Looking for Program that Fixes the Layout of Windows on the Desktop

Hi, free Autohotkey.

A simple script with alternate lines that

a. launches a program
b. MOVEs the window (and optionally resizes it) using this command:


Have your script launch on startup - you can rt click the ahk text file and compile it to an exe if you wish.

I'm going to definitely give it a try. It looks a little complicated because I'm not that familiar with AutoHotkey but if it'll allow me to open the same window in the same position every time I boot up, then I'm golden. And you'll have to send me your address so I can mail you my firstborn. Express Mail of course. :)

By the way, I would give you some reputation points right now but they won't let me since I just gave you some yesterday. But I won't forget to give you some later. :)

For each program you'd need to do something like (you can check the command in the extensive help file)

Run, ........

You'd then need a loop testing for the presence of the window 'cos it will take time to launch and appear which could use

loop {
} Until Winexist, ........

; i.e. until the window is present then

Move, .............


Getting the test for the presence of the window right will be the tricky bit.

Autohotkey is ideal for trialling things- you can test a single line of script in an ahk file.
If a line is wrong, you get a message identifying the line.

Note- never tried two monitors, so I've no idea how to discriminate between them. However Autohotkey has an active forum where you can ask for help.

Thanks... Which courier do you recommend?

Hi, the brief description of Winmove tells all:

Changes the position and/or size of the specified window.

The full version
WinMove, WinTitle, WinText, X, Y , Width, Height, ExcludeTitle, ExcludeText
- lets you set where the window will be, and its size (width, height).

Note: not all windows are resizable (some 3rd party progs).


Launching the programs so as to get exactly the window you want will depend on you finding a way to do that for each program.

There are two basic ways:
- the exe may accept parameters (you may need to research this, if the information is available).

- use Autohotkey to interact with the window (i.e. press appropriate buttons).
This can be fiddly to set up, and then become out of date if the program GUI changes.

Here's a simple example of a script that launches Notepad and moves and resizes it 5 times.

Install Autohotkey, put the script below into a text file, then change the extension to ahk. Double click the ahk file.

;
; Launches, moves and resizes Notepad, then effectively clicks File, Open
;
;
SetTitleMatchMode,2

run, notepad.exe
WinWait, Notepad

counter:=5
loop {
Winactivate
winmove,,, 500,70,500,800

Sleep 1000

winmove,,, 50,170,800,500
counter:=counter-1
Sleep 1000
} until counter==0

Msgbox, Moved 5 times

;
; Poor example of how to click a control by using screen position
;
;WinGetPos, X, Y,,,Notepad,
;Msgbox, X=%X%, Y=%Y%
;Mousemove, X,Y
sleep, 2000

; Click file using position relative to top left corner
; N.B. numbers screen resolution dependent!
;MouseClick, left, 25, 50,


; Use the controls on the menus
; Notepad, File, Open
;
WinMenuSelectItem, , , File, Open,
exit