Wallpaper Gyro not available. Other link?

[P8RSON]

What do you think about the icon ? (i think it's quite nice, could be improved)
Did you need the extra OCX file ?
Glad you like it!
Any extra thoughts, improvements ?

"I breathe a sigh of relief when I know it looks right and people are going to dig it"

Re the OCX file:
Negative.... the program worked straight from main file.

Extra thoughts:
1. I like it's name
2. It's small
3. Hardly touches the resources
4. Easy to use

Improvements:
At present NONE..... Keep it simple.
Once you start adding other bits to it, it soon looses it's identity and starts to become complecated, bloated and damn awkward to use.

Presently I would give it a straight 10 for what it's designed for.

wjm0139,
My apologies in that I have not tested your offering as yet.
I would like to see someone else initially give their impression whereupon I would be most happy to check it out after.

Provided it does what it says on the tin and nothing else, I am sure it's a good piece of software.
Looking forward to hearing comments.

[SHuisman]

Thanks P8RSON!
I just updated to version 0.3.0, which practically isn't a major change but the changes are:
+When pressing alt-ctrl-delete (you'll get the Task Manager) The software is not viewable on the Applications tab, but IS viewable on the processes tab. ( it annoyed me) (and most other tray-like software do the same thing)
+The icon used in the tray was a bitmap image not viewable for you, it now uses the exe-icon, saving a couple of bytes.
+I deleted some lines in the write-to-registry code, to make is less spaghetti-code-like.
+Overall it saves about 100KB RAM
You can get it (like all versions) over here

[P8RSON]

Just downloaded, thanks...
I'll install it later... I'm using my P7010 at the moment..

[wjm0139]

I decided to recode my changer today (I was bored) in native code. The new version only has a memory footprint of 4,660k which I think is a little more reasonable than 20+M! I also decided to split the app into 2 parts, the first part is the actual change utility that runs in the background -which is finished. The second part will be the configuration.... I'm going to create a Property Sheet handler for the desk.cpl Control Panel Applet - this will replace the "Desktop" tab under the standard Windows "Display Properties" window.

I'll post an updated link to my website when I get the rest of the coding done and tested hopefully later on today.

Bill

[P8RSON]

wjm0139
Thanks for the added feedback Bill.
I really do hope someone else will try this out for you.
If not I'll check it out.

SHuisman
I've installed the update.
Although I can't see or feel a difference in it's use, it does exactly as it should.
When code is optimised it is welcomed gladly, especially when it's running at 8,300kb on startup.
Interesting point is I went back to the task manager later in the day to check something out and noticed Wallpaper030.exe had grown from 8,300kb to 12,100kb... Any comments!

[SHuisman]

SHuisman
I've installed the update.
Although I can't see or feel a difference in it's use, it does exactly as it should.
When code is optimised it is welcomed gladly, especially when it's running at 8,300kb on startup.
Interesting point is I went back to the task manager later in the day to check something out and noticed Wallpaper030.exe had grown from 8,300kb to 12,100kb... Any comments!

Hmmz that's quite strange, i've been running this about 20 hours now, and it's still @ 6.2 MB of RAM. I will leave it on for another day, and see again. On startup it reads the config, and automatically updates both bmp files (in case you changed the configfile by hand). The process of making 2 new bmp's takes about 1 second. (Depending on your wallpaper size, format and cpu speed) Does it stay @ 12100 or is it a peak value ?

I took a quick look @ my code, and some testing, and experienced that it grows if you change the wallpaper often; 10.3 MB max, but when writing a bmp a peak of 18MB, this MUST be improved, it simply is too large (my opinion)!

[P8RSON]

Don't worry I think it's simply because I picked a different picture and it was slightly higher in memory size.

Can you see what happens when you change files... does the size reflect the two pics plus the memory code.

[SHuisman]

Don't worry I think it's simply because I picked a different picture and it was slightly higher in memory size.

Can you see what happens when you change files... does the size reflect the two pics plus the memory code.

I changed my wallpapers about 20 times, just some pictures from about 300 KB. It started with 5 MB, ended with 10.3. When changing it peaked @ 19 or so. I don't like this effect, because it is programmed to 'delete' the temporary picture in the RAM,
Or it is something else that explains the growing in my code
Or it is wrong compiled
Or my load-save-picture code is just wrong
Or something i can't think of right know.

I think i know how 'it' works:
Program startup:
Around 5 MB
After viewing the settings dialog it's around 6-6.3 MB
After viewing the open file... dialog it's around 10.3 and stays there (only a peak when you change your wallpaper(aka when it creates the bmp files)(not on rotation))

This explains why it was 6.2 MB @ my computer after 20 hours and numerous orientation-changes (i did not change the wallpaper , so i did not see the open file dialog, and thus stayed @ around 6.2 MB of RAM)
I think i'm going to find an alternative to the commondialog OCX, there IS another way to display such dialog, i used it once, i will give it a quick search, try etc. And check it out! (basically it just asks windows to do it using the same ocx/dll, so it does not have to load the ENTIRE commondialog (print..., save file, colorpicker and open file)

[P8RSON]

Before I made the last post I inserted "I think it's memory not being released" but changed the post..
Maybe I should have carried this post through as it does look like this is the case.
There does appear to be a peak though, obviously dependant upon the size of the pic files you use..

P.S. can someone please have a go at wjm0139's program when Bill releases the update.
Thanks...

[wjm0139]

Here's a new link: http://www.m-networks.net/orient.zip

The archive contains 2 files the exe and a .reg

I haven't finished the control panel extension yet, but I'm hoping to have it done tonight or tomorrow.

INSTRUCTIONS:
-Unzip the archive to your folder of choice
-Double-click the orient.reg file to add the following registry keys:
HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\PortraitWallpaper
HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\LandscapeWallpaper
-Double-click orient.exe to start the utility

-To change the settings for the wallpaper either use regedit or modify the .reg file using notepad and double-click it again

NOTE: There is NO UI for the app, so the only way to unload it is through the Task Manager.

Bill