In this episode of the .NET Show Quentin Clark and Anil Nori share some of the architectural concepts of WinFS, and how it changes the way programmers and users will interact with the information they store on their systems. Later Mike Deem walks through some code that shows how to code against this new file system in order to make information easier to work with. Elsewhere, Mike Harsh shows how to use the RegionMaster Controls sample from WindowsForms.net to create non-rectangular applications, like Windows Media Player, using Windows Forms.
MSDN TV: Longhorn & WinFS; WinForms and Non-Rectangular Apps
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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“RegionMaster Controls” it’s pretty good for doing this
Now Windows can do x-eyes using managed code!
“Now Windows can do x-eyes using managed code!”
Does that mean that we finally have a x-eyes version with real responsiveness?
Win32 has transparency region for age too…
See : http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/gdi/regions_8ctv.asp
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/gdi/regions_2c32.asp
for an example of a function
As you can see requirements says :”NT 3.51 or later, Win95 or later”
Easyness of programming is another story
I wonder what’s so cool about non-rectangular apps, except for that you can do?
It may be usable for precise piece of software (i can’t think of an example right now).
For general purpose software, it’s only eye’s candy…
Ugly eye-candy, at that. Can you think of a single application that’s made a desktop look better by not being rectangular, or hanving more irregular-shapeness than rounded corners?
I want my apps nice and rectanglar so I can fit them on screens nicely. My biggest problem with WMP is that it is anything but rectangular, at least in the right skin you can get it close. I really wish they made it so it just matched everything else on windows. Rounding corners is fine, but don’t make wacky blobs. I blame much of this on skinning (one of the worst ideas ever). Apps like Trillian come to mind, that have been made utterly useless do to their skinning and forcing you to figure it out on install, and even then I was not able to find a simple single box square matching windows theme. Consistancy is everything. I have yet to see a reason for making an app a wacky shape, it doesn’t help anything, just makes it stand out like a sore thumb. I don’t know about others, but I tend to size my apps so they all fit against each other and cover the screen but don’t overlap. Then I can see all of 4-6 apps at once. Wacky shaped apps mess this up, and look completely out of place.
I blame much of this on skinning (one of the worst ideas ever).
Skinning is a great idea if used right. The good thing about skinning is that you are able to alter the interface of an application to fit with your needs and habits. For example, the audio production app Samplitude Studio offers skinning which allows you to redesign the app to suite your needs, like different mixers for recording, mixing and mastering for example. Using skinning like that is a really good idea. However, skinning is so often used for looks only, not for productivity, actually these skinned interfaces usually reduce your productivity in order to get the “cool looks”. That’s what happends when you put graphics designers on making interfaces instead of interface designers.
rain, well put, I should have sad that. I fully agree with you, if it changes the app between a couple modes of use that is good. My beef is with the simply for looks thing. Like making media plays into 3 seperate blobs with important controls on each. Stuff like that.
actually, Win32s composition engine lacks that ability for real transparency. Avalon has added this ability. it was in the article a few weeks ago talking about Avalon.
how about a media player that does not need to sit inside a window, whether viable or not?
Cool, I wonder how long it will take for two or three OSS projects to appear in order to rip off all this technology for KDE and GNOME, and then refer to “M$” as a rip-off artist.
The link to GNOME Storage was a reply to the comment right above me, and not to troll. There was no need to remove it.
In the Plastik theme for KDE, all apps have rounded top-right and top-left corners (except things like XMMS which don’t use the window manager). This theme looks nice, and wouldn’t quite look right if the windows had square corners.
I do believe that stuff like this should be left up to the window manager in most cases. Having apps that don’t comlpy with the usual user interface guidelines for your chosen desktop/OS is not nice.
Winamp and XMMS seem to have been accepted as the exception to the rule through time though.