Open-shell-menu: Conflicting with Windows Blinds skinning

[Braxusz]

Describe the bug
When Open-Shell is used in conjunction with Windows Blinds, the taskbar is skinned in black/grey and not the colors of the WindowsBlinds skin

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Apply a skin
2. Taskbar coloring breaks
3. Exit Open-Shell, goes back to normal with proper skinning.

Expected behavior
To not have the taskbar affected,

Screenshots
With Open-Shell enabled

Without Open-Shell enabled.

Version:

• Open-Shell: [e.g. 4.4.1.42]
• OS: [e.g. Windows 10 2004]

[ge0rdi]

Try to disable Taskbar customization in Open-Shell settings -> Taskbar -> Customize taskbar.

[blackwidowfarms]

I am having the same issue... no change disabling Taskbar. It would be awesome to have the best of both worlds... OpenShell Start Menu and the XP explorer buttons from windowblinds :)

[ge0rdi]

@blackwidowfarms

no change disabling Taskbar

So you have disabled Customize taskbar and the issue is still there, right?
Can you check if it goes away when you _exit_ Open-Shell menu (right-click on start menu and select Exit)?

And then when you start Open-Shell again, issue will reappear, right?

[Braxusz]

that is correct, when you exit from the menu it goes back to normal, and
then if you open it again it goes back to broken.

On Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 11:53 AM ge0rdi [e-mail] wrote:

@blackwidowfarms https://github.com/blackwidowfarms

no change disabling Taskbar

So you have disabled Customize taskbar and the issue is still there,
right?
Can you check if it goes away when you exit Open-Shell menu
(right-click on start menu and select Exit)?

And then when you start Open-Shell again, issue will reappear, right?

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[blackwidowfarms]

yes correct

[DerellLicht]

Yes, this has been a problem for quite some time now. I tried discussing it on the discussion forum, but never got any replies.
It would be very lovely to have this problem solved; I truly love both WB and ClassicShell, but if I have to choose one, especially for Windows 10, it will have to be WindowBlinds.

[blackcrack]

why not implementing support for window blinds skins .. other code, same effect, but a Checkbox for :
Stertmenu-> Right Click, Configuration
=> Taskbar

• [X] Customized taskbar
• [X] Support for Windows Blinds
• [ ] Taskbar appearance

[DerellLicht]

So, is anyone on the support team going to address this issue? Or is this program just abandoned at this point?

[bonzibudd]

I can confirm this with a 30 day trial of WindowBlinds.

I have just found a forum post that seems to suggest that the issue was caused by Classic Shell 4.3.0: http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=7370

It must be something to do with the Taskbar settings introduced in that version. However I don't know why it would break it even with the setting disabled. I'll poke around and see if I can make anything work.

[DerellLicht]

I can confirm this with a 30 day trial of WindowBlinds.

I have just found a forum post that seems to suggest that the issue was caused by Classic Shell 4.3.0: http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=7370

It must be something to do with the Taskbar settings introduced in that version. However I don't know why it would break it even with the setting disabled. I'll poke around and see if I can make anything work.

The issue is present with Open Shell as well, even if Classic Shell is not installed. It has also been present in all three most recent versions of Open Shell.

Sadly, Stardock (maker of WindowBlinds) has absolutely no interest in trying to address this issue, since they have their own (not free) Start Menu replacement program that they want to sell. So either we will have to resolve it, or choose between WB or OS...

[blackcrack]

if he want not work together with the community, can he also .... .... and .... the community,
why should we support him.. A open and free community this Guy with his issues at Open-Shell
and by the way.. it's the successor of Classic shell... so what..

He should look to make his Program as open Source and give it free as GPL2 Software to be it possible to work together .. so should we have also not a issues, he have a issue for working together and fix his program ... because he want sell it .. not visa versa..

this issue should be close..

[blackwidowfarms]

I
don't think insulting people is the solution lol but it would be great to have say, access to the potential area the WB conflict is in, so we could mess with it and compile ourselves? guidance that way would be most appreciated, I'm
appreciative of how they have time to interact with us little guys at all.

----- Original Message -----
From: blackcrack [e-mail]
Reply-To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu
[e-mail]
To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [e-mail]
Cc: blackwidowfarms [e-mail], Mention
[e-mail]
Sent: 10/15/2020 10:11:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu] Conflicting with Windows Blinds
skinning (#433)

if he want not work together with the community, can he also .... .... and ....
the community,
why should we support him.. A open and free community this Guy with his issues
at Open-Shell
and by the way.. it's the successor of Classic shell... so what..
He should look to make his Program as open Source and give it free as GPL2 Software to be it possible to work together .. so should we have also not a issues, he have a issue for working together and fix his program ... because he want sell it .. not visa versa..
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[blackcrack]

I don't think insulting people is the solution lol but it would be great to have say, access to the potential area the WB conflict is in, so we could mess with it and compile ourselves? guidance that way would be most appreciated, I'm appreciative of how they have time to interact with us little guys at all.
…
----- Original Message ----- From: blackcrack [e-mail] Reply-To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [e-mail] To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [e-mail] Cc: blackwidowfarms [e-mail], Mention [e-mail] Sent: 10/15/2020 10:11:34 PM Subject: Re: [Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu] Conflicting with Windows Blinds skinning (#433) if he want not work together with the community, can he also .... .... and .... the community, why should we support him.. A open and free community this Guy with his issues at Open-Shell and by the way.. it's the successor of Classic shell... so what.. He should look to make his Program as open Source and give it free as GPL2 Software to be it possible to work together .. so should we have also not a issues, he have a issue for working together and fix his program ... because he want sell it .. not visa versa.. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

" be friednly, hopeful and be nice " so, what ?
i have easy forgotten to put in..
and oh,

peoples want become personally and you want going on me ?
to close this issue is maybe recommended ..

[DerellLicht]

Well, I don't entirely understand whatever @blackcrack is talking about, but we're on the Github page for this product, so clearly it is open source... however - it is very complex, and few really understand the internals of the program... plus, there is the problem of the constantly changing, undocumented internals of Windows 10, which is the reason that the author of the original Classic Shell abandoned the project after so many years.

In any case, however, I don't agree with closing this issue; a number of us would desire very much to have it resolved !! I don't know, though, just how many active developers the project has at this point...

[blackcrack]

you have no right to solve a commercial program problem with an open source problem.
You can report a problem, but whether it is solved by programmers who are only helping and not being paid here, I'm sure others will also want to help if they want it to be fixed.

So, want it be fixed, fix it by self make it like @ge0rdi told

Try to disable Taskbar customization in Open-Shell settings -> Taskbar -> Customize taskbar.

or find a programmer who want fix it ..

[blackwidowfarms]

Solving commercial program problems with open source is what open source is
for. It can be altered to accommodate conflicts with those commercial programs.
The very idea of skinning is about getting around roadblocks to those ends. Not
sure who blackcrack is but sounds like a developer.?

Blaming us and the commercial program seems like pride to me, as does
regurgitating an old solution which does not work, I am no longer asking for a
solution because I can accept that "the programmer simply cannot do it" but is
too proud to admit it or solve it?

I thought this was a project of passion for you guys, do you hate your own
creation enough to be rude to us? Then take it down lol problem solved.

----- Original Message -----
From: blackcrack [e-mail]
Reply-To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu
[e-mail]
To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [e-mail]
Cc: blackwidowfarms [e-mail], Mention
[e-mail]
Sent: 10/15/2020 10:31:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu] Conflicting with Windows Blinds
skinning (#433)

you have no right to solve a commercial program problem with an open source
problem.
You can report a problem, but whether it is solved by programmers who are only
helping and not being paid here, I'm sure others will also want to help if they want it to be fixed.
So, want it be fixed, fix it by self make it like @ge0rdi told
Try to disable Taskbar customization in Open-Shell settings -> Taskbar -> Customize taskbar.
or find a programmer who want fix it ..
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You are receiving this because you were mentioned.
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[ge0rdi]

@blackcrack
There is really no point to comment like this.
If you can't provide reasonable advice that will help people with their problem then please rather don't comment on it.

This is issue tracker for Open-Shell so if people have some problem when using Open-Shell they should be encouraged to report it here.
It is up to maintainers of the project to decide what should stay opened and what not.

At this point it is not clear where the _clash_ between Windows Blinds and Open-Shell lies.

And even if it was clear there is no need to accuse anybody for anything. WB has their own software and they are not obliged to make it compatible with every other software that users can run.

Eventually someone may figure out where the problem is (Open-Shell is open source so anyone can compile/debug it).
And based on that finding we may decide what to do with it (fix a bug in OS, do a workaround, do nothing).

@blackwidowfarms

I thought this was a project of passion for you guys, do you hate your own
creation enough to be rude to us? Then take it down lol problem solved.

Please, calm down too. @blackcrack is not member of Open-Shell team, so there is no need to think his opinions are the same as those of team's.

We are all working on this project in our spare time, so please don't expect that everything will be fixed (right away).

[blackwidowfarms]

thanks very much :) sorry about my rude response, and besides... you guys work
very hard at these things and I think not enough credit is given to you for
that. I applaud your efforts to keep your program working and I will continue
to recommend openshell to people because its simply awesome.

It's something which stays the same, regardless of where the corporate realm takes Windows. Decades from now your software will still be around, chugging away on stashed "non cloud" machines that we the freedom-loving people of the world will refuse to give up in a time of centralization and globalization.

----- Original Message -----
From: ge0rdi [e-mail]
Reply-To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [e-mail]
To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [e-mail]
Cc: blackwidowfarms [e-mail], Mention [e-mail]
Sent: 10/15/2020 11:55:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu] Conflicting with Windows Blinds skinning (#433)

@blackcrack
There is really no point to comment like this.
If you can't
provide reasonable advice that will help people with their problem then please
rather
don't comment on it.
This is issue tracker for Open-Shell so if people have some problem when using Open-Shell they should be encouraged to report it here.
It is up to maintainers of the project to decide what should stay opened and what not.
At this point it is not clear where the clash between Windows Blinds and Open-Shell lies.
And even if it was clear there is no need to accuse anybody for anything. WB has their own software and they are not obliged to make it compatible with every other software that users can run.
Eventually someone may figure out where the problem is (Open-Shell is open source so anyone can compile/debug it).
And based on that finding we may decide what to do with it (fix a bug in OS, do a workaround, do nothing).
@blackwidowfarms
I thought this was a project of passion for you guys, do you hate your own
creation enough to be rude to us? Then take it down lol problem solved.
Please, calm down too. @blackcrack is not member of Open-Shell team, so there is no need to think his opinions are the same as those of team's.
We are all working on this project in our spare time, so please don't expect that everything will be fixed (right away).
—
You are receiving this because you were mentioned.
Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[ge0rdi]

I was able to pinpoint the issue. Will submit PR with workaround soon.

Here is some technical info:

Open-Shell hooks SHFillRectClr (ordinal 197) API from shlwapi.dll in order to be able to customize taskbar.
The API is hooked even if taskbar customization is disabled in Open-Shell (default).

WindowBlinds hooks the same API so this is causing clashes between both programs.
In fact Open-Shell hooks later which makes WindowBlinds hook to be completely ignored.

The solution would be to hook only if taskbar customization is enabled.

This way Open-Shell should be more compatible with other customization
tools in default state.

[blackwidowfarms]

that's beautiful! what a great find, congratulations on that sir! :D

----- Original Message -----
From: ge0rdi [e-mail]
Reply-To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [e-mail]
To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [e-mail]
Cc: blackwidowfarms [e-mail], Mention [e-mail]
Sent: 10/18/2020 12:27:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu] Conflicting with Windows Blinds skinning (#433)

I was able to pinpoint the issue. Will submit PR with workaround soon.
Here is some technical info:
Open-Shell hooks SHFillRectClr (ordinal 197) API from shlwapi.dll in order to be able to customize taskbar.
The API is hooked even if taskbar customization is disabled in Open-Shell (default).
WindowBlinds hooks the same API so this is causing clashes between both programs.
In fact Open-Shell hooks later which makes WindowBlinds hook to be completely ignored.
The solution would be to hook only if taskbar customization is enabled.
This way Open-Shell should be more compatible with other customization
tools in default state.
—
You are receiving this because you were mentioned.
Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[Braxusz]

Nice work, thanks for this. I look forward to testing it out!

On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 12:27 AM ge0rdi [e-mail] wrote:

I was able to pinpoint the issue. Will submit PR with workaround soon.

Here is some technical info:

Open-Shell hooks SHFillRectClr (ordinal 197) API from shlwapi.dll in
order to be able to customize taskbar.
The API is hooked even if taskbar customization is disabled in Open-Shell
(default).

WindowBlinds hooks the same API so this is causing clashes between both
programs.
In fact Open-Shell hooks later which makes WindowBlinds hook to be
completely ignored.

The solution would be to hook only if taskbar customization is enabled.

This way Open-Shell should be more compatible with other customization
tools in default state.

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[blackwidowfarms]

It totally works, like a charm! no more conflict with windowblinds. Thanks very
much geOrdi, unhooking it worked.

----- Original Message -----
From: ge0rdi [e-mail]
Reply-To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu
[e-mail]
To: Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu [e-mail]
Cc: blackwidowfarms [e-mail], Mention
[e-mail]
Sent: 10/23/2020 1:14:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu] Conflicting with Windows Blinds
skinning (#433)

Closed #433 via a5f35b1.
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[ge0rdi]

@blackwidowfarms
Cool. Thanks for confirmation 👍