Xibo

Problem with client staying on top in windows 7

Asked by James Drury

Hello again, Many thanks to Alex for your help with my previous question. Having tested Xibo client 1.2.2 on Windows XP SP3 we have, today, rolled it out to many PC's on USB second screens, the positioning of the client is perfect, as is the window size option in the advanced settings. one minor inconvenience though, is in Windows XP the client stays on top, and can only be closed by clicking in its display region and pressing Alt + F4 which is perfect for us with the main screens being used as they are. in Windows 7 the client does not stay on top, with other windows able to cover just by dragging, and it can be closed by right clicking the running icon in the start/taskbar. obviously I understand that this is a Windows 7 specific behaviour, however I was wondering if a client fix was on its way to make it always on top again, while removing the close option from the start bar... or even, are there any transparent apps out there that do the same thing?

Other than this relatively minor niggle, we are muchas impressed with this system, and I hope soon to be bringing more than just questions here.

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James Drury
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Dan Garner (dangarner) said : 		#1

You mention that you are using second screens... is this as an extended desktop or clone?

In actual fact the client works the same on XP and on 7, it starts up as the top most window, but other windows can be brought in in front of it (this is to support switching to TV, etc).

We could remove the close option from the start bar - although if Xibo is covering the start bar then perhaps this is not a problem?

Xibo does have an annoying glitch on Win7 - when it starts it moves the mouse to the bottom right of the screen, to hide it... this worked well on XP, but on 7 there is a region at the bottom right to transparent the windows and view the desktop (if another window takes focus this happens, which is not nice).

We are thinking that moving the mouse to the bottom left would probably solve this problem.

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James Drury (james-drury) said : 		#2

So it does! I was sure it wasn't earlier :s

Basically our set up is an extended desktop, start bar on screen 1 (main screen, being used as a 'normal' PC) and Xibo starting in pixel 1 of screen 2 so we would love the right click options to be removed if possible, as it doesn't cover the start bar. indeed even better would be if it could be hidden from the start bar entirely, so the users can't 'see' it running, only its result I do appreciate that Xibo is designed to run on dedicated display PC's however we are finding it excellent on mini screens where customer's sit with Service advisors in a car dealership, particularly as Xibo client is so tight when running, you don't even notice its there!

I have spotted that the second screen can be moved to the bottom right hand corner of the main screen, reducing massively the effect of the shadowing of aero so this may mitigate our 'always on top' requirement a bit, however if anyone has any ideas on a 3rd party app I'd be more than grateful.

I see what you mean regarding the bottom right, I did wonder what happened when I started it full screen on a Win 7 machine earlier... Bottom left would appear a great bet, certainly naked windows has nothing in that region for simply 'brushing over'

Many Thanks for your prompt reply, Dan, we do very much appreciate the help and support we have been given the last couple of days!

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Dan Garner (dangarner) said : 		#3

I think we could do this - hide it from the task bar. Perhaps we should only implement it as an option though (some people may want it in the task bar).

If you would be kind enough to create a bug from this question, then I'll target it appropriately.

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James Drury (james-drury) said : 		#4

Consider it done :) Many Thanks again for your help :D