Smartbutton docky 50.6 uploaded

CentaurZ has uploaded a new smartbutton docky to OS4Depot

50.6 (24/05/10) :
- Automatic resizing of pictures
- Icons now have a mouse over state
- Locale support
- Fixed issues occuring on composited screens

http://os4depot.net/index.php?functio ... cky/smartbutton-docky.lha

@CentaurZ

Thanks for the new version!

@orgin
If this is what I think it is, then AWESOME. I would have used this to implement all my Amidock menus, except for the fact that transparency didn't work with compositing

@PEB

Thanks .

@ChrisH

Well, problems that ocurred with previous versions on composited screens should be gone now (provided you have Update 2 installed).

Still, I forgot to deactivate an "experimental" feature in 50.6 (the little '+' and '-' symbols identifying smartsubdock dockies and telling if their subdock is opened or close). For now, here's the procedure to get rid of those symbols:

1) Save global preferences for subdocks at least once (context menu)

2) Open ENVARC:smartbutton-docky-global.xml with the PrefsObjects Editor in Utilities

3) Create the following 2 keys:

- "SubdockVisibleSymbol" --> leave it as an empty string or set it to another image (e.g. TBImages:list_nodecollaps...)
- "SubdockHiddenSymbol" --> same

@centaurz
I have now replaced all my Sub-Docks with Smart Sub-Docks! This is really awesome because of one single feature: All the sub-docks now automatically stay lined-up with their icon, so I don't have to manually reposition them all the time, nor worry about accidentally dragging the AmiDock.

I have sub-docks (with folder icons) for Media (players), Office, Network, 3D Games, 2D Games & UAE Games. And I can now seriously think about adding more, without them becoming onerous to maintain.

P.S. One annoying feature of AmiDock, which I doubt you can do much about, is that new sub-docks have stupid defaults, and there seems no way to specify some sensible defaults (so I have to manually copy the settings for each new sub-dock).

@ChrisH

Great! Did you try to export some subdocks ? May be useful for backup, though just duplicating AmiDock prefs is an option too .

Regarding subdock defaults, this is not documented anywhere, but only the following AmiDock parameters are currently inherited from the parent dock:
- icon background
- bar background
- orientation
- # of lines used to display icon names

Agreed, it would be good to have at least borderless property in this list, because usually only the root dock should have borders, but AFAIR these are the only parameters broadcast to dockies, I'll ask AD developer if missing parameters can be added in a future version.

@centaurz
FWIW, the prefs I had to change for each new sub-dock were:
* Layout: Orientation (Vertical, drag bar bottom).
* Layout: Dock as drag bar (disabled this).
* Appearance: Icon area (Picture and transparency + background pic).
* Appearance: Font (I changed the colour to black).
* Appearance: Texts have drop-shadows (disabled).
* Appearance: Transparency (25% rather than 50%).

I don't think that AmiDock needs to expose these to the dockies, as long as it allows the user to specify some sensible defaults (which I think would be a hell of a lot easier to do).


Any chance of Smart Sub-Docks becoming the standard/default used by AmiDock?!? Or at least having them appear in AmiDock's menu, along side "Add subdock"? At the moment having to drop the Smart SubDocky onto AmiDock isn't ideal.


Regarding Smart Sub-Docks themselves...
* It would be fantastic if there was some way to convert "Dumb Sub-Docks" into "Smart Sub-Docks".

* I noticed ONE unexpected difference in behaviour between Dumb & Smart Sub-Dockies: When there are too many items to fit in one column of a sub-dock, the Smart Sub-Dock wraps them in a different way to the Dumb Sub-Dock. Not necessarily bad, but can cause extra difficulties when migrating from Dumb to Smart.

* I noticed that the Title of a Smart Sub-Docky is not the same as the name it is listed as in the AmiDock prefs (under Docks). In the latter it is just listed as "Smart Subdock", so I have to manually rename it to something meaningful.

* It seems a bit odd that Smart Sub-Dockies have TWO Titles visible by default. I realise this is because your Title allows more control than AmiDock's, but still it looks a bit strange, and may put people off? Not sure what the best solution is.

* Any other "bugs" I found were probably me not understanding how Smart Sub-Dockies work, since I can't seem to recreate them now.

@orgin

> cons now have a mouse over state

I have been suggesting AmiDock has this for ages now. Cool.

I must download tomorrow.

Do you need to use the docky or has Amidock finally been fixed itself ?


Bill.

@ChrisH

Quote:
I could add an "Add smartsubdock" option to the context menu, but it wouldn't help a lot in docks without any smartbutton.

@BillE

Quote:

This is a feature of smartbutton docky. For images, the mouse over state can be a separate bitmap, whereas for icons it is just an increase of the brightness.