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First I must say that I don't know windows gadgets or what are they capable of.

But I need something to do the following:

  • showing some info on the desktop of the user
  • if there is really important info, then gadget must be shown on top of all other windows
  • user without admin rights, must not be able to close the gadget

Can these be done using windows 7 gadgets ? I know that the first thing can be done, because this is the purpouse of the gadgets, but I'm not shure for other two things.

EDIT

OK. Here is what I need to do:

  • show some info on user desktop (gadgets seems ideal for this)
  • if needed, I must be able to show this info on top of all other opened apps. So no matter what apps user is ussing at the momemnt the info must be shown on top of all that. (just for some time period)
  • user must not be able to close this. This will be used in cotrolled enviroment so we can use group polices and stuff like that, also users doesn have an admin priviliges

Please don't ask me for what this will be needed, because I don't know. I'm just a person who needs to get things done.

EDIT 2

Ok, let's go once more.

I explained what I need to do.

  • I need to show various info to user (text, image, urls).

  • I must be able to get this info on top of other windows (except if another window is allready in allways on top mode)

  • User must not be able to close this whatever thing it will be.

I thought about two ways how to do this

  • An app which runs in tray and shows popups like msn or AV sw
  • A desktop gadget for which I wasn't shure if they can come on top of otherapps and if I can prevent there closing.
Jonathan Leffler
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Primoz
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  • See here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2011/03/10/10138969.aspx – Brent M. Spell Sep 16 '11 at 21:09
  • Showing a window "on top of all other windows" is an oxymoron. Gadgets can be shown over application windows while the application is active. Gadgets are user processes and can be closed by the user. Please tell us what you are trying to achieve, not what method you have decided to use. – Dour High Arch Sep 16 '11 at 22:21
  • @Dour High Arch I added some more explanation as you asked. Hope that this clear things up. – Primoz Sep 18 '11 at 21:14
  • Your edit is not helpful because it simply repeats the requirements without explaining what you are trying to do. If you don't know what this is for, then *find out*, otherwise you are simply wasting everyone's time, including your own. – Dour High Arch Sep 19 '11 at 16:26
  • Ok, I tried once more. And I relly don't know how you don't see my objecive. It's plain and simple: bring some data (text, image, urls) to the user. – Primoz Sep 19 '11 at 20:25

2 Answers2

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Gadgets are designed to provide optional information to users, and at the end of the day they are entirely in control over what is shown on their desktop. Should you want to force them to display information then perhaps you should look elsewhere.

The user can opt to have the gadget appear over the top of windows which aren't also trying to be on top of all other windows. However the user can quickly disable this if needed. The bigger question you should be asking I think is why do you need this functionality? Having a gadget appear over the top of other windows renders that portion of the screen un-usable effectively.

What are you trying to do? If you tell us this then maybe we can give a good alternative to windows gadgets

Adam Casey
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  • You can't prevent users from disabling gadgets and you can't make them have it appear on top of other windows either, not even with group policy's. It may be possible for the gadget to reappear each time the user logs in with a logon script. This is something you're going to have to decide whether you want or not though. A gadget may not be the ideal tool for this job. – Adam Casey Sep 19 '11 at 16:49
  • It doesn't need to be gadget. I'm just looking for the way to get the job done. – Primoz Sep 19 '11 at 20:26
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Answer #2 aimed at your new edits:

You could get this done by disabling task manager using group policy's, then creating an application which ran in the background listening on a certain socket or waiting for changes on a network file or something. When it gets activity from either of those tasks, it could display a simple window doing whatever it is you need it to do. So long as the window isn't actually linked to the background application, you could either just not close if the user presses the X button (Kind of bad UX here though) or you could just have it dismissed for a certain period of time before it appears again.

This application could be written in pretty much any language to be honest, C#, C++ even VB. So long as you disable ways of closing your application (Task manager is the main way, not sure if users would have the skills or time to close it through a TASKKILL command or something)

If you want to know anymore general information let me know, if you want specifics it would be better to look that up separately, or ask another question.

Adam Casey
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