More ranting

It appears that Admin is getting some of the new forum problems fixed, that was to be expected.  The preview thread feature is nice if it was implemented in another way.  It still causes an annoying distraction when you run the mouse up and down the page and I like many others use the mouse to follow what we are reading (one of the reasons I don't like [autoit] tags) so it causes the images to pop on and off as well as a very slight difference in the style for the affected thread.

The one I object most to is the Share This "feature" (read as "crap").  None of the forums seem to be immune from that issue so that means in theory that even material in the private forums could be shared on very public Social networking sites.  I'm in favor of eliminating all those sites never mind sharing anything on them and yet some idiot can come along and share my posts with the world on a whim, yes even though some of the material was classed as private.  At this point the thought has even crossed my mind to just remove all my posts and pack it in for good.  For now I'm settling for perhaps reading a bit but not posting anything and that's the way it is going to stay as long as Share This remains.  I'm going to be too busy to participate for a while anyway and this just frees up a bit of time so in the end it will work out at my end.

Forum upgrade?

Well it happened again, the forums get performing almost smoothly and we get another upgrade to break them again.  Okay, Admin spotted the problem with code tags and put a temporary fix in place.  That was good because without at least the text code the forums are of little value.  But a quick scan through the forums reveals other problems (not associated with Admins efforts) brought on by the new upgrade.  as far as I can tell at this point all it does is add more crap to the forum pages, some of which is broken, and all of it is crap that I for one, don't need and more importantly don't want.  I see absolutely no value in the social network sites and even less value in the forums having links to share on said social network sites.  That boils down to more clutter on the forums.  There seems to be some king of an image which is supposed to appear at each post as you move the cursor up and down the page.  Who knows what that image should be because it doesn't appear but having something follow my mouse up and down the screen is just too distracting.  I've made a post asking that someone inform me by Instant Message when the problems are rectified.  That brings it down to a very limited few who know how to contact me, and I indicated that I will be back when the forums are fixed or even rolled back.  I certainly hope there is no costs associated with these upgrades because the last couple have been more trouble than they are worth at any price.  For now, I'm gone.  I've had enough of this over the years, and as much as I enjoy being active in the forums, I see no reason to spend time in a site that is just going to annoy me.  Thanks to all who have supported me over the years and I hope to someday meet up with you again, and a special thanks to the AutoIt developers, past and present, for their efforts.

I will continue to blog here periodically and I will continue development of the PCRE Toolkit but there will be no notification on the forums about any updates.  They will be announced here as soon as the download file is changed on my site.
Goodbye all, at least temporarily.

Update for PCRE Toolkit ia available

There is an update now available for the toolkit.
Download v3.0.0.24 here

There are a few new features and several bug fixes.

Sorry but the help file is still not available, hopefully I will have time to get that done soon.

Time to set some projects aside.

As I mentioned in a recent post, I'm considering that it's time to stop writing code.  Now I know I'll never be away from it 100% but I do need a rest away from it for a while.  Whether or not I will stay with writing in AutoIt is also up in the air.  I will continue to update and patch current released software, however I am retiring several projects that were on the drawing board, even a couple that were near release.

If I start any new projects they will be very small  and in all likelihood will not be written in AutoIt3.  I think the future of AutoIt is up in the air and it may have already reached it's maximum stage of development using the current core.  I can't get the feeling out of my mind that we may have seen the last release of AI with version 3.3.6.1.  In my mind, that's a shame but sooner or later any software will reach a dead-end after which all that's left is simple eye-candy and not more functionality.

I have an offer of help to add some functionality to that I've wanted to the PCRE Toolkit and I am going to take that person up on his kind offer.  If I don't get those additions done then I will never be satisfied with that app and several people know what those additions are and have been looking forward to them.  I would hate to disappint them and myself so that is one project that will stay active.

I also don't think I'm going to be dedicating as much time to the forums, although I will still at least be checking for messages on a daily basis.

To all those that I've been "over the river" with for the last few yers, it's been a slice and keep at it as long as you can or until the fun goes out of it.

Next on the horizon

The release of the PCRE Toolkit now puts that project into maintenance mode until it's time for a major update.  That means it's now time to get on to another project  Which at this point I think will be another Toolkit but this time for SQLite.  Before I get started on that I want to finish up a personal SVN / Bug Tracking project I've been working at.  And of course there is always more work to get done on my latest version of Project Express.

Maybe I'll just take a couple of days off and rethink all this.  As a matter of fact I might just take a few days and rethink AutoIt , after all these years using it, maybe it's time to move on.

PCRE Toolkit for AutoIt RELEASED

At long last the first release version of the PCRE Toolkit for AutoIt is available for public download.

If you are planning on working with regular expressions then this may be the only tool you need.

Download it now.

The help file is not yet ready but since you are a developer you should be able to figure it out.
Please post any comments you may have or suggestions for improvement.  I'm also looking for comments about whether the help file should be included with the install or a separate download.

I hope you enjoy using it more than I've enjoyed creating it.

Update:  Gone now are most of the control tool tips in favor of displaying the information in the status bar.

PCRE Toolkit updated again

See this post
This is mainly a cosmetic update but a couple of minor bugs were also fixed.

Notice to Fennek

You must be joking when you say that you are going to flood members of the AutoIt forums with spam.  That isn't even good for a laugh and I'm really getting sick and tired of idiots like you, with an IQ smaller than their shoe size, starting this kind of crap.

You're a 16 year old punk who seems to forget thet the people who taught you to write AutoIt code certainly didn't teach you everything they know or even anywhere near what they know.  That list is only a very small percentage of the total members of the forum.  Of those on the list there are several who have been writing code and hacking longer than you have been breathing, and do you think for a second , when you start flooding them with spam, that they won't retaliate?  It would take very few lines of code to write a script capable of messing up your site to the point of it being totally un-usable.  Script kiddies like you annoy us at the best of times so don't push your luck with this kind of nonsense.  On top of that I already have good mail protection but if I so desired I could let yours through long enough to not only get your ip but to get the address where we should report it and then that address gets flooded with abuse reports.  Do yourself a favor and pull it now before some fool actually follows up on what you started.  When that happens, it won't matter who actually sent the spam, it will be you that takes the fall for it.

You might not care about the reputaion that AutoIt gets from garbage coders like yourself but we do and we will put a stop to it.

Malicious code

There is a trend that seems to come and go in waves and right now it's at a high point again.  That is people asking for help with code which is meant to be used for either malicious reasons or to bypass some security feature like a Captcha or the biggie, cheating at a multi-player game when the TOS explicitly states it is against the rules.

Just a note for those people.  Stay away from the AutoIt forums, we don't need you nor do we want you there and you must be wise enough to know you shouldn't go where you are not wanted.  That would just make you subject to a lot of abuse.

We are also aware that such abuse will (in your mind) be our fault but we are all willing to live with that as long as you just go away.

Tutorials

There are a few good tutorials with precise examples of working with AutoIt code.  Several are already listed in the menu at http://dundats.mvps.org/autoit/ and I hope to soon add this one to the list.
http://403forbidden.dyndns.org/?page_id=26

SQLite UDF

This is a great little library with only one minor drawback.  The SQLite.au3 file #Includes File.au3 (Which I seldom use at all) all for the sake of a little 6 or 8 line function.  Now what?
Simple, I'm going to copy that _TempFile() function into a new copy of SQLite.au3, give the function a new name, modify the calls to it with the new name, and then rename the SQLite.au3 file to SQLiteEx.au3.  That will solve the issue and the file changes are very simple with a script doing all the work.  I may even go so far as to make a copy of SQLite.dll.au3 and call it SQLiteEx.dll.au3 and make the asociated chnages for that as well.  Yes there is a reason for doing it and I'll go into those details at a later time.

_GUI Library functions

While I realize that it was a lot of work re-writing PaulIA's old library functions, the one thing I certainly don't appreciate is the lost functionality.  They definitly needed work but at least the functions you needed were there.
I don't know who made the decision about what should be removed and what should simply be changed but somewhere along the way things got messed up.  On top of that, most of the examples are total garbage.  They simply don't apply to what the average user is going to need.  I'm also very well aware that I'm not the only one that feels this way, not by a longshot and when it come time to prune down the size of the AutoIt install I'm very apt to suggest that they can all be removed since it's a total waste of time trying to work with them.

That's my gripe for today.  Feel free to comment but I'm not in the mood to argue about them and if we get into an argument... you lose.

Scripting for cash

There has been a suggestion recently that a forum where people could request a script and then people could bid to write that script for them with some of the proceeds going to AutoItScript.com.  On the surface it would appear to be a good suggestion and is primarily the same as RentACoder.  I'm not at all sure just how practical it would be in the end.  There is a tremendous amount of potential for abuse and indeed even for malicious code to be inserted.  In order for it to work as intended, I think it would require a lot of oversight by moderators as well as a registry of users who are able to code the scripts properly.  Making it onto that list would require a high level of AutoIt skills and the code would then have to be checked by someone to make sure there is nothing malicious happening in it.  Most of the forum moderators are already overburdened with their own work and their forum duties, so who is going to do all this moderating?

Then there is the question of payment.
Just what is the best way to go about making sure that everything is collected for and the proceeds properly apportioned?  Can we trust everyone to collect and then forward the correct amount to AutoItScript.com or not?  If not then again it takes someone to handle the bookwork and collections.  Should there be a minimum charge for the service?

My last question for today is;
Does Jon want this type of service running as a part of the forums?  It's really up to him and long discussions about how it could be incorporated and indeed whether or not it should be incorporated are moot at this point.
Personally, it is going to take a lot more thought and some input from Jon before I will decide whether or not to support such an undertaking.

PCRE Toolkit Question

I've been asked why the database for the libraries uses binary data.  The answer is simple enough, because of some characters used in the Regular expressions, databases wouldn't play nicely so there were 2 possible solutions.

• Use Binary
• Escape the stored data

The second may have been a bit more user friendly since it would allow the user to edit the data directly in the database, however the binary method was one that I'm very familiar with and has worked well in the past.  I now have a couple of simple escape functions (compliments of jchd) for the database and I may indeed switch to method 2 at some point in the future.  There is definitely no rush because anything that should be edited by the user can be done with the edit button on the Library tab.  The new version includes a new database table that includes some application settings and the editor does not have access to that table.

Another question.
Why can't I delete the Samples library?  You can as long as it's not the default library.  In order to do that, at least one other library must exist and you must change the default to a different library.

Whats in store for the next release?  Hopefully I'll get rid of the Up/Down buttons and make it so you can move an item just by dragging it where you want it to go.  I'm also considering having new libraries available for download at some point and that may be started in time for the next release.  I'm also going to attempt to get at the much hated documentation.

Enjoy what there is and check back for changes.

You can either report bugs to me through a PM in the AutoIt forums or by leaving comments on this blog.

PCRE Toolkit Beta

Announcement:
The newest beta release of the toolkit is now available for download.  Currently only available as an installer file.  The source code is available by request only.

Available at
http://dundats.mvps.org/beta/pcretest.zip

Extract the Setup.exe file from the Zip and install it.
Stay tuned, there are yet more features in progress and I will update the file as they are completed.

What's new? too many things to list but for openers, the button to make the selected library item the current expression is now gone.  Just double click the library item and it's taken care of.

Edit: Updated June 11, 2010 (mainly cosmetic)
Edit: Updated June 04, 2010
    Now with a new tab for running commands using @ComSpec and reading the StdIO stream so you can check things like Ping 127.0.0.1
Edit:  Updated   May 19, 2010
Edit:  Updated   May 10, 2010
Download was updated May 06 /2010

Now with the ability to insert standard RegEx elements into your expression from the Expression>> Insert menus.

How do I ask a question about regular expressions?

We are getting more and more regular expression questions being asked and people have a tendency to not give us enough details to work with.  The best method is to post an example of the string you are working with and follow that with a list of the expected matches.  If you are refering to web page html code then either give us a link to  the page or post enough of the page that it includes all of the functional bits that you want to parse and that means some of the code on both sides of the element that you want to work with.

That gives us a starting point and you will usually get a working answer or an answer that is very close and only needs a bit of touch up to be what you want it to be.

More on regular expressions

Regular expressions are a very powerful tool, but they require a very precise understanding of what they are expected to accomplish. Regexps are a way to express complex rules in a compact way, but there must be rules to direct their behavior.  It's those rules that you have to take the time to learn, and it WILL take time.  Should you use regular expressions for all string search functions.  No, in general the native AutoIt string functions are faster than the regular expression method.
For example, you wouldn't use $sStr = StringRegExp("This is some string.", "(.+{7}", 1) when you can use
$sStr = StringLeft("This is some string", 7) to do exactly the same thing.
Now if it was a situation where for example the string contained digits that appeared at various locations in the string, the RegExp is better
$sStr = "This string 9085 contains digits at 7693 locations."
$sRtn = StringRegExp($sStr, "\d+", 3) will return both sets of digits
$sRtn = StringRegExp($sStr, "\d{3}", 3) will return the first 3 digits of each set
$sRtn = StringRegExp($sStr, ".*?(\d+).*", 1) returns the first set of digits
$sRtn = StringRegExp($sStr, ".*\D(\d+).*", 1) returns the last set of digits.

From this example you can see the power of SRE's compared to using native string functions.  A couple of those examples would likely have to be run through several native functions or would be impossible using anything except a regular expression.

I general, if you can do it in one or two simple native functions then do it that way.  If it's more complex, use the SRE.
I should also mention that when it comes to the speed differences, we are talking about micro-seconds in either case so it makes no noticeable difference unless you are doing hundreds or even thousands of iterations.

By the way, my new AutoIt regular Expression ToolKit is now ready for Beta testing so, if you want to help out, contact me through the AutoIt forums and the application is available here as a win32 installer in a zip file.

Where are they now?

Every once in a while I get to reminiscing and today was one of those days.
I was looking through the members list and suddenly realized that a lot of my old forum friends (if I had any) have just up and disappeared on me. Now that shouldn't be a surprise since I've been in the forums since 2003 but it seems that with few exceptions there is suddenly no posts from people you have come accustommed to seeing. here is a short list of people I would love to touch base with again. If you are on the list or have the contact information for anyone on the list then please let me know.

• CyberSlug
• SvenP
• ScriptKitty
• Helge
• tylo
• Holger
• PaulIA

Bad replies

Yes we do get them once in a while and I'm as guilty as anyone at times.  A common error is to post a reply without testing it as shown here from an actual quoted reply.
[quote]
Well where is the problem whe you know what you want to do ? : )

[code]

$towrite = ClipPut($yourdata)

FileOpen($file)
FileWrite($file,$towrite & @Crlf)
FileClose($file)

[/code]

You can define the text you put into clip as variable and then write it to a file
[/quote]

Alright, here is what's wrong
According to the help file ClipPut() will return 1 for success and 0 for failure.  That means that the variable $towrite will contain the value 1, NOT the the clipboard data so that line should have been written as

ClipPut($yourdata)
$towrite = ClipGet()

The FileOpen() should have a flag set to determine the mode, although it can be open in read plus one of the write modes simultaneously, so that should have been

$hFile = FileOpen($file, 1) ;; here I'm using the append mode.
FileWrite($hFile, $towrite) ;; Better in this case would be FileWriteLine($hFile, $towrite)
FileClose($hFile)

Now why did I use $hFile?  Because FileOpen() will actually return a handle to the file so it's better to use that handle instead of the actual file name or variable that contains the file name.

It goes without saying that a simple quick test would have shown the problem.  Like I say, we all do it on occasion but really we should take a bit more care.  The people we reply to generally are new to coding and may not see what will be obvious to the rest of us.

StringRegExp()

Are you having a hard time catching on to the use of SREs?  You are not alone.  Since their very inception, regular expressions have been difficult for developers to learn.  One of the primary reasons is the fact that there are so many flavors of RegEx engines out there and a regular expression that works in Javascript (example only) won't necessarily work in .NET (example only) or AutoIt.

There are many Reg tools available but the big question with each is "What engine is the tool designed for."  Since we are primarily concerned with those that work with AutoIt, I will mention a couple that come close in most cases.
RegEx Buddy
RegEx Coach
Expresso

I have one that was originally released by a couple of forum members and I have been constantly modifying it to suit my purposes.  This one is explicitly for AutoIt and as far as I know has never been tested with any other language.  Since the engine used by AutoIt is the PCRE engine then it should also work with Perl but no guarantees there.  AutoIt has a few idiosyncrasies that make it just a touch different from normal PCRE regex's.  Right now I've only made this tool available by request via a PM.  That will change at some point and I'll make it available on one of my webs (that will most probably be my AutoIt Central site).  It will always continue to be free and open source as a way to partially pay back to the AutoIt community and in keeping with the intent of the original authors.  My hope is that there will be a public release within the next month but I must first do some more work on the snippet holder.  Originally a list control was used and I'm changing it to a listview instead.  I'm also hoping to get a menu included that will allow you to insert common matching code like (?i) and (?s) as well as the groups like [:alpha:] etc.

If you have specific issues with a regular expression, I suggest that you post it as a question in the AutoIt forums.  You will generally get a working version that does what you expected.

In the meantime don't get frustrated when you first attempt SREs.  The light will suddenly come on and you will be off to the races.  One thing that is becoming very pronounced is the tendency of some people to over think the regexp.  many are posting regular expression's which are far to complex for the situation at hand.  Keep it simple and you will have much more success.

If you are looking for a specific RegEx try searching on one of my favorite sites, The Regular Expression Library.
If you have any questions or suggestions for content on this post, please use the comments link.

Forum critics

Well here we are into April and I'm planning on a fairly quiet month, but before that happens I want to make a couple of quick comments about some of the forum users and I won't be providing names or links to the posts.  If they read this, they may recognize themselves.

I (and many others) have been criticized in the past for the various styles and techniques we use when replying to forum questions.  One person recently was upset because he felt I was treating many posters as being inexperienced and new to development.  That's very true, I do. Now lets ask a couple of simple questions.
Q - Did the poster state that they had any experience
A - No.  Therefore, until they show otherwise I will consider then as new in in the case in question, the poster was a semi-experienced developer but was quite new to AutoIt.  That makes him a Noob in my books.

Q - Did the poster display that he had a deeper understanding of programing in general?
A - See the answer above.

Another one that I get hit with on occasion is my habit of pointing people to the AutoIt help file when they ask a question.  I do that under certain conditions and for what I consider to be valid reasoning.

The conditions that usually bring on this type of  response are those posts where the user has asked a question and not provided any code for us to look at.  In that case we have to make a guess as to what functions they may need so I reply with "see Function() in the help file >> Section >> page."  That is about all we can do when we don't have specifics and it also emphasizes the point that most answers can be found by reading the help file.  I remember one regular poster who for 2 years would not read the help file, just ask a question in the forums instead.  After repeated warnings about it he finally annoyed us to the point where no one would reply to him.  That made us look like the bad guys in the eyes of some people and led to some criticism which was totally undeserved.

Now I'm not saying that some critisizm is not deserved, however I am saying that there is often a reason behind the type of replies that people are given.  Think of the possibilities before shooting off your mouth in the forums.

Using the AutoIt forums

The forums are a great resource if you use them properly and that includes paying attention and not annoying respondents.

DON'T

• Make multiple threads about the same problem.  Stick to one thread and if a new problem, albeit the same project, arises then open a new thread for that problem.  We don't have the time nor the inclination to be following multi-posts all over the place only to find that a solution was already provided in one of your previous threads.
• Get obnoxious with people when you are asking for help with a third party application.  After all we can hardly be expected to install some garbage software just for the sake of answering one of your questions.
• Make posts with titles like "Help" or "Simple Problem".  Be sure that the Title and sub-title give some indication of what you need help with.  Again, we all have our own lives and most of us will usually only check those posts with an adequate description.
• Waste our time by not giving us enough details about what you expect the end result to be.
• Above all else, do not engage in arguments with people.  That can only result in a bad ending for someone, usually you.
• Post malicious code or code that will violate a TOS agreement.  That is bound to get you banned from the forums.
• Bump your thread unless at least 24 hours has elapsed. See Question number 7 in Let's Get Started. Remember that your code is generally not important to anyone except you and you will only annoy people by bumping posts too soon or too often.

DO

• Provide us with enough code to replicate the issue you are having.
• Provide adequate details about the problem.  "This doesn't work [some code block]" doesn't cut it.  We need to know what you expected it to do and what end result you require.
• Display to us that you have made adequate attempts at resolving the issue yourself, for example by reading the help file.
• Use Code blocks when posting code.  Just click the icon that looks like <> and place your code between the [code] and [/code].  That makes for much easier reading.
• If you are reading a file in the source and the issue or questin regards that file then provide is with some actual lines from the file.  If you can't fit it into a code block then post it as an attachment.  The actual contents of that file can be critical, particularly if the solution requires StringRegExp().
• If possible, give us some indication of your experience so we can determine how deeply we have to go with the reply.
• Be courteous at all times.  You will be treated the way you treat others.
• Remember that people in the forums are not your personal slaves and in fact are there strictly as volunteers.  If someone posts a quick reply to your question and end up with "I'm too busy to do more at this time but I will check back" then respect the fact that they have their own work or personal agenda to get through and that obviously precludes spending more time on your problem at that moment.
• If the English language poses a problem then ask for links to forums in your native tongue.  If none exist then post your question in your native tongue but be prepared for a delay until someone comes along who can either answer or translate the post.

If you have an issue with Valik, keep it to yourself.  It will be less painful that way and besides anything you need to know about him is covered in the help file.  Of course you have studied the help file thoroughly.  If you have not bothered to read it then don't bother posting at all because you won't get any sympathy and without that help file you are in water that is way over your head so just quit while you are still just a bit behind.  If you have an issue with any experienced members besides Valik, keep it to yourself because we don't need the whining.  If your problem is with Jon, good luck.

Yikes April 1st is almost here.

Oh darn!! (in keeping with my attempt at using only acceptable language.) I just realized that Thursday is thread locking day.  Every April 1st the weirdos come out of the woodwork with code that is intended as practical jokes and we get many locked threads and threads with code removed.  I suspect this year will be no different.  If you had any inclination towards posting any of that garbage, please feel free to re-consider your thinking.  To much of that code can be easily propegated

I would have to check but I'm thinking that every April 1st is probably the day of each year that has the highest number of locked threads.  That is threads created by several individuals.  We have seen days with many locked threads but in most cases those threads are created by one person and it's most likely that said persons are no longer welcome in the forums.

Lets get started

Alright already!! Just hang on, I'm getting around to adding some content for you to admire (or not).

If you have to ask the question "What is AutoIt?", you are on the wrong blog and probably in over your head already.

Let's start with a few of the AutoIt forums most asked questions and I'll attemp to keep the language suitable.

Q #1 - Is Valik an arsehole?
A - Yes! And that's by his own admission.

Q #2 - What made him that way?
A - Primarily people who ask idiotic questions in the forums without making any attempt what-so-ever to open the help file and find the answers themselves or ask questions that are prominently displayed as "Sticky" topics.  He worked extremely hard and long to get where he is today with his coding skills and rightfully expects others to expend some effort in learning how to write their own code.

Q #3 - Are there others in the forums that are like Valik?
A - Valik is one of a kind.  Now if you mean "Are there others with the same attitude as Valik?" then the answer to that is a resounding Yes, including myself .  What made us that way? Did you read the answer to Q #2?

Q #4 - What is the best way to learn AutoIt?
A - There are several excellent resources available and I'm going give you links to some of them but please remember that your most important resource is the AutoIt help file itself.  Take the time to study it before you end up with a taste of Q #1 and Q #3. Now for those links I promised.

• Welcome to AutoIt 1-2-3
• AutoIt FAQs
• Learning To Script with AutoIt V3
• More to be added soon (pending approval)

Q #5 - Why can't I ask questions about a bot that breaks a TOS for the game?
A - We (as a community) have fought long and hard to keep the reputation of AutoIt "clean".  We don't want any individual or group destroying that for the rest.  If AutoIt gets a bad reputation with game sites, anti-virus companies and the like, we end up with all kinds of things happening including (but not limited to) having anti-virus companies flagging AutoIt on general principal.  That is not fair to the rest who are attempting to write serious code.  If you engage in such practices then leave AutoIt out of it, you will not be welcome on the forums and we would appreciate it very much if you just quietly went away.  Of course the moderators have an alternative if you decide to stick around and make life miserable for the rest of us.

Q #6 - I asked for someone to write me some code and the only answers I received were insulting. Why?
A - The AutoIt community as a whole is not there to write your code for you.  We are there to help you diagnose and solve problems you may run into with the code you have written.

Q #7 - Why shouldn't  I "bump" my post for 24 hours?
A -  Really there are multiple answers to this one, including because it gets annoying, but I'll stick to the primary ones here;

• Not everyone on the forums is in the same time-zone as you so those with the appropriate answers may not have even seen the question in less than 24 hours.
• We answer proper questions when (and if) our own schedules permit.  Remember that the only person that really cares about your code is you.  As for the rest of us, we could usually care less about it but we will help you.  Just make sure you give us something to work with, like some code that you tried and can't get to work.

Q #8 - How do I take some of your comments in the forums?
A - The general rule is with a grain of salt.  I love injecting a bit of humor whenever possible but (unlike most) I abhor the use of smilies to let someone know when I'm kidding.  Once you have been around long enough you will learn to figure it out.

Okay, that's already more than what I was going to include in the first post but you can look forward to much more later.  Well alright, just one more question.

Q - When will I see some more of this invaluable information?
A - When I feel like posting it so don't bug me.