What's new here at
Outside The Box?
Keep up to date on new releases, updates, and happenings.

Today I'm releasing version 1.2 of InputBox.  I received an email from a user who pointed out that the caption wasn't displaying as it should have been when the /M option was used.  After a little digging, I found a bug in a 3rd party library that I used in the code.  I reported the bug to the authors and coded a simple fix into my program.  

Wow - I just realized that in 5 more days this site will be 2 years old!  I think we should celebrate!  I know! On February 4, 2003 all the software on my site will be FREE!  Well, hey, sounds good anyway, right?  :)   Maybe we can talk Microsoft into doing the same on their anniversary?

In other news, in about 2 weeks I'm going to become a Daddy.  From what I've been told, I'll have no time to code after the baby comes, so I'm going to do my best to get the coding done before my free time drops from little to none.   Wish me luck!

Shortcut Creator hasn't changed too much.  I did fix a bug that prevented the #APPDATA# token from getting translated correctly.  A few more system folders are now available via the new SmarToken engine.  

Stay tuned - more updates are in the works.  There's no ETA yet (one of the benefits of not being paid is that my schedule is up to me) but things are coming along -- including our baby, who is due in October. After (s)he comes along, updates might be few and far between.  At least that's what I'm told.  :)           

There are a few other new programs in the works, whether they'll ever get finished enough to be posted here remains to be seen.  My wife is 5 months pregnant with our first child, so there's a lot to be done around the house, and coding is one of the areas that tends to suffer when a time crunch is on.  But I'll do my best.  :)

Another program, Shortcut Creator, was also updated to version 1.0 final from 1.0 beta.  The only major change was the ability to create the entire folder path to a shortcut if it didn't exist.  This was suggested by "Aloisia Vonotar", a Civilization III fan who uses the program for installing custom maps in the game.

I believe that's about it for the updates for now.  Greetings to all the Gnomies whom I expect will be showing up here any day now.  :-) 

Version 2.1 of Shutdown Stopper is released.  New in this version is the ability to execute a program when a shutdown attempt occurs.  This makes it easier to automate processes if you have a program that attempts to force a shutdown.  Now, you can abort the shutdown and use the attempt to kick off another process.  In fact, the command executed can change each time a shutdown attempt is trapped.  This new flexibility should open a few doors for those doing completely automated installs and software updates.  Thanks to Troy Randle for this great idea.    

Also updated EnvRep to version 2.1.  New in this version is the ability to access Clipboard text data so that it can be used in your scripts.  Unfortunately the size of the executable almost tripled with this added code, so if you don't need this functionality you may just want to stay with version 2.0.  No other bug fixes or enhancements were made.

Variable Replacement Batch Processor v2.0 is in beta.  While it won't be posted to the main page until it's been tested further, I am giving it out to select individuals by request.  New features include an enhanced, more standard interface and the ability to launch VRBP from a batch file for complete automation.  Updated to make working with config files much easier as well.  Email me if you're interested in beta testing this new version.

Also noticed that ShellCity.Net has selected four of my programs to be featured on their site.  Hop on over there and see what else they've got that might be useful to you.