Another cut at "Show Desktop" for Rainmeter...

[jsmorley]

Here is a little AutoIt .exe file which in a Rainmeter skin can be used to sort of replicate a combination of Windows "Peek" and "Show Desktop" without losing Rainmeter.

This will only work on Vista and Windows 7. This will not work on XP.

Usage:

LeftMouseUpAction=!Execute ["#CURRENTPATH#JSMPeek.exe" "n"]
Where "n" is a parameter telling the app how much "alpha" (0-255) you want. The default is "255" (fully visible) if not specified. (I have it set with this default to keep someone from just running the app in Windows out of curiosity and getting a surprise.)

In this sample skin, if you left click "PEEK" then the screen will hide all windows except Rainmeter. If you right click "PEEK", the windows are restored.

So this is a bit like Windows "Peek" as it makes the windows transparent instead of minimizing them, but a bit like "Show Desktop" as it doesn't automatically restore as soon as you move your mouse. For me it's sorta the best of both worlds...

Sample skin, JSMPeek.exe file and AutoIt3 source code:


Notes:

If you set an "alpha" greater than "0" (invisible) the windows will still be clickable and will react to user interaction. If you set the alpha to "0", the windows will be fully invisible and will not be clickable. Just like in Rainmeter, if the alpha is set to "0", they may as well not be there at all. For most uses, setting the alpha to "0" is the best choice, so you can hide your windows, do something else on your desktop as needed, then restore your original windows to continue with what you were doing.

Just remember that this does not "minimize" the apps, but changes the transparency. They WILL STAY transparent even if you close Rainmeter. You need to restore them with JSMPeek.exe or close them by right clicking their icon on the Windows Taskbar.

JSMPeek.exe is not a "resident" program, does not continue to run after setting the transparency, and uses no resources other than a tiny bit of CPU for about 1/2 a second when executed.

[jsmorley]

I have reworked this to only need one .exe file and to be a bit more flexible. See the modified original post.

[karmat]

Works great Morley, thanks!

[JamesAC]

Yet again a very nice job sir. Works great

[pratchettfan777]

What about Vista Pro ?

[jsmorley]

This entire addon is now no longer of any use. The latest beta of Rainmeter 1.2 has fixed the issue so you can set your skins to "On Desktop" and they work correctly with Vista and Win7.

http://Rainmeter.net