1 (edited by tetris42 2012-01-11 04:15:10 am)

Topic: Looking for module recommendations

I made my own litestep theme years ago, and used it for a long time on Windows XP.  I've upgraded to Windows 7 not long ago and was hoping to update my theme some with some more functionality.  I've been out of the loop for a long time however and I'm not aware what's changed since I was last making my theme.  I have a few specific features I'm looking in modules, I was hoping some have them somewhere.


Popup module:

1. When you click on a folder in the Windows 7 start menu, it expands the contents directly below the folder.  I find this style nicer than the highlight-the-submenu-exactly-or-it-disappears-instantly popup menu style litestep has by default.  Is it possible to have similar functionality in litestep?

2. In the past, I remember having icons next to the popup item entries made loading the menu a lot slower.  I'm hoping this is no longer the case.  If so, what popup module is recommended these days?


Taskbar module:

I'm a fan of the program Objectdock, but I'm finding in Windows 7 64-bit, it's giving me some bugs so that it's not worth using for me.  Are there any litestep modules that have a few of the same features?  Specifically I'm looking for:

1. Large icon support by default

2. Way to replace program icons with specific images.

3.  Have the icon / picture of program you're hovering over grow in size (and clickable area).  I'm not expecting a smooth growing animation, but I was wondering if my default icon size was 50 pixels, if it could expand the image to 100 pixels when I hovered over it with a mouse.


Systray module:

1. Way to replace program icons with specific images



Thanks in advance for any advice.

2

Re: Looking for module recommendations

xpopup-2.1.dll
1. Not sure if expansion like this is possible. I've been using the alphafading efect only and I never was a fan of windows core effects and I turn them off.
2. Delayed menu opening due to icon loading happens in both explorer.exe (WinXP, WinVista, Win7) and in LiteStep when there are a lot of icons to load etc. It is possible however for both Windows explorer.exe and for litestep to preload the needed icons. If it is not set then the icon load is done on the first use of the popup and then it works fast till you restart the process.

xTaskbar-2.3.4.dll
1. Large icon support if you set

xTaskbarIconSize 32

2. There is a way to replace any program icon you need

*xTaskbarIcon "ExploreWClass" "c:\windows\explorer.exe,1"

3. Weak on hover support. It is doable but i never managed get it working properly. If you happen to get it working i doubt it will work fast, responsive and im pretty sure you wont get a growth animation.

xtray-2.2.2.dll
1. There is a way to replace any program icon you need

*xTrayIcon "ExploreWClass" "c:\windows\explorer.exe,1"

All the codes are described nicely in the documentation files attached to these modules.

*NOTE*
I have to warn you however that when i enable cusom icon support my LiteStep crashes randomly and is unstable.

3

Re: Looking for module recommendations

Thanks for the reply, couple things:
Popup 1: I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing, since this isn't an animation (it happens instantly), but you may be right about any modules not supporting popup.  I remember a lot of different kinds of modules besides the x ones back in the day, but it looks like loose screws is dead now, so options may be limited.

Taskbar 2: One problem I remember with this was that the functionality here was limited with the window class system.  I remember a LOT of different programs all sharing the same class that would share the same icon.  For example in Windows XP, I remember the icon for task manager also being the same as a lot of window notices, and the same as some installer programs, etc. that would have different icons normally

That's a bummer about the crashes.  Is it just my imagination or has custom GUI support vastly dried up in the past 5 years?

4

Re: Looking for module recommendations

about objectdock, i'm a fan like you. but there aren't a dock module,just a taskbar module (i'm using xtaskbar-2.3.4) and i've created a Win7 superbar-like on my theme, using xtaskbar, xlabel and xtextedit  features. it's very compicated to explain but you can use my theme, see the codes and play with your theme. go to theme discution and see my theme IceFlame. other good modules is lsxcommand, albumart, geekamp, rainlendar and rainmeter (don't remenber the version now). good luck making your theme!

5

Re: Looking for module recommendations

Thanks, I'll check it out.  Yeah, my big issue with Objectdock was that for misc programs, (I think maybe 64 bit ones in particular), I would sometimes click on them and nothing would happen.  I would have to click on them some 3-5 times for them to respond, not a great way to use the OS.  I'll take a look at your theme, you probably have some good ideas.

6

Re: Looking for module recommendations

I took a diffirent approach with my LS theme. I have a mac styled environment with the diffirence that my dock is a taskdock not app-launcher. In other words i see only the icons of currently running apps on the bottom of the screen. App launcher is placed at the top left corner.

7

Re: Looking for module recommendations

Actually that's exactly how mine was set up, sorry I guess I should have specified.  For launchers I had symbol icons for different categories (audio / video / internet, etc. ) split on the left and right side of the screen where if I clicked on them, it would open a smaller menu where I would have several commonly-used application shortcuts in them.

8

Re: Looking for module recommendations

in my case I'm doing something like pinned programs (with limitations compared to the win7 superbar), but with an interface to include programs similar to ObjectDock.

9

Re: Looking for module recommendations

@DiamondXplosion: Do you have any 'currently running' indicator on your superbar?


Warning: getimagesize(./extensions/pun_attachment/attachments/d36dba8bb124aa2dffd8507730116d3c/dfd16896bd9068bc98790ff716b4f55f.attach): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /usr/local/www/litestepforums/extensions/pun_attachment/include/attach_func.php on line 297

Warning: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected the timezone 'UTC' for now, but please set date.timezone to select your timezone. in /usr/local/www/litestepforums/extensions/pun_attachment/include/attach_func.php on line 306

10

Re: Looking for module recommendations

free wrote:

@DiamondXplosion: Do you have any 'currently running' indicator on your superbar?

yes sure.

Post's attachments

currently running.jpg
currently running.jpg 37.54 kb, 1 downloads since 2012-01-17 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.

11

Re: Looking for module recommendations

free wrote:

I have to warn you however that when i enable cusom icon support my LiteStep crashes randomly and is unstable.

in xtaskbar-2.3.2 or higher, you need to use the function: "xtaskbar_nameUpdateInterval" and configure it with "100" and do not use the function: "*xTaskbarUpdateIcon".
tell if it works.

12

Re: Looking for module recommendations

Ugh, I forgot to add this in my original post.  For the taskbar module, is there any sort of function where if I middle-clicked on the taskbar icon, it would close the program I clicked on?  I saw this feature before in nexus dock and though it was great.

13 (edited by xcal 2012-01-28 19:55:00 pm)

Re: Looking for module recommendations

Yup, xtaskbar will do that.  Should be in the events section of the help file.

Edit:  The entry will look like:

xTaskbarOnMiddleClickButton .close