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Open-Shell / Open-Shell-Menu

Classic Shell Reborn.
MIT License
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Add taskbar duplication on all monitors #835

Open Aphexus opened 3 years ago

Aphexus commented 3 years ago

It would be nice if there was a feature(since windows does not seem to implement this) where the task bars are duplicated exactly on all monitors, even quicklaunch, notifications, etc.

I regulatory use multiple monitors in different locations and I have to switch the primary desktop just to be able to access the quicklaunch and tray.

Windows says it is a "design feature" to not be able to duplicate the task bar...

One way that this could be done would be to get the HWND of the task bar and then just render it to a bitmap and draw the bitmap on to the other monitors and then translate any mouse clicks. So the effect is as if one is using the main monitor. E.g., it is a partial screen capture(no need to capture the entire screen although this could be done).

Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester commented 3 years ago

Isn't there already software offering this that does a good job - Actual Multiple Monitors and DisplayFusion Free/Pro ? My recommendation is Actual Multiple Monitors personally over the other one.

Aphexus commented 3 years ago

DisplayFusion doesn't do this for the entire task bar AFAIK. Actual Multiple Monitors says it does this but seems quit a bit of work just to get a duplicate task bar(which is ultimately just a visual duplication of the single taskbar). I already run open-shell so having to install a bulky app just to get try icons and quicklaunch on all the taskbars seems like overkill. Also, to get the functionality one has to pay.

It should be a relatively easy thing to implement. Translate mouse coordinates and render taskbar on to other monitors. Might be a little work to figure out how to precisely do this well but probably is not that difficult although I don't know how robust it would be.

Brad-git-man commented 3 years ago

If you want to see how the Win 7 taskbar should be implemented, take a look at StartIsBack for Win 11. It gives you a clone of the Win 7 taskbar. I still like Open-Shell more & it needs something like that. ... Also, neither program has done anything yet about 11's File Explorer's title bar having a shade of "snow-blind, death gray" that can't be changed. This begs the question WTF is up w/ that??????????????

Gaurav-Original-ClassicShellTester commented 3 years ago

StartIsBack does not implement the Windows taskbar with its own code. It activates the code that Microsoft has left intact in the OS still. ExplorerPatcher does a similar thing as StartIsBack. And for now, both approaches work fine which is why no one has taken up the mammoth task of building a full taskbar from scratch with all the advanced features.

The taskbar in AMM is a full re-implementation with its own code, just like the Classic Shell/Open Shell Start Menu is. It took 8 years to fully develop the Classic Shell Start menu. :)