iSwitcher

[Yashied]

LAST VERSION - 1.0

04-Jul-10

It's another my utility for Windows decoration. iSwitcher - a replacement to the standard Windows keyboard layout switcher. The program has several additional features and enhancements: shows a flags in the system tray instead "EN", "RU", etc. (list of supported languages is shown on the screenshot), sets any hot keys to switch keyboard layout (default is ALT+SPACEBAR), shows a pop-up images, accelerated response to pressing a hot keys, etc. iSwitcher does not use any Send... functions, all implemented by using WinAPI (in general, WinAPIEx UDF libray here is basic). If someone wants to use the standard Windows hot keys to switch the language (default is ALT+SHIFT), iSwitcher is working with them without problems. iSwitcher based on the same "engine" as the iKey and will be an ideal complement to it. In order to reduce the file size and memory usage, the programs do not have any graphical user interface (GUI). Basic settings are may changing by using the system tray menu, the others - directly in the registry (see notes). iSwitcher works in Windows XP and Windows Vista/7 (not sure about Windows 2000).

Despite the fact that I wrote this program only as "embellishment", I found one additional advantage during testing (I use it for a week) - if using the large monitors, the probability of an incorrect switching keyboard layout is reduced at least two times (how often do we look in the lower right corner to check the current language). If you use more than two keyboard layouts, iSwitcher will mega useful utility for you (I think).

BTW, what do you think about the use of ALT+SPACEBAR to switch keyboard layout (similar to Mac OS X), IMHO much more easier...

  

Supported operating systems

Windows XP+

Options

All program settings are in the "HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareiSwitcher" registry hive. You can change this settings when the program is not loaded. Here is a complete description of them.

ShowPopupImages = (0/1)

Enables the show pop-up images when you switch the language (only for additional hot keys, see below).

ShowTrayFlag = (0/1)

Enables the show flags in the system tray. If this parameter is 0, the system tray will always shown a program icon.

XPos, YPos

Sets the screen coordinates of the center of pop-up images. By default, the value of these parameters is (-1), pop-up images centered horizontally and 1/3 below the center of the verticaly.

PopupTime = (500..5000)

Specifies the time of show the pop-up images, in milliseconds.

FadeOut = (0..200)

Specifies the fade-out for the pop-up images. The higher value, the longer disappearance and vice versa.

UseHotKey = (0/1)

Enables the hot keys to switch the language.

HotKey

Specifies a hexadecimal code of the hot key. Pop-up images are activated only when you pressed this hot key. To define code for the desired hot key or combination of the keys, you can use example from HotKeyInput UDF library. Default is 0x0420 (ALT+SPACEBAR).

PopupInfo = (0/1/2/3)

Specifies the text that will appear in pop-up images.

0 - Full English name of the language ("English", "Russian" etc.).

1 - Full localized name of the language ("English (United States)", "Russian (Russia)" etc.).

2 - Abbreviated name of the language ("ENU", "RUS" etc.).

3 - Native name of the language ("English", "Русский" etc.).

TrayInfo = (0/1/2/3)

Same as the previous setting, but only for the system tray tooltips.

ReduceMemory = (0/1)

Frees an unused memory after displaying pop-up images. Visibly reduces the amount of memory used by the program but may cause a slight delay before the appearance of the pop-up images at some "weak" computers.

TrayMenu = (0/1)

Enables the system tray menu. If this parameter is 0, the menu will be not available.

Files to download

Binary

Redirection to iSwitcher_bin.zip, 538 KB

iSwitcher_bin.html

Source

Redirection to iSwitcher_source.zip, 228 KB

iSwitcher_source.html

Edited December 8, 2013 by Yashied

[Yashied]

A small update, fixed several bugs.

Edited July 6, 2010 by Yashied

[Yashied]

73 downloads and no comments...

[FireFox]

I can't change keyboard layout, the only thing I can do is to show the current flag language with the HotKey "Alt+Space", because the HotKey "Alt+Shift" does nothing for me.

PS : I'm on Win7

FireFox.

[Yashied]

I can't change keyboard layout...

Which do you use a keyboard layouts, for which windows you can not switch the language through ALT+SPACEBAR?

[FireFox]

Which do you use a keyboard layouts, for which windows you can not switch the language through ALT+SPACEBAR?

I have found the problem, I've got only one keyboard layout installed; sorry for the inconvenience

Btw, nice utility

FireFox.

Edited July 13, 2010 by FireFox

[Yashied]

The program has been renamed to "iSwitcher".

Edited July 15, 2010 by Yashied

[Yashied]

Links updated.

[Yashied]

Links updated.

P.S.

If you can't download my programs in other posts please change address:

http://yashied.narod2.ru/

to

http://yashied.ru/

[robinj]

Hello Yashied,

Just wanted to say that this is a very slick piece of software. Have learnt a lot from checking through your source code. One small request if you are doing any further work on it would be to add support for UK keyboard. I know it works in terms of switching, but gives same display (US Flag & English) as it does for US keyboard layout and those are the two that I am always switching between!

Great tool

Robin