Small docs suggestions

[Jeff]

Sorry, see if it is right now...

Perfect! Thank you!

[Jeff]

These 3 showcases on the main page no longer work because gfycat shut down

[Joehu]

Have made a fix via https://github.com/rainmeter/rainmeter-www/pull/24.

[Jeff]

Hello people, I finally learned git, sooooo...

I've made 2 Pull Requests for the Rainmeter Docs
A few additions and changes - https://github.com/rainmeter/rainmeter-docs/pull/54
Add a Troubleshoot page - https://github.com/rainmeter/rainmeter-docs/pull/55

The first pull request is related to actual minuscule changes I have proposed here, I finally understood just saying is not enough and that I should take the civic spirit to do things, so all the notices and wishes I've had here, I've commited in the PR
From the things I said here, I included VSCode as a Notepad Alternative, finally added a guide for UWP commands which was my 2nd reply in this thread, added the hyperplink to Windows Queries, removed LifeHacker from the site since the link has been dead for years, resolved inconsistencies aaaaaaaaand for fun I added a Mond Easter Egg.
The second pull request is still a draft, it's basically a continuation of the #baisc-usage, #common-questions channels my mod team (huge props to Corvust) made on Discord with questions and problems that we frequently have to answer, that are also sometimes doubled here in the forums, this may require more than a glance and I understand what the web hosts might think about conceptualizing the actual page or including it.

That's all I have to say, I hope these things are taken into considerations!

[jsmorley]

Hello people, I finally learned git, sooooo...

I've made 2 Pull Requests for the Rainmeter Docs
A few additions and changes - https://github.com/rainmeter/rainmeter-docs/pull/54
Add a Troubleshoot page - https://github.com/rainmeter/rainmeter-docs/pull/55

The first pull request is related to actual minuscule changes I have proposed here, I finally understood just saying is not enough and that I should take the civic spirit to do things, so all the notices and wishes I've had here, I've commited in the PR
From the things I said here, I included VSCode as a Notepad Alternative, finally added a guide for UWP commands which was my 2nd reply in this thread, added the hyperplink to Windows Queries, removed LifeHacker from the site since the link has been dead for years, resolved inconsistencies aaaaaaaaand for fun I added a Mond Easter Egg.
The second pull request is still a draft, it's basically a continuation of the #baisc-usage, #common-questions channels my mod team (huge props to Corvust) made on Discord with questions and problems that we frequently have to answer, that are also sometimes doubled here in the forums, this may require more than a glance and I understand what the web hosts might think about conceptualizing the actual page or including it.

That's all I have to say, I hope these things are taken into considerations!

I have merged the first set of pull requests. Thanks!

[Jeff]

Hello, I am currently working on a 2nd PR for the docs fixing and adding some other stuff but I want a suggestion.

I have a question regarding documentation for plugins, I recently tested a Frosted Glass fork and wanted to use Disabled=1 to remove it from applying the window style effect to the window, though it still did.
Upon some researcher (building a test plugin myself), I've discovered that Disabled=1 on plugins acts funny, even if you have that option on, Initialize and Finalize still execute, and Reload with DynamicVariables=1 updates at the Update(=1000) set for the skin.
Reading what Disabled=1 dose, it just stops the measure from updating it's values, so the Update and GetString function in plugins (I couldn't create a pointer in those 2 functions to test though).

So... How should this be communicated on the docs?

• Should it exist only on the guidelines page to explain this behavior?

  What dose the Disabled option do to a plugin? If set to 1, the measure value is never updated, only stopping the execution of the Update and GetString functions. Every other function (Initialize, Reload, Finalize etc.) still executes. You should write your own code to detect if the Disabled value is set to 1 and make the skin act accordingly in order to save resources.

• Or should this be added on both the CPP and C# pages as a Note, along with maybe communicating what UpdateDivider dose too to those functions?
• Or is this a bug?

[SilverAzide]

Not sure about your other questions, but this is definitely not a bug. Remember that Disabled can be set to a variable, so it still needs to be checked at every update interval, especially if DynamicVariables=1 is used.

[Brian]

This behavior is mentioned in the main docs for the options Disabled and Paused....although it may not be obvious to a plugin developer.
https://docs.rainmeter.net/manual/measures/general-options/#Disabled

When a plugin is used in a skin, Rainmeter will always call the Initialize, Reload and Finalize functions. Reload will be called initially (after Initialize), and also on every update if DynamicVariables=1 is used. Update is only called if the measure is NOT disabled/paused. GetString is called "on demand" whenever the string is needed by Rainmeter. This can happen multiple times during the update cycle or in other places (like the Manage and About dialogs).

Ideally, plugins should do their "work" in the Update function. This includes storing any "string" value so that subsequent calls to GetString can minimize any processing (since it can be called several times during Update [see above]).


Having said all that, I think the best place for this "note" might be on the "Anatomy" page instead of the "Guideline" page....but I leave that up to you since you are doing the PR.

-Brian

[jsmorley]

The long and the short of it is that there are some plugins that are just not written in an optimal way to take advantage of the Disabled and Paused options. Not much we can do about that now, other than to advise plugin authors to correct things in the plugin, if they can do that without massive backwards compatibility issues.

PowershellRM is one example I ran into recently. The incorrect design really reduces the usefulness of the plugin in my view.

[balala]

I have a question regarding documentation for plugins, I recently tested a Frosted Glass fork and wanted to use Disabled=1 to remove it from applying the window style effect to the window, though it still did.
Upon some researcher (building a test plugin myself), I've discovered that Disabled=1 on plugins acts funny, even if you have that option on, Initialize and Finalize still execute, and Reload with DynamicVariables=1 updates at the Update(=1000) set for the skin.
Reading what Disabled=1 dose, it just stops the measure from updating it's values, so the Update and GetString function in plugins (I couldn't create a pointer in those 2 functions to test though).

Strictly about the FrostedGlass plugin (and once again, not about any other) it can be disabled otherwise than with the Disabled=1 option. I had a discussion about this not long time ago (first point on the above link).