Author Topic: Elliptical Circle Dock Works! (Read 32,019 times)

VideoInPicture · « **on:** September 23, 2008, 06:08 AM »

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I've modded the code for Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 8 to do an elliptical shape and I have to say, I think it looks much better as an ellipse shape!

(I was taking a diversion from thinking about Alpha 9.)

Boba-Fett · « **Reply #1 on:** September 23, 2008, 08:10 AM »

COOL Elliptical Shape MAN...! I Will Very Expect Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 9 to be Release on Mid of Oct 08.

Boba-Fett · « **Reply #2 on:** September 23, 2008, 09:06 AM »

I've one Circle Dock issue to let you know and must be improve, it is rotation mouse wheel scrolls up n down, every times I must click on the Circle Dock background once time to use mouse wheel to scroll up n down to rotate the icons, when click to show up or start up the Circle Dock. My suggest is when mouse over on Circle Dock and scrolls to rotate the icons, no need to click every times.

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Updated:
Now I using (minor Alpha8.1) and not have this problem yet, I don't know why...? But I still remember Alpha 8.0 has this problem...
Never mind, I keep on to attention this issue

Rostam · « **Reply #3 on:** September 23, 2008, 04:30 PM »

Awesome! Any chance that it will be included in another pre-Alpha9 "minor update"? (pretty please!

)

cranioscopical · « **Reply #4 on:** September 23, 2008, 04:49 PM »

That's a very nice amendment, Eric!

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #5 on:** September 23, 2008, 09:27 PM »

Quote from: Boba-Fett on September 23, 2008, 09:06 AM

I've one Circle Dock issue to let you know and must be improve, it is rotation mouse wheel scrolls up n down, every times I must click on the Circle Dock background once time to use mouse wheel to scroll up n down to rotate the icons, when click to show up or start up the Circle Dock. My suggest is when mouse over on Circle Dock and scrolls to rotate the icons, no need to click every times.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Updated:
Now I using (minor Alpha8.1) and not have this problem yet, I don't know why...? But I still remember Alpha 8.0 has this problem...
Never mind, I keep on to attention this issue

That is a bug that I know about. It comes up intermittently and is caused by the Orbit.Hook.dll component used to capture the event when you click your middle mouse button. I took it from another open source project but it appears that I will have to rewrite it to work properly. I will aim to do that for the Alpha 9 release.

If you use a keyboard hotkey to toggle Circle Dock, then there is no problem with it getting focus. As a work around, I recommend you install http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/XMouseButtonControl.htm and use that to map Circle Dock keyboard shortcut to your middle mouse button and disable the mouse toggling in Circle Dock. Then, there should be no more issues. I expect to be able to find a suitable replacement for the Orbit.Hook.dll file that would be of similar quality as XMouseButtonControl.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #6 on:** September 23, 2008, 09:30 PM »

Quote from: Rostam on September 23, 2008, 04:30 PM

Awesome! Any chance that it will be included in another pre-Alpha9 "minor update"? (pretty please! )

I'll post the updated CircleDock.exe file here later today/tomorrow so you can play around with it. I don't want to release it as another version because it would require more updates to the language files for the new options. Therefore, the elliptical options will only be in English for this modification.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #7 on:** September 23, 2008, 09:32 PM »

Quote from: Boba-Fett on September 23, 2008, 08:10 AM

COOL Elliptical Shape MAN...! I Will Very Expect Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 9 to be Release on Mid of Oct 08.

I think that's actually one of your circular backgrounds in the screenshot!

fenixproductions · « **Reply #8 on:** September 24, 2008, 02:03 AM »

2VideoInPicture
Will it be possible to have back icons smaller than front ones?
It could be great to have 3D feeling with such feature. Users could define front and back size and the rest of the icons would be scaled depending on location between.

Or maybe even more advance settings? Specifying location of middle "circle", virtual user location and the point of view - all in almost-3D space. I know that all elements are flat but my imagination tells my such ideas. Staring on CD like on plate with tasty snacks. From wherever you look at it you always get hungry

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #9 on:** September 24, 2008, 02:08 AM »

Yes, there is nothing that stops each icon from having an individual size. Circle Dock is coded so that each element is independent of everything else but is controlled by a central program so it is pretty flexible in that respect. One limitation that should be kept in mind is that the icons have to appear in front of the centre orb because the centre orb owns the icons.

Right now, you can also specify the angle of tilt for the ellipse and combined with different sized icons, I think it will look pretty snazzy. I will play around with it a bit more.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #10 on:** September 25, 2008, 09:43 PM »

Attached is the exe file for Circle Dock with an Ellipse Shape as an option. Some of the settings for the ellipse are hard coded into the program, such as the angle of vertical tilt, so you can't change some of it right now. The settings for the regular circle shape will affect the ellipse shape. This will be separated in Alpha 9. To change the aspect ratio of the ellipse, you have to do that in the System -> Settings -> Config.ini -> EllipseParams -> AspectRatio and restart the program.

You must place the attached exe file in the same directory as your current Circle Dock directory or a new one. To enable the ellipse shape, go to the settings panel under Dock Shape and select the Ellipse option in the drop down menu. It is safe to replace your Alpha 8.1 exe with this Demo exe since it simply has the added function of an ellipse.

I found that I could fit more items into approximately the same space using the ellipse option so it is something for you guys to explore.

Note: This demo is not on the official Circle Dock website. Now, back to getting better performance for Alpha 9.

Boba-Fett · « **Reply #11 on:** September 25, 2008, 11:34 PM »

This is my Eliptical Circle Dock, but I can't change "Minimum Radius".

edit by jgpaiva: attached image to the post instead of hot-linking

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #12 on:** September 25, 2008, 11:44 PM »

There is no graphical way of changing the min - height of the ellipse shape. To do this right now, you have to go into the Circle Dock folder -> System -> Settings -> Config.ini -> EllipseParams -> MinHeight and change that. Then restart the dock.

Eric Wong

Boba-Fett · « **Reply #13 on:** September 25, 2008, 11:47 PM »

Thanks, Eric

Boba-Fett · « **Reply #14 on:** September 26, 2008, 12:04 AM »

There is prefect!

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #15 on:** September 26, 2008, 12:10 AM »

Quote from: Boba-Fett on September 26, 2008, 12:04 AM

There is prefect!

Yes, that is very nicely spaced! I think the ellipse shape is more user friendly in a real world setting than the circle shape.

There is also a variable to vertically tilt the dock, which combined with varying icon sizes will make it look very high-tech! Will be implemented for Alpha 9 only since it will need the better animation performance.

Rostam · « **Reply #16 on:** September 26, 2008, 01:25 PM »

I have to say that the rotation animation looks pretty darn cool in ellipse form. Also, the ellipse form makes a great perma-dock at the top of my screen for a few shortcuts (only half the ellipse is visible, and it much more economic with space than the same thing in circular form). This looks great and I can't wait until Alpha 9! Thanks for the preview version

One question though, which I think becomes even more relevant with the ellipse situation: would it be possible to have a different number of total possible items for each successive radius? Say if you have two circles/ellipses on the lowest level, then you'd be able to set 10 items for the first one and 15 for the outer one (just an example). Just putting it out there, since I feel that especially with the ellipses a number that is good for an inner one would make an outer one rather sparsely populated.

firefly321 · « **Reply #17 on:** September 26, 2008, 03:42 PM »

Thank you very much for this great dock! And I have a small question: How could I autorun the dock when windows starts? I did not find the right way
in the setting options.

Still, a great thank to your work!

gr33nf4c3 · « **Reply #18 on:** September 26, 2008, 08:23 PM »

You can add a command to the registry that runs Circle Dock on Startup. If you are using Vista, do the following:

Bring up the command prompt
Type "regedit" (without the quotes)
Use the explorer to the left to navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows>Current Version>Run
Right click the "Run" folder and select "New > String"
Assign a name to the new string by renaming it i.e. CircleDock
Double click the created string and enter the path of the application executeable into the field in the window
Click OK and you're done

If you copy CircleDock to another folder as well, you can also use this method to run various instances of the application if you create a new sting for each respective .exe. I did so in order to have one Dock for applications and one for my games.

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #19 on:** September 26, 2008, 08:32 PM »

Quote from: firefly321 on September 26, 2008, 03:42 PM

Thank you very much for this great dock! And I have a small question: How could I autorun the dock when windows starts? I did not find the right way
in the setting options.

Still, a great thank to your work!

Hello,
The easiest way to start Circle Dock on bootup is to drag a shortcut of Circle Dock to your Windows Start Up folder.

firefly321 · « **Reply #20 on:** September 27, 2008, 12:42 AM »

Thanks for your help! gr33nf4c3 and VideoInPicture

mahesh2k · « **Reply #21 on:** September 27, 2008, 05:24 AM »

Eric, Hureey

I can create Solar sysem style look on Desktop

snj one · « **Reply #22 on:** October 15, 2008, 04:12 AM »

Quote from: VideoInPicture on September 23, 2008, 06:08 AM

(see attachment in previous post)1

I've modded the code for Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 8 to do an elliptical shape and I have to say, I think it looks much better as an ellipse shape!

(I was taking a diversion from thinking about Alpha 9.)

where can I download it?

VideoInPicture · « **Reply #23 on:** October 19, 2008, 09:27 PM »

The link is in Post #10 above.