Need to make skin load and unload (reload) every 20 sec, please help to find solution

[arthur7227]

Hello, guys
Please help me to find any solution, maybe not "direct" solution, maybe there is alternative command for what I need, Im not very experienced

let me explain

Im using a very simple script - it is a small picture in the corner of the screen

Code: Select all

; ========= Skin Settings ==========
[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
AccurateText=1
DynamicWindowSize=1

; ========= Meters ==========
[MeterTaskbarImage]
Meter=Image
ImageName=#@#01.png

the problem is about Z-position

if I use "Topmost" - the skin is stays in full-screen mode, if I run Google Chrome on full-screen, for example.
I dont need it

So to see the skin on usual , but not to see on full-screen, I need to use "Normal", right ?
BUT using "Normal" has a problem :
1) at first, it works OK.
2) BUT if I open Start Menu, or Wi-Fi menu, or Calendar, or Battery, or Language menu - and then close it, and then back to work :
- the skin becomes "hidden" (the skin dissapears) and the picture from the skin is not visible anymore.
Im talking not about full-screen, Im talking about usual work.

here is video of what happeining, for more clean understanding
https://streamable.com/trkdl7
look at the Right Bottom corner

Even if I toggle back to the very desktop level - it doesnt help.
The only solution that I found to bring it back - to manually UNLOAD and LOAD the skin again.
In this case, the skin returns and now visible again as usual.

"Update" doesnt help, "Refresh" doesnt help too.
Only Load and Unload brings it back.
I checked the topic from here, and tested to add

Code: Select all

OnRefreshAction=[!Refresh]

but it just broke the Rainmeter.

My question is : is it possible to add command to load and unload automatically every period of time ?
Maybe not only un-load can make it, maybe refreshing the parameter also can give the effect?

I understand there is option called "Game Mode", the problem is Rainmeter does not detect Google Chrome runiing inFull Screen Mode as "Game", so it doesnt help in my case...

THANKS

[arthur7227]

UPD

I found info about plugin IsFullScreen 3.0

I think this can help, so the skin should have Topmost preperties, but get hidden in fullscreen mode

UPD 2
I made it work !!
it works, just copy it (Measure section)
IfTrueAction=[!Hide "r"] - here instad of R place the name of your config (the name of folder where the skin is)

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; ========= Skin Settings ==========
[Rainmeter]
Update=25
AccurateText=1
DynamicWindowSize=1

; ========= Measures ==========
[mIsFullScreen]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=IsFullScreen
IfCondition=mIsFullScreen=1
IfTrueAction=[!Hide "r"]
IfFalseAction=[!Show *]


; ========= Meters ==========
[MeterTaskbarImage]
Meter=Image
ImageName=#@#06.png

Also put 25 to refresh, it will decrease the time to wait until the skin will hide when you enter the full screen mode

The only significant problem here : for some reason my desktop is alwayes recognized a sfull screen, and the skin gets hidden in this situation

don know how to fix it, but this is a very small problem copmared to what I had by manually click-unclick the skin

[SilverAzide]

OK, I will volunteer to be the "bad cop". You've posted a couple questions and haven't gotten any answers, but I didn't want you to think your questions are being ignored. The problem is that what you are trying to do is just a really bad idea.

First, regarding your other post about the Z-order. The problem you are having is actually easy to understand once you know a few things. The first thing to know is Rainmeter skins are just normal Windows windows; there is nothing magic going on here, so what is true for a Rainmeter skin is true for any window (ignoring for now the exceptions we don't need to concern ourselves with, like full-screen games, etc.).

The second thing to know (for your Z-Pos post), is that you are trying to position a window on top of a piece of screen real estate that Microsoft regards as theirs. The task bar is a special window owned by the operating system itself, and -- most importantly -- this is where the Start button lives. Windows is not going to let you or anyone else park a window on top of their taskbar. If they did, think how simple it would be to brick a Windows computer simply by drawing an "always on top" window over the entire screen, making it impossible to do anything. So Windows "owns" special Z-orders that are higher than "topmost" and lower than "on desktop", and no one else but them can use them. Every time you park a window over a piece of their real estate, they are going to draw right over it. That is why your "always on top" skin keeps getting pushed down under the task bar and won't come back.

So now we come to this post, where you have the idea to reload your skin every 20 seconds to work around the Z-order problem. This is just one bad idea after another. You are basically fighting with Windows, and you will always lose.

I can tell you how to do what you are wanting to do, it is not terribly difficult, but really... why? If you are trying to cover up the task bar for some reason, just don't. You can't, because Windows won't allow it.

Perhaps if you can clearly explain why you are doing what you are trying to do, it might become clearer and we can better assist.

[arthur7227]

Spaeking about the reason
Im trying to reproduce the macOs alike Dock.
But im trying to make it good, not to be another geek who creates non-matching to w10 UI Dock-replica, like Rocket Dock...
For this reason, there is nothing better than Native W10 Taskbar.
All you have to do is just center it (this is what they did in W11) , but to save the proportion and the aethetic feel - you need to get rid of SysTray and Start Button. in macOS there is nothing more but a only icons. because they have their sysTray in the upper Bar.
Until this is impossible to recreate in W10 (i know approaches, using LinkBar for example, but it is still not desirable) , and since we all still need SysTray to use - the only logic solution is to mask it.
There is software "TaskBar Dock" by Vhanla which does it PERFECTLY but it has some minor bugs in other parts of working, which makes it not suitable for me at the moment...

Perhaps if you can clearly explain why you are doing what you are trying to do, it might become clearer and we can better assist.

Greetings, [mention]SilverAzide[/mention] !
Thanks you very much for your detailed reply, and also thanks for your attempt to explain the situation here.

maybe I didnt correctly focus on the problem itself, because I often reffered to SysTray area. This might be confusing.

I read it carefully, then wrote a long answer, then re-read your message, then checked some properties, then re-read your message again.
Yes, I understand now what you said about Windows10 "super-topmost" , and I see what you mean by mentioning to fight the MS Windows.

let me clarify some details

1) I believe there is a misconfusion. You are saying

"That is why your "always on top" skin keeps getting pushed down under the task bar and won't come back"

But Im saying not about "on top" , all of my on-top skins working as expected. Im saying about "normal", and Im referring to the behaviour of "Normal" order , explained in the manual

Code: Select all

0: Normal. The skin will stay visible when showing the desktop {Win-D} and will be brought to the foreground of all other normal windows

But it is not.

2) Also, as you also mentioned similarities of RM Skins and general normal windows , Id like to point a following fact : normal window doesnt dissapear forever if you only open Start Menu.

Now back to the problem.

But im not complaining that I cant fight the W10, this is not the problem here
What Im trying to say IS :
if I have a skin with "normal" position - and even place it in the center of the screen -
after I open Start (or Wifi... anything of that) This skin dissapears. I can see the skin again only if I re-launch it. If this is a nature behaviour for Skin, why it is visible in the beginning? And why I cant recall it back after closing the Start Menu.
it doesnt depend on X-Y coordinates of the skin, it is also has no connection with any W10 UI element...

but it is not about visual conflict,
I understand that W10 element Overlaps the Skin, because of super high top most Z-order, but I don understand why it swipes the Skin away without any possibility to see it again

Here, take a look what I mean
Mind : The skin is NOT on the area of Start Menu. But it just gone. Permanently.
https://streamable.com/keh1n0

I launch the skin, and it is forever gone , just because I clicked on W10 element.
I cant believe this is the proper behaviour for Rainmeter skin, or for W10 in common.

[SilverAzide]

Mind : The skin is NOT on the area of Start Menu. But it just gone. Permanently.

I launch the skin, and it is forever gone , just because I clicked on W10 element.
I cant believe this is the proper behaviour for Rainmeter skin, or for W10 in common.

Could there be an OnUnfocusAction in the skin that is disappearing? The behavior you are describing is not normal, clicking the Start menu or anything else should have no effect. You might need to post the skin here so folks can check it out.

[arthur7227]

Could there be an OnUnfocusAction in the skin that is disappearing? The behavior you are describing is not normal, clicking the Start menu or anything else should have no effect. You might need to post the skin here so folks can check it out.

Hi, SilverAzide. Thanks for your suggestion.
Here is my original code

Code: Select all

; ========= Skin Settings ==========
[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
AccurateText=1
DynamicWindowSize=1

; ========= Meters ==========
[MeterTaskbarImage]
Meter=Image
ImageName=#@#SKIN.png

[SilverAzide]

Hi, SilverAzide. Thanks for your suggestion.
Here is my original code

Code: Select all

; ========= Skin Settings ==========
[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
AccurateText=1
DynamicWindowSize=1

; ========= Meters ==========
[MeterTaskbarImage]
Meter=Image
ImageName=#@#SKIN.png

That's it? How big is that PNG graphic? is it bigger than the whole screen?

[arthur7227]

That's it? How big is that PNG graphic? is it bigger than the whole screen?

Yes, this is the full code.
Picture is a small .png . 97x56 pixels.

The parametes is :
1773 x 1024y (My screen is Full HD, 1920x1080)
Position : Normal (this is the problem what Im asking about here)
Transparency : 0
On hover: Hide

Click Through : yes
Draggable : none
Keep on Screen : yes ("no" doest work either)
Save Position : yes
Snap to Edges: yes (no also doesnt work)
Favorite: yes

[SilverAzide]

Yes, this is the full code.
Picture is a small .png . 97x56 pixels.

The parametes is :
1773 x 1024y (My screen is Full HD, 1920x1080)
Position : Normal (this is the problem what Im asking about here)
Transparency : 0
On hover: Hide

Click Through : yes
Draggable : none
Keep on Screen : yes ("no" doest work either)
Save Position : yes
Snap to Edges: yes (no also doesnt work)
Favorite: yes

Installed the skin, set everything exactly as you stated, and the skin works perfectly fine. Fades out when I hover over it, fades in when I leave. Changing focus to any other skin or app has no effect on the skin. Opening the Start menu, or clicking any taskbar icons does not effect the skin at all.

So it seems to me you have a bigger problem if the skin is crashing/disappearing. Are you using any third-party window manager software that could be interfering with Rainmeter?

[arthur7227]

Installed the skin, set everything exactly as you stated, and the skin works perfectly fine. Fades out when I hover over it, fades in when I leave. Changing focus to any other skin or app has no effect on the skin. Opening the Start menu, or clicking any taskbar icons does not effect the skin at all.

So it seems to me you have a bigger problem if the skin is crashing/disappearing. Are you using any third-party window manager software that could be interfering with Rainmeter?

Thank you very much for your reply and for this testing. You results now making me think if Im really missing something
At lest, now I have evidence that "Normal" Z-position should work as expected...

Since you described its behavior in this way, I may agree probably it is something deeper and individual for my PC. For example, also on my PC the plugin IsFullScreen by @jsmorley shows the Desktop in incorect position. But the fact is - since it is unusual, Im not the only user who has same issue, according to info on that topic. So, the true reason for his effect is still undiscovered...

Speaking about software, Im not sure if it conflicts with RMeter or Not.
I dont remember having this problem before, actually. With using same software. So, probably, if this happens due to software conflict, in this case it is updates who broke the party.

Im using TaskbarX to center the taskbar icons, MS PowerToys for many differents stuff, like creating specific areas for programs, and 7+ Tasbkar Tweaker.
Actually, none of this stuff is about to interrupt the work of Rainmeter... In theory

Have you ever worked with any of it?


P.S.
I found another way to get the things back to normal without reloading - I need to FullScreen any of aff (for eample Chrome), and when I quit fullScreen the Skin is back to normal work (skin is visible again)
Does mean something?
I also use some minor apps from MS Store like "Modern Flyouts" and similar, but I dont know it this may give this effect..

Fortunatelly, new machine is coming to me this week. So I will test it on the fresh install and different Pc, and will inform about the results. To confirm that the problem is from my side 100%
Cheers