Kenny Kerr

Some exciting news for C++ developers

Herb Sutter announced some very exciting news coming from the C++ committee. We can look forward to lambda expressions, closures, inheriting constructors, nested exceptions, and more.

There’s no telling yet when exactly these additions will make their way into compilers like Visual C++ but approval by the committee is certainly a good kick start. Combine this with the previously approved TR1 update and I would expect the next major release of Visual Studio to be a very exciting one for C++ developers.

I have written an article on the TR1 and MFC updates to Visual C++ that will be published in MSDN Magazine in the next month or two. Stay tuned!

Window Clippings 2.1: How to Install

As Window Clippings 2.1 does not include an installer and requires no real installation or configuration steps prior to using it, it’s quite straightforward to “install” it. I do however realize that it may not be obvious to everyone and that is why the upcoming 2.5 release includes an installer. For now however I thought I’d briefly walk through the steps you need to follow to get Window Clippings up and running for the first time.

1. Go to www.WindowClippings.com.

2. Click on the link to download WindowClippings.exe. There are two links. If you’re not sure which one you need simply click the first one (for x86) as this will work either way.

3. Save the file to your computer’s hard drive. This file is the Window Clippings application itself (and not an installer).

4. Open the folder where you saved the file and double click on WindowClippings.exe to start it for the first time. Windows may block the downloaded file to ensure that you really want to run a downloaded application. Be sure to clear the checkbox in the warning dialog so that Windows does not prompt you again, and then click the Run button.

5. Window Clippings is initially visible in the notification area. As the welcome balloon mentions, you can double click the icon to start capturing screenshots immediately or right click the icon for more options.

That’s it. You’ve installed Window Clippings!

You can purchase a Window Clippings license here.

Stay tuned for more “How to ...” articles.

© 2008 Kenny Kerr

Window Clippings 2.1

Sorry for the lack of updates on my blog lately. But in the famous words of Dean Hachamovitch: “please don’t mistake silence for inaction”.  :)

As usual, you can get the update via the “Check for Updates” button on the About tab. New users can download the latest version from http://www.windowclippings.com/.

I’ve been hard at work on the upcoming 2.5 release which is turning into quite a feature-packed release. At the same time I know that many users would appreciate an update to address some of the most common usability requests so I decided to release version 2.1 to meet that need. This release is relatively minor with just a handful new features but is notable in that it is the first update to Window Clippings in some time and includes lots of small improvements and bug fixes driven by your feedback.

New Features

A “Send To” menu has been added to the capture screen’s context menu. This allows you to override the default action sequence and send the captured image to an arbitrary “Send To” action of your choice. This is handy if you frequently want to change where you send your images.

A new Selection tab allows you to control the default behavior of the capture and selection process.

Other Changes

As you start using the new version you might notice a lot of small changes designed to make using Window Clippings easier and more pleasant.

Window Clippings now uses Windows Vista fonts throughout (Segoe UI for normal text and Calibri for headings).

I’ve also changed the behavior of the notification icon’s Exit command after Daniel Moth convinced me that the original behavior was wrong. Exit now simply exits Window Clippings but doesn’t affect the startup options.

There are many other improvements and bug fixes. For example the performance of the capture screen on Windows Vista is also improved considerably.

I’ve also made the decision to stop providing a completely free version of Window Clippings going forward. The good news for prospective users is that all of the features are now available to non-registered users so you can try any and all features before you decide to purchase a license. I believe this change will make it easier for new users to evaluate the product and allow me to invest more in the development of Window Clippings.

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoy this new version. And as usual I’m looking forward to your feedback on this new version as well as what you’d like to see in the future. With this release out of the way I will be able to start writing about some of the new features in the upcoming 2.5 release. Stay tuned!

© 2008 Kenny Kerr

Terminal Services Sessions: Then and Now

Recently Daniel Moth from Microsoft UK asked me to write a short article for the MSDN Flash newsletter. The only caveat was that it absolutely had to be no more than 500 words. Yikes.

I ended up writing a brief history of Terminal Services sessions: With the introduction of Windows Vista, developers have been warned that “session 0 isolation” is a compatibility issue to be aware of. What exactly is session 0 and where did it come from? A brief history of Terminal Services sessions should put things into perspective.

Read this month’s MSDN Flash.

Daniel packs the newsletter full of useful information for developers. Subscribe now!

Enjoy!

If you’re looking for one of my previous articles here is a complete list of them for you to browse through.

© 2008 Kenny Kerr