Transparency Problems
A note about
transparency problems. Some people experience transparency problems with
DeskFolders 2 in which the background is corrupted. As of beta 3 there is
now an option to enable a hack to workaround this. Adding a
"DeskFolderPaintHack" item to your step.rc will cause DeskFolders to use
an alternate method for transparency. This will (should) fix transparency
but adds a problem of it's own: if a window is on top of a desk folder
when DeskFolders is loaded or recycled that window become a part of the
desk folder's background. I'm working to try and find a more effective
workaround, until then I hope this is sufficient.
What is
DeskFolders?
DeskFolders is a Litestep desktop module
which allows you place embeded folders ("desk folders") onto your desktop.
Desk folders can display the contents of any directory or shell folder,
such as the Desktop folder or My Computer. You can create multiple desk
folders with any position or size and in a variety of styles and colors.
Desk folders are designed to be highly customizable and to blend in well
with your existing LS desktop. DeskFolders is great for providing quick
access to files and directories or for allowing you to drag and drop files
between Explorer and the LS desktop.
Configuration
Once you've downloaded
DeskFolders, place the DLL into your Litestep directory and add a
LoadModule line for it into your step.rc. Note: If desktop.dll is also
used, it must be loaded before deskfolders.dll.
LoadModule
C:\Litestep\DeskFolders.dll
DeskFolders uses a named
parameter system for configuration which is different from most Litestep
modules. The reason I chose this type of system is due to its flexibility:
parameters can by given in any order and any parameter can be omitted
independently of the others. Parameter-value pairs take on the form of
"parameter(value)". Here is typical line for a desk folder:
*DeskFolder folder(desktop)
position(100, 100) size(300, 200) view(icon)
This creates a
desk folder at screen coordinates 100, 100 with a width and height of 300
and 200 pixels respectively. The desk folder show the contents of the
desktop folder in icon view. The position and size parameters are just x,y
value pairs, negative values can be used to indicate values relative to
the bottom right corner of the screen.
Parameters
Parameter |
Values |
Default |
Description |
align |
default, left,
snapToGrid, top |
default |
Not
implemented |
background |
bitmap-file,
color, transparent |
transparent |
The style of the
desk folder's background |
border |
boolean |
false |
Toggles border
around desk folder |
browse |
default,
inPlace |
default |
If inPlace, enables
in place browsing of folders; otherwise selecting a folder runs
Explorer |
contents |
all, files,
folders |
all |
Determines whether
the desk folder displays files, folders, or both |
filter |
filename
pattern |
* |
Includes only
filenames which match the given pattern (only works with file system
objects) |
folder |
directory,
controlPanel, desktop, fonts, myComputer, network, printers,
programs, recycleBin, startMenu |
desktop |
Selects the
directory or system folder to display |
font |
font-name/font-size |
|
Selects font used
by this desk folder, font name and size are seperated by a slash
(/) |
labels |
color,
transparent |
black |
Sets the background
color for icon labels |
name |
- |
- |
Name used to
identify this desk folder in bang commands |
overlay |
boolean |
true |
Controls display of
overlay images for shortcuts and shares. |
position |
coordinate
pair |
0, 0 |
Position of the
desk folder on the screen (in pixels) |
scrollbar |
boolean |
false |
Enable or disable
scrollbars |
showHidden |
boolean |
true |
Enables/disables
display of hidden files/directories |
size |
coordinate
pair |
-1, -1 |
Width and height of
the desk folder (in pixels) |
text |
color |
white |
Sets the foreground
color for icon labels |
view |
icon, smallIcon,
list, details |
icon |
Selects the view
mode for the desk folder (note: details currently not
implemented) |
visible |
boolean |
true |
Sets whether desk
folder is initially visible |
Color values can be either an RGB value (in HTML #RRGGBB format) or a
predefined color name: black, blue, cyan, green, red, violet, white, or
yellow.
Bang
Commands
The bang command interface allows you modify
the desk folder's properties from hotkeys, shortcuts, etc. The Litestep
bang command for all commands is "!DeskFolder". The format of a DeskFolder
bang command is:
!DeskFolder <command>
<parameter-list>
Examples:
*Hotkey Win D !DeskFolder browse
name(main) folder(desktop) *Hotkey Win U !DeskFolder browse up *Hotkey Win H !DeskFolder hide
name(someFolder)
The command name specifies the action to
be taken. The parameter lists have the same form as the parameters to
*DeskFolder. All bang commands take an optional "name" parameter, which
uniquely identifies the desk folder object to act on (if there is more
than one desk folder). If name is omitted, the action is performed on the
first desk folder; if name is "all", the action effects all desk folders.
Here is the table of commands and their parameters.
Command |
Parameters |
Description |
browse |
folder,
up |
Causes the desk
folder to browse into another folder. If folder is given it
specifies a full pathname or special folder name. If the up
parameter is present (it takes no value) the action performed is "up
one level". |
hide |
none |
Hides the desk
folder. |
show |
none |
Shows the desk
folder (after having been hidden). |
toggle |
none |
Toggles the
show/hide state of the desk folder. |
refresh |
none |
Refreshes the
contents of the desk folder. |
Examples
To give you feel for the DeskFolders
configuration system and to give some examples of what can be done with
DeskFolders here are some example configurations you might want to try.
; This desk folder
looks just like the Explorer desktop. *DeskFolder
folder(desktop)
; Places the desktop folder on the
right for quick access. *DeskFolder folder(desktop)
position(-92, 16) size(80, -48)
; My desk folder:
provides access to all folders on C: drive *DeskFolder
contents(folders) folder(C:\) font(Tahoma/8) labels(transparent)
name(side) position(16, 32) size(108, -1) view(smallIcon)
; Start menu programs *DeskFolder
browse(inPlace) folder(programs) labels(transparent) overlay(false)
position(-144, 32) size(128, 256) view(smallIcon)
;
Web directory showing HTML files *DeskFolder
contents(files) filter(*.htm?) folder(C:\Web) labels(transparent)
position(96, -96) scrollbar(true) size(400, 88) view(list)
Have fun!
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