Just bought, few requests

from Stardock Forums

Hello,

I just bought ObjectDock and this along with Reflex Vision makes my life a whole lot easier in XP, especially being a dominant OS X user.

There are a few things that's bothering me, and if it would be possible to fix/add features, it would be awesome.

1) A digital clock that spans over more than one icon. Currently I have a sys tray doc in the upper right corner (near where OS X sticks it's icons), and it would be nice to put a visible digital clock there. Problem is docklets cannot use more than one icon... So either a docklet that takes up multiple slots, or have a docklet be able to take up a rectangular spot.

2) Are there any shut down functions similar to the shut down option in the star menu? The one I've tried so far does a menu and picks which one... I just want the standard xp one to show up with one click.

3) Active applications not in dock - When I don't have an app in the dock, it doesn't show up as active. The OS X dock shows the icon of the app even when it's not added, then dissaperes when the app quits. Also, you can bring up a context menu to "keep in dock". Would be nice to be able to do this, especially with the task bar hidden.

4) The thumbnail minimize feature - I've noticed that sometimes the thumbnail goes away and just the icon shows up. Haven't been able to reproduce the circumstances though...

5) Click and hold - With the OS X dock you can click and hold for a second to get the context menu instead of right clicking. I find myself trying to do the same thing...

6) Having the explorer.exe icon is very unpredictable. Should be an option to always show as running, and load new instance if foreground window cannot be found. (want to make it function like Finder icon).

Other than that, it's working great so far. I found a docklet that mimics stacks (like in leopard), and that's pretty much helped me completely replace the task bar (I have the apps folder as a stack in Leopard).

If anyone is wondering, you can hide the trash icon off the desktop using Microsoft's TweakUI utility, among other things. Also, since I'm using a Mac Book, I've found SharpKeys useful in remapping the Apple/Command/Left-Windows key to control (used to Command-C, Command-V, etc...).

objectdock
1,995 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
1) A digital clock that spans over more than one icon. Currently I have a sys tray doc in the upper right corner (near where OS X sticks it's icons), and it would be nice to put a visible digital clock there. Problem is docklets cannot use more than one icon... So either a docklet that takes up multiple slots, or have a docklet be able to take up a rectangular spot.
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There are lots of DesktopX clocks that may suite your purpose better.
2) Are there any shut down functions similar to the shut down option in the star menu? The one I've tried so far does a menu and picks which one... I just want the standard xp one to show up with one click.
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I use the Syscmd docklet for that.  It's Awesome!
3) Active applications not in dock - When I don't have an app in the dock, it doesn't show up as active. The OS X dock shows the icon of the app even when it's not added, then dissaperes when the app quits. Also, you can bring up a context menu to "keep in dock". Would be nice to be able to do this, especially with the task bar hidden.
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Not following . . sorry.
4) The thumbnail minimize feature - I've noticed that sometimes the thumbnail goes away and just the icon shows up. Haven't been able to reproduce the circumstances though...
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Seen it mostly with Firefox.  I think it has something to do with the app
5) Click and hold - With the OS X dock you can click and hold for a second to get the context menu instead of right clicking. I find myself trying to do the same thing.
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Feature request . . or time to learn to use the right button?  ;)
6) Having the explorer.exe icon is very unpredictable. Should be an option to always show as running, and load new instance if foreground window cannot be found. (want to make it function like Finder icon).
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I believe that's an option. On the General tab, the Misc options button, first option.

Hope this helps some.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
DesktopX clocks that may suite your purpose better.
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What I'm really looking for is a way to get a clock in the same bar as my sys tray.

This will give you an idea of what my setup is (although I changed my main dock up a bit):
http://www.cywh.com/pc.jpg

Bascially I was a space after the last sys tray icon, and then the clock, in the same box. Would be nice to use the same application.

I use the Syscmd docklet for that.  It's Awesome!
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Thanks, I'll take a look at that.

[quote]Not following . . sorry.

Basically when you have a shortcut in "the dock" and you have the option on to show a triangle when that app is running. This mimics OS X behavior... However, in OS X an application shows up in the dock when it's running even though you haven't added it. When the app closes it dissaperes from the dock if you haven't added it. While it's running you have to option in the context menue to "Keep in Dock" or "Remove from Dock". The dock is supposed to be a place to launch applications, but also see all running applications. And this happens whether there's a window for it or not.

Obviosly not all apps show up like system programs. For object dock you could have an exclusion list to keep certain apps from showing up in the dock. Currently I think it uses the task bar to see if an app is running rather than using the process list... I'm fairly sure it does because Trillian, which immediately goes to the sys tray, does not show up as running until an active window shows up.

Firefox.  I think it has something to do with the app
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That could be - it was happening mostly with the web browser.

Feature request . . or time to learn to use the right button? 
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I've used windows for 10 years, and I've only been using Mac for the last 2. I know how to use a right click, and right clicking the OS X dock does exactly the same thing as hold-clicking. It's just that some functions feel more natrual as a hold-click... Like closing programs: I hold click the icon and choose "Quit" (last item) and all I have to do is let go - one click. Don't thing it would be too hard to implement. Just another way of doing it :)..

Also having "Close" as an option in the context menu would be nice... A lot of these don't seem to have a close option in the context menu? I suppose this is because the icon can represent multiple instances of a program? Funny thing is in OS X if you have multiple instances you have multiple icons... But it's rare that you ever have multiple instances of the same program.. Just one instance with multiple windows of that process... That's why I think it should be based of process list instead of what's in the task bar...

On the General tab, the Misc options button, first option.Hope this helps some.
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Yeah I believe I saw an option where it would bring that instance to the foreground instead of creating a new one. But as I said, explorer.exe is very unpredictable with this... It would be cool if you could turn this on/off for individual icons if you needed to.

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
3) Active applications not in dock - When I don't have an app in the dock, it doesn't show up as active. The OS X dock shows the icon of the app even when it's not added, then dissaperes when the app quits.
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Unless I'm misunderstanding, you can go to the ObjectDock configuration and under Dock Contents click Display open windows along with my icons.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
That's something completely different. That's showing each window in the task bar whether it's minimized or not, similar to how the windows task bar functions. What I'm talking about is more like how the OS X doc functions: When an application you've added as a shortcut is running, an indicator shows up saying that program is running (object does does this). But OS X also shows the icon when it's running even if you don't have that icon added as a shortcut. While it's there you have the option to "Keep in dock". You don't have to hunt for the shortcut if you want to add it if it's already running. If you've got a ton of windows open, you don't want a ton of icons on your dock. You just want the windows minimized, and a single icon per active application. Doing it this way you have far less in the "dock" than you do with the task bar. I guess maybe it doesn't make sense without an app like Reflex Vision to augment the dock.