RomanDA

Join Date 12/2003

+147

Learning DX Step-By-Step - #3

Tutorial #3 - Attack of the Clones

Step-by-Step Tutorials

#3 - Attack of the Clones

A series by RomanDA

Listing of other DX Tutorials: Click here

Today's Lesson: "Attack of the Clones"

In this lesson we will cover how to create a clone from an object, so we can have multiple items on the screen linked to a Folder, a Program and a web URL.

In order to use this tutorial, you will need to first go thru Tutorial #2 (and download the zip file from there as well).

I will assume you downloaded the zip of the png files, followed the Tutorial #2, and are ready to take your Lightbulb and make a new one that will point to a Program and another to a URL.

For this and all the Step-By-Step DX Tutorials you will need to purchase DesktopX for $14.95 from Stardock.

Lets get started.

STEP 1 - Cloning the Lightbulb

Again, I know this is redundant but you need to have completed Tutorial #2 before you attempt this one. That said, we will take our lightbulb and make a clone:

RIGHT CLICK on the light bulb, and you will be presented with a menu of options.
Select CLONE OBJECT(S)
You should see the following now:

You have just created a CLONE!! *** Repeat this step one more time so that you end up with 3 lightbulbs ***

STEP 2 - Point your Clone to a Program

Pick one of the clones and RIGHT-CLICK on it
Select PROPERTIES
Follow the steps below to select a program to run:
1. Click CHANGE next to the OBJECT TYPE (Shortcut)
2. Select the FILE SHORTCUT
3. BROWSE for a file to use
  - use the dialog box to select whatever file you want to run
  - I will let you select the file, its your call.
4. Select OK on the Browse Dialog Box
5. Select OK on the PROPERTIES Dialog Box
To test this out, simply click on the Lightbulb and see if it loads your program.

STEP 3 - Adding a TOOL-TIP to these so you know which one is which

Ok, you have 2 identical (well 3 really) clones on your desktop. So that you can know which one does what, we are going to add a TOOL-TIP (the text that shows up when you mouse over something) to each.

RIGHT-CLICK on the the FIRST OBJECT (the one that points to the FOLDER) select PROPERTIES
Click on the SUMMARY Tab
Click in the area next to TOOLTIP and type in MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER (or whatever folder name you chose to use)
Click OK
To test this move your mouse OVER the lightbulb and you should see:
REPEAT THIS ON THE OTHER 2
- Make one's tooltip - MY PROGRAM NAME (using the name of the program you picked)
- Make the other one's tooltip - WINCUSTOMIZE.com (thats where we are going to point that one)
This will give you different tooltips on each one now (i hope)

STEP 4 - Making a URL Linked Object

RIGHT-CLICK on the 3rd Clone and select PROPERTIES
Follow the steps below
1. CHANGE next to the OBJECT TYPE (Shortcut)
2. Pick URL from the dropdown
3. Enter https://www.wincustomize.com into the url area
4. Select OK
5. Select OK

CONCLUSION

Ok, That wasn't hard was it? Ok, yeah so now you have these 3 HUGE lightbulbs on your desktop, and they suck, well make your own images, and change them! Changing them is simple, go back to Tutorial #2, look at step #3 and just pick your own images for "mouse over" and "mouse away" states.

You can even download from the MISC Icons library and use them for these states.

Check back as I add new Step-By-Step Tutorials on how to make this a link to a folder, web-site, or just about anything you want!

I hope you have enjoyed this step into DX, and look forward to the next installment..

Enjoy,RomanDA
AKA: David A. Roman
http://romanda.wincustomize.com

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thomassen

Join Date 01/2003

+10

Just one gotcha about cloning. Currently, in DesktopX, if you clone and object and it's related object, it will include any object which has the same "Widget" property. So if you import a widget and want to clone one object and it's children then you got to make sure to clear the Widget property first, otherwise you end up cloning the whole widget.
I notified Stardock about this and hopefully this behaviour will change in coming releases.

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RomanDA

Join Date 12/2003

+147

Yep.. 100% correct.. i NEVER pick "related objects" when i clone.. but this tutorial only had 1 object, so that wasnt a prob.. LOL

Cloning can be dangerous, one wrong move and you end up with a ton of garbage on the screen.

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Quickie question, and if it will addressed later, please ignore it.

Once you have an image up on the screen, can you resize the image? make it smaller or larger?

And another question: is it possible to mix states in an object, i.e have the mouse away state be an image, and have the mouse over state be text?

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RomanDA

Join Date 12/2003

+147

Once you have an image up on the screen, can you resize the image? make it smaller or larger?

There are script commands for height/width/top/left so you can change the size and position.

Look over: Resizer demo for more info

And another question: is it possible to mix states in an object, i.e have the mouse away state be an image, and have the mouse over state be text?

No, images and text states cannot be mixed. But you can easily turn multiple objects on and off, so you could have a text and image item sitting on top of each other and change which one is visible.

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thomassen

Join Date 01/2003

+10

Cloning can be dangerous, one wrong move and you end up with a ton of garbage on the screen.

Yea, evil mutations.

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And another question: is it possible to mix states in an object, i.e have the mouse away state be an image, and have the mouse over state be text?

No, images and text states cannot be mixed. But you can easily turn multiple objects on and off, so you could have a text and image item sitting on top of each other and change which one is visible.

You can create an image containing just the text on a transparent background, and use that for the mouse over state. It would give you the appearance of mixing both image and text states. But the image would need to be the same size as the mouse away state.

These tutorials are great, keep em coming!

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