Hi,
Yesterday I installed v3.2 and am now running V3.2.0.106 Beta 6.

In v3.2, the taskbar clock text and clock size were documented on the advanced settings browser page, which showed how to the change registry keys that controlled the clock settings. The size settings included keys for both taskbars, e.g. TaskbarClockSize1 and TaskbarClockSize2. The default setting for clock size was shown as "Auto-detected".

The single text setting key appeared to be for both taskbars, e.g. TaskbarsText. It too had a default value of "Auto-Detected".

I found that the clock text only controlled the text for the second taskbar. The text in the first taskbar remained unchanged. The string I used was:

ddd dd MMM yyyy hh:mm tt

I also found that clock size was not "Auto-detected" for the second taskbar. Only the leftmost 10 or so characters in the clock appeared, while the rest were truncated. I had better luck setting the clock size in pixels, though I had to restart my PC to make the changes take effect (simply restarting DisplayFusion didn't work).

Now I'm running V3.2.0.106 Beta 6. The clock settings now appear in the "advanced settings" menu instead of a browser page. As before there is one setting for clock text, and as before it only works on the second taskbar.

This time around, there's only one setting for the clock size. Does this mean it's supposed to control the clock size on both taskbars?

Whatever it's supposed to do, it does nothing on either taskbar clock. The second taskbar clock shows the same size as the last setting I made in the earlier program version - it doesn't "auto-detect" the clock size, and changing the value in pixels has no effect. The instructions say that you "may have to restart DisplayFusion" to make the changes take effect but doing that or restarting the PC doesn't change anything.

What gives with these clocks? Is clock size in the beta version now going to be the same setting for both clocks? Why doesn't it work?

I checked the registry keys described in the earlier program version and found that changes in the beta version "Advanced Settings" don't change any keys. I was able to change the clock size, but I had to do it by editing the registry key as in the non-beta version.

Am I missing something here?

Thanks for your time,
Big Al Mintaka

Too bad the online help doc didn't spell this out. It said,

"Taskbar: Clock Size
This is a per-Taskbar setting, so create the key with the number of the Taskbar you want to set. For example, for the Taskbar on monitor #2, create a key called "TaskbarClockSize2" and set the value to "100" for 100 pixels."

This doesn't say anything about Monitor #1, which monitor has the DisplayFusion taskbar, and which does not. There's no way to know by reading this documentation that the size setting won't work on the taskbar in Monitor #1.

The definition for TaskBarsClockText is similarly ambiguous. Does "Taskbars" in the registry key name include the Windows Taskbar, or not?

In addition, name of the registry key that was added for Beta 6 is

"TaskbarClockSize1, 2, 3, 4... etc"

What is TaskbarClockSize1 supposed to do? Is that the Windows Taskbar? If so, why does it have a size key?



I think a better answer all along would have been "We haven't decided or determined which taskbar clocks can be controlled by text and size settings yet, but will work this out as we release beta versions".

What's clear from the inconsistent and/or inaccurate documentation, forum responses, and registry key names is that the paid "Pro" version was released and money was collected before some of the most basic requirements of this software were defined and implemented in the design.

I can easily admit that I was a chump and paid for the "Pro" version before it was even completed, because that's what happened. I never learn.

What does your Software Requirements Document say about the taskbar clock capabilities? Anything at all?

Actually, the clock on the Windows taskbar can be controlled. There is a freeware program that can be used to change the style of the taskbar clock. The clock auto-sizes to fit whatever text style is used. In addition typeface controls can be used to make the text appear in bold or italic style.

The program is known as TClockEx. What it cannot do is support multiple monitors as your software does, and obviously the use of TClockEx and your software at the same time is a tad risky. However, you might find the function of this program and how it manages to control the Windows taskbar clock interesting. The author's website is now offline but the program can be found by searching for it by name ("Tclockex") on Cnet's download site. It's old but works for Windows 7.

If you added this functionality to DisplayFusion, you could control the Windows Taskbar clock just as TClockEx does.

Have a good one,
Big Al Mintaka