ObjectDock+ Documentation?

Any Good Tutorials? Write-ups?

from WinCustomize Forums
Can anyone point me toward some OD+ documentation?

I've had OD+ since released, and I've used it in a rather rudimentary fashion ever since. I've tried getting a little more fancy but end up borking all my docks up, so I restore them and then just let it be.

I have the official ObjectDock Media Guide, and I've also read Corky's article. Both help some, but are there any other sources of help or instruction for OD+?

Right now I have two docks, both tabbed: one top and one upper left. This will sound stupid, but I have too many shortcuts needed with too little space to use anything other than docks! WinXP Pro and ridiculous memory and storage capacities have allowed me to place far too many applications on this machine - and it shows! I haven't seen the end of the Start>All Programs menu in ages. I think the R's are now showing at the last visible spot. I could use the scrolling start menu, but I hate it. I also use ManageDesk virtual desktops, but I prefer the docks.

So docks it is. But I usually run into some issues with my docks. I save my docks as Themes, but you can't see what you have saved there. By this I mean that when you click on "Load Theme", you are shown a blank box to type the name of the theme you want to load. I can never remember the exact name! Same when you save your theme - you can't see the names you have used previously. I always use some variation of my name, so it's Jim, or Jim1, or Jim01. Or was it Jim_1 or Jim_01?? I end up with a lot of almost identical themes with almost identical names. If you do save with the same name as an existing theme there is no overwrite warning - you just lose the older one. Using a normal Save and Open dialog box would be a great future enhancement.

Next is the issue of the icons' executable paths changing when you upgrade an application. Some apps auto-install to the user's individual folder, while others install to the All Users folder. Example: One app I have originally installed to my username folder. A release was made to correct some bugs about three months later, and installing it over the first one, using the latest MSI, somehow upgraded the original installation but also this time asked if just me or all users would use this app, and I checked All Users. It kept the existing folder but also created a new one in All Users. Of course the icon on my dock was rendered useless, and when I looked in my user folder I saw the app still had a program folder there. Stumped me for a bit, till I examined the contents of all folders. Yet the Start menu, quick launch menu, and desktop icons still worked just fine. They somehow are updated to know where the exe path is. Can OD+ be made to behave the same way that those Windows icons do and know how to "follow" the installation path?

Next, on the Media Guide some sample docks are shown and they look great. However I usually can't get mine to look or act like them at all! One example is the Media Guide sample showing Alienware. The bottom docks are described as "...single docks that are docked horizontally but are vertically shaped docks". Try as I might, I cannot get any docks to look like that, nor can I find any documentation that helps to explain it.

Downloading new dock themes has not worked well for me. I load them and almost always end up with a big mess - and it always ends with my docks being lost, reloading the saved version of the lost docks, and then fixing them because I neglected to save them for the last few changes. Aaggghhh! Example: Yesterday I downloaded a dock theme (won't mention which in case I'm just using it wrong - don't want to besmirch the skinner!), created a new dock, while editing the new dock I applied the new theme. That new dock stayed just like it was and my main dock disappeared! This sort of thing happens all too often when trying to aplly a downloaded theme to an existing dock. Mine are still the very plain, brightly colored things that OD+ defaults to.

Anyway, this post is way too long for answers - I'm not looking for detailed answers to these situations. I just wanted to write about what's happening with my OD+, and asking for someone to point me toward some good reading material on OD+.

Thanks!
objectdock
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Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
By this I mean that when you click on "Load Theme", you are shown a blank box to type the name of the theme you want to load. I can never remember the exact name!
You should have a dialog with files listed, much like any other program uses to open a file. At least mine works this way.

They somehow are updated to know where the exe path is.

The installed program's setup does this. I don't know of any way OD+ could do this. You don't have to delete your shortcut, you can just change the Link in the properties page.

Try as I might, I cannot get any docks to look like that,

The docks can be "sized" the same way any normal Window can. When you mouseover an edge the cursor will turn into the "resize" arrows.....click and hold then drag to the size or configuration you want. It's easiest to do this if you first "detach" the dock from the edge.

To do the vertical docks on the side, set them up while on top or bottom docked, then detach from edge and drag to side and they will reattach to the side as-is. Works just the same the other way around.

As far as downloading dock "themes" I don't even try. My suggestion would be to download the backgrounds you like and any png's you like into the appropriate directories (you can check out Corky_O's tutorial if you need help here) Link Once you have what you need create your own themes. The themes you download do not "add" to your existing theme, they totally replace it.

As far as documentation, the only docs I'm aware of should be in your Object Dock directory already. Your best bet is to post any and all questions here. Eventually someone will know or find the answer you need.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You should have a dialog with files listed, much like any other program uses to open a file. At least mine works this way

Really? Mine never has. Running Xp Pro SP2, and the latest OD+. It honestly has never showed a dialog - I'll post back in a bit with a link to a few screen captures. Weird...

The installed program's setup does this. I don't know of any way OD+ could do this. You don't have to delete your shortcut, you can just change the Link in the properties page.

Yes, I know I can change the link, but I what I never know is when the link becomes bad - until, of course, I click on it and get that most horrendous of sounds that only the great and powerful Bill Gates could have created - the "Windows XP Critical Stop.wav" chord!If I happen to use the Quick Launch menu though, the links seem to be self-updated. At least I never update them. Wonder how Windows does this? I just thought that if Win XP somehow does this on its own there must be a hook for another app to do it too. Oh well, I'll just keep plugging away as I am with this one!
When you mouseover an edge the cursor will turn into the "resize" arrows.....click and hold then drag to the size or configuration you want. It's easiest to do this if you first "detach" the dock from the edge.

To do the vertical docks on the side, set them up while on top or bottom docked, then detach from edge and drag to side and they will reattach to the side as-is. Works just the same the other way around.

I have tried that with limited success, but your last comment there may fix me up! Even resizing the dock, I've run into a couple issues: 1) I could not get the dock entries to line up vertically; even if you size the dock so narrow that they have to stack vertically, anything that causes the dock to widen just brings them back to horizontal. Creating it on the side first sounds good - I'll let you know how that goes. How that sample screenie got the text to show to the right of the icon is still a mystery. I don't show any option to do that. Maybe it'll somehow resolve by the side creation and moving.

As far as downloading dock "themes" I don't even try. My suggestion would be to download the backgrounds you like and any png's you like into the appropriate directories (you can check out Corky_O's tutorial if you need help here) Once you have what you need create your own themes. The themes you download do not "add" to your existing theme, they totally replace it.

As far as documentation, the only docs I'm aware of should be in your Object Dock directory already. Your best bet is to post any and all questions here. Eventually someone will know or find the answer you need.


Glad to hear it's not just me with downloaded docks!

As for the OD+ docs, I'll have to search for the directory. That's a whole 'nother story! Stardock apps have always spread themselves all over my Program Files directory. Object Dock Plus originally, as a separate "Misc" application and not part of the OD subscription, originally installed itself to Program Files>ObjectDock Plus. Yet SDC always used to place Object Desktop apps in Program Files>Object Desktop. Then it changed to Program Files>Stardock some time ago. When I started using SDC to install/update OD+, it placed them in the Object Desktop Folder, but left the ObjectDock Plus folder intact, so I would have a heck of a time updating OD+!!! Presently I think it all goes to Program Files>Stardock. Hope it stays that way!!

Thanks Lantec for all the help. Very much appreciated.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Here are a couple of screen captures. The first is to show the Save Theme dialog I see in ObjectDockPlus V. 1.20.522u Plus.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/J-Mac001/od_theme_save.png

And here is one more to show another issue I'm having with OD+ dialogs in general with the latest WB5 beta release. Note that the windows all become transparent and the overlap becomes a bit hard to decicpher:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/J-Mac001/od_windows.png

And before anyone asks, No I am not using WindowsFX, as I know that it has conflicts with the WB5 betas.

Thanks!

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
When I started using SDC to install/update OD+, it placed them in the Object Desktop Folder, but left the ObjectDock Plus folder intact, so I would have a heck of a time updating OD+!!! Presently I think it all goes to Program Files>Stardock. Hope it stays that way!!

ObjectDockPlus is not part of Object Desktop, and should never have installed as such. Why, or how it got there, who knows? Programs Files > Stardock, is the correct path.

Here are a couple of screen captures. The first is to show the Save Theme dialog I see in ObjectDockPlus V. 1.20.522u Plus.

That's how it should look. That dialog is to save your theme as it is at the moment. You chose the new name for the present theme, and save. When you use the Load theme button, you should get a list of all themes you have saved.

And here is one more to show another issue I'm having with OD+ dialogs in general with the latest WB5 beta release. Note that the windows all become transparent and the overlap becomes a bit hard to decicpher:

That's a WB5 problem, not OD+.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Here's the dialof from my "Load Theme" command
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
On the "Save Theme" issue, one way to avoid overwriting a prior theme is to include the date as part of the name ie themeNov132005

And here is one more to show another issue I'm having with OD+ dialogs in general with the latest WB5 beta release. Note that the windows all become transparent and the overlap becomes a bit hard to decicpher:

I've also been having the same problem with the "Settings" window since installing WB5.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I will be posting a few OD+ mini tutorials on Thanksgiving weekend (which is when I have enough time to do it justice).

I will try to include as many procedures as possible, while staying in the "mini" format.

The "Load theme" button should give you a list of themes, not the empty text box. Uninstall/Reinstall should solve, as long as you save your current downloaded content to a temporary folder, and delete the OD+ program and cache folders before reinstalling.

Agree on the theme issue, best bet is to change the extension to ".zip" and manually place the files - my current mini tutorial should address placement.