Active Desktop Tutorial

[madmatt]

Make sure you don't have "lock web items on desktop" checked,

Right click desktop
Arrange icons by
Lock web items on desktop

After doing that, if you hold your mouse over the 'small square' on your desktop, you will notice a border and top bar appear, simply stretch and move.

 

[tkole]

It doesn't allow me to do that

 

[tkole]

Nevermind, got it. Thanks

 

[Piett]

vdubVR6, when you say redo the files again, do you mean reapply them on your dt? what antivirus are you using?

 

[djwhite]

VBS file:
Dim oShell
Set oShell = WScript.CreateObject ("WScript.shell")
oShell.run "tpg"
Set oShell = Nothing

a HREF statement:
<a onClick="exec('tpg.vbs'); return false;" href="javascript:void(0)"; style="color: #646464; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; background-color: #FFFFFF">TPG</a><br>

 

[madmatt]

djwhite, all good there. try these solutions..

a.) make a brand new shortcut (don't copy another one)
b.) include the path to the file right in the VBS file.

i.e.

Dim oShell
Set oShell = WScript.CreateObject ("WScript.shell")
oShell.run "C:\Program Files\TPG\TPG.exe"
Set oShell = Nothing

If you are using FAT32 you must use 8.3 format.
i.e. C:\PROGRA~1\TPG\TPG.EXE

Note: Including the path directly in the VBS does not always work, so I don't recommend converting all of them over

Try A and B, then let me know.

 

[daveza]

Reading this thread has been an education for me, and more importantly made me feel rather nostalgic. In ' the good old days' the internet was about sharing of information for no other reason than to share information. No cash, no ads, no corporates.... sigh

Thanks so much for generosity madmatt.

Can I make a suggestion - the issues I have are related more to html coding than to vb or js scripting.
Many of the members here are seemingly knowledgeable enough to answer these kind of queries, thus leaving Madmatt with the really geeky stuff. I would hate for him to become so overwhelmed with requests that he has to curtail his input here.

Here's my first question:- How do I change the text colour of the 1-31 dates in the calendar from black to white?

And just out of interest - what is ' sticky' ?

Dave
Cape Town South Africa

 

[madmatt]

daveza, thank you for the comments. it's for that reason alone that I put so much time and effort into these forums and this site, because users are grateful. thank you.

I would have to modify the calendar to change just those colors. If you give me a day I can do that and post a link.

Sticky? Maybe when you spill some apple juice? If you are refering to threads, they stay put, always available at the top of each forum listing. These threads are official xperience threads, such as help tutorials, etc.

welcome to xperience.

 

[vdubVR6]

Piett

vdubVR6, when you say redo the files again, do you mean reapply them on your dt? what antivirus are you using?

I'm using NAV2001, I mean redo the whole script from begining. I think it has to do with me using win2k, on the system XPpro w/ NAV2002 I get no probs.- wierd -

 

[vdubVR6]

and welcome aboard daveza, it's good to always see new people singing up for this forum

 

[Jason Roberts]

Hi everyone...I haven't replied for a long time but has been reading all your posts. Now I have something to tell you (and show you).

I just started my active desktop using Madmatt's tutorial. The tutorial is so good that I saved a copy of it into my tut folder on my hard drive. Is that ok?

I got some questions:

1. How do I put a search bar (Google please) onto my desktop?

2. How do you do the clock? I want a digital style click.

Thanks.


Attached pic of my desktop...please note its in beta testing...not finished yet.

 

[madmatt]

<form action="http://www.google.com/search" name="f" target="_new">
<input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en">
<input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1">
<input type="text" name="q" maxlength="256" size="55" value="">
<input type="submit" value="Search" name="btnG">
</form>

brb.

 

[madmatt]

Tutorial has been updated, now includes the Google Search. For those who are too lazy to click and go, here's the code.

<html>
<head>
<title>Active Desktop: Google Search</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">

<form action="http://www.google.com/search" name="f" target="_new">
<input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en">
<input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1">

Google Search<br>
<input type="text" name="q" maxlength="256" size="55" value=""><br>
<input type="submit" name="btnG" value="Search">
<input type="reset" name="btnI" value="Reset ">

</form>

</body>
</html>

First version was a rush and I'm too lazy to delete it. Just use this one.

I forgot that I told someone I would get the code online last night, probably poor Jason.

Jason, good job, I like that. You need to blend the quicknotes in better. Other than that, great job, can't wait to see more.

Goodbye.

 

[Piett]

Other Searches

<html>
<head>
<title>Active Desktop: Google Search</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">

<form action="http://www.google.com/search" name="f" target="_new">
<input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en">
<input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1">

Google Search<br>
<input type="text" name="q" maxlength="256" size="55" value=""><br>
<input type="submit" name="btnG" value="Search">
<input type="reset" name="btnI" value="Reset ">

</form>

</body>
</html>

using this as a template you can create different desktop search bars. for instance, if you would like to search Dictionary.com, simply changethe destination from www.google.com/search to http://dictionary.reference.com/search. you may have to play with the name that you give the text box, but this can be simply sloved by searching for something in the search that you wish to add, and looking at the status bar, and the address bar to get the name. in most cases it is q, but i know that some sites have it as x, or a. i'll try and get this written up much nicer for tomarrow.

 

[Jason Roberts]

Thanks very much...Feels good to hear that you like my desktop...
I will work on it more soon after I get off the net.

About the thing that you though was a input box. That was just a textbox I drew. Is there anyway to put a box where I just click in it and type anything ... good for reminders.

Thanks anyway for the search bar.

 

[djwhite]

Madmatt, thanks for your help, but no luck. Using NTFS by the way

 

[djwhite]

Jason, check madmatt's tutorial, there's a notepad section in it.

 

[daveza]

Thanks vdub - good to be here learning something I've been wanting to try for ages.

Question: - the ' reboot ' script - I get a dos box and a window advising shutdown in 60 seconds.
\System32\shutdown.exe -r -t 00

I presume the -r is reboot, -t is the time delay and the 00 is the delay time in seconds. If the command is saying shutdown now in 0 seconds why do I get a 60 sec shutdown?

 

[zalood]

daveza,

the problem has been corrected in SP1 . .
if you prefer not to install SP1 you can try a freeware by the same name (shutdown) . . find it here:
http://www.aumha.org/freeware.php#shutdown

 

[XzyluM]

What's the best way to go about creating a link to My Computer and Control Panel in Active Desktop? Can't seem to figure it out.