I just wondered if the license would make it free for everyone or just the person who paid the $699. --le ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 7:29 PM Subject: Re: Introducing GrabText app and financing problem I think he wants people to contribute so that the software will be free rather than requiring a license. Thanks, Tyler Littlefield http://tds-solutions.net Twitter: sorressean On Mar 26, 2010, at 6:27 PM, qubit wrote: > Jamal, are you suggesting that individuals pay $699 for a developers > license? or are you asking people to send in contributions toward one > person > getting the developers license? > If one person buys the $699 license, does that make it possible for > multiple > persons to access the source? or is that restricted? > Sorry, just trying to iron out the terms. > TIA > --le > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jamal Mazrui" <empower@xxxxxxxxx> > To: <ProgrammingBlind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <Program-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 5:33 PM > Subject: Introducing GrabText app and financing problem > > > Now available at > http://EmpowermentZone.com/gtsetup.exe > > Thanks go to Donald Marang for getting me interested in the topic of > screen OCR. My searches did not find a satisfactory free solution (Google > Tesseract, for example, does poorly on screen images). I did find and > compare several commercial OCR libraries. Typically, an individual > license costs in the hundreds of dollars, and a developer license in the > thousands -- often, with royalties charged for each distributed program. > > I did find what seems like a worthwhile solution: Text Grab SDK by > Renovation Software. Based on this library, GrabText can conveniently > extract and gather text from almost any application windows. An > individual license for the COM server library is $29 and a single > developer license is $699. If you want to consider contributing to a way > of making GrabText freely available, read about the financing issue in the > initial documentation, pasted below. > > Source code is in the GrabText.cs file in the GrabText program folder. > > Jamal > > [Initial documentation] > > GrabText > Beta 0.6 > March 26, 2010 > Copyright 2010 by Jamal Mazrui > GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) > > Description > > GrabText is a command-line utility and dialog interface for grabbing text > from the screen. The command-line syntax is > > GrabText.exe SourceArea TargetOutput UserName LicenseKey > > The first parameter specifies the area of the screen to serve as the > source of text. The choices are ActiveWindow, FocusControl, CaretClip, > MouseClip, EveryArea, and PickWindow. Capitalization does not matter. > ActiveWindow is the most common choice, referring to the top-level window > that is currently active. FocusControl refers to the control within that > window that has focus. CaretClip or MouseClip refer to the string of text > at the caret or mouse position, respectively. EveryArea combines the > previous four areas into a longer string. PickWindow presents a list of > top-level windows from which to choose. > > The second parameter specifies what to do with the text: Voice (say it), > MessageBox (display in a standard message box), Clipboard (append to the > clipboard), or File (append to a file). The Voice, Clipboard, and File > options are On by default. The default file name is GrabTextOutput.txt, > stored in the GrabText data directory, which is located at > %AppData%\GrabText > > A configuration file, GrabText.ini, is also stored there. If a parameter > is not specified on the command line, its value is retrieved from the > configuration file, if present. > > The UserName and LicenseKey parameters are needed because GrabText depends > on a commercial programming library called Text Grab SDK (software > development kit), available from the web site > http://renovation-software.com > > At the time of this writing, a single license costs $29. The trial > version, distributed with GrabText, lasts for two weeks. Rather than > buying an individual license, consider contributing to the cost of a > developer license for the author of GrabText. This costs $699. It would > enable GrabText to be fully and freely functional for any user. Note that > GrabText, itself, is open source, and no compensation is sought for its > use. If anyone is able to set up a PayPal or equivalent site to be > transparent about any money collection effort, please say so. > > The default hotkey for invoking GrabText is Alt+Control+F8. This may be > changed by modifying properties of the GrabText shortcut on the Windows > desktop. > > The installer, gtsetup.exe, creates a GrabText program group in the > Windows Start Menu, with options for launching the program, uninstalling > it, or reading this ddocumentation. The default program folder is > C:\Program Files\GrabText > > GrabText needs to be invoked with a global hotkey so you can extract from > the current application window. Once launched, the program remains in > memory until you explicitly terminate it. Subsequent invocations of the > GrabText hotkey activate the current program in memory rather than loading > additional copies. > > There is another desktop shortcut called GrabTextOptions. By default, it > uses the same hotkey with a Shift added: Alt+Control+Shift+F8. It may be > invoked either with its hotkey or from the desktop. This invokes a dialog > with configuration options and utilities. The UserName and LicenseKey may > be specified. You may change settings for the screen area or output type. > You may inspect or clear the clipboard. You may pick an output file, open > it, remove it, or browse the GrabText data folder. You may restore > default settings, or present this documentation in your web browser. You > may quit running GrabText. All controls of the dialog have unique > Alt+Letter combinations -- except for the Cancel button, which is > activated directly with the Escape key. > > I welcome feedback, which helps GrabText improve over time. > > Jamal Mazrui > jamal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > __________ > View the list's information and change your settings at > //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind