One thought and one possible bug

[wrwetzel]

Re: v1.127.01

I am using LBC with Windows 7 as a launcher mainly for portable applications, a few non-portable, and as a replacement for quick-launch icons on the tool bar. It has worked quite well for this.

Possible bug: I'm unable to make a link to a "Node Type: Dock". A link to a "Node Type: Command" works fine. That is, a node of type "Link" with a "Link to Node ID:" of a Command node works fine but with a "Link to Node ID:" of Dock does not. I would like to have entries in one dock point to other docks.

Suggestion: When adding a node for a portable application I find myself continually having to edit an absolute path in the "Icon:" and "Application/Command" text boxes to a relative path. For example, after dragging an application into the dock the Application/Command value is: "C:\Portable\bin\puttyportable\puttyportable.exe". I have to edit it to: "%APPDIR%\..\puttyportable\puttyportable.exe". It would be helpful to have an option to make this change automatically.

Thanks,
Bill Wetzel

[mouser]

Possible bug: I'm unable to make a link to a "Node Type: Dock". A link to a "Node Type: Command" works fine. That is, a node of type "Link" with a "Link to Node ID:" of a Command node works fine but with a "Link to Node ID:" of Dock does not. I would like to have entries in one dock point to other docks.

A dock cannot be a child of another dock.. so that would be a problem.

What exactly are you wanting to do?  Do you basically want to embed the contents of one dock in another or in a menu?

I could add support for that.. However there is a way you can do it now with a workaround.

If in your dock, you create one menu node and put all of the dock's content under that, and then set this menu node to be of type "Contents as root-level items", you basically get an invisible top level menu that contains all children, even though it has no user interface effect.

This will let you share this "virtual" menu node in other places.


As for your suggestion, that's a good one.. I just have to figure out a good way for LBC to be able to know when to do that.

[wrwetzel]

A dock cannot be a child of another dock.. so that would be a problem.

What exactly are you wanting to do?  Do you basically want to embed the contents of one dock in another or in a menu?

This is a small point and not worth a lot of effort. The need arises as follows. I have two main docks, one for portable apps, another for installed apps, each bound to a hot key, normally hidden, and exposed by the hot keys. I have a third dock for frequently used programs that I leave visible on the desktop permanently. This takes the place of Windows quick launch icons in the taskbar. I was trying to add nodes in the frequently-used dock to point to the portable and installed docks as a convenience so that I could access them with a mouse-click in the frequently-used dock and not have to go to Windows notification area or type the hot key sequence.

Why can't a dock be a child of another dock, are you afraid of recursion? If so, you could test for it. Or, perhaps it is a more fundamental program structure issue?

Thanks,
Bill Wetzel

[mouser]

I guess the question is -- what would it mean for a dock to be the child of another dock? Do you mean that you want the child "dock" to be treated as if it were just a child menu?  Or behave like root level items? Or do you want it to behave like a dock.. and what would that mean?

[wrwetzel]

I guess the question is -- what would it mean for a dock to be the child of another dock? Do you mean that you want the child "dock" to be treated as if it were just a child menu?  Or behave like root level items? Or do you want it to behave like a dock.. and what would that mean?

-mouser (December 02, 2011, 02:09 PM)

Ah ha, a seemingly simple idea has a lot more to it below the surface. I'm not familiar enough with the vocabulary of LBC and the ramifications of the distinction between a child menu, root-level items, and a dock to give a definitive answer to your question so let me say what I was hoping would happen. When I clicked on the link node in my quick-links dock I was expecting the associated dock to be displayed just as if I clicked on its icon in the notification area or if I typed the hot-key sequence for it. What does that make it?

Bill Wetzel

[mouser]

When I clicked on the link node in my quick-links dock I was expecting the associated dock to be displayed just as if I clicked on its icon in the notification area or if I typed the hot-key sequence for it. What does that make it?

that makes it a different kettle of fish..

so basically you are simply asking for a button that can toggle dock visibility/minimization.

i should be able to add that somehow.

[donw]

I just spent part of the afternoon trying to solve a similar problem. I have two users on my PC, an admin user and a limited (standard) user. I originally had two different docks in two different files. I then noticed that there was quite a bit of overlap and started out to link the two files, essentially I wanted my admin user bar to contain my limited user bar as a submenu. When I discovered I couldn't do this I ended up adding another tab menu to my main toolbar layout. The submenus for the tab menu were the two different users with the specific items that are unique to each user. My bar is now laid out as follows:

1. A set of child nodes for high use shared commands and submenus.
2. A tab menu that switched between users.
3. A tab menu that switches between categories like Audio Video, Images, Financial Software, etc.

I'm still discovering the power of LBC. Thanks Mouser.

[mouser]

Fun to see people discovering tricks

Note 1: Remember to BACKUP your launchbar files occasionally, when doing this kind of fancy stuff.
Note 2: Definitely figure out how the menu type "Contents as root-level" items works.. It can be very useful when you want to create a *group* of items that is shared between docs or menus, but should still display as if they were not in a group/menu.