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Desktop Work Area ignored [Solution]

Tips and Tricks from the Rainmeter Community
MarwanBaki
Posts: 25
Joined: October 20th, 2010, 6:22 pm

Desktop Work Area ignored [Solution]

Post by MarwanBaki »

Hey guys. How is it going, i hope all is well. Anyhoo, im new here. I usually don't frequent forums MUCH but this application is great. Oh my gosh its lovely.

This is my current desktop
The problem:
I have my MAIN windows taskbar/startbar on top but im using an application to hide it and i have my main Rainmeter taskbar at the bottom. When i maximize windows, the bottom RainMeter taskbar would always get covered up which was really annoying. Surfing through the interwebz and forums told me to add the attribute of "DesktopWorkArea" in the main skin settings. Setting that would prohibit any application from going over my rainmeter taskbar when maximizing. Now this helped quite alot, but anytime you run an application that supposedly changes your resolution, this "DesktopWorkArea" attribute would be ignored. Don't get caught up with the details. I use Google Chrome and VLC media player alot and let me tell you, more than 70-80% of my time was spent with my bottom taskbar covered.

The solution:
I searched the internet and even these forums and apparently this was a known issue that , well basically, had no solution and a "fix" wasnt coming anytime soon. Well after 4-5 days of contemplating and some research, i found a neat application that's sole purpose is to change your "DesktopWorkArea". It seems that this forum doesn't frown upon references to other applications assuming they aren't doing the same thing as Rainmeter. Having said that, this application is called "Desktop Coral". It is really great and you will find it really useful if you suffered from my problem. Maybe alot of you know about this, but a few hours of searching(these forums and most of the internet) proved futile. So i figured i'd help whoever stumbles upon this problem in the future.

=)

PS: I figured tips and tricks is the best place to post this, feel free to move it mods.
codybear
Posts: 7
Joined: February 1st, 2010, 9:39 pm

Re: Desktop Work Area ignored [Solution]

Post by codybear »

I use autohotkey to hide the taskbar window.
This following scriptlet will toggle between the two using the Windows key + T key.

Code: Select all

;Win + T = Hide/Unhide Taskbar
#t::
if toggle := !toggle 
    {
    WinHide ahk_class Shell_TrayWnd
    WinHide, Start ahk_class Button 
    }
    else
    {
    WinShow ahk_class Shell_TrayWnd
    WinShow, Start ahk_class Button 
    }
return
It does not get covered up in chrome or vlc for me. I don't use chrome anymore but do use VLC quite a bit.
What you can set the taskbar height to whatever you want (unlock the taskbar and raise/lower to the height you want to save - limited to the stock sizes the taskbar can be) and then use this script to toggle it to hide/show. If you'd like I can compile into a file that will just toggle it to hide/show.

My theory on this problem is the program you're using it to hide the taskbar is doing something to take away that actual space. My script only hides the window and doesn't have that affect.

(In the future I may play around and make an option to resize the space to save and have the option to )
MarwanBaki
Posts: 25
Joined: October 20th, 2010, 6:22 pm

Re: Desktop Work Area ignored [Solution]

Post by MarwanBaki »

Wow, you found my old post. Well supposedly this problem of covering a rainmeter taskbar occurs when the resolution changes or the resolution refreshes itself or something of that sort. So Google Chrome and VLC wouldnt really cover it always, but i think it was when i switched monitors, ran games or maybe EVEN full screened VLC. Then you would have to refresh rainmeter for your rainmeter taskbar to act like a windows taskbar(as in maximizing windows doesnt cover it).

As for your script does it do that? And for alot of people, like myself, id rather not have to hotkey that, i want my taskbar to be shown and not covered ALL the time(unless fullscreen media)
User avatar
AtmanActive
Posts: 7
Joined: January 8th, 2011, 12:00 pm

Re: Desktop Work Area ignored [Solution]

Post by AtmanActive »

This is wonderful, DeskCoral is wonderful, thank you very much for this info!

And it even works in portable mode, just UniExtract the DesktopCoralSetup.exe, add the text file named "ConfigDir.ini" and inside put this one line:

Code: Select all

CONFIGDIR = .
It will instruct DesktopCoral to put it's own configuration (DesktopCoral.ini) in the folder where DesktopCoral.exe is.

Awesome! 8-)
MarwanBaki
Posts: 25
Joined: October 20th, 2010, 6:22 pm

Re: Desktop Work Area ignored [Solution]

Post by MarwanBaki »

HaHa yes!!! yes!!! it is amazing.
User avatar
Nebbishatudub
Posts: 26
Joined: January 28th, 2011, 4:57 am
Location: Washington, DC

Re: Desktop Work Area ignored [Solution]

Post by Nebbishatudub »

An alternative to Coral which I prefer is called Taskbar Magic. It has been around forever, and is minimal on resource use.

Here is a link for a download hosted on rocketdock: http://rocketdock.com/addon/misc/3425
Here is a picture of it "in action" on my desktop while making this post:

Image

At the bottom you can see my Rainmeter "Taskbar" which (from left to right) shows System Up-Time, Local Weather, Application Launcher, Network Activity, Recycle Bin, RocketDock (which is essentially my System Tray) and a clock.
MarwanBaki
Posts: 25
Joined: October 20th, 2010, 6:22 pm

Re: Desktop Work Area ignored [Solution]

Post by MarwanBaki »

Interesting. As of yet i have no reason to switch but its always good to have an alternative incase =). Good stuff.