Putting objects on your Windows
desktop
What
makes DesktopX unique is how easy it is to extend your
desktop, build mini-applications, or build complete
desktops with it.
Here's a
step by step look at doing some neat things with it.
Creating an object.
DesktopX
objects can be any size and shape.
Changing the default look of my new icon.
Another
property of objects is that their relative position on
the desktop can be modified. That is, whether they're
always on top, always on the desktop or treated like a
window (i.e. you click on it and it shows up on top of
everything). Moreover, you can control how objects
behave when resolution changes. Do you want them to be
over on the right edge or be centered or just stay in
the same relative position?
Objects offer a lot more control than icons.
Where
objects really differentiate themselves from icons is
that they have actual states. An icon is just a static
picture. It doesn't react to events. An object does. In
DesktopX, users can add their own states (either one of
the standard ones like "Mouse over" or a user defined
state).
Creating states in DesktopX takes only a couple of
clicks.
Give
it a shadow..
Giving those objects functionality
DesktopX
objects have VB, Javascript or any other scripting
language supported by Windows integrated into it. Just
right click on an object and bring up its properties and
one of the options is to create a script. When you do
that, an editor is opened and from there you can choose
which language you want to use (Javascript, VB Script,
etc.)
DesktopX scripts come with intellisense. This allows
developers to extend objects without having to refer to
documentation. Typically, to do something interesting a
developer only needs to go onto Google and search for
things like "Getting the Up time on a computer using
VBScript". Then in the editor just telling the object
what to do.
In
this example, the developer is having the object change
its hue every 50ms.
Once
enabled, the object's huge changes. Look closely at the
film colors in this shot compared to the previous one.
All this in 4 lines of script.
Now
the developer is having the object move 1 pixel every
50ms.
Video of object in
action
Video of importing
scripted fish objects
Exporting those objects as widgets
The next
logical step is to create objects that do useful things.
What makes DesktopX different is the ease in
creating such objects.
This
weather object is only 53 lines of script and that
includes comments and handling the user changing the
area code and a button for entering the new area code to
retrieve the weather. This "object" is a collection of
objects combined together.
A
couple of other objects such as an Amazon.com best
seller browser and an uptime. Again, creates with very
few lines of code. That's because ActiveX controls are
handled like DesktopX objects.
Stock ticker, MP3 player. DesktopX allows for the
ultimate MP3 players since it is completely free form,
there is no skin format to conform to.
Slashdot.org has an RSS feed which can quickly be turned
into an on screen object.
DesktopX
also lets users create text objects. With a Text object,
the script merely needs to set the text. See the example
below:
Create the text you want, set the size, shape shadow all
from the properties dialog.
In
this example the developer queried the day of the week
and placed it on the screen.
Example of COM objects being treated as DesktopX
objects. The user just creates an object, sets it as a
particular ActiveX control on the system and can group
them and combine them into a single object collection
that behaves like any other application (except that it
only took 1/100th the time to do).
Once you
are satisfied with your object, you can export it as a
widget. A DesktopX widget
is an .EXE that only requires that DesktopX be installed
on the system to use.
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