Author Topic: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest (Read 196958 times)

Ti133700N · « **Reply #75 on:** August 18, 2008, 10:26 PM »

Thanks, that super. I haven't even told anybody how to translate it yet. If you want to test out the French on your system, go into the Settings Folder -> Config.ini and under [Language], change the path to your file.

I'll be sure to give people credit for their contributions.
-VideoInPicture (August 18, 2008, 10:01 PM)

It works ! Everything's good !

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #76 on:** August 18, 2008, 11:23 PM »

For the 64-bit people out there, I have uploaded the x86 compiled version of Circle Dock to http://circledock.wi...download-circle-dock and I have had a person on another website tell me it works. Thanks for the help!

I'll now focus on getting the settings panel redone and finishing up some parts of the code. For the final release of 0.9.2, I'm further targetting to:
-Have animations for drag and drop operations, deletion, and reordering the dock items
-Smooth out the animations, if possible
-Write the position functions for the oval and spiral docks as well as code in the settings to customize their size and features
-Make the dock always not top/not always on top
-Keep trying to multi-thread the application
-Improve the drag and drop support for virtual folders in Windows (some don't like to be drag and dropped) or add them into a menu like in 0.9.1
-Option to always keep the dock in one position or have it follow the mouse
-Ability to have the dock slide into and out of view by moving your mouse to the edge of the screen (like the taskbar autohide)
-Finish implementing the C# mouse hook so that we can get rid of the Orbit.Dock.dll file and have it run in native x64 when possible
-Improve the speed of opening up the dock folders when there are many items and animate the opening
-Code in the portibility mode functions
-Write up documentation for the end users about the features of the dock.

I think those are the main points I'm shooting for right now and they are all possible to do without taking a long time to do it. With these features implemented and tested to be stable, I think it would be really nice dock to use. I could then start planning the next set of features I want to implement and look at how Circle Dock could work with plugins. In the long term, I'll be aiming to have some support for docklets so that the dock can be extensible.

Ti133700N · « **Reply #77 on:** August 18, 2008, 11:49 PM »

Just so you know, i'm using 2 monitors and by default, the Dock appears right at the center of the 2 screens, that means half in one and half in the other one. I think it would be better to make it appear at the middle of the main monitor. Also, if I enable the option to make it appear at the cursor`s position and then disable that option, the dock will appear at the last position it was. I would expect it to be at the default position (center of the main screen).

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #78 on:** August 19, 2008, 12:01 AM »

Just so you know, i'm using 2 monitors and by default, the Dock appears right at the center of the 2 screens, that means half in one and half in the other one. I think it would be better to make it appear at the middle of the main monitor. Also, if I enable the option to make it appear at the cursor`s position and then disable that option, the dock will appear at the last position it was. I would expect it to be at the default position (center of the main screen).
-Ti133700N (August 18, 2008, 11:49 PM)

In the settings menu, I will be adding in options to specify the position of the dock. This should address those issues. Options would be like:
*Always appear at....
*Primary Monitor, Monitor 1, Monitor 2.....
*Centre
*Left, Right, Top, Bottom
*Specific Position
*Allow user to move dock....
*Follow the mouse

Of course, there has be a level of precedence for these options that I have to work out.

Dormouse · « **Reply #79 on:** August 19, 2008, 04:16 AM »

Just so you know, i'm using 2 monitors and by default, the Dock appears right at the center of the 2 screens, that means half in one and half in the other one. I think it would be better to make it appear at the middle of the main monitor.
-Ti133700N (August 18, 2008, 11:49 PM)

Using the pre x86 v5 alpha,it does appear in the middle of the main monitor on my system .

mike_l · « **Reply #80 on:** August 19, 2008, 05:12 AM »

64 bit Vista error at line 151 in MainForm.cs

Happy to help debug 64 bit issues

Mike

System.BadImageFormatException was unhandled
Message="An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007000B)"
Source="CircleDock"
StackTrace:
at CircleDock.MainForm.StartHook(IntPtr hWnd)
at CircleDock.MainForm..ctor() in D:\Desktop\Circle Dock 0.9.2 Total\CircleDock\MainForm.cs:line 151
at CircleDock.Program.Main() in D:\Desktop\Circle Dock 0.9.2 Total\CircleDock\Program.cs:line 32
at System.AppDomain._nExecuteAssembly(Assembly assembly, String[] args)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.HostProc.RunUsersAssembly()
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
InnerException:

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #81 on:** August 19, 2008, 05:30 AM »

64 bit Vista error at line 151 in MainForm.cs

Happy to help debug 64 bit issues

Mike
.....

-mike_l (August 19, 2008, 05:12 AM)

Hello Mike, welcome to DonationCoder. The 64-bit bug was resolved with the Alpha 6 build (http://circledock.wi...download-circle-dock). It was caused because there was a 32-bit dll file and the program was not compiled specifically for 32-bit but it is fixed now. But, I should probably upload the new source code with the changes made to allow it to work.

mouser · « **Reply #82 on:** August 19, 2008, 08:02 AM »

Just wanted to confirm that the new build runs fine on my windows x64, nice work and thanks to those who helped figure out the x64 problem.

ma5t3rw1tt · « **Reply #83 on:** August 19, 2008, 07:54 PM »

Hey guys, I am new here but I have been giving some neat suggestions via email. I have also sent mockups of what features he should include. He told me that he would post them if I gave him permissions which I did.

Eric (VideoInPIcture) you have my permission to post those screenshots.

mouser · « **Reply #84 on:** August 19, 2008, 07:56 PM »

One of the best things about this site is the interaction and feedback between coders and users (the term "user" doesn't do justice to some of the people here who have made an art out of testing, feedback, and feature requests).

So welcome to the site ma5t3rw1tt and welcome to this new section for Eric's software.

ma5t3rw1tt · « **Reply #85 on:** August 19, 2008, 11:45 PM »

One of the best things about this site is the interaction and feedback between coders and users (the term "user" doesn't do justice to some of the people here who have made an art out of testing, feedback, and feature requests).

So welcome to the site ma5t3rw1tt and welcome to this new section for Eric's software.
-mouser (August 19, 2008, 07:56 PM)

Thank you very much. I have emailed him some mockups and things which I think he will post. If he don't, then I will. He told me that once he gets the software stable enough, that he will be trying to implement some of the features that I had suggested. This piece of software certainly does have potential and that is why I am trying to make this piece of software go somewhere while its still young.

And the interaction with the creator, its FREAKING AMAZING!

joshuadc96 · « **Reply #86 on:** August 20, 2008, 03:47 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

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #87 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.

theWizard · « **Reply #88 on:** August 20, 2008, 08:45 AM »

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

joshuadc96 · « **Reply #89 on:** August 20, 2008, 02:57 PM »

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

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #90 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

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #91 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.

joshuadc96 · « **Reply #92 on:** August 20, 2008, 11:33 PM »

would it be possible for you to alert me when there are updates plzzz?

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #93 on:** August 20, 2008, 11:54 PM »

Wouldn't it be easier to just subscribe to email updates to this topic? It should be an option when you hit the Preview button on the Quick Reply OR When you hit Reply @ the top or bottom of the topic.

Looking forward to the next non-beta update myself

J-Mac · « **Reply #94 on:** August 21, 2008, 12:45 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

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #95 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.

J-Mac · « **Reply #96 on:** August 21, 2008, 01:48 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.
-VideoInPicture (August 21, 2008, 01:14 AM)

Wow! Fast reply, Eric! That sounds good - looks like you found a solution for this by what I call a "happy accident"!

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.
-VideoInPicture (August 21, 2008, 01:14 AM)

No, changing the icon isn't a problem here - though I did notice that the Right-Click menu does change to a kind of "hybrid" after a few instances; looks like my regular Windows context menu with Change Icon and Remove added to the top. What I meant was actually changing the application shortcut via the right-click menu. Similar to OD+.

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.
-VideoInPicture (August 21, 2008, 01:14 AM)

OK. Though I believe that the TGA (Targus) image file format has even more/better alpha-channel capabilities than PNG.

Thank you.

Jim

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #97 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.

J-Mac · « **Reply #98 on:** August 21, 2008, 03:23 AM »

No problem, Eric. The TGA icons became very popular among Pocket PC/Windows Mobile developers because of their relatively small size compared to PNG, and their use of alpha channels and transparent pixels. A lot of icons for those devices were used particularly after the advent of VGA touch screens.

I'll send you some URLs if you're interested, though I imagine that the relatively large size of PNG images don't cause you any problems.

Thanks!

Jim

sealight · « **Reply #99 on:** August 21, 2008, 05:22 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 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...)