DesktopX: Recycle Bin

From WinCustomize Wiki

Behind the Theme, Part 1 - Recycle Bin

Animated recycle bin Original Author: sViz Date Created: October 3, 2010 Application: DesktopX Programs Used: DesktopX

This tutorial is part 1 of the series DesktopX: Behind the Theme, but it also stands alone. Here we'll discover how to add plugins by creating an animated recycle bin.

Contents 1 Add Plugin 2 Set Appearance 3 Add Shortcut 4 Conclusion 5 Further Reading

Add Plugin

Create an Object

In Properties > General under Additional Abilities click add, and choose the Trash Bin plugin.

Set Appearance

Next go to the States tab. This is where we set the look of the object.

In the area marked States you’ll see three states: mouse away, full, empty. You can remove the mouse away state, as it is not needed.

Click on the empty state. In the tabs below, click on the Appearance tab, then browse for your image. This should be what it looks like when the bin is empty.

Next, click on the full state. In the Appearance tab, browse for the image you’re using for when the bin is full.

The next step is to configure the animation settings. If you’re not using an animated image you can skip this last part. (See HERE for how to create an animated image.)

Make sure you have the full state selected, then click on the Animation tab.

My image has five frames so I’ll set the frames to 5.

The interval is how fast the animation plays. The higher the number the slower it plays. I set mine to 75.

My animation goes from a dull glow to a bright glow then stops. I need it to pulsate repeatedly. First, I’ll select the checkbox marked Loop. Next, in the area marked style I select forwards and backwards; this will have the animation go from dull glow to bright glow and back to dull glow in a constant loop.

Add Shortcut

To add functionality to this object, I also made it a shortcut to the recycle bin. To do this go to the General tab.

In the area marked Object Type, click change. In the drop down, select shortcut. The shortcut commands dialog should appear. You have two options: file shortcut or folder shortcut. Select folder shortcut. In the drop down below that, choose Recycle Bin.

Click OK to close the shortcut commands dialog. Then, click OK to apply your settings and close the properties window, and you’re done.

Conclusion

You should now be familiar with:

• Adding a plugin
• Changing appearance
• Animation settings
• Adding a shortcut

Further Reading

• Behind the Theme (series)
• Builder Mode for Beginners (series)