Author Topic: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest (Read 195833 times)

Dormouse · « **Reply #25 on:** July 22, 2008, 02:55 PM »

I'm not having any problems with it.
-Dormouse (July 14, 2008, 03:09 AM)

Spoke too soon. Still often crashes when I add a program/link. Sometimes will work 2+ times in a row without crashing, sometimes crashes 2+ times without adding a link, but usually crashes the first time I try to add a link but works fine when I restart and add the same link again. Mildly irritating, but I can add all the links I want.

And I use it all the time, having switched one of my mouse buttons to hiding/unhiding it. So thanks.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #26 on:** July 22, 2008, 05:10 PM »

I'm not having any problems with it.
-Dormouse (July 14, 2008, 03:09 AM)

Spoke too soon. Still often crashes when I add a program/link. Sometimes will work 2+ times in a row without crashing, sometimes crashes 2+ times without adding a link, but usually crashes the first time I try to add a link but works fine when I restart and add the same link again. Mildly irritating, but I can add all the links I want.

And I use it all the time, having switched one of my mouse buttons to hiding/unhiding it. So thanks.
-Dormouse (July 22, 2008, 02:55 PM)

Those mysterious crashes are will remain a mystery to me until someone with the problem can download the source code and debug it on their system with Visual Basic Express. However, that won't be important for too much longer because....

I'm half way done the rewrite of the new version of Circle Dock. The architecture is now much more modular and efficent. There will be an SDK in the future so that you can write docklets for it. Performance in the new version of Circle Dock is greatly improved and moving things around is much smoother. The new version will also allow you to translate it to various languages with a simple text file. Other features I'm coding include:

*Make the shape of the dock into an oval shape (great for wide screen monitors).
*Direct capablity to map one of your mouse buttons to activate the program.
*Option to make the dock always appear at a certain location.
*Place the dock topmost, normal, or bottom most in the z-order.
*Create virtual folders in the dock to group your icons together.
*Thumbnail previews of capable icons.
*A feature to show what programs are running on your computer within the dock.
*If I have time: Create a button that makes the Windows start menu pop up where you click, like in Object Dock.
*If I have time: Tray icon support.

One feature that is on the backburner is the spiral shape support because I'm working out all the bugs for the circle/ellipse shapes first. However, I hope to add this back in.

I'm testing the program as I go and I'm not getting anything unexpected. I will also be testing it on a multimonitor setup to make sure it works with multimonitor systems. I will release it as soon as it is feature complete. I will be needing some people with 64-bit Windows to tell me if it still works in 64-bit OS's.

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #27 on:** July 26, 2008, 02:15 AM »

Good to have a report on the progress. Looking forward to the new release!

mouser · « **Reply #28 on:** July 26, 2008, 02:27 AM »

I'm happy to help test on win xp pro x64.

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #29 on:** July 26, 2008, 02:38 AM »

I'm happy to help test on win xp pro x64.
-mouser (July 26, 2008, 02:27 AM)

Ditto that for Vista Home Prem SP1 32bit.

I also have VB Express Edition 2008 installed, I am far from being as good a programmer as you but I might spot something... any help is good help (usually)

EDIT: I am only single monitor so I can't help there, but I have 3 systems running Vista and 2 on XP (all 32 bit, but it still gives a good overall test)...

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #30 on:** August 02, 2008, 02:58 AM »

Hello Everyone,
I thought I would post the current build of the new version of Circle Dock (0.9.2) so that the programmers can check it out and play with it. You can get the Preview1 Source Code for Circle Dock 0.9.2 at http://circledock.wi...idot.com/source-code

Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest1

Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest2

Note that Circle Dock 0.9.2 is now written in Microsoft Visual C# Express 2008 instead of Visual Basic like in the first version. It is NOT feature complete or anywhere close. I'm just delayed on get everything to move and animate smoothly. The rest of the project will be pretty straight forward since it will consist of writing functions to calculate the positions of where every item should be and adding in a settings panel, global mouse hook, etc...

If you need an explanation of what is going on in the code right now, just post here.

From my source code page:

Circle Dock 0.9.2 is being re-developed in Microsoft Visual C# Express 2008 (.Net). Some of the code is commented and some of it is not. This build is just to show some of the core code. If you run this version, you can add and remove icons as well as as dock folders. You are also able to change the dock item icons.

The current hold up in the project is getting everything to animate at one time and efficiently for resize, rotations, and other movements. This may take some time to sort out but the rest of the project will be pretty straight forward after that. The current build allows you to move the dock around but it is just a rudimentary method of doing it that will likely change.

As a note, the way Circle Dock operates is now very similar to the major docks out their, such as Object Dock and Rocket Dock. In Object Dock and Rocket Dock, each item in the dock is actually a separate window that has the styles WS_EX_LAYERED, WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW, and WS_CHILD set. The background is the parent window of each of the child windows that host the dock objects. Circle Dock 0.9.2 is now structured like this.

The way Circle Dock is now structured is as follows:
Main Form (Invisible) -> Background Object -> Centre Object -> Dock Items

The Main Form is invisible and it exists to coordinate the general movement of the dock, creation of items, initialization, etc. The Background Object is just a window to display the background. The Centre Object shows which dock folder you are currently in and allows you to move the dock around. The Dock Items are your icons, dock folders, and in the future, docklets.

Eric

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #31 on:** August 06, 2008, 11:52 AM »

I know just a tiny bit of C#, so I can't comment on the code, but I do very much so like the folder navigation system. Very interesting and easy to use. I like the new tray icon, too!

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #32 on:** August 06, 2008, 05:00 PM »

I know just a tiny bit of C#, so I can't comment on the code, but I do very much so like the folder navigation system. Very interesting and easy to use. I like the new tray icon, too!
-wreckedcarzz (August 06, 2008, 11:52 AM)

C# is quite similar to Visual Basic once you get the hang of the syntax changes.

nickysam · « **Reply #33 on:** August 11, 2008, 04:47 AM »

I have got some information after doing a search.I think so this will help you in some causes.This can be used to show or hide docked or floating control bars.To make both fixed-size bars and resizable bars visible/invisible, the CFrameWnd::ShowControlBar() method should be used. The CControlBar::ShowWindow() cannot be used here, because it does not affect the positions of other bars in the same frame window.
--------------
nickysam

WideCircles

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #34 on:** August 17, 2008, 07:49 PM »

Hello,
I have just released a new Alpha version of Circle Dock 0.9.2 (Alpha Preview 2) at http://circledock.wi...download-circle-dock and I need alpha testers to see if there are any show stoppers/major bugs. This is not a complete version but I want to know that it works on other people's Windows XP and Vista computers before I move on.

This new version is a total rewrite of the original program and there are many differences. I will list them briefly below:
-Completely different program architecture for better performance, memory usage, and modularity.
-At idle, the program uses under 1 meg of ram
-Animated rotation of the dock for a smoother rotation
-Animated fade in/fade out
-Direct capability to use your mouse buttons to toggle the dock
-Different background rendering
-Ability to show Explorer context menus directly
-Ability to show the Start Menu over the dock
-Dock folders to group your icons together
-There is now a tray icon to toggle the visibility of the dock

Note that:
-Portability mode is not yet completed
-The default hotkey to toggle the visibility of the dock is F1. You can change it in the settings area.
-You can directly use your middle mouse button to toggle the visibility of the dock without extra software. Try it out! You will be able to change this in the final version.
-You cannot change the shape of the dock yet and you cannot change the background image in the settings area yet.

Here are some screenshots:

Circle Dock 0.9.2 Preview - Windows 7 Theme, Rotation.jpg

Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest1

Circle Dock 0.9.2 Preview - Windows 7 Theme, Custom Context Menu2.jpg

Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest2

Circle Dock 0.9.2 Preview - Windows 7 Theme, Start Menu2.jpg

Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest3

Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest4

Please try the new version out and tell me if it works on your computer or what major bugs you encounter. Please include:
-Your operating system and whether it is 32 bit or 64 bit
-Your .Net Framework version if known
-Your operating system language (ex: English, French, Spanish, etc.)
-Whether you are logged in as an Administrator, Power User or Guest

Thanks for helping out,

Eric Wong

mouser · « **Reply #35 on:** August 17, 2008, 08:28 PM »

Ok just tried the new version, it looks beautiful but i did get an error on startup after it displays. Image attached.
(I have winxp pro 64, and i think i have the latest dotnet but im not positive).

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

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #36 on:** August 17, 2008, 08:42 PM »

Ok just tried the new version, it looks beautiful but i did get an error on startup after it displays. Image attached.
(I have winxp pro 64, and i think i have the latest dotnet but im not positive).
-mouser (August 17, 2008, 08:28 PM)

That is a weird problem, all the items in the dock have been rendered and then it gets an error. Maybe it's a 64-bit issue. I'll wait and see what happens with other people. Is there anymore information for that error if you click on the "details" link in that error message?

If it shows, "The bitmap must be 32ppp with alpha-channel.", then I might know what might be wrong.

Dormouse · « **Reply #37 on:** August 17, 2008, 08:47 PM »

32 bit XP Pro, .Net 3.5, English, Administrator

Old crashing bug when adding new programs etc has gone.

Lots of juddering when Location and Toggling opens and closes.

My middle button seems to rotate the dock rather than toggle visibility.

Very pretty. I have an ObjectDock addin clock which I would choose as the centre button if I could.

Not keen on using this version instead of .91 at moment. (I've already added the progs etc that I want to .91 and I've set .91 to much smaller icons and circles so that there is much less mouse movement needed.) Very happy to test new functions as they come and report back on experience (or do anything else I can to help).

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #38 on:** August 17, 2008, 08:54 PM »

Old crashing bug when adding new programs etc has gone.
Lots of juddering when Location and Toggling opens and closes.
My middle button seems to rotate the dock rather than toggle visibility.

Very pretty. I have an ObjectDock addin clock which I would choose as the centre button if I could.
-Dormouse (August 17, 2008, 08:47 PM)

Good to hear one of those mysterious crashing bugs in 0.9.1 is gone.

I think your juddering comment refers to the settings panel. Don't worry about the performance of the settings panel. I realized that the one in the Alpha 2 is not a good one and I have a better one to pop into it's place. This was what was keeping me from releasing the Alpha 2 sooner.

Rotating your middle mouse buttons rotates the dock, as it should. If you click with your middle mouse button (wheel, press it down), it will toggle the visibility of the dock.

You can change the centre button by right-click on it and selecting "Change Icon".

f0dder · « **Reply #39 on:** August 17, 2008, 08:55 PM »

An unhandled exception of type 'System.BadImageFormatException' occurred in CircleDock.exe

Additional information: An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007000B)

Happens in CircleDock.MainForm..ctor, after the third-last call instruction (happens at address 0000042C , but dunno how useful that is to you, since you're on 32bit and the JITer has JITed for 64bit).

Just like mouser, I get the crash after the main form has been painted. XP64/SP2, running with admin privileges, framework v3.5 installed.

Dormouse · « **Reply #40 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:07 PM »

Rotating your middle mouse buttons rotates the dock, as it should. If you click with your middle mouse button (wheel, press it down), it will toggle the visibility of the dock.
-VideoInPicture (August 17, 2008, 08:54 PM)

Clicking the middle mouse button has no effect on the dock at all.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #41 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:08 PM »

An unhandled exception of type 'System.BadImageFormatException' occurred in CircleDock.exe

Additional information: An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007000B)

Happens in CircleDock.MainForm..ctor, after the third-last call instruction (happens at address 0000042C , but dunno how useful that is to you, since you're on 32bit and the JITer has JITed for 64bit).
-f0dder (August 17, 2008, 08:55 PM)

Argh! I wish I had access to a virtual machine with all versions of Windows on it. It's just not possible for me to test the thing on all versions. I'll upload the source code in a bit so that you can debug it with Visual C# Express.

Right now, I'm uploading a modified version with one more exception handling to see if it'll fix the problem. Stay tuned.

Just like mouser, I get the crash after the main form has been painted. XP64/SP2, running with admin privileges, framework v3.5 installed.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #42 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:10 PM »

Rotating your middle mouse buttons rotates the dock, as it should. If you click with your middle mouse button (wheel, press it down), it will toggle the visibility of the dock.
-VideoInPicture (August 17, 2008, 08:54 PM)

Clicking the middle mouse button has no effect on the dock at all.
-Dormouse (August 17, 2008, 09:07 PM)

Hmm, it might be another program on your computer is hooking the middle mouse button so Circle Dock doesn't have access to it.

Alternatively, press the F1 keyboard button or click on the tray icon to toggle the visibility.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #43 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:15 PM »

@mouser and f0dder or others that want to try: http://circledock.wi...ck/CD0.9.2Alpha4.zip

This version just adds an exception handler to the part where it actually draws the dock and pops up an error message if there is a problem. See if it works. This link is not on my download page.

Dormouse · « **Reply #44 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:23 PM »

You can change the centre button by right-click on it and selecting "Change Icon".
-VideoInPicture (August 17, 2008, 08:54 PM)

Tried this. The Windows icon disappeared to be replaced by the original circle centre icon. No attempt to change the icon to anything else in the Icon folder worked.

Added a Dock Folder. It added an icon; when I tried to change that icon (can't remember what it was now), all the CircleDock icons originally loaded (but not connected to any programs/folders) disappeared to be replaced by questionmarks. ~~No further attempt to change those icons worked.~~ Actually, when I exited and restarted the program the new icons appeared.

f0dder · « **Reply #45 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:27 PM »

Crashes in the same way (and location?) as previous build, but the new version doesn't render any icons, only the main dock background.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #46 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:31 PM »

Tried this. The Windows icon disappeared to be replaced by the original circle centre icon. No attempt to change the icon to anything else in the Icon folder worked.

Added a Dock Folder. It added an icon; when I tried to change that icon (can't remember what it was now), all the CircleDock icons originally loaded (but not connected to any programs/folders) disappeared to be replaced by questionmarks. ~~No further attempt to change those icons worked.~~ Actually, when I exited and restarted the program the new icons appeared.
-Dormouse (August 17, 2008, 09:23 PM)

Noted, I will try Circle Dock 0.9.2 on other computers I have access to and see if I can replicate the problem.

As a last resort, try http://circledock.wi...ck/CD0.9.2Alpha4.zip. It has the added exception handler and I cleared the dock items so you can try dragging and dropping fresh items onto the dock.

Dormouse · « **Reply #47 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:34 PM »

Hmm, it might be another program on your computer is hooking the middle mouse button so Circle Dock doesn't have access to it.

Alternatively, press the F1 keyboard button or click on the tray icon to toggle the visibility.
-VideoInPicture (August 17, 2008, 09:10 PM)

It's possible that another prog has grabbed the button ( I will try to check) - but it does not do anything visible and the rotation does work and will switch between programs. F1 and tray icon both work. I have .91 set to a different button (via a allocating the button to a keyboard shortcut) and would probably prefer to do this anyway.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #48 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:34 PM »

Crashes in the same way (and location?) as previous build, but the new version doesn't render any icons, only the main dock background.
-f0dder (August 17, 2008, 09:27 PM)

Okay, thanks. I purposely removed the dock icons from that one to minimize the sources of error. If it worked, you could have dragged and dropped icons onto it.

I will create a source-forge account to host the code since the whole solution is now around 40 megs with the icons I use for testing. I can't host this on wikidot because of file size limitations. I'll post a message when I get the source-forge account set up.

Now I'm curious if a 64-bit Vista user will have the same problem...... Hmm. I'll have to wait and see.

Dormouse · « **Reply #49 on:** August 17, 2008, 09:39 PM »

Tried this. The Windows icon disappeared to be replaced by the original circle centre icon. No attempt to change the icon to anything else in the Icon folder worked.

Added a Dock Folder. It added an icon; when I tried to change that icon (can't remember what it was now), all the CircleDock icons originally loaded (but not connected to any programs/folders) disappeared to be replaced by questionmarks. ~~No further attempt to change those icons worked.~~ Actually, when I exited and restarted the program the new icons appeared.
-Dormouse (August 17, 2008, 09:23 PM)

Noted, I will try Circle Dock 0.9.2 on other computers I have access to and see if I can replicate the problem.

As a last resort, try http://circledock.wi...ck/CD0.9.2Alpha4.zip. It has the added exception handler and I cleared the dock items so you can try dragging and dropping fresh items onto the dock.
-VideoInPicture (August 17, 2008, 09:31 PM)

It's a relatively minor issue at this stage. It just means that the prog needs to be closed and reopened for icon changes to take effect. There's no problem with dragging new items to the dock.

Will try latest alpha tommorow. Off to bed now.