how to make a screen saver - GameCreators Forum

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Cros Jovil

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 03:06

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I'm a novice programmer and I want to turn a program that changes colours and makes circles and stuff like that can i turn that into a screen saver and how.

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Dave J

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 04:41

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Rename the .exe extension to .src, then you can right click it and use "Install Screensaver" and it will become your default screensaver!

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."

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Krush

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 09:24

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He means .scr. not .src...

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Dave J

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 09:53

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'Twas a typo.

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."

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Genesis Rage

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 10:08

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take a look in the codebase... i remember seeing some snipet in there that you can actually set up the little preview window that shows in the display properties... and also can set it up if there is any configurations...

havent tried it myself yet... but the code looks fairly straight-forward and easy to understand what is going on

here is the link... it is for DBC... but should be able to convert it over to DBP commands fairly easy
http://developer.thegamecreators.com/?m=codebase_view&i=f77a47ddb2281f7c30b2145cfc95730b

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zircher

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 17:53 Edited at: 28th Jan 2004 17:55

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Quote: "

+ Code Snippet

   rem Little preview in the settings Tab
   case "/P"
      write to registry regkey$, "Running", 0
      rem This parameter looks like "/P:6458" where 6458 is a pointer to the tiny preview window
      rem in the screensaver settings tab. It's easy to extract this pointer...
      winPointer = val( right$(cl$(),len(cl$())-3) )
      rem But I don't know how to use it...
      end
   endcase

"

The example mentioned has a similar problem that I ran into when I created my screen saver shell. What to do with the preview window pointer? The code base entry does essentially nothing with the /P parameter. In mine, I create a stand alone preview window. Does anyone know how to use this pointer in DBP to create a real preview mode?
--
TAZ

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CloseToPerfect

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 19:42

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I never have been able to get a dbp program to work as a screen saver with the preview.

RGT may be gone but the best DBP forum is still alive and kicking, check it out.
http://www.dannywartnaby.co.uk/rgt/

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zircher

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Posted: 28th Jan 2004 20:27 Edited at: 29th Jan 2004 02:26

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Faking a preview mode is easy enough, I just create a 160x120 window and run the screen saver in it. Taking that handle and doing something meaningful like assigning a bitmap to it is just over the horizon of my ability. Sounds like a job for a DLL to make that connection. Any takers?
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TAZ

[edit for typos]

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Cros Jovil

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Posted: 29th Jan 2004 01:46

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Only problem with changing the .exe to .scr you cant do it in xp it just becomes name.scr.exe

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zircher

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Posted: 29th Jan 2004 02:28

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I'll refute that on several levels. I change the name in the DBP editor and it works just fine. I also have my explorer set so that extensions are not hidden and I can easily change them via rename.
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TAZ

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Wik

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Posted: 29th Jan 2004 04:05

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open explorer go under tools and click folder options, go under the second tab and uncheck "hide extentions" just below the show hidden folders thing which has sub options so its easy to find.

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Dave J

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Posted: 29th Jan 2004 08:10

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Ditto.

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."

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Kangaroo2 BETA2

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Posted: 30th Jan 2004 20:58

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or open a DOS prompt and type

REN c:\yourdirectory\yourfile.exe c:\yourdirectory\yourfile.scr

Yay MS-DOS

Quikly Studio Pro. Soon. Honest.

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DarkBASIC Professional Discussion / how to make a screen saver