Iex 0.3 Coding Progress

Hi everyone !

I'm back ! OH YES I AM !

So, here it is, iEx is continuing its progression in the Exposé emulation land

With a serious concurent, WinExpose.

So I'm starting this topic, in order to keep you all informed of the progression.

Of course, there will be not just talking here, but I'll post some tests and not working versions, just in order for you to see what I'm working on

I hope you'll find this topic quite usefull, as for me, I do

So, let's start this right now

Okay, right now I'm working a way to obtain:

1- smooth animation while zooming, because SDL is pretty slow in zooming. I'll try to make GDI+ do the work but the best option would be using OpenGL.

2- instant starting. of course you don't want to wait 1 or 2 seconds before iEx start to expose. I'm currently testing some options to that, still need some work though.

okay, now what's been done:

1- obtain a almost exact copy of the desktop and win z-order alignement with all SDL

2- restarted the proj as a "Standard Win32 project", and not an MFC app like iEx 0.2. So i'm coding iEx 0.3 from the WinMain()

Okay, so if you have ideas to get something working, don't hesitate any help would be appreciated

have a nice day

siwu

#98416

Great news bro! I cant wait to see what you produce for us

If you need help with anything, designing, logos, gimme a buzz.

#98417

great news siwu!

can`t wait to see iEx 0.3, i`m sure it will kick WinExpose`s behind

#98422

Yes,i don't support any app that asks for $$$$ except Flashget!

Give us freedom,man!

(Y) (Y) (Y) (Y) (Y) (Y) (Y) we will win!!!!!

#98430

keep it up!

#98468

Thanks siwu

Aviel.

#98473

keep it up wow i cant wait!!

sounds amazing

-bolero

#98502

Go go go go! Just like Neo on Bolero's avatar!

Nice to see you back BTW

#98504

you don't have to worry about WinExpose being a competetor, it's crap. Also, you can use my icons I made for iEx just give me some kind of credit.

#98511

KEEP IT REAL

#98512

Great news Siwu!

No matter about WinExpose... what matters is what you're having in mind!

Do what you can, we appreciate it!

Great applications you have produced so far! :who's your daddy:

#98543

WinExpose is a piece of crapppppppppp - it doesn't even work... and for a group of people that figured the emulation land would be interested, it JACKS UP YZ DOCK!!!

what a scam.. i'm calling on monday to complain.

:c

#98592

Glad you finally have some free time for a new version!

Hopefully you can solve the SendMessage problem so I can release iEx Settings with 0.3.

Let me know if there will be any changes to the ini file.

#98595

hehe nice, I like the sound of this... hopefully the arrival of WinExpose will ignite people's interest to develop a closer expose app.

#98620

it be cool if someone could make a desktop video of winexpose working.. im just curious on to see it work i naction rather then the flash animations.

i cant wait for Iex 0.3

-bolero

#98628

Okay, thanks to AndreasV who told me to use DirectDraw I know have a very smooth resizing animation

To simplify the screenshot creation procedure, I made a class named CWindowShot

I just have to make a CWindowShot.Create(DDrawSurface, HWND hWindowtoShot) and , a CWindowShot.MakeScreenshot() and a CWindowShot.DoAnimation() to have a smooth scaling

I'll post the test program tomorow, when I'll figure out how to clear the back and front buffers.

So, this turns iEx in a new dimension, coz I'm now dropping SDL to concentrate only on DirectDraw (I'm already fan).

Also, the delay between the program start and the animation is very low (about 100ms) so I'm very satisfied ! I still need to make a replication of the desktop and see how much time it takes, but it looks very promising, believe me

Also, what makes the program faster is that it require MUCH less code for a window shot , with SDL it was about 30 lines of code in order to convert a HBITMAP into a SDL_Surface, with DirectDraw it's just 3.

So I'm very (very very...) satisfied of DirectDraw, thanks again AndreasV

Btw Andreas, DirectDraw does automatic resizing when blitting given the src and dst rectangles. loot at IDirectDrawSurface7::Blt() method

have a good night all (it's 3:37 am here)

siwu

#98633

Originally posted by bolero@Jan 12 2004, 12:56 PM

it be cool if someone could make a desktop video of winexpose working.. im just curious on to see it work i naction rather then the flash animations.

i cant wait for Iex 0.3

-bolero

to be honest the animation found on apples page is pretty much how it is

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/#

click try it out and thats Expose like it is in a mac

-The Unknown

#98659

Originally posted by bolero@Jan 11 2004, 07:26 PM

it be cool if someone could make a desktop video of winexpose working.. im just curious on to see it work i naction rather then the flash animations.

i cant wait for Iex 0.3

-bolero

I can do one.. it'll be crap though cause apparently winexpose requires at least dual 3Ghz processors.

Anyways, I do a capture if you want but i don't know what proggy to use... i know there was that one which deadzombie told us to use to show off our docks.

Anyways I really hope Iex 3.0 will be smooth w/ opengl and all.

#98681

Originally posted by DinoJr@Jan 12 2004, 05:32 AM

Anyways, I do a capture if you want but i don't know what proggy to use...

It's called CamStudio, a freeware program which allows you to record screen activities into standard .avi formats.

I can do one.. it'll be crap though cause apparently winexpose requires at least dual 3Ghz processors.

You sure about that??? That's scary...

#98692

thanks but the capture turned out even crappier than the actual thing.

#98724

Originally posted by DinoJr@Jan 12 2004, 07:36 AM

thanks but the capture turned out even crappier than the actual thing.

Doesn't matter... we've got siwu now.

#98736

winexpose works, but nowhere is it like mac's expose. no where close. besides, it's not even real-time.

#98746

Ok... I'm exaggerating a little.

But I'm using a P4 2Ghz, 512MB & 128mb geforce 4mx.

The shrinking animation works decent on Fast LQ when there is less than 3 windows out.

Anything more than 3 window or on HQ will show the animation in 3 separate frames.

The expand animation works decent most of the time.

Another thing is that it has this irritating flicker everytime it starts to shrink if animation is turned on.

It's really a pretty cool and excellent app... when animation is turned off that is.

But everytime I try out the animation, I get so depressed, ask myself "why bother" and contemplate on f'in everything and ordering an apple.

Anyways, apple has quartz and I hope using OpenGL will make it smooth.

#98763

Well, iEx will not use OpenGL no more.

I turned to DirectDraw. Why ?

Because initialize an OpenGL window is way to long, and I think using OpenGL is too much. BUT, DirectDraw offers hardware acceleration for 2D graphics, and believe me, it does its work very well !

I did some test to see a zoom in action, and it's simply stunting...

I'll post the test program when I'll managed to get the screenshot feature working again

siwu

#98785

Thanks siwu. :bow:

Very much appreciated. I see that you're putting in good quality control!

#98789