Adding scripts to the right-click menus?

[Carlo Didier]

Is there still a way in iMatch 2017 to add scripts to the right-click menu (see attachment)?
If yes, can those be straight scripts without html? They should just run in the background when started, without user interaction.

[Mario]

No scripts in menus. App Panels, App Manager and Favorites only. Favorites are superior because you can even associate a keyboard shortcut with your script.

There are no "straight scripts". All apps run inside a browser, and this requires either an App Panel or a modal app. I may introduce apps which run on non-modal (non blocking) and invisible windows at some later time. Still making experiments and looking for a use case. So far I did not find one.

If a script is doing some work, I don't see a need to hide this from the user. Why not show a progress bar or a short "Working..." modal window until the work is done? This has also the advantage that the IMatch user interface is temporally blocked and the user cannot interfere with whatever your script is doing.

If you want "straight scripts" (windowless), maybe write a script that runs in Node.js or Electron. These are also written in JavaScript and can use IMatch endpoints like you would use them in a regular IMatch app. But with Node.js you can run your script "outside of IMatch". And with Electron you can even write "real" applications in JavaScript. For Windows and the Mac. Visual Studio Code was written that way, for example.

Or maybe write a script in Windows Powershell that works with data supplied by IMatch. There are so many possibilities now, something is always best. You can even access IMWS from inside an Microsoft Office script now, for example. This can be great if you want to integrate IMatch data into report of Excel sheet.

[Carlo Didier]

If a script is doing some work, I don't see a need to hide this from the user. Why not show a progress bar or a short "Working..." modal window until the work is done? This has also the advantage that the IMatch user interface is temporally blocked and the user cannot interfere with whatever your script is doing.

My event triggered scripts are such a case. They are triggered by events like new files added or files modified. There is absolutely no need for user interaction. They can fully run in the background.
Those were for me one of the biggest advantages of iMatch against for example Lightroom.
There'd just be the other problem of those scripts being killed by closing iMatch ...

As to the right-click menus, that was a very useful and efficient way to run often used scripts.
It's so easy to right-click on a folder and select "Browse in Bridge". Doing that with an app is clumsy and inefficient (more mouse movements and the app panel must be visible).

Keyboard shortcuts could be an alternative, but I'd have to first click with the mouse on the folder to select it and then switch to the keyboard to enter the shortcut. Frequent switching between keyboard and mouse is always inefficient and can get really annoying.

[Mario]

Using IMWS and IMatch events in an app running in the App Panel gives you all evens you'll ever want. And of course event processing has to end when IMatch shuts down. No web server anymore, no database.

No context menu scripts, sorry. Rarely used and a real hassle to keep working over time with changes in menu processing and changes in the UI toolkit used for the menus. I think the ability to run apps from the App Panel, the App Manager and Favorites is sufficient for most users.

Feel free to ass a feature request in the FR board. If a suitable number of users wants context menus back and +1 you post, I will consider re-introducing it.
You also need to click a folder before you can open the context menu. Clicking the folder and pressing a key associated with a Favorite should be faster.