Stardock Personal Computer 2.4 User Manual
DesktopX 2.4 Developer’s Guide
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2.4 Other Object Basics
The object is now created in a rough form, but now is an opportunity to run through the other
basic elements relating to objects before we move onto more complex things.
Labels
The first thing you can do is to add a text label to your object. You simply do this by entering the
label text into the 'Label' box at the top of the General tab.
If you want to explicitly set the 'Label color' just hop over to the Relation tab, and at the bottom
of it you will see 2 buttons where you can set the color of the label depending on whether the
object is selected or not. Clicking the button offers you the choice of using the default color as
set in the DesktopX Settings ... Theme Settings ... Labels area, or defining a different color
specifically for this object.
The first thing you can do is to add a text label to your object. You simply do this by entering the
label text into the 'Label' box at the top of the General tab.
If you want to explicitly set the 'Label color' just hop over to the Relation tab, and at the bottom
of it you will see 2 buttons where you can set the color of the label depending on whether the
object is selected or not. Clicking the button offers you the choice of using the default color as
set in the DesktopX Settings ... Theme Settings ... Labels area, or defining a different color
specifically for this object.
Summary tab
If you look at the 'Summary' tab of the object, you will see a range of other parameters that you
can change.
Here, you can tweak the objects position and size as well as assigning a 'Tooltip' message that
appears when you hover over the object.
In the 'Description' section you can add some information to the object in order to identify
yourself as it's creator, and also add any comments that you feel may be useful to new users of
the object.
Most of the content of the 'Origin' section we will cover in the Interaction sections, but for now,
the 'Object ID' is important for you to learn about.
This is a unique identifier for the object. It is crucial to assign a unique name to the object for a
range of reasons. Any time you deal with object interaction, all types of which we will come
onto later you need to identify the object you want to interact with so it must be identified using
the 'Object ID'.
Even before you get onto object interaction you will quickly understand the need for this when
you try to use the 'Object Navigator'. This is a tool that allows you to see all the objects within
your theme, along with their properties.
To open the Object Navigator, right-click the DesktopX icon in the Taskbar and then click
“Object Navigator”.
If you look at the 'Summary' tab of the object, you will see a range of other parameters that you
can change.
Here, you can tweak the objects position and size as well as assigning a 'Tooltip' message that
appears when you hover over the object.
In the 'Description' section you can add some information to the object in order to identify
yourself as it's creator, and also add any comments that you feel may be useful to new users of
the object.
Most of the content of the 'Origin' section we will cover in the Interaction sections, but for now,
the 'Object ID' is important for you to learn about.
This is a unique identifier for the object. It is crucial to assign a unique name to the object for a
range of reasons. Any time you deal with object interaction, all types of which we will come
onto later you need to identify the object you want to interact with so it must be identified using
the 'Object ID'.
Even before you get onto object interaction you will quickly understand the need for this when
you try to use the 'Object Navigator'. This is a tool that allows you to see all the objects within
your theme, along with their properties.
To open the Object Navigator, right-click the DesktopX icon in the Taskbar and then click
“Object Navigator”.