Author Topic: Requests / Suggestions thread (Read 72506 times)

ertdfgc · « **Reply #75 on:** April 08, 2010, 02:10 PM »

Hi! Just discovered CircleDock, and it seems addictive.

I had a thought about the way I start something. Currently, it is:
click (CD pops up), move to icon, click (starts action)
I think that
MouseDown (CD pops up), drag to icon and MouseUp (starts action)
would be a much quicker and more natural way to use CD. It is also fewer movements. What are your thoughts on this?

sgtevmckay · « **Reply #76 on:** April 08, 2010, 02:22 PM »

Greetings ertdfgc
Welcome to Donationcoder.com and Circle Dock's little corner

Though this seems like a great idea at first...I start to find some issues...
Say you are in MS Word, and the you Left click down and drag...the problem becomes that all of a sudden you are highlighting text.
Similar issue with a desktop environment....anything you left click on you grab and move
So this could not be relegated to the left click button...Right click button is Context menu stuff

A bit of an impasse

ertdfgc · « **Reply #77 on:** April 08, 2010, 02:52 PM »

I agree that this will not work if you do the gesture with the left or right buttons. An example for the right button is that my Opera browser has gestures on the right button that I would not want to loose.

What I meant was to do MouseDown, drag & MouseUp with the middle button (or whatever button I assign). I don't think that will create problems?

Markham · « **Reply #78 on:** April 09, 2010, 12:20 PM »

It's an idea that doesn't fly for me, I'm afraid.

There's normally only a very few milliseconds between a MouseDown and a MouseUp so convention dictates that the MouseDown event is used to set (boolean) flags and actions occur in the MouseUp event handler. Triggering dock visibility is handled at the global (Windows OS) level, not at the application level.

Mark

ertdfgc · « **Reply #79 on:** April 09, 2010, 02:45 PM »

Aww, shucks. I'm having lofty dreams about user interfaces, and you come dragging with those pesky technical details.

You are probably right (and you certainly decide), but out of curiosity, what would happen if you violated that convention? Would Windows or other applications get confused, or is it the user you are concerned about?

Markham · « **Reply #80 on:** April 10, 2010, 01:56 PM »

You are probably right (and you certainly decide), but out of curiosity, what would happen if you violated that convention? Would Windows or other applications get confused, or is it the user you are concerned about?
-ertdfgc (April 09, 2010, 02:45 PM)

It's simply a programming convention that Mouse and Key down events don't contain actions and whilst it's not a hard and fast rule it does make very good sense.

I also have to bear in mind the Windows UI "style guide" which dictates that the left mouse button is used for primary actions and the right button for displaying context menus. Therefore people expect to click the left button on a Dock Item to "execute" it and having that Dock Item execute when a middle button is released over it rather goes against that paradigm.

Circle Dock is modular and highly object-oriented. The display screen is treated as one object that responds to mouse visibility toggles whilst the Dock's background, Centre Button and each of the individual Dock Items are entirely separate objects and each object has its own mouse handling routines. And as the mouse handlers for Dock Items is already complicated enough, I really don't want to add to that.

Mark

ertdfgc · « **Reply #81 on:** April 10, 2010, 05:30 PM »

I just couldn't resist, so I have attached a quick test. Click the middle mouse button in the center of the form, drag and release.

I understand there are a lot of reasons to keep the mouse handling as it is. Middle click-move-left click is certainly quick, but this is the core function of the program, so a small improvement will make a lot of difference. Whether this is an improvement or not is of course debatable.

Thanks for your patience and nice answers! I will shut up now...

Markham · « **Reply #82 on:** April 10, 2010, 11:35 PM »

Ah but the situation is actually somewhat different - and can be demonstrated with your little example. Start your example and move the window to a nice clear bit of desktop. Move the pointer outside the window and then click the middle mouse. Holding the middle button down, drag the pointer to somewhere inside your form and then release. What happens? Nothing, right?

The global handler is agnostic regarding the screen positions of any of Circle Dock's objects, it doesn't need to know because all it's looking for is the correct mouse button (and modifier keys down, if required) so that it can instruct the objects to display or hide themselves. Also hidden windows/objects don't receive mouse or key messages, so even if the mouse pointer happened to be over the screen position of the hidden dock when you press and hold the mouse button, that object would not receive the mouse down message, so the code in its handler would not be executed.

There's a big (and I mean BIG) difference between local and global event handlers. Visual Studio only allows for local handlers, be it for a text box or a form. Global handlers are only achievable by writing specialised hooking code and WndProcs.

Mark

ertdfgc · « **Reply #83 on:** April 11, 2010, 04:04 PM »

Thanks again for explaining. The test application was never meant to do anything useful. It's just to test if the concept would "feel right" or not. And I think it does. It's the kind of movement that turns into a reflex after a while, and I would use it without taking focus away from my current task.

I'm beginning to wonder if we are talking about two different projects. I get a feeling that you see CircleDock as a start menu replacement, while I saw your project as a way to get lightning quick access to a few common actions. Another thing I thought might be a good idea was context sensitivity, but I see that has been shot down in the forum already.

What I think I want is just a very small subset of all the things CircleDock has to offer, so maybe I will try to do something myself. And probably learn that this is not as simple as I want it to be.

exorotika · « **Reply #84 on:** April 14, 2010, 10:10 PM »

Where can I find icons?

sgtevmckay · « **Reply #85 on:** April 15, 2010, 12:33 AM »

Where can I find icons?
-exorotika (April 14, 2010, 10:10 PM)

In the help file...there is direct access to the icons and images at the Rocket Dock database.
there is also a lot at DeviantART...a general Google search will sever very well

Welcome exorotika to the Circle Dock forums

8bit · « **Reply #86 on:** May 04, 2010, 05:48 PM »

My request: Can there be (if there isn't already and I'm just unable to find it like a complete moron) a way to have CircleDock remember it's location after a restart? Because everytime I restart my computer, it appears in the center of my screen and I have to unlock, move and re-lock it. I'd like to position it and never have it move. Maybe a config file entry with an x-y location that it reads when it starts up? It's like my only small gripe towards an otherwise great program.

sgtevmckay · « **Reply #87 on:** May 04, 2010, 09:35 PM »

Greetings 8bit
Welcome to Donationcoder.com and Circle Docks little part of it all

No morons here, we all started somewhere, including you; so no getting down on yourself or others

To get your dock to remain in one area;

Right click on center Button of Circle Dock, and click on "Dock Settings"
When settings opens; go to: General> Location
On the lower left hand side you will see; "Lock Dock to Current Location"
Place your dock where you want it.
Make sure that your "Z-Level" is at least set to "Normal" or you may get stuck with Circle Dock "On Top"
Once you have Circle Dock where you want it; check the box next to "Lock Dock to Current Location"

This should lock the dock in place when you reboot your system.

If for some reason this fails, please advise us immediately and we will take a deeply look into the issue

Let us know and Have Fun

Regards
The Sarge

8bit · « **Reply #88 on:** May 04, 2010, 11:16 PM »

Thanks for the reply.

i already had that setting on, but i went and unchecked and rechecked that box and rebooted my pc. still starts in the center of my screen upon logging in... i am using windows 7 and CD ver1.5.6. I've had this problem on the other versions too.

sgtevmckay · « **Reply #89 on:** May 04, 2010, 11:37 PM »

Ack....not good.

Have you also tried the option on the context menu????

Let us know

Apologies for all this

8bit · « **Reply #90 on:** May 05, 2010, 12:39 AM »

yes. it would seem having it on in the context menu turns it on in the settings and vise versa.

sgtevmckay · « **Reply #91 on:** May 05, 2010, 01:47 AM »

Ack...I fear to say that I am at a bit of a loss

Let's let Markham ring in on this when he gets an opportunity

apologies that I could not be of immediate help

8bit · « **Reply #92 on:** May 05, 2010, 02:04 AM »

It's ok. I gotta get some sleep before work tomorrow.

I'll check back in later tomorrow. I think locking the dock's location currently only stops you from moving it accidentally but not remember it's location after a restart. I could be wrong though, it wouldn't be the first time lol.

Markham · « **Reply #93 on:** May 05, 2010, 04:28 AM »

I see where the issue lies and the reason the Dock is not being restored is that its intended position was being checked to ensure that the background's bounding rectangle lay within the screen area. This check is legacy code I inherited and was to ensure that if users edited the original INI file and changed the position, that position would be legal. As you can no longer edit any of the configuration files, this check is unnecessary and I've removed it.

From the next release on, Circle Dock remembers its current position and will re-occupy that position when restarted. On new installations, Circle Dock will appear at the top-left of the screen.

Mark

8bit · « **Reply #94 on:** May 05, 2010, 09:38 PM »

Awesome! No more headaches repositioning it every reboot. Thanks for hearing my problem.

Good work guys!

zine92 · « **Reply #95 on:** June 22, 2010, 09:09 AM »

Hi, i am new to DC and i was thinking of a feature like click dragging the icons to rearrange instead of using the custom sort/reorder function when i right click on the dock. Hope that helps. Thanks. I love Circle dock!!!!

sgtevmckay · « **Reply #96 on:** June 22, 2010, 11:15 AM »

Greetings zine92
Good to have you here at Donationcoder

I need to do some homework, because we may have covered this.....let em look into it, and get back to you.
Great concept though, so if it is not in teh list, Markham and I will hash on it to see what we can come up with

Markham · « **Reply #97 on:** June 22, 2010, 04:56 PM »

It is already supported.

Mark

sgtevmckay · « **Reply #98 on:** June 22, 2010, 07:47 PM »

Ack....
Than my bad....I have grown so accustomed to changing my icons via the menu operation so I get an exacting layout in one shot

skgskg · « **Reply #99 on:** June 25, 2010, 05:21 AM »

Hello, I'm a new user of circle dock, and may I say it is THE program that I searched for, lovely idea, nicely done!
As we all know nothings perfect, so may I suggest some things to consider:
1. I have lots of bugs here and there to report about, but it seems that there's no right place to do so, so I really suggest to open up "bugs report" section here, and if a way already existed to do so, please direct me! (I think you'll find me helpful with bugs(
2.I can see that there is a problem with "hide when mouse leaves" option in the visibility section, I have chosen a semi-transparent background (or circle), there are a lots of spaces in the image, so when I activate this option, it seems to confuse the software to determine when the mouse really leaves the circle, what I'm suggesting is that you consider changing the code to a more stable one, you can add a virtual radius in the options and when the mouse leaves this specific radius, the dock start counting and hides when the time comes. However a radius won't do the trick if there is no centre point, so you need to add that too to the code (calculated automatically). For eclipse shape the must be 2 centre points.
3.I'm really interested that the circle appears in the centre of the screen, I know that I can do that manually by choosing that I appears wherever the mouse is and after that lock it in the centre, but it's really annoying and anti-user-friendly, so I suggest that you add a new option saying that the circle will appear at the centre (by the way it's also a stability problem)
4.as a software engineer, I must say that the program has a really though complexed interface, the good news is that the program has almost all the possible options on earth, but with great power comes great responsibility (sorry for that, I always wanted to say it) which means that you should choose the perfect interface for the program, when I first opened the settings window, I believe everyone agrees with me, it gave me the feeling that I should really work hard to find what I'm looking for, and by the way I opened up the settings almost 10 time until I finally found what I'm looking for!
The problem, as I already said the quantity and the variety of the options, now I'm not saying that you should remove any of the options, but what I'm saying is that, the order of the options is not right, there are lots of misplaced options!!!
The perfect interface is the interface where a new user, normal new user, can locate the thing that he's searching for in just a few clicks without even using the help! The place and the order of the options is very important, it should be Intuition who helps the user find the options.
If any of you interested in a new interface, I'll be glad to start thinking about one and submit it as a donation (since I'm not working I cannot donate any money).
5. i really didn't see any good use of the rotation option, if a user wants to change the order of their shortcuts he should do that manually after opening the setting windows, since it's not that popular, you see; the order of the items should be permanent, when it's like that I can access whatever shortcut I want from the circle with my eyes shut! Isn't that’s the whole program is about??? Making useful fast shortcuts???
Never mind that, as I said before you must not remove any option, since everything is useful, so what I'm saying is; you should use this option for your own good, you can make "appear while holding key" option, if you hold a custom hotkey (keyboard or mouse) the circle appears with an arrow directed toward (also customizable) 12 O'clock item, you can use the arrow keys (in keyboard) or the mouse wheel to rotate the circle to the needed shortcut (all of thing happens while holding the key that triggers the circle), and when you release the "appear while holding key" the program opens the shortcut (after that the circle disappears) and that’s it! Of course you need to add this as an options, it's not useful to everyone and it might even be annoying if you have a large amount of shortcuts, and you need to also add (if the option is enabled) a cancel shortcut the hides the circle with no shortcut execution.
6. I didn't find search button in the help window! It's really necessary.

That’s it for today, if you still want the list of bugs and the interface I'll be glad to do so… just for the record, if any of these options already exists in the program then I should let you know that I'm really sorry for that, and that means only 2 things: first it interface failure, 2nd its help failure.

Thank you for this good software.