Rainmeter as an Avedesk alternative

[the_barber]

Hey everybody!

I've been using AveDesk for some time now but since there are issues with stability and some functions don't work under Windows 7 I'm looking for an alternative.

What I want:

• Mac-like icons: choose the size and position of the desktop icons and show information about folders and drives (filecount, size, free size, etc)
• Hide the 'default' desktop icons of windows (but they should still be accessible through the explorer and 'open'-dialogues) -> there was a module for AveDesk that was able to do just that
• Display Rainmeter-icons instead for those hidden desktop icons -> another module for AveDesk had this function
• Show Icons for external drives, usb sticks, DVDs, etc when they're connected and hide those icons when they're disconnected -> mac-like behaviour

After playing around with Rainmeter, I found that the first point of my list is possible and works quite well (the rendering of the text looks much better than with AveDesk). But I wasn't able to display the free size of the HDD in gigabyte AND in percentage in ONE line. Any suggestions to that problem? Is it even possible? Another question: Do Icons have 'effects' like getting bigger on mouseover or do I have to make create a button for every icon with three seperate images?

I'm not sure if the other three points are possible with Rainmeter. I've tried to search for those things, but without any success, maybe because I don't know the right names of the plugins/modules. Would be glad if somebody could tell me what to look for, or if I should stop looking because it's impossible

[poiru]

To display multiple measures in one string, use:
MeasureName=Something
MeasureName2=SomethingElse
...
Text="%1 blaa %2"

[the_barber]

Took me some time to answer

I've tried it that way, but without success. Unfortunately, only one or even no line is displayed without the information.

I've attached a cropped screenshot to show what I want: Two lines of data next to the icon, a working trash bin and external drives icons (if they're plugged in).

Some more help on this one? I'm sure I'm not the only one looking for a decent alternative to the very buggy AveDesk.

[Kaelri]

• Hide the 'default' desktop icons of windows (but they should still be accessible through the explorer and 'open'-dialogues) -> there was a module for AveDesk that was able to do just that

You don't need extra software to do this. Right-click the desktop and select "Personalize," then "Change desktop icons." Deselect the five items in the control panel pane that appears. The icons will no longer appear on the desktop, but will still be present when you view the Desktop folder in Explorer and file open/save dialogs.

• Display Rainmeter-icons instead for those hidden desktop icons -> another module for AveDesk had this function

If all you want is for these icons to function as shortcuts, this one's probably easier than your first point.

• Show Icons for external drives, usb sticks, DVDs, etc when they're connected and hide those icons when they're disconnected -> mac-like behaviour

This one is a little trickier, but doable. I believe JSMorley wrote a little C# plugin to detect drive states a few weeks ago; I'll try to find that for you tomorrow.

As for your other problem, can you show us the code that you're using for your skin? (You can post it directly in this thread. Just use the "code" tag to format it properly.)

[jsmorley]

Here is the DriveType plugin:

DriveTypePlugin.rmskin

It can be used like this:

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
DynamicWindowSize=1

[Variables]
Drive1=C:

[MeasureTypeDrive1]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=DriveType.dll
Drive=#Drive1#

[MeterTypeDrive1]
Meter=String
MeasureName=MeasureTypeDrive1

and will return:

Value as number for calcs >> Value as string for meters
0 >> Error
1 >> Removed
2 >> Removed
3 >> Removable
4 >> Fixed
5 >> Network
6 >> CDRom
7 >> Ram

[pkarvalho]

great dll, ive tried it and have a small issue...i have usb hdd that are recognized as fixed drives, is it possible to make them usb hdd drives?

thanks

[jsmorley]

No, sorry. Whatever the Windows API sees them as it what they will be reported as. There is no additional granularity I can bring to it. I have an external 250gb Hitachi USB HDD drive and get the same results. Windows sees it as a "Fixed" drive, as the API is looking at the drive architecture, not the connection method. "Removable" is going to be returned for flash-drive type architectures connected via USB, and "Fixed" for HDD architecture drives.

[pkarvalho]

Whatever the Windows API sees them as it what they will be reported as. There is no additional granularity I can bring to it.

ok. one more little question...

is it possible 2 get the drives file system

sorry for the noob questions been using rainmeter for a while now...only a few days ago i decided 2 start making my own improvements

keep up the good work

cheers

[jsmorley]

ok. one more little question...

is it possible 2 get the drives file system

sorry for the noob questions been using rainmeter for a while now...only a few days ago i decided 2 start making my own improvements

keep up the good work

cheers

You mean like FAT vs NTFS? Not with this plugin for sure. There is nothing out there at this time that can detect that in Rainmeter as far as I know.

[santa_ryan]

As for detecting removable external hard drives,
You could check for a 0 gigabytes total/remaining, and if true hide the skin and if false show the skin.

I've always done that as I didn't know morley had a plugin to detect what kind of drive it was, and it works extremely well.