Cecil Launcher Changelog

What's new in Cecil Launcher 2.5.5

• Note that, as this is a feature release — rather than a bug fix release or maintenance release — it might be a little unstable (which is unavoidable, given the significant number of changes and improvements it contains). However, I expect that all the issues related to the new functionality to be swiftly discovered and addressed. To help with that, don’t forget to report them on sight.
• Before I dive into the list of changes, let me put succintly a number of the business changes effective from this version onward:
• We are moving away from the freemium world, and toward a classic trial/shareware model. In fact, version 2.5.5 is the first that will run for a period of 30 days and then lock out, until a serial is provided. On the same topic, the 50 items limitation is gone. This is an attempt to make our users realize that usefull software requires work, and the person doing the work needs sutainability. The prices did not change.
• We are moving away from supporting historic Windows versions. Starting with this version, we no longer officially support Windows XP, Windows 7 and everything in-between. Bugs reported on any of these operating systems will be tested on Windows 8.1 – Windows 10, and if they fail to reproduce there, will be classified.
• We are also ending the cartoonish look of our software. Despite the fact that the laughing and sprinting turtle character (that seems to have just popped-up from a Disneys’ mid ’50s cartoon) has faithfully served us for the last five years, we decided to slowly fade him (her?) out, and embrace a more contemporary, minimalistic and monochrome approach. This will be a lengthy process, but the first step has been made by redesigning the application’s icons.
• Detailed changes:
• Got rid of the Scripting Home field; now using a native helper to do the job;
• Fixed in-app missing URL to https://cecil.ciacob.ro/site/index.php/category/releases/;
• Changed default trigger to be click, instead of hover. Since it appears that some users are unlikely to even consider tweaking the program, I picked up the behavior that is least prone to be annoying, and set it as the default;
• Added default content to Cecil’s menu for fresh installations, with links to video and release notes.
• Note: this content is only shown when Cecil Launcher is freshly installed. It is not shown on a subsequent install;
• Quick toggle buttons are visible changed to Reserved toggle area is visible in the Options page;
• There will be no more: do you want to save changes? dialog. If user tries to close while unsaved changes exist, they will be automatically committed. If user wants to close the dialog without committing changes, he can use the Cancel button;
• The ccl files got rectangular icons (as opposed to the program’s icons, which will remain circular). Also, the program icons have ben completely overhauled;
• Double clicking on a ccl file will now import it into Cecil, provided that you accept the prompt;
• The Configuration text area now uses mono spaced fonts (Consolas embedded) to make scripting easier;
• Provided assistive tool-tips for the controls in the Content page of the controller window;
• The Action drop-down control from the Advanced section of the Content page has been removed, as it was rarely used; auto will be assumed from now on; the title Advanced of the advanced section has been removed to gain more space for the Configuration section;
• The Trigger form field from the Content page of the controller window has been moved to the right of Item, to gain more vertical space for the Configuration field, and the values of the dropdown list have been shortened to: Click and Program launch;
• The Show style editor checkbox has been removed; the style editor is now always visible, always enabled, and visually connected to the Label field. The editor’s label has been removed as well. The Clear style button has been renamed to Reset style. The Show advanced settings checkbox has been renamed to Advanced settings;
• The Details field of the Content page has been renamed as Configuration;
• Colors available for styling the items’ text were revisited (they are accessible via the Style Editor, in the Content page);
• The Cancel button of the controller window becomes Close when there are currently no changes (compared to the time of last save). The Save button becomes All Saved, and is disabled, when there is nothing to be saved. The somewhat cryptic and save checkbox moves to the left, and becomes Close the window after clicking `Save`. Both Content and Options pages are being watched in order to decide whether a change took place or not;
• Note: a has changes flag is triggered by the altering of any value in either Content page, or the Options page. Clicking Save, Cancel, Undo or Redo clears that flag.
• Clicking Save does not erase the Undo/Redo history anymore. Clicking Undo or Redo actually commits the snapshot brought back from cache;
• Note: Undo/Redo have no effect on the settings page (aka Program Options), so clicking either of them after changing a setting actually commits (saves) that setting.
• Parsing shortcuts is done using native Windows code now; this means both legacy and contemporary lnk files are now supported; parsing of url files has become possible too;
• Notes:
• If an administrator has disabled the execution of WSH scripts on the current machine, parsing of shortcuts will fall back to our in-house lnk parser, which does not support url files, and only understands the legacy format of lnk files.
• Orphaned links (that is, shortcuts that point to non-existing or removed files on disk) are discarded now: when dragging one of these links over Cecil’s menu, no item will is created. If dragging several links, some orphaned and some not, only those that are are not orphaned will be imported.
• Working directory, arguments etc. that are found in the definition of lnk files are now imported, and translated into Configuration (previously Details) directives.