I'm getting VERY close to my final configuration for using Opus for a Windows START Menu.
I'm using a Floating (locked, Auto-Hide) toolbar on the left side of my Desktop.
Problem is, I also have a lot of keys programmed into my Logitech G19 Gaming keyboard. One of these keys is Alt F4 which closes down any on-top running window. I uses this as it is quicker than moving the mouse on top of the windows upper right close "X" and pressing the mouse left button. Usually this is not a problem for my Opus toolbar, I can actually select the toolbar and press the Logitech Alt F4 key and it has no effect on the toolbar... it keeps on working.
But... If I have several windows open and start pressing the Alt F4 key and press one time too many times, sometimes (and only sometimes) the Opus toolbar is lost and the only way to get it back is to go into Customize, click on Lister Menu, click on Floating, click on OK and reboot the computer. If the computer is not rebooted I can't get the toolbar back even after all the customize clicking.
What I'm looking for is a way to prevent the Lister Menu from ever being closed down.
There's no way to do this easily. You could possibly use some sort of automation tool (AutoHotkey or something similar perhaps?) that only sends the Alt-F4 if the window isn't a toolbar (by matching the window class).
I'm using a button to show/hide my toolbars. For my floating (docked, locked, autohide) toolbar I use this code:
Toolbar "[toolbar name]" state=float toggle
You shouldn't define the Position by using the POS= argument because it will break the autohide function. It seems DOpus doesn't regard the toolbar to be "docked" any longer when you define the position.
To prevent the toolbar from being closed by your Alt F4 key you could try to apply the same key in DOpus to the command Close. This shouldn't close the toolbar but only the active Lister.
I think we need an option somewhere to prevent Floating &/or Docked toolbars from being closed by the F4 command.
I can now make it happen every time, the mouse pointer has to have clicked on an item from the toolbar and F4 will close the toolbar. Just hovering the mouse over the toolbar will not close it with F4.
I think if you push a the standard "close window" key on a window it's right for it to close.
I say that as someone does it myself sometimes, as I have a mouse button bound to Alt-F4 which I sometimes hit by accident. It doesn't seem like something a lot of other people would run into, even if you & me both do, as it's such an unusual setup IMO. So I'm not sure it makes sense to add an option for it, unless I'm wrong and there are a lot of other people, not just the two of us.
My solution is to bind a hotkey (Alt-` fwiw) to a command which toggles my docked toolbar. That lets me quickly toggle the toolbar on and off when I need to. (Which is also handy in the reverse direction: Sometimes I want to get rid of the toolbar to get it out of the way. It also provides a quick way to move the toolbar between different monitors without unlocking it, dragging it, and re-locking it.)
I replace my Load Opus Key binding to my Logitech mouse key... WAS...
Load Only One Lister... @runmode:max
"C:\Program Files\Directory Opus\dopusrt.exe" /cmd GO NEW LASTACTIVELISTER
Even if I accidently close it with F4 all I have to do is press my mouse toolbar toggle key and PRESTO it's right back up... PURE GENIUS!!
I now have my Opus START Toolbar docked on the left of my Desktop in a non-hiding mode & Windows Taskbar on top of it (also on the left) in a hide mode. This gives me the very best of both worlds, Opus Toolbar and Windows Taskbar in the same place (but at different times). Looks good, works good.
One last question about the Toolbar toggle... when Opus loads at boot I am now getting the toolbar showing up (I have Don't open any Listers checked). I would prefer to not see the toolbar until I do a mouse toggle.
Turn off the Preferences / Toolbars / Options / Save state of floating Toolbars automatically on exit option, then turn the toolbar off, and then from the Customize dialog's File menu select the Save Floating Toolbars command.
this sounds very exciting. are there chances that a dopus start menu replacement could become a built in feature? this could become really relevant since the windows start menu will be removed in windows 8.
I'm already thinking about that. I'll do it in Word first (to hone the layout) than post it in the forum.
So far, using Opus for my START Menu is working out very well indeed; so well that I have uninstalled my long-time favorite START Menu program True Launch Bar. No need for two programs when one (Opus) can do both very nicely.
