Gadget/Widget Help

[randy2]

I'm not a programmer but would love to know more about it.  However it appears the learning curve is pretty steep for me.

What I would like to do is have my iobridge values displayed in the corner of my screen.  Not necessarily on a web page but more like the google gadgets that float.

Maybe I'm way out of line but there must be a simple way to do this.  I have read the wiki and application notes but can't get the aw-ha of having it all gel together.

Randy

[zero*gx]

the complexity of this is dependent on how you want this done.

if you want it in a browser sidebar that would be easier. if you want a desktop application or something like the yahoo widgets for desktop, that would be easier.

are you able to put the widgets on a webpage? if you can edit an html page, and host it on your own server, i might be able to help you with a desktop app

[randy2]

My desire was to have the values of the four iobridge channels in a small window on my screen or bottom tool bar of my work computer.  Not in a separate browser window that had to be opened, closed or minimized.

Google has the gadgets that will float and moved.  I didn't know how easy it was to make one of those for iobridge?

Randy

[zero*gx]

i only mention the separate html page method, as it would be relatively simple to throw together a c# app that displayed a single webpage. then if your widgets changed, you could copy and past the code into the webpage as opposed to recompiling a desktop app.

i know that yahoo widgets are relatively easy t code. i haven't looked into the google gadgets

[iobridge]

Are you running Google Desktop with Gadget Sidebar? If so I think I can make you a gadget fairly quickly. I am coding one up now to read in the temperature of a widget.

What kind of widgets did you want to display?

[randy2]

Yes I am running google desktop with the sidebar.

I don't need anything fancy.  Maybe be able to tag the four i/o lines with a name then list the value behind.

Temp = 68
Voltage = 13.6
Input 3 = off
Light = on

Just something small in the corner of the desktop like the other google gadgets.

Here's the BIG catch......I would like to be able to edit this gadget on my own without bugging you programmer-types everytime I want to change something.

[iobridge]

If you download the Google Desktop SDK, I can provide a Gadget framework that works with our widgets. I made one last night.

The SDK has a Gadget Designer app and you will be able to edit the labels using that tool. Then, you can rebuild the gadget and use it in the sidebar.

[randy2]

I'm still trying to come up to speed on this.  I've created web pages but not the long way using html but rather a graphic interface.

Over the weekend, I looked at the google sdk web pages and am still in a fog.  I'll keep researching and hopefully the light bulb will come on in my head.

[iobridge]

Like I said, I can provide a basic template. You would load that in Gadget Designer and customize. I think it would be pretty straightforward. Let me know and I can send you a Google Gadget as a zip. I have actually been running it for my temperature probe outside my office window. It's cool to have it on the Google Sidebar.

[zero*gx]

can you post it online? i would be interested in looking at the code as well.

[DPTelecom]

I don't know about putting them on the desktop but I have created Google gadgets that can be put on igoogle.com.  Maybe those can be put into Google desktop?

I used this link to figure everything out. 
http://code.google.com/intl/en/apis/gadgets/docs/tools.html
I know nothing about XML.  I just modified the code that was already there.  Basically I replaced the Hello World part with the script from ioBridge.

My understanding is this page will also host your files you make.  I didn't do this for what I was doing though.

[iobridge]

Here is a Google Desktop Gadget we just created:

http://www.iobridge.net/wiki/projects/google-desktop-gadget

This gadget displays a value from an ioBridge widget on the Google Desktop bar. The gadget contains all of the code, so it can be modified with the Google Desktop Gadget Designer.

http://code.google.com/apis/desktop/