Hi everyone,

I just installed Nexus dock (tried RocketDock yesterday and uninstalled it today) and it's awe-some! I use Win7pro x64

I was just wondering if there is a way to modify the way the clock is looking or to add a different clock module/icon/whatever to replace the original one. I am talking about the digital clock. I like to have both date and time displayed.

Actually it would be even better if this clock could be displayed in the tray, but I am maybe a little picky here

Just another remark about icons. I tried using the recycle bin icons located in c:/windows/system32/imageres.dll but it didn't work (default icons where kept even after rebooting). Thus I just downloaded 2 nice-looking icons for the bin (.ico files) and the replacement went smoothly... Just wondering why one cannot use icons stored into .dll (or .exe) files for modules while such icons (located in container files) work just fine for other items like programs in Nexus dock... However, not a big deal in my case.

I was also wondering if there was a way to add/download additional modules. I have the free version of Nexus dock but I don't know if this is possible in the paid version.

Thank you very much in advance for your help.
Best,
-a-

You can use Stoic Joker's T-Clock http://www.stoicjoker.com/TClock/ Be advised, you must disable the Winstep clock on the System Tray for it to work.

I assume you haven't seen my video. You can see what it looks like. It's fully customizable. You can configure it to military time, many different colors, fonts, size, order of date and time with or without seconds and symbols. Check out the full video for Winstep Xtreme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHWzlo0oFbA

The original (first part) is posted here on Winstep's Themes page. http://www.winstep.net/themes.asp



Winstep docks only accept PNG and .ico files (and maybe others) for icon usage. I assume it has to do with the various features of a icon on the dock e.g. magnify with mouse-over.



Yes, there are a ton of different modules. They can be DL and configured according to the theme that you are using.

Windy, what are you saying, man?

Ash, sorry but the modules for the docks are fixed. They are what you see (I don't think there's any difference with the paid version) and you cannot add third-party ones. Jorge, the programmer, has made a conscious decision not to allow others to create modules for Winstep, simply because he wants to be able to guarantee that Winstep (and Nexus) as a product is stable. A badly written module could potentially crash the whole programme, and users wouldn't even know that the crash is not the fault of Winstep but of some badly coded module.
All in all, the creation of modules is the privilege of the creator of Winstep.
If you have any ideas and would like to see them implemented, though, by all means, please post them.

About the icon... can't be sure but it could be related to the fact that [X]:\Windows\System32 is a protected directory and Winstep, for your own safety, is working without special admin privileges.

Lastly, the clock. There *is* a way to modify the analogue clock, but as for the digital, I *think* it's not currently possible. If memory serves, there was a way to change the 'digital' font, but that's all. Also, there's currently no way to have two clocks (obviously set at different offsets) or two different modules of anything, for that matter. That's something being worked on, however.

Hope that helped.

Modules in the docks (and the Shelf, if you are running Nexus Ultimate) are little more than self-updating *icons*. As such - and unlike their larger cousins, the Desktop Module versions available in Winstep Xtreme which are freely skinnable - customization options are limited.

Usually you can do little more with them than provide an alternate background and change certain colors. Being able to also specify the placement of things such as text information (e.g.; time, date, bytes in, bytes out) or even placement/size of e.g. clock hands, would render the skinning of in-dock modules extremely complex for what is essentially a (relatively small) icon.

Even so, with the digital clock icon you can still chose the color of the time text as well as the color of the time background. You can also specify a different background, but you cannot change the placement of the actual time/date information, which limits a bit the use of a different background for the digital clock.

Adding more skinning options than those already available for in-dock modules is simply not justifiable.



You can use icons embedded in EXE/DLLs for non-module items, but alas, not for modules. I actually had to look at the code again to see if this was a bug or if there was a reason for it. There is a reason for it.

Retrieving icons from EXE/DLLs is actually a LOT more work than it is retrieving a single .ICO, .PNG or .TIF image. The resource file in the EXE/DLL must be opened, the correct indexed icon retrieved, etc...

I could get it to work, but, while icons for normal dock items are retrieved using the same sub-routine which caters for all cases (so to change something you only need to do it in one place), each module has its own routine for retrieving the background image. This would mean a lot of work just to have in-dock modules being able to use images embedded in DLL/EXE files.

Honestly, not worth the trouble or the risk of introducing new bugs. So you can say that the 'bug' in this case is having the icon browser for in-dock modules allowing you to select .EXE/.DLL files instead of just single .ICO, .PNG and .TIF images.

Not sure what you're referring to, but assume you're talking about my reply to his question about modules.

I guess I should have been more specific. I was talking about Winstep Xtreme. I don't remember anything about the free versions other than they don't have the capabilities of Winstep Xtreme and recommend users at least try Xtreme so they will see the difference.

I posted the links to the videos not only for the clock thinking it was self-explanatory without pressuring the OP.

If there is something else in my post you were referring to, please let me know and I will address it.

Thank you very much all of you for these explanations and your help. I appreciate a lot.

Concerning the clock, I just removed it and now use a simple Windows desktop gadget. I may look into your clock app Windy but the video was very long and I couldn't spot the moment when it is actually showing the clock in the dock.

Concerning the icons, Thanks for the confirmation Winstep. This is totally fine with me as I already mentioned. Maybe it would be worth mentioning it somewhere in the documentation, though, just to make things clear (this is just my opinion, not a request).

About additional stuff, if I got it right, no additional modules but some additional themes for the free version, right? I am not interested in any gadget or widget that wouldn't be placed in the dock itself.

Thank you all VERY much again for your help and useful comments.
Best,
-a-

Concerning the icon, you can always use an icon editor and extract the icon you want from any .exe or .dll file. Then, as a stand-alone .ico, you can use it anywhere.

Windy was showing a programme that changes the clock in the Windows taskbar; it's got nothing to do with Winstep.

Finally, additional modules don't exist in *any* version, paid or non-paid. You cannot add 3rd party modules in Winstep, *any* version.



Windy, I was referring to this. There are a ton of different modules that can be downloaded and configured for Winstep???
Where? How?
I don't know what you meant there, but... Winstep not only doesn't have, but cannot accept more modules, other than those that Jorge has created and included in the programme. You do know that, surely?

Wow, I must have finally written a terrible post. I was misunderstood by two people!



The clock program is not on a dock. It installs in the system tray. In other words, it replaces the Windows clock, and/or the Winstep clock if you have a version of Winstep that has a taskbar. That's the reason I stated that you must disable the Winstep clock.

You don't have to watch the entire video to see the clock. It's there from the very beginning. There is nothing to activate in the video to make it work. Once installed, it's there just as the Windows clock is there.

Oh! Just read the comment you made in reply to Skagon. I didn't know that you only wanted a clock program that was part of Winstep. One of the best features of Winstep is that certain third-party programs can be used. We all have different tastes which Winstep products brilliantly allows for.

Skagon, you totally misunderstood me. What I meant is there are a ton of themes that can DL. When a theme is DL the module(s) can be configured/modified within the parameters of that theme, not that more are added. After reading it I can see how one can misinterpret what I stated.

This is what happens when tired. I should have waited until after I had a good rest to write the post.

Windy, it's ok, I just had to clarify things, since it could be confusing to new users. If someone doesn't know all that much about Winstep and reads "there's tons of modules to download", they'll be confused and probably waste a lot of time trying to find said modules or even how to 'enable' them, if they download modules made for some other dock (like Rocket dock).
I know that feeling very well, since I've been through it and it's bloody frustrating!

So yes, themes, there are lots to download and configure. Modules, not one.

Another point which we all have to be careful with in our explanations is the other thing you said, that "Winstep allows third-party programmes to be used".
It has to be made clear that very few third-party programmes (or applets or however else you might want to call them) will actually integrate with Winstep. In other words, you can have different desktop widgets (like clocks, weather or stock market tickers or whatever else) but there are no external programmes that will function like, say, Winstep's own clock, CPU, RAM, e-mail or weather module.
Winstep won't interfere with any other programme that creates *something* on the desktop (I think it even plays nice with Rainmeter), but the phrasing has to be precise to avoid leading users to deduct that Winstep will *incorporate* the functionality of any other programme within its own bounds.

Yes, I should have mentioned that I disabled the windows taskbar when I started using Winstep Nexus Dock. It was obvious to me (since I was looking for a taskbar replacement and WND does it very well, but this is absolutely not the case for anyone else. My bad...

Thank you very much again to all of you guys. I believe things are getting pretty clear now.

If I could make little requests to the programmers it would be the following:

1) It would be nice if the clock module had more options for icons (currently 2: Analog or Digital), especially a "simple" one that would display the time and date in a very readable way (no gimmicks). Let's say using 32x32 icons on a full HD screen.

2) It would be nice if icons/modules could be placed at the right of the systray icons (with a separator, for instance) I don't see a reason why this is not possible.

Again, congratulations for making WND. It is a great piece of software and I will recommend it to my friends and colleagues.
Best,
-a-

Not quite what I stated. Note the operative word-certain which I've colorized to make easier to see. What I stated was:

For example, installed on my PC is a program called Teracopy that is used for moving and copying files at the maximum speed and works seamlessly with Winstep Xtreme. I use it frequently everyday when moving files via Workshelf and the Dock. The action can also be paused and resumed plus other features.

bad example windy. teracopy just like extremecopy replaces the windows explorer copy process. winstep will simply use what windows explorer points it to, and in your case that would be teracopy.

What ^he^ said...

Guys, let's not start scrutinising words here; I'm not accusing anyone of first degree murder, all I'm saying is that we all should be a bit more careful at how we phrase our answers.

Winstep, thankfully, is quite 'transparent' to the system. The context menus for files or directories are (almost) identical to the context menus that you'd get by right-clicking the actual files or directories in Windows Explorer, the functionalities are all the same, Winstep won't attempt to 'hijack' any Windows operation that doesn't concern *it*, so that's why everything plays nice.

As Jorge explained, the various modules of Winstep are essentially small pieces of code that gather data and then format them, render an icon using that data, and then display that icon in the appropriate dock 'slot'.
As such, there are practically no other programmes that can mimic that functionality.
My analysis would be that, while you *can* create a programme that can alter its own or some other shortcut's icon, there's no mechanism in Winstep that would support an external programme to somehow 'alert' Winstep for that change, thereby 'forcing' it to update the dock's icon -- at least not in real time. I don't know how often Winstep updates the icons of plain shortcuts in a dock (or shelf), but my guess would be: never, or at most once per start-up.
Combine that with the fact that Winstep doesn't yet have a... ehm... modular substructure for modules (pardon the pun), which means that every new module has to be coded directly *in* the main code, and you have your answer why no external programme can manifest Winstep modules.

I'm quite sure, all the users who have come here asking about more modules to download, *that* is what they have in mind. Not some other programme that will simply "play nice" with Winstep, or not interfere with it.
They're all looking for some programme that would create fancy new 'icons' (in other words, modules) within a dock.

Anyway, I feel I'm repeating myself here, so I'll give it a rest.

Ash: If you've managed to replace the taskbar with Winstep, that's fine by me, as long as you're happy. Personally I haven't, and there are reasons that I generally don't recommend it. Winstep has a different sub-programme, NextStart, for that purpose. But if you're ok with how things work...
By the way, what's that WND thing you mention?

On your requests:
1. It actually used to be more like that, but it got changed. I think Jorge is working (or planning to) on the module subsystem, in order to make it easy for him to add new modules.
2. Modules and icons can be placed anywhere you want, as it is. Systray icons are sent to the right, emulating the taskbar where the tray is to the right. Jorge just didn't want users to start mixing up icons, in which case users would not be able to see which is which.