Frequently Asked Questions
I don't know anything about scripting. How can I make StrokesPlus do what I want?
Why can't I run S+ when Windows starts if set to run with admin privileges?
Is there an automatic update feature in StrokesPlus?
What's with all of these different downloads? Signed, unsigned, portable...WTF?
What the heck is Lua?
From the Lua website:
"Lua is a powerful, fast, lightweight, embeddable scripting language.
Lua combines simple procedural syntax with powerful data description constructs based on associative arrays and extensible semantics. Lua is dynamically typed, runs by interpreting bytecode for a register-based virtual machine, and has automatic memory management with incremental garbage collection, making it ideal for configuration, scripting, and rapid prototyping."
Essentially, it's a scripting language that can be easily integrated into applications. If you've ever played World of Warcraft, all of the add-ons are built using Lua which call functions exposed by WoW to the Lua engine, just like StrokesPlus.
Visit the Lua Programming Reference to get started with the Lua language. While you can do some very advanced things with Lua, you won't really need to know much for general usage within StrokesPlus.
I don't know anything about scripting. How can I make StrokesPlus do what I want?
StrokesPlus is a very powerful program, and that power comes at the cost of simplicity.
Post a thorough description of exactly what you're looking to accomplish in the General Action Scripts forum and myself or another StrokesPlus user will likely be willing to help you out!
Why can't I run S+ when Windows starts if set to run with admin privileges?
Windows is very cautious about running programs at startup which require administrator privileges, and for a good reason! There are many malicious people out there who would love to have their malware run with administrative privileges and start right up with Windows. Even if you put StrokesPlus right in the Startup folder, it will not automatically run.
This can be accomplished, but the program must be digitally signed, which is very costly. Since StrokesPlus is a free program, I don't make in donations anything remotely close to the recurring costs of keeping S+ signed.
Is there an automatic update feature in StrokesPlus?
Unfortunately not. Since StrokesPlus is often run with administrative privileges, I would prefer that it also doesn't access the Internet to ensure people aren't suspicious about what may be happening behind the scenes.
Additionally, I prefer to spend my limited personal time on making StrokesPlus run well and have plenty of features. There's simply little return on adding an automatic update feature.
What's with all of these different downloads? Signed, unsigned, portable...WTF?
Well, I certainly didn't do it to make things confusing, just to be flexible!
Okay, first of all, the "portable" download is simply a ZIP file which lets you run StrokesPlus from wherever you want, without affecting the system outside of the folder in which StrokesPlus resides (unless you choose to manually install the certificate to run the signed version, that is).
The main difference between signed and unsigned are the privileges which StrokesPlus has without requiring being run as administrator. For example, able to run when Windows starts requires the application be signed. Additionally for Windows 8+, the signed version is allowed to interact with the Start screen. Note that the benefits of the signed version are only available if StrokesPlus is running from the Program Files or Windows folder (or a subfolder thereof).
Generally, unless you are a control freak or have a specific reason as to why you don't want to install the signed version using the setup package...use the signed version.
Why is this FAQ so short?
Because it's not yet finished...