DonationCoder Search Deskbar v1.0.43

[app103]

DonationCoder Search Deskbar v1.0.43 -  April 6, 2010

New in this version:

- Fixed cursor over edit control corrected
- Improved theme support
- Removed dead link to Wordzilla's site from menu
- Fixed copy/paste/select
+ Added "triple click/select all" support



Download it here.

NOTE: If you have an older version of the deskbar installed, close it and reboot, first. Then uninstall the older version before installing this one. If you do not close and reboot first, it will not uninstall correctly because the file will still be in use.

version history

DonationCoder Search Deskbar v1.0.11 -  December 31, 2007

First public release.

System Requirements:

This should work on Windows 98/ME/2K/XP with IE 5 or newer.
I have not tested this on Vista or Win7.

It will work with both horizontal and vertical taskbars.



DonationCoder Search Deskbar v1.0.43
^{screenshot from mouser's horizontal taskbar}


Installing:
     
Just run the DCSearchDeskbar.msi file by double clicking it.

After installing, just right click your taskbar and on the menu, under Toolbars, just select "DonationCoder Search Deskbar". If you do not see it listed there, wait a minute and check again.

You can also add this to your Explorer windows by selecting it from the View > Toolbars menu in Explorer.

DonationCoder Search Deskbar v1.0.43
^{screenshot from my Explorer (not Internet Explorer!)}

Using:

Just type in one or more search terms into the box, select the type of search you want to perform from the drop down list, and click the Search button. Your search will be opened in your default browser.

You can access a handy popup menu, with lots of goodies to explore, by right clicking the search button with the little picture of Cody on it. There are some things on the menu that will require you to be a member and logged in on the forum for them to work. There are also some things on the menu that can only be used if you are a full member of the site.

DonationCoder Search Deskbar v1.0.43
^{screenshot of popup menu, from my vertical taskbar}

Configuring:

It can also be dragged off the taskbar and placed on the desktop or even docked on any free edge of your screen. You can also set the docked toolbar to always stay on top and even autohide. You will have to minimize open windows in order to drag it off the taskbar.

You can take up the extra empty space on the toolbar by resizing it and/or adding the Address bar or making a new toolbar from a folder of shortcuts.

DonationCoder Search Deskbar v1.0.43
^{screenshot from hollowlife1987's horizontal docked autohiding toolbar}

Uninstalling:

It can be removed from Add/Remove programs by finding and uninstalling the entry called "DonationCoder Search Deskbar". You may have to reboot to complete the removal process.

Known issues:

     Internet Explorer:

This isn't meant to be an Internet Explorer toolbar, even though it does appear on the Internet Explorer toolbars menu.

I had to add it to that menu to get it to show up in the Explorer toolbars menu.

You can use it with Internet Explorer, but it will not open searches and pages in the open instance of Internet Explorer. It will open them in a new instance of your default browser, which in some cases might be a different browser than Internet Explorer.

     XP Themes:
         
Improved theme support. Haven't tested on Vista/Win7, but it works on XP. Let me know how it works for you.

     Clipboard paste of invalid characters:
         
It will allow you to paste some invalid characters from the clipboard that it normally won't allow you type.

Since the Firefox and AOL Explorer search plugins don't do any kind of filtering at all, the fact this toolbar does any filtering could be considered an improvement, even if it doesn't offer 100% filtering of invalid characters yet.

[hollowlife1987]

Really nice program App
Would be really cool if you added triple click support like in firefox

[app103]

Really nice program App
Would be really cool if you added triple click support like in firefox

-hollowlife1987 (January 01, 2008, 07:00 PM)

What do you mean? What would you like to triple click and what would you like to happen when you do?

[hollowlife1987]

Would like it how firefox selects all the text upon triple click.

[app103]

OK...shouldn't be that hard to do. 

[Darwin]

I like it, App  My only request would be to be able to resize it (more) when it is free-floating. I'd like to be able to reduce its height to the same height as the taskbar so that I can dock it immediately on top of the taskbar. As it stands right now, it fits ON the taskbar nicely, but when I make it free-floating it's double that width at the narrowest setting that it will allow me to shrink it to... See screenshot below:



EDIT: added missing attachment... 

[app103]

I'll see what I can do to fix that.

I have quite a few fixes to improve it. Got a few more issues to take care of where xp themes are concerned.

I will hopefully be releasing an update very soon.

[Darwin]

Thanks, App. No hurry - it works well as is. I've settled on simply not enabling the toolbar and will invoke it when I need it. Note - I use Maxthon 2 to surf the web and it doesn't yet support IE and WE plug-ins and toolbars  Hence the need/desire to run it as a free-floating toolbar.

[app103]

This is not an IE toolbar and as I mentioned before it doesn't exactly play very nicely as one. It won't open pages in the open instance of IE and will instead open pages in a new window of the default browser, which in your case would be Maxthon.

It is meant as a deskbar and Explorer (files & folders thing) bar only.

What you can do if you do not want it on your taskbar or on the desktop as a free floating toolbar is to drag it to the top of your screen and let it dock there. Then right click it and select autohide.

Now when you touch the top edge of the screen, it will pop out for use. Add the address bar to it like hollow did and it's a really useful tool.

^{Be careful...since you can add a bunch of things to it just like you can with your taskbar, it may just be a matter of time before you have 2 big scary toolbars like me.} 

[J-Mac]

Hmm.  I can't use it on my taskbar - oops - actually I can't use it anywhere; as soon as I click on it, I get an error dialog:



Any idea as to what is wrong here?

Thanks.

Jim

[app103]

try rebooting

[J-Mac]

try rebooting

-app103 (January 27, 2008, 03:35 PM)

OK.  I thought of that but wasn't ready to reboot just now!

Thanks App.

Jim

[app103]

At long last, it has been updated and improved!

v1.0.43 - released April 6, 2010
             - Fixed: cursor over edit control corrected
             - Improved theme support
             - Removed dead link to Wordzilla's site from menu
             - Fixed copy/paste/select
             + Added "triple click/select all" support

Download attached to first post.

[mouser]

nice! 

[superboyac]

Nice app, app!

[J-Mac]

Anyone try it yet on Windows 7?

Thanks!

Jim