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[majkinetor]

[majkinetor]

2Laszlo

This helped to me, so now your dock example works without any problems:

[Laszlo]

Yes, that works. However, the window movement is not as smooth as before, and there is considerable flickering, when the window is moved under the taskbar. Maybe, it could be better if it can be done with dll calls directly, or some other, less drastic means.

Otherwise, your docking solution is getting to really useful. Just a little more tweaking…

[majkinetor]

[majkinetor]

I tried to remove ALwaysOnTop solution with something faster so I tried this:

[majkinetor]

This is kind a cool

[Laszlo]

Maybe my laptop is too slow, but the window pair does not move very smoothly for me. Just thinking… If we had too hooks, one for window movement and resize – which does not need the AlwaysOnTop trick, and one for window activation (object state change, system foreground), which does not need the code for window movement, then the movement could be smoother.

[majkinetor]

Well, just add this code

[Laszlo]

The last version seems to work OK, and fast enough. (Checking Dock_event = 3 was clever!) I made a few changes. Keep the ones you see fit.

- There is no need any more for API_ShowWindow(Dock_ClientId, 8) in the Dock_Update subroutine.
- It is a little cleaner to list explicitly the global variables a function needs, albeit longer.
- We don't need to load the hook dll repeatedly.
- It is enough to determine the script's process ID only once.
- The return value of the function Dock was better the logic AND of the handles, which is 0 if any one of them is 0. (Bitwise AND can be 0 otherwise, too.)
- Undock does not need GoSub Dock_Update
- I made the calling syntax of the dock function faster and more flexible, but also more complex (beginners choose one of a few listed options). There are 10 parameters: (xhw,xw,xd, yhh,yh,yd, whw,wd, hhh,hd)
--- The x coordinate of the top, left corner of the client window is computed as
HostX + xhw*HostWidth + xw*ClientWidth + xd, with the parameters xhw, xw and xd
--- The y coordinate of the top, left corner of the client window is computed as
HostY + yhh*HostHeight + yh*ClientHeight + yd, with the parameters yhh, yh and yd
--- The width ClientWidth of the client window is computed as whw*HostWidth + wd, with the parameters whw and wd.
--- The height ClientHeight of the client window is computed as hhh*HostHeight + hd, with the parameters hhh and hd.

[majkinetor]

I have no objections to such changes. I intended to do all that myself, the script above is created out of great number of trials and mistakes so it is nor optmised nor done like it should be.

I will test a lil more your version and update the above code with it, if it works OK.


Thx for improvements.

[majkinetor]

Yeah, works great, I like the syntax too.

One thing needs to be done: to hook application termination and to call appropriate user function so it can shutdown the gui or do whatever he likes with it.

[majkinetor]

New version

2Laszlo
After some usage, I think your interface doesn't provide more benefits then original except allowing expressions (Dock parameters). Its just different, and I like the idea as long as we can extend it a liltle.

- ability to let the Dock client keep its original width & height (should be trivial) without repeating its w & h in Dock call. For instance, its not possible now to create default values for Dock function as Client W & H must be known at call.

- ability to anchor X & Y, so for instance, dock can always keep its width & height but stay at bottom right when resizing. (should be trivial too)




Also, we should start to think about multiple dock clients and host classes. (not trivial)
_________________

[Laszlo]

If the client window does not move with the host, it is not docking, is it? Still, if it is visible, when the host is, the client can be useful for status messages, or building a private task bar of selected applications. It is easily achieved with two more parameters (coefficients of HostX and HostY), but 10 parameters look already too many and confusing, so adding two more makes the function scary. I would add instead another function: Link(X,Y,W,H), with fixed coordinates for the client. It does not even have to inquire the position of the host.

[majkinetor]

[Laszlo]