Position : Just over the task bar, PLEASE !!!

[pGrnd]

For future release of Rainmeter, I would love to ask a new functionality, and allow rainmeter skins to lay just over the task bar, to allow beautiful modifications to the taskbar.

watch my taskbar to check what I mean in detail

In green, a CPU metter, is ok to be "Stay topmost"

In blue, a calendar, while is weird to be "Stay topmost" it needs to be to do not fade under the taskbar

In red, seconds to solve the "Redmon shorttime limitation", get very funny when videos goes on full screen"

[pGrnd]

For future release of Rainmeter, I would love to ask a new functionality, and allow rainmeter skins to lay just over the task bar, to allow beautiful modifications to the taskbar.

Maybe, and I ask because I am not sure it can be done, everything is so simple as disable some of the skins when an application goes fullscreen.

All the other time, as soon as the taskbar is not on autohide and always visible, no app comes over it, so that could work

Therefore, the new question, is it possible to change behiviour or some skins when an app goes fullscreen? (like youtube, or video, or whatever)

[pGrnd]

Is that possible ?

That's also a very good idea !!

I join the petition !!

[exper1mental]

Wouldn't RainGame work? You just run it before launching a full screen program and then close it when your done.

[pGrnd]

Wouldn't RainGame work? You just run it before launching a full screen program and then close it when your done.

That could work for games and so, but in my case, when I go to full screen I still want my CPU/memory skin to keep monitoring the system

Could be configured that only some skins go unloaded on full-screen ?

[exper1mental]

That could work for games and so, but in my case, when I go to full screen I still want my CPU/memory skin to keep monitoring the system

Could be configured that only some skins go unloaded on full-screen ?

For that you'd have to make a skin or something that closes the skins you want to close before going into full-screen mode and then also has something to open them back up again when your done.

[pGrnd]

For that you'd have to make a skin or something that closes the skins you want to close before going into full-screen mode and then also has something to open them back up again when your done.

To much job for few videos I watch and a small disturbance of having the calendar in the corner

But, back to my original post, let me ask Rainmeter developers for the "Just over the task bar"

I think that plenty of us use Rainmetter to power up the taskbar, it could be nice to see better integration with it therefore.

[jsmorley]

It is very difficult to try to fight Widows for Z-position when it comes to the taskbar. Understand that Windows pretty much insists, and will win any argument about it, that the taskbar has priority over all other applications, and that it will remain in front. Really only applications that specifically tell Windows they want to be full-screen cause Windows to stop managing the taskbar. Normal applications, even when you "maximize" them, cannot stay on top of the taskbar.

If you set a skin to "stay topmost", then it will seem to stay on top of the taskbar. Really the taskbar will come to the front when you click on it or Windows does something to it, Windows just insists on that, but the skin will almost instantly force itself back in front.

Of course if you do that, then that skin will also be in front of all other applications at all times. This has undesirable results if you then want to maximize or otherwise full-screen some other application, like watching a video.

There really is no good solution for this. Obviously we don't want Rainmeter to be set to full-screen in order to tell Windows to stop fighting us with the taskbar, but setting a skin "stay topmost" only works in very particular cases, where you don't mind that it is always going to be visible.

There is no way that I am aware of, nor would we be likely to try, to "integrate" Rainmeter with the Windows taskbar functionality. No way to tell Windows "treat this skin as if it was the taskbar, or part of it". The taskbar is not a normal "window", where we might be able to tell a skin "stay on top of the taskbar, but under other other applications that have focus or are full-screen". Just not possible.

The taskbar is not a "window", but very specific functionality in Windows, with its own behavior and rules, and which is core to how Windows manages the desktop. Only by replacing all or parts of the Windows "shell", like Samurize does, can you effect this behavior. That we have no interest in doing. My personal feelings on "shell replacements" aside, that isn't what Rainmeter is all about.

The only real solution is to either not have Rainmeter skins sit on top of the taskbar, or have some skin or resident utility that can hide or unload Rainmeter or individual skins when you want to set a skin to "say topmost" but get out of the way when desired, like when watching a video full-screen. I don't know if there is a way to even query Windows from an application and ask "is something running full-screen right now?". There might be, but I'm not aware of any such.

[pGrnd]

It is very difficult to try to fight Widows for Z-position when it comes to the taskbar. Understand that Windows pretty much insists, and will win any argument about it, that the taskbar has priority over all other applications, and that it will remain in front. Really only applications that specifically tell Windows they want to be full-screen cause Windows to stop managing the taskbar. Normal applications, even when you "maximize" them, cannot stay on top of the taskbar.

If you set a skin to "stay topmost", then it will seem to stay on top of the taskbar. Really the taskbar will come to the front when you click on it or Windows does something to it, Windows just insists on that, but the skin will almost instantly force itself back in front.

Of course if you do that, then that skin will also be in front of all other applications at all times. This has undesirable results if you then want to maximize or otherwise full-screen some other application, like watching a video.

There really is no good solution for this. Obviously we don't want Rainmeter to be set to full-screen in order to tell Windows to stop fighting us with the taskbar, but setting a skin "stay topmost" only works in very particular cases, where you don't mind that it is always going to be visible.

There is no way that I am aware of, nor would we be likely to try, to "integrate" Rainmeter with the Windows taskbar functionality. No way to tell Windows "treat this skin as if it was the taskbar, or part of it". The taskbar is not a normal "window", where we might be able to tell a skin "stay on top of the taskbar, but under other other applications that have focus or are full-screen". Just not possible.

The taskbar is not a "window", but very specific functionality in Windows, with its own behavior and rules, and which is core to how Windows manages the desktop. Only by replacing all or parts of the Windows "shell", like Samurize does, can you effect this behavior. That we have no interest in doing. My personal feelings on "shell replacements" aside, that isn't what Rainmeter is all about.

The only real solution is to either not have Rainmeter skins sit on top of the taskbar, or have some skin or resident utility that can hide or unload Rainmeter or individual skins when you want to set a skin to "say topmost" but get out of the way when desired, like when watching a video full-screen. I don't know if there is a way to even query Windows from an application and ask "is something running full-screen right now?". There might be, but I'm not aware of any such.

I didn't expect so long explanation, thanks very much

I didn,t mean to integrate the funcionality inside the taskbar itself as I imagine that woulb be a nightmare of windows versions and updates. I know it is not a normal window, but I belive its position and visibility can be called trought the windows variable (I am talking from memory from years ago, probably on Win95). And probably trought there, can be checked if somethign is in full-screen (taskbar not visible)

On the other hand, it seems to be diferente types of stay top-most, at least in win8.1, as the charms goes over not only the task bar, but also over the topmost rainmetter skins

I realize that what i am asking is something very specific, and I am not hoping to be develop just for me. But being able to "adapt" a skin base on the task bar size or visiility could increase a lot the, already great, configurability of rainmetter

Thanks

[jsmorley]

I think rather than depending on the visibility of the taskbar, which I'm not sure you can safely rely on with "auto-hide" and utilities that can hide the taskbar in Windows, it would be better to try and detect if any application is currently "full-screen and has focus", and allow a skin to take action based on that. At the end of the day your issue, and the issue in general, isn't "how to have a skin on top of the taskbar", that you can do today. The issue is "how can I have a skin stay on top of everything unless any other application is full-screen". That would be how I would attack it.

I will see if we can look into this, as I suspect it has some general usefulness aside from your specific example. Not sure if or when it might be addressed though.