To get a truly clear desktop we want to get rid of the Start bar and the icons, but it's very difficult to use Windows without having the functionality that this provides. We need to provide 3 key elements before we go much further:

1) Show the contents of the system tray
2) Show running applications
3) Replicate the functionality of the Start Bar'

 

Let's start with showing the system tray. At this time to create a new object you need to right click on the DesktopX icon in the system tray. This will pop up a menu, from which you need to select 'New Object' as shown on the screenshot.

 

Once you have done this, a default object will appear on your desktop along with the icons. This blue circle is your starting point for any new object.

To start customising the object, right click on it and select 'Properties''

While doing this you will notice a little blue square appear at the top left of the object. This highlights that this is the currently selected object.

 

A dialogue box will appear which allows you to start to configure your object.

The object class is the function that the object performs, and this is where we specify that this object will function as a system tray. This is done by choosing 'System tray' from the menu as shown in the screenshot.

If you click 'OK' you will see that your object has changed to the default system tray as shown below. It should show the icons which are in your system tray.

You can check that the tray functionality is there by right clicking on the DesktopX icon.

We will look at changing the appearance of the tray a bit later.

 

New objects always appear in the same place so though you don't have to, you might want to move the new system tray object elsewhere on the screen.

To do this, simply grab the object and drag it. With the system tray object and taskbar object you need to a bit more careful about where you grab on the object, otherwise you will launch the functionality of the icon.

Grabbing the edge of the tray will allow you to move it successfully.

To create a takbar do exactly as you have above, except when you are in the 'object properties' choose as class of 'Taskbar' instead of system tray.

This will create a default DesktopX taskbar on your desktop which will look something like this:

Now that we have the default Windows functionality via DesktopX we can get rid of the stardard windows clutter such as icons and the taskbar. You may say we need the 'Start' menu, but don't worry I haven't forgotten about that, it will be there.

If you right click on your DesktopX icon and select 'Configure DesktopX' you will bring up the DesktopX configuration dialogue again. Clicking on the 'Theme Settings' icon will bring up the dialogue on the right where we can achieve a lot.

First if you check the 2 'Hide' buttons this will prepare the removal of the Explorer taskbar and icons. Note that none of these changes will be implemented until you click 'Close'.

While you are here you should check the appropriate supported screen resolution. Ideally themes should work on all resolutions, but this theme cannot be scaled well due to the background I'm using.

We also need to check 'Reduce work area', but leave the dimensions at 0. We will change these later.

It may seem wierd to have to reduce the work area by 0,0,0,0 when there is nothing on screen, but if we don't, Windows will remember how big the Explorer taskbar should be and will leave a space for it at the bottom.

 

When you click 'Close' you should have nothing on your Desktop except for your wallpaper, and your newly created taskbar and system tray.

You might think we have forgotten the 'Start' menu, but just try right clicking on the desktop.

Here you will find most of the things you are used to seeing on the Windows Start menu, plus the ability to access a DesktopX menu which provides the functionality you are used to by right clicking the DesktopX icon.

 

Now we have all the functionality, but the taskbar and tray don't look right, so it's time to make their look fit the theme.

If you open the properties for the taskbar (right click the object and select properties), you will see the dialogue on the right, and this is where we start to do things the regular taskbar can't.

I want to show my tasks vertically, and have new task icons appear at the bottom, so I check the 'Vertical: grow to bottom' option. I also want to show larger icons than we had before, check 'Big icons', and I want them a bit more spaced out than before so I increase the distance between task items to '5', and then click OK.

You will see your taskbar update to reflect so now it's time to change it's source graphic.

 

If you click on the 'Appearance' icon you are in the area where you can change the graphic. The first thing you need to do is download it. Create a directory for all your source graphics and place them there as you download them.

Taskbar

To specify this image click the 'Browse' bottom and locate the file you have just downloaded.

 

We only need to do a couple of things now to make things perfect. The tiling isn't actually perfect because it retains the tile settings of the default taskbar. What you need to do is click to 'Advanced' button to amend these settings.

We have a vertical taskbar so in these calculations imagine that the left is the top and the right is the bottom.

Because the graphic we're using doesn't really have a top or a bottom, we can tile the whole thing. This means the 'A' parameter can be set at 0 pixels. The image is 100 pixels long so we can set 'B' to 99 (remember we started at 0).

You can have a different overlay depending on whether to option is selected, but this taskbar has a wooden style which wouldn't look right doing this so settings 'C', 'D' and 'E' can be left at 0.

 

We now need to position and size the taskbar. If it is full of icons it can be quite hard to select but you can select it by dragging a square on the desktop that contains the object. This will select all objects contained withing the square.

You can then right click on the square to amend object properties.

 

At the moment the taskbar grows as more applications are launched, but we want the background to take up the entire height of the screen. The first thing to do to set this is to 'Configure' the taskbar and check the box that says 'Fixed size'.

When you have done this you can go to the Summary section to set the size and position.

You have learnt how to move objects by dragging them, but here in the Summary section you can specify the location precisely. The graphic is 50 pixels wide so we know the 'x' position will be 974 (1024-50) pixels, and as we want it to start at the top, we can set the 'y' coordinate to 0.

There is also a dialogue box to set the height of the object. We could enter 768, but you can also enter a percentage so we enter 100% here to make sure it fills the entire screen.

While we are here we can also name the object to make it easier to identify in the future. You could call it 'Steve', but we will call it 'Taskbar', which seems a more sensible name, and makes it easier to identify.

 

The effect we want is to have the system tray growing up from the bottom of the taskbar. If you 'Configure' the 'System tray' class, you can set it to 'Vertical: grow to top'. From the 'Summary' tab you can specify that you want it to have a height of 100% and give an 'y' coordinate of 0. You can guess it's 'x' coordinate. You can also give it a name - say 'System Tray'. Once you have done this click OK.

Try clicking above the system tray on the bar. Here we find a problem. Both objects are on the desktop layer so the one which is clicked last in placed on top.

 

To solve this we will use the 'Parent' option.

You probably can't see or select the system tray you have so we need to use the 'Object Browser'. As you can't see your DesktopX icon, right click on the desktop and select 'Object Browser' from the DesktopX menu.

Select your object 'System tray' and click 'Object properties'. This way you you access the object properties without physically selecting your object.

 

On the summary tab, set the 'Parent ID' of the 'System tray' object to be the 'Taskbar' object. This is the key reason to name objects, so they can be identified.

If you now click 'OK', you might not immediately see the change, but click anywhere on the bar, and the System tray will pop on top, and will remain on top of it's 'Parent'.

Now you will be able to see whether the System tray is accurately lined up with the bottom of the bar that is the background of the Taskbar.

Now what we need to do is change the background.

 

What we actually want here is a totally transparent background, so we will use 'Magic pink'.

'Magic pink' is a colour which DesktopX interprets as transparent when used in Bitmap graphics.

System Tray

Use this file (tranny.bmp) as the graphic in the 'System tray' objects appearance.

Once you have done this, the background to your System tray will be transparent. All you need to do now is fine tune it's position.

If you select the System tray object you can easily fine tune it's position by using the cursor keys to move the object. If you hold down the Ctrl key while using the cursor keys it will move in larger jumps. The distance the object moved in these circumstances can be set in the DesktopX configuration dialogue.

 

There is one final thing to do.

At the moment, maximised windows will appear over the taskbar and tray. Previously you set the work area from the 'Theme settings' area in the DesktopX configuration dialogue. In this box set the 'right' paramater to a size that suites, to reduce the work area on the right of the screen. I find a value of about 47 works best.

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