icon’s context menu will not shutdown the “hotkey” process.

Since the only way to shutdown the “hotkey” process is to use the Options window I could reintroduce an “Exit all” type of command on the icon’s context menu to both close the “icon” process as well as the “hotkey” process. With that option you would be able to completely reproduce the 1.x startup behavior. I could even allow you to specify the /hotkey and /icon flags in a single command line so the BAT file would not be needed.

Would that be acceptable?

# Paint.NET » Blog Archive » Window Clipping 2.0 just released!

Monday, May 28, 2007 11:47 PM by Paint.NET » Blog Archive » Window Clipping 2.0 just released!

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# Paint.NET » Blog Archive » Window Clipping 2.0 just released!

Monday, May 28, 2007 11:55 PM by Paint.NET » Blog Archive » Window Clipping 2.0 just released!

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# Windows Clippings 2.0

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 1:33 PM by Daniel Moth

Windows Clippings 2.0