Idea: Utility to allow user to set delay for AutoHide toolbar activation

[mbrazil]

I guess I posted this in the wrong place last week , so I'm posting it again here, and if one of the moderators sees this, they can delete the other one in the main Coding Snacks forum.

I'd like to have a Windows tray app utility that would allow me to set the length of the time delay before Windows toolbars (the Taskbar and any user-created toolbars) that are docked at the top, bottom, left, and/or right edges of the screen appear when AutoHide is enabled. If possible, the time delay should be independently adjustable for each toolbar or (by name), or otherwise for whatever toolbar is docked at one of the four screen edges. The time delay should be adjustable in increments of 1 ms from 0 seconds to 5 seconds, and in 1-second increments above 5 seconds. The UI for configuring the app should be invoked by adding an option to the toolbar context menu (right-click) and/or by its tray icon. This app should be compatible, at minimum, with Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

The only program I can find that does some of this is Taskbar Activate, but it does not allow for different delays for different toolbars or screen edges, it isn't very reliable, and it tends to cause some problems with other aspects of the UI.

[tomos]

other thread here http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=21126.0

I'd love to get something like this as well, for the taskbar, and, (if possible) for a Directory Opus taskbar-like toolbar

[edit] I'm on XP SP2 btw [/edit]

[skwire]

For the record, I removed the duplicate thread of this one.

[mbrazil]

For the record, I removed the duplicate thread of this one.

Thanks, skwire.

[mbrazil]

No takers? Maybe I didn't explain it well enough. When the Windows taskbar is set to autohide, it unhides immediately when the cursor touches the edge of the screen where it's docked. This is also true of any other Windows toolbars you create and dock to other screen edges. What I'm looking for is a way to set a delay before the taskbar and/or toolbars unhide.

[mouser]

My LaunchBar Commander program has docks that can be set to unhide only after a delay (though for simplicity this delay time is not configurable).

[skwire]

Have you tried this?

http://pmdevigne.free.fr/programmes_e.html#ActiveTache

Review here: http://proreviewer.com/2008/03/20/taskbar-activate-control-windows-taskbar-autohide-features/

[mbrazil]

Have you tried this?

http://pmdevigne.free.fr/programmes_e.html#ActiveTache

Review here: http://proreviewer.com/2008/03/20/taskbar-activate-control-windows-taskbar-autohide-features/

Thanks, skwire.

Yes, I have been using it (see my initial post at the start of this thread). It works pretty well for the taskbar. However, even though it has options to control other Windows toolbars, it has no effect whatsoever on any toolbars docked at any of the other three screen edges, and I've experimented with all the settings the program provides.

BTW, there was supposed to have been an update to Taskbar Activate in 2003 (Ver. 2.5 -- see http://pmdevigne.free.fr/), but it doesn't seem to be available for download anywhere. From the author's website:

What's new ?
23-fév-2003
  Updated  Taskbar Activate  (version 2.5).
  - Works better with XP and 2000.
  - Several internal enhancements.

Unfortunately, all the download links both on this site and all the other locations google found for me have only ver. 2.4. If anybody has ver. 2.5 or can point me to a download location for it, I'd really appreciate it. I'm hoping that maybe a newer version might resolve the issue with it not working for anything but the taskbar.

Mike

[mbrazil]

My LaunchBar Commander program has docks that can be set to unhide only after a delay (though for simplicity this delay time is not configurable).

I just downloaded it and will give it a try. I guess the name threw me off previously, and I never considered it might solve my issue.

Thanks!

[mbrazil]

I'm VERY disappointed    that none of the excellent coders here would take on my request. I've tried all the solutions I can find including the ones suggested here, and there is nothing out there that completely solves my problem without introducing other unacceptable annoyances. Apparently, it's not all that difficult to write some code that would solve my issue, since Taskbar Activate (http://pmdevigne.free.fr/programmes_e.html#ActiveTache) can do this quite well for the taskbar, but unfortunately, although it is supposed to do the same for other Windows XP toolbars that you create, it has no effect on them at all, and the promised new version of the app has never materialized. This is the first time I've posted an idea/request in the Coding Snacks forum, and having no one even make an attempt at writing some code to see if this can be done has me doubting the value of being a member of DonationCoder.com.   

[cranioscopical]

having no one even make an attempt at writing some code to see if this can be done has me doubting the value of being a member of DonationCoder.com.

What a shame you feel that way. People are so very helpful here, and I see that some suggestions have been made for you to try.

Apparently, it's not all that difficult to write some code that would solve my issue

Perhaps the fact that this code hasn't been written, or doesn't work the way you'd like in other software, implies that it's a little more difficult than you suppose.

Do remember that you're asking for someone to volunteer time to your project. It may well happen, but this is not an 'on demand' type of community. Personally, I look on my own membership here as a privilege. I certainly don't feel that my occasional donations give me any particular entitlement.

Even if your specific request isn't resolved, you may very well find plenty else to like about DonationCoder.

My wife likes to point out to me that asking nicely is usually preferable to being grumpy.
I think she has a point.  

Meantime, I hope you do find a solution that suits you. If I come across any software that looks as if it might help you, I'll remember to post about it here in the hope that you will see it.

[mbrazil]

What a shame you feel that way. People are so very helpful here, and I see that some suggestions have been made for you to try.

I don't disagree that people here are usually helpful. If you'd read the entire thread you'd see that I tried all the suggestions people made, and I appreciate those suggestions, but none of them was an adequate solution.

Perhaps the fact that this code hasn't been written, or doesn't work the way you'd like in other software, implies that it's a little more difficult than you suppose.

Well that may be true, but doesn't the challenge of doing something that someone else tried to do and didn't quite succeed interest anyone? Besides, the author of Taskbar Activate didn't necessarily fail in that he abandoned his project before Windows XP was released, so it may just need a little tweaking to get it to work fully in XP. BTW, I've tried several times to contact the author of Taskbar Activate, but he either isn't receiving email at his published address anymore or he doesn't want to reply.

It's not that it doesn't work the way I'd like in other software. There is no other software other than Taskbar Activate that I've been able to find that even attempts to do specifically what I want it to do. I really don't want to run another program to recreate Windows desktop toolbars that I've already got that work just fine in all other respects except being able to set a variable activation delay. All I want the software to do is allow me to set a variable delay for Windows desktop toolbars, like Taskbar Activate does quite well for the taskbar. I'm not criticizing apps that provide their own custom toolbars, like Mouser's Launchbar Commander. I just don't currently need most of what that software can do, and I'd rather not have any more software running and consuming memory and CPU cycles than necessary, especially if I don't need most of the other capabilities of that software.

Do remember that you're asking for someone to volunteer time to your project. It may well happen, but this is not an 'on demand' type of community. Personally, I look on my own membership here as a privilege. I certainly don't feel that my occasional donations give me any particular entitlement.

I'm aware that it's not "on demand." However, I see that, in a general sense of usefulness to a wide variety of users, many projects have been taken on and completed that would seem to be of use to only a very small number of people. The app I requested is either of more general use or at the least in the same category. Why are some potential coding snack projects embraced while others are totally ignored in terms of at least making an attempt to code the app, since all of them are intended to be freeware anyway?

My wife likes to point out to me that asking nicely is usually preferable to being grumpy.
I think she has a point. 

I did ask nicely back in December and again in February. I'm grumpy now because, other than some suggestions for software I've already tried (see my initial post in this thread) and some that I then tried but found not to be what I'm looking for, I've had no response. Yes, there are other things of value here, and I'm not going to just ignore donation coder, but after seeing all the coding snacks that have been written in the past (including those that very few people would ever need), I never expected that my request would result in nothing. Say hello to your wife for me. She sounds like a very nice person.

Meantime, I hope you do find a solution that suits you. If I come across any software that looks as if it might help you, I'll remember to post about it here in the hope that you will see it.

Thank you. I really do appreciate that, and I wish you luck finding it. I've spent quite a few hours searching, inventing new search queries, and trying out software to find something that I thought surely must already exist. It's a shame Pierre Devigne abandoned Taskbar Activate, since it seems that he's already done most of the work. Maybe if he'd actually released version 2.5 as he states on his apparently abandoned website (http://pmdevigne.free.fr/), we wouldn't be having this discussion. I've searched the web extensively for Taskbar Activate 2.5, but it doesn't seem to exist. The version I'm using now, 2.4, is available in many places, but 2.5 is a ghost.

Thanks for responding.

[Target]

I'm aware that it's not "on demand." However, I see that, in a general sense of usefulness to a wide variety of users, many projects have been taken on and completed that would seem to be of use to only a very small number of people. The app I requested is either of more general use or at the least in the same category. Why are some potential coding snack projects embraced while others are totally ignored in terms of at least making an attempt to code the app, since all of them are intended to be freeware anyway?

sorry to hear you feel like you've been ignored, this isn't the case.  Coding snacks are taken on a purely voluntary basis by individuals who feel they can provide a solution (ie it is within the relative scope of their time, knowledge and/or skills).  If no one here feels they can do whatever it is you're asking for at a given point in time then they're not going to chip in with anything (why volunteer for something you can't do?).

Don't give up on us just yet though.  The community here has an amazing capacity for finding things, even long after others might have consigned your request to the too hard bin (here's hoping )

[mbrazil]

sorry to hear you feel like you've been ignored, this isn't the case.  Coding snacks are taken on a purely voluntary basis by individuals who feel they can provide a solution (ie it is within the relative scope of their time, knowledge and/or skills).  If no one here feels they can do whatever it is you're asking for at a given point in time then they're not going to chip in with anything (why volunteer for something you can't do?).

Don't give up on us just yet though.  The community here has an amazing capacity for finding things, even long after others might have consigned your request to the too hard bin (here's hoping )

Thanks, Target. That makes a lot of sense and is encouraging. I apologize to everyone for my grumpiness -- it partially has to do with unrelated things that are going on in my life at the moment that have reduced my patience and my threshold for annoyances on the computer.

[cranioscopical]

it partially has to do with unrelated things that are going on in my life at the moment that have reduced my patience and my threshold for annoyances on the computer.

We can all sympathize with that!

[mbrazil]

Hey, here's an idea: since Pierre Devigne abandoned Taskbar Activate development years ago, and it's freeware, maybe one of you clever coders could decompile it and figure out why it doesn't work for toolbars but does work for the taskbar. If nothing else, there ought to be some clues to point you in the right direction. I did some searches this morning, and unfortunately, the source code for any of the versions doesn't seem to be available either, so any comments in the original source code are either lost or not accessible.

[mbrazil]

Oh well. Sigh...

[mbrazil]

Oh well. Sigh...

Another sigh...