Version v3.1.0
August 2021
The major overhaul continues, nothing is safe! Still converting the code to the new tools, strings and high precision numbers and boldly going where no-one has gone for some time.
If you find your context menu options have gone missing, copy and paste the [text] section from one of the sample ini files.
Change 1: HTTPGET fixed to correctly return UTF-8 content. Added http connection/read timeout.
Change 2: Fixed the broken screen saver. Even got the preview working properly.
Change 3: Converted the DTI item to new internet code. Now defaults to port 80 if not given. Added the name field to the DTI item XML so that you can now reference the WMI columns by name. Other fine tuning.
Change 4: Added some CORETEMP fields.
Change 5: Fixed LOGICALDRIVES diskio floating point precision. Also, when the performance data is not collected or not available, set the data to zero to avoid expression parser errors.
Change 6: Added environment expansion to the log file name so you can add %appdata% to the log file path. This allows you to install it in Program Files without it needing to write the log in that path. See the discussion from a user on secure installation.
Change 7: No longer recreating the data collector thread or the remote server thread when the configuration is reloaded.
Change 8: I’ve implemented a simple way for developers to provide data to Desktop Info by writing external collectors. Use the COLLECTOR item to display external collector data within Desktop Info.
Change 9: Export to RTF is now correctly encoding Unicode characters.
Change 10: Removed the limitation on the number of pages.
Change 11: Changed the way item ids work. The old lid option is gone. The existing id option is now automatically assigned a unique value for every item. For example, wmi, wmi1, wmi2, wmi3 etc. You may override this by adding the id option to the item, it is now up to you to ensure that the id is unique. This id is used in a number of places such as DTI.
Change 12: I have removed the language overlays. It was all rather awkward and not really useful. If you want to translate Desktop Info just modify the configuration file directly. Please send me your translated configurations so that we can share with others.
Change 13: Added automatic scaling for high dpi devices and Windows scaling. Added the scale option to [options] to enable or disable automatic scaling. It is on by default.
Change 14: Added log file to context menu.
Change 15: The context menu will now split into columns when there are too many entries.
Change 16: I’ve changed the way the configurable menu options work. If a given entry exists in the [text] section then the menu item will appear. Therefore to remove the menu item, remove the [text] entry by deleting it or commenting it out. Also, for the log menu item to appear, both the log entry and it’s [text] entry must be configured. If there are no templates found, the export menu is not displayed. If your context menu is missing entries, your ini file is probably missing the [text] entries, just grab them from the sample-config\desktopinfo-sample.ini file.
Change 17: FONT-FACE and FONT-SIZE may now include user variables. There are now five KEY WORDS that respond to user variables.
Change 18: Adjusted FONT-SIZE so that when it’s scaled up or down using percents, it is always relative to the last absolute value given. This way when FONT-SIZE=100% is given, it will correctly return to the base value. Previously, scaling using percents would accumulate.
Change 19: Removed DISPLAYCONTROLLER item. Look at desktopinfo-advanced.ini for a better alternative.
Change 20: Fine tuned the remote monitor server settings. See Remote Monitoring for details.
Change 21: Added the BEGIN-ONLOAD / END-ONLOAD key words for evaluating items during configuration load up and added WIDTH key word.
Change 22: Added the /o command line option.
Change 23: Added new functionality to the IF item. It can now set a user variable depending on the comparison outcome.
Change 24: Added the LOG item. Added the user option to both the application logging and the Windows Application Event Log so that the new LOG item can write to either or both.
Change 25: Added the MONITOR item to show metrics about the current monitor.
Change 26: Added user variables and expression parsing to the SET item. Removed the recursion so that a SET item variable can reference itself ( eg. set xx={{%xx%+1}} ).