Okay... So I have been coding for a while and I know C and some other languages. I consider myself pretty well versed in most of the languages I use, but I am pretty new to C#. I want to make a plugin for rainmeter, but... wow. I wen and downloaded the SDK for plugin development and I have looked through the various plugin template files such as 'PluginEmpty.cs' and I am very very lost. I feel like it will be very good for my coding experience to figure out how to do this. I'm really not sure what I'm asking here. I need help, but I would really appreciate it if someone took the time to explain not just what I need to do to create a plugin, but also some information on how it works... I really want to walk away from this thread with a good enough understanding of plugin development to be able to make my own without asking tons of questions all the time.
As some background information to help everyone here help me (if they should choose to do so), I figured you might find it useful to know some things about me:
I know what a dll file is, but not how to make one.
I know how to code C++, but I'm pretty sure what I am trying to make requires C# (using Desktop Window Manager files)
I am trying to make a plugin that will use the taskbar window preview function of windows 7 and 8 to be able to display a minimized window without the use of the taskbar.
Even if what I am trying to do is for some reason not possible, I would still like to learn how to make a plugin.
<edit> I also know of the DWMRegisterThumbnail function which is located in the dwmapi.dll file, but not how I would go about implementing it into a Rainmeter plugin.</edit>
Thank you for taking the time to read my post (even if it is a bit lengthy). I hope that you guys can help me and I look forward to developing plugins for you all in the future when I won't need as much help.
You need Visual Studio 2010 or 2012 to create plugins. You can get a free version here.
After that you will want to open either SDK-CS.sln or the SDK-CPP.sln in the SDK and build the plugin with Visual Studio. You will might want to check the plugin SDK documentation.
Exxidion wrote:I know how to code C++, but I'm pretty sure what I am trying to make requires C# (using Desktop Window Manager files)
You can use the DWM APIs perfectly fine through C++ (check e.g. this).
