Yet Another Transparent Clock which Supports Custom Skin

• Download demo - 1.28 MB 
• Download source - 1.32 MB

Introduction

I created this tiny clock program, which supports custom skins, for my brother.

Anyone who wants to add a new skin can create a skin directory in /Theme/*.

Background

The code is written based upon Windows layered window and GDI+.

In the source code, you will find the GDIPluszH.h file which is provided here and also the CXml classes which are provided here.

How to Add a New Skin

Each type of skin is placed under the /Theme/ directory.
To add a new skin, just create another sub-directory in /Theme/, which includes the image files and configuration file.

The image files are:

• dial.png
• hourNeedle.png
• minuteNeedle.png
• secondNeedle.png

And the configuration file  is setting.xml.

There is a sample for the setting.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<skin>
	<dial>
		<filename>dial.png</filename>
		<centerX>200</centerX>
		<centerY>206</centerY>
	</dial>

	<hourNeedle>
		<filename>hourNeedle.png</filename>
		<centerX>14</centerX>
		<centerY>176</centerY>
	</hourNeedle>

	<minuteNeedle>
		<filename>minuteNeedle.png</filename>
		<centerX>14</centerX>
		<centerY>176</centerY>
	</minuteNeedle>

	<secondNeedle>
		<filename>secondNeedle.png</filename>
		<centerX>14</centerX>
		<centerY>194</centerY>
	</secondNeedle>
</skin>

The configuration file indicates the rotate center points of the dial and the needles.

Others

You can download the source code from the link at the top of this article.

There is no need to explain more about the code because it is very easy. Moreover, there are several articles on The Code Project which explain the LAYERED window. I cannot do better.

History

• 5^th November, 2008: Initial post