"Open in new instance"

[Spliff]

I would like to comment again on problems with multiple tabs; I've got about 30 UR db's currently, of which most of the time, about half a dozen are open; most of the time, I need to access these alternatively, but some I use concurrently, i.e. I have visible my "work" db (on the left), and some "reference" / "help" db for that work (on the right) at the same time, this latter UR db then being visible in turns with my web browser or other third-party software (dictionary, spreadsheet, or other); this might reflect a common scenario for many users.

Thus, in Options-General, I have set "Windows taskbar entries: Always one for each open database" and Options-Misc: "Allow multiple instances", since otherwise, I can't get, whenever I need it, one of my open UR db's visible concurrently (side-by-side).

1) "Go back to UR (from another application)"

Then, if I want to "go back" to UR (all UR db's stacked in the same place of the screen, from some other application, by taskbar, after clicking on the UR icon there, I then have to click on the SPECIFIC UR db icon, too, or I set the setting to "one for each", and then my taskbar is populated with the multiple UR icons; here again, just to "go back" to UR (i.e. to the "active" db there), I have to select the SPECIFIC UR db icon.

I have resolved this problem with a one-key-macro which "goes to UR":
if winexist("ahk_exe UltraRecall.exe")
winactivate
else
run, "C:\Program Files\UltraRecall\UltraRecall.exe"
and fortunately, Windows is smart enough to just "go back to UR", without asking me to which db I want to go; it's NOT the same result as for Alt-Tab in all situations, since the latter will not go to UR in a single step if I in-between have switched between several non-UR applications, so the above macro is very helpful.

2) "Go back to previous UR db (from within UR)"

As said in my post above, UR hasn't got yet a command for this.

You can do it with Alt-Tab (or some 1-key macro which triggers Alt-Tab) IF you directly before, you will have switched between UR db's, but, obviously, not whenever in-between, you will have been in any third-party application (browser, etc): Then, after Alt-Tab, you will have to look up the last-accessed UR db within the Windows Alt-Tab window.

Having "discovered" the alternative Windows shortcuts Alt-Esc and even Shift-Alt-Esc, I had thought for a moment those could help, at least "within" a switch between just several UR db's (i.e. if you do NOT access any third-party software in-between), the "interest" of these alternative Windows shortcuts being that they just switch, sparing you the (flashing of the) Alt-Tab Windows window; unfortunately, those shortkeys are both totally worthless for most users (and that's why the are more or less "unknown"); they are NOT "Alt-Tab without the window in-between" but take you to some "application access history" in which the previously-accessed application (or UR db) is NOT entered on top of the stack (as in Alt-Tab) but at the end or whatever; forget Alt-Esc (and Shift-Alt-Esc) for navigation between UR db's (or any other navigation to begin with).

Thus, in order to ("key-only") toggle between UR db's (and except the above Alt-Tab if you don't use anything else in-between), there currently is just one solution, i.e. a macro timer (!) which every 300 ms or so retrieves the current db name and checks / writes, in case, with/to a two system variables / array values "prevdb" and "currdb", and then, you can write another macro which runs the the "previous UR db", whatever it might be; this is not complicated at all, per se, BUT it will run an external timer all the time, and you will then need to decide if you possibly stop (and then switch it on again) while other macros / scriptlets run.

On the other hand, a native UR toggle would be very easy to implement, and with no such overhead for the user's system. (Instead of the timer, you could also implement the sysvars-updates for every possible command opening / switching between UR db's (^o, prev/next db, mouseclicks on the db tabs, and so on...).


THUS, problem 1 ("back to current UR db from the outside") can elegantly be resolved with some lines in almost any, even the tiniest / free, macro tool of your choice, but problem 2 ("go prev-accessed db within UR") could mainly be resolved by some 5 lines or so of code, accessed by another entry in the "Window" menu. ;-)


EDIT: And oh, I forgot, there's also Win-Tab: good heavens! I had had so much hope in Alt-Esc originally, but nothing quick-and-neat from the Windows side...