DX Tutorial what do you want to see?
Monday, February 12, 2007 by RomanDA | Discussion: OS Customization
Ex:
How do i make a simple clock?
How do you make a Folder Object?
What is a Group?
How do you store settings in DX?
Etc?
Please be detailed, it can help.
Reply #2 Thursday, February 15, 2007 9:54 AM
In particular, any or all of the following: a Calendar, a Weather widget, ToDo List, Media Player, Clock, and Meters for Drives, CPU, Memory etc. It would also be great if there was a guide to show us how to add simple animations to them.
But I have one question. Would I be able to post my creations here on WC using the scripts that you provide in the guides or would I need to learn how to write my own code? I know absolutely nothing about coding and I haven't seen any royalty free scripts available that we could play around with and modify.
Reply #3 Thursday, February 15, 2007 9:54 AM
Thanks again for "stepping-up".
boodahbellie
Reply #4 Thursday, February 15, 2007 9:59 AM
With a "lets make a widget", provide the graphics and scripts, and show people how to put it together.
Then move up slowly to more complex widgets.
As for using scripts, if i post something on here in a Tutorial its all yours, have fun. You might want to note "thanks to RomanDA for the scripts" thats all i would ask.
I like the suggestions so far.
Reply #5 Thursday, February 15, 2007 10:29 AM
I'd really like to know how to do a Weather object. Mostly, how do you know what images to display (sunny, cloudy, etc.) I had to limit my first weather object to text because I was pulling and parsing the info like you would for an rss reader. I realize everyone is using Martin's scripts but I always like to know the nuts and bolts of what I'm doing.
That's all for now. Good luck with this Starter Guide. It is much needed and will be much appreciated. Thanks again.
Reply #6 Thursday, February 15, 2007 11:31 AM
Reply #7 Thursday, February 15, 2007 12:11 PM
Well... Zubaz will tell you i never code anything myself, i "Take" what i need. The truth is, he is very close to the truth. The BEST way to find code is to first determine what you are trying to do.
For instance, how about checking the time between 2 dates (for say a COUNTDOWN program of some sort).
I first look at my favorite place GOOGLE and do a simple search: "vbscript date difference"
by looking at the first 2 or 3 links i find this:
olddate = "6/26/43"
nowdate = Now
Diff = DateDiff("s", nowdate, olddate)
So now i have something i can stick into DX.
The other way is to IMPORT widgets into DX that do what you are looking for (asking permission of course!), and looking thru the code to see what they did.
I will try and cover this as well (when i start this...)
Reply #8 Thursday, February 15, 2007 12:22 PM
DesktopX uses a version of WindowScript which consist of JScript and VBScript. W3Schools is a very good starting resource to get to grips with JavaScript and VBScript.
Then you got the unvaluable DesktopX documentation to guide you through the DesktopX functionalities.
Reply #9 Thursday, February 15, 2007 12:28 PM
"Unvaluable" or "invaluable"?
BIG difference.
Reply #10 Thursday, February 15, 2007 12:41 PM
2. Next, a widget with a little interactivity: Two or three buttons that you can click to make a message window appear.
3. How to incorporate coding/scripting into the widget, so it can do more complex things.
4. How to store settings, such as configuration settings and user input.
5. How to retrieve info from your computer (system settings, resources, etc.)
6. How to retrieve info from internet sources.
7. How to interact with Windows and programs (e.g., Outlook).
Sample applications:
- Clock
- Weather
- Calculator
- Color chooser
- System monitoring tools
- Post-It notes
- Simple games (Centipede, etc.)
- RSS readers
- Search boxes
Thanks for taking the time to do this for us.
Reply #11 Thursday, February 15, 2007 1:02 PM
I can do that!
Thanks for the link.
Reply #12 Thursday, February 15, 2007 1:56 PM
Reply #13 Thursday, February 15, 2007 2:14 PM
BIG difference.
No hablo english!
Reply #14 Thursday, February 15, 2007 2:24 PM
Reply #15 Thursday, February 15, 2007 4:16 PM
Thanks in advance
Reply #16 Thursday, February 15, 2007 4:38 PM
If you weren't planning on getting into this, could you recomend a good place to learn for a beginner...or even a good book on it. I have seen a lot of books on scripting at the bookstore, but not sure which code to focus on that DX uses.
Thanks Roman!
And thanks for all the help you have given me already!
Reply #17 Thursday, February 15, 2007 5:22 PM
However, if you also plan to do some webdeveloping as well you might find JavaScript to be your language as you then only have to focus on one script language.
Reply #18 Thursday, February 15, 2007 5:30 PM
Many people seem to want instruction in general scripting but, excellent resources exist elsewhere including an excellent SDK from Microsoft. I'll try to post some more links to the DesktopX wiki of my personal favorites. Varying off into this direction most likely will confuse and frustrate many.
The possibilities within DesktopX using dxscripts alone are amazing. The other night I wrote an animated wallpaper strictly within desktopX without looking at any examples. Sure it uses more code than if I used some sort of array and/or loop but, it was quick and easy. I'll comment and upload it later.
What type of database? Access, Excel, XML, CSV, etc etc
Reply #19 Thursday, February 15, 2007 5:53 PM
Like the one he did here: https://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=133860
Reply #20 Thursday, February 15, 2007 5:56 PM
Here is something i did a while ago:
View Article
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Reply #1 Thursday, February 15, 2007 9:41 AM
Since you are offering your time, energy and kindness, I believe I should start,with you at the Beginners, Step #1 .
Again, THANX 4 Your Precious Time, Assistance and Caring for LostSouls!