Winexpos�

[f000by]

The newest version seems to have resolved the standby / hibernation errors, which is great news!

However, for all versions after version 19b (20, 23 and 24) the exposing of windows is very noticeably jittery on my machine. Up to version 19b everything has been running very smoothly. I'm using a Nvidia 6600 GT with in Direct X mode.

Thanks again for all the updates!

[matonga]

@Inge Buller:

Do you have the auto-hide taskbar option enabled?

Right click the Start button, select Properties, and check if option "automatically hide the taskbar" is checked (not sure about right option's name, I have Windows in other language).

If it is checked, try unchecking it and see if problem persists.

Then post me your results (issues stop when auto-hide is disabled, option was unchecked, issues persist wether it is checked or not, etc...)

Also, are you using a multi-monitor setup or nVidia virtual desktops, or similar?

[Calric]

Hello,

simular problem to f000by, I have the "Keep the taskbar on top of...." unchecked, and I can't see it in winexpose mode.

Keep up the good work!

[Inge Buller]

Nope, no auto hide, no multi-monitor (laptop, Mobility Radeon 9600).

I´ll rebbot, fiddle around and post more info later.

I´ve got WinEx on my lab partition, and I do not have access to that ATM as I am pretending to be working ;-)

[Kaishi]

Matias: did you see my artwork I did on the previous page ? I was curious what you thought of it, if you liked it or not.

[Macolio]

Hi there. Great program you developed, and I'll definitely be following its development.

I had a few suggestions regarding the mouse corner activation. Two actually:

1) Would it be possible to add a time delay to the activation? As it is, it's way too vulnerable to accidental mouse movements. If the user could make it wait like 1 second when the mouse is at the corner before it alt-tabs, it would be help against these "false positives". Maybe add it as an option, so that people can have it both ways.

2) Reducing the mouse corner zones. As it is, if I set the corner to the left side of the screen, even when I move the mouse to the left of the Start button, it will alt-tab. This is another fertile source of unintended alt-tabs. If I could get it to alt-tab only when I move the mouse to the left-center of the screen, it would be much better. Basically just offer more "corner" options (upper-left, center-left, lower-left, etc).

I realize many people will be surprised I care this much about something minor like this when most just use alt-tab on the keyboard, but for people on tablet PCs, we don't have access to a keyboard when in slate/tablet mode. Programs like WinExposé make up for a big weakness in terms of usability.

Keep up the good work.

[1337Lime]

wonderful program.

Anyways some other ideas that might be worth implementing:

Exposé also has a tile windows of a single application feature(e.g tiling only the windows of Microsoft Word,useful when you have a lot of documents open)

And a hide all windows feature

And is also displys the name of the window when moused overed..

Could it also be implemented ?

The first effect could be Achieved by putting all other applications in the exception list (lol)which at the moment would be kinda dumb..

lol being greedy here

wonderful application for those who can afford to pay out money for topdesk (which is a system resource HOG)

your App for one is not resource intensive

[Kaishi]

Guys, please do read the thread before making feature requests ! Matias has posted several times saying what he is and isn't able to implement. The same To-Do list is on his website. C'mon, use your eyes a little before asking things.

Because of the way the WinExpose's engine is coded currently, a "hide all windows" aka "show desktop" mode is not going to be possible. Period.

Matias has tried to implement a "show all windows from this app" system but it isn't reliable currently. It is, however, on the to-do list, so it'll probably happen.

Hovering window titles over the exposed windows is on the list as well.

Guys, remember, Matias is working his best on this application in between work and school. He isn't a full-time developer, and yet, his app is incredible, so please, give him the benefit of the doubt. Matias has created a great, full usable application in under 2 months, that's pretty impressive for something like this.

Matias: on your side man, always. Hell, I'd go so far as to call myself a fan.

[mps69]

Well said Kaishi!!

Typlical, give them the world and the want the moon too. :mad:

[Inge Buller]

@matonga:

Sorry about the slow reply, work is keeping me, kind of busy...

I found that checking "Keep the taskbar on top of other windows" gives me a taskbar in expose mode. Normally, I have that option unchecked.

Then I realized that it was not an "exposed" taskbar, but the ACTUAL taskbar on top of my screen... Is this how you meant it to work?

I saw in a previous post that you got some stuff from TaskSwitchXP. That app can show the desktop with taskbar as background, it can also show different wallpapers correctly. Perhaps you can get some ideas there...

Cheers

@Kaishi:

sign me up for a membership in the fanclub!

[matonga]

Thanks for all this feedback. Please forgive me if I stayed off-line too much time, I had no broadband access and had lots of exams.

I've modified the window enumeration algorithm (yes, again) now it enumerates dialogs, as in previous versions, but also doesn't enumerate windows which are minimzed to the shell tray, so, I've best of both worlds, I mean, previous versions, now ;-).

Also I fixed something else, but I forgot... ah yes, corner activation didn't work, if you tried to expose with one or no windows opened (doesn't expose just one or zero windows) and then opened more windows (so, having more windows, should expose again, but it didn't). Normal work-around would be to use hot-key, then corner activation worked again. Now this bug is fully fixed (I think nobody noticed it anyway, as nobody posted about it).

About "human fail safe" corner activation, I'll consider it (as optional, but enabled by default). First I would like to improve response speed by implementing a cache.

I'll put a new icon for WinExposé before uploading the new version, so it won't be available yet (sorry).

@Kaishi:

I reviewed your stuff, and I think icons look very cool. Also I'll implement your idea for the corners selection, it's at least much better than the current plain color screen. The second icon (the darker one), I'll include it as WinExposé icon for next version, if you allow me to :-).

I showed your icons to a friend of mine, and he liked them also. I don't know if icons will look fine when shown small, so for lower resolution (I use multiresolution icons) I may have to simplify them (but at higher resolutions they'll look the same you posted them).

Normally I include this resolutions in the icon: 128x128, 48x48, 32x32, 16x16

PS: The PNGs you posted, do they have alpha channel information? I have no tools here to check.

@Inge Buller:

Then I realized that it was not an "exposed" taskbar, but the ACTUAL taskbar on top of my screen... Is this how you meant it to work?

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean. WinExposé gets "almost" fullscreen, I mean, it covers almost all the screen, the part uncovered is the place where the taskbar is, so what you see is probably the actual taskbar (it doesn't get exposed by WinExposé, so if you can see it, then it's the actual taskbar).

Hope this, um, helps?...

Regards,

Matias

[cohenmatt]

I am experiencing a bug in WinExpose.

I've encountered it all of the latest releases. After the application has been open for awhile it no longer functions and produces a terrible jarbled mashup of all the windows, closing and reopening it fixes the problem but after awhile it returns.

Heres a Screenshot of what happens when activating winexpose after its been running for some time.

[Macolio]

That looks like a display (videocard, directx) issue. Does it happen when you change the Graphics Engine to software in Settings?

[vishesh_l]

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah !!!!!!!! dual monitor..........i know this app works like a charm,but i am not able to use it....cry....

ok,i know enuff of that,

bro is there a way that u could disable the second monitor in expose mode?...i mean thats a workaround,

at least itll be functional with 2 monitors,

just had this idea,thought id share it with u...

thumbsup

keep up the development

[Smiff]

yeeehaw! well, i get back, and you have indeed apparently fixed the crash-on-lock bug. superb.

now i can start bombarding you with more trivial requests

seriously great work.

[apickle]

This program is fantastic, but there are a few errors I've noticed.

The first error is one where I am only able to see my taskbar and my desktop background, but I'm unable to bring up other windows. If I right-click the taskbar buttons corresponding to open programs and select "Restore" or "Maximize," they do nothing. Opening new programs doesn't bring anything forward, in fact, the only thing that seems able to come forward is the Windows Task Manager, and then only when I select "Always On Top" from it's system tray icon menu.

The next errors are simply ones I notice (hard not to) when I tile/expose my open windows, and these I've screen recorded, since my descriptive abilities may be unable to illustrate the issue clearly. Whenever I have video open, either in Windows Media Player, in my browser, or in Adobe Premeire Elements, that video blinks intermittently in it's original location when tiled. My viewports in 3D Studio Max do the same thing. Curiously enough, my menu bar (File, Edit, View) in Windows Live Writer does the same, though only when maximized. The screen recording of it can be found here (.mov - 11.2 MB).

I think a great feature would be to have WinExpose have very customizeable "exposing" filters. For example, I'd like WinExpose to:

1. Tile all windows open from the taskbar.
   
2. Tile windows open from the tray. (Trillian and Xfire contact lists!)
   
3. Tile windows minimized to the taskbar.
   
4. Ignore windows minimized to the tray.
   
5. Tile extraneous windows, such as "Display Properties," or "System" or "Device Manager."
   

As some users may disagree with my choices of window inclusion/exclusion for tiling, I think it'd be fancy to have a customizeable menu for it in the WinExpose "settings" dialog.

Please don't feel that my criticism implies dissatisfaction with WinExpose, I think it's one of the coolest things around, and I've found it to be darn useful. Windows had a lead over Mac OS X in window management, but I'm not so sure about that anymore. I use WinExpose more than I use my taskbar! Added to that, it works GREAT with RocketDock, UberIcon, and the Yahoo! Widget Engine. Whether this was purely by chance or merely coincidental, I don't really care, I'm happy as a clam enjoying a lot of the features previously reserved to OS X users. I was surprised to find that the webcam video in Windows Live Messenger not only tiles with the window, but continues to update! And Windows Vista hasn't even come out yet!

Excellent program, man. What are your plans for it's implementation in Vista? I'd think that the Desktop Window Manager should REALLY help improve WinExpose's performance and compatibility! I may have to give this a shot in Vista. Will this work in Windows 98?

[ericren23]

I am experiencing a bug in WinExpose.

I've encountered it all of the latest releases. After the application has been open for awhile it no longer functions and produces a terrible jarbled mashup of all the windows, closing and reopening it fixes the problem but after awhile it returns.

Heres a Screenshot of what happens when activating winexpose after its been running for some time.

I get the same problem here

I figured that it appear every time i resume from a hibernate from my laptop. The only way to fix it right now is to close it and restart WinExpose.

[Smiff]

anyone else with OpenOffice notice those windows don't get drawn at all - they come out black! probably something OO.o is doing weird, not WinExpose?

imho the #1 thing now is to make the response time from moving the mouse into the corner to exposing as short as possible. exactly how best to do that, i'm not sure though

edit: well, i have one suggestion. have an option for if one app is responding too slow (i.e. dreamweaver!), skip it, or use a placeholder/cached image? some threshold like 100ms or something?

[Kaishi]

Matias: sorry for being away for a few days, didn't have 'net access this weekend. I'm back now though.

Of course you can use my icons. I'll gladly create versions at any size you like. The PNGs I posted do have Alpha data already but I can convert them into any other format you like or make a version that won't need alpha either. Whatever works best for you.

If you want to contact me directly, IM me ! AIM: pandages, YIM: dj_kaishi, jabber: kaishi.axon(at)gmail.com

EDIT: I've experienced the same OpenOffice bug too, always comes up as a pure black window. Gaim does the same thing but Gaim uses GTK+, OpenOffice doesn't. I'm not sure what OpenOffice *does* use though (I hope not SWT but I'm not sure of that either). Could anyone look into this ? If we can figure out how it works, Matias might be able to add support somehow.

[apickle]

anyone else with OpenOffice notice those windows don't get drawn at all - they come out black! probably something OO.o is doing weird, not WinExpose?

I just tested it and noticed the same thing. I wonder if it's a Java issue.

imho the #1 thing now is to make the response time from moving the mouse into the corner to exposing as short as possible. exactly how best to do that, i'm not sure though

That would be pretty dumb. It'd be much better if it were a user-controllable setting, so that you could have your fast reacting corners, while I could have my slower ones. I have all my corners activated, so, I like the delay (and frankly, would like to turn it a little higher) because it permits me to close windows or use the Start button, while still having all available corners as activation zones.

[Smiff]

ooooh i didn't realise there was a deliberate delay after activation... can we have an option to remove that please? imho the default location of bottom-right is well chosen as somewhere you never need to push the mouse into, as long as you have the windows taskbar setup that 99% of users do.

[apickle]

ooooh i didn't realise there was a deliberate delay after activation... can we have an option to remove that please? imho the default location of bottom-right is well chosen as somewhere you never need to push the mouse into, as long as you have the windows taskbar setup that 99% of users do.

Again, I'd say that the best solution to that, for the benefit of ALL WinExpose users, would be to have an "Activation" tab in the WinExpose "Settings" dialog. You could set it to where all corners have a zero second delay from activation, while I'd set it to be around two or three seconds.

[Kaishi]

On the OpenOffice issue, I know that Azureus uses the SWT graphical library for Java, and it renders just fine in WinExpose, yet OpenOffice doesn't. In this way, we can rule out SWT (and probably java, honestly). I'm going to check it against a few other Java apps I have to see if maybe there is something I'm overlooking.

[Smiff]

OOo does sometimes sorta of render - i think it may just be that its slow to draw in the content of the window - you can see this delay yourself sometimes, WinExpose is probably sensitive to this

[Kaishi]

Interestingly, TaskSwitchXP also cannot capture or render anything regarding OpenOffice, so I am willing to assume this problem isn't one that Matias can really try to work around.

Matias, have you considered an exclusion system similar to that of which is implemented by TaskSwitchXP ? It uses a system to ignore an app from previews (and instead displays only the systemtray icon for the app), or to alternatively ignore the app entirely. I think this might end up being a simple way to work around apps that cannot create previews but still should show up on the WinExpose screen.