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    ThinkVantage Software (for programmers)

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by x61x200, Dec 23, 2009.

  1. x61x200

    x61x200 Notebook Consultant

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    I was just wondering, when i press the blue thinkvantage button on my x61 i get a "thinkvantage productivity centre" pop up. Its not like the usual applications with a windows frame. For example if i was programming in java i would have to create a JFrame to pop up anything.

    I was just wondering, as this looks pretty 'smart', how would you replicate this 'frameless' application design?
     
    x61x200, Dec 23, 2009
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  2. x61x200

    x61x200 Notebook Consultant

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    Ah there must be a programmer on here! :)

    Somebody must know what they used to write it?
     
    x61x200, Dec 23, 2009
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  3. BinkNR

    BinkNR Knock off all that evil

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    There’s nothing very special about this—just an application that doesn’t use standard Windows design—and I believe it’s written using Microsoft’s .NET Framework.
     
    BinkNR, Dec 23, 2009
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  4. flynn337

    flynn337 Notebook Consultant

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    Look into transparent windows or layered windows. You can avoid having the normal non-client frame and make strange shapes out of your windows.
     
    flynn337, Dec 23, 2009
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  5. x61x200

    x61x200 Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks, is this for C#?
     
    x61x200, Dec 23, 2009
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  6. flynn337

    flynn337 Notebook Consultant

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    The concepts I mentioned are independent of what language you use - you should be able to use them for C#.
     
    flynn337, Dec 23, 2009
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  7. chrixx

    chrixx Product Specialist NBR Reviewer

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    It's an owner drawn window frame. Depending on what underlying libraries are used, the most primitive method of achieving this is through standard Win32 API for Windows.
     
    chrixx, Dec 24, 2009
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  8. grisjuan

    grisjuan Notebook Evangelist

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    I don't think it is written using C#/.NET, at least I was not able to dis-assemble the .dlls and the .exe using the standard .NET tools.

    If it were a .NET app with a WPF user interface, then it would be pretty easy to do: just set your main WindowStyle to None, AllowTransparency to true, and the Background of your main window to Transparent.
     
    grisjuan, Dec 24, 2009
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  9. chrixx

    chrixx Product Specialist NBR Reviewer

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    I appears to be native Win32, but then it's pretty sluggish, which shouldn't be the case if it's using native API.
     
    chrixx, Dec 24, 2009
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