[AeroGlass]

I figured out how to get it to start on startup but are there any available backgrounds out there available for it and also why in the latest release...I can only make it a circle and no other shape?

[ShamusHand]

Suggestions:

1. Allows adding of My Computer, My Documents, etc. to dock.
2. Allows the visibility toggling to be set to Mouse buttons 1 and 2, or 1 and Ctrl, etc.
3. Make a menu pop up when the center button is clicked, in which user can add more launchers.
4. Along with having the option of having appear on the edge of the screens, add the option to have it appear in corners.
5. Have an option to let the dock sit at the desktop, instead of disappearing, then being called in front of all windows with a hotkey. Otherwise it`s more of a launcher than a dock.

But as far as this is for an initial release, it`s great, and I`d love to see further development on this.

[VideoInPicture]

There are currently no immediate plans to create a Linux version of Circle Dock since I'm working on improving the performance and animation aspects of it. It is written in C# with the .Net Framework so it is theoretically possible to port it to Linux by using the Mono framework but you would have to replace all the Windows specific Pinvoke commands used. I think this would be a project within itself. However, I wouldn't recommend making a Linux port until at least Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 9 beccause that will be the version where I reorganize the code for better performance and animations.

For the suggestions:
1. Allows adding of My Computer, My Documents, etc. to dock.
These are virtual folders that don't have a specific file path address. They are referenced by their CSLID's. Circle Dock already has the capability to execute these CSLID's but the problem I have run into is that I can't extract CSLID's from a drag and drop operation. If someone can provide some code that can show me how to do this, it would be greatly appreciated. For now, create a Windows shortcut to these virtual folders and add the shortcut to Circle Dock.

2. Allows the visibility toggling to be set to Mouse buttons 1 and 2, or 1 and Ctrl, etc.
I don't think the first idea would be feasible but the second one is and I'll probably implement that in a future version.

3. Make a menu pop up when the center button is clicked, in which user can add more launchers.
Something similar will be added in Alpha 8. You can right-click on the centre button or the background and add a blank icon. Alpha 8 also has a properties panel for each icon that lets you edit the target paths and the name.

4. Along with having the option of having appear on the edge of the screens, add the option to have it appear in corners.
It's possible. I'll leave that until I get higher priority items done first.

5. Have an option to let the dock sit at the desktop, instead of disappearing, then being called in front of all windows with a hotkey. Otherwise it`s more of a launcher than a dock.
Someone else has already requested this and it will be implemented in Alpha 8. It will be the Always on Bottom option (I don't really like that name though but that's what other docks seem to use. Doesn't really describe the behavior. I thought that it meant that the dock would really ALWAYS be on the bottom and never be brought up.)

I figured out how to get it to start on startup but are there any available backgrounds out there available for it and also why in the latest release...I can only make it a circle and no other shape?
There are three circular backgrounds included in Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7.5/7.6. I'm not a graphics artist so I can't make decent backgrounds. It's probably best that some else does that and submit it to the project for use.

How Can you get it to start on startup or is that not possible yet?
You have to place a shortcut to the program in your Start Up folder. One of my programming principles for Circle Dock is not to touch the registry and to leave no trace when deleted. This also means that I don't use an installer. Circle Dock runs straight out of it's own folder.

I remember he re-code it to C#. that's a hardwork! wow...
Yeah, that was a lot of hardwork but it needed to be done. I planned 0.9.2 out better than 0.9.1 (the first version). Version 0.9.1 was done in VB and used lots of code from another project that attempted to create a dock. It looked promising at first but then I realized that the other project wasn't planned out very well in terms of extensibility, completeness, performance, and animation. I had to write 0.9.2 from scratch and was careful to select components and ideas that would work in the long term.

Also, there isn't another dock program out there for Windows that is open source and as complete as Circle Dock. I wanted to show how a program like Rocket Dock and Object Dock can be created. Everyone seems to be keeping their code secret and it doesn't really help innovation. It just makes life harder for the programmer.


Side Note: Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 8 is due out in about a week. After that, it's a feature freeze until I reorganize the code for Alpha 9.


Eric Wong
Author of Circle Dock
http://circledock.wikidot.com

This post has been edited by VideoInPicture: 07 September 2008 - 07:52 AM

[Lord Devrexster]

Quote

There are currently no immediate plans to create a Linux version of Circle Dock since I'm working on improving the performance and animation aspects of it. It is written in C# with the .Net Framework so it is theoretically possible to port it to Linux by using the Mono framework but you would have to replace all the Windows specific Pinvoke commands used. I think this would be a project within itself. However, I wouldn't recommend making a Linux port until at least Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 9 because that will be the version where I reorganize the code for better performance and animations.

Welcome to Winmatrix !! - best place u will ever find to post ur apps.

I have been interested in CircleDock since the first version u put out at donationcoder for some contest. Great Work !! Keep it up !!

Wud like to see more of ur apps on Winmatrix.

[Gragier_521]

Welcome to WM Eric. Your dock looks really great.

[teXtreme]

Wonderful program. Just i modding on Thai Language Menu.

[TheGreenMan]

This is my next dock! I'm going to uninstall RocketDock now.

[VideoInPicture]

Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 8 is released: http://circledock.wikidot.com

I recommend all Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7 users to upgrade to Alpha 8 because of all the bug fixes and some new features added. Alpha 8 includes some new language files and backgrounds thanks to the people listed on http://circledock.wi...com/credit-list. Visit the Circle Dock homepage to see examples of the new backgrounds: http://circledock.wikidot.com

Please note that there is a new recommended way of upgrading from Alpha 7 to Alpha 8. Please see the information at http://circledock.wi.../how-to-upgrade. It is important you follow the instructions listed there or the program may not start properly and give you an error message.

Note that some language files are not up to date. They will still load but you will get "?????" in place of missing translations.

From the Change Log:

Quote

September 14th, 2008

• Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 8 Official Release is made available.
  
• Many bug fixes and some new features added.
  
• There is a new recommended way of upgrading to Alpha 8 - see How to Upgrade
  
• Added the ability to run multiple docks at the same time by allowing multiple Circle Dock instances to run from separate folders.
  
• Circle Dock will now seek the target file for shortcuts dropped onto the dock.
  
• Added ability to lock the dock at a specific position (Settings Panel -> Location).
  
• The .ini file reader for Circle Dock is now unicode compatible with non-western script characters. This solves the problem of garbled language files.
  
• There are new language files included, such as Chinese, Indonesian, and Hungarian. Some language files have not been updated. Missing translations will show up in Circle Dock as "?????".
  
• New circular backgrounds are included.
  
• Added an "Item Properties" panel for each dock item to allow you to edit the link properties.
  
• Added an option in the right-click menu for the centre object, background, and the tray icon to temporarily pause the mouse toggling for gamers or other people that need it.
  
• The screen edge toggling has been improved. Circle Dock won't toggle the visibility if you are holding a mouse button down near the screen edges. There is also a new option for the dwell time required.
  
• The "Toggling" and "File -> Icon Associations" panels in the "Settings Panel" have been simplified.
  
• Added ability to turn off labels.
  
• Added a new format to the circle shape option in Settings Panel - Dock Shape (maximum number of items that can be fit on a circle without overlap).
  
• Added option to use the same rotation angle for all dock folders under Settings Panel -> General.
  
• Added a numeric box to finely adjust the rotation angle of the dock under Settings Panel -> General.
  
• Added a "Portability Mode" option to Settings Panel -> General. With this option selected, Circle Dock will automatically try to find the links of the dock item by using the drive letter of the Circle Dock directory. This is meant for USB thumbdrive usage where the drive letters may change but you want Circle Dock to self-reference files.
  
• Added a "Always on Bottom" option to Settings Panel -> General. Note that this mode is not fully completed since there are a few bugs to be worked out. Mostly there is a flickering issue. It is recommended to use the "Topmost" or "Normal" modes for the z-level.

[Freka]

This is a great program but some work needs to be done. For example if you have a shortcut on your desktop and you drag it make the dock remember the path to that program so I can then delete the icon from my desktop. Also if you docked an icon add the functionality so if I decide to drag the icon off it removes it from the dock. One thing I also noticed was that my windows are slower at minimizing and appearing when the dock is activated.
Other than that great program and I am looking forward to more releases!

This post has been edited by Freka: 20 September 2008 - 02:54 PM

[Razor VinT]

The idea is amazing. Keep it up!

[teentitan2k2]

Genius314, on Sep 6 2008, 06:18 PM, said:

teentitan2k2, on Sep 6 2008, 12:54 PM, said:

is this offered for linux users?

Probably not. The closest thing I can think of for Linux is Circular-Application-Menu. But so far it's not really as nice looking as this one is.

perhaps since its open source (?) we can take the source and recompile it for linux?

[VideoInPicture]

Freka, on Sep 20 2008, 02:53 PM, said:

This is a great program but some work needs to be done. For example if you have a shortcut on your desktop and you drag it make the dock remember the path to that program so I can then delete the icon from my desktop. Also if you docked an icon add the functionality so if I decide to drag the icon off it removes it from the dock. One thing I also noticed was that my windows are slower at minimizing and appearing when the dock is activated.
Other than that great program and I am looking forward to more releases!

Alpha 8 will search for the target of shortcuts dragged onto the dock. If it finds a valid target, it will use that path. However, Circle Dock is not able to find the CSLID's used for the Recycle Bin, My Computer, My Documents, etc.... Essentially, I haven't figured out how to find the target for the items on the computer that don't have a real file path.

You can delete an icon by dragging it over top of the center orb.

The alpha blending does appear to be causing some performance problems for some people and not others. I'll see what I can do for Alpha 8 - the performance/animation focused release.

teentitan2k2, on Sep 21 2008, 01:32 AM, said:

Genius314, on Sep 6 2008, 06:18 PM, said:

teentitan2k2, on Sep 6 2008, 12:54 PM, said:

is this offered for linux users?

Probably not. The closest thing I can think of for Linux is Circular-Application-Menu. But so far it's not really as nice looking as this one is.

perhaps since its open source (?) we can take the source and recompile it for linux?

It's not quite that easy to do. There are lots of Windows specific commands you have to use to code a dock. This is also probably the reason why Rocket Dock and Object Dock are not available on Linux.

[VideoInPicture]

A screenshot of the ellipse shape I've programmed into Circle Dock (not yet released). I think I like it much better as an ellipse.

[coldemone]

remembering the math equation of an ellipse, that looks mathematical...

[~{/^OoMoO^\}~]

Dude your dock is absolutely amazing. Now what you need are some good backgrounds for your dock.