Workspace Switcher V2 Help

[BlueJive]

So, I've finished my code. Hooray! Now I'm adding some tweaks and polish. One of these things that I want to code is something a friend coded up for Unix (which I use as well). And I think I've made a dent in starting. Here's what I hope the result will be:



This is a workspace switcher. And the pacman corresponds to the open workspace. And all the rest are ghosts. (In the video dots are used for empty workspaces, but I feel that'll be going too far.). What I'm trying to go for is either a skin that allows keyboard input to switch between the workspaces as above. Or a skin that modifies itself for the pacman to be on the current open workspace, and for me to just use normal keyboard shortcuts to get there. Whichever is easier. (However, preferably the second one.)

I tried to code the first concept, but it didn't go well. And I was wondering if someone could help me tweak my code to work, or help me do the second concept. See below for a video of what happened.



Obviously, this is not the way that I would like it. I would like to switch by keyboard input (or second concept) and have the pacman replace the ghost rather than going on top of it. See below for my code (code has been updates since video, minor differences may occur).

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Update=-1

[style]
ImageName=#@#Icons\ghost.png
H=11
MouseOverAction=[!SetOptionGroup Icons ImageName "#@#Icons\ghost.png"][!SetOption #CURRENTSECTION# ImageName "#@#Icons\pacman.png"][!Update][!Redraw]

[ghost1]
Meter=Image
MeterStyle=style
X=20
LeftMouseUpAction=["#@#nircmd\nircmd.exe" SendKeyPress lwin+ctrl+left]["#@#nircmd\nircmd.exe" SendKeyPress lwin+ctrl+left][!Update][!Redraw]

[ghost2]
Meter=Image
MeterStyle=style
X=40
LeftMouseUpAction=[!CommandMeasure switcher "Run"][!Update][!Redraw]

[ghost3]
Meter=Image
MeterStyle=style
X=60
LeftMouseUpAction=["#@#nircmd\nircmd.exe" SendKeyPress lwin+ctrl+right]["#@#nircmd\nircmd.exe" SendKeyPress lwin+ctrl+right][!Update][!Redraw]

[pacman]
Meter=Image
MeterStyle=style
ImageName=#@#Icons\pacman.png

(Thanks to Rainmeter on Discord for helping a bit)

Thanks all! And can I just take this oppurtunity to say that this is a great community. Always so helpful, and everything so well explained. (Oh and sorry for posting so much, I hope it's okay, don't want to spam.)




Rainmeter 4.4.0.3433 beta (64-bit)
Language: English (1033)
Build time: 2021-02-11 20:36:28
Windows 10 Home 2009 64-bit (build 19042) - English (2057)
Path: C:\Program Files\Rainmeter\
SkinPath: C:\Users\User\OneDrive\Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\
SettingsPath: C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Rainmeter\
IniFile: C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Rainmeter\Rainmeter.ini
Issue tags: "Workspace switcher"

[ikarus1969]

Just do:

• delete the meter [pacman]. It is not needed
• add a Group=Icons to [style] so that the MouseOverAction has something to act on
• if you want to start with the first ghost as the pacman (the active one), add a ImageName=#@#Icons\pacman.png to [ghost1] (for starting with one of the other ghosts as the active one add the ImageName=#@#Icons\pacman.png to that ghost)

[balala]

What I'm trying to go for is either a skin that allows keyboard input to switch between the workspaces as above.

I'm not sure at all how would you like to switch (what have you to do to switch), but to can use the keyboard to do anything in Rainmeter, you have to install the HotKey plugin. You can find it here. Download the HotKey_1.0.0.12.rmskin package and install it. You'll get installed a skin and the appropriate version of the plugin. The skin itself is not too important, recommend to study it a little bit. But having the plugin installed, you can use it and can associate certain key combination to do something.
For instance add the following measure to your code:

Code: Select all

[MeasureSwitch]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=HotKey
HotKey=Ctrl Left
KeyDownAction=[...]
DynamicVariables=1

With the above measure you'll get executed the bangs added to the KeyDownAction option everytime you hit the Ctrl and the Left keys. Obviously you can change the key combination.

[ikarus1969]

I'm not sure at all how would you like to switch (what have you to do to switch)...

The op want's to switch between the workspaces which are integrated in windows itself. He does that by sending key-commands for "Windows-Key"-"CTRL"-"RIGHT-Cursor" and "Windows-Key"-"CTRL"-"LEFT-Cursor" by using the nirsoft utility

[ikarus1969]

I used the code below, It's the code from the op modified like i posted above (and using 2 pngs i have in my resource-folder (Icon_Waage.png and Icon_Weather.png)

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Update=-1

[style]
ImageName=#@#Icons\Icon_Waage.png
H=48
PreserveAspectRatio=1
MouseOverAction=[!SetOptionGroup Icons ImageName "#@#Icons\Icon_Waage.png"][!SetOption #CURRENTSECTION# ImageName "#@#Icons\Icon_Weather.png"][!Update][!Redraw]
Group=Icons

[ghost1]
Meter=Image
MeterStyle=style
X=0
LeftMouseUpAction=["#@#nircmd\nircmd.exe" SendKeyPress lwin+ctrl+left]["#@#nircmd\nircmd.exe" SendKeyPress lwin+ctrl+left][!Update][!Redraw]

[ghost2]
Meter=Image
MeterStyle=style
X=20R
LeftMouseUpAction=[!CommandMeasure switcher "Run"][!Update][!Redraw]

[ghost3]
Meter=Image
MeterStyle=style
X=20R
LeftMouseUpAction=["#@#nircmd\nircmd.exe" SendKeyPress lwin+ctrl+right]["#@#nircmd\nircmd.exe" SendKeyPress lwin+ctrl+right][!Update][!Redraw]

[balala]

The op want's to switch between the workspaces which are integrated in windows itself. He does that by sending key-commands for "Windows-Key"-"CTRL"-"RIGHT-Cursor" and "Windows-Key"-"CTRL"-"LEFT-Cursor" by using the nirsoft utility

Alright. It seems I misunderstood him. Sorry...

[ikarus1969]

The result of my modified code:

GIF 26.02.2021 17-45-15.gif

[BlueJive]

That's brilliant! Thanks all. As a follow up, would it be possile to instead to the second option? Have the pacman icon switch to the active virtual desktop when switched? No keybaord input, or fancy things. Just an information skin that updates based on the active desktop situation. Thanks

[ikarus1969]

I don't know how to detect which virtual desktop i am on. Maybe there is some registry key which can be read by rainmeter but i don't know (yet).
Maybe you can search/ask on the forum for this?

[BlueJive]

I don't know how to detect which virtual desktop i am on. Maybe there is some registry key which can be read by rainmeter but i don't know (yet).
Maybe you can search/ask on the forum for this?

A seperate thread? Okay