Beta-Testers for DeskPainter

DeskPainter - A DeskShade clone for Windows

I've been working on a DeskShade clone for a couple of weeks now. Originally it was going to be my first application in VB.net but after a few failed attempts I've switched back to trusty VBscript using DesktopX as my development environment. This has worked quite well in the past - all of my previous applications have been developed in this manner.

I am nearing the completion of the alpha stage and I thought I would ask the communities assistance in testing the beta version out.

For those of you who don't know what DeskShade is, check here. It's basically a wallpaper browser/manager/changer.

Below are a few screenshots of the application running. It's a bit slow at the moment when dealing with large amounts of wallpapers but I'm working on reducing the time it takes to display each collection.

Images can be dragged on to a folder node on the left and dropped to be automatically added to the folder. Likewise, folders can be deleted, renamed and a new folder can be added. Wallpapers have the same features.

There are already a few effects that DeskPainter uses to apply the new wallpaper. Incuded are: Fade-in, Slide in from Left/Right, among others... Also, adjust the position of the wallpaper when applied.

There is also a search feature built-in which will be handy with large amounts of wallpapers.

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Signup will be through MSN Messenger and will be open to anyone (limited amount of participates though) who at least knows how to register a dll.

I need about 10 people to test this out and give me feedback on the application. Get in touch with me on MSN Messenger: screen name four13designs @ hotmail (dot) com

#358498

Looks pretty.

#358499

nice, make a tiger skinned one too:D

#358504

me Interested too

#358505

Theming will be added at the end before it's released to the public. And yes, there will be a Tiger theme included as well.

#358507

count me in!

#358508

very interested!

#358516

Nice - count me in. I could do with something like this.

#358534

Ill be a tester, looks promising. Is it Skinnable?

#358548

Ill be a tester, looks promising. Is it Skinnable?

5th post up

#358553

OK, I'd like one two. Wait for me to knock on you MSN by tuesday.

#358640

Thats cool, if you need deskshade screenies or anything just PM me!

#358650

This app is looking good! I wondered if there would be the option for the wallpaper to change after a certain period of time, eg every 2 hours or something.

PS Nice Jessica Alba wall in the shots

#358652

@Rimmer: glad to have you aboard! Looking forward to hearing from you.

@Zaft: Thanks a lot! I was thinking of doing something like that myself - perhaps with an option to add selected wallpapers to a list and it would go through that. I'll work on it and let you know. For now though, I'm just looking at getting the basics completely finised and working properly. An auto-changer wouldn't be hard at all to add in.

Off-topic...Yeah, the wallpaper's found a nice home here. I wonder who I should be thanking for that...

@The Rest: add me to your MSN Messenger list and I'll talk to you there. Would love to have you guys aboard.

#358661

So far, a great application. Registering the DLLs were successfully applied. I love the effects in changing my wallpaper!

But, let's not get off topic. Of course, this is a BETA release and we must report bugs. So far this is what I have:

Bugs

• You have to choose wallpaper directory everytime you start the application.
  
• The "Grow Effect" did not initiate.
  
• The "Stretch Left" and "Stretch Right" effects did not initiate and caused the system to lock up for about 20 seconds.
  

I will list more as I go along.

#358734

I added you on MSN. This is looking great. If this could have the functionality I discussed over on Neowin back in June 05 here, I would be eternally grateful.

#358741

I added you on MSN. This is looking great. If this could have the functionality I discussed over on Neowin back in June 05 here, I would be eternally grateful.

It is related to that. In the notification area, there is an icon similar to that (of Deskshades). It'll be cool if Sranshaft can do that same effect (such as have the wallpaper in the icon). Currently, I like the icon, it is quite better than DeskShade's.

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By the way, as posted in my "Bugs" post:

Bugs

• You have to choose wallpaper directory everytime you start the application.
  

I can take that bug back, as I have no problem with that anymore. It took about 3 restarts to get rid of that and to recognize the .ini file. But, it should be checked though.

#358766

Well seems Im the only one having big problems then first off...

You have to choose wallpaper directory everytime you start the application.

I have no .ini file in the folder at all.

It will not change my desktop background.

When you click on the roll button it rolls up but the menubar icons and the search area are still showing.

It displays no images in the main folder just directories and only that directory, does not show the directories inside of it.

Unsorted Walls display nothing.

Current Desktop nothing.

EDIT

ok scratch that I went back to unregister the dll's and redo them and had a problem I moved the dll's to the root of drive C and registered them and all is working. Only thing is I usually hide my desktop icons and the wallpaper changes but it does not show a change unleess you unhide the desktop icons.

#358862

@Paralex:

2. The 'Grow' effect has not been programmed yet as I'm still working on the correct algorithm.

3. You are correct - the 'Stretch Right' effect does not appear to be working properly but the 'Stretch Left' should work fine.

@Ghostwalker:

1 & 2. Yes, you have to properly register the dll files. The best way to do this is to move them to the System32 folder in your Windows directory where all the other dll files are located. This will be made simplier when an installer is created for DeskPainter.

3. The reason it doesn't show the wallpaper when you hide the desktop is because you are turning on Active Desktop. There are a couple of other ways to hide your desktop icons. If you use AveDesk there is a module that will do this for you easily.

4. Some features still aren't working 100% as the version you have is still a alpha.

5. You are correct, think of the folder list more like a 'Collections' list so it doest do recursive scans of each folder. It assumes that all your say, 'Sci Fi' wallpapers are in your 'Sci Fi' folder and if you had say a collection of 'Star Trek' it would be in its own 'Star Trek' folder as it's a seperate collection. I could add in recursive scanning for each folder to get subfolders but then it would again slow down the program.

6. Unsorted Walls will display any wallpaper that's found in the main wallpaper library. Meaning it's in the wallpaper folder and hasn't been moved to one of the collections (ie. other folders).

7. Current Desktop has not been completed.

Also, if you guys can get in touch with me personally to report bugs, that would be great. If I'm not available then go ahead and post a comment here.

#358974

Looks Promising

#359322

@Sranshaft, when you make the bug fixes, will you release another alpha version?

#359333

@Paralex: No - the next release will be the first beta. I can guarentee faster performance in the update (thankyou multi-threading). And I have, hopefully, worked out most of the kinks out of the Alpha that was released.

A new issue had crept up but, thanks to Riot, it caught it before anyone else had to go through that problem.

#359363

amazing looking app wow very slick and sexy

can i be a beta tester 2?

#360397

Update: Development for DeskPainter has been put on hiatus for the time being. I'm just too burned out on it at the moment. I'm taking a short break and will probably begin work on it again at the start of next week with a public beta by the end of that.

It probably won' thave skinning though for that release but will be feature complete. Perhaps with version 2 I'll add in skinning.

#362326

In my opinion - no need to skin it. Maybe you can make it be integrated into the Windows theming. But skinning the application will be to much of a hassle.

#362337