How create a Shortcut on DX (advanced)


A Special thanks goes to sVis for her awesome help to make it a lot of more clear

This tutorial will show you how create an advanced shortcut in DesktopX.
It will have more options than the basic DesktopX shortcut object. I'll show you how to create the object and script. You'll need a little knowledge of scripting and DesktopX. To make it, I have read RomanDA's tutorials which you can find here:
RomanDA articles

You should, at each step of this tutorial, see the picture for more information.


Create the Object

First right click on DesktopX Builder systray icon and select "create object"...



Summary Information

Then, in the object's properties in the "Summary" tab, enter the author name (guess it's you). Set the width to 50 and height to "follow aspect ratio". This is so that all the pictures of your shortcut will only be 50px). Finally, set the object ID.



Add a Custom file

No no, it's not finished yet. Now you need to add the main picture of your object.
Go to "custom files" in the "Summary" tab and then click "add".
Browse for your picture. Here it's the earth. ''('''Note:''' Remember the full name of the image file, you'll need it in future.)''
Here it's "Blue + Black Internet 1.png"



Add States

Now, you'll add some states. In the "States" tab, click on add.



Then, select "mouse away", "mouse over", " mouse down", and "Nothing". To make the "Nothing" state simply edit the name of the state.



In these states, change the appearance to the same picture that you embedded earlier. ("Blue + Black Internet 1.png") It can be found in the drop down menu.



Then, add some effects in the "color" tab. Here I set the brightness to 50 on "mouse over" and 30 on "mouse down", same for the contrast.



Apply and save. In case of an error you should keep a good copy of the object.




Create the Script

First go to Object Properties and in the "General" tab click on "new" script.



The first part of the script are the OnScriptEnter, OnScriptExit functions.
These will be called on when the widget first runs and when the widget closes. This script will call other functions for saving and loading user settings explained later.

SCRIPT CODE
	'Call on script enter Sub Object_OnScriptEnter Call LoadSettings() Object.SetTimer 1000, 2000 Call setinfo End Sub 'Call on script exit Sub Object_OnScriptExit Call SaveSettings() object.KillTimer 1000 End Sub

Right Click Menu




This script for the right click menu will allow the user to choose an image for the shortcut's icon, and the ability to choose between a file, folder or url as the shortcut's target.

SCRIPT CODE

Dim foldername Dim Icon Dim target 'Function to set the right click on the object Function Object_OnRButtonUp(x,y,dragged) If Not dragged Then Dim menu Set menu = DesktopX.CreatePopupMenu menu.AppendMenu 0, 1, "Select Icon" menu.AppendMenu 0, 2, "Select File" menu.AppendMenu 0, 3, "Select Folder" menu.AppendMenu 0, 4, "Select URL" Dim rtn rtn = menu.TrackPopupMenu(0, System.CursorX, System.CursorY) Select Case rtn Case 1 Object.States("Mouse away").picture="Blue + Black Internet 1.png" Object.States("Mouse over").picture="Blue + Black Internet 1.png" Object.States("Mouse down").picture="Blue + Black Internet 1.png" Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") On Error Resume Next Foldername = Desktopx.ExecutableDirectory Icon = System.FileOpenDialog("Select a Picture....", "", Folder, "Pictures: jpg,bmp,png|*.jpg;*.bmp;*.png", 0) If Icon<>"" Then Object.States("Mouse away").picture=icon Object.States("Mouse over").picture=icon Object.States("Mouse down").picture=icon End If Set Sh = Nothing Case 2 Object.States("Nothing").picture="Blue + Black Internet 1.png" Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") On Error Resume Next Foldername = Desktopx.ExecutableDirectory target = object.command x = (System.FileOpenDialog("Select a File...", "", Folder, "All files|*.*", 0)) If x <> "" Then Object.States("Nothing").picture = x End If Set Sh = Nothing Case 3 Object.States("Nothing").picture="Blue + Black Internet 1.png" Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") On Error Resume Next target = object.command x = (System.FolderDialog("Select a Folder...", "",&H4000)) If x <> "" Then Object.States("Nothing").picture = x End If Set Sh = Nothing Case 4 Object.States("Nothing").picture="Blue + Black Internet 1.png" Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") On Error Resume Next target = object.command Dim Input Input = InputBox("Enter URL: ex: 'https://www.wincustomize.com' or an email ex: 'mailto:quentin94.website@free.fr'", "Select URL...") x= Input If x <> "" Then Object.States("Nothing").picture = x End If Set Sh = Nothing End Select Set menu = nothing End If If rtn <> 5 Then Object_OnRButtonUp=True End If End Function

You can see the entire right-click menu code above. I'll explain some of the parts.

Case 1 is the part of the code that changes the picture of the shortcut on all object states: "mouse away", "mouse over", and "mouse down". ''('''Note:''' "nothing" state will be for another function)''

"System.FileOpenDialog" will open a dialog window to choose the file. "Select a Picture...." will be the title of the dialog window. "Pictures: jpg,bmp,png|*.jpg;*.bmp;*.png" will allow the user to browse for those types of files only.

In Case 2,3, and 4, the first line will recall the main settings of the object in error case. Object.States("Nothing").picture="Blue + Black Internet 1.png"
then the target is as set on left click
target = Object.States("Nothing").picture
and there it's the "target = object.command"
So to explain once you'll set a target the address of this one will be copy
on the "Nothing" state and in this three case as object.command too


Case 2 will open the file dialog:

x = (System.FileOpenDialog("Select a File...", "", Folder, "All files|*.*", 0))
If x <> "" Then
Object.States("Nothing").picture = x

Case 3 will open the folder file dialog:

x = (System.FolderDialog("Select a Folder...", "",&H4000))
If x <> "" Then
Object.States("Nothing").picture = x

Case 4 will open the URL/EMAIL inputbox:

Dim Input
Input = InputBox("Enter URL: ex: 'https://www.wincustomize.com' or an email ex: 'mailto:quentin94.website@free.fr'", "Select URL...")
x= Input
If x <> "" Then
Object.States("Nothing").picture = x

Save/Load User Settings

This is where you'll save and load the information of the object stored in the "dim" variables 'foldername', 'Icon', 'target'.

SCRIPT CODE

'will save the stteings of the object Function SaveSettings() Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Sh.RegWrite "HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\iconchanger\folder", foldername Sh.RegWrite "HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\iconchanger\icon", Icon Sh.RegWrite "HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\iconchanger\target", target Sh.RegWrite "HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\iconchanger\x", x Set Sh = Nothing End Function 'will load the settings Function LoadSettings() foldername = Desktopx.ExecutableDirectory On Error Resume Next Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") FolderName = Sh.RegRead("HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\iconchanger\folder") Icon = Sh.RegRead("HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\iconchanger\icon") target = Sh.RegRead("HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\iconchanger\target") x = Sh.RegRead("HKCU\SOFTWARE\desktopx\iconchanger\x") Set Sh = Nothing Err.Clear End Function

Tooltip

In this code you'll script the object's tooltip:

SCRIPT CODE
	'will call on a fix time setinfo Sub Object_OnTimer1000 Call setinfo End Sub 'will when call set the tooltips with the complet address of the shortcut Sub setinfo object.ToolTipText=(Object.States("Nothing").picture) End Sub

Launch the Shortcut

This script will launch the shortcut when you left click on the object. If it's an image it will open it on your default picture's editor. The address of the shortcut is on the "Nothing" state:

"target = Object.States("Nothing").picture"

SCRIPT CODE
	'function to set the left click on the object Function Object_OnLButtonUp(x,y,dragged) If Not dragged Then On Error Resume Next Set Sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") target = Object.States("Nothing").picture Sh.Run (Chr(34)& target & Chr(34)) Set Sh = Nothing End If End Function

Well now you'll need to save your work and export it as object/widget or gadget or add it to a theme. Whatever you want!

I hope this tutorial has been helpful.
Quentin
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