Brass Plugins: Outlooker
Visual Setup
Outlooker visuals are configured pretty much the same
as all other plugins. Double-click the Outlooker plugin entry in
the Available Plugins list in the Brass main window. The following
dialog appears:
New Items section
This section is pretty self-explanatory. Each checkbox controls
whether an image (button, if you like) is shown for "New
task", "New email" etc. The text fields next to
each checkbox specify the file (JPG, GIF or BMP) containing the
image to use.
When you click on these images, Outlooker pops a new window up
for you. For example if you check the "New Email" checkbox
the image in the file you specify will be loaded and displayed
in the Outlooker panel. When you click the image, Outlooker will
pop up a new email window for you. The same goes for tasks, contacts,
appointments (calendar items) and notes.
Control section
Most Brass plugins are set up to toggle whether the drag bar
(the blue bar you click on to drag the display panel to a new
position) is visible or not when you right click anywhere in the
display panel. Outlooker has 2 options for right-click behaviour.
When you read the next section on Outlook data configuration
you'll learn about the query
dialog. For now all you need to know is that these radio buttons
control the right-click behaviour.
Selecting the "Right click on a folder..." option tells
Outlooker to only display the drag bar if you didn't right
click on a folder (Outlook data feed).
Selecting the "Right click always toggles..." option
completely disables right-click access to the query dialog, so
that no matter where you right click the drag bar visibility will
always be toggled.
Try it and see - you can't break anything!
Note: if you enable "Right click always toggles...",
you can still access the Query Builder by clicking on the folder
title.
Visuals section
These are the standard Brass plugin visual options.
| "Transparent Background" |
Checking this option removes any background
bitmap or colour, making the text in the output panel appear
directly on the desktop (or over the top of any windows you
choose). When this option is checked, the background colour
in the sample display panel is removed and set to standard
Windows grey to signify no background is in use. |
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| "Solid Background Colour" |
When "Transparent Background" is not
checked, this button shows the current background colour of
the display panel. Click the button to change the colour.
Remember that a background image may cover all or part of
the display panel anyway. |
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| "Transparent Window"
(and slider) |
Checking this option tells the plugin you want
to change the transparency of the output panel. The slider
controls the ratio of transparency. Sliding the slider thumb
all the way to the right causes the output panel to be 100%
solid, opaque colour. Sliding the thumb all the way to the
left causes the output panel to be 100% transparent. Choose
a position in the middle of the slider range to make the panel
partially transparent and let the desktop and other windows
show through. This is the option used to create the transparency
effect in the screenshot at the top of this page. |
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| "Bitmap in the background" |
Check this option to display a bitmap in the
background of the output panel. The bitmap can be of any size,
but must be a JPG, GIF or BMP file. |
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| "Background" field |
Set the filename of the background bitmap here |
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| "Stretch Background image" |
Tick this option to automatically resize the
background image to fit the display panel size. When unticked,
the background image will be displayed at its real size. |
Display Panel section
These options are the same as those available through the tray
menu (unregistered users can't access tray menu functions - register
your copy of Brass to remove the limitations!).
"Enable 100% Configuration" is only available when
the plugin is loaded and active. When checked the design mode
for this plugin is enabled. It allows you to reposition, resize,
change the font, colour and much more of all the visual elements.
A detailed explanation for Outlooker is available
here, and you can read about the
Brass 100% Configuration System here.
"Show panel drag bar" toggles the visibility of the
drag bar. This is the blue bar that appears at the top of the
display panel - click and drag it to reposition the display panel
on your screen.
"Show resize handle" toggles the resize handle of the
display panel. This is the small rectangle in the bottom right
of the display panel - click and drag it to resize the display
panel.
Hotkey Options section
Outlooker can register a global hotkey for you. When you press
your chosen hotkey combination, it will toggle the Outlooker display
pane between being on top of all other windows or on the desktop.
It's a handy way to quickly check what's going on in Outlook.
Simply check the "Enable global hotkey" box, select
the key modifier combination from the dropdown and type the hotkey
you want to use into the text field. When you OK the configuration
dialog, pressing the combination you select anywhere in Windows
will toggle the position of the Outlooker display pane.
If you select a key combination but nothing happens, or another
application pops to the front this is because you've selected
a hotkey that's already registered and in use. Either change the
configuration of the application that owns the hotkey, or select
a new hotkey in Outlooker.
Configure Outlook button
Clicking this button takes you to the Outlooker data import system.
You can only access the data import screen when Outlooker is loaded
and active. This is necessary because Outlooker must maintain
a connection to the Outlook data stores for configuration purposes.
You can read about the Outlooker
Data Import here.
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