Home Register Arcade Gallery Chatroom Members Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Log In
Go Back   Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum > SereneScreen Products > Marine Aquarium 3 for Windows > Marine Aquarium 2 for Windows Archive
Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 02-25-2004, 09:00 AM   #1
ewald
Registered
 
Join Date: Aug 2002

Posts: 24
Angry what I dream of... (feature request)

Hi,

here's what my SereneScreen-dreams are about:

a wide screen version of "marine aquarium time" with NO window border, no title bar, no etc. - just the aquarium.

you should be able to config it so that:
* it starts in window mode (i.e. not fullscreen)
* you can define the exact start position (on your screen)
* you can define the exact size of the window
* you can define that its position on the screen is locked (i.e. not moveable)
* you can define that it is always in the background (of all opened windows)
* and it should include all 26 fish

then one could autostart this beauty and it would be
part of your computer background

no new artwork would be necessary for this...

what you think of that ???
ewald is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 09:25 AM   #2
ewald
Registered
 
Join Date: Aug 2002

Posts: 24
here is a quick mockup of what it might look like (btw. this is a pc no mac)
Attached Images
File Type: jpg mockup.jpg (121.5 KB, 289 views)
ewald is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 09:30 AM   #3
ewald
Registered
 
Join Date: Aug 2002

Posts: 24
those of you who want that wallpaper go here:
http://www.pixelhuset.se/pixelhuset.html#Desktops
(it's called "skull island")
ewald is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 09:46 AM   #4
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
Nice place. I'll see what I can do about your requests. (The drop-shadow might be a bit much to ask, though )
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

Last edited by Jim Sachs; 02-25-2004 at 10:31 AM.
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 10:35 AM   #5
cjmaddy
Registered
 
cjmaddy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Location: Lancashire, UK
Posts: 7,854
Now that idea I like!!!!!
cjmaddy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 10:37 AM   #6
drfish
the Doc
 
drfish's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2002

Location: Zeeland, MI
Posts: 5,351
Slick, that does look nice... I like the drop shadow effect... Just make a wallpaper with the drop shadow built in, good idea, keeps it simple... You could even antialias it if you had the background color of the aquarium stay the same... I think I'd go for a more tropical looking desktop though...

Edit: Started writing mine before Jim edited his...

Edit 2: BTW, Firefox, nice...
I don't watch commercials.
drfish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 10:41 AM   #7
Liath
Still here in spirit
 
Liath's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Posts: 637
That's a nice idea. I do like to keep MA2 running in a smaller window. It would be cool to have it without the window frame in a fixed position.
Liath is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 11:34 AM   #8
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
This is not an easy task. All the Windows functions for resizing, dragging, minimizing, etc., are built into that border. Eliminating the border means you'd have to write all these functions yourself.
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 11:46 AM   #9
drfish
the Doc
 
drfish's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2002

Location: Zeeland, MI
Posts: 5,351
Who's to blame for this not being easy? Microsoft? IANAP, but it seems to me that it should be as easy as:

border=0
dimension=320x240
align top right=(568,392)

With a GUI that lets you plug in your own numbers... And it shouldn't make a difference that this is 3D, any program that can open in a window should have these settings... I'm going to say it, but correct me if I'm wrong...

Stupid Microsoft!
I don't watch commercials.
drfish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 11:56 AM   #10
cjmaddy
Registered
 
cjmaddy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Location: Lancashire, UK
Posts: 7,854
Would it be easy to just get rid of the title bar, Jim?

I think it would look a lot better, just without the title bar, and be nearly as nice, ..... but not quite!
cjmaddy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 11:58 AM   #11
ewald
Registered
 
Join Date: Aug 2002

Posts: 24
Jim: "The drop-shadow might be a bit much to ask, though"

No problem here - you can simple cheat and make the drop shadow part of the destop as drfish suggested. Actually the drop shadow of the windows program bar on top of the screenshot is done that way.

But there is another option for adding drop shadows to windows. The freeware program called YzShadow is really cool - you should give it a try.
you can get it for example here:
http://www.freewebs.com/dj_sol/yzsdw109.zip

:-)
ewald is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 12:06 PM   #12
ewald
Registered
 
Join Date: Aug 2002

Posts: 24
Originally posted by Jim Sachs
This is not an easy task. All the Windows functions for resizing, dragging, minimizing, etc., are built into that border. Eliminating the border means you'd have to write all these functions yourself.
But when used this way the program doesn't need to be resizeable or draggable because it is meant to be a background element...
ewald is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 12:08 PM   #13
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
You can't really blame MS for this one (believe me, I'd love to blame them for everything -- including Global Warming!). They have built all the hundreds of lines of code into the OS for clicking, dragging and resizing windows. The key to all this is the window border. When you click into a window, the border lights up -- you know that window is active and all keystrokes and mouse movements are directed to that window. The WS_THICKFRAME argument turns all this on when calling the CREATEWINDOW function.

Without these built-in Windows functions, the program has to constantly check many items: Where is my window on the screen? Where is the mouse pointer? Is my window the active one? Is the mouse pointer somewhere within my window? Is the left mouse button pressed? If yes to all of the above, then: For each change in the x,y position of the pointer, make a corresponding change in the x and y values for the upper left and lower right positions of the Aquarium window.

And that's just dragging (the easiest).

I'm not saying it's impossible, just that there are a lot of factors to consider.
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 12:18 PM   #14
patscarr
Pet Shark
 
patscarr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
1 Highscore

Location: Back in Buffalo
Posts: 5,453
I don't even want to type it, but your idea would have to be some kind of active desktop type feature then. You know, the border is gone but when you put your mouse over it, the border is there again.
Patrick
patscarr is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 12:24 PM   #15
ewald
Registered
 
Join Date: Aug 2002

Posts: 24
Originally posted by Jim Sachs
You can't really blame MS for this one (believe me, I'd love to blame them for everything -- including Global Warming!). They have built all the hundreds of lines of code into the OS for clicking, dragging and resizing windows. The key to all this is the window border. When you click into a window, the border lights up -- you know that window is active and all keystrokes and mouse movements are directed to that window. The WS_THICKFRAME argument turns all this on when calling the CREATEWINDOW function.
The windows themeing community often uses the trick to make the window border just 1 pixel. This way it looks slick but keeps the border functionality.

I don't know if it's possible to define this for just one application. A windows theme affects all applications.

example:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/4560044/

(if anyone wants to try this theme you need the program "stylexp". You can get a trial version here: http://www.tgtsoft.com/download.php)
ewald is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 12:28 PM   #16
cjmaddy
Registered
 
cjmaddy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Location: Lancashire, UK
Posts: 7,854
Can I show my ignorance? ..... does the term 'border' include the Title bar?
cjmaddy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 12:32 PM   #17
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
Not always, but the title bar contains the minimize and close buttons. A lot of people like to minimze the Aquarium if they temporarily need the whole screen for something.
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 12:40 PM   #18
drfish
the Doc
 
drfish's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2002

Location: Zeeland, MI
Posts: 5,351
Didn't think about it being that complicated...

That's why the "Show Desktop" icon is always the first thing in my quick launch... Otherwise right clicking on the task in the task bar and selecting minimize would do it... Of course, if you were running the aquarium this way you'd want an icon in the system tray not the task bar...
I don't watch commercials.
drfish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 12:51 PM   #19
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
Well, I think I'll leave it to Edgar to ponder the ramifications. Back to work on Freshwater...
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2004, 03:42 PM   #20
James
Principal Engineer as SDET
 
James's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2002

Location: Was in Auckland, New Zealand, Now in Taipei, Taiwan
Posts: 1,406
Originally posted by patscarr
I don't even want to type it, but your idea would have to be some kind of active desktop type feature then. You know, the border is gone but when you put your mouse over it, the border is there again.
"active desktop"...I fear so....

ANYWAY, Pat, your suggestion is just like the feature in Windows Media Player and the Chat Window in MSN6.1, thier border can set to disapper when cursor is not orver or window is not active.
James C Chen
Principal Engineer as SDET, Connected Services
HTC Corporation
88 Section 3. Zhongxing Road
Xindian District, New Taipei City 231, Taiwan
www.htc.com
James is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply
Go Back   Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum > SereneScreen Products > Marine Aquarium 3 for Windows > Marine Aquarium 2 for Windows Archive



Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:31 AM.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.