[_UnderDog]

It feels nice to finally make a post on HF once again. After more than a year and a half, I am finally releasing Windows Charm if it Didn't Suck.

I have put this program off for a long time after first developing it due to full-time study. It has been a bit rushed in some areas unfortunately but the good news is that I will be releasing the source code.

This program is as it is titled, an alternative for Windows Charm from Windows 8. It contains some basic features already shown in the screenshots (large):
Spoiler (Click to View)







About:

The program is coded in VB.NET using WPF and a dark skin applied to it. I am still unfamiliar with WPF but have the hang of it after developing this. There are a few visual glitches with the skin so I have tried to make alternatives (such as no context menus). But most of it looks good to me.

There are not many hints and how to use certain features, but I highly suggest you take a look at the code. It is licensed under a Unilicense (free to modify, redistribute, etc.) so you can use it for your own projects or even modify this project for your own uses (maybe even share them if enough people like this).

How to use:

Some basic features include double-clicking to open a link/file or copying to clipboard (depending on double left/right mouse click) and left-clicking the tray icon opens the menu and double right-clicking it closes the program (unless the web browser is open). If you wish to go back to the main menu, just click on the time.

There are also 2 alternatives to opening the window:

1. Dragging the window open from the right side of the screen (boundaries are invisible but can be modified in settings)
   
2. Moving the mouse down on the right edge of the screen
   

(both settings require having the mouse in the same maximum y-axis of the screen)

Download:

GitHub: GitHub - if changes are suggested and things are made I may feel obligated to update the application (but I still dont know how to use GitHub)

Direct Download (Application Only): Mediafire (some bug fixes have been made on GitHub since this build so it is outdated)
VirusTotal Scans:

• .zip: VirusTotal
  
• .exe: VirusTotal
  
• .dll: VirusTotal
  

Misc:

I have lost interest in further developing this. Many creative suggestions by users (which I am very thankful for) did not make it to the final release, but I do hope people take this project into their own hands.

Some few bugs exist such as certain settings not updating until the application is restarted and the web browser widget is very buggy. The application does not run when there is more than one monitor.




Credits to GenericSkid for the name.

[SIM-1847363]

Im curious more about how you did the blurred background of the control/form. How much processing time did it take?

[_UnderDog]

Im curious more about how you did the blurred background of the control/form. How much processing time did it take?

I did a lot of searching how to do this and found one that worked in c# from another forum that was asking how to use it in vb.net. Though it took some time to realise how to use it properly in WPF. It is mentioned in a couple forums but I did not find the original author of the code unfortunately - though it is possible I did, but I added the code to the old side menu project a while back and may not have added credits at the time before converting to WPF.
As for the processing of the form itself, im pretty sure it uses the windows 10 inbuilt blur effect mainly used on the notification panel and start menu (unsure on Windows 7 and below), I didn't do any benchmarks to see if it made a difference to processing/memory but I'm sure it doesn't make much of a difference.

[Earn]

This looks nice bro. I will check it out soon.

[_UnderDog]

This looks nice bro. I will check it out soon.

Thank you. Please let me know what you think!

[astron]

I really like that blur stuff so i took some inspiration from your project :) great share

imgur .com/a/W4NxUUh

written in c#

[_UnderDog]

I really like that blur stuff so i took some inspiration from your project :) great share

imgur .com/a/W4NxUUh

written in c#

That's great! Just quickly as well, if it is a WPF project and you have a white colour in the background (behind the form) it will be too transparent (still blurry) and may not look too good with say, white labels or other white things on the form (it blends in).

It took me a while to realise how to fix this but you may need to play around with the xaml code a bit and add

Code

AllowsTransparency="True"

under the window (or other controls too; maybe) and then change the colour of the form background (or other controls) with an opacity, I used #99343434 (R: 52, G: 52, B: 52, A: 60) as the colour code because it is similar to default one and looks good with any colour behind the form. See MainWindow.xaml in my project for more details.


Though if it is in WinForms, it is not as simple but I started to try change the colour by using a gradient fill with a PictureBox covering the whole form, but that is just to change the colour because I'm sure the transparency will be fine. (for more information such as the code, check '[Original] SIde Menu.zip' and look under settings (the code is incomplete for the PictureBox if it is still there, I may have removed it). Though beware: code is very messy in the old project. (and for all the GroupBoxes stacked on top of each other, just right click and send to back to see the next GroupBox).


Hope the project goes well!