Proxi Blog

For those interested in in staying on the cutting edge of Proxi releases, there is a blueprint that will let you switch Proxi to the beta software feed. You can get the blueprint here:

Feed Switcher

It works by triggering on a hotkey (control-option-B) which will execute a shell script that changes the location where Proxi looks for new updates. You may want to relaunch Proxi if it doesn’t seem to “notice” the change right away. A trigger is also available to switch back to the regular feed (control-option-R).

If you feel more comfortable executing these commands in the Terminal then you can forego the blueprints and executing the following in the Terminal:

Beta: defaults write com.griffintechnology.Proxi SUFeedURL http://proxi.griffintechnology.com/software/ProxiCastBeta.xml
Release: defaults write com.griffintechnology.Proxi SUFeedURL http://proxi.griffintechnology.com/software/ProxiCast.xml

If you switch to the beta feed, you’ll notice a new release of Proxi is available. Version 1.1 adds these items:

• Added radioSHARK trigger (requires radioSHARK v2.0.1)
• Added radioSHARK task (requires radioSHARK v2.0.1)
• Added Battery monitor task
• RSS Monitor errors now display in the RSS settings view
• RSS Monitor now correctly handles more varieties of feeds
• Fixed a problem where unnamed triggers did not appear to be selectable

link: Proxi v1.0

In this update:

• Fixed a problem displaying hotkeys on non-U.S. keyboard layouts
• Fixed a problem where a trigger might not be selected properly after dragging a new trigger to the trigger list.
• Ability to dismiss a Screen Message in as little as 1 second.
• Finer control over PowerMate when turning at very slow speeds (PowerMate ballastics)
• PowerMate rotation triggers are ignored for a brief period after PowerMate button press or release. Should prevent false rotation triggers when the intent was just a button press or release.
• Screen Messages that do not open a new window should no longer drift from their intended location.
• Pressing ‘C’ while the Screen Message position control is active will set the desired position to the center of the screen.
• Fixed a problem where links contained in Screen Messages would not always respond properly when clicked.
• Applications can now be dragged and dropped into the icon well in the Launch Application task
• Proxi’s data file is now backed up before opening (this file is located at ~/Application Support/Proxi/Store)
• Proxi now directs first time users to the Blueprint Browser
• Added a Blueprint Browser button to the Main window.
• Proxi should no longer forget that it was in dock-less mode after an update.
• More robust Value Store syntax (allows easier manipulation of databases)

Mostly minor bug fixes and a few enhancements in this release.

Aja Bogdanoff wrote me yesterday and had these nice things to say about Proxi:

I’m an animation student who’s also teaching Maya training classes on the side, and I’ve gotten tired of having to constantly tell people “Now I’m hitting the F key. Now I’m hitting the Command key. That was the Space bar.” and I’m sure my students are sick of it, too. Today my husband, who’s a big fan of Proxi, suggested that I use it to display what key I was pressing and what that key does as I work, without having to think about it or explain it or anything. And I LOVE it! It’s totally going to change the way I teach the intro “here’s what all the controls do” class.

…

As I was telling Mark (the husband), the coolest part of this is that we went from saying, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if….” to having a totally functional and nearly perfect tool in about an hour. And it has almost all the features we could possibly want in it… totally customizable text, placement, colors, opacity… we’ll be able to add images when we get to that point… it’s really pretty remarkable.

So this is really cool. It’s great to see people using Proxi to come up with creative solutions to everyday problems. Aja and Mark even made a little movie to demonstrate her technique. You can watch it here.

Thanks Aja and Mark!

If you’ve looked at the Blueprint Browser in Proxi lately you may have noticed that several new Blueprints have been added allowing an AirClick to control various media players. They are:

• VLC AirClick Control provides control for VideoLAN’s VLC media player using an AirClick USB remote available from Griffin Technology.
  • Play/Pause - Start playing the current playlist item or pause it when it is already playing
  • Prev (|<<) - Go to the previous item in the playlist or the previous chapter in the DVD/VCD
  • Next (>>|) - Go to the next item in the playlist or the next chapter in the DVD/VCD
  • Volume Down - Decrease volume
  • Volume Up - Increase volume
  • Prev (|<<) while holding the Play button - Decrease play speed
  • Next (>>|) while holding the Play button - Increase play speed
  • Volume Down while holding the Play button - Toggle mute
  • Volume Up while holding the Play button - Toggle between full screen and window mode
• MediaCentral AirClick Control provides control for equinix MediaCentral media player using an AirClick USB remote available from Griffin Technology.
  • Play/Pause - Simulate pressing the space key. Also activates MediaCentral if it is not active
  • Prev (|<<) - Simulate pressing the left arrow key
  • Next (>>|) - Simulate pressing the right arrow key
  • Volume Down - Simulate pressing the down arrow key
  • Volume Up - Simulate pressing the up arrow key
  • Volume Up while holding the Play button - Simulate pressing the escape key
  • Volume Down while holding the Play button - Simulate pressing the return key
• DVD Player AirClick Control provides control for Apple’s DVD Player included with Mac OS X using an AirClick USB remote available from Griffin Technology.
  • Play/Pause - Enter if menu is active, otherwise Play / Pause movie
  • Prev (|<<) - Navigate left if menu is active, otherwise go to previous chapter
  • Prev (|<<) held - Rewind if playing movie
  • Next (>>|) - Navigate right if menu is active, otherwise go to next chapter
  • Next (>>|) held - Fast forward if playing movie
  • Volume Down - Navigate down if menu is active, otherwise decrease volume
  • Volume Up - Navigate up if menu is active, otherwise increase volume
  • Next (>>|) while holding the Play button - Go to menu
  • Volume Up while holding the Play button - Toggle between full screen and window mode
  • Volume Down while holding the Play button - Toggle mute
• QuickTime Player AirClick Control provides control for Apple’s QuickTime Player also included with Mac OS X using an AirClick USB remote available from Griffin Technology.
  • Play/Pause - Play or Pause the currently playing movie
  • Prev (|<<) - Rewind the currently playing movie
  • Next (>>|) - Fast forward the currently playing movie
  • Volume Down - Decrease volume
  • Volume Up - Increase volume
  • Volume Down while holding the Play button - Toggle mute
  • Volume Up while holding the Play button - Toggle between full screen and window mode

The Blueprint Browser is accessed from the Window menu in Proxi or the main menu if you are running Proxi in dockless mode. To install one of these packages, select the blueprint or blueprints to be installed and click the “Install Selected” button. You may also drag and drop blueprints from the blueprint browser directly into your trigger list.

Here’s an easy one. So easy in fact that it didn’t occur to me to use Proxi to do this until this morning.

I use VoodooPad (which, by the way, is a fine piece of software) to jot random bits of information and occasionally I need to insert the current date and time into a document. VoodooPad has this functionality built in, but sadly it is not bound to a command key. Proxi to the rescue.

To create a Hotkey that inserts the current Date and Time into any document, add a Hotkey Monitor trigger to your trigger list. Set the hotkey to whatever you like. I choose Control-Option-D. Open the extra values for the hotkey and add a new value. Set this value to Timestamp. Now add a Load Clipboard task to the task list and add the DateTime value to the “To be placed on the clipboard” text. Remember, if you don’t like dragging values from the Values window, you can begin typing with a “[” which brings up a value menu in many of the text fields in Proxi. Click the value popup indicator (the little triangle next to DateTime) to adjust the format of the date and time to your needs. Finally, add a Key Press task to your task list and set it to Command-V.

So now whenever I need to insert the current date and time I just Control-Option-D and Thursday, May 4, 2006 10:21 AM. Tada!

You can grab the blueprint here if you like (control or right click and select “Download Linked File” or “Save Link”): Insert DateTime Blueprint

Another easy one: Every once if a blue moon I need to look at an ASCII chart. What I typically do is google ASCII chart. A better solution is to just pop up a Screen Message in Proxi when needed like so:

You can grab the ASCII chart blueprint here (control or right click and select “Download Linked File” or “Save Link”): ASCII chart. The hotkey is bound to Control-A but of course you can change that to whatever you like.

I hope you find some of this useful. And, as always, we want to hear about how you’re using Proxi. Feel free to share your Blueprints on the wiki

The Proxi open beta has been out for a while now and it seems that a few people have a false impression about what Proxi is and how it can help them. For example:

“Do you have to have Griffin hardware to use Proxi?”

Griffin hardware is not required to use Proxi. Of course, we hope you’ll like what you see and consider extending Proxi’s functionality with the purchase of an AirClick or PowerMate.

“Is it an Automator clone?”

Not exactly. Automator will certainly allow you to define tasks (workflows), but it is missing the other half of the equation: triggers. To run an Automator workflow you have to click the Play button in Automator or save your workflows as applications and launch them when needed. Proxi allows you to describe events to trigger your tasks automatically.

“But it’s only free during the beta, right?”

Proxi is and will continue to be a free download even after the beta is complete.

So what can Proxi do for you?

Proxi has been likened to Legosâ„¢ for your Mac. We’ve provided all the pieces. It’s up to you to decide how to put them together. A few ideas are:

• Create hotkeys to launch your favorite apps, execute Automater tasks, or run AppleScripts.
• Customize your AirClick to control FrontRow, VLC, QuickTime player and other media players.
• Schedule tasks to run periodically such as a backup, reminder or alarm clock.
• Use one or more PowerMates to control GarageBand, iMovie, Podcast Maker and more.
• Initiate a Skype call by speaking a phrase like “Call home”.
• If your computer is equipped with an iSight, have Proxi periodically take a snapshot and use it as your iChat picture.
• Have Proxi watch for incoming email that contains a particular subject and speak the contents to you when it arrives.

The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. We hope you’ll take Proxi for a test drive and see what it can do for you.

Still not convinced? Head over to the wiki and get more information.

link: Proxi v0.20

In this update:

• Growl Notifier task
• Store Value task and extra value added
• AppleScript task now supports compiled AppleScripts
• “Save As Blueprint” added to trigger popup menu.
• Fixed a crash with Update preferences
• Fixed Check For updates command in dockless mode
• Filter items a little easier to select
• Fixed formatting of plan text extra values
• Launch Application task now shows icon of app to be launched as a badge

Yeah I know I shouldn’t really be adding new features to a “beta” but I couldn’t help myself. So a bunch of minor things and then the most requested addition: Growl Notification task. It’s pretty straightforward. Enter a title, description and select and image if you like. If you do not select an image, Growl will display the Proxi icon instead.

The next item is a bit more complicated and if you care nothing for storing values or later retrieval of these values both within Proxi and through other means, then you can stop reading now.

So, people have requested some means of storing a value and then retrieving it again later in another trigger. You could sort of do this with a Write To File task, but it was a bit clunky. Well, now you can use the Store Value task. Select the value you want to store from the popup menu and give it a name. You’ll use this name to retrieve it later. These stored values are persistent through relaunches and restarts.

To recall a stored value, add an extra value to your trigger. Select Stored Value from the popup menu and set the name to the name you used in the Store Value task. When your trigger fires, it will retrieve the value and make it available to your task/s.

Stored values use a SQLite database located in ~/Library/Application Support/Proxi/proxi.db. Mac OS X has included support for SQLite since the release of 10.4. sqlite3 is a command line tool that command line tool that comes with Mac OS X that can be used to query or modify these database files. And there are other 3rd party tools available. Bottom line, it’s a standard that Apple seems to be taking advantage of and so that’s they way I went. If you are going to poke around in proxi.db you should know the schema:

CREATE TABLE store (name text, type int, value blob);

Simple. The name is the name of the stored value. The value is data representing the stored value The type is a number indicating the type of stored variable:

0 = text
1 = number
2 = date
3 = image

If your going to be changing these records outside of Proxi it’s important to know that if you change the value of an image field to text but neglect to change the type field then you will probably anger Proxi when it goes to looking for this image data that is no longer there. So important safety tip: Never cross the streams.

Well there you have it. Hope you enjoy v0.20. Feedback here on the blog or the wiki is always welcome.

Good stuff from Brent Simmons, developer of NetNewsWire: How to manipulate me (or, Tuesday Whipper-Snapping)

And more good stuff from the guys at Rogue Amoeba developers of fine apps such as Audio Hijack Pro and Airfoil: Pistols At Dawn or How Not To Request A Feature

link: Proxi v0.19

In this update:

• AppleScript trigger
• Help menu now available in dockless mode
• About box / Splash screen reworked
• Improved updater
• Updater preferences
• Fixed extra value and filter item selections after a delete
• Exported blueprints check to make sure they are not replacing an existing file
• Assorted cleanup in anticipation of open beta

Mostly minor and cosmetic changes in anticipation of the open beta. I did add the AppleScript trigger though and that’s not really so minor. Not only is it useful for the obvious reasons, but you can also have Proxi trigger itself through an AppleScript task, allowing you to chain together triggers (be careful to avoid an endless loop). The AppleScript trigger definition takes this form:

trigger v : Proxi AppleScript trigger
trigger reference : the object for the command
description Unicode text : Description of the trigger
name Unicode text : Name of the trigger
[image TIFF picture] : An optional TIFF image for the trigger
[pictImage picture] : An optional PICT image for the trigger
[value integer] : An optional value for the trigger

To try it out, add an AppleScript trigger to your trigger list and set the AppleScript trigger name to “test”. Add a Screen Message task displaying the Description value or whatever. Then create a new AppleScript in Script Editor that looks like this:

tell application "Proxi"
trigger name "test" description "Testing Proxi triggers via AppleScript"
end tell

Run the script and marvel at the results. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.