My cousin freestyle pointed this out to me from the Code Project web site, and I thought, what a neat utility! I downloaded the utility, ran it, and hey presto, got an excellent extension to my Windows Explorer.
Remember, you have to have the .NET Framework Redistributable installed on your PC (requires Win98/98SE/NT4/ME/2K/XP) to run this application (Yea, I know a "large" download of 20mb!)... I downloaded the runtime's a while ago as part of the WindowsUpdate feature of my Windows XP install. There is also a SP1 for the .NET framework available if you want to be bang up-to-date!.
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The Command Prompt Explorer Bar is a small tool that extends Windows Explorer.
Ever tried to run one of those console programs ("Hello World!" to name a few), .BAT, .VBS or .JS scripts just to see black window popping up and disappearing? I did. Especially after I started using .Net framework I find myself doing this more often. No wonder - with all this ALs , NGENs and TLBIMPs. So if you are like me then this tool is right for you.
Next time you need to run a program without GUI, just press the 'Ctrl+M' key combination in your explorer. A command prompt will start and appear automatically. Its current directory will be exactly the same as the current path you are browsing. And better yet the console will appear inside your explorer window - like any other explorer bar does - 'History', 'Favorites', 'Folders' etc.
Now you can have the best of both worlds combined together - easy and fast navigation of explorer and power of batch processing of the command prompt. Or should I say Command Prompt Explorer Bar:
News source: Code Project - Command Prompt Explorer Bar by Pavel Zolnikov
Download: Command Prompt Explorer Bar v1.1 (103kb) or the source files (317kb)
Remember, you have to have the .NET Framework Redistributable installed on your PC (requires Win98/98SE/NT4/ME/2K/XP) to run this application (Yea, I know a "large" download of 20mb!)... I downloaded the runtime's a while ago as part of the WindowsUpdate feature of my Windows XP install. There is also a SP1 for the .NET framework available if you want to be bang up-to-date!.
.
The Command Prompt Explorer Bar is a small tool that extends Windows Explorer.
Ever tried to run one of those console programs ("Hello World!" to name a few), .BAT, .VBS or .JS scripts just to see black window popping up and disappearing? I did. Especially after I started using .Net framework I find myself doing this more often. No wonder - with all this ALs , NGENs and TLBIMPs. So if you are like me then this tool is right for you.
Next time you need to run a program without GUI, just press the 'Ctrl+M' key combination in your explorer. A command prompt will start and appear automatically. Its current directory will be exactly the same as the current path you are browsing. And better yet the console will appear inside your explorer window - like any other explorer bar does - 'History', 'Favorites', 'Folders' etc.
Now you can have the best of both worlds combined together - easy and fast navigation of explorer and power of batch processing of the command prompt. Or should I say Command Prompt Explorer Bar:
News source: Code Project - Command Prompt Explorer Bar by Pavel Zolnikov Download: Command Prompt Explorer Bar v1.1 (103kb) or the source files (317kb)
Well, that is how it looks like. Isn't it a beauty?
You may have noticed a toolbar on the left of the console window. I tried to put some nice timesaving features there.
The most powerful is a button with a 'Script' icon on it. It has a drop down menu where you can select a command you like to be executed. It even knows how to substitute '{0}' for the name of the current files selected in explorer. Here is when it can be useful. Let's say you want to install your assembly into a 'Native Images Cache'. With Command Bar it is as simply as selecting your assembly in explorer and clicking on 'ngen {1}' menu item.
It also works just fine for multiple selected files (use {0} instead). Now you can compile your .cs or .vbs files without leaving a comfortable explorer shell. And yes, you can change this menu and scripts the way you like them. It is as simple as editing a text file in a Notepad.
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