Console Goodness, with AutoHotKey (Vista/7 with Aero Only)

1. Remember Quake? Or, indeed, almost any other FPS from the last decade?
   I always loved their consoles (Source engine's is a huge disappointment! Just a window!)

   So, why not implement that for MY console?
   For this, you'll need a little more than just Autohotkey, but it's well worth it.
   Grab yourself a copy of Console2, and if you're on XP or below, or run without Aero, turn back now. This relies quite heavily on being able to slide down smoothly, and it can't do that with windows struggling to redraw it fast enough to display, sorry :(

   RWin:: ;Open a command prompt (with or without highlighted path)
   DetectHiddenWindows, off
   ifWinExist, ahk_class Console_2_Main
   {
   	wingetpos, wx, wy, wwidth, wheight
   	counter=0
   	loopnum:= wheight / 8
   	loop, %loopnum%
   	{
   	winmove,,,0,20 - counter * 8, A_ScreenWidth, wheight
   	counter+=1
   	}
   	winhide, ahk_class Console_2_Main
   	send !{tab}
   	return
   }
   DetectHiddenWindows, on
   SetTitleMatchMode, 2
   IfWinExist, ahk_class Console_2_Main
   	{
   	wingetpos, wx, wy, wwidth, wheight
   	winmove,,,0,0-wheight, A_ScreenWidth, wheight
   	winshow
   	WinActivate
   	loopnum:= wheight / 8
   	loop, %loopnum%
   	{
   	winmove,,,0,(a_index * 8) - wheight +20, A_ScreenWidth, wheight
   	}
   	WinActivate
   	WinWaitActive
   }
   else
   Run, "P:\ath\to\Console.exe"
   return

   
   

   #

   Phoshi
   

   Reputation:63

   Posted 9 months ago

   
   

2. This is pretty sweet... I'm going to see if I can make it work for Cygwin.

   
   

   #

   howtogeek
   

   Reputation:176

   Posted 9 months ago

   
   

3. Console2 is literally just a fancy window [your favourite cmd interpreter] fits snugly into, runs fine with Cygwin :)

   Really, it's great software. Exactly like what you're used to, in a much more configurable window <3

   
   

   #

   Phoshi
   

   Reputation:63

   Posted 9 months ago

   
   

4. I tested this out, but it wasn't working right for me - it looks like you've got hard-coded screen size variables in there. I started adjusting, but meh... figured I'd just post here and see if somebody else would fix it up and make it better =)

   
   

   #

   howtogeek
   

   Reputation:176

   Posted 9 months ago

   
   

5. Argh. Serves me right for not checking when I told dropbox to roll it back. One moment!

   Right, try that :)

   
   

   #

   Phoshi
   

   Reputation:63

   Posted 9 months ago

   
   

6. Alright, so I finally got it working - you should note that you need to turn off "snapping" in the Console2 settings, otherwise it just tries to snap to the side of the screen.

   It's really, really slow, however, on the dropdown. And I've got a very fast PC / video card.

   
   

   #

   howtogeek
   

   Reputation:176

   Posted 9 months ago

   
   

7. Whoops! Been a while since I set it up.

   Are you using aero? It's painfully slow without it.

   It could still be the window trying to resize itself, try changing the A_ScreenWidth's to something slightly smaller than your current resolution. If that doesn't work... I dunno how to help! :(

   
   

   #

   Phoshi
   

   Reputation:63

   Posted 9 months ago

   
   

8. Of course I'm using Aero! =)

   I'll mess with the settings a bit more.

   
   

   #

   howtogeek
   

   Reputation:176

   Posted 9 months ago

   
   

9. Some (crazy!) people don't use it for one reason or another! Madness, I say :)

   If it's SMOOTHLY scrolling up, you may want to fiddle with the step multiplier (It's the /8 and *8 (I never expected to post it anywhere, so it's not very configurable :P), but if it's jittering it's probably sticking to the side of the screen, so make the screen width either slightly larger or slightly smaller to try and avoid that. Another thing I've done to make it look nicer is place a samurize script over the top ~22 pixels of the screen (because really, I never used the title bar anymore!), which gives it more of a scrolling down out of the UI feel, which is lovely :3

   
   

   #

   Phoshi
   

   Reputation:63

   Posted 9 months ago

   
   

10. This is great, I'm going to try it with putty windows and see how it works. What would be cool is to expand this and wrap it up into an executable with settings, so you can choose what app as the dropdown app.

    
    

    #

    androider
    

    Reputation:7

    Posted 9 months ago

    
    

11. That would be very cool, actually. I'll have to look in to how to do that.

    
    

    #

    Phoshi
    

    Reputation:63

    Posted 9 months ago

    
    

12. It's not working for me very well, I think it's sticking to the side of the screen but I dunno which setting to change.

    
    

    #

    justin253
    

    Reputation:2

    Posted 8 months ago

    
    

13. I had to fiddle a little, try changing the widths in the script so it's not touching the screen.

    
    

    #

    Phoshi
    

    Reputation:63

    Posted 8 months ago

    
    

14. After disabling the snap to desktop edges setting in Console2 itself, and changing the /8 *8 to /4 *4. I still can't get it to run smoothly. I have a 1680 wide desktop, so I changed the A_screen width to 1600 and changed the ,,,0 to ,,,9 to try and get it away from the sides but it still runs like crap. I want this to work because it will really look cool with several of the my other programs. Any suggestions on speeding it up? it looks more like windows is expanding and contracting by a pixel or 2 for every up move it makes.

    
    

    #

    JohnnyOffTheSpot
    

    Reputation:2

    Posted 8 months ago

    
    

15. Well, I upgraded to Win7 today (woo!), and got it working without any alterations, so I don't know how to help :(

    
    

    #

    Phoshi
    

    Reputation:63

    Posted 8 months ago