IDEA: Use AHK GUI to make translucent overlay over apps that are not skinnable

[dwilbank]

Hi.
Not sure if this would be useful to anyone else, but I could really use a solution for individualizing my multiple VNC sessions at work. It's impossible to tell one remoted machine from another unless we squint at the frame of each VNC session. I have already made custom mouse cursors for each machine, but that only goes so far...

I would hope to have a different AHK script running on each machine, all of which have the identical gray video capture software interface. The script would allow the user to know in an instant which machine he/she was remoting, by tinting portions of each interface a slightly different color, and also placing a big "CAP6", "CAP7" or "CAP8" label in an unused part of the screen.

All these graphics would be "click-though", of course, so that the user wouldn't even know a script was running. He would just say, "Gee, this program looks different."

I know AHK GUI will do this, but I made a valiant try and discovered it would take months of study to understand just the instructions.

If I could get a pair of boxes created at about 30% transparency, with random color tints, and random text inserted in them I'm sure I could figure out how to modify the XY coordinates and the RGB values from there. If I could get two buttons that launched generic scripts, I could also figure out how to move the buttons (I hope) and create more to launch other scripts.

And I would have joy.

Thanks!

[skwire]

Is simply renaming a titlebar out of the question?

[dwilbank]

yeh
these screens are shrunk down much of the time - multiple remote sessions all fitting on my one screen

[skwire]

I meant renaming the VNC window itself, not the remote capture windows.  Or, did I misunderstand you?

[dwilbank]

Hmm
Sounds like I would still be looking at small text, and wouldn't have visible script buttons...

[skwire]

Would you mind providing a screenshot of your desktop so we have a better perspective?

[dwilbank]

I'm away from work for the weekend, but the software interface is shown on page 9 of the manual here.
http://www.digital-rapids.com/downloads/docs/Stream3.1_Users_Guide.pdf
Just imagine that interface tiled four to six times on a widescreen monitor using TightVNC...

Most people use a raritan switcher to switch control and view to each machine one-at-a-time. My per-machine AHK GUI idea would also let them instantly know which machine they are using. Right now they have to switch away from the machine to see what the menu tells them, then switch back, before they are sure they are using the right machine.

Thx

[skwire]

Here's something I came up with.  Caveat...the overlay does not move if you happen to move or resize the window it's overlaying.

[dwilbank]

exactly!

and a non programmer like myself could change the dimensions of the box to fit our screens, or create another box, just by cutting and pasting code and changing x and y values?

[skwire]

I currently have it set up with a hotkey so that it will do the following when fired:

1) Get the dimensions and position of the currently active window.
2) Create an overlay to match that window.  The "CAP" text position is modifiable in the code.
3) Create a second GUI for the buttons off to the upper right of the window.  The button position is, of course, modifiable.

[skwire]

Here, have a play with this.  Save this out to an AHK file and run it.  Bring up any window and press F1.  You should see the overlay and buttons for that window.  You can keep pressing F1 over whatever window is active and the script will re-create the overlay for that window.  It's more of a proof of concept for now than, say, final code.  When you're done playing, exit the script from its tray icon.  Bedtime for me but I'll check back in in the morning.

Code

F1::
{
    Gui, 1: Destroy
    Gui, 2: Destroy

    ; Get stats for the active window.
    WinGetPos, X, Y, W, H, A

    ; Build out first GUI for the overlay.
    Gui, 1: +Toolwindow -Caption +Lastfound +AlwaysOnTop
    
    Gui, 1: Font, s22 ; Change the s# value to adjust font size.
    Gui, 1: Add, Text, xm+70 ym+5 w100 h25 0x200 vmyText, CAP1 ; Change the xm/ym values to position the text.
    Gui, 1: Font

    Gui, 1: Color, Green ; Change overlay colour here.

    Gui, 1: Show, % "x" . x . "y" . y . "w" . w . "h" . h, Overlay

    GUI_ID := WinExist()
    ; Set it transparent and make it click-through.
    WinSet, Transparent, 50         , % "ahk_id " . GUI_ID ; Change the numerical value for opaqueness amount.
    WinSet, ExStyle    , ^0x00000020, % "ahk_id " . GUI_ID ; Leave this value alone.

    ; Build out second GUI for the buttons.
    Gui, 2: Margin, 0, 0
    Gui, 2: +Toolwindow -Caption +Lastfound +AlwaysOnTop
    Gui, 2: Add, Button, x y w100 h25 vmyButton1 gonClick, Click 1
    Gui, 2: Add, Button, x y w100 h25 vmyButton2 gonClick, Click 2
    Gui, 2: Show, % "x" . ( x + w ) . " y" .  y
}
Return

onClick:
{
    Gui, 2: Submit, NoHide
    If ( A_GuiControl = "myButton1" )
    {
        ; Do stuff here.
        MsgBox, You clicked Button 1.
    }
    Else If ( A_GuiControl = "myButton2" )
    {
        ; Do other stuff here.
        MsgBox, You clicked Button 2.
    }
}
Return

[dwilbank]

Well sir. I'm going to have to go to work tomorrow just to play with this.
Thanks, and will have a report for you soon!

[dwilbank]

Cool.
I fooled with the color and font size and suspect I can change the font color too with a little research.
(What about the font itself? Or are we stuck with this Arial type font?)

The only thing left is to take out code, believe it or not.

All our machines run at the same screen resolution (1280x768), and our encoding app always runs full screen, so I don't need the overlays to be dynamically positioned at all.
Strict X and Y and W and H values which I can change by hand would be perfect. (I'll be spacing multiple colored boxes and up to 12 buttons all over the interface where there is unused space)

Will I be able to place buttons within the same space as the color overlay?

Can't wait to try v2!

Code

F1::
{
    Gui, 1: Destroy
    Gui, 2: Destroy

    ; Get stats for the active window.
    WinGetPos, X, Y, W, H, A

    ; Build out first GUI for the overlay.
    Gui, 1: +Toolwindow -Caption +Lastfound +AlwaysOnTop
    
    Gui, 1: Font, s60 ; Change the s# value to adjust font size.
    Gui, 1: Add, Text, xm+570 ym+125 w100 h25 0x200 vmyText, EVDCAP 6 ; Change the xm/ym 

values to position the text.
    Gui, 1: Font

    Gui, 1: Color, Red ; Change overlay colour here.

    Gui, 1: Show, % "x" . x . "y" . y . "w" . w . "h" . h, Overlay

    GUI_ID := WinExist()
    ; Set it transparent and make it click-through.
    WinSet, Transparent, 85         , % "ahk_id " . GUI_ID ; Change the numerical value for opaqueness 

amount.
    WinSet, ExStyle    , ^0x00000020, % "ahk_id " . GUI_ID ; Leave this value alone.

    ; Build out second GUI for the buttons.
    Gui, 2: Margin, 0, 0
    Gui, 2: +Toolwindow -Caption +Lastfound +AlwaysOnTop
    Gui, 2: Add, Button, x y w100 h25 vmyButton1 gonClick, Click 1
    Gui, 2: Add, Button, x y w100 h25 vmyButton2 gonClick, Click 2
    Gui, 2: Show, % "x" . ( x + w ) . " y" .  y
}
Return

onClick:
{
    Gui, 2: Submit, NoHide
    If ( A_GuiControl = "NTSC" )
    {
        ; Do stuff here.
        MsgBox, (code for switching to NTSC to be inserted later)
    }
    Else If ( A_GuiControl = "PAL" )
    {
        ; Do other stuff here.
        MsgBox, (code for switching to PAL to be inserted later)
    }
}
Return

[skwire]

I fooled with the color and font size and suspect I can change the font color too with a little research.
(What about the font itself? Or are we stuck with this Arial type font?)

Yes, most everything about the font can be change e.g. colour, style, weight, etc.

All our machines run at the same screen resolution (1280x768), and our encoding app always runs full screen, so I don't need the overlays to be dynamically positioned at all.
Strict X and Y and W and H values which I can change by hand would be perfect. (I'll be spacing multiple colored boxes and up to 12 buttons all over the interface where there is unused space)

I figured as much about the resolution.  As for multiple boxes, you will need to create a Gui instance for each.  If you want me to do it, I will need a screenshot with information showing what you want where.

Will I be able to place buttons within the same space as the color overlay?

Yes.

[dwilbank]

I could send a screenshot monday if you want, but I think I might have to position and reposition the boxes myself (probably two wide boxes, one filling the top of the screen, and one filling the bottom, leaving the middle open) several times before all my coworkers are happy.

Just separating the box size and position from the WinGetPos part of the code would allow me to do that.
I looked at the line that said:

Gui, 1: Show, % "x" . x . "y" . y . "w" . w . "h" . h, Overlay

and I couldn't figure out where I could type in numeric values to give a custom size and shape to the box.

So...

The 2nd Box would become GUI 2,

and if I plan to make, say, 12 buttons to launch 12 different video encoding profiles, those would become GUI 3 through GUI 14?

[skwire]

You would do something like this:

Code

x := 0
y := 0
w := 1280
h := 200
Gui, 1: Show, % "x" . x . "y" . y . "w" . w . "h" . h, Overlay

Or, you could do it like this:

Code

Gui, 1: Show, x+0 y+0 w1280 h200, Overlay

Your second coloured box would be Gui, 2.  As for the buttons, you could do them all in Gui, 3.  You position them like this:

Code

Gui, 3: Add, Button, xm+100 ym+100 w100 h25 vmyButton1 gonClick, Click 1
Gui, 3: Add, Button, xm+400 ym+600 w100 h25 vmyButton2 gonClick, Click 2
[...]

Does that clear things up?

[dwilbank]

I think it will!

Just have to paste in my scripts to each of the buttons and see what happens.

Thanks so far!

(if I use the little donate button by your name, does that give you $$$ that you can use however you want, or is it restricted to just this site?)

[skwire]

I think it will!
Just have to paste in my scripts to each of the buttons and see what happens.
Thanks so far!

You're welcome.  I'm happy to help.  Let me know if you need anything further.

(if I use the little donate button by your name, does that give you $$$ that you can use however you want, or is it restricted to just this site?)

The credit system on DC is very cool.  We can cash out our credits for cash.  (Actually, it all funnels back to mouser so he can buy more whips and chains to keep our noses to the grindstone with.  Bahahaha.  )

[dwilbank]

Oops.
Turns out the safest bet is to have no overlayed boxes at all, and just one positionable, semi-transparent text overlay.

Problem is, I can't seem to separate the code for the text from the code for the boxes. When I try, I get no text...

Without the boxes, I'll also have to figure out how to space the buttons around using just XY coordinates.

Will plug away at it till I hear back.

Thx

[skwire]

Turns out the safest bet is to have no overlayed boxes at all, and just one positionable, semi-transparent text overlay.
Problem is, I can't seem to separate the code for the text from the code for the boxes. When I try, I get no text...

Code for which text?  The 'CAP#' stuff?  Are you able to take a screenshot and just draw what you want where on it for me (using Paint, etc.)?

Without the boxes, I'll also have to figure out how to space the buttons around using just XY coordinates.

If they're going to be all over your screen, you'd be better off putting each one in its own Gui, # block.

[dwilbank]

ah - I forgot about the screenshot idea.

Will grab one right now and paint it up with photoshop!

Thanks.

[dwilbank]

I made a mockup of the screen but...

can't attach files with this page here...
?

[jgpaiva]

dwkkbank: See details here about how to attach files to posts on the forum

[dwilbank]

OK. Here it is.
Stationary text at the top, and 17 buttons beneath.
I know the yellow text would be black text on white buttons. I can fool with the color later.

[dwilbank]

thx mr paiva.