DX / OB online time - looking for testers

June 4, 2003 8:57 AM from

at home, i connect to the internet with a 56k modem, and my ISP disconnects me every 2 hours. so, i am interested in easily knowing how long i have been on line.

i have now written a DX / OB plugin which is designed to detect whether i am online or offline, and to tell me how long i have been online.

its rather basic at the moment, but works ok. if anyone is interested in helping me test it, then let me know

you seem to need DX 1.96b or above for this to work. i am not sure about OB versions yet, but it works in 1.60a

8,853 views 29 replies

Reply #1 June 4, 2003 9:49 AM from

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I love to test it, feline.

There are no objects, so it would be very cool if DX skinners would respond and make feline an object.

Reply #2 June 4, 2003 11:45 AM from

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where did you get DX 1.96b version? I just got 1.96 version yesterday.

Reply #3 June 5, 2003 1:55 AM from

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pjpowell doesn't know it yet, but he will be testing your new plugin too.

/me is wondering who else he can force to be a "volunteer".

Ah. Wait a minute. If PJ and Hippy can find the time to play computer games together then maybe Hippy should be a "volunteer" as well...

Come on, guys. It will not take much of your time. Get ready to skin this small gem!

Reply #4 June 5, 2003 2:56 AM from

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There are no objects, so it would be very cool if DX skinners would respond and make feline an object.

um
/me hasnt worked out how to make my plugin use graphics yet

it simply produces text at the moment

/me adds learn about graphics to my todo list

Reply #5 June 5, 2003 3:01 AM from

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/me thinks you can add the plugin on top of another object containing an image to make it more attactive.

Reply #6 June 5, 2003 3:05 AM from

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oooh!

i didn't realise you could do that! cool!

i only installed DX to give myself an easy way of testing my plugin as i write it. personally i want in in OB

Reply #7 June 5, 2003 3:09 AM from

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MadIce, re-reading your post, are you talking about:
a) placing two DX objects on top of each other, relying on the top object being transparent?

one DX object that layers the test mode plugin display onto a graphic in the same DX object?

i cannot seem to get b to work when i play with it, but i am still learning DX, along with DX plugin programming

/me looks around for the "experimental board" so we can play with this

Reply #8 June 5, 2003 3:09 AM from

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First I saw of this. Got lost under all the other stuff. Would be happy to test.

Reply #9 June 5, 2003 3:13 AM from

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pjpowell, many thanks

i will tidy up my code over the next day or so, and hopefully email you a version by Saturday

is the email address in your profile a good one to use? currently it is a 212k dll, so it will be a small attachment.

Reply #10 June 5, 2003 3:14 AM from

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Just an idea...

It would be easy for feline to make the plugin use state messages. The skinner would just need to assign an images to a state and feline wouldn't have to code graphics. One state indicates "on line" and the other "off one".

[Message Edited]

Reply #11 June 5, 2003 3:19 AM from

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MadIce, re-reading your post, are you talking about:
a) placing two DX objects on top of each other, relying on the top object being transparent?

one DX object that layers the test mode plugin display onto a graphic in the same DX object?

If you make the text background magenta (magic pink (255,0,255)) then any other object under it will show up as the background. Try it and see if this works.

[Message Edited]

Reply #12 June 5, 2003 6:11 AM from

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progress has been good!
once i plug in the correct code to detect online / offline (i can only test that at home tonight, no modem on my work machine) i will have my initial plugin ready to go!

MadIce, i haven't worked out how to set the text colour yet using the SD API. that is this afternoons experiment

the text appears to have a transparent background by default though, since it is effectively a "text mode" DX object.

Reply #13 June 5, 2003 6:32 AM from

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I also would have liked to test it, but I am connecting via firewall/NAT behind servers, so it would not be of great use, I think...

Reply #14 June 5, 2003 7:12 AM from

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the text appears to have a transparent background by default though, since it is effectively a "text mode" DX object.

In that case it will be easy. No addional programming required. Standard DX options can take care of it. Any object behind it will show through beceause of the transparency. Make the background object the parent and make both belong to the same group. Set the movement of the plugin object to "Locked" and the plugin object will move whenever you move the background object.

Reply #15 June 5, 2003 7:45 AM from

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hmmm how many threads are there about this?

I would like to test this feline. Could you please email? I'm on WinXP Pro SP1 on a cable connection.

Reply #16 June 5, 2003 8:15 AM from

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ahha! a cable connection. /me thinks werewolf could be challenge

i don't know if it will detect that you are online or not. well, one easy way to find out

c242, i will include you in the email as well. you are more than welcome to have a look

Reply #17 June 5, 2003 12:33 PM from

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email just sent

Reply #18 June 5, 2003 12:37 PM from

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Reply #19 June 5, 2003 12:38 PM from

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email just received

Reply #20 June 5, 2003 12:42 PM from

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Here, too.

Will have a look tomorrow, it's bedtime for me.

Reply #21 June 5, 2003 12:50 PM from

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In ObjectBar, testing with dummy works just fine, testing with 'real' plugin shows I am offline. In DesktopX (latest version) both dll's are reporting me as offline. the .txt file is in the root of c:

[Message Edited]

Reply #22 June 5, 2003 1:09 PM from

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hmm Update... in DX, when I assigned a graphic, the real dll is now working, but the dummy is still not.

Reply #23 June 5, 2003 4:22 PM from

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feline: appears to be working fine. Started counting up as soon as I added it to the object and changed to counting down when clicked. Also switched to not online when I went offline and restarted counting when I came back online.

No problems experienced yet. As it seems to modify the object text I wonder if it could be used by people vie dxscript to show an on/offline image in another object. Will have to look into that.

Reply #24 June 5, 2003 4:49 PM from

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/me offers to test if you help figure out how!

Reply #25 June 6, 2003 3:59 AM from

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werewolf - hmm Update... in DX, when I assigned a graphic, the real dll is now working, but the dummy is still not.

oops
i think that is due to left over code from the DXTrash template i used as my start point. the current version has a DX status based on whether the recycle bin is empty or not

/me makes a mental note to do something about that for the next version

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