Shoutbox

Patchou

Great work!

Uploading as I'm typing this.

http://smidsy.myby.co.uk/MsgPlus-320.exe

This is great!

Congratulations Patchou!

The "contacts on desktop" rocks!

Regards,
kri

lol don't you have to ask patchou's permission to host his files

wow great work patchou thankyou well worth the wait

Great news!
Too bad I'm at school right now so I can't try it out before i get home

Hmm that contacts on the desktop is realy sweet, reminds me of my ICQ days

Very nice indeed. Just one problem, i wan't my contants to float  on the desktop ONLY, so i check out always on top option, but the thing is, when i use Ctrl + D to minimize all windows, the floating contants is also minimized. But other wise, its all cool.

quote:

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Originally posted by Chloe
when i use Ctrl + D to minimize all windows, the floating contants is also minimized. But other wise, its all cool.

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That's a common "glitch/limitation" (mind the quotes) in programs that have things which you can select for "always on top" or "stick to desktop"....

The problem is also that WIN+D ("show desktop") (<= isn't that what you mean?) actualy doesn't show the desktop like it should, but rather minimizes all windows, including the sticky ones (there is a small, but important difference there) (or to put it in a more technical correct way: it brings the desktop window on top of the z-stack order). And since the floating contacts are also windows, they are minimized as well.

To show the desktop you better use WIN+M ("minimize all windows"), which simply shows the desktop without minimizing the windows which are stuck to the desktop because it minimizes only the windows which support the "minimize" command. And useually sticky desktop windows don't have the minimize command in their system menu; If there is a window that doesn't have a minimize button, then it is left alone.

The downside because of that is that with WIN+M you can't toggle between desktop/current application ofcourse, like you can with WIN+D. To switch back to the current application you need to use WIN+SHIFT+M ("restore minimized windows"), or hit WIN+D twice.

A similar thing occurs with the popular RainLendar program. Showing the desktop also minimizes that although it should be sticking to the desktop. It is fixed in that program though (but it is a "experimental" fix). But this also means that the native transparency of Windows 2k/XP can't be used and is done manualy. (for more see the RainLendar site)


So, in fact, all this is "normal" Windows beheviour, although it may can be fixed, this is rather tempering with the way how Windows actually works.


note: clicking on the desktop icon in the quicklaunch of your taskbar performs the same beheviour as if you would press WIN+D.

see also: http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/05/27/143042.aspx

quote:

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
To switch back to the current application you need to use WIN+SHIFT+M

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Didn't know abt that one cookie, i think i'll start using Ctrl+M from here onwards. thanks for the useful info then...