I know there are several different volume widgets out there for PC, but I haven't been able to find any that automatically pop up upon system volume change. I have the buttons on my laptop to change the system volume, and I was looking for a widget that could pop up (while I was using other applications or surfing then net), give a visual indication of what the volume was (like a little status bar with a percentage), and then go away after a couple seconds. If I knew how to program well, I'd do it myself, but alas, I don't.

here we go ...


Version: 0.49b

Download: 685 kBytes

functions:

• shows your current volume when changed
• volume-up/down & mute using hotkeys
• hide from konsposé
• stunnig AeroGlass and OSX theme
• preset possitions[fixed] / free possitioning
• volume can be changed by clicking/sliding above the volume bar
• enable/disable autohide
• beep on vol change

That's perfect, actually. Right color for my desktop too
Thanks.
-Meskibob

This is great - thanks! Two things: the first time I ran it, it crashed... Stable since then. And could you add a 'mute' display? Otherwise perfect - meets my needs better than any of the other volume widgets...

Found some a minor glitches. As expected, widget crashed when trying to edit any of the preferences (opacity, window level). Whenever I put my computer to sleep, hibernate, or switch user, the volume display disappears (while Konfab. says it's running) until I restart Konfab or re-open up the widget. Shutdown, restart, and log off are fine. Apart from that, no major problems, just needs some more features (all the ones I want have already been mentioned).

That is Awesome... If only My Keyboard didn't already do it itself...

Thats a damn good idea, ill add it to the next version of my volume control.

dwwvolume

Updated 0.2

• added: ability to show the widget in Konspose Mode
• added: HotKeys
• added: adjustable timer
• added: Minimize button (for Konspose)
• added: displays "mute" state
• changed: fade in/out methods
• fixed: preferences crash
• fixed: possible startup crash

Much better. Thanks for everything Drevor. One final request. When I mute the volume, I then have to change the volume to see the muted display. The display should automatically pop up if muted/unmuted like it already does for volume change.

someone asked me to include a OSX like display ... almost done...

... all I had was two screenshots ... so its not 100% acurate but its pretty close imho

(the mute display bug is fixed too )

Updated 0.3

• added: theme support
• added: OSX theme
• added: HotKeys
• added: POST Test
• added: preset/free possitioning
• changed: debug.log location
• fixed: mute display
• fixed: K2.1.1 Hotkey Alt<==>Shift bug
• fixed: reasigning hotkeys
• fixed: showVolume fired twice on Hotkey

more screens

Nice work again Drevor, too bad you droped DriveSM... btw, would it be possible to include a "Milk Aero" (Basicly black on white instead of white on black) in next version? And maybe a bottom/top-center preset?

yeah sure, no problem.

btw, I didnt drop any of my widgets. Im just waiting for the next K release to fix some problems before I keep releasing new versions.
Any widget I work on in some way adds functionality to my Azureus widget.
scrollWindows, Themes, progressBars, debuger, updater, ... even the HypnoToad served a purpose ...

humm ... ok .. it IS a problem. What should it look like? The existing one has a pretty good contrast vs black and white



like this ?

Works great for me - thanks!

Bingo, like my middle panel on my desktop . Basicly white middle background with black text/bar. No need to change the glass border, as it is ok.

I like you original

Is it me.. because I cannot right-click on the widget, or move the widget, or close it!

edit: konspose saved the day!

konsposé didnt save the day, it is supposed to work this way. but ill change it from floating to topmost in the next release so people dont get that confused

Tip of the Day:

Personally, I had Task Manager Opened then hit the volume and Quickly closed it... Took a Few Tries...

I can't believe I am doing this since I am the creator of a rival Volume widget, Volume XP.

However, you have done a great job with this one and I enjoy it. I would suggest the option of being able to lock in on the desktop as visible and using it to actually change the volume, not just resond when volume is changed. And, if you are able to lock it on the desktop, then have it shrink up real nice to a smaller size. Great graphics though, and nice functionality.

wow Drevor...those look RAD!! i just have a question...i use my sound card 2 plug n my tv & other things...is there anyway 2 make it so that it can have seperate controls 4 wave & line n volume controls? is that possible? i run windows 2000. if u cant, i definately understand...either way, i think they look really cool...

Based on the K' documentation, it appears the only volume that is adjustable through a widget (and basic programing) is the system volume.

Oh, man... I just had to login to say something about this widget. This widget made me open up Konfabulator once again.

I have a Mac mini with a (duh) BYODKM, which means no lovely volume keys. I hated that. This widget solved that problem. Totally awesome! Thank you!

I found out about konfabulator just yesterday and downloaded your widget as soon as I found it, because that is exactly the kind of widget I need.
However, I have a few suggestions/requests/comments.

1. Although your widget is set to appear on top, it is unable to be shown over windowed WMP10, which has "Keep the player on top of other windows" turned on.
Neither is it able to come on top of full screen WMP10. (Probably no full screen application.) Maybe that is a limitation of konfabulator itself, but I tryed some other programs for volume that were able to do that, but they had other weaknesses.

2. I don't know it that varies from computer to computer, but in my case, there are 25 steps from 0% to 100% volume, and it would be nice if there were 25 boxes in your program (instead of 20). Or maybe if there was a way to set the percentage of one step. (When installed other programs mentioned above, I got 34 steps from 0 to 100.

3. Your widget shows always when volume is changed. Would it be possible to show it also when you press + button when at 100% and - when at 0%, just to be sure, you are already there, without first going down or up?

That's it for now.

The look of your widget really rocks.

I could try getting back on top by setting the window level again ... I ll do my best


The number of boxes varies from one theme to another. When pressing hardware buttons (laptop/computer case or "multimedia"keyboard) in contrast to the Hotkeys you can set in the widgets preferences the volume changes are not done by the widget thus im not able to define the "interval" in which the volume is changed. When using the hotkeys the widget will change the volume by 5% and thus by "one box" (using the AeroGlass Theme). In the next release (almost done) it will change the volume by the value of that slider you mentioned.
In order to detect any volume changes done by other programs or hardware buttons the widget gets the current volume in a certain intervall and compares it with the last value. That basicly means that I cant detect you pressing the louder-hardware buttons when the volume already is 100%.


Atm I have a seriouse problem. I know, with the libraries that Im using, there is a good chance that the widget will crash when beeing closed. Ed already said that this bug is fixed in the next Konfabulator release which will be out in a few weeks .. or months ...
So, unless I find a way around that crash, the widget will not be released to the Gallery before K2.5

aw crap...so there isnt a possible way 2 use widgets 4 more than just system volume? thats too bad...but thanks smallville!

Hi Drevor, thanks for this widget man it's great!

Got a few issues/suggestions though:

1) Since I upgraded to iTunes 5.0, the widget causes skipping during playback. It is definitely your widget doing this because it stops if I close it. I've even tested it by running K with the volume widget as the only one running then closing it too. It was fine with iTunes 4.9 though.

2) Can you add that really cool "pop" sound that plays when you increase/decrease the volume on a Mac (or one *similar* or an option to specify a sound to play in the preferences)?

3) The graphic for Mute is off-centre in the Mac style theme. I don't know if it's actually like that on a Mac so it's dome by design, but it is very aesthetically unpleasing having it to the left whilst the other graphics are centred. Can you please change it or give us an option to set it?

Thanks
Leon

PS Feel free to post any amusingly sarcastic comments to my points, I'll look forward to them!

I cant replicate that problem. How often does it occur? Is it possibly a CPU load issue? Ill add a option to change/disable the timer that test for volume changes in the next release, maybe that will help.
you could try it youself for now:
- enable K's debug mode (hold Shift+Ctrl and click the TrayIcon)
- start/restart systemVolume
- enter testTimer.interval=1 to change the test to every second instead of every 0.1 sec
- or enter testTimer.ticking=false to entirely stop that timer

yeah, I already thought about that. Ill go with the system default beep for the moment

It is somewhat intended as It appears to look that way on mac (please correct me if Im wrong). It would have made more sense if I had added the additional steps like I planed. (I will add them in a secondary OSX theme)




no sarcastic comments for now as Im way too tired for that

Cheers for your help Drevor. The problem with skipping does appear to be a CPU issue, there's a constant load of about 40-50% when your widget is running with iTunes playing, even with no other widgets or programmes running. The skipping seems to occur on its own about every 20s or so, or almost constantly when trying to use my computer for other tasks like surfing the old interweb for example.

I did the whole debug-mode thing and when I set testTimer.interval=1, it was still causing skipping just as frequently. I suppose setting it any higher will not make the widget fairly impractical as it will be quite delayed. I then set testTimer.ticking=false and that completely stopped the problem although rendered the widget pretty much useless.

What do you make of that?

I checked out the volume thingamajig on my Mac last night too, and you are right; the mute icon is off-centre. It doesn't appear to have any of the steps you are on about though for the level of the volume, at least not on Tiger. But I think it will look nice if you do add the steps.

can you make a small volume bar for Line-In instead of master volume. If so that would be great..let me know cdr@ntelos.net thanks

I tried to access the volume controls via the windows media player controls but without much luck yet. The fixed COM support in the next Konfabulator release might help.

Concerning iTunes Im still unable to reproduce that problem, despite of the fact that the iTunes Store "browser" is utterly slow (resizing/scrolling) I never encounterd a CPU load higher than 6% for Konfabulator. Try closing iTunes and all other widgets and tell me if there is some "elevated" CPU load when the system is idle

alrighty I think I found the bugger. And Im glad to say that its (not realy) me. When I tried iTunes I just updated it to 5.0 and found no problem. But after restarting my personal firewall told me that the ituneshelper.exe had been replaced so I tried again and this time I do get some insane CPU loads. But not comming from the widget but iTunes.exe

It does that whenever itunes does something that requires the "main window" to update (browsing the archive/radio stations/store)

But while just playing a song/ratio station I barely see any CPU load for iTunes or Konfabulator.

Is there anyone else experiencing this problem?

Having a slight glitch. Everytime I come from a full screen game or I haven't "used" the widget in a while (say after going to bed at night with comp on and trying in the morning), the volume doesn't focus to top when I change the volume or mute. I either have to restart Konfab, open the sysvolume preferences, or go to Konspose inorder to reset it. After that, the widget goes to top as normal. Running on Windows XP, latest Konfab. Any suggestions?

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you Drevor, but I've been really busy at work this week and haven't had much time to look further into this. I've done a little more investigating though and it seems I was wrong about it being a CPU load issue. I get the same as you concerning loads for K and iTunes, barely nothing at all (max of about 2% in iTunes when playing a song).

However, the same problem still remains. I have retested and my original feeling that it is your widget being the culprit is holding up. I closed all non-system critical processes in Task Manager and all other applications except K and iTunes. I closed all widgets except systemVolume, yet still the same.

It skips on its own whilst not doing anything every 20-30 seconds and every few seconds when trying to perform other tasks on my computer. I registered no CPU spikes during the skipping. I have plenty of RAM too, 1GB, with 75% free.

I checked to see if it was Konfabulator itself by running it with no widgets at all and playing tracks in iTunes, but I'm afraid it's definitely your widget.

Cheers
Leon

well ... Im prolly the only one who is polling system.volume that often ... so the problem is mostlikely that call. One last question if you are watching a video or playing a song with another program (or other iTunes version) does it skip too?
I will add this bug(?) to my next batch of buggers that ill send to the team.

please try this test widget (close all other widgets before) and tell me if it skipps your itunes too

It doesn't cause any problems when I'm playing music in WMP, just iTunes. Funnily enough, it worked fine with 4.9 too, it's only since I upgraded to 5.0 that I'm having issues.

I tried your pollingSystemVolume widget and it causes the same problem as the systemVolume widget, so I guess the problem is the volume polling. That's annoying seeing how it needs to do that in order to be useful! I changed the polling frequency up to every 5 seconds on the systemVolume widget but it didn't make any noticeable difference. Any more than that and the widget wouldn't be very useful.

I don't know if this is relevant, but the skipping seems to be worst when I'm using Firefox - it goes absolutely mental then, like every couple of seconds (but only while playing in iTunes too, it's fine under WMP).

Finaly I got some time to update that widget. I think added everything that had been requested (except custom themes).

new stuff

• 3 colors/opacities that will be used depending on the active theme
• the inner border of the Aero theme changes its color to solid white/black or custom color depending on the luminance of the choosen color*
• volume can be changed by clicking/sliding above the volume bar
• enable/disable autohide
• beep on vol change

__________
* I asked myself how "bright" a color is and ended up with a full blown Color object/function-set after a few hours

Now that's a GREAT Widget Can you create smaller themes? The current ones are too big for me Maybe a smaller version of the vurrent ones

d'oh... I knew there was something ... yeah the themes are basicly resizeable - the Aero is a 3x3 title and the OSX one is actually two times bigger than it is displayed right now ...

btw: hubert_cumberdale, did updating itunes to 5.01 any good concerning the sound skipping ?

and nice screen for FineWolf:

Cool screenshot But I don't see how the themes are resizable? How can I resize them?

no .. actually YOU cant ... already made the "source images" bigger and/or sliced them in parts, so that nothing could stop me from making the widget resizeable ... well .. nothign except my obliviousness .... aaannnyways ... Ill add this in the next (and hopefully final release)

Oh, great Sorry for misunderstanding you I'll wait for the next verison.

Oooohhhh.... I do beleive I see the ClearOne skin for Winamp....

Sorry for this absolutely useless Post...

No, it has made no difference whatsoever. Still skipping like a crazy mofo all the time.

I noticed you added a beep() option in the preferences, is there any chance you can add an option to specify your own sound file at all?

Is there an option to mute the volume using this Widget (System Volume Widget)? If not, can you add it ?

A bit late for a reply, but yea, I like what I've just seen Drevor

Only via hotkey. I'll see if I can add a button to the themes (depends on how it will look like)

@FineWolf: