Scribble

Currently under development is Scribble - a take on Desktastic available for the Mac.

I have the basics done and now I'm looking for a few beta testers to help me iron out the bugs. If you'd like to help, download the attached beta and add me to your contacts list in MSN Messenger. Or if you'd rather send email bug reports or leave comments here, that's fine too.

Update -- March 13, 2007

Fixed a lot of the issues found in the first one. Memory usages is stable - still filling up some of the small cracks left. This build is basically rewritten from the ground up which should make it a bit more stable.

The only major issue is the saving of the screen. Screen saves - the ink doesn't. Looking into it.

Also, I'm thinking of changing the name. Doing a Google search pulled up heaps of applications named Scribble. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

Scribble_Beta_0_9.zip

Attachment: Scribble_Beta_0_9.zip

#446082

Looking good. Is this your first C app?

Only a few things I noticed:

- toolbox doesn't show completely. part of the save button is covered

- enabling from the tray includes Scribble's tray menu in the shot. maybe a delay timer would fix this?

Since this is a beta I'm not going to give you a hard time about the resource usage...ok I am

When the app is trayed there's no need for that amount!

#446091

Hehe, I'm working on plugging all those memory holes. Not sure about the toolbox. Mind sending me a screenshot of the bug? As for the other bug, looks like I'll have to add in a timer for that.

This is my 3rd application done in C#. RadioFree was also done in C#. That being said, I'm definitely still learning all the ins and outs of the language. It's been a fun process.

Edit: Thanks SirSmiley for that screenshot. I see what you mean. As for the toolbox...perhaps it's being drawn off-screen though as it's a child of the main window that shouldn't be the case, I would think.

And I've been able to shave the memory by almost half. Running at about 23,000K now.

#446097

It's a good start to a great program, but there are a few bigger bugs. (Yes I know it's a beta.)

First, Bug: Screenshot Placement

When the program starts up it takes the initial screenshot and displays it in the Scribble drawing area. But this drawing area seems to be down from the top of the screen about 20px, and when you change colors it retakes a screenshot and that then copies that top 20px into the Scribble area, this offset causes problems when you change colors and save the screenshot.

Second, Bug: The Hotkeys

They don't seem to do anything yet, not ready?

Third, Bug/Suggestion: Stamp

When you go to select a stamp it needs to limit your choices of sources; ex: jpg, bmp, png, ico, gif; because it crashes if you select something that is not an image.

Fourth, Suggestion: Stamp, again

It would be nice to be able to change stamps from the Tool window.

That's all, for now.

Thanks.

#446111

@Mushu: Thanks for the report.

1. That's a weird bug indeed. Looking into it.

Edit: hehe noticed it when I switched my taskbar to the bottom. Will get a fix soon.

2. Global hotkeys will be working in the next update. Hadn't gotten around to implementing them when I built the beta.

3. Laziness on my part. Should have checked that. Will be fixed in the next update.

4. Working on coming up with some nice way of changing stamps. Maybe some sort of stamp packs?

#446118

Good, I was afraid it was just going to be just me having those problems, like with what happened with RadioFree before you found the problem.

#446120

Grr...this bug is giving me some trouble. If you unlock/lock the taskbar, everything works perfectly. Everything in the code appears correct. The location is 0,0 and yet it still refuses to move to the top of the screen.

If I set the desktop to Primary.Bounds it works but overlaps the taskbar. Primary.WorkingArea works only when the taskbar is on the top or the left. I guess some more research is in order.

#446130

Hmm... There seems to be a minor bug.

The top area is clickable desktop. When I click the pink, the Tool window flashes and I have to Ctrl+Alt+Delete out of Scribble.

#446350

You've got to love that...what's the old programmer adage? Well it works on my computer? Yeah...oh and to get out of scribble, right-click. I should of said that earlier. Also if you have global hotkeys enabled, just hit the hotkey for Scribbling. Sorry...

That pink block is the form mask and for some reason it isn't making the form...which version of Windows do you have? I'm pretty sure it's XP from the bug in RadioFree but it doesn't hurt to ask. Also, you need your color depth to be 32. Check that by going to Display Settings > Settings > Color Depth. Should be set to Highest (32).

#446394

CrayoScribble?

I can't think of a better title, but your tagline should definitely be "Be four years old again and draw on your Windows!"

-NC

P.S: I deleted the bumping post, since you already drew attention to the thread, so there was no reason for it to remain. Don't worry about doing that in the future; I'm particularly lenient with developers updating their own programs.

#446398

lol I'm definitely going to use that as the tag line.

#446414

Its XP Home SP2, all updates. It's already set at 32bit color.

Edit: You also need to add a file mask to the Stamp selection. Just in case you forgot.

#446418

Yes, with anti-aliased images you'll see a bit of the form mask show through. Working on it now.

#446420

Quick question to all those who care: Would you rather have the ability to draw on top of windows and therefore have your scribbles cover up the desktop when not in 'Scribble mode' (unless you've chosen not to keep scribbles showing - new option) or draw on the desktop but not be able to see your scribbles when using a different window?

Edit: Nevermind. I've been able to add both options. New build should be available shortly.

#446654

Oh I'm half tempted to unleash my attempt onto the forums now haha. I worked on getting something like this working (acutally a damn near, exact clone). I got to the point where I had to deal with anti-aliasing stuff. Windows just doesnt provide a decent mechanism on xp/2000 for drawing anything on the desktop anti-aliased. Or for those of you who dont get the programmer-speak, pretty smoothed edges on lines and stuff and pngs that sit nice on the desktop (stamps) with all their transparency intact.

Basically what I resorted to, which is incredibly slow on a midrange machine, is making a window the size of the desktop on the primary monitor and making that window layered, so it was transparent. Using UpdateLayeredWindow I could render all the stuff I wanted to it. But on a 19" lcd monitor, the render time is rediculous. Not to mention drawing with a 'pen'.

If you get this working without the opaque background then you're more inventive that i am My contention is that a true clone of that Mac app isnt possible with XP's technology. Vista is a different story altogether.

(I should mention that this was all geared towards drawing directly over the live desktop, and not over a colored window like the this app currently does, not that there's anything wrong with that...)

#447143

easy solution to your problem of large layered window, andrew_ : use a grid of small layered windows .

#447179

(I should mention that this was all geared towards drawing directly over the live desktop, and not over a colored window like the this app currently does, not that there's anything wrong with that...)

The newest version (soon to be released) actually allows for drawing over the live desktop with settings for either drawing on the desktop or above windows. And yeah, anti-aliasing has been giving me the most amount of headache.

Would love to see how you went about doing things.

#447238

What a cool little app, the scribble icon is quite cool too. Hmm... icon set?

One thing at a time I guess, hehe.

GREAT WORK!

#448642