Sticky Notes for XP

[dday9]

I use windows vista at home and I use those little sticky notes all the time! At work I have xp and the sticky notes didn't come with xp. So I decided to make them for Window's XP. This was developed in Visual Basic Express 2010 targeting the .net framework 4.0

Features:
-Add multiple notes
-Right Click Menu Includes:
A. Clear Text
B. Edit Text
C. Save Text
D. Pin to desktop

Drawbacks:
-The pin to desktop is a little funny. If you pin to desktop while it's ontop of another program then you have to minimize every program for the sticky to stay at the desktop.
-If you add multiple stickys at once, I can see where it would take up some memory.

Plans - As of right now, I don't have any plans to fix the pin to desktop. Simply because I wanted the program to be as basic as possible, without including any API's.


Notes - I wanted to point out that this isn't just for window's xp, it would work fine with vista and I'm sure 7, however the reason I developed this was because I wanted something for xp. Also, the borders in vista makes the note look a little wierd.

ScreenShot:
Sticky Notes.zip

Source:

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On
Public Class Form1
    Private pt As New Point
    Private saved As Boolean = False

#Region "Moves a bordless Form"
    Private Sub Panel1_MouseMove(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles Panel1.MouseMove
        If saved = False Then
            Dim delta As New Size(e.X - pt.X, e.Y - pt.Y)
            If (e.Button = MouseButtons.Left) Then
                Me.Location += delta : pt = e.Location - delta
            Else
                pt = e.Location
            End If
        End If
    End Sub
#End Region

#Region "Control Events"
    Private Sub lblAdd_Click(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles lblAdd.Click
        'Adds a new sticky
        Dim form As New Form1
        .form.Show()
        .form.Focus()
    End Sub
    Private Sub lblClose_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles lblClose.Click
        'Closes the Form
        .Me.Close()
    End Sub
#End Region

#Region "Context Menustrip"
    Private Sub ClearTextToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles ClearTextToolStripMenuItem.Click
        'Clears Text
        .txtBox.Text = String.Empty
        If txtBox.ReadOnly = True Then
            .txtBox.ReadOnly = False
        End If
    End Sub
    Private Sub SaveTextToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles SaveTextToolStripMenuItem.Click
        'Makes the textbox readonly
        .txtBox.ReadOnly = True : EditTextToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = True : SaveTextToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False
    End Sub
    Private Sub EditTextToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles EditTextToolStripMenuItem.Click
        'Makes the textbox editable
        .txtBox.ReadOnly = False : EditTextToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False : SaveTextToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = True
    End Sub
    Private Sub PinToDesktopToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles PinToDesktopToolStripMenuItem.Click
        'Pins the program
        If saved = False Then
            .saved = True : PinToDesktopToolStripMenuItem.Checked = True : lblClose.Visible = False : Me.ShowInTaskbar = False
            .SetParent(Me.Handle, FindWindow("ProgMan", Nothing))
            .Me.SendToBack()
        Else
            .saved = False : PinToDesktopToolStripMenuItem.Checked = False : lblClose.Visible = True : Me.ShowInTaskbar = True
        End If
    End Sub
#End Region

End Class

[JuggaloBrotha]

I ran into a similar problem when I started writing my own Sticky Notes app (I call mine Reminder Notes).
I wanted a way to have the Note windows be part of the desktop (to avoid being minimized when the 'Minimize to Desktop' command was issued) as well as having the note's be able to be semi-transparent (like the Win7 gadgets can be). I never did find a good solution.

Your note's app here looks to be like it's off to a good start, if you're wanting any pointers feel free to ask. For your "borders" problem, just draw the note in the form's paint event on a borderless form. For the moving and resizing, you'll need to handle the MouseDown event, figure out where the mouse is to know if it's a resize or a move or neither, set a flag variable and in the MouseMove event move the form. In the MouseUp event you'll want to clear those variables.

I created mine to mimic the Windows 7 Sticky Notes app, but mine works on XP and newer and runs from the system tray (the win7 one has an icon on the taskbar instead and the Vista one is, well, really crappy).

[dday9]

Yeah sure, I'm all ways up for pointers. If y'all find something that can help the program out lemme know :]

[.paul.]

interesting post. i wrote an XP sticky notes app a couple of years ago.
i made some improvements to your code:

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On
Public Class Form1
    ''' <summary>
    ''' This program was created by David Day to be very simple to use for Window's XP users
    ''' </summary>
    ''' <remarks>
    ''' As of right now the pin to desktop is a little funky
    ''' That could be fixed by using some API's.
    ''' </remarks>
    Private pt As New Point
    Private saved As Boolean = False
 
    Declare Function SetParent Lib "user32.dll" Alias "SetParent" (ByVal hWndChild As IntPtr, ByVal hWndNewParent As IntPtr) As IntPtr
    Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32.dll" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As IntPtr
 
#Region "Moves a bordless Form"
 
    Public Const HT_CAPTION As Integer = &H2
    Public Const WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN As Integer = &HA1
 
    Private Sub Panel1_MouseMove(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles Panel1.MouseMove
        'If saved = False Then
        '    Dim delta As New Size(e.X - pt.X, e.Y - pt.Y)
        '    If (e.Button = MouseButtons.Left) Then
        '        Me.Location += delta : pt = e.Location - delta
        '    Else
        '        pt = e.Location
        '    End If
        'End If
        If e.Button = Windows.Forms.MouseButtons.Left Then
            DirectCast(sender, Control).Capture = False
            Me.WndProc(Message.Create(Me.Handle, WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN, CType(HT_CAPTION, IntPtr), IntPtr.Zero))
        End If
    End Sub
#End Region
 
#Region "Control Events"
    Private Sub lblAdd_Click(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles lblAdd.Click
        'Adds a new sticky
        Dim form As New Form1
        form.Show()
        form.Focus()
    End Sub
    Private Sub lblClose_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles lblClose.Click
        'Closes the Form
        Me.Close()
    End Sub
#End Region
 
#Region "Context Menustrip"
    Private Sub ClearTextToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles ClearTextToolStripMenuItem.Click
        'Clears Text
        txtBox.Text = String.Empty
        If txtBox.ReadOnly = True Then
            txtBox.ReadOnly = False
        End If
    End Sub
    Private Sub SaveTextToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles SaveTextToolStripMenuItem.Click
        'Makes the textbox readonly
        txtBox.ReadOnly = True : EditTextToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = True : SaveTextToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False
    End Sub
    Private Sub EditTextToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles EditTextToolStripMenuItem.Click
        'Makes the textbox editable
        txtBox.ReadOnly = False : EditTextToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False : SaveTextToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = True
    End Sub
    Private Sub PinToDesktopToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles PinToDesktopToolStripMenuItem.Click
        'Pins the program
        If saved = False Then
            saved = True : PinToDesktopToolStripMenuItem.Checked = True : lblClose.Visible = False : Me.ShowInTaskbar = False
            SetParent(Me.Handle, FindWindow("ProgMan", Nothing))
            Me.SendToBack()
        Else
            saved = False : PinToDesktopToolStripMenuItem.Checked = False : lblClose.Visible = True : Me.ShowInTaskbar = True
        End If
    End Sub
#End Region
 
End Class

[dday9]

I glad to see your response. I've never done any work with api's so this is something that I wanna test. Thank you :]

[dday9]

Update

I fixed the 'pin to desktop' feature as well as added multiple colors! Here is a screen shot of in Windows 7.
Attachment 91573

Here is the updated file:

[JuggaloBrotha]

You should consider making the note windows borderless. It would give them a cleaner look.

[public]

i downloaded above link ,how to install in xp

[dday9]

To debug the sticky notes:

1. Click on Sticky Notes.Zip in post #6
2. Save to your desktop(or any folder will do)
3. Open Visual Studios
4. Click File - Open - Open Project
5. Open sticky notes
6. Debug(Press F5) the program

To publish the sticky notes, follow the publishing instructions you would do for any other project.