Mac Finder Bar - Preview Beta

I have been working on a Finder B ar app for sometime now. Here is a very limited preview. This will menus from compatable apps. Please test this out, and tell me what you think of it so far. I know that they mousedown gfx is magenta, thats becuase i havent had the time to edit the skin file again.

http://www.pantherxp.org/download/dl/FinderBar_Preview.rar

Expected in release:

Customizable skinning

Working Apple Menu

Default Menus on bar

DateTime editing

Sound effects

Let me know what you guys think of this so far...btw, check out my Shutdown apps and desktop resizer app located in 3rd party application. Didnt see this thread here so didnt know to post it here.

#305334

Great preview. All work well.

I particulary like the volume setting.

I guess explorer.exe isn't a compatible app....

#305336

No, explorer is not compatable. Some apps use custom menus or built-in menu ID"s. when they do that, its almost impossible to grab the menus. Thats because each application draws the menus differently. Some major apps are compatable though, like Macromedia app, Adobe apps, notepad :-), ResHacker, WinRAR, FileZilla, and others, Its hard to list all of them...

I will continue to work hard to bring you guys something nice thats free.

**EDIT**

Yes, I have noticed that all the other bars out there do not include a volume setting.

#305337

Looking great so far , memory consumption is not that bad either , keep it up !

#305345

nothing happens when I open Finder.exe

but I do see it in task manager

#305393

Fantastic. I like this very much. Waiting for a full release.

#305435

Nice app ! Small and packs a mighty punch !!

Wish it would grab Explorer or Firefox menus Those are my two most frequently used apps !

#305448

I am working on addding support for user extensions.....that will allow you to create a menu extension for your favorite apps....

*edit*

I have also added the following

-will automatically resize your desktop on execution of the finderbar so icons and window dont overlap the finderbar

-apple menu with some settings options...

-default menus etc. File, Edit, View, Go, Windows, Help that have a few usefull functions within

-Better sound mod, to allow more acurate adjustments....

-a about this mac dialog that displays your sys specs (skinnable)

-a about finder dialog (not skinnable)

-and more...

I will post a new link once I hve tested it good.

#305456

Really good, I wait for following release. Thanks!

#305474

i'm with dorsc on this one. what am i supposed to be seeing?

#305520

The download is a OSX FinderBar clone. You should see it appear on top of the screen. If your taskbar is there, or object is there, please clost them, then try running my app. Sorry.

#305523

nothing happens when I open Finder.exe

but I do see it in task manager

Kill Explorer.exe first in your taskmanager.

It isn't compatible yet.

@DJWilliams: Like it allready. Low on resources. Should make it taskbar/explorer.exe compatible though imo. As Heinzoliger mentioned too: soundvolume is really good.

REQ: time,

could you make it configurable?

(example: hh:mm:ss, etc.) for now it appears two digit by default: 6:5(no mm, but m.

REQ: working startmenu please (comes with explorer.exe compatibility?)

Feedback As with Landvermesser's finderbar,

I plead for taskbar plugin (enable by R-mouse taskbar --> toolbars)

instead of complete taskbar replacement like in Objectbar.

Please continue this project; good luck!

#305527

ah ha! it is all so clear now. neat! xlnt start, dj, thx!

#305532

The date and time should show up day/time/pm,am maybe the resolutions are messing it up..i will have to use absolute positioning then. I do plan on adding extension(plugin) support. I am working on a plugin platform right now. Now the req of a working startmenu, i have got alot of emails asking me not make it a startmenu , but to make it a menu that you can addd your fav apps too. The idea of this app is to mock the Mac finderbar as much as I can. I am not going to add a plugin for the taskbar, atleast not now. I want to see how my final release fairs before I do something like that.

#305551

Thanks for the reply.

I am working on a plugin platform right now. Now the req of a working startmenu, i have got alot of emails asking me not make it a startmenu , but to make it a menu that you can addd your fav apps too.

The idea of this app is to mock the Mac finderbar as much as I can. I am not going to add a plugin for the taskbar, atleast not now. I want to see how my final release fairs before I do something like that.

Do you plan to make this a part of PantherXP, or is that project discontinued? We shouldn't have to kill explorer.exe for this to work...or do you want it to become an alternative shell with explorer.exe only being used for the foldersview and not the desktop/taskbar, like for instance Astonshell does?

You really should make it AveDesk compatible, for I would find it unbearable to have to ditch AveDesk as I suspect most of the Aquasofters would agree. It's what made me turn away from Astonshell; great for lower system resources while maintaning maximal eye-candy, but since it needed Explorer.exe to be killed, AveDesk didn't work :slant: and I eventually turned back too explorer/taskbar.

Again, good luck on the project. It could become something great.

p.s.:

Windowblinds/M$styles+RKlauncher+AveDesk+Flyakite's system mod and your Finderbar could make us the ultimate Mac Aquamod :cool: :cool: :cool: !

#305557

u dont have to kill explorer at all.....the person that posted that was wrong. If you are using another finderbar, or have your talkbar positioned at top, please move it, or exit the other app, for the dafualt location is top screen. I will check out avedesk and see what thats all about..

Thanks ALOT for all the great feedback. this is what i needed.

**EDIT**

I have checked out Evedesk. You will not have to stop using avedesk when using my app. It works fine together. Or was there some other support for it that you were looking for?.

The plugin support will allow you to write 3 kinds of plugins. DLL EXE and EXT. The DLL plugins will be used for inline plugins(plugins what will add an icon to the finder or add to the menu)

The EXE will allow a menu call to launch this specific plugins, and the EXT plugin will allow a user to write a menu structure for apps that arent supported.

#305562

looks awesome!

great start!

can't wait to see the final.

#305965

I need you guys opinion on something. I am thinking about adding a small feature that will allow you to add something like a widget to your desktop. Of course I would make it easy for the user to create thier own,. Let me know what you think of that.

#306042

OK, I want you guys to check out the Beta Refresh. This is to give you an idea of what to expect, and to let me know what you think.. You have two options to download

RAR file (You must register all the DLL and OCX yourself)

http://www.pantherxp.org/download/dl/Element1.zip

Installer(Included uninsateller)

http://www.pantherxp.org/download/dl/E1_Preview_BetaR1.exe

Please post your feedback....the more feedback you guys give, the better I can make this.

#306055

I got it working.. but aren't the menus supposed to work?

#306082

OK, I want you guys to check out the Beta Refresh. This is to give you an idea of what to expect, and to let me know what you think.. Please post your feedback....the more feedback you guys give, the better I can make this.

The good

* Menu functionality in native Windows apps (paint, notepad, calculater, command prompt, etc) work great. ALT-TAB works flawlesly. The system stays responsive (no lag).

* The Finder (Element1.exe) uses about 10mb on my system (which is completely acceptable for a rough beta such as this imo).

The bad

* Configure elementbar does not dissapear when you choose save&exit.

* Apple menu doesn't dissapear again once opened.

* You should try to make the file, edit, view, go window, help working by default.

* Try to make the bar skinnable

* Aestheticly the settings menu should not heve rounded corners on the bottom o/t window.

* ...

u dont have to kill explorer at all.....the person that posted that was wrong. If you are using another finderbar, or have your talkbar positioned at top, please move it, or exit the other app, for the dafualt location is top screen.

My mistake. I checked and it works fine with taskbar placed somewhere else.

I have checked out Evedesk. You will not have to stop using avedesk when using my app. It works fine together. Or was there some other support for it that you were looking for?

The plugin support will allow you to write 3 kinds of plugins. DLL EXE and EXT. The DLL plugins will be used for inline plugins(plugins what will add an icon to the finder or add to the menu)

The EXE will allow a menu call to launch this specific plugins, and the EXT plugin will allow a user to write a menu structure for apps that arent supported.

Good idea. Looking forward to how this works out.

#306195

Bugs...

- Im not seeing the menus for windows appear in the bar after I click on them, just the window title for most windows.

- For some windows I seem to get a sort of 'default set' of menus. For an example of this I am citing vs.net 2003. However, taskman seems to have the proper menu labels - but alas none of the menus actually work.

- Clicking on mIRC crashes finderbar. Reproducable each time.

- With full window mode on, dragging the window any length exposes your drawing operations and I can see black window corners on the config dialog(s)

- The apple menu doesnt close after losing focus - intended?

- I would suggest using standard windows controls instead of 'yes/no' buttons and such.

- Save and Exit does nothing.

Maybe a readme with the next beta to let us know what is working and what isnt?

#306213

Thanks for the productive feedback. I understand some things just dont work yet. I will have to download mIRC to try an replicated your proplem, so I can use a spyer and see where the error accures. The settings window will not be that particualar window. I am working on a Mac styl config window. I am not sure why the apple menu does not disapear when you click desktop or something, I will have to monitor that also.

there aer alot of settings that can be modified in the defalult ini and the skin ini. like the trans levels and such. This will all be assesible thru the config dialog. Windows Explorer menus are not compatable with my app. Windows uses owner drawn menus with built in ID's, there is not much I can do about this. I dont have the time to analise the menu structre. If some know this information or can find it, I will try to code it in.

Expect a better refresh soon.

THanks again for the intrest and great feedback

#306261