Wildcard Support for Applications

Discord...looking at you...

from Stardock Forums

I have a saved group with Discord in it. 

It appears Groupy handles applications by their direct path, which is fine for most that don't change their folder every update.

Discord has elected to change its folder name with its version every time it updates.  This throws saved groups off.

Could a wildcard be implemented in a path like this?

C:\Users\[NAME]\AppData\Local\Discord\*\App.exe

groupy
8,468 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
I have forwarded your problem/question to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi SovereignGFC,

I've brought this up and can keep an eye on it. 

One existing way around it would be to save a group with the browser-based version of Discord.

Adam McGuinness
Customer Support Specialist

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi, ran into the same issue as Discord changes path with each new version.

Any implementation for a wildcard when creating rules?

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting gianfran14, reply 3

Hi, ran into the same issue as Discord changes path with each new version.

Any implementation for a wildcard when creating rules?

There have been no changes to Groupy in this area.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdrohan, reply 4


Quoting gianfran14,
reply 3

Hi, ran into the same issue as Discord changes path with each new version.

Any implementation for a wildcard when creating rules?



There have been no changes to Groupy in this area.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager



Hi Sean,

1. Groupy struggles with programs that change their executable path after updates. For example, Discord stops working with Groupy every time it updates because there’s no wildcard feature to handle this.

2. Caption matching in rules is pretty hit-or-miss. Partial and full matching often don’t grab window names when they should.

3. Also while staying in the topic of rules, is it possible to add an option to allow the tabs to have a caption after a rule grouped it?

4. There is a bug with some windows where the tab size changes. 2 programs that have this behavior are "DBveaber" and "Linear".

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting gianfran14, reply 5

1. Groupy struggles with programs that change their executable path after updates. For example, Discord stops working with Groupy every time it updates because there’s no wildcard feature to handle this.

I cant think of another app that does that...  Its wild to me.

Quoting gianfran14, reply 5

2. Caption matching in rules is pretty hit-or-miss. Partial and full matching often don’t grab window names when they should.

For example (with native Windows apps, please)?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

 

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdrohan, reply 6

I cant think of another app that does that...  Its wild to me.

All Windows Apps change their directory path when they update, because of the naming scheme Microsoft uses for Windows Apps. The version number of the app is included in the name of the folder where it resides.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdrohan, reply 6


Quoting gianfran14,
reply 5

1. Groupy struggles with programs that change their executable path after updates. For example, Discord stops working with Groupy every time it updates because there’s no wildcard feature to handle this.



I cant think of another app that does that...  Its wild to me.


Quoting gianfran14,
reply 5

2. Caption matching in rules is pretty hit-or-miss. Partial and full matching often don’t grab window names when they should.



For example (with native Windows apps, please)?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

 


1. Slack, the big chatting application also does that, microsoft Teams does that too. Any Steam programs you download from the store is going to be stored inside /steamapps/{your_user_id} (which can vary depending which account you are using). There are many more examples.

2. If by "native" apps you refer to non-web windows programs, then I don't know. Keep in mind most chat applications on windows are web apps in the background and will show similar process names which will make it difficult to save in the rule. Still Discord is a good example. Using partial matching caption with the name "Discord" won't work. Is the partial caption broken?


Here are some captures:

This next capture shows Discord trying to be grabbed for the rule with 3 different methods:
Method 1 will stop working after Discord updates.
Method 2 can't identify what is Discord as it is a web app. These are 4 different apps which will have the same "class" name when selected:

Method 3 doesn't work as it is broken.

3. Also while staying in the topic of rules, is it possible to add an option to allow the tabs to have a caption after a rule grouped it? <--- This would be a really useful addition.

4. Examples to the varying tab height:
Spotify Selected:

Linear Selected:

While having Linear selected also the right-click menu stops working. Definitely a bug.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting pelaird, reply 7

Quoting sdrohan,
reply 6

I cant think of another app that does that...  Its wild to me.

All Windows Apps change their directory path when they update, because of the naming scheme Microsoft uses for Windows Apps. The version number of the app is included in the name of the folder where it resides.

...maybe I am just getting old... 

I want this (how the Discord shortcut is formatted) to work, and does to open Discord, but it does not group [GroupEntry2]

[Group]
GroupCount=2
GroupLeft=315
GroupTop=374
GroupRight=1222
GroupBottom=950
GroupMax=0
Locked=0
[GroupyEntry1]
StoreApp=1
OwnerProcess=Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App
APPID=Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App
NewTabName=
RunElevated=0
NoPatternMatching=1
Target=Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App
MatchingClass=Notepad
[GroupyEntry2]
OwnerProcess=C:\Users\sdrohan\AppData\Local\Discord\Update.exe
APPID=com.squirrel.Discord.Discord
NewTabName=
RunElevated=0
NoPatternMatching=0
CommandLine=--processStart Discord.exe
WorkingDirectory=C:\Users\sdrohan\AppData\Local\Discord
Target=C:\Users\sdrohan\AppData\Local\Discord\Update.exe
MatchingClass=Chrome_WidgetWin_1

I will get with the lead developer on its possibilities.

However (and I am not overly fond of this), this will work...  

I wrote a batch file that will look up the current Discord version and edit the Groupy file.  This would just replace the .Groupy file shortcut you no doubt use to achieve the same result.

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/2024-11-26_11-47-22.mp4

You dont need the batch file where I have it, you can put it anywhere and have any number of other apps opening, I just did it with Notepad...  You just need to set the Groupy file you want it to look at.

The batch file:

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/GroupyDiscord.zip

Quoting gianfran14, reply 8

3. Also while staying in the topic of rules, is it possible to add an option to allow the tabs to have a caption after a rule grouped it? <--- This would be a really useful addition.

Not rules but saved groups (via .Groupy file) can
https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/2024-11-26_12-12-55.mp4

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager