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Author Topic: A few questions of how to do things  (Read 4376 times)

Lotta

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A few questions of how to do things
« on: February 01, 2010, 05:30:17 am »
1. How do I write commands to Hal?

For example: I have to say "open firefox facebook", but would want Hal to understand that this is equal to "open facebook". I have tried to explain it to him, and he does get it in theory but not for execution. Or I'd like to tell him that if I ask him to "open my novel", i'd like him to find and open the file c:/xxx

I'd like to be able to tell him that if I say XX then he simulate pressing ctrl+f/c/t and so on.

2. Is there a plugin for firefox and miranda? (and open office?)

Really this could be solved by the above, but perhaps there is something already finished?

For example: I would like Hal to tell me "Anna has sent you a message" for miranda, perhaps I could state: "read it for me" and I could tell him "open a message for Patrik".

In firefox, i'd like him to keep track of my bookmarks, giving me possibility to tell him to open any bookmarked webpage by stating it's bookmarked name. Or when i'm on a page, i'd like to tell him "dictate" and where the marker is placed he'd write what I say. Basic functions like ctrl-f i'd like him to do.

I do not at all like the automatic reading from clipboard, I copy and paste all the time and he disturbes me. What I would like is to highlight a text and ask him to "read this". I hoped for this from hal tts, but that didn't do it.

3. Can I get hidden interface?

I saw I can use all my great msagent's (like from 3d guild), and they do separate from the interface, but they are only visible when interface is open. I really like the standard of chatbubbles and "free" characters. Can I make my character always on top and the interface hidden untill I need it for writing?


Hal has such great potential, but some of the basic desktop assistant-functions are hard to find (or perhaps it dont work?). I'm not sure I like all this work to get him going from start, but I do see the need since he is quite brilliant. 30 days left on trial, and if I can get him to work as I like I will be so depending on him by then.
 

djkilla

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A few questions of how to do things
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2010, 06:04:25 pm »
Hey Lotta,
I am not sure the best way to make it work with Hal but Autoit!
can record macros and turn them into exe commands I believe. This could enable you to map a whole host of tasks as long as there arent interruptions during the process.
 

sybershot

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A few questions of how to do things
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2010, 10:09:02 pm »
I'm not sure if you read this yet http://www.zabaware.com/assistant/help/index.htm
there is a way for Hal to open up just about any file on your pc. I don't remember exactly, but you have to make a link of your file have a certain extension. search the forums for I remember reading about how to do it. I'm sure you can apply it to web short cuts as well.

djkilla

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A few questions of how to do things
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2010, 11:57:57 pm »
This refers to the shortcut.dat file in the zabaware folder..
You can edit this in notepad and Hal is SUPPOSED to be able to run programs there that are correctly formatted. Unfortunately this doesnt always happen for some reason..Cleaning the registry and defragging hasnt helped me much to get em all to work, but other say this might help.
D
 

Lotta

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A few questions of how to do things
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2010, 07:22:46 am »
When i change shortcut.dat I get errors, and every time hal is restarted it is cleaned from my changes.

He does open things linked in star menue or desktop, but he cannot handle any commands about it.

I was able to write a .bat and place a link in the start meny, and there by open a program with command line extentions. But this doesn't work well in many programs and I have to place a new file for every single commandstring.

I'll go and have a look at Autoit.

Hal is a fairly complicated program, tough to write plugins and commands to, and there is no up to date help file. I'm starting to wonder if it had not done better as an open source project...
 

Bill819

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A few questions of how to do things
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2010, 11:14:12 am »
I may be wrong but I think Hal was designed only to open another program for you and nothing more.
Bill, a ten year user.