Mirror effect for docks

[matonga]

Which dock are you currently using? (RocketDock, ObjectDock, RKLauncher... ?)

[Phoshi]

Objectdock.

And by above I literally mean it's higher on the screen.

[matonga]

The mirror has a setting called 'Put behind this window'.

Such setting allows you to specify which window should the mirror be behind of.

I know such window class is 'ROCKETDOCK' for Rocket Dock, but sadly I know nothing about other docks.

I'll see what can I come up with, to give an easier way to select and identify the window to be used as reference to put the mirror behind it.

[Phoshi]

Well, OBJECTDOCK is what I put it behind.

And the thing is, it goes behind it, until I change res, or aero turns off, or something else happens, and then it's on top of it

Going into settings and reselecting OBJECTDOCK puts it back behind the dock, oddly enough.

EDIT: Yeah, having a little... click-on-this-window-to-stick-it-behind thingy would be pretty useful

[schmrom]

What about setting OD to "Always on top" ?

Well, OBJECTDOCK is what I put it behind.

And the thing is, it goes behind it, until I change res, or aero turns off, or something else happens, and then it's on top of it

Going into settings and reselecting OBJECTDOCK puts it back behind the dock, oddly enough.

EDIT: Yeah, having a little... click-on-this-window-to-stick-it-behind thingy would be pretty useful

[Phoshi]

Nonono, it's above, as in, I have objectdock on the bottom of my screen, and the mirror effect physically above it, as in higher up on my screen.

[Smaky]

Mantonga,

this is my Vista Ultimate (with aero enabled). I configured your mirror app to mirror my top dock (Object Dock Plus). It works fine, even with icons being zommed... a bit slow though.

[schmrom]

i would like it to reflect only one application (only the icons) this would be enough, I don't need all windows mirrored.

[matonga]

Ok, some updates:

- Now the mirror doesn't appear in Alt-Tab list.

- The mirror doesn't update (and so doesn't consume CPU) when it detects a fullscreen app (such as a videogame) (this was very annoying while I was playing games such as NFSU 2, Richard Burns Rally, etc..., because the motion was crispy instead of smooth) (also Ship Simulator 2008 was almost unplayable while running the mirror).

Stuff I don't have time to solve but would like to:

To find a way to make Windows Vista with Aero behave the way I intented, by reflecting windows and reflecting none of dock icons.

I know some people find fancy having their dock icons reflected, but for this particular purpose there is a better choice: iReflector from SirSmiley (yes I know the icons have to be reflected one by one, by hand, I know because I do it that way, even for the 50 weather icons).

[Phoshi]

Could you make the dockicon reflection an option? I like my current setup, where if an icon jumps up it gets reflected :3

Also, as for the games, thank you

EDIT: Moving up thing seems to be fixed, well done )

[Tulio12]

I have it all set up, it's under my OD and all, but all i get is a right cyan colour instead of reflection.... why?!

Great app here!

[matonga]

@Tulio12: uncheck the "Test" option in tray icon ^-^

[drewzee]

small bug - if i click on the desktop, or select a desktop icon, the reflection stops updating.

EDIT: although this probably has something to do with your fullscreen app. update

[matonga]

Ok, I think I solved the problem with the desktop.

Go to the first post and download new version 2008-09-20.

Just try and drag your desktop icons nearby the dock to see if they get reflected and if such reflection updates.

Please note:

1. Multimonitor setups (such as mine) seem not to pose this bug, so I can't know if I really solved the problem or not.

2. The bugfix does not apply to custom desktops (programs which allow you to add your own desktop with effects and such). I may add a special option to allow you to select your custom desktop instead of detecting just the windows desktop.

3.Please keep in mind the mirror doesn't work as intended on Windows Vista with Aero enabled (though users with this setup seem not to bother about it, anyway).

4. There is a new dock in development by someone in Ucrania, which includes integrated support for stacks (does not use my docklet), I'll keep an eye on it to see if it will include a mirror effect (it already mirrors the icons, in realtime, and it looks way cool) (BTW it's in russian so I spent good time clicking at random on the menus ).

[schmrom]

4. There is a new dock in development by someone in Ucrania, which includes integrated support for stacks (does not use my docklet), I'll keep an eye on it to see if it will include a mirror effect (it already mirrors the icons, in realtime, and it looks way cool) (BTW it's in russian so I spent good time clicking at random on the menus ).

Can I have a link to this?

[matonga]

Can I have a link to this?

Yes:

http://nemecsx.narod.ru/

(search for the word "Dock") (the dock menus are in... russian? maybe version 1.5 will have multilingual support )

Edit:

To everybody:

I added a tool called WindowInspector (oops forgot link! fixing...) so you know what to enter in "Put behind this window" setting. Read instructions at first post.

[schmrom]

So maybe I have to learn russian *g

Edit: I already have a beta of 2.0, it's multilanguage and working like I a charm, windowmirror isn't working yet

[BOBAH13]

Hi all, I published a post about my dock using English here http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread....9879#post509879

[Fzang]

Hey all

Dock reflection doesn't work here, using winXP, WB skin and OD (without magnification)- even tried without WB, still doesn't work

I've used the WindowInspector and entered it into MirrorEffect but it's as if the app doesn't work at all

What am I doing wrong?

[ethereal]

I can never understand what this mirror is actually doing and its purpose

[ethereal]

So maybe I have to learn russian *g

Edit: I already have a beta of 2.0, it's multilanguage and working like I a charm, windowmirror isn't working yet

you can translate whole page to english online eg

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?d...TrUrl=Translate

[matonga]

I can never understand what this mirror is actually doing and its purpose

Purpose: to ressemble Mac OS X Leopard dock effect of mirroring the windows beneath it.

Actually: puts a mirror behind your dock. The mirror doesn't reflect your dock (*) but the windows near it. Because it doesn't reflect the dock, it doesn't reflect the dock icons. So another app is needed for that (such as iReflector from SirSmiley).

Limitations: there is no way to integrate the mirror perfectly with a dock (unless I can get dock sources or some dock developer decides to use the sources I published in answer to a request in Application requests). So the whole thing is difficult to configure and is not bullet proof. So you have to disable your dock autohiding, icon zooming, etc... and also reconfigure the mirror every time you add/remove icons. It's ugly but there's no other way around (**) and there aren't any reflective docks for Windows (yet).

(*) The mirror does reflect your dock if you're using Windows Vista with Aero enabled. This is totally unwanted behavior but currently I don't have time to fix it. Also it is difficult to know how to tell the mirror where is the dock. I don't know if I'll ever solve these problems (except Vista + Aero bug, which I'll unless someone does first) because there is a new dock now written by BOBAH13 (search his post in Application Releases) which comes with automatic icon reflections and maybe it will have mirror the screen too in future releases.

(**) Ok, ok, I can reverse engineer a dock using Ice Debugger, but that's mostly like hacking the dock and as difficult as writing my own dock anyway.

[Phoshi]

If you're running vista, try putting it behind the taskbar for some DELICIOUS YUMMYNESS.

[ethereal]

thanks Matonga for ur time to explain things to me. thanks for ur efforts for making nice free applications for everyone

[Cedric21MAT]

is there a tutorial for RK Launcher?

i did everything you said and i still get nothing.

help please!!!!