Day 10 - Jedi Concentrate
Todays app mimics a feature that is found in OS X called Exposé. The mac users in the chat room showed me a screen shot and I loved it. Very cool.When "concentrate" mode is activated, all windows except for the current active window are smoothly faded out. The purpose is to dim everything on all of your monitors when you need to get to work.
The application resides in the systry and "concentrate" mode can be toggled by using any of the following hotkeys: Ctrl-/, F12, Win-J. Customizable you ask? Sure are - just download the code and modify it. ;)
Download the app hereDownload the source here
posted by Unknown @ 11:27 PM
74 comments
74 Comments:
Only been out a few hours and already modded :)
Heres a version with options for opacity and speed:
Click Here to Download
Click Here to Download the Source
---Joe Chrzanowski
http://www.gyrolabs.com
Disregard my last comment the links were broken.
Binary Available Here
Source Available Here
SWEET!
The force is strong with this one.
No worry, Linux users can have this too, it's called Compiz ;)
Well exposé does a bit more than this, but I really like it!
It does not work when the desktop is expanding across multiple screens. The faded ares only covers one screen + a bit.
I would like to see this app developed further. With smooth fading and more options/functionality.
Great job!
Hey Jedi, its Jewbilee. Great App man. I love this thing. Perfect for when I really need to do work or something!
I had an idea for something like this and hopefully you can expand on it:
Instead of dimming the background, how about reducing the opacity of any window that is being overlapped by it? (and knowing not to when an app is maximized)
If you continue with the dimming route, have it so only windows that are not being overlapped are in front of the "black dim layer."
Another future project idea would be to introduce depth of field into the desktop environment: windows in the background are are gaussian blurred, and maybe have their window's opacity lowered as well.
Great work! Keep it up!
does nothing but crash, win2k
Well not exactly like Exposé, which is more of an app-and-window switcher, while this looks like it does what it says, i.e. concentrates on one window.
When I need to concentrate, I just maximize the window I am working on.
the key part of expose, however, is the zoom out and display of all the windows, so you can then pick which window you want focus of. much more convenient, intuitive and often faster way of navigating your desktop than, say, the taskbar. i love that feature in os x and find myself trying to do it out of habit in win xp, and always disappointed.
Great!!
Keep it up
Any chance of making it automatic, i.e when I select a new window all the others automatically dim rather then having to press F12 again? Cool app though.
D'oh! It's already been done:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/index.html#TransOther
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/index.html#Ghoster
Jacob
Well not exactly like Exposé, which is more of an app-and-window switcher, while this looks like it does what it says, i.e. concentrates on one window.
Great!
Greater if concentrate mode could be set always on... :-)
I didn't find a place to submit ideas for upcoming days so here goes:
When Windows is booting there are a lot of applications trying to start at the same time (from the registry, start menu) and my guess is that it would be better if Windows would start each application in turn waiting some time before starting the next one... Well, the only way to know for sure is by crafting a simple application!
Here's the specs:
The application would move all the shortcuts from the registry/start menu and put its own shortcut to start itself upon system start. Each original shortcut would then be started in turn after disk activity slowed down and/or CPU activity went below some threshold for some time and/or some configurable time has passed.
Hope I was clear enough.
Have a nice day.
I have a dual monitor setup and the program blacks out the apps on the second monitor, but none on the primary.
nice idea, but it doesn't work very well with two monitors
I am getting an error ("not enough storage is available to process this command"). I have a dual display setup, XP SP2, not sure what else would be helpful to diagnose the bug.
E:\Documents and Settings\sigma\Desktop\appaday\JediConcentrate\AnAppADay.Utils\obj\Debug\AnAppADay.JediConsole.KeyHook.pdb
i'd remove that dll ;)
Doesn't work well with multi-monitors
Hm.. Yep, I can confirm that it doesn't behave well with multiple monitors. it seems confused as to which is the background and only handles one, not both.
It works well on my multi-monitor setup (XP SP2, running UltraMon) but it messes up my keyboard. I have my keyboard set to US-International so that I can type accents, but this program messes that up.
Doesn't work proper on my dual monitor also :-( only secondary as well, I'll take a look at the code see if I can fix it
This isn't Expose at all. This is an application-focuser, but that completely misses the boat on the benefits of Expose. It's usefulness is also quite minimal when compared to Expose.
Has really nothing to do with Expose. Expose resizes all windows / current application's windows so you can see all side by side and select one to become the new active window.
Which has really nothing to do with your app, except the background (or other applications' windows, if you chose to switch only windows of current app) becomes darker in Expose, too.
This is more like Mac freeware called Doodim.
this works on my multimon, when I recompiled it with a couple of small changes
add int totxMax = 0; before the screens loop, add totxMax = totxMax+xMax; in the loop, and change the varable in the size loop to
Size = new Size(totxMax, yMax);
Now it works good on my sys, although I also saw the "not enough storage is available to process this command" message a couple times, not sure where this comes from, but now it works on both screens properly :-)
Here is a link to the build that fixed multimon for me, hope it works for you too.
http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=JediConcentrate_MMPatch.zip
----------------------------------------
int totxMax = 0;
foreach (Screen s in Screen.AllScreens)
{...
totxMax = totxMax+xMax;
}
Location = new Point(xMin, yMin);
Size = new Size(totxMax, yMax);
-----------------------------------------
May the force be with you?
Kernelsandirs
ok this seems really kool..but there seems to be one little problem..every time the user changes the current window the effect is gone..isnt it possible for the effect to stay on, imean lyk if we change the current window from the explorer to a program then the program window is highlighted
Oh I recompiled it again with Joe's options, and the fix for Multi Monitors
Here
could you do someting like this:
http://they.misled.us/dark-room
again, source code is what i'm interested..... :)
thanks
Dude you F*in rock. Makes having to use windows at work so much better. Thanks!
There is most certainly a bug with multimonitors, but I think your fix is making it too big. I can't play with it here at work (the only place I HAVE multimonitors). Output the vals of those 4 vars before it sets the size, and figure it out like that.
I'm also realizing that I didn't set doublebuffering to true on the form object. I'm not sure where in the "stack" transparency is drawn, but if it's in the repaint method of the form, this setting will help A LOT.
Thanks for the feedback!
BTW: this app likes a strong graphics card. The one here at work is really sucky.
AWESOME stuff man
Good going :)
I think the fix I put in, is right because the Size = expression is setting the actual size of form1, but when it gets the xMax from each monitor, it is getting the value of 1280(on my machine) which means the location is gonna be 0,-1280 and size is 1280x1024, that only covers one monitor, so by adding the total of all xMax for Each monitor individually the total of all of those is the width that form1 needs to draw to to cover all monitors.
I also can see how it is a gfix card hog, it works much better with Joe's options added to the multi mon fix, I turn up the speed to the max, and it is very smooth now. of course drawing that form1 across two monitors is prob a lot more intense than a single monitor ;-)
Kernelsandirs
:-)
Cool stuff though, I think I am gonna have to work on a full Expose clone :-)
I've been looking for something along these lines for months and just found it via Lifehacker. Thank you!
When I double click the anappaday.jediconcentrate.winapp.exe executable, I get an error. I am running winxp on a 2.0 ghz Athlon XP. Do you have any idea what might be the problem?
All of these are great! Excellent work!
I have an idea for you if you're interested.
I would desperately love a tool which does the following ...
1. is a button on the ie toolbar (or floats permanently)
2. when pressed it creates a thumbnail of the current web address (not screen capture, html capture) (similar to http://www.thumbpress.net).
3. creates a thumbnail from that capture (similar to http://resizr.lord-lance.com/default.asp).
4. uploads the thumbnail to imageshack or similar.
This tool would save me TONS of time and I'm sure lots of other people would also find it useful.
Maybe a 'floating' app would be better so options like 'thumbnail hosting service' and 'thumbnail size' can be set with a right-click.
Keep up the great work!
I've found a weird bug while using JediConcentrate with Word (French).
Each time I use both at the same time, I can't type the "î" letter anymore. Instead, I get a "^^".
To get this "î" letter on a french keyboard, you have to press the "^" key before typing "i".
Any tips or workaround ?
Anyway, great app'. Thanks for coding it !
Both tools (original and mod) do not work for me.
Program is running and I have the tray icon, but my windows look as before.
I run Windows XP Pro with Classic Startmenu and on "Best performance".
I am working as a non administrative user. Any ideas?
Hope this piece of software does not need administrative rights?
It's not working on my PC :( at all
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1016MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
Card name: Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Wow this is awesome!
Thank you so much!
I have a dual monitor setup
Win XP
Nvidia Gforce 6600GT
Athlon XP 2800+
This seems to only work on my secondary monitor, but that is fine by me! It lessens monitor glare a whole lot and makes me less cranky! :)
Thanx Again!!
I am seeing something similar to what the frenchie dude reports. My machine has the keyboard regional settings in spanish, and instead of an accent, I get double quotes before the letter I want to accent.
Otherwise, it works great.
This looks pretty damn interesting, will be checking this one out in a while. Should be a windows feature by default if you ask me.
One small problem — the icon in the system tray refuses to stay always hidden (I’m using XP SP2). In the list for “Customize Notifications,” the program shows up as "no title." Would that explain why?
Also, the system tray icon could be more visually pleasing. Perhaps a small back-grey rectangle with a little white rectangle within it? That’d give a clearer idea of what the program does. And then I wouldn't care about hiding it. : )
Thanks again for giving Windows users this great aid to concentration.
On my dual monitors it only darkens the second monitor!
Yeah same here, my second moniter darkens and then like and inch of my main monitor (second moniter is 1024x768 and main is 1240x1024
Is there a fix to this?
The difference between your program and Doodim is what?
I wonder how hard it is to mod it to make it auto concentrate on all programs...
Becuase Doodim is Mac only, as far as I can tell from the website.
Also, Doodim has been replaced (also, as far as I know) by Expose in OSX.
I have a dual monitor setup, and it kind of works. Take a look:
http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/4521/theforceisweakvz6.png
I am getting System.Security.SecurityException. Any ideas anyone?
doesn;t work, try winplosion instead
Hey, Dana. Great Stuff. Keep rollin' the apps out.
I have an idea that you can build on using the dimmed background. I noticed that in Google's Picasa, there's a slideshow that you can maximize to fit your screen. Can you make a simple video player using the dimmed background, but playable at full screen mode?
Thnx, pal, nice little app. Just a small thingy - it does not grey out browser window at all (it doesn't matter firefox or opera). Thnx
Ahoy, i would really love to try this app out, i think it will really make a difference. The problem is it does not start on my PC (WinXP SP2). I get "The application failed to initialize propperly (0xc0000135)". Do you have any idea what the problem could be?
[quote]Each time I use both at the same time, I can't type the "î" letter anymore. Instead, I get a "^^". [/quote]
I have this bug aswell. Is it intended :D because i use this key only for the "emoticon" "^^" it spares me on hit. yay!
On concentragte, I'd love for this to mark my Trillian connections as busy and also hide (or dim) the task bar of all other tasks.
Nice app... very nice.
I also got "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135)" error when trying to start this app on XP sp2 but solved the problem by installing the .NET 2.0 Framework
Cool App though. Thanks
I like this :). Thanks
How where those 2 patches merged into the program?
I don't really know which files and how to import them into the project.
Thanks in advance
Hey I have a question. What's the point? Why not just, you know, maximize the window?
Seriously, can someone make a similar app that automatically dims all non-active windows?
Try Zorro 1.5
Description
Zorro is a utility to completely blank the screen except for a rectangular area selected by the user. This is especially useful for watching videos on your computer without being distracted by other programs.
http://www.gabrieleponti.com/software/#zorro
"At 10:51 AM, Anonymous said...
E:\Documents and Settings\sigma\Desktop\appaday\JediConcentrate\AnAppADay.Utils\obj\Debug\AnAppADay.JediConsole.KeyHook.pdb
i'd remove that dll ;)"
i bet the keyboard errors are related with the keyhook...and not sure what its doing there anyway...
i d say remove it to!
If you're getting the error "application failed to initialize (0xC0000135)" you need to install the .net framework. Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=262D25E3-F589-4842-8157-034D1E7CF3A3&displaylang=en
BTW, for those still struggling with the "no title" problem, add this line after line 37 of program.cs: _icon.Text = "Jedi Concentrate";
Now you don't have to tell Windows to hide the icon after every reboot.
How do you change the command button for the program from F12 to F1?
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
idk if anyone is still here but i am unable to download the source code from any of the links above, so if someone could reupload or email it to me at hamsolo474@hotmail.com, i would be greatly appreciative
did anyone ever make a version of this that changes with the active window?
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