The Origin of TextWorx
Let me tell you a little story about how TextWorx came about.
You see, in the beginning there was a fellow coder who had a big block of text and he needed certain words to have double-quotes surrounding them. At first he would go through the text and manually type the " character onto the beginning and the end of each word. After awhile that became tedious and, being a coder - like any coder you, yourself, might know - he quickly became tired of performing a repetitive act when surely there must be a way in the world to make such a horrible task easier.
Now, that fellow just happened to be a go-getter - and this is true with just about anyone who codes using AutoHotkey (they just can't help it, you understand) - and he quickly devised a way where he could make the process faster and easier. Now, since in most text editors you can double-click on a word to select the word and then the words remains selected, he figured it wouldn't be too hard to grab up the selection with a simple copy procedure, add the double-quotes and then paste it right back into place. And you know what? That worked like a charm!
So, that is where the idea sparked. So, as it is with any coder (especially a AutoHotkey coder), that poor fellow just couldn't help himself. He worked up his script in such a way that he could surround words in all sorts of characters. Before long he could wrap words in double-quotes, single-quotes, percent signs (important for an AutoHotkey coder), hyphens - you name it. So he had to figure out a way to get all these commands into a single executable method - and this is where TextWorx was born - he put them all into a popup menu.
After he had a menu, his mind just exploded with all the possibilities. He started adding all sorts of functions for manipulating text and doing whatever kinds of tricks he could think of that could make use of a user's selected text. It turned into a way to get a user variable into the application without the use of a standard edit control. So he refined the way the clipboard was used, juggling the wonderful AutoHotkey clipboard procedures so it would preserve the user's original clipboard data. Then he secured the way TextWorx would return data to the originating text editor (some programs respond differently). Next came the user's options (everyone has a different manner of working, you know), and finally came the idea of a TextWorx Toolbar - which was essentially the same as the popupmenu except it was moveable and always present (of course you could toggle it on and off).
So now that there was a working application, that poor fellow had to create a help file so that other people could use it (and he, himself, might remember what it does). He also had to go and test all the functions to make sure they work properly and were documented correctly. He worked out icons for all the commands, built a setup file for quick-and-easy installation on the user's computer, and in the end everything was nice and shiny!
Whew! What a load of work it has been for that poor fellow! Now, that coder has never charged any money for anything he has made, but if your heart goes out to him, maybe you would like to bestow upon him some token of your appreciation - perhaps even just a thank you. He likes to know when other people use his programs - it is like being proud of one's children.
So, with that in mind, you can see why the main icon for TextWorx is a sheet of paper with a giant double-quote!
License
By using this program you thereby agree to the terms of this license agreement. You use this application at your own risk, and assume the entire responsibility of it use - that means that if it does something dastardly to your computer, it is your own fault. However, to reassure you, know that the authour has tested it and uses it himself.
This application may be used for any use private or commercial, and without any fees.
You may distribute it however you like as long as:
•You don't charge for it
•It remains unchanged
•Is accompanied by this help file
•You let me know that you are distributing it
Credits & Thanks
Programmers never work all alone; they share and use each other's libraries and resources.
•tf.ahk by hi5
•class_toolbar.ahk by Pulover
•Number System Convertor by Holle
•uuid.ahk by Titan
•LED Icons by Nick Stasov (I couldn't find the icon pack link, though)
•The main application icon is taken from the Tango Icon Theme
And I would like to thank the guys at autohotkey.com who have helped me over the years.
And much thanks to Mouser at Donation Coder for giving me a website and hosting my application and encouraging me with NANY mugs.
Information
If you have ideas for improvements, say thanks or want to report a bug, please use my contact form (also command 856) at:
http://www.dcmembers.com/bgmcoder/contact/
Here is my NANY 2019 thread for this application in case you want to comment or request a feature or have found a bug.
This application was written in AutoHotkey, using Notepad++ to join the 2019 NANY.
The authour is a Catholic Religious Brother (that's me), who writes programs for the benefit of the apostolate, and for fun. In the case of this program, it was made for me! And I have used it every day for several years even before it's publication. If you would like to make a donation to our apostolate, you are quite welcome! Just contact me using my contact page above. If you are interested in my religious order, check out our website.
