andrew_russell
01-16-2004, 10:29 AM
When capturing text, it would be great to have a few simple features to manipulate the text in "SnagIt Capture Preview". These are the simple bits of programming, that would really make the tool more usable:
1) Remove Blank lines (SnagIt often adds random line breaks)
2) Unwrap Text Selection
3) Wrap Text Selection
4) Sort Lines Ascending (Case Sensitive Checkbox Option)
5) Sort Lines Descending (Case Sensitive Checkbox Option)
6) Remove Lines Containing
7) Entab Selection
8) Detab Selection
9) Toggle Case (All Upper case, All Lower Case, Title Case)
These would save some interum steps with the type of data that I usually capture from my screen.
The critical one is #1. For some reason, SnagIt seems to "sense" or "create" linebreak where none exist within the capture region. A few lines will have extra breaks, then there will be none for a few more. Examples include captures of file directory listings in Detail view. Since SnagIT has faulty sensing for line feeds, this would be the most important to correct.
These could either og under a "Tools" menu, or as contextual options.
Otherwise, Love the product! [:D]
-Andrew
To remove blank lines: Filters>Layout>Remove Blank Lines
You can also check/uncheck Filters>Word Wrap.
Text capture is technically difficult, and sometimes does not work perfectly.
Thanks for the additional suggestions. They have been FW'ed to development for consideration.
andrew_russell
01-25-2004, 10:45 PM
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Text capture is technically difficult, and sometimes does not work perfectly.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
<b>Please pass this along to your programming director, product development manager, or senior developer.</b>
I’ve had a few thoughts about SnagIt now that I’ve grown comfortable with the interface.
Yes, Text Capture is a challenging bit of code. I switched to SnagIt from Structurise's Kleptomania. Your overall capture program is much more polished and usable for various types of captures. You're inclusion of "text capture", sets you apart from other competitive products like HyperSnap DX and CapturePro.
Since this is such a complex & difficult task, you might consider abandoning this area of development and licensing the "Direct Klepting technology" from StructuRise:
http://www.structurise.com/tech.htm
They use true OCR technology to do it. Thus, you can do text captures from "Terminal Server Windows" which just contain pictures of emulated text. Their engine can also do text captures from Flash Movies. It can even do text captures from screenshots of text. They literally use character recognition instead of reading from the windows API (as I suspect you do).
Their recognition is superior, but their utility & interface is very weak. Specifically, their application doesn't provide multi-monitor support, or have the great studio features that you incorporate.
I have no idea what their licensing fees are, but their code could reduce the need for internal development resources. Plus, you'd have the best "in class" product with superior technology. As a marketing and financial bonus, you could also kick up the version number, re-release the product, and collect upgrade fees!
With the development resources that “outsourcing” this code would free, you could focus on adding Copy & Paste functionality & history to SnagIt.
You could combine clipboard features such as those in the Mac version of Script Software's "Copy-Paste" ( http://scriptsoftware.com/copypaste/ ), and Silicon Prairie’s ClipTrakker ( http://www.cliptrakker.com/ ).
The PC versions of both products are practically abandonware with no updates for 5 years. I recommended examining the Mac version of Copy-Paste because the company only created a "limited" PC product. I suspect they are a “Mac Shop”, and someone with little knowledge of Windows Programming tried to port their code. Although the Mac product integrates very deeply into the OS, and I suspect that the programmers of the PC version didn’t know how to duplicate the product functionality on the PC. The result was a product that they “offer because it’s there”, but will never update or support.
The key features of their Mac product include shortcuts for text "Copy Append" and "10 Assignable Clipboards" recorded through "CTL-C-1", "CTL-C-2",..."CTL-C-0". They also keep clipboard histories through reboots, and they allow you to set clipboard limits on the types of clipboards to cache. (IE, no image data from Photoshop over 5Mb gets cached, or 200Mb Wave File Clips. But URL's and Text to a definable number of Kb get stored).
The coolest bit of programming on the Mac transforms the standard "EDIT", "COPY", and "PASTE" menu's in every application & contextual menu a cascading menu with the "10" clipboard locations. Their Windows version lacks this (making it a rather boring, generic product).
The history features of ClipTrekker are very useful, but unfortunately ClipTrekker causes windows to slow and crash if a user tries to copy large amounts of image/sound data into the clipboard. In cases where the machine doesn’t crash, large clips eventually start casing bad I/O problems as the utility tries to cache the clipboard to disk. Eventually, copy & pasting operations start to take 30-90 seconds. At some point memory leaks cause the program to lock-up or crash windows.
Since "Copy & Pasting" is a key element in the "Snag-it" product... this would be an excellent tool to integrate. You'd have a leading hybrid tool. It doesn't take much to get an "Industry Award" for best title in this category.
And, of the dozens of "Clipboard Utilities", over 95% are abandoned shareware or freeware from 2001 or earlier. They all have incomplete feature sets. If you do a feature analysis of this product arena, you will be amazed by the opportunity that exists if you choose to refine and integrate the usable features from all of the existing products. ("Clipboard Assistant", "Clipboard Express", "Clipboard Express Pro", "ClipBoard Pile ", "ClipCache Plus", "ClipGrab", "ClipTrakker ", "CoodClip", "InClip Internet Clipboard", "Kleptomania", "MemoClip", "Multiple Clipboards ", "Reclip 2000 ", "Yankee Clipper III", "Advanced Text Storage", "AutoClip Clear", "Clip It Easy ", "ClipMagic ", "ClipWatcher", "Copy Paste ", "EuroClip ", "ClipQuik", "Clipboard Magic", etc… these are a dime-a-dozen).
Because of the large availability of alternatives, I don’t think there is an economic incentive for these product’s developers to maintain these utilities. There is, however, a unique opportunity for TechSmith to incorporate these features into Snageit. You can benefit by leveraging these “Value added” capabilities to SnagIt. If marketed correctly, you’d have the competitive advantage over any alternative product (assuming that you can keep your product cost down.)
If done correctly, no person would have any reason to chose another screen capture or copy-paste utility. You’d have your Studio/Edit features, true on-screen OCR Text recognition, clipboard history, clip-board expansion abilities, and clipboard management features.
Five years ago, many people would not have known or desired a clipboard product. With the explosion of the Internet, people are now copying and pasting like never before. MS Office has given many users an introduction to this technology. Users have seen “how multiple Clipboards” can make their life easier. MS Office, however, only has a very limited feature set, and it doesn’t work well outside of Office Applications. Many users are also familiar with the frustration of trying to recall a bit of text, address, or information that they copied minutes, hours, several reboots, or several crashes ago. You would have little problem marketing the value of a resident clipboard history.
You’d be an essential tool for every Developer and Marketing person on a PC. You’d be lauded as “Utility of the Year” by every trade pub, and get free press. (And of course, you gain another Version Number, Release, and Upgrade fee… ;-)
These are just some Sunday afternoon thoughts. If you happen to take this under advisement, please add me to the beta test list… and perhaps drop me a free copy when you are done!
-Andrew