This program, also known as [Q]uick Templates, is productivity tool that is used to inject text-based templates into any application to save you time. I originally started making this tool primarily as a personal tool to speed things up when doing tedious tasks and as a replacement for scripts that use AutoHotKey for templating, but then I decided to evolve it on here. There are other applications like this out there, but QTemplates supports plugins for when you need to add quick access to customized tools and translated templates that are grouped together.
Releases: https://github.com/StevenJDH/QTemplates/releases
Changelog: https://github.com/StevenJDH/QTemplates/wiki/Changelog
- Sits in system tray listening for hotkeys and provides quick access to tools.
- Auto template injection after selecting a template from the template selection window.
- Remembers the intended window for the template even if it is not the active window anymore.
Ctrl+Topens the template selection window andCtrl+Shift+Tuses the last used template.- A plugin system to add more features in the form of tools.
- Associate templates with multiple versions written in other languages, which keeps the list clean.
- Template manager to create, edit, and delete templates.
- Filter templates by language and category.
- Integrated spell checker with 12 language dictionaries and over 60 more available from Firefox, Chrome, macOS, LibreOffice, etc.
- Multi-user support so that everyone can have their own templates.
- Supports checking for the latest release on GitHub.
- Updater window with color-coded changelog to update directly from application.
- Structured logging using a daily archival strategy that keeps archived logs for up to 7 days.
- Looking into associating shortcut keys for individual templates.
- More feature access via plugin system.
- Options for backing up, importing, and reseting a database.
For the plugins to work, ensure that there is a folder called Plugins next to the QTemplates application with your plugins inside this folder. For example, place the QTemplates.Example.Plugin.dll file, which is an example plugin I made, into the Plugins folder to make it appear in the Tools menu. This example plugin just shows you how information and functionality from QTemplates can be accessed by the plugin and how QTemplates can do the same when interacting with the plugin. Keep in mind that the plugin system is still being built and will have more features when finished.
I was going to use my own implementation for this, but decided to use an SQLite database for its portability along with Entity Framework 6x using a partial Database First Approach since currently there are some limitations with SQLite. I've only used Entity Framework Core 2x with ASP.NET and SQL, so bare with me while I iron out the details for WinForms. Below is an ERD of the database design for reference. The only thing worth pointing out is the required relationship between the Template and Version entities. The idea is that a template will always have to have at least one version, in this case I have chosen English as the default. Right now this is handled in code, but in the future I might handle this via a trigger in the database itself.
I've included the NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) script that I wrote to create the installer for QTemplates. The script was written with NSIS 3.04, which you can find here http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page, and it may not work with earlier versions due to missing features in the scripting language. The QTemplates installer supports installing the program for all users, the current user, or for both at the same time. Silent installs and uninstalls can also be performed, and a restriction of at least Windows 7 is imposed to meet requirements for the .Net Framework version used. You'll also need the SelfDel plug-in found here https://nsis.sourceforge.io/SelfDel_plug-in to compile the script. This plugin enables the installer to delete itself from the %Temp% folder when updating directly from QTemplates.
Many commonly asked questions are answered in the FAQ: https://github.com/StevenJDH/QTemplates/wiki/FAQ
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// Steven Jenkins De Haro ("StevenJDH" on GitHub)