EasyTile (download)

Please can someone try this to see if it is worth continuing. It converts TLB buttons to Windows 8 style tiles using a simple right click.

Any problems getting it to work please let me know. Follow the instructions!!

- mls


REQUIRES IMAGEMAGICK
REQUIRES A REGISTRY HACK
USES VBSCRIPT

0.1 Version Notes
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Only works for shortcuts
Does not work for virtual folders.

Installation
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1. Install imagemagick. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK "Install ImageMagickObject OLE Control for VBScript ..." WHEN PROMPTED.

2. Make registry changes (adds a EasyTile the the context menu for shortcuts)

a) Create a new key "EasyTile" under HK_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shell
b) Create a new subkey "command" under EasyTile
c) Modify the "(default)" value in the new command key setting the value data to
"wscript.exe C:\Users\[Your user name]\AppData\Roaming\EasyTile\easytile.vbs" "%1"

3. Extract the EasyTile.zip to "C:\Users\[Your user name]\AppData\Roaming"

4. Test it!
a) Right click a shortcut in a tlb menu (not virtual) and choose EasyTile
(You should see the new tile almost immediately)

b) Each time you click it the tile color will change.

Tweaks
------
You can use Appearance/Button Properties to change Icon Location and Text Label Alignment.
You can also set the button's middle click command to EasyTile to change the tile on middle click.

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If you get a SmartScreen warning for getIcon.exe, just choose Run Anyway

Excellent! Working fine! Thank you very much!

I have a small addition to the instruction:

c) Modify the "(default)" value in the new command key setting the value data to
"C:\Users\[Your user name]\AppData\Roaming\EasyTile\easytile.vbs" "%1"

This is not working sometimes. The value must be:

Code:

wscript.exe "C:\Users\[Your user name]\AppData\Roaming\EasyTile\easytile.vbs" "%1"

On the attached screenshot is my new menu

Thanks Yuri,

Yeah sorry for the typo, i must have misjudged my cut and paste.

Amended the instructions - reattached.

See the video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3WjygbC2J4

Screenshots:
       

Some new features. If anyone wants them i'll package it up and upload it.

1. Nearly all the TLB Button Properties will work on tiles too. I.e. Show/Hide icon and text, text alignment, text color, bold, italic, icon size, icon location (You can change the icon at the shortcut level too)

2. Special icon sizes:

0 - normal
1 - original
2 - smaller
3 - small
4 - normal
5 - big
6 - full
7 - oversized

TIP: You can use an image as the icon so if you find a 120x120px tile image on the web you can set it as the icon with icon size = 6 (full) to get the same tile when you run easytile.

3. New context menu options EasyTile (Large)

4. Quick edit mode using either left or middle click on a tile.

5. New skin (see screenshot)

Awesome! Please upload it...

attached

The screenshot is attached only

Yeah sorry Yuri, I've implemented everything else on my system for my own use but have to package it up for release which involves extra work that I don't really want to do if no one is using it. So thanks for your reply and its coming soon!

Maybe I can help? I can to write the installation script for NSIS (I'm using this instalator for TLB).

I also want to tweak/finalise the skin cos again I made it to look good only for what I am using for, i.e tiles. In fact I have several skins that are unfinished but meet my needs and I think look decent.

It would be nice to make the installation easy without the need for manual registry changes and file copying.

Again since I started this for my own use I used scripting - a more robust implementation would be better but it works for my needs.

I should ask you more questions.

1. Unzip
2. Open a command prompt as Administrator and cd to the extracted folder.
3. Run easytileinstall.vbs

(Hey Yuri, if you want to write an nsis installer for this, feel free.)

EasyTile only works for shortcuts in non-virtual folders.

Right click on a shortcut and choose "EasyTile" or "EasyTile (large)" to create a tile.

Shift-right click shows "EasyTile - use left click" and "EasyTile - use right click".
- use middle click will run EasyTile on middle click.
- use left click will run EasyTile on left click and EasyTile (large) on middle click.

Change a tile icon either by changing the shortcut icon or using TLB (Change Icon or Button Properties) then run easytile again.

Use TLB Button Properties for other tweaks and to change the icon size.
Set icon size to an actual icon size e.g. 96 or use the special icon sizes 0 - 7 as explained above.

Tips: use any png icon or image, 256x256 work well, does not have to be square either.

With reflective icons

Thank you very much for updated EasyTile. You are the great master of VBScript!

I've created the installation for EasyTile.

It's not something i'm proud of. I only started using it for my tlb projects.

And thanks to you for tlb 6.4