@Anakey & RedneckDude

you could always do it with a script (loop plus setshadow)

that may be the case, however it is still a bug that needs fixing, and not all of us are fluent in Vb or java enough to do everything vi scripts

Write me that script , please, and I shall owe you immensely.....

Here, this should be helpful:

'///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Sub Object_OnStateChange(state)
    If state="Command executed" Then

    'preferences:

    selector_mode = 1
   
    'Selector will use different techniques to gather all objects that
    'you want to modify.
    '1: it will modify every object on your desktop (except for the ones with "<Unassigned>" name)
    '2: will modify objects you put in the modify_these
        modify_these="object1|object2|object3"

    '/preferences
        If selector_mode=1 Then
            For Each elem In DesktopX.Objects
                Call recolour(elem.name)
            Next
        ElseIf selector_mode=2 Then
            s=Split(modify_these&"|>>endcap<<","|")
            counter=-1
            Do
                counter=counter+1
                Call recolour(s(counter))
            Loop until s(counter+1)=">>endcap<<"
        End If
    End If
End Sub

Sub recolour(obj)
    enabled=True
    sharpness=10
    darkness=500
    x_offset=2
    y_offset=2
    color=RGB(100,200,150)
    'prefernces
    mode = 1
    '/preferences
    'MODE 1
        'will recolour only specified state
            'If chosen object doesn't have this state nothing happens
            state_to_modify="Mouse away"
       
        DesktopX.Object(obj).states(state_to_modify).SetShadow enabled,sharpness,darkness,x_offset,y_offset,color
    'MODE 2
        'will recolour object's current state
        x=DesktopX.Object(obj).state
        DesktopX.Object(obj).states(x).SetShadow enabled,sharpness,darkness,x_offset,y_offset,color
End Sub

'///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

It would be nice to be able to resize, rotate and move an object in one step (like Object.Reformat 100, 100, 45, 0, 0)

Stop doing bad things to the command line of single-exe gadgets and pass it properly to the extracted exe

I think Stardock missed the boat in the gadgets market. I just can't see customers flocking to pay for Desktop X to run gadgets/widgets when there are free sidebar gadgets/ yahoo for almost everything. I think the Market is in full blown themes and noone has really done anything revolutionary in quite sometime. Look at Gef's work. He makes arguably the better themes out there and they are basically the same thing just reworked with new graphics.

There is nothing more frustrating than findingan attrative DX theme and installing it only to find out it doesn't match your resolution. If there is a way to make it easier for Authors to make resoltuion independaent themes Stardock should look into that. Making it mandadory might not be a bad idea.

DX is what got me started skinning but I lost interest in it fast as new verions were buggy at the time and unless it works perfectly the bad press will easily outweigh the good. I would have never even got into skinning WB had DX been a more user friendly program.

I haven't tried in in quite sometime and to be honest I don't care to until something revoltionary with the program happens.

When I started using DX it was very simple for someone to make a theme. I relied on Martin's scripts to do everything. I was as compuiter illiterate as anyone could be yet I made some pretty cool themes that at the time I was embarrassed to share. Now I look back and I see how original some of the things I was doing were.  

I have the themes saved on cd but we are going back to version 1 so the themes stopped working a long time ago. The coding quickly got way over my head and I switched to skinning WB.

Just emptying my mind on the mattter as I enjoyed making DX themes more than anything else so far. I really did make some original stuff for myself, and that was on Win ME so I am sure some of the high taxing themes I made would work much smoother on todays systems. The freedom involved in the graphics and what you could do was the attraction for me. I guess when I lost interest I just could never get it back. Especially when I see all this coding talk. It scares the crap out of me. Obviously the more advanced it gets, the more knowledge of DX coding you need. There are only a couple of people that take it seriously and it just seems like it isn't enough to support the product. I could be wrong and DX hasn't been a loss in a lucrative sense but over the years it just seems to me that Stardock has fumbled it's way through DX.

Last thin is that Desktop X developer should have a free versio to help people get started making their own themes.  Maybe there is now and I spoke without doing my homework but that's where I am at. I simply ignore the program like thousands of other apps out there.

I know too long didn't read. LOL

The thing is that well myself as pretty much a noob in DX  yet just from looking at what has already been done have created a imo good multi functional widget, yet when i place it on WC it has to go in a specific catagory, there isn't a "all in one" catagory available.

Another thing is that there are very few DX skinners that feel their work is good enough to be able to make them into stand alone gadgets to be worth the extra $50 or so to do it, I would want to make my gadget stand alone, so that it could be stuck on usb and i could use it on any computer. My work is no where near proffesional enough to be sold so there is no point in me getting the pro edition for this perpose. Although if a portable version of DX was available then it would be ok to run just a widget as it would work on the copy of DX on the flash drive, would give dx skinners something to do on their lunch break as well

NT was a DXer?    Wow, DX really has lost a lot of talented authors.

I think the cheaper version should allow access to builder mode, and the ability to export a limited amount of widgets/themes. It would give the user chance to actually DO something with DX (besides Dling and using others' stuff), and that might entice them to buy Standard or Pro.

Good points in the last 2 posts.

• We need to be able to detect multiple monitors.
• We need to know the resolution of those monitors.
• We need to know the relative position of each one.
  

Hi All. I think my contribution to this discussion will make more sense if I give a short introduction. I've submitted only one DX theme on WC called ShutterGirl (uploaded in 2001). I'm working on a new version now (featuring a new robot girl using a 3D product I broker at DAZ called Bot Armor) and still love and support OD and other Stardock stuff.

However, as far as I can tell Start Menu functionality has still not been fixed in all this time. What I mean is (and please correct me if I am wrong) to replace the OS start menu in DX I can a: create a Folder shortcut and check open as a popup menu which gives me the standard boring gray set of cascading menus (like default XP) except that they are too skinny and cut off any text longer than 18 characters (large monitor using slightly larger than standard font, might be ok for 1024 x 768) or b: add Start Menu 2 to abilities which gives me the XP start menu (with no configuration options) which pops up in the standard bottom left and can't be moved where I want it or skinned unless I use WB or c: do what everyone else does: create my own menus that (even with drag and drop functionality) have to be configured by the user which could take them many hours if they have a hundred or so programs and want to fully replace their OS start menu. I know that was kind of a "run on" but it defines my exasperation.

None of these are suitable options aesthetically and none of the themes I have been able to find so far (scripted or not ) have really found a way around this. So, if you are a newby you can find tons of cool themes that look fantastic and have amazing functions, but few if any that can fully replace the windows desktop "out of the box". I really think this gets at a major reason why DX is not more mainstream and making the big bucks. sVis and others have done a good job detailing what I'm talking about. Theme developers need to be able to more easily create fully functional themes for those that are not DX savvy and/or don't have time to dig into the stuff.

As cool as DX is, it hasn't reached the tiniest fraction of it's potential. I think one big reason is related to the discussion earlier in this thread around _Martin_ not gaining "Master" status. Now this may seem radical, but why have this feudal system (to reach "seller" status) at all? At DAZ, anyone can submit a product. If you know what you are doing, submit something that they think people will want to buy (and then fix anything that fails testing) you become a Published Artist and get to sell your stuff ( 50/50 split). I can tell you personally that 50% is a pretty good deal when you have a broad customer base. I've read plenty in the forums about how much time you have to devote to submitting stuff for free before you can reach Master Status. Then even when you do, you earn a penny an hour or less. Don't you think that would be discouraging to a lot of talented artists who might otherwize contribute some more amazing things? Mind you, there is no lack of talent on WC as things are now, but there should be thousands of objects and DX themes for sale, as well as the free stuff.WC is the ideal place to have a large and thriving store because that's where Stardock points folks consistently.

Which brings me to my last rant (sorry for the length): Even if there were more themes for sale, they're too hard to find on WC. They are not in the shop (as far as I can see) and the search is terrible compared to other sites. I should be able to do a search (not using Google) and find things by keyword that artists have associated with their products. And while I'm at it, the search in the forums is bad as well. I should be able to search within the DX Tutorials section of the forums (for instance) and not get everything else. This may seem a little off topic, but it is really all related to what could make DX better.

I am still very excited about what could be. Thanks for reading.

I know it would likely be a major retooling of the app (unless of course its already planned ); but the killer feature for me would be PowerShell support.

As a visualization specialist/data analyst I can see it as a means to provide some traction into the enterprise analytics/dashboard space while allowing an opportunity for modernizing the scripting engine (some innovative widgets could be created around .NET objects).

I'd like to see a way to reset an object to image default via script.

This would be awesome!

I would love an undo button...lol. To undo the last action, or the last several. I don't know how many times I accidentally deleted something , or changed something, only to be left wishing I hadn't and starting over....bummer.

That's what I said! Lol.

Now don't tell anyone but I may have just created an undo function via some very unorthodox methods. Shh! It's still a WIP and it's to be released as part of a DX builder's theme in the near future.

• Set an object's as a 'contained child' via script - for e.g. make setting IsChild property to true actually make it a contaied child.
• The 'clever' auto parent adjustment where if you set an object as a non contained child of another object it gets attached to the parent of the parent instead - actually makes it hard to deal with objects in an 'expected' way when the actual parent information is lost.
• Your windowfx drawing layer allows animation of window 'textures', can you tap that into the desktopx drawing layer so we can apply those kinds of 'transition' transforms to object displays?

adding an easy way to clear widget cache rarther then finding and deleting it manually