Desktop Data [support thread]

[Steven300]

This is the support thread for the Desktop Data contribution.

This mod, designed for MS Windows, will show on your desktop:

(1) No. of Customers
(2) Current Visitors
(3) Orders Pending
(4) Orders Processing
(5) Orders Delivered
(6) and More

This means you don't have to login to your admin panel all the time, or check your emails, just to see if you have any orders.

Installation is simple with only 2 new files. No database modification.
No overwriting or overriding of files.

Screenshot included.

This mod can be found in the Downloads section:
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?ma...oducts_id=1121

[yellow1912]

Cool module, Steven. Will check it out.

[westcoastfavors]

Looking forward to trying this out, however the instructions don't work in Vista. Any thoughts?

This is the support thread for the Desktop Data contribution.

[Steven300]

As I understand it, Microsoft for whatever reason chose to remove the Active Desktop feature for Windows Vista. Fortunately, there are various threads on the Internet where people are joining together to try and recreate this feature themselves, or at least a workaround. One of these attempts is called "Ave's Active Desktop". Whether it works or not I have no idea.

[Steven300]

Just to clarify, this mod has been written and tested on Windows XP. It may work on other operating systems but it's likely some type of workaround will be required. Whatever workaround this might be, it must have a username and password connection feature. After looking closer at "Ave's Active Desktop", designed as a replacement to Active Desktop for Windows Vista, I can confirm this won't work due to the lack of a connection feature. I'm going to add this information to the contribution and if anyone does find a solution for Vista, please let me know here or by PM as this would be appreciated.

[yellow1912]

Steve, can you briefly tell us how does this module work (techincal stuffs ^_^)?

Regards

[Steven300]

Sure. There's a php file in the contribution which when uploaded to the admin folder and navigated to, will query the Zen Cart db and display (and optionally refresh) the data from my first post. A Windows feature called Active Desktop is used to point to this php file. You supply Active Desktop with your Zen Cart username and password so it can connect to the file automatically. Once setup, Active Desktop will then show a small window on your desktop which displays the data from this php file. It's kind of similar to just navigating to the php file directly in your browser and then resizing the browser window to fit the size of the displayed data, except Active Desktop has a few advantages. Firstly, it can auto-connect to the file with the supplied username and password. Secondly, it becomes 'fixed' to the desktop so it's much more manageable than a traditional window. It also has various synchronization and schedule settings. That wasn't very technical but hope it answered your question.

[westcoastfavors]

Unfortunately Ave's product doesn't allow interaction with the page, which means you can't login. And it's separate from IE so the authentication in IE doesn't carry over.

[Louis]

Thanks for the very nifty mod. I am running xp and managed to setup as per your instructions. Unfortunately the screen displayed is the login screen. When entering the login data in this screen it then opens a full browser window and ask for the login data again.

Any ideas?

[Steven300]

Unfortunately Ave's product doesn't allow interaction with the page, which means you can't login. And it's separate from IE so the authentication in IE doesn't carry over.

I found a free program at samurize.com which amongst many other things, provides a feature similar to Active Desktop. It works on both XP and Vista. I had to add a plugin called MiniBrowser to get the functionality. It doesn't have an auto-connect feature but, unlike Ave's Active Desktop, it does allow interaction with the window. I managed to get it working but honestly it took so much messing about to set it up that I'm not sure I would recommend it.

Thanks for the very nifty mod. I am running xp and managed to setup as per your instructions. Unfortunately the screen displayed is the login screen. When entering the login data in this screen it then opens a full browser window and ask for the login data again.

Any ideas?

I'm still trying to understand Active Desktop.

Supply your login details in the new, full size browser window.

Then refresh your desktop. The mod should start working.

Then you can log out of the full size browser window and the mod should continue to work.