Changes in Sept 20th 2012 Version

1. Fix for "I-SCRIPT is crashing when used in autologin mode", thanks to Eduard.

2. proxyintercept.dll is removed from the Proxy32 installation. It was an experimental 32-bit API hook in preparation to intercept console API usage in the child console process in attempt to hook winconsole applications into my terminal. I have abandoned the attempt as this hook behaves similar to a virus (injects my code into child process) and that would be looking suspicious even so my intentions are good. I decided to abandon such method as I did not want my software to behave suspiciously, so I lost the option to write full-fledged console wrapper. I have found another way to write wrapper for console applications, though it has less capabilities compare to the one that would be written with the use of injected console API hook.

3. proxyhooklib.dll is removed from the Proxy32 installation. It was MS Windows local hook to intercept maximization of the window of external process when it is residing inside of my workspace. Window of external process cannot be in maximized state when it is residing inside of my workspace, so I had to intercept maximization and replace it by normal window state but with the size that would cover all internal part of the workspace. Now instead of intercepting maximization event I use periodic windows polling and that allowed me to get rid of the hook dll.

4. I use the same new polling algorithm instead of trying to intercept "Activate" and "Destroy" events for the window of external process when it is residing inside of my workspace. That overall improved reliability of the "active" window selection.

5. I have written and included into Proxy32 installation new console wrapper that is similar to proxycygterm.exe (but closed source). As proxycygterm.exe creates CYGWIN TTY internally and wraps it into STDIN/STDOUT/STDERR external interface, the same way new wrapper proxywinconsole.exe creates hidden MS Windows console and wraps it into STDIN/STDOUT/STDERR external interface (UTF-8 byte streams). It also has Ctrl-C handler on STDIN. Hidden console window has fixed 80 columns width. proxywinconsole.exe can be used the same way as proxycygterm.exe, but for windows command line applications (that cannot run without native MS Windows console window attached). Run new wrapper in SHELL-TERMINAL as follows (examples):

   • "proxywinconsole.exe" - starts MS Windows powershell by default
   • "proxywinconsole.exe cmd"
   • "proxywinconsole.exe powershell"

   Wrapper has handler to pass Ctrl-C (ASCII 03) from its STDIN to wrapped child process (cmd or powershell), so Ctrl-C can be used to interrupt long powershell and cmd printouts. Wrapper also supports UTF8 on STDIN/STDOUT streams to use Unicode for non-English languages support. Wrapper does not support console color attributes.

   This wrapper is intended to attract MS Windows sysadmins who use MS Windows powershell, cmd, net, reg and other MS Windows command line tools. Another obvious benefit of this wrapper is its ability to run cmd or powershell from CYGWIN bash command line and from bash scripts. In particular, before it was impossible to connect to powershell or cmd via CYGWIN OpenSSH ssh server. Now it is working. First, one need to connect to CYGWIN OpenSSH sshd server on PC. This will provide bash prompt. Then simply start my wrapper from the bash prompt to start working with cmd/powershell via CYGWIN OpenSSH sshd server on PC.

   Google search for "access powershell via CYGWIN OpenSSH server" returns a lot of people's frustration because of inability to run powershell via CYGWIN OpenSSH sshd server on PC.

   • powershell and CYGWIN OpenSSH sshd server on PC, link 1
   • powershell and CYGWIN OpenSSH sshd server on PC, link 2
   • powershell and CYGWIN OpenSSH sshd server on PC, link 3
   • powershell and CYGWIN OpenSSH sshd server on PC, link 4
   • powershell and CYGWIN OpenSSH sshd server on PC, link 5
   • There is even full blown commercial SSH server just to give folks access to powershell remotely! Commercial POWERSHELL SSH SERVER

   Current Limitations of the proxywinconsole.exe Wrapper:

   • Wrapper only creates hidden console that is 80 column in width, so SHELL-TERMINAL automatically detects if it is running proxywinconsole.exe and adjusts to fixed 80x24 size.
   • Wrapper is not using internal screen buffer of the hidden console directly (as this buffer is only 9999 lines max) but instead extracts new characters that appear at the end of the internal screen buffer of hidden console window. Because of this design wrapper's output does not display "full screen" console applications correctly and it also does not display correctly when user tries to edit command line before execution (backspace, line up, line down, sending output via pager etc). This is the price to pay for having cmd and powershell output in the terminal with unlimited scrollback buffer and with search and bookmarking capabilities. When user does not use backspace, line up and line down and "output through the pager" everything is working fine for powershell, cmd and other tools that do not move the cursor directly, but only move it forward with the sequential text output.
   • For international users: Wrapper expects ASCII or Unicode UTF8 streams (STDIN/STDOUT) externally. Internally, UTF8 is converted to UTF16 for working with hidden console (MS Windows console does not support surrogate pairs aka Unicode Supplemental Plane).
   • For international users: On Windows XP, to enable Unicode output from the wrapper, after every reboot user have to open normal MS Windows console and set its font to "Lucida Console". This will pre-load Unicode font into some system console font table and then my wrapper will be able to use it on hidden console to produce Unicode output. Starting from Windows Vista, wrapper is loading Unicode font "Lucida Console" into hidden console automatically and no action is required from user to ensure Unicode support in the output of the wrapper.
   • For international users: On the STDIN of the wrapper UTF8-to-UTF-16 converter is "string-oriented" for now. To ensure correct conversion, input UTF8 string cannot start or end inside of UTF8 byte sequence that represents one Unicode char. Because of this limitation, if sequence of UTF8 bytes is separated on entering STDIN of the wrapper, this Unicode char will not be converted to UTF16 correctly. I need to re-write converter to use "byte-by-byte processing" and "state machine" to make it work in all cases. Practically, this current limitation means that user can paste Unicode strings into proxy32 terminal and they will go correctly into powershell or cmd, but typing in Unicode is not yet working properly with this wrapper, until I rewrite the converter.
   • Wrapper does not support console color attributes (yet?). Nobody asked for this. I can potentially translate console char color attributes into XTERM ESC sequences (SGR sequences) to switch color on the screen of the terminal that is receiving STDOUT of the wrapper.

6. For international users: Proxy32 built-in terminal now has support for international keyboard/IME input. It is still experimental and does not yet support surrogate pairs (aka Unicode Supplemental Plane). Normally, Proxy32 terminal translates printable key-presses directly into ASCII chars (bypassing MS Windows keyboard layouts and languages), but if user checks Terminal_Spare_Setting_08, terminal will use MS Windows translation of printable key-presses and then translate them into UTF8 and send them to remote end.

7. Terminology changes in Proxy32 User Interface: Renaming to make it more clear:

   • ActiveTerminalSelector Window was renamed to Selector to make the name comprehensible.
   • LauncherTree Bookmarks were renamed to LauncherTree Favorites - to avoid confusion with terminal bookmarks that refer to the line in the scrollbuffer and not to launcher on the LauncherTree.

8. Directories created by Proxy32.exe now have permissions for anyone to access. This should simplify some situations, for example, when Proxy32 installer or normal mode runs with "As Administrator" privileges and then later user tries to uninstall (remove) Proxy32 installation using Windows Explorer that runs without "As Administrator" privileges.