Trader's Little Helper

[AAR.oner]

downloaded the new version, have yet to install, but want to say CHEERS Roann! i really appreciate all the work you've done to make PC traders life much easier...

Thanks for the heads up, cmaz. I downloaded the new version, and it appears to be working just fine...

And thanks for the great program, roann!

Thanks I love this program!

[aaadbell]

Originally Posted by roann

Before processing a task Trader's Little Helper looks for its subcomponents in your Windows directory. The files below should be located in C:\WINDOWS (or whatever the name of your Windows directory is):
aucdtect.exe, cygwin1.dll, flac.exe, mac.exe, metaflac.exe, shntool.exel, shorten.exe

Roann, thank you for this program.

I just uninstalled the old version I had, and I reinstalled the new version 1.0.0 Beta 1 (Build 72). All of the files mentioned above except cygwin1.dll were deposited in my Windows directory. Now I already have a couple of copies of cygwin1.dll, one in my Windows/System32 directory, but not in C:\Windows. Did the TLH install package know I had a copy of cygwin1.dll, or is it not part of the installation package?

[Side question - where is a reliable place for people to download just cygwin1.dll? When you go to the http://www.cygwin.com/, it looks like you have to download a package - I don't see any way to just get the DLL file.]

Allen

[aaadbell]

A question about the user interface. When you drag and drop files into TLH, no matter what tab is showing, the tab switches to either Verify checksum files, Decode files, or Encode files. So you can't drag & drop to create checksums, test, get shntool info, or fix SBEs?

There is also no context menu support for fixing SBEs. Apparently the only way to use this function is with the Add button. Is this deliberate?

Finally, about the context (right-click) menu. The dialog box does not come to the top if the TLH window is hidden - it would be nice to have that option. Also, if you select the context menu but then change your mind, there seems to be no way to cancel the dialog box.

I think this is a great program. I don't mean to complain, I'm just pointing things out that I've noticed.

Allen

Could someone please help me out with this:

I've just installed TLH and tried the SBE fix option.
When I use the 'Pad Files" function in the 'pad mode' - after I have done the 'Fix SBEs' - I get this error message in the Process Log:

'shntool: error: invalid mode or option: pad
shntool:
shntool: type 'shntool -h' for help'

Any idea what this means and how to fix it?

[roann]

Originally Posted by aaadbell

... I reinstalled the new version 1.0.0 Beta 1 (Build 72). All of the files mentioned above except cygwin1.dll were deposited in my Windows directory. Now I already have a couple of copies of cygwin1.dll, one in my Windows/System32 directory, but not in C:\Windows. Did the TLH install package know I had a copy of cygwin1.dll, or is it not part of the installation package? ...

"cygwin1.dll" is part of the installation package, but if Setup detects an existing version of it on your machine it will not install it (some users reported problems with more than one version of the DLL installed). If Trader's Little Helper works fine on your machine change nothing. If not (error message "at least one subcomponent was not found") just move (not copy) cygwin1.dll from your Windows\System32 directory to your Windows directory.

Originally Posted by aaadbell

... [Side question - where is a reliable place for people to download just cygwin1.dll? When you go to the http://www.cygwin.com/, it looks like you have to download a package - I don't see any way to just get the DLL file.] ...

Just google a bit, there are lots of sites. But for the most updated version (not needed for Trader's Little Helper) it's better to use the link above. Before the download starts there's a menu where you can select what you want to download. I never managed it to just d/l "cygwin1.dll" but you can reduze the size of the download to a few megs.

[roann]

Originally Posted by aaadbell

A question about the user interface. When you drag and drop files into TLH, no matter what tab is showing, the tab switches to either Verify checksum files, Decode files, or Encode files. So you can't drag & drop to create checksums, test, get shntool info, or fix SBEs? ...

That's right. Maybe this will available with the next release.

Originally Posted by aaadbell

... There is also no context menu support for fixing SBEs. Apparently the only way to use this function is with the Add button. Is this deliberate? ...

Maybe there's an extended context menu in the next release.

Originally Posted by aaadbell

... Finally, about the context (right-click) menu. The dialog box does not come to the top if the TLH window is hidden - it would be nice to have that option. ...

This "bad behaviour" depends on the Windows version you're using. On my Win2K system for example the dialog box always shows up, on a Win2k3 system sometimes it does sometimes not. I don't know why. I've tried a lot of ways available in the net (including the official ones from MS) to get this working - but none of them really worked. So you have to live with that ...

Originally Posted by aaadbell

... Also, if you select the context menu but then change your mind, there seems to be no way to cancel the dialog box. ...

Unfortunately not. Already on the list.

[roann]

Originally Posted by pelle

Could someone please help me out with this:

I've just installed TLH and tried the SBE fix option.
When I use the 'Pad Files" function in the 'pad mode' - after I have done the 'Fix SBEs' - I get this error message in the Process Log:

'shntool: error: invalid mode or option: pad
shntool:
shntool: type 'shntool -h' for help'

Any idea what this means and how to fix it?

What exactly have you done? First fixed SBEs, then padded the fixed files, or padded the original files, or ...???

[range_hood]

Thanks roann.

Just one thing I´m really missing.
The ability to process (test) a big batch of files... f.e. I have a folder full of flac shows, some have subfolders, some sub-sub... What I do is doing a search for *.flac in explorer, but if I use the context menu feature the test encoded files sometimes is not available, and if, I get an error "List index out of bounds (0)".

The Encode feature looks great, could you implement other formats than wav as input files. Also an option to compare the sets after converting would be great additional to "Test encoded files". Maybe an st5 for each set (before-after) and an option to save this to a txt file?

-range

[roann]

Originally Posted by range_hood

... Just one thing I´m really missing.
The ability to process (test) a big batch of files... f.e. I have a folder full of flac shows, some have subfolders, some sub-sub... What I do is doing a search for *.flac in explorer, but if I use the context menu feature the test encoded files sometimes is not available, and if, I get an error "List index out of bounds (0)".

Added to the list.

Originally Posted by range_hood

... The Encode feature looks great, could you implement other formats than wav as input files. Also an option to compare the sets after converting would be great additional to "Test encoded files". Maybe an st5 for each set (before-after) and an option to save this to a txt file? ...

So you want some kind of "convert format" function (f.e. shn to flac)?

[range_hood]

Originally Posted by roann

Added to the list.
So you want some kind of "convert format" function (f.e. shn to flac)?

Thanks.
Yes, that would be great. And for documentation the evidence that the audio content didn't change.

[cmaz]

Originally Posted by feralicious

roann, if you're still checking in I have a suggestion. Can you make it so that when you switch tasks the files stay in the window ready to be uh, tasked? So that if you verify and they're fine you can switch over to decode and go for it. Unless I'm missing something it seems that you have to reload the files when you switch tasks.

i would echo fera's above suggestion.

And...as everyone else has said, Roann, i thank you so very much for this program. It has been immeasurably helpful and timesaving.

[tjmackzyxw]

One thing I've noticed in the new version that seems to differ from the old is when you associate md5s with TLH and you double click on one to open it; in the previous version if you did this verification started automatically, but in the new version you seem to have click on 'verify' to start the verifying each time.

Or am I missing something?

Hello all! I trade quite a bit in a couple of Yahoo groups and Traders Little Helper was suggested as a "one stop shopping" app instead of chasing around 4 or five different apps.

I've emailed the developer and figured that I'd post the problem I'm having here also.

I run the install on a XP home edition machine with 512 Mb memory, 120 Gig of free drive space, 3.2 Gig processor and I get "Internal Error" Expression Error 'Run Time error (at 6:476): out of string range.' three times while installing. I reboot the machine and when I try to launch the app I get "Range Check Error" then the app opens but all the buttons on the right side of the screen are blank - no letters.

I used "End It All" before installing a 2nd time to make sure that AVG or ZoneAlarm or Micro$oft's spyware app isn't interfering with the install and I get the same problem.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Side note - I successfully installed TLH on a Win2K 733Mhz laptop that I use for Web surfing so I know the install works.

Thanks in advance - take care, Doug