http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/Innovation Team's dumping grounden-usTue, 10 Jun 2003 04:00:00 GMTTue, 10 Jun 2003 09:41:01 GMTGeekZilla.co.ukeditor@GeekZilla.co.ukwebmaster@GeekZilla.co.uk http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/view7809FAA8-CFE7-4A6B-AC8E-3293BBA79923.htm uTorrent Server Vista Gadget I've had loads of comments about my articles on creating your own Torrent Server, see the attached links. If you haven't configured uTorrent to work like this I can assure you it is excellent and you can access your torrents from anywhere if you have a static IP or a dynamic DNS. {Creating a torrent server - Part 1}http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/View838302ED-E806-4314-AC3A-89872D6F8C9B.htm {Creating a torrent server - Part 2}http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/View2F63F17E-E0C7-4EFC-9A9D-CFECBD845363.htm So what's next?? As an early adopter of Vista, I've been really excited about the sidebar gadgets and today I found a really great one on Microsoft's site. A uTorrent gadget. What this allows you to do is keep an eye on your torrent server remotely from your desktop, great for when you're at work. [[utorrent_vista_gadget.jpg]] If you haven't installed a gadget before its really easy, just run and install the .gadget file and that's it. Once the gadget appears on the sidebar click the spanner icon for the settings and configure the location and the UID and PWD of your uTorrent server. I set the refresh rate to 60000 milliseconds so save the network traffic. [[uTorrent_Vista_Gadget_Settings.jpg]] That's it... you now can keep a track of your downloads even without having to open your web browser. I have attached a copy of the gadget here, but you can find it on page 5 (well it is today) of Microsoft's Vista Gallery. See link below. {Windows Vista Sidebar}http://vista.gallery.microsoft.com/vista/SideBar.aspx?mkt=en-gb Even easier to kick off torrents Now all you need to do is drag and drop a .torrent file on the gadget to initiate a download. You can even Drag and Drop a hyperlink to a torrent document, from your browser, onto the gadget to start the download. A single click opens the screen below and you can check each torrent's progress. [[uTorrent_Vista_gadget_clicked.jpg]] Enjoy.... time for a beer since the sun is out (b) 2/6/2007 http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/view7809FAA8-CFE7-4A6B-AC8E-3293BBA79923.htm http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/viewA690BD9D-8816-43E4-8744-D8F7A984403F.htm Adding a transparent background to a Vista Gadget Adding a transparent background to a gadget is easy! Simply create a transparent .png file and reference it from your Gadget HTML. Here is an example file (also attached to this article as a download): [[background.gif]] Here is the HTML you need to use it: Full Example Download the code at the bottom of this article. 30/5/2007 http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/viewA690BD9D-8816-43E4-8744-D8F7A984403F.htm http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/view783270F3-8C8B-46BC-AD26-471593DBCF68.htm A simple guide to creating your first Vista Gadget Gadgets are simply HTML and JavaScript. The SideBar exposes a bunch of API's which are accessible from JavaScript and extends the HTML schema. In this short guide we will greate a simple "Hello World" gadget. The four steps *Create a directory to contain the gadget files. *Create an HTML page for our "Hello World". *Create the XML file for the gadget manifest. *Test the created gadget with Vista Sidebar. Step 1 - Create a directory to contain the gadget files Locate and open your gadgets folder. Click the '''Start''' button, and then click '''Run'''. In the Open text box, type: This will open an explorer window containing your Gadgets folder. Create a new folder named '''HelloWorld.gadget''' Step 2 - Create an HTML page for our "Hello World". Create a file named '''HelloWorld.html''' and update it's contents with the following HTML: '''(NOTE: The source is available for download at the bottom of this article)''' Step 3 - Create the XML file for the gadget manifest Now you need to create a Gadget manifest. This is an XML file that specifies the core HTML file and defines the gadget's properties, such as name, icon, and description. Every gadget manifest is named gadget.xml. To create the gadget manifest, copy and paste the following text into a new file. Save your file with the file name gadget.xml. For localization support, make sure that you save your '''gadget.xml''' file with UTF-8 encoding. Step 4 - Test the created gadget with Vista Sidebar *Right click on the Sidebar. Choose '''Add Gadgets...''' *Double click the '''Hello World''' Gadget The gadget should now appear on your sidebar. If you want to make updates to the Gadget HTML then view the changes you need to remove it from the sidebar and add it again for the changes to become visible. Next Steps.... Why not try adding a background to the Gadget (see GadgetBackground), changing the height or editing the CSS to make it appear differently. 30/5/2007 http://www.geekzilla.co.uk/view783270F3-8C8B-46BC-AD26-471593DBCF68.htm