The next unofficial version - Updated 30 September

[Markham]

No! It's not released yet!!

Yesterday I released an unofficial update containing twelve changes and additions; that version has an Assembly version of 0.9.2.5 to distinguish it from Eric's last version which was 0.9.2.0. I am now working on version 0.9.2.6 and so far that update will contain the following:


• A widely-reported problem concerns Circle Dock's handling of shortcuts (ie LNK files). Eric had written perfectly valid code to handle shortcuts correctly and his code should, by rights, work. But as many of you reported, it often doesn't work and the problem is not Eric's, it's Microsoft's buggy code - a bug, incidentally, that has been present in all 32-bit versions of Windows since Windows '95. Others have solved it and I managed to track-down a solution which I've implemented: and it works perfectly.
• When a file is added to the Dock, its Description (which is used for the label) defaults to the file name with its file type extension, eg: "Word.exe". This has been changed such that the file type extension is no longer included - so "Word.exe" becomes simply "Word".
• "Add Blank Icon" has been renamed "Add File, Folder or Special Item" for clarity.
• There is a new button on the 'Dock Item Properties" dialog: 'Special'. This allows you to add certain Explorer folders (eg: My Computer, My Documents) and the most commonly used Control Panel items.

29 September Additions

• Drag-and-Drop functionality has been considerably enhanced with the addition of code kindly supplied by "DrWicked":
  
  • Drag and drop of items (including shortcuts - but not Windows folders) from the desktop (or Explorer) onto CD. If the item is dropped onto a CD dock folder it places it in that dock folder instead of at the current CD level.
  • Drag and drop of items that are already on the CD into dock folders. You can even drop a dock folder into a dock folder.
  • Drag and drop of existing items (or dock folders) up one level (if not at the top level). To do this, drag and drop onto the Center button. Previously, this was how one would delete items. Now to delete items just drag them off the CD outside of the bounds of the CD. At the top level, an item can still be deleted by dropping it onto the Centre button but the user will be prompted to make sure they want to delete the item.

• I have also incorporated "DrWicked"'s code to create an on-screen button which can optionally appear whenever Circle Dock is hidden. This is most useful in touch-screen environments but could also be useful generally. A new set of settings determines the image to be used, its size and opacity on the new "Toggle Button" section of the Configuration dialog.
• In Version 0.9.2.5 (the first of my unofficial releases), if the Dock was set to be invisible when loaded, it would sometimes briefly flash when it started-up. This has now been fixed.
• The "poof" animation now works.
  

30 September Additions

• The number of "Special Items" has been increased to 19 and now include "Log-Off User", "Restart PC" and "Shutdown PC". All "Special Items" have default images attached to them but you can change the display image for one of your choice.
• A new setting has been added to the "General" section which will add (or remove) Circle Dock from the list of programs that Windows automatically starts. No more copying shortcuts to your Startup Folder!
• If "Fast Draw" was enabled and you mouse-click on its background whilst it is building the current layer, there was a chance that additional, duplicate, items would be added to the Dock. This has been fixed.
  

That's it, so far. I will update this post as and when new items are added, or changes made, until the next version is released. No further new features will be added for the next release which is currently being tested. I anticipate releasing this new version in a few days.

If you have any request for new features - or have a bug to report - please add it to this Topic.

Thanks!!

I am currently investigating using other shapes including ellipses, spiral, rectangular and triangular. But I'm making absolutely no promises as to whether any new shapes are added or any time-frames. I'm also investigating the possibility of adding Docklets - but I need help with this: does anyone have the RocketDock/ObjectDock API for Docklets?

I'd like to thank "DrWicked" for his support and generosity in freely giving me his source code additions. That has saved me considerable time and also allows me to include new features I've not even considered!

Mark

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[sgtevmckay]

ObjectDock Docklets are built on an SDK freely distributed.
Here:
Docklet SDK

I will investigate a source code for RocketDock, as I believe that RocketDock also uses the same SDK for Docklet builds.

There is also the following resource. This has been apparently abandoned, or just ignored, but maybe of assistance:
xDockManager
Unknown from what this was originally developed.

I will see if I can contact Skunkie, but I have not heard from the RocketDock dev team in some time.

Let me know what else you require, and also be aware that I am no programmer by any means, so if you require something, you may have to be Lamen in your description.

[sgtevmckay]

I have been fortunate enough to hear back from RocketDock's programmer (PolyVector) 

The message as follows:

Open Message
Hello Sarge,
Don't worry, no offense taken.

To be quite honest, I would recommend you write a new "Docklet"-like SDK if at all possible... The existing SDK's are pretty out of date, poorly documented, and lack things like Unicode support.  RocketDock's "docklets" are simply my attempt to implement the ObjectDock Docklet SDK.  My implementation is very specific to RocketDock (and also very sloppy) so I'd rather not give it out.  If you still want ObjectDock Docklet support, I would begin by downloading their official SDK here: http://storage.stard...Docklet_SDK_v1.0.zip

That zip contains all the information you would need to implement a compatibility layer into CircleDock, and it's what I used for RocketDock

You may also want to ask RaduKing (Maker of RK Launcher) about this since he's implemented more docklet SDK's than I have.  The best of luck to you with this project!

Cheers,
PolyVector
End of message

I would be more than happy to open a line of communication with RaduKing.
Let me know how you wish to proceed.

The Sarge