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Questions tagged [windows-desktop-gadgets]

Windows Desktop Gadgets is the official name for the default widget interface on Windows 7. Windows Vista referred to them as Windows Sidebar Gadgets, but it was decided the sidebar that they would dock to should be removed in later versions of windows.

Windows Desktop Gadgets is the official name for the default widget interface on Windows 7. Windows Vista referred to them as Windows Sidebar Gadgets, but it was decided the sidebar that they would dock to should be removed in later versions of windows. They are written using standard web technologies (JavaScript, HTML, CSS) but have access to specific System APIs. They can also run unsigned ActiveX components without prompting the user for authorisation.

A basic Windows Desktop Gadget consists of 3 files;

  • a manifest file, gadget.xml, containing meta data such as title, description, author, etc;
  • a HTML file for the main gadget window; and
  • an image for the gadget background.

A gadget is packaged up for installation by compressing the files to a zip or a cab format and then renaming the extension to .gadget.

Example gadgets

a clock, a calendar and a weather application. http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC295047.png

Windows Desktop Gadgets on Stack Overflow

The following is a list of useful questions tagged [windows-desktop-gadgets]:

Other references

230 questions
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Clock Gadget in taskbar using C#

How can I add my clock gadget using C# like in below image I am making clock in Windows Form using C#. How can I place my clock in taskbar and at the place where time is displayed in Notification area? Update: Is this can be done by notifyIcon…
Javed Akram
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Google Blogger/ Blogspot and creating custom containers for adding a gadget widget to layout page

I am new to the Blogger.com interface and customizing templates with this platform. Blogger is coded using XML which is am familiar but I can't figure out the correct coding in Blogger to place a customized container which is accessible within the…
User 1111
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converting TForm win32 app to Win7 gadget (delphi)

What is the process of converting win32 application (a small popup window actually) to win7 gadget? Do I need to convert my exe to activex component, can I still use TForm ? it would be nice to have support for both Win7 + Vista.
Tom
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How to set g:text style to bold font in a Windows Gadget?

I'm developing a Vista/Win7 Desktop Gadget that uses a translucent g:background (doc) area with g:text (doc) on top. I'm adding the text via addTextObject (doc), and this all works as expected. However, I can't figure out how to set that text to…
Factor Mystic
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Problem retrieving data from JSON file in windows gadget

I am trying to access data stored in a JSON file (in the same folder as the gadget) using jquery. The following example works fine in both firefox and internet explorer (shows "success"), but as a gadget it doesn't work (shows…
grc
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How to use jQuery .get() in Windows Gadget

I'm trying to get data from a web-page into my sidebar gadget via: $.get("http://localhost/index.php", function(data) { $("#result").html("Data Loaded: " + data); }); When I view this via my Apache webserver, it works.Using this code within the…
lugro
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How to write Windows 7 gadget in C#?

How can I use C# to write a gadget in Windows 7? Is it possible?
Gali
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How to draw procedural graphics in Vista Sidebar?

How do I draw procedural graphics in a Vista Sidebar gadget? I have a gadget that collects data over time and I want to draw animating graphs. My current approach is to draw the graph with VML that I update from JScript on a timer tick. Is this…
Foo Dog
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Code Profiling in the Windows Sidebar Environment

Does anyone know of a way I can code-profile my Windows Sidebar Gadget? I've played around with the code-profiling tool in IE8's "Developer Tools" and the code-profiling included in Visual Studio 2010, but I can't find a way to include the System.*…
Matt
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Microsoft.XMLHTTP - how to prevent caching?

So I want to retrieve some JSON data which changes frequently from Windows gadget, by using Microsoft.XMLHTTP ActiveXObject. The problem is that it returns cached version of the page instead of requesting new one. I have no control over the server,…
Domchi
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Windows Sidebar Gadget Reload

I am trying to develop a Windows Desktop widget for Windows 7. Just wondering if there is an easy way to reload the widget or have some form of debug code that will reload the widget every 10 seconds. The reason I ask is while developing the widget,…
Littlejon
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Substituting HTML/Javascript Sidebar Gadgets?

I am a web developer and have a Windows Sidebar Gadget written in HTML/Javascript. It's very popular (500 000+ downloads) and users are requesting solutions for Windows 8 since gadget support has been removed. Microsoft will also remove the sidebar…
tim
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Display javascript value within HTML body

i have the following relevant code in the header of my html doc: test1.value = System.Gadget.Settings.read("Date1"); And I'm trying to display the test1 value in the body of my html doc. It displays when i use: But…
kylex
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How to Request a Password Protected Page in Javascript

I'm working on a very simple Sidebar Gadget to analyze my router's monthly bandwidth usage and determine how far ahead or behind I am for that month. The data is located in a router-hosted, password protected webpage (I'm using DD-WRT, if it…
Brian Bauman
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Javascript Localization in Windows

I'm looking for a way to localize a Windows Sidebar Gadget. It is written primarily in Javascript. What I specifically want is a way to get the user's "language code" (eg. en-us) because the language code will be used to get a localized XML file…
user535617
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