It is currently March 28th, 2024, 4:05 pm

[SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Report bugs with the Rainmeter application and suggest features.
User avatar
kyriakos876
Posts: 919
Joined: January 30th, 2017, 2:01 am
Location: Greece

[SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by kyriakos876 »

Hello, are there any plans on making two skins that both have [!Zpos]=2 to have an order and not fight every half a second on which is going to be displayed? For example, the one above the two would be the one last focused or the one last loaded...
User avatar
jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: [SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by jsmorley »

User avatar
kyriakos876
Posts: 919
Joined: January 30th, 2017, 2:01 am
Location: Greece

Re: [SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by kyriakos876 »

Oh I wasn't aware of that option.... But I just tried this on the one skin

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
.
.
.
LoadOrder=1
and this on the other...

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
.
.
.
LoadOrder=2
It doesn't not work... the 2 skins still fight. They fight differently though....
Before this, the one skin would overlay the other every 500ms (approximately). Now the one with LoadOrder=2 seems to be winning, as it is shown for more time than the one with LoadOrder=1... but there is still flickering. (Sometimes there's no flickering, sometimes it goes back to 500ms each, and sometime the LoadOrder=2 is showing for more time, but still flickers)
User avatar
jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: [SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by jsmorley »

LoadOrder is not put in the skin file, but in the [ConfigName] section(s) in Rainmeter.ini.
User avatar
kyriakos876
Posts: 919
Joined: January 30th, 2017, 2:01 am
Location: Greece

Re: [SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by kyriakos876 »

jsmorley wrote:LoadOrder is not put in the skin file, but in the [ConfigName] section(s) in Rainmeter.ini.
:oops:
User avatar
kyriakos876
Posts: 919
Joined: January 30th, 2017, 2:01 am
Location: Greece

Re: [SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by kyriakos876 »

I don't think I could be doing anything else wrong.... As shown in the pictures, there's different loadorder for each of the two, yet it stills flickers...
Attachments
Untitled.png
User avatar
jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: [SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by jsmorley »

You can't have two skins set to "Stay topmost" that overlap. They are always going to be fighting, due to the "stay" bit. Sorry, I hadn't noticed that they were both Stay topmost when I suggested LoadOrder, that isn't going to help.

Stay topmost means literally that. On every update, any skin set with that will force itself to the top. If you have two, and they overlap, they will fight.

Stay topmost will actively fight to stay on top of all other windows on every update. LoadOrder plays no role here.

Topmost will set itself to the top, and will stay there unless some other window explicitly sets itself to "top" afterwards. It won't fight to regain the top. In this case, LoadOrder can make a difference with two Rainmeter skins.

The entire concept of Topmost is that you want Rainmeter skins that are set with it to stay on top of other application windows on the screen, no matter who has "focus". Stay topmost is really only useful if you want that - in the context of other application windows that also want to be on "top", so you can force your skin to "win" the battle. The only actual example of this I know of is the Windows taksbar, which will explicitly be set to "top" any time you click it. If you want a Rainmeter skin to live on top of the Windows taskbar, the only way to do that is with Stay topmost.

In the context of two Rainmeter skins alone, topmost in general has no useful purpose. Topmost is more about how skins react to other application windows. Do you want your skin to stay on top of your browser window, come in front or go behind based on focus, or always stay behind?

When the only consideration is two Rainmeter skins that overlap:

Stay topmost - This can't work. The two skins will fight to stay on top, and "flicker".
Topmost - This just means that whichever one is loaded last (LoadOrder) will be and stay on top.
Normal - Whichever one is loaded last (LoadOrder) will start on top, but which is on top after that is controlled by who has "focus" due to mouse clicking. You can click on the skins to switch the order.
On Desktop - The is actually the same as Topmost in the context of two Rainmeter skins.

So there is a huge difference between Topmost and On Desktop when other application windows are considered, but no difference at all in how they work when only skins set to the same position are are considered.
User avatar
kyriakos876
Posts: 919
Joined: January 30th, 2017, 2:01 am
Location: Greece

Re: [SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by kyriakos876 »

Actually, I want Stay "Topmost" for these 2 skins, because some programs running full screen, are stronger than just "Topmost" and will only go below the skin if the skin is set to "Stay Topmost". I can try and find a different solution to this if you say LoadOrder won't work in this case.
User avatar
jsmorley
Developer
Posts: 22628
Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Re: [SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by jsmorley »

kyriakos876 wrote:Actually, I want Stay "Topmost" for these 2 skins, because some programs running full screen, are stronger than just "Topmost" and will only go below the skin if the skin is set to "Stay Topmost". I can try and find a different solution to this if you say LoadOrder won't work in this case.
Feel free to have two skins both set to Stay Topmost, but they must not overlap. There is an inherent logical conflict with the word "Stay" in the setting. It's all well and good to have a skin with Stay Topmost in order to override an application that explicitly sets "top" once when it is run full-screen, but when it is two skins, both actively trying to force themselves to the top on EVERY update, nobody can possibly win, they can only fight it out forever. It's a piece of paper that says "turn me over for the answer" on both sides.
User avatar
kyriakos876
Posts: 919
Joined: January 30th, 2017, 2:01 am
Location: Greece

Re: [SUGGESTION] ZPOS order.

Post by kyriakos876 »

jsmorley wrote:... It's a piece of paper that says "turn me over for the answer" on both sides.
Yea, I got that now. The one skin is full screen thought so they will overlap no matter where I put the second.. My current solution is to make the space that the other skin is, transparent. It's not the ideal solution but it works... if you can't fight them, join them... am I right?
Post Reply