- Current version
- v0.2, 2007-03-05
- Download startat.exe (31KB).
- freeware, open source
- Abstract
- StartAt is a small console application that launches any given programme at a given screen position. It might not work for all programmes, but for the needs I had, it worked out quite well.
- Operating systems
- Windows. Should run on any flavour of Windows.
- Licence
- StartAt is freeware that comes without any warranty or support. Thus you use it entirely at your own risk.
- Stay tuned
- I set up an RSS news feed to keep you informed about changes to my website. Not all of them will contain update information for my programmes.
Usage
Just copy startat.exe to the Windows system folder. Typically this is C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\.
The programme takes the command line arguments -x and -y to specify the screen coordinates where the main window should end up.
You can try to use the -m or -n switches to launch a programme in a maximized (or normal) state. This switch might fail, depending on the UI of the programme.
Some programmes take longer to launch. You can heuristically specify (IOW: guess) a number of seconds to wait, before the windows are moved. For instance, MS Internet Explorer takes a bit longer, before properly responding to a movement. Thus, to launch MSIE in a maximized state, you might have to use
startat -x 0 -y 0 -w 1 -m "%PROGRAMFILES%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
The remaining arguments are interperted as the programme to be launched and its parameters.
Examples:
startat -x 0 -y 0 c:\progs\bin\putty.exe -load "session1"
startat -x 0 -y 0 -m "%PROGRAMFILES%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
Hint: If you have two monitors and they have a vertical offset to each other, it might be necessary to specify negative coordinates. Don't use a blank between the -x or -y and its arguments in that case.
I, for instance, have one monitor standing on a shelf next to the main one. Thus I write
startat -x 1281 -y-520 notepad.exe.
The value is experimental, depending on the display settings of your Windows installation.
It may happen that launching programmes and moving their windows does not work when programme launch takes too long or the programmes simply ignore such movements. Or there are more main windows, like with the text editor ConText.
Source code
The source code (Delphi 5 Object Pascal Source) can be downloaded as well: startat.dpr. You'll need my Sandkasten routine collection if you want to compile the file. The getopt routine is located there — and I extracted it to a single unit to avoid the overhead that some other routines would add.
[ top ]
Contact & Imprint — Kontakt & Impressum
Created: 2006-08-05 — last modified: 2007-03-05 — last update of web site: 2010-06-27
Follow me: 
