[BUG] Skin hides the windows taskbar

[AlC]

Hey guys,

I have a strange bug when a skin is running. The skin is a simple wallpaper skin.

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
	Update=-1
	@Include=#@#Variables.inc

[Metadata]
	Author=AlC
	Name=Wallpaper
	Version=1.0
	License=Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License
	Information=

[Wallpaper]
	Meter=Image
	ImageName=#@#Images\Wallpaper\#Wallpaper#

The image has the same size like my resolution.

These are the settings for the skin.

Code: Select all

[AlZuite\Wallpaper]
Active=1
WindowX=0
WindowY=0
ClickThrough=1
Draggable=0
SnapEdges=0
KeepOnScreen=0
AlwaysOnTop=-2
SavePosition=0

The bug is that when I click on any other rainmeter meter from any other skin (with mouseaction or without mouseaction), it hides my windows taskbar and the taskbar comes back when I click at any non-rainmeter-meter place at my desktop.

3.0.0 beta r1979 32-bit (Jun 16 2013)

An other thing that I've found is that when Manage or About is open and at the desktop and I have other programs like Firefox or Sublime Text 2 open and I minimize them it hides the taskbar, too.

If I unload the the skin, everything is normal again.

Very strange.. I hope you undertand the problem.

[jsmorley]

At a high level, it should be understood that just because a skin with an image is the same size as your monitor, and is set to "click through" and "on desktop", does not in any way make it the same thing as a desktop wallpaper to Windows. The problem is that having a Rainmeter skin behind the taskbar creates a conflict between Rainmeter and Windows, one that Windows will always win. Rainmeter can set a skin behind or in front of the taskbar, but Windows will move the taskbar to the front or back of the skin (which Windows just sees as an application window) based on its own rules and as it pleases. Rainmeter has no control over this, as in the Windows world, the routines that control the taskbar have absolute priority.

I would set the size of the image to be (#SCREENAREAHEIGHT#-#HeightOfTaskbar#) with the variable #HeightOfTaskbar# set by you depending on how you have your taskbar set up (small or large setting in Windows). That way you won't fight the taskbar with Rainmeter.

[AlC]

Okay, thank you jsmorley for the explanation.

Yes this would not fight with the taskbar, but I need the whole desktop ( with taskbar background). But I can do a workaround, this should be not a big problem.

[jsmorley]

There is a is a !SetWallpaper bang that can be used to set an actual Windows desktop wallpaper as you like from a skin.

[AlC]

Yes I know this bang and I will use it for my workaround :)