[WIP] AveShell (Developer's Release-1)

[Blue-Vision]

Any of you who frequent Aero-Soft probably know about this already. For those of you who don't, I present to you something that I've worked VERY hard on for about 3 months, around the time I was releasing SlickWin for DesktopX.

At that time I was messing around with mockups for SlickWin, trying to come up with a unique menu system for it. Since I wanted it to actually WORK while I was building it, I made the mockup in Samurize since it's a fairly robust and capable piece of technology with it's own integrated development environment (IDE). Seemed pretty easy (and it WAS, mostly) to get a few mockups made and try out some ideas I had.

After ONE succesful port from mockup to DesktopX, I was out of gas. DX, for all it's raw power and flexibility, was a BEAST to make anything complex for. And DX just plain disappointed me when I discovered that .png backgrounds on it's taskbar/systray plugins are a no-no (the text and icons go transparent AND they won't scale the way they should for resizing -- something which needs to be fixed PRONTO.). I needed another solution, because DX and I were at an impasse and I was flustered beyond recognition.

Then along comes AveDesk and SysStats into my customization world, and I've only looked back at DX twice since.

After a while of poking around with Samurize, I stumble onto scripts -- one in particular, the startStop script and it's installer. That changed everything, and I started messing with those Samurize-powered menus again. I then discover that -- *GASP* -- startStop scripts can be used for launching those menus from a AveDesk desklet.

So I play around with it some more, and get it elaborate enough to do THIS:

Click for large (1024x768)

A Samurize-based shell replacement. Not quite what NeM had intended Samurize to be used for, but here it is and it works GREAT!

Eventually, this thing is going to run using AveDesk 1.2 and SysStats 2.5 (both in development). But I'm going to maintain a Samurize branch of the project, because that's where it really made it's mark on me. It runs using Samurize ALONE, but I've long since had AveDesk integration built into it, so it's all set for using both to replace the standard explorer desktop.

The version I'm getting ready to release is a Development Preview to those people who have some skill with Samurize AND shell replacing. Not a public release, but a taste of what's to come with it. The public release will be further down the road, after the kinks are worked out and when AveDesk 1.2 and SysStats 2.5 is released.

Comments and questions are welcome. :)

[msg43]

gonna try it after school look pretty neat. How much memory is it using?

[insanekiwi]

wow. looks nice.

[CAE11]

I am well aware you're calling this a Developers Release, but I'm just raising a question -- will there be a... "n00b-friendly" description of how to use this on final release (or even beforehand?), as, to be entirely honest, your post didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. :blush: :p

[kylejn]

Holy crap, that's amazing! Very, very cool!

[msg43]

Theres not a download just a screenshot? :(

[Mx]

Nice, I want download but I guess, it still is a WIP>

[cmove]

Nice work ;)

[Infy]

Where can i download?

[spex04]

wow. pretty cool :happy:

[The Jorge]

Excuse me for asking but are you sure you can use "Ave" in your project's name? I ask because thats what the developer of AveDesk (Andreas Verhoeven) uses in his apps.

Now if you have permission to use that name, then I'll go back into hiding. :ninja:

[Blue-Vision]

:)

AndreasV and Judge both are developing modules for this as we speak. In fact, he's already just about finished the AveDesktop module (imports desktop icons and makes them desklets), and the 1.2 alpha builds already run their own host environment window (a feature that I requested and GOT!). So yeah, they know about it and AndreasV is quite happy with the name. I've also secured permission to bundle a slightly modified version of AveDesk 1.1 with the dev release that allows for the theme switching in the shell, but it's kinda complicated and will work MUCH better when 1.2 is released early next year. :D

The manual will of course be noob-friendly and easy to follow. It's about half done -- been busy with final tweaking for the dev release. And I'm sorry the history was kind of hard to follow...was VERY tired at the time. I haven't gotten a lot of sleep for the past 2 weeks, trying to get this ready.

Once I get thru the development releases (I'm figuring there will be four of them), I'll have a public beta release. So I'm thinking that I could do that around Feb.1 if all goes well. Of course, there won't be a beta until AveDesk 1.2 and SysStats 2.5 is released. So this project depends on the other 2 really. I could release the Samurize-based builds earlier tho. Guess what I'm saying is that I dunno. :p

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Glad you guys like the looks of this.

[NetRyder]

Brilliant. I'm a HUGE fan of AveDesk. Really looking forward to it. :)

[msg43]

please do release the sumarize script.

Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Faiden]

that?s what i call good work (Y))

[[hxc]]

a great original idea. i can't wait to see how this turns out. if you need testers for anything, let me know.

[The Jorge]

I see. Well ok then. I'm looking forward to seeing this on my desktop. I'm guessing this will be skinnable. How skinnable are we talking? And will it support png images with transparency for say, a titlebar? :D

[rschultz2002]

Excuse me for asking but are you sure you can use "Ave" in your project's name? I ask because thats what the developer of AveDesk (Andreas Verhoeven) uses in his apps.

Now if you have permission to use that name, then I'll go back into hiding. :ninja:

585106677[/snapback]

Now I bet you feel like an assshole for asking this. Can you people read before posting? :|

Edited December 16, 2004 by rschultz2002

[vip]

awesome! cant wait for this release :)

[Blue-Vision]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Yes, it fully supports .png on all surfaces. In fact, .png is the PREFERRED image format.

Oh -- and there's already a new theme in development by my good buddy Calming at Aero-Soft. You'll have to see it to believe it -- it's THAT good. So I'll be updating the theme switcher to accomodate it when it's ready to be included.

The forums will also be up soon as well. The link will be in my sig. It'll be not only for AveShell, but AveDesk, Samurize, SlickWin and tehDesk too. Lots of stuff to do before I get the rest of my website back up. I did some cleanup, but I haven't put everything back where it belongs yet so bear with me if you are getting a 404. I'm playing with the idea of another redesign for the site...

Ugh. Too much to do. :D

[ EDIT ] Ah, yes, testers. Here's the criteria -- if you have very good skill with Samurize, AveDesk, scripting (.vbs) and shell swapping, then PM me with some example of your work. A screenshot will do. Remember everyone that this release will NOT be "noob-friendly" -- very advanced stuff we're doing here and it's not for everyone just yet. The public releases WILL be user friendly.

[CAE11]

Just a brief note, as I forgot to mention in my previous post that I loved the look of it and can't wait to see a finished product. And thanks for considering... well, at least me, with the future user friendliness. :p

[Blue-Vision]

You bet. ;)

[jromo]

great work!! it?s soooo nice to see someone thinking out of the box!!

[fredfries]

im not understanding... what exactly is this: a new shell or a samurize cnfig?

[Blue-Vision]

It's BOTH, actually. It's made to replace the standard Windows desktop interface with something more freeform and versatile.

What it can't do on it's own, it's helped by some nice freeware and open-source apps that will allow someone to almost TOTALLY bypass Explorer in every way. So far, I've bundled replacements for File Management, Run, Theme Switching, and more. As it's currently in development, it'll get more and better of everything by the time it's released.

I've been using it for almost 2 weeks, and it's proven to be reliable and stable. I've not had a single crash or anything go weird on me while using it. :)