Having learnt new stuff over the term this year, I sat down to rethink the development of Menu Inventor. With Visual Basic 6.0's crippled implementation of OOP, is there any point re-writing it in the same language? I have already pushed the limits of the language by being able to e.g. implement callbacks through a sub-classing procedure. If flexibility and future development are to be desired, I am seriously thinking about switching to C++, making use of the wxWidgets GUI toolkit.

This particular one had a very tight schedule (4 days), which didn't mix that well with the uni busy life, but I particularly enjoyed making this one, as thanks to this small project I happened to stumble across a really nifty and massive collection of photoshop brushes, which you can grab from here. The poster has been designed on demand for the University of Hull International Students Association.

Apart from that helpful pack, the main title is inspired by a fairly famous game (hint: Need For Speed), heavily blended with standard vexel-type whatnots. Can you guess the game? .

After years of running on a slow and crappy hosting, I decided to order a proper hosting package and secure a new domain with it as well. Wave a final goodbye to the old micron.ic.cz and say hello to:

micron.me.uk

We've managed to migrate everything to the new servers without any problems, so apart from the change of domain, you won't notice anything new - except for the massive speed improvement. Yay!

Development of Menu Inventor 1.2 is now officially under way! Though it has been referred to as version 2.0 in some of my posts and pages, I decided to revert to a more "modest" number. However, in the same way as 1.1 was a great improvement compared to 1.0, 1.2 will bring the same advancement in technology and feature set.. Most notably, 1.2 is being rewritten completely from scratch, with more robust and flexible code.

To be honest, when I last said we was busy, I would never have guessed that for ALMOST A YEAR, we would not be posting anything on this weblog. But we are most definitely alive and there is no need for the word 'comeback', since we actually never died away! So here's a short list of what's gawn on at micron developers:

Game development

Me and a bundle of fellow uni friends are currently (every now and then) developing a 3D table football game, featuring some nice engine features. We got only limited experience in this very field, so it is really uphill work, but maybe one day we'll pull off with a really amazing game (but maybe not).

Software development

Menu Inventor

After careful consideration, Menu Inventor is coming back! And not just that, it is going to be COMPLETELY REWRITTEN and versioned 1.2, introducing an even friendlier user interface, better editing tools (improved Drag'n'Drop, batch editing) and much more, with the still same large emphasis on small and memory CPU requirements.

Chemix

Plans are currently vague, but if I ever get to work on it, it will surely be done in Flash 8.

Disc broom

Support for Disc Broom is now definitely being dropped, as there are much better tools out there that do the job.

Future project - Trace

As a future project, I was thinking of a node-based compositor for modelling and analysis, currently codenamed Trace, which I could use as a university project. The program makes use of nodes to create models of situations, animations etc. Now I know you wonder how this is ever going to be interesting for an average-user out there, but the bottom line is that nodes are fun to use and very flexible. Have a look at the concept.

Web design

I'm currently working on the Oxford Psychology Website. The site is medium sized and is probably my first web project that uses strict XHTML.

Graphic Design

Lately, I have been concentrating on developing my design skills, this year I will be designing the Warwick Vietnamese culture show poster again; and that is also one of the reasons why my time spent on programming is thinning quickly.

I shall be posting on regular basis again, now having fixed this weird PHP issues on this weblog. For now, keep it real!

Hi,

for long no posts. I guess most of us are all pretty much busy with our settling in UK Universities, not yet talking of the outrageous amount of time we have to spend studying and doing assignments (you wouldn't expect to do that at college, would you? Hmmm...)

Anyways, we are currently pausing most projects, but some great feature suggestions for Menu Inventor have been pushed forward and into the queue, so I will soon decide and draw plans for the next, quick release of Menu Inventor (probably 1.11 or something like that). Again, date is mysterious...

Migration from version 1.0 alpha

To migrate from Menu Inventor 1.0 alpha, use the Migrator.exe tool which is included in the standard installation pack since version 1.1. Note that the older version of this tool called MIF2MXF.exe is now obsolete and its use is strongly discouraged.

Migration from Windows Start

Currently, there is no explicit tool that will allow you to "copy" the structure of your current Windows Start menu straight to Menu Inventor. However, you can use the Add from folder.. (BatchAdd) method inside Menu Inventor, accessible via right-click on the pane. Select your Windows Start Menu folder, which will typically be located in:

under Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP, and 2003

C:\Documents And Settings\[your_username]\Start Menu    and
C:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Start Menu

under Windows 95, 98 and Me

C:\Windows\Start Menu    or
C:\Windows\Profiles\[your_username]\Start Menu

under Windows Vista

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu    and
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Hi!

Time is pressing me, so I finished version 1.1 and I am really glad that after such a long time the sharp version of 1.1 si now finally released!

Honestly, I am quite tired - getting the whole thing done 6 days ahead than planned, but I needed to move onto other things. So, ENJOY! .

Menu Inventor 1.1

11.9 Update Sorry about the broken links, especially on the Skins page, they are now fixed. Shame on me!