WallChanger 3.0

Posted 24 April 2008 - 09:45 PM

Wallchanger Third Mayor release

Description

This little program switches your wallpaper on windows startup.
I made this for myself, there are progs like this around, but they are shareware... :twisted:
Thats why i made one myself.

Development of this baby is done now...
it works great

Any feedback is appriciated.



Released on 20-10-2008

What's New in Wallchanger 3.0 final.
=====================================================

New GUI!!!

Faster execution.

Minor optimisations to the sourcecode.

Updated to the latest beta version of autoit.

=====================================================
Wallchanger 3.0

Wall-Cmd

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Posted 25 April 2008 - 03:12 AM

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Posted 25 April 2008 - 07:05 AM

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Posted 28 April 2008 - 01:50 PM

thanx man, tell me if you find a bug ok?

damian666

Note: I haven't tried your app yet, but I soon will!

Having said that, I already have a couple of feature requests

I used to use Wallpaper Changer (www.wallpaperchanger.de), which ceased development sometime back in 2001. One thing I really appreciated about the application was the ability to stretch images based on the aspect ratio. Some images (4:3 or otherwise) stretched to a 16:10 display look absolutely terrible.

In WPC, you could set an aspect ratio threshold. Basically, if the proposed image deformation was less than the threshold (say 30%), then the image would be stretched to the entire desktop. If the deformation exceeded the threshold, the image would stretch fully in only one direction and aspect ratio was maintained. Normally this would result in 'black bars' on the sides (or top/bottom) of the image, but the program also could correct the background colour to match the image.

Another nice feature of WPC was the option to automatically tile small images (again, using a threshold). If an image is less than the specified size, it automatically gets tiled to fill the entire screen.

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Posted 28 April 2008 - 03:00 PM

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Posted 29 April 2008 - 02:42 PM

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Posted 29 April 2008 - 07:36 PM

hi man, well, i use api calls from windows itself, so no, i dont think it cab be done at the moment then man.

but i will investigate it, and see what i can come up with

damian666

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Posted 05 May 2008 - 07:27 PM

Do you think I could use WallChanger in WinPE 2. I tried it... thought that the download was the executable, copied it to system32\ and ran it. It's the first installer I've ever tried in WinPE 2, and it worked!

But when I try to run WallChanger, I get this:



Where's it trying to browse to? I don't think that there is anything in the Desktop special folder... maybe it doesn't exist in WinPE 2?

Something to think about. I'm off to bed. It's freezing!

Regards

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Posted 05 May 2008 - 11:47 PM

well, whatever it is trying to find, it certainly is not in PE2 man
and that installer worked huh?

didnt know that could work on PE2 lol

well, maybe i can modify the wall cmd for you...
but what do you need man?

Damian666

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 01:59 AM

well, whatever it is trying to find, it certainly is not in PE2 man
and that installer worked huh?

... installer works only under Dependency Walker - something magic about DW - it slows the processing down to steps? BTW, only tested under Virtual PC. It may be different with a real CD.

... and the installer needs a HDD attached to the booted machine, or...


... with HDD; default installation directory:


running the program...

well, maybe i can modify the wall cmd for you...

OK. I can switch to a cmd-line version.

The random Wallpaper batch file suggested by jaclaz in another thread won't work because there is no 'findstr.exe' in WinPE - only 'find.exe' and 'dir'. (Is there another way?) The registry settings used by the batch look OK... need to replace 'system32\winpe.bmp'.



So, I thought it may be OK to change it manually after boot. Could the program nominate a default location for the collection of wallpapers, and I can use Winbuilder to copy them to that location. Better would be collection of special WinPE wallpapers (two to start with, chosen by you ... ...) bundled with the application.

Regards

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 04:52 AM

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 09:07 AM

well, to start with, the wallchanger needs gdiplus to function.
is that there on winpe? else just drop it in the same dir and your done.

secondly, why do you need a preset dir? you can make whatever dir you want and put in some jpg wallpapers.
it gets converted to bmp, and applied to the desktop.
And with the cmd version, you just tell the path to the wallpaper.jpg, and its done man.
thats all you need, and me telling you what papers to include?

dont know man, i have thousands

Damian666

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 01:48 PM

well, to start with, the wallchanger needs gdiplus to function.
is that there on winpe? else just drop it in the same dir and your done.

There are two gdiplus.dll files - both in winsxs\ folders - no others anywhere else.

secondly, why do you need a preset dir? you can make whatever dir you want and put in some jpg wallpapers.

Everything is preset in WinPE - nothing changes unless Winbuilder tells it to change. I thought it might be easier to do away with the browse-for dialogue.

it gets converted to bmp, and applied to the desktop.
And with the cmd version, you just tell the path to the wallpaper.jpg, and its done man.
thats all you need, and me telling you what papers to include?
dont know man, i have thousands

... three or four of your lightest in size. I'll try the command-line in a moment.

I like surprises! Have you thought about the randomizer? That could be command-line - it would be nice to have an icon for the shortcut though. Just a click on the shortcut to change the wallpaper? ... and random at boot?

EDIT: Oops! First look, and I see it has a nice icon..... ...

Thanks

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 02:30 PM

I tried the WallCmd in WinPE 2.1, and it worked without error ... except for the little messages telling me what I'd done wrong ... ...

However, the wallpaper didn't change, and when I move a window around, it rubs the wallpaper out... goes black.

I'll give it a go with some of the optional WinPE packages.

BTW, the help screen says 'WallChanger.exe...', not 'WallCmd.exe...'.

Regards

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 03:33 PM

I'll give it a go with some of the optional WinPE packages.

Nope.

And this ...

RUNDLL32.EXE USER32.DLL,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters ,1 ,True

doesn't work either.

Regards

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 04:37 PM

i think we have the same problem here as with the wim mounter, it looks for a standart map, which is not there on PE.
let me see if i can change that for you man

i will report back

damian666

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 04:50 PM

ok, let me know what this does dude

Damian666

Attached Files

•  WallCmd.rar   296KB   606 downloads

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Posted 06 May 2008 - 10:15 PM

That works!

Thanks.

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Posted 07 May 2008 - 10:54 AM

ok, then thats step 1
any more requests???

Damian666

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Posted 07 May 2008 - 07:33 PM

ok, then thats step 1
any more requests???

Damian666

Hmmm. You really want to know? How about a one-click random wallpaper? I'd rather that than typing in 'HANDS_OFF_by_paperfairys.bmp', etc. The spelling gets me every time... ...

Can it be done?

Thanks

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Posted 07 May 2008 - 08:40 PM

well, if it can be done... i can do it too

i will see if i can fix something for you man.
and what dir would you like me to use to search for the walls?

oh, and man, you can use jpg, thats smaller, it will convert them on the fly

damian666

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Posted 07 May 2008 - 11:15 PM

well, if it can be done... i can do it too

i will see if i can fix something for you man.
and what dir would you like me to use to search for the walls?

oh, and man, you can use jpg, thats smaller, it will convert them on the fly

damian666

Any directory is fine. Except system32 which contains the winpe.bmp...

I'd like to make it easy for users (especiallly myself) to break the monotony of the same old wallpaper... a default selection of wallpapers for anyone who is too lazy to select there own. .jpg files? I'll take a dozen! ... ...

I was thinking that I could possibly do a separate randomizer to select the wallpaper file then add the result as the parameter to the WallCmd. At least, I could test one independently of the WallCmd.

Regards

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Posted 07 May 2008 - 11:22 PM

Any directory is fine. Except system32 which contains the winpe.bmp...

I'd like to make it easy for users (especiallly myself) to break the monotony of the same old wallpaper... a default selection of wallpapers for anyone who is too lazy to select there own. .jpg files? I'll take a dozen! ... ...

I was thinking that I could possibly do a separate randomizer to select the wallpaper file then add the result as the parameter to the WallCmd. At least, I could test one independently of the WallCmd.

Regards

well, i can let it check in the same dir as the exe itself, that would be ok right?
and you want wallpapers? are you sure?
i can give you some if you like...

and you can make that randomizer if you like, or i can see if i can do it, whatever you want.

p.s. i looked for a msn adress, but can not find it, maye talk sometimes?


damian666

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Posted 07 May 2008 - 11:52 PM

well, i can let it check in the same dir as the exe itself, that would be ok right?
and you want wallpapers? are you sure?
i can give you some if you like...

and you can make that randomizer if you like, or i can see if i can do it, whatever you want.

p.s. i looked for a msn adress, but can not find it, maye talk sometimes?


damian666

I thought yo meant msdn address for a randomizer script?

I will need to search hard to find one made from 'dir'. But if you can do it easily, be mt guest ... ...

Yeah! I reckon you can get better wallpapers than I could. Here's a snap-shot of my tastes... not everyone's cup of tea.

http://relativity17....arewell-8369177

Regards

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Posted 08 May 2008 - 06:21 AM

There is a .vbs from here that does most of what I require. Six wallpapers named wallpaper1.bmp, etc, randomly selected. The .vbs needs minor alterantions of the path, 'HKLM_CURRENT_USER' in the last line, and the line:

RUNDLL32.EXE USER32.DLL,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters ,1 ,True

(BTW It worked once, so I opened the registry to see what had changed. It didn't work again until I closed regedit.)

Three problems: Doesn't do jpg files, AFAIK; no download from developer - so would need to encode it in a Winbuilder .script or write it on the fly during building of the project; and the user would need to find the .bmp files, rename them and put them in a folder to copy them from during the build - i. e. it requires a usage manual ... ...

Regards

I also like this wallpaper - .jpg download. I came across this and the other one when using a theme from Litestep-France.

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