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[Skit3000]

Lots of times, I have a long list of opened windows. I got so annoyed by it, that I decided to make a "tabbar" for the taskbar, to be able to order the taskbar buttons in "project groups". For example, when clicking the Multimedia tab, programs like Windows Media Player, the C:\Mp3 folder, Windows Movie Maker and Cool Edit Pro should become visible on the taskbar. When clicking the PHP tab, Internet Explorer, Firefox, the C:\Website folder and Notepad should become visible. I already made the code for the tabs, but I am not able to show or hide taskbar buttons without showing or hiding the complete window which comes with it.

To see an example of what I've got, take a look at the attachment.

After some research, I found this article on MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/shell/reference/ifaces/itaskbarlist/DeleteTab.asp
It explains how to show and hide taskbar buttons dynamically without having to hide or show the complete window. Unfortunately, it seems it needs a COM control to operate. Another source I found was:
http://www.codeproject.com/dialog/hidetaskbar.asp
I think this will also need a COM control to work.

Does anybody know how to call the above functions, or another way to remove taskbar buttons without having to hide the whole window?

[JRoza]

Wow!
That taskbar looks good indeed .......
What a great idea to make tabs on the taskbar.
Hope you'll get to finish this one because I think there are many who would like a thing like that.



Jan

[Skit3000]

Just to be able to continue working on this project, I created a small Visual Basic 6 program which executes the COM code. Although it works, it is rather clumsy since it has to load the program everytime I want to show or hide a taskbar button.

If everything works out the way I want, I'll upload a beta version this evening...

[Skit3000]

As promised, a little beta to play with... Source code is included (although I think it isn't very easy to edit), so if you have some ideas, feel free to add them. Please note you need the Visual Basic 6 runtime files to show or hide tabs, since processing is done by a VB6 application.

How to use
Unpack the ZIP file and run the EXE file. If the tabbar isn't show, move your mouse over your taskbar to let it pop up. By default, all opened windows are added to the last tab, called "Remaining". You can append a window to a new tab by making the window active (click on the window or on the window's taskbar button) and then right click on the tab you want to add it to. To change to that tab, just left click on it.

The menu button
To open the Taskbar Projects menu, right click on the left tab. A simple popup menu will appear with some options. The first 6 will allow you to change the names displayed on the tabs. The close option will close the application and put back all taskbar buttons to normal. To change the position of the taskbar, just click and hold your left mouse button on the left tab and drag it to the left or right.

Known bugs
When you have a tab open but click on a window which isn't at the taskbar at that moment, the button of that window still will be added. If you switch tabs or if you click on the current active tab, the button is removed again.

Edit: for the people who might have downloaded it and didn't get the tabs to work properly: I forgot to include a file... Should work now though...

Edit: Uploaded new version, bugs above won't show up anymore.

[Skit3000]

Because some people asked about it, I fixed some small bugs which were still in the previous beta version of my taskbar tool. You can download the new version with the link above.

This new version adds some new things, like a Vista theme (you can change it back to XP by editing the settings.ini file). Also, when you click a window which isn't on the currently selected tab but on another one, the tab containing the window you just clicked will be opened and all other windows on that tab will be shown on your taskbar. This way, when you for example open a MSN Messenger conversation, all other conversations will be visible.

Feel free to try it. If you still find bugs, please let me know and I'll fix it (or you can update it yourself; the source code is included ), although I doubt there are any remaining...

[DaveR]

Very nice, skit.

You need to add 'option shutdown, <label-name>'. And then have the shutdown code bypass the 'are you sure?' askbox. As it is now when shutting down the PC taskbar projects asks if I'm sure I want to close it.

Do you intend adding more features? Like also hiding and showing the actual windows? So switching tabs would also switch 'desktops' - like the virtual desktop manager power toy.

Or allowing the user to reduce the number of tabs?

Or including the other XP color schemes? Olive-Green, Silver and the MCE 2005 Blue.

[Skit3000]

[Skit3000]

OK, I updated and uploaded the application. It now has a settings window and the option shutdown has been added. Dave, I tried to implement your idea about showing and hiding windows, but that doesn't work very pretty (windows started blinking, etc.) so I left it out.

Thanks for your tips