OK, you've learnt the basics of creating objects, but now you need to know
how to export Objects and Themes.
First thing to note quickly, is that though it's a great idea to save your work
frequently, every time you click OK or Apply on a dialog, the current work on
the desktop will be saved and then reloaded next time DesktopX is reloaded.
Saving a theme is quick and easy. In the DesktopX Settings dialog on the Theme
tab, all you need to do is click the 'Save As' button. You will then be prompted
to specify and name for your theme and choose where you want to save it. You can
also specify some additional information about your theme.
At various locations, you may see a 'Save' option along side the 'Save as...'
option. This simply saves details of your existing theme to the hard drive so if
anything went wrong with your machine, DesktopX would be able to restore to this
position when reloaded.
Exporting objects and widgets is also really easy. To do this, the first thing
to do is select the object(s) you want to export.
You can do this on the screen by dragging a rectangle with your cursor. A
selection area will be highlighted and those objects selected will take on a
'blue tint'.
You can also do this by selecting the objects in the Object Navigator.
Once you've selected the objects you can right click one of the selected objects
and Click 'Export…'.
Following this, you will have a range of options. On the left of the dialog,
there is a choice of exporting specifically the objects that you have selected
or, also exporting and objects related to these (by group or parent/child
relationship).
You also have a choice in how you export the file. The first is the most common
option. Use this to create a “.dxpack” file which is a standard object pack that
can be loaded by DesktopX users.
The second export type is as a “Widget”, which I introduced you too in the
User’s Guide. A widget is a standard executable file that you can run on your
computer alongside DesktopX, or even without running DesktopX. You can share
this widget with others, but you should be aware that the widget will only run
on computers which have DesktopX installed.
After specifying one of these two options, all you do is specify a name and
location for the exported file and then it is saved.
Remember that if you create a normal “.dxpack” you can upload your work to the
WinCustomize website. By doing this others can benefit from your creations and
you may get feedback from users that helps you develop in the future.
DesktopX Pro users have a third export option. This is also for the creation of
a widget, but this widget will run as a standard program on any machine without
requiring that DesktopX be installed.
Selecting this gives you a range of options to complete which are related to the
object or are displayed in the ‘About’ box:
Application name: Specify the name for your application here
Company: Place your name here, either yourself as the author or your company
Version: You can specify the application version here
URL: You can provide a website address that the user can link to from the
‘About’ box
Application icon: Optionally you can check the box and specify a “.ICO” file
that will be used for the application. If an icon is not specified then the
default DesktopX icon will be used.
Run Type: You can specify how you want the application to run. Main applications
will probably want to run as “Taskbar items” and utilities run from the “System
Tray”.
Multiple instances: Specify this is you want to allow more than one copy of the
application to run at any time. For example, if creating an international clock
object you may want to allow users to run several instances to allow them to
have clocks for different time zones.
On the next page you have options to export the file in two ways. The first way
is similar to the standard widget, in that a single executable file is created
which can be run. All the files needed by DesktopX are placed in a temporary
directory when this is run, so it is still possible to access these via script.
The second export type separates all the files used so they can be installed
using another method. You will want to use this option if the widget is part of
a bigger deliverable that you want to package using a custom installer.
The final item on this page allows to specify a text file that will be
accessible from the “About” box. This can be used to communicate information
about the application or a licensing agreement for the applications use.
Once you have specified your choices here, the next and final page asks you to
confirm your agreement to the distribution of the executable files, and then you
can specify where you want to store your application/files.
Users can choose to have widgets run on startup from the widget’s right click
menu.
PDF available
