1. Reducing screen size in Win7?
- Posted by AndyDrummond May 04, 2011
- 1942 views
Gentlemen,
Another nasty question. I have this little program - a toolbar - which I want to place on, in my case, the left side of the screen. But I want it to reduce the screen client size so that when other programs run I don't get their left-most bits underneath my toolbar. In Windows XP, you could drag a folder to the edge and it became a toolbar, and subtracted from the screen client area. I want to do the same. But I can't seem to use setClientRect() - and if it did work then it would simply move my toolbar across too as it lives in the screen client area. As it is, I have moved the z-order to topmost but that doesn't, of course, atop maximised programs going underneath it.
Do you follow? And if, so do you have any suggestions?
2. Re: Reducing screen size in Win7?
- Posted by coconut May 04, 2011
- 1971 views
Gentlemen,
Another nasty question. I have this little program - a toolbar - which I want to place on, in my case, the left side of the screen. But I want it to reduce the screen client size so that when other programs run I don't get their left-most bits underneath my toolbar. In Windows XP, you could drag a folder to the edge and it became a toolbar, and subtracted from the screen client area. I want to do the same. But I can't seem to use setClientRect() - and if it did work then it would simply move my toolbar across too as it lives in the screen client area. As it is, I have moved the z-order to topmost but that doesn't, of course, atop maximised programs going underneath it.
Do you follow? And if, so do you have any suggestions?
Follow this link windows 7 taskbar
3. Re: Reducing screen size in Win7?
- Posted by AndyDrummond May 05, 2011
- 1880 views
Follow this link windows 7 taskbar
Thanks "Coconut", but I think I don't understand it. I'm not a Windows software developer - I just use Euphoria to do things I need to do. I haven't watched the video - 45 minutes?! - but I will when I get time. In the meamtime I have a solution which looks promising by shifting the toolbar nearly offscreen...
I will consider this because W7 does have a toolbar system but it seems awful to me. Maybe I missed the real thing, maybe it is just me. But thanks all the same for taking the trouble to point me to this - it may yet offer a good answer.
4. Re: Reducing screen size in Win7?
- Posted by ArthurCrump May 05, 2011
- 1814 views
It may be worth trying the following, which I have used on Windows XP. I can see nothing on the Microsoft site that suggests that it may no longer work in Windows 7.
The function gives the coordinates of the {Left, Top, Right, Bottom} of the screen work area without the task bar, even if it is moved. The constants used are defined in win32lib.
global function getScreenWorkArea() sequence Srect atom WA = allocate(SIZEOF_RECT) w32Func(xSystemParametersInfo,{SPI_GETWORKAREA,0,WA,0}) Srect = peek4u({WA,4}) free(WA) return Srect end function
Alternatively, on Windows XP I can also create a window using:
Win1 = create(Window,"Caption",0,0,w32Edge,w32Edge,0)
5. Re: Reducing screen size in Win7?
- Posted by AndyDrummond May 06, 2011
- 1801 views
Arthur, thanks. But I can get the screen client area OK; what I am trying to do is tell the Windows Explorer - effectively the OS - that it's client area is reduced by the size I am using for my toolbar. I fear that then I might not be able to put MY program there either in that case, as it will have to be in the explorer client area. Probably I am looking for an impossibility.
But I may not need this. There was a thread a while back about having a toolbar move out the way normally and coming back when the mouse was moved to the screen edge. It is a workaround but probably a good one; at least it doesn't need any fudges or any clever way to tell another program (Explorer) that it hasn't got all the screen for itself. It seems to work; the Oracle VirtualBox program has a toolbar which drops to leave just a line on the screen bottom. Mousing over that makes the toolbar pop up, so I think I will go thataway.
I'm on another problem now - I want to have a program running onscreen - the toolbar - but without an entry on the task bar at the bottom. I have a feeling that to do that I need to be running as a service, and that opens up a whole new bag of worms. I wonder (if I admit defeat) if there is a program out there which does what I'm after. A see any number of people moaning that you can't drag a folder to make it into a toolbar any more, so I would expect someone with a lot more nous than me to write a program - or even Microshaft might make it possible again. You never know ....
So let's call this thread done, guys, but thanks anyway.
6. Re: Reducing screen size in Win7?
- Posted by petelomax May 07, 2011
- 1749 views
In Windows XP, you could drag a folder to the edge and it became a toolbar, and subtracted from the screen client area.
I'm on XP, and I'm not sure what you mean by this. Can you explain?
Pete
7. Re: Reducing screen size in Win7?
- Posted by AndyDrummond May 07, 2011
- 1846 views
In Windows XP, you could drag a folder to the edge and it became a toolbar, and subtracted from the screen client area.
I'm on XP, and I'm not sure what you mean by this. Can you explain?
Pete
Yes, Pete. You can drag a folder to the screen edge and release and it becomes a toolbar there. You can then make the icons small, make it always on top, etc. It you do that then when a program is maximised it only maximises as far as the new toolbar and doesn't go behind it. Try it and see ...
Andy
