Since have only been on this for a few hours I might make a few mistakes, and miss out important things, but I have made a object to show time, date, uptime, CPU usage, used memory, free memory, 3 hard drive’s used and free space, computer basic specifications.
First I will just point out the simple tools which are the basis to most objects. For the tutorial I will just create a simple bar to show CPU usage.
1) Download Samurize from http://www.samurize.com/modules/mydownload...=1&lid=2074.
2) Install then run Samurize Client, you will now have the little Samurize icon in the task bar. Also you can just run the Config Tool which is under the same menu as the Client in the Start Menu., because this is what we will be using.
Quick Overview:
1) Add meter - most object resources are here, start here.
2a) Once an object is selected, new menu's under the 'Add meter' tab are displayed;
2b)'General' is for simple things, such as naming the object in the config, there's not really much point doing this unless you are going for a massive project that needs to be organised. Also there are some display options here that should really be under the display tab but aren’t, such as background colour and frame of certain things.
2c)'Source' is showing where it gets its information from and displays options to change counters and the units used (as far as I know in the objects that i have done)
2d)'Display' is all of the display options, believe it or not. It lets you change was text is displayed on screen and lets you change the appearance of text or an object, i do not think that the text works that well, the best quality i have found so far is white text on a grey background, size 7 text and MS Reference Style.
3)The 'Snap to Grid' option can get really annoying for text, so you can turn it on and off whenever you want, because otherwise you will learn to hate it.
4)Save your work with the File option
Ok we shall begin!
So once the config editor is opened we can start creating the object.
Add meter is the main button for adding any type of object, some of the options are simple, like 'Add Memory' (adds the set up for a RAM status object) and 'Add Drive Space' (Adds the set up for Hard Drive usage), some get more complicated, such as what we are doing which is the tool for various Hardware monitor tools, most of which i dont know the use for.
Click on 'add meter' and select the 'Add Perfmon...' option, this will open a screen looking like this:
Make sure the correct computer name is in the Computer name field (also make sure it has // in front of it), you can check by going to:
Control Panel --> System --> Computer Name (a tab)
Select 'Processor' as the 'Performance Object' along with '% Processor Time' and '_Total' (If someone could tell me what the 0 and 1 options do i would appreciate it).
You will end up with something that says; Perfmon:## (## stand for numbers, it selects them randomly). *
Go onto the display menu after selecting the object you want to edit, it's located just below the 'Add meter' button.
Now we change some of the on screen stuff, on the place where it says 'Perfmon: %v' change this to 'CPU Usage: %v%', now you will have a tool that will display your CPU Usage on your desktop, so if you want you can save it in your Samurize Configs folder (Program Files --> Samurize --> Configs) and test it out! (yay)
If all goes well you can right click on your Samurize client taskbar icon, go to 'Select Config File' and select moose.ini (or whatever you saved it as) and it will appear on screen. Really it will look a bit boring so lets add a little bar to show it graphically.
Follow the process of getting to 'Perfmon: ##'* (Asterisk is back to where you need to get to again, up five paragraphs) and then leave it on the 'General' tab. The second option will read 'Draw Type' and will be on text at the moment, change it to 'Progress Bar' and now your on your way to making a relatively simple bar showing Cpu Usage in a less boring way than text.
Don’t worry about me only having the bar in the picture, its because i did the pictures in a different order, it was 2 o'clock in the morning when i thought of doing the tutorial, so i did the pictures then went to bed...
The bar does look slightly rubbish (well actually it looks awful) so let’s go back to display and make it look slightly better:
All i have done here is turned off the option for 'Split Spacing' (which is for showing percentages of the bar), changed the 'Alpha Start' colour and the 'Background Colour'. The sliding bars under the colour options are for the translucency of the object.
Design the bar to what you want and we are almost finished, oh yeah one last thing, I’m guessing you have this figured out but to resize the object just move the square thingies which are situated around it
Now mine looks like this, yours should look pretty much the same:
Save it and test it out the same way as i told you before!
I end up with this on my desktop (Its on 0% but it is working):
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Now that you have a working object you can decorate it how you want, above the 'Add meter' tab there are more tabs, one which says 'Edit Meters' another that says 'Edit Graphics' and a third one which says 'Project Options'.
I have never used the 'Project Options' tab so I can’t explain in, but I have used the 'Add Graphics' tab, and it’s very simple.
Really your just adding a background to your objects, go onto the tab that says 'Add Graphics' then go onto 'Add Background Object' (where 'Add Meter' used to be). You get a few options that are self explanatory. I added a picture to the background then placed a simple progress bar showing CPU Usage on top.
Now you can have pictures of you telling you things about your computer!
Ok im tired after doing this for an hour and a bit, i will leave you to fiddle with stuff, if you have a any simple problems get in touch with me by PM.
Hoped you liked the guide, comments are welcome especially constructive criticism, but please dont give it a bad rating just because it was too simple for you, i did state it was basic
PS: This is my first guide! Im tired so if any mistakes are made can you point them out so i can change them. Also ill give you a link for a picture of my desktop, i did quite a few thingies, i might do another guide to show very very simple scripts (which i have on my desktop), it depends on how much time i have though.
My Desktop: http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j207/Jac...Clipboard03.jpg
Moose.
