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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
112
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4 answers

How to get started with Windows 7 gadgets

I have never programmed a gadget for Vista or Seven, but I would like to try to make one. But where do I start? I have tried to search around on google and msdn, but I haven't managed to find anything useful. Either very, very old stuff (Vista beta…
Svish
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Javascript XMLHttpRequest: Ignore invalid SSL Certificate

so I have been having trouble with grabbing information from a device that is interfaced with via https due to the fact that it has an invalid security certificate. I know the device is to be trusted and I don't have access to the server-side so I…
user535617
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JPEG Shows in Firefox but Not IE8

I'm working on a Sidebar Gadget and cannot get my JPEGs to show up (PNGs work). When I try to open the file by itself in IE8 it doesn't work. Firefox, of course, can open it fine. JPEG Details: Dimensions: 1080X900 180 dpi Bit depth 24 Color…
Adam
15
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4 answers

Windows gadget in WPF - show while "Show desktop" is activated

I'm trying to create a "gadget" like application using WPF. The goal is to get the same behavior as a normal Windows 7 gadget: No task-bar entry Doesn't show up when you alt+tab windows NOT always on top, applications can be on top Visible while…
Jannick
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3 answers

C# tutorial to write gadgets

How can I write gadgets for the Windows 7 desktop using C# and Visual Studio 2008? I'm looking for tutorials and resources on that topic.
George2
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1 answer

Windows Gadgets & Jquery

I am creating a Vista Gadget and I haven't been able to get JQuery to work. I have tried a few very simple calls like this: $(function() { $('a').click(function() { $('#box').html("test"); }); }); I know you can use JavaScript…
nobody
8
votes
2 answers

Silverlight 2 Sidebar Gadget

How do you display a Silverlight 2.0 application in a Vista Sidebar gadget? Whenever I load a gadget with the standard Silverlight 2 object tag, I get the no-silverlight default content instead of the app. So, what's the trick to allowing it to…
MojoFilter
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8
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4 answers

Opposite of "always on top"

I want to set my application to be on desktop level, like Windows Gadgets. Is this possible to achieve? Thing is, i have borderless application I want to run on desktop. I tried to find the option, but I found only "always on top" which is opposite…
Danijel
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Debugging Windows sidebar gadgets without Visual Studio

I'm trying to create a sidebar gadget without the use of Visual Studio. I've looked around for ways to debug them, but everything says that the Visual Studio JIT debugger is the only way to do it. Has anyone been able to debug sidebar gadgets…
bshacklett
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How to quickly test Windows Gadgets?

How should one quickly test a Windows Gadget during development? Creating the archive, installing it and adding it to the desktop every time is extremely tedious...
static_rtti
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Good WPF or silverlight windows gadget examples

Does anyone have a good example of a WPF or silverlight windows gadget?
Nick O
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What's the "gadget vulnerability"?

In a recent security advisory, Microsoft warns that "Vulnerabilities in Gadgets Could Allow Remote Code Execution": An attacker who successfully exploited a Gadget vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current…
Heinzi
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Windows 7 Gadget not releasing ActiveX object

I'm working on a Windows 7 gadget that needs to pull data from an excel document. The problem is, is that the Excel process won't unload after I've retrieved the data I need. Here's the code I use in my initialization function: var Excel =…
Eclipse
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Howto integrate Gadgets in my .NET application

As there are those gadgets available for the Windows Vista Sidebar and for Windows 7, I'd really like to know if you can integrate those into your .NET app. I want a similar feature and possibly use already existing gadgets into my app. Can it be…
Falcon
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Windows 7 sidebar gadgets

Do you need to write Windows Sidebar Gadgets in C#, or should I be able to write them in another language, for example Delphi? Thanks
mmmm
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