Recent Posts

351

Circle Dock / Re: Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 Discussion

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 26, 2008, 01:07 AM »

Circle Dock some time have some performance problem, after I drag and drop icons to rearrange, that will eating many CPU usage now, to stop this problem I just restart the circle dock.

-Boba-Fett (August 26, 2008, 12:59 AM)

How much CPU time does it eat up? On my computer, it'll go upwards of 10% but it's only for like 1 or 2 seconds and then it drops back down to zero and there is no performance problems.

352

Circle Dock / Re: Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 Discussion

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 26, 2008, 12:38 AM »

The Circle Dock have Label problem on there, if I change the label font everything and font shadows style, after close the circle dock and reopen again the label will set back to default settings.

Now I provide some suggestion for future circle dock: 
1.) Soft the icons by name on the right click.
2.) Can drag the icons to what place you want.

-Boba-Fett (August 26, 2008, 12:32 AM)

Thanks for spotting that Labels setting bug. I'll get that fixed and upload a new version tomorrow.

For (1) Sorting by name might be an option, but I'll leave that for sometime in the future.
For (2) Right now, you can rearrange the order of the icons by drag and dropping the icons over top of one another. I just need to animate it so that it's more intuitive.

353

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 26, 2008, 12:32 AM »

• The hotkey toggle settings screen wasn't fully working here last version; it did not tell me if it was a valid hotkey combo.  Now it does, but it isn't picking up all existing hotkeys. E.g., for some combos I tried to setup it said Invalid.  For others it said Valid but then when I used it another app opened instead! I found a valid one through trial and error. Finding unused hotkeys programmatically is impossible, IMO!

That is weird, I've just tried changing the hotkey combinations on my computer to other ones and they all seem to work and the Invalid/Valid message seems pretty accurate. What hotkey combinations did you try to use? Maybe there is another program on your computer that is hooking the keyboard? Circle Dock registers the hotkey with Windows itself and Windows tells it if it is valid or not.

• The hidden Dock is pre-configured for Left Edge and Right Edge. When I tried to close another program using the "X" at the top right corner I couldn't. Circle Dock appeared instead preventing a click on the X. I reset it to Left Edge only.

I'm planning to add in an option to specify that only the middle of the screen edge toggles the visibility and you can define the height and width of this edge.

• When I move my mouse to the left edge to activate CD, half the dock appears with the other half off-screen. That's OK as I just drag it elsewhere. But the dock stays open without clicking on it. If I scroll over it again it disappears. Yet the dock suddenly appears elsewhere unexpectedly about 10 to 15 seconds later. Not sure what caused this but I find myself having to close the dock a lot when it opens uninvited.

You can always turn off the follow the mouse option in Settings -> Location and the dock won't follow your mouse around anymore. With the dock off screen, I was expecting people would use their scroll wheel or arrow keys to rotate the dock. In a future Alpha, I'll put in an option to always keep the dock on screen even when following the mouse.

If you move over to the screen edge when the dock is visible and the settings are turned on, it will become invisible.

I'm not sure what is causing your dock to appear unexpectedly, but maybe your mouse is just hitting the screen edge every so often or maybe you clicked the middle mouse button that is set by default to open the dock? I think you should try to turn off all the screen edge visibility toggling and see if that is the true cause. I have my dock to appear/disappear when I move the mouse to the top of the screen and it works quite well for me.

• Looks and works great. Very nice design, Eric! CD should compete well against all other visual launchers out there!

I'll need to perfect the animation techniques for the architecture of Circle Dock first so that I can compete with their visual effects. 

354

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 11:17 PM »

I like the new options dialog, but the lag to open it (I had a total computer freeze for about 3 seconds) and the modal form is kind of a takeaway. Have yet to tinker with any of the actual options, but it looks like a tweakers dream.

When I open the Settings Panel, it doesn't take very long to open and I don't get any computer freeze. However, the settings panel does have to adjust all the controls to display what is in your settings files and it uses the language from the languages file so maybe it is lagging a bit there but I think it's still pretty speedy. As for the modal thing, I can always just make it a regular form.

One other problem: I can not drag the Internet off the start menu onto the dock. It just won't take it. The drag/shortcut cursor appears, but nothing happens when I release it (on the circle, or the Orb).

The problem is that some files/folders/links on the computer don't actually physically exist. They are virtual files/folders/links and they are called up by the CSLID's. I can't seem to extract the CSLID from a drag and drop operation even though Circle Dock can execute CSLID's. I have searched but I haven't seen a way to extract CSLID's from drag and drop. Can someone help here? I know it can be done since Object Dock does it.

EDIT 2: Another thought: Combine the Show and Hide options in the tray menu (or hide one when it is not relevant).

Some people don't keep the dock always on top. Instead, the make it a normal z-level window and don't hide it. The show and hide options are convenient in these situations.

355

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 09:21 PM »

Hi Eric.  I have the previous alpha installed on my XP desktop; I'll install the latest when I'm back at that machine. I did want to ask, though, about the rotating or spinning function.  My installation on XP didn't rotate anytime I had it open.  What is supposed to make it rotate?  Or perhaps I had it setup incorrectly.

Thanks!

Jim

-J-Mac (August 25, 2008, 09:13 PM)

All versions of Circle Dock have the ability to rotate by using your arrow keys or your mouse wheel. It may be that you turned off the rotation option in the settings panel under General. Try the new version out since it already has the rotation option turned on.

To upgrade from one of the previous Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha versions, you can do this to transfer your old dock items over:

You can upgrade without losing the icons you have placed on the dock in previous versions by going into the Circle Dock directory and System -> Settings, where you see a file called DockItemData.ini. Just copy this file over into the new Circle Dock directory location under System -> Settings.

356

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 06:35 PM »

After I "fill" up the first concentric circle, it won't take any more additions drag and drop.  Is this correct for this version, or am I missing something.  Great concept.

-fsieber (August 25, 2008, 06:26 PM)

There isn't a limit to the number of icons that you can put on the dock. It should generate more concentric circles as you fill up. Maybe what you are trying to do is drag a virtual folder/link onto the dock, which Circle Dock does not support yet. Virtual links include the Recycle Bin icon and My Computer icon on your desktop. If there isn't an actual harddrive address for the file/folder, Circle Dock won't be able to find it. Try dragging some other items onto it.

357

Circle Dock / Re: Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 Discussion

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 05:57 PM »

hi, CD opens directories in the default browser (explorer). Id like to use another app as a directory browser (total commander in my case). So please could you add to settings some option for setting a alternative browser. Same for web pages, but I havent checked this (you use IE as a default net browser?), so I dont know if CD uses IE, but I will check it later today.

-blahetal (August 25, 2008, 05:21 PM)

Hello, Circle Dock will open folders in whatever is set to open folders on your computer by default. In the next Alpha, I will add in a properties dialog for each dock icon that will allow you to change the location of the folder to open and maybe other parameters.

As for the browser, Circle Dock uses whatever is set to be the default browser on your computer. I think it should use Firefox if you have Firefox.

358

Circle Dock / Re: Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 Discussion

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 05:54 PM »

With Vista Start Menu turned off, I do get the Start Menu.
But it is very tall and the top of the left column is effectively missing. Programs show up OK within window.

-Dormouse (August 25, 2008, 05:41 PM)

Yep, there is an option in the Settings Panel under Centre Button to enable or disable the centre button from opening up the start menu. I still haven't been able to fix the shadow residue bug or find some open source code of a docklet that properly brings up the start menu. Anyone with a solution?

359

Circle Dock / Re: Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 Discussion

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 10:53 AM »

I have placed a Youtube video of Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 on to the Circle Dock homepage: http://circledock.wikidot.com

It demonstrates some of the new features and I think it is pretty useful to see.

360

Circle Dock / Re: Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 Discussion

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 10:44 AM »

Great work on "Circle Dock"... Thanks!

The start menu shadow still on there...

But I have few suggestion for future circle dock:
1.) Add a setting to lock on center screen.
2.) Better don't make the circle dock always on top.
3.) Make a add button menu to circle dock, (such as objectdock) can change the title, browse the link and change images.
4.) When mouse over on the image, better add a highlight (such as vista highlight the shortcut on desktop) or zoom in.
5.) When the circle dock is running, the dock is 20-30%transparent and than mouse over on dock back to normal.

That's all...

-Boba-Fett (August 25, 2008, 10:11 AM)

For the start menu shadows, I haven't been able to find a fix for them, but you can disable the centre button from showing the start menu in the Settings Panel under Centre Button. I'm uploaded an Alpha 7.2 to the Circle Dock website with this disabled. I must have forgot to turn it off before I uploaded it.

For (1), that will be an option in a future alpha/beta to lock the dock at a given location.

For (3), that was intended to be in Alpha 7 but I ran out of time. It's simple to do and will be added in.

For (4) and (5), I want to take some time to work out how to create smoother animations before I take those on.

361

Circle Dock / Re: Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 Discussion

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 09:02 AM »

Looking really good.

Only problem so far is that it seems to toggle every time I go to the bottom of the screen. I've tried unticking the edge of screen boxes on the toggle menu, but they are all always ticked again when I look. Strangely nothing happens when i approach any other screen edge.

-Dormouse (August 25, 2008, 08:59 AM)

I realized that I forgot to enable the code to turn the screen edge visiblity off in the settings panel. I have updated the Circle Dock download page with Alpha 7.1: http://circledock.wi...download-circle-dock

Just download the new Alpha and replace the CircleDock.exe with the new one.

362

Circle Dock / Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 Discussion

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 08:12 AM »

Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 has just been released (August 25th, 2008). Get it at http://circledock.wikidot.com

This is a major update and there is now a new settings panel with many options to customize.

I will be updating the Circle Dock homepage with more details about this release as I get time.

For know, I would like to point out this new feature:
Change the image used for the dock icons with the easiest method out there: Just set the program to "Icon Replacement Mode" in the right-click menu of the centre icon and you can change all the icon images by just dragging and dropping new PNG images onto them! Huge time saver when you are customizing your dock!

1
2

363

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 06:36 AM »

I'm updating the Circle Dock website right now..

-VideoInPicture (August 25, 2008, 05:27 AM)

So, just a few more minutes to wait 

-Dormouse (August 25, 2008, 05:42 AM)

More like half an hour, I'm uploading new screenshots and some text to tell people what is new.

364

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 25, 2008, 05:27 AM »

I'm updating the Circle Dock website right now......There's some pretty useful stuff in this release. It doesn't have everything I want for version 0.9.2 but now, I would highly recommend using 0.9.2 Alpha 7 over 0.9.1. 

365

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 21, 2008, 03:29 PM »

I've created the ideas/mockups page on the Circle Dock website: http://circledock.wi...ot.com/ideas-mockups

366

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 21, 2008, 05:40 AM »

I don't know if someone has already reported these issues, please apologize me if that is the case.

- I'm running Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha Preview 6 on Windows Server 2008 x64 and the icon rotation (with the mouse scroll wheel or cursor key) don't always work.
Sometimes is necessary to click on CircleDock center in order to make it work.

- One other thing that would be nice to have is the option to hide the CircleDock after we open a link (that way we wouldn't need to hit the mouse center button again).

- I can't find an option for renaming a DockFolder - probably it's an issue with this Alpha Preview - I had to rename it on the .ini file

Please keep on this amazing work! Has it some kind of relation with the future Windows 7 release (or is it just a "wish to have toolbar")?

(Added: Some Icon highlight on mouseover would be nice too...)

-sealight (August 21, 2008, 05:22 AM)

For #1 - That has happened to me too sometimes. Although it may be fixed right now because I'm not having that issue with the code I have right now and I think it was something that required me to bring my background object to the front before showing the other objects.

For #2/3 - They will be addressed with this weekend's Alpha 7.

Circle Dock was started because of https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=14169.0 but I think it is a nice interface to use for frequently launched programs.

367

Circle Dock / Video In Picture for Windows Vista 0.2.9 is Released

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 21, 2008, 03:45 AM »

1

This release removes the nagging multi-monitor warning and when the program exits, it will minimize all the target windows in the preview windows instead of showing them. Also, this release was compiled to target the .Net Framework 2.0 instead of .Net Framework 3.0 like in the previous versions. For the end-user, this means that the program will more likely run on Windows computers that don't have the lastest Windows Updates installed.

Confirmed is that Video in Picture 0.2.9 works in both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows computers that can run .Net Framework 2.0 or higher (Vista). Even though this release is only 0.2.9, it is fully featured and I think it is very close to a 1.0 release.


Here is what Video in Picture for Vista allows you to do:

Watch videos in a "picture in picture" type box. Very useful for online videos where you have lots of content you don't want to be shown while you watch videos.
Create live thumbnail previews that stay put. Close them by double-clicking on the preview.
Resize the thumbnail previews by dragging the borders.
Crop thumbnail previews by holding down the Ctrl key and dragging the borders. Get rid of all that white space around your YouTube videos you watch!
Move the previews around and dock them to any edge of the screen.
Make the previews stay on top of all other windows.
Make the previews transparent, both visually and to input. This means that you can see through the previews and click on items beneath it! Very useful when you want to watch a video while doing other work in another window.
Create these special thumbnail previews easily by using a tray icon or even easier, by just minimizing the window!

368

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 21, 2008, 02:01 AM »

@J-Mac - Hopefully theWizard can find a better solution to the start menu shadow residue problem than the hacks that I've been messing around with. One method I've created works and doesn't leave any shadow residue but it cause flickering, which just won't do.

For changing the application shortcut via the right-click menu, that is on my todo list. There will be a properties box for each icon that allows you to view and edit it's properties.

I haven't heard of the Targus format before and I don't believe I can use it effectively in Circle Dock because it isn't supported by .Net and I haven't seen a good library of icon images for that file format before.

369

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Truely "Live" Taskbar Thumbnails Previews for Vista

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 21, 2008, 01:31 AM »

One more post tonight, I have uploaded Video In Picture 0.2.9 Final to this thread. You should use this version instead of the one I posted above because I compiled this version for the .Net Framework 2.0 instead of 3.5, which means that it will more likely run on someone's Windows computer without having to update to the latest version of .Net. I have updated my website for Video In Picture with this new release: http://videoinpictur...dot.com/download-vip

370

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 21, 2008, 01:14 AM »

I just installed Alpha 9.2-6 on my desktop computer running XP Pro.  Couple of comments:

First, I noticed several remnants of closed windows that are visible on my Desktop; actually I can see them in any application. Finally figured out that it's the bottom and right edge of the Start Menu that opens when I Left-click on the center icon in Circle Dock.  Doesn't appear to be affecting anything but they sure are annoying!  BTW, they won't go away at all unless I restart my system.  Anyone know a way to clear these without rebooting?

Second, for future consideration, please make the program icons changeable.  Presently you must remove programs altogether and place a new one on the dock to effect a change.

A question: What image files are acceptable for CD icons?  I see that PNG's are provided, but are JPG, ICO, and/or TGA image files OK?

Thanks!

Jim

-J-Mac (August 21, 2008, 12:45 AM)

The residual start menu shadows are a known issue and it is being looked at right now. Look in this thread: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=14478.0 for a way to remedy it. For the Alpha 7 release this weekend, I'm making the middle button not show the start menu by the default and you have to enable it in the Settings Panel and their will be a note about how you must turn off "Show shadows under menus" in Windows. Also, I'm not sure what I did, but the shadow residue now disappears when I exit out of Circle Dock in Alpha 7.

As for your second point, I'm not too clear on that. Are you just trying to change the image used for the dock icon? You can just do this by right-clicking on the dock icon you want and select "Change Icon" and go browsing for a PNG image you want to substitute. Note: I actually introduced a little bug from Alpha 5 to Alpha 6: you might get another right-click menu shown after you have used the original right-click menu, this has already been fixed in Alpha 7.

Any PNG image is acceptable. You can use the same PNG icon images from Rocket Dock and Object Dock. Other file formats are not accepted because they generally do not have the alpha channel data required for an alpha-blended dock.

371

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Truely "Live" Taskbar Thumbnails Previews for Vista

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 21, 2008, 12:23 AM »

I have just quickly done up version 0.2.9 that addresses the multi-monitor pop up message and it now minimizes the Windows in the previews when the program exits. When you double-click to close just a single preview, the program will still show it as maximized because I think this is the intuitive thing.



***Edit: See post below for an updated version or go to http://videoinpictur...dot.com/download-vip

372

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Truely "Live" Taskbar Thumbnails Previews for Vista

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 20, 2008, 11:25 PM »

I already have added Video in Picture to my "must have" basic staples programs toolbox.
Alias though, it is causing bad responsiveness problems while I am playing the game. I find it to be really strange that it is causing this. It doesn't seem to make any difference if I have it showing 7 previews or none at all, the game play is still effected to the same degree. However, other apps such as OutLook, my VOIP phone and so forth seem to be unaffected.
It still has been more then super fantastic using Video in Picture for the past few days, none the less. None of the games have crashed once since I have been using it to check their current status. Now, that in itself is a miracle to me and one great tedious timesaver. Before, when one game crashed and 2-3 always did at least twice daily when I checked their status, it took me about 20-35 minutes to reset each one up. So, for now, I am only running Video in Picture when I need to check game status. Because of this, two parts of Video in Picture are quickly becoming annoying to me, since I'm restarting it alot. The first is the warning pop-up about it not being compatible with dual monitors. I already know this and I don't need to be told everytime. The second part is when I shut it down, it maximizes every window upon exiting. I counter it by hitting "show desktop" in windows quicklaunch tray and amazingly it causes all game instances to minimize without switching focus and causing crashes.
Despite the above problems, I will still full heartily continue to use Video in Picture daily and more often than not. It has already become invaluable to me and I would greatly miss not having it.

-WhiteLion (August 20, 2008, 10:23 PM)

I'm not sure what I can do about the intermittent slowdown issues at this point, it may just be related to how Video In Picture has to work to ensure that the Window stays live. Although, it could also be related to how Video In Picture hides the taskbar buttons and keeps them hidden. I'll see what I can do when I do a code clean-up after this weekend. It's about time I started working on Video In Picture again and try promoting it.

I will remove that pop-up warning about multi-monitors. For when Video In Picture exits, would it be more preferable to have the target windows of the previews be minimized instead of maximized?

373

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 20, 2008, 11:12 PM »

What i want it to do is to stay open behind windows so I dont need to use the hot  keys  

-joshuadc96 (August 20, 2008, 02:57 PM)

I'm planning on adding an option to make the dock not always on top to this weekends Alpha 7 build. However, it may not behave how you want it just yet because when you hover over either the center button or one of the dock icons, they grab focus and bring themselves to the top of the windows.

I think what you are getting at is that you have other windows that do not take up the whole screen on your computer and you want Circle Dock to stay behind those when not in use. I'll see what I can do.

374

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 20, 2008, 11:08 PM »

I would like to contribute for the CircleDock Im an MCTS student in C# (VS 2005 or .NET framework 2.0) or else I will be developing this on my own since this is opensource.....

Please let me know if I can Join the development team

regds
theWizard

I have also posted a review of this software on my blog
http://dotnetwizard.net/?p=1606

-theWizard (August 20, 2008, 08:45 AM)

Hello theWizard,
Yes, I can use the help and you can help me develop it. Have you created other C# programs before?

I'm a bit busy right now, but I'm post back in a few hours about what I would like help with. One you could try to do right now is to fix the start menu shadow residue bug as described in this thread: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=14478.0. I haven't had much luck dealing with it.

Send me an e-mail at [email protected] with your e-mail and what instant messaging program you want to use to communicate for the project.

Eric Wong

375

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by VideoInPicture on August 20, 2008, 04:14 AM »

Hay man is there any way to make it work like rocket dock like always on so you don't need to use the hot keys or launch it all the time.
plzzzzzzzz help i know that this is a work in progress but it would be a nice feature

-joshuadc96 (August 20, 2008, 03:47 AM)

Can you describe in more detail how you want to be able to use Circle Dock like Rocket Dock?

Do you mean like an autohide feature where when you move your mouse to the edge of the screen, the dock will pop up? This is one of the features that I have listed above and I will be incorporating it into the final release of 0.9.2.