Author Topic: DONE: Dim rest of desktop/windows, except for focused window (Read 179,650 times)

mouser · « **Reply #25 on:** May 21, 2005, 10:11 PM »

well if you really wanted to just change theme quickly..
this does sound like a good request.

system tray menu which allows selecting themes.
or double click to switch to next theme.

would save some annoying clicks, for users who like to switch between their preset themes.

sounds like good idea for a snack..
assuming it doesnt already exist.. does it i wonder?

glenelg · « **Reply #26 on:** May 21, 2005, 10:50 PM »

Well, if there was a monochrome theme, Scott's suggestion would be useful. Then again, if there was a monochrome theme, I wouldn't have started this topic in the first place

Scott · « **Reply #27 on:** May 21, 2005, 11:13 PM »

Can't you create one? (Or at least approximate one.)

glenelg · « **Reply #28 on:** May 22, 2005, 10:07 AM »

I probably could approximate a monochrome display, but, as far as I can see I would need a third party application to do it. MS aren't at all flexible when it comes to XP themes.

My topic was driven by the fact that MS actually appear to do a very nice fade to mono, however, with a bit of checking, it looks like they're just grabbing a screen capture and fading that.

I wonder if it's something that could be done in the graphics card instead?

BlindWanderer · « **Reply #29 on:** May 23, 2005, 07:14 AM »

don't mean to sound like a total noob, i can't download Keene's attached file. I get a forum error when I try.

mouser · « **Reply #30 on:** May 23, 2005, 07:23 AM »

try again, it's working for me..
maybe its a javascript issue or browser issue?

Scott · « **Reply #31 on:** May 23, 2005, 10:40 AM »

I guess valhala is still staring at the drawing board.

BlindWanderer · « **Reply #32 on:** May 25, 2005, 07:35 PM »

Tryied, IE, FireFox and Off By One (it's a browser that doesn't support javascript)

An Error Has Occurred!
It seems that you are not allowed to download or view attachments on this board.

EDIT:
x_x don't tell me, i have to be a charter member to download.

mouser · « **Reply #33 on:** May 25, 2005, 08:21 PM »

ah that's it..
yes i have set it so that only members can view/download attachments..

i think that's reasonable.

but remember our policy about membership is very understanding.. if for some reason you have considered the issue of donating and have decided that you will not (at least at this time) make a donation, simply email me and tell me why you have made such a decision, and i will make you a member of the site so you can have full access to everything.

mouser · « **Reply #34 on:** May 25, 2005, 08:48 PM »

nevermind, i enabled downloading of attachments by everyone..

seems to me on reflection that it would be overly confusing for people to try to figure out why downloading attachments wasn't working, and would not serve as a serious incentive to registering.

Scott · « **Reply #35 on:** May 25, 2005, 09:02 PM »

I ran WinFocus, and it wasn't what I expected. I thought the "brightness" of background windows would change, not the opacity. OK, I have no idea how that would be done, but they're still two different things.

I found using WinFocus unbearable. My graphics performance (not surprisingly) decreased tremendously, and figuring out what was what became extremely difficult. I'd see a couple of task bar buttons, and a couple tray icons (apparently, the ones that redraw themselves) but not the rest. It was difficult to tell which window was on top of another, and therefore difficult to tell what would happen if I clicked in a certain place. Basically, everything about the system was a usability nightmare.

I'm not trying to be negative, but opinions were requested. Bear in mind that I have always hated translucency in Windows XP, have never used it, and never will. And of course, I'm not the one who requested this application.

Ampa · « **Reply #36 on:** July 04, 2005, 07:13 AM »

Here is a thread over at AquaSoft that relates to Swiu's app iBlend that achieved the same effect as WinFocus (see above) some time ago. Perhaps handles new windows and exclusions better than WinFocus does atm. Still might be helpful for reference.

2ndly I have to agree with Scott that I personally do not like the opacity effect, but would perhaps like to see the brightness effect. The dark translucent layer with only the current window above it seems like the way to go?

Ampa

skrommel · « **Reply #37 on:** July 17, 2005, 10:14 PM »

Here's a quick hack using AutoHotkey from www.autohotkey.com.

DimInactive creates a window, sets it's transparancy and changes it's region to surround the active window, thus dimming everything else.

Edit: Download and install AutoHotKey. Save the script as DimInactive.ahk and doubleclick to run.

Skrommel

Code

;DimInactive
;Dims inactive windows
;Skrommel 2005

Gui,+Owner +AlwaysOnTop -Disabled -SysMenu -Caption
Gui, Color, 000000 
Gui,Add,Picture,X0 Y0 W%A_ScreenWidth% H%A_ScreenHeight% gCLICK,
Gui,Show,NoActivate X0 Y0 W%A_ScreenWidth% H%A_ScreenHeight%,WINDOW
WinSet,Transparent,100,WINDOW

LOOP:
Sleep,100
WinGetActiveStats,wint,winw,winh,winx,winy
winw+=winx
winh+=winy
If winx<0
  winx=0
If winy<0
  winy=0
If wint=
{
  winx=0
  winy=0
  winw=%A_ScreenWidth%
  winh=%A_ScreenHeight%
}
WinSet,Region,0-0 %A_ScreenWidth%-0 %A_ScreenWidth%-%A_ScreenHeight% 0-%A_ScreenHeight% 0-0  %winx%-%winy% %winw%-%winy% %winw%-%winh% %winx%-%winh% %winx%-%winy%,WINDOW
WinSet,Top,,WINDOW  ; Rem this line to keep the task bar visible
Goto,LOOP

CLICK:
WinSet,Bottom,,WINDOW
CoordMode,Mouse,Screen
MouseGetPos,mousex,mousey,mousewin
MouseClick,Left,%mousex%,%mousey%
MouseClick,Left,%mousex%,%mousey%
WinSet,AlwaysOnTop,On,WINDOW
Return

mouser · « **Reply #38 on:** July 18, 2005, 12:15 AM »

i'm a total autoit newbie but i'm getting errors when i try to run it - could be something i'm doing wrong.
any autoit people can help us out and maybe give some guidance ?

skrommel · « **Reply #39 on:** July 18, 2005, 01:13 AM »

You need the latest version of AutoHotKey from www.autohotkey.com. Sorry about not explaing that, just so used to using it...

Skrommel

cracksloth · « **Reply #40 on:** July 18, 2005, 01:55 AM »

i think geektechnu is right. the best way to implement such a program would be to recreate:

http://vazagi.homepage.dk/DP.html

with the option to bring the active program to the front. there could also be an option to grayscale everything below the screen, but it would be more work. it would not be the best solution for creating custom dim settings for individual programs but are there really many who are looking for this?

-cracksloth

mouser · « **Reply #41 on:** July 18, 2005, 02:08 AM »

i have actually recently written a region based non-rectangular windows tool that i could very easily adapt for this purpose if the autoit isnt quite sufficient.

mouser · « **Reply #42 on:** July 18, 2005, 09:37 PM »

i just tried skrommel's script with the new autohotkey - it works!!

it's actually quite cool to try. i don't know that i'd really use it but its quite fun and shows the power of autohotkey, and nice to be able to so easily compile it into an exe.

very fun and really excellent work!

if its ok with skrommel i will be compiling all of his autohotkey/autoit scripts and putting both them and the original scripts up on the coding snacks page.

skrommel - send me a paypal email address that i can put on the donation page so that people here can donate a buck or two to show their appreciation for your work.. i know i speak for everyone when i say how wonderful it is to have people here helping write these things. it's really a treat to watch you guys in action.

cracksloth · « **Reply #43 on:** July 19, 2005, 12:01 AM »

is there a way to make a huge fullscreen dimmed window that will just always have a z-order right behind the active window? i noticed when dragging around a window that it takes a bit for the dimmed window to resize itself around the new position (or at least that is what it looks like). also, when using an xp scheme (that have curved window corners) i can see the undimmed area as little triangles of undimmed area. maybe i am wrong about how this script works, but if i am right, then making a fullscreen dimmed window behind the active window would solve these problems.

-cracksloth

cracksloth · « **Reply #44 on:** July 19, 2005, 01:08 AM »

some weird things i noticed:

when a window spawns a menu that extends beyond the confines of the active window, it is half shaded. to test this right click an ie window (you can do it right now... go ahead, do it!) and the menu will only be partly covered by dimmage.

or drag the window over an "always on top" toolbar and only that area of the toolbar that is in front of the active window will be un-dimmed.

the method i mentioned would have the unintended side effect that "always on top" windows would not be dimmed (aka some toolbars). this would be nice.

skrommel · « **Reply #45 on:** July 19, 2005, 03:53 AM »

I've just improved on my first draft by using an image when dimming, much like Ghost-It and GP. It also uses AlwaysOnTop instead of Region for a cleaner look.

Ghoster - Ghoster creates a transparent Gui to cover the screen, loads an image and keeps punching holes in it to make the mouse work.

You'll find the downloads and more info at Skrommel Software.

Edit: I've moved the settings to an ini-file and added a tray menu.

Skrommel

nudone · « **Reply #46 on:** July 19, 2005, 08:08 AM »

absolutely fantastic work there, skrommel.

'Ghostit.ahk' appears to do the job just fine. it deserves to become a very popular little tool.

not sure what you could add (if it needs anything). would be nice, i suppose, to be able to adjust the level of transparency through a slider control - is that going beyond what 'autohotkey' can do?

i've noticed a few odd things happening on screen when bringing some things into focus but i suppose that can only be expected.

also, thanks to 'jsmallberry' for suggesting the idea.

mouser · « **Reply #47 on:** July 19, 2005, 06:19 PM »

it's definitely fun.
i was just going to suggest some options, like degree of dimming, and request the ability to exclude the taskbar from dimming - then i saw that skrommel had already implemented them!!

here are the settings that seem to work best for me:

;Settings
;backcolor=000000-FFFFFF or leave blank to speed up screen.
;image= Path to image or leave blank to speed up screen.
;transparency=0-255 Makes the ghosting more or less translucent.
;jump=1 or 0 Makes the active window show through the ghosting.
;showdesktop=1 or 0 Removes the ghosting when the desktop is active.
;showontop=1 or 0 Removes ghosting from ontop windows like the taskbar.
image=C:\Windows\Bubbles.bmp
backcolor=000000
transparency=80
jump=1
showdesktop=1
showontop=1

--
i'll be adding a precompiled exe file for this tool to coding snacks page today for those who don't want to install autohotkey.

awesome work skrommel - it's fun to see this finally implemented. also a testament to autohotkey i think. very powerful.

mouser · « **Reply #48 on:** July 19, 2005, 06:42 PM »

Desktop Ghoster (i took a small liberty with the name so that it would be a little easier to identify) is now on the coding snacks page as a precompiled exe and original .ahk script.

awesome work again skrommel; give us a paypal email address to put up so people can make a donation if they want to.

and also, nice teamwork by everyone here with the good suggestions, and especially dragonrider who first got the ball rolling with this.

skrommel · « **Reply #49 on:** July 19, 2005, 08:20 PM »

Please let me put the settings in an ini-file and make a options window befor you compile.

Skrommel