Announcing: 7stacks - stacks for 7 (freeware)

[Alastria]

Hi all,

I'm a frequent lurker to this forum, so wanted to post this here first. Just letting you that I've just released a free app for Windows 7 called 7stacks. It's just what it says: its stacks for 7.

Instead of recreating the OSX stack look (like the fan), I made it use Aero to more closely resemble 7's look and feel. It can display the contents of a folder as a vertical stack, a grid, or a cascading menu. It also has "in-stack" browsing of subfolders like in Snow Leopard.

It also gets around the problems of using multiple stacks on the dock that apps like StandaloneStack have trouble with, where you have to fiddle and rejigger with EXEs and shortcuts. 7stacks lets you have up to 10 stacks on the taskbar w/ no reconfiguring. It uses 10 identical EXEs and checks the Taskbar folder to see which EXEs are being used.

Oh, and it uses Windows 7 Jumplists to make it easier to create new stacks. Just right-click on any stack, and you'll see a Jumplist entry "Create a new stack."

It works on Vista and XP also, but it's designed for Windows 7. I'll be adding some more features soon, such as image previews, etc.

And, like I said, it's 100% free. Enjoy.

-- Alastria

   Note

Version 1.2 now available for download here. Changes are:

• Added editing of stacks via JumpList entry. Note: This only works for stacks pinned to the Windows 7 taskbar. Also, once stacks have been pinned, they cannot be renamed (this is Microsoft's fault .. don't blame me).
• Added JumpList entry to browse the stack as a Menu (regardless of the type of stack it is).
• Added file and folder captions to Grid items.
• Added file and folder information to the hint windows of Grid items.
• Fixed speed of icon retrieval. Browsing large folders should now be almost instantaneous. Testing found that one small area of code was the choke point slowing things down.
• Added optional image thumbnails of BMPs, GIFs, JPGs, and PNGs when in Grid mode. This slows down the browsing of large folders of images, so each stack can choose to have this on or not.
• Added white-on-black text, and accompanying preference. White-on-black looks like a more conventional "shadow" of white text, much like Windows icons. Black-on-white is the text as it appeared in previous versions.
• Added slide in/out animation, and accompanying preference. With animation turned on, Stacks and Grids will do a cool "fade and slide" from whichever side of the screen the taskbar is on. This is reminiscent of OS X.
• Added display of file extensions on all files except shortcuts (.lnk).
• Added option to turn off file extension display for any particular stack.
• Added multi-monitor support. All 7stacks windows will now appear on whichever screen the mouse is currently on.
• Added quick selection of Windows' Special Folders (such as "My Documents" or "Start Menu") when creating a new stack. Click the "SF" button to see a list of all special folders. Once you select a special folder, you can click the "..." button next to that to drill down into that folder further.
• Added a pop-down confirmation when creating or editing a stack.
• Fixed unsorted file/folder contents when browsing network shares. All files and folders are now sorted alphabetically prior to display.
• Fixed problems with stacks pointing to drives, such as C:.

For a complete list of what's been changed, go here.

Latest: 1.5 Beta 2

7stacks-v1-5-beta-2-is-out
7stacks | Alastria Software

 

[sergiogarcia9]

Hi Alastria and welcome to sevenforums

This is a really usefull app you have made.
There's one thing i'd like to see it the upcoming version(s) of this app, and it would text under the icons when they're are in "stack" and "grid" (and maybe some background selecting kinda thing :O ). But besides that its a great little app. I will certainly use it.

- Sergio

 

[Alastria]

Thanks, Sergio. One of the first things I'm going to add in v1.1 is text under the icons when in Grid mode. I will also be adding image previews (for jpg, gif, png, and bmp). I would love to hear suggestions from anyone.

 

[copernicus]

Very Nice and elegant.

How do you modify a stack once it's been created?

I would suggest a "hub" gui (accesible from the jumplist) where you can configure the 10 stacks.

 

[Alastria]

7stacks

Very Nice and elegant.

How do you modify a stack once it's been created?

I would suggest a "hub" gui (accesible from the jumplist) where you can configure the 10 stacks.

You could modify a stack by editing the shortcut that 7stacks creates, but I think its just easier to recreate it. Run SevenStacks0.exe to see a list of command line parameters.

In the early versions, I wanted simplicity. But you're right .. in later versions, I will probably move to a more "centralized" GUI that let's you edit the shortcuts on the taskbar.

 

[holo88]

how did you get the games explorer to have the shortcuts in the menu? for the life of me, i can't get that to work. all in all, still cool.

 

[dabedoo]

Nice, works perfectly !!!

 

[Alastria]

7stacks

how did you get the games explorer to have the shortcuts in the menu? for the life of me, i can't get that to work. all in all, still cool.

Unfortunately, Games Explorer isn't a real folder, so it won't work w/ 7stacks. What I did was make a folder inside my profile folder called "Games" (C:\Users\<YourName>\Games), copied the shortcuts to the games in there, and made a stack of that. That also gives you the advantage of arranging the games however you'd like (i.e. burying the Microsoft Games like Solitaire and Freecell into a separate subfolder).

 

[garbanzo]

tried it, liked it, and looking forward to further releases. many thanks for sharing!

i noticed that ESC closes the menu. could you set things up so that running the exe a second time also closes it? that way, if we launch the menu then change our minds, we can just click the taskbar button again to make the menu go away.

 

[LePoilu]

Look like a nice idea.
I'll try it as soon as possible

Thanks

 

[masterB]

Good job! Nice app.

 

[Danilo]

Woooow great app man ... i really like it . Keep a GREAT work !

 

[moinmoin]

Cool App. I like it. Thanks Alastria.

 

[copernicus]

You could modify a stack by editing the shortcut that 7stacks creates, but I think its just easier to recreate it. Run SevenStacks0.exe to see a list of command line parameters.

In the early versions, I wanted simplicity. But you're right .. in later versions, I will probably move to a more "centralized" GUI that let's you edit the shortcuts on the taskbar.

How do you recreate it? Just create a new stack? What happens when you use up the 10 stacks, does it start over with the first one(rewriting it), or just not make any new stacks?

 

[Barman58]

Hi Alastria,

First off thanks for a great little app

There is however one minor problem that I am getting - I have the taskbar set to autohide, and when I click on a stack it opens from the top left corner downwards - ie. the majority of the pop-up is off screen.

If I swich off the hide option on the taskbar then everything works as expected.

This is a very useful app for those with a limited screen size who need access to more apps than can be comfortably displayed on the taskbar. People with limited screen space are also likely to use the autohide option so this may be something that you want to investigate for the next release.

If you need any further details or screen shots etc I will be pleased to provide them

 

[Alastria]

tried it, liked it, and looking forward to further releases. many thanks for sharing!

i noticed that ESC closes the menu. could you set things up so that running the exe a second time also closes it? that way, if we launch the menu then change our minds, we can just click the taskbar button again to make the menu go away.

Notice you can also click anywhere other than the stack (i.e. the stack window loses focus) and it will close.

 

[Alastria]

Hi Alastria,

First off thanks for a great little app

There is however one minor problem that I am getting - I have the taskbar set to autohide, and when I click on a stack it opens from the top left corner downwards - ie. the majority of the pop-up is off screen.

If I swich off the hide option on the taskbar then everything works as expected.

This is a very useful app for those with a limited screen size who need access to more apps than can be comfortably displayed on the taskbar. People with limited screen space are also likely to use the autohide option so this may be something that you want to investigate for the next release.

If you need any further details or screen shots etc I will be pleased to provide them

Someone else just emailed me about this. I must've had a little brain fart on that one . I'll release a fix for this by the end of the day.

Thanks.

 

[garbanzo]

Notice you can also click anywhere other than the stack (i.e. the stack window loses focus) and it will close.

yes, i noticed. it's just natural to click again to remove the menu, i don't know why. click-on, click-off.

thanks anyway

 

[digitalrurouni]

Wow this is a really really cool app!

 

[Alastria]

yes, i noticed. it's just natural to click again to remove the menu, i don't know why. click-on, click-off.

thanks anyway

I'll add a preference for that. You could either do it the OSX-way (click icon again to close) like you said, or my way (lose focus to close).