Announcing: 7stacks - stacks for 7 (freeware)

Dorfdad said:

great maybe one more thing. Can you allow PNG or JPG images as the Icons like RocketDock and others do?

FInding and making a ICO file are a pain in the ass.

Well, not really. See, RocketDock and ObjectDock allow you to place items in specific slots, and you can then associate PNGs with those slots. Meanwhile, 7stacks is a file browser, and whatever files appear, appear.

So basically, they work opposite to one another. RocketDock starts with icons, and you associate them with files. 7stacks starts with files, and it retrieves their associated ICOs.

One day, I might add the ability to arrange icons. So, instead of pointing to a folder, you'd point to a settings file, which contained the icons and files you want. But that's much more complex, both in programming, and for the end user.

And BTW, if you want an easy to use icon editor, try IcoFX. It lets you just drop-in PNGs (from places like WinCustomize) and save them as ICOs. Takes like 20 secs. I use it all the time.

UPDATE: Uhh, disregard most of this post. See the next one, below.

After thinking about the above post for a few hours, the following occurred to me:

7stacks could maintain a database of PNG icon "overrides", allowing you to say "Replace this file's icon with this PNG". There's no reason you couldn't do this with whole filetypes (like *.doc), also.

We'll have to see. I'll do some experimentation later on and check the feasability of it.

Very nice app Alastria ... great job :)

Version 1.2 is now available. See the OP for info on what's been updated.

copernicus said:

Very nice update.

Couple things:

Stack still shows up where the cursor is, instead of where the stack is.

The options under preferences are under edit as well, seems a little redudant.

Is it possible to add the active state to the taskbar icon?
Awesome stuff man.

1) As far as I know, there's no way to determine what are the coordinates of the icon on the taskbar. But, I can infer that if you're clicking on it, it's where your mouse cursor is. So that's why I use the mouse coordinates as the basis of where to display it.

I've heard from some keyboardies who use Win+# to launch their shortcuts, and I respect that and wish I had a better answer. But at present, there's no way around this

2) The preferences button on the Create/Edit Stack window is the same as the jumplist entry. It's just another way to get to the Preferences .. use either one you want. The button has to be on the Create/Edit window, because there's no other way for Vista and XP users to access this (since they have no jumplist).

3) Unfortunately, 7stacks can never use the "running indicator" halo effect that other normal apps use because the thumbnail window previews get in the way of the stack itself. Therefore, I make 7stacks hide itself from the taskbar to prevent this thumbnail from appearing.

How can I restore the default stacks that come with a fresh install of Win7? I removed the stacks and toolbar when I first installed and created a quick launch bar to replace it. I find myself wanting this functionality now...

Vulture said:

Hi there!

Ive read the whole thread, really nice app. But im wondering why no one complained about this: speed.
Everytime i click on a stack ill have to wait 1 or 2 seconds until the stack is showing up. That really kills the fun for me. Is there a way to speed it up a bit?

Phil

I hear a lot of complaints about speed, and that's one of the biggest things I'm working on. In addition to v1.5 already displaying items much faster than v1.2, the new version will give you the option of running a tray app which will precache stack contents for faster display (i.e. sacrifice memory for more speed).

V1.5 will be out before the Oct. 22 release of Win 7, and it will also be in public beta sometime before that. Subscribe to my twitter feed for updates.