Gadget Information
Windows Sidebar and Gadgets Architecture
The Windows Sidebar is an application which allows users of Windows Vista to display gadgets on the sidebar itself and on the Windows desktop. The sidebar supports a number of user configuration options, including remaining behind other windows and being hidden completely. The sidebar is also the method by which users manage gadgets through a Gadget gallery.
Installed Locally
All gadgets for Windows Sidebar reside on a users’ computer. The gadgets may be acquired when a user downloads them from a website, when someone emails a gadget or when an application installs a gadget. When a user encounters a .gadget file, they are able to double-click to “install” the gadget, a process that informs the user about any risks associated with gadgets and extracts the files for use by the Sidebar. The gadget file remains for the user to archive or delete.
Mutliple Instances
Each gadget has the ability to be started multiple times by the user, meaning that they could have many different clocks showing various time zones, or slideshow viewers for different picture collections. This is possible because the gadget platform provides methods for developers to store settings, and associates settings with the correct instance of each gadget automatically. The gadgets also run automatically and with the same settings when the user logs out or restarts their computer.
User Interaction
Each gadget has the ability to respond to user interaction. That interact could be by clicking within the gadget on buttons, images or text, or it could be by moving the gadget around the screen.
How Gadgets Work
Each gadget is developed using HTML and script. Gadgets also have access to extra information about itself and Windows when the HTML is run as a gadget. This allows a gadget to interact with Windows files and folders, such as showing images from the users’ pictures folder or displaying information about a wireless connection. Displaying settings dialogs and storing those settings is also possible by using script. Very complex and rich gadgets are possibly using only simple scripting.
Support For Localization
Gadgets are capable of displaying themselves in a language specified by the user. The user chooses a preferred languages using a Windows control panel and Windows maintains a list of alternate locales.
This list of alternate locales is used to retrieve the best set of gadget files to display to the user.
For Further Reference
For more information, the following reference material is available on the Internet:
Microsoft Windows Sidebar - Latest news and product information.
http://www.microsoftgadgets.com/
Microsoft Developer’s Network (MSDN) - For announcements of new Microsoft technology.
http://msdn.microsoft.com
HTML and Script development
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnanchor/html/anch_webdev.asp
Parts of the above taken from Microsoft Sidebar for Windows Vista Beta 2 Gadget Development Overview, a Microsoft Windows White Paper written by Brian Teutsch and published on May 22, 2006.
Recent Comments