screensavers and exe's

Hey, is there a way to make a VB program run like a screensaver, with a set amount of time before running if the user is idle? help?

Try this. Add a Timer to the Form, set it's Interval to 1 and run it. When you begin, the Form will be hidden. If there is no activity within 15 min, the Form will be shown.

Code:

---

Private Declare Function GetAsyncKeyState Lib "user32" (ByVal vKey As Long) As Integer
Private Declare Function GetCursorPos Lib "user32" (lpPoint As POINTAPI) As Long

Private Type POINTAPI
    X As Long
    Y As Long
End Type

Dim CurPos As POINTAPI
Dim OldX As Single
Dim OldY As Single
Dim StartTime As Date

Function Start()
    'Create a StartTime
    StartTime = Format(Time, "hh:mm:ss")
End Function

Private Sub Form_Load()
    'Hide the Form
    Me.Hide
    'Give a StartTime when the Form loads
    Start
End Sub

Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
   
    'Loop through the keys and see if they were pressed
    For I = 32 To 127
        If GetAsyncKeyState(I) Then Start
        'Do the same for the Mouse Buttons
        If GetAsyncKeyState(vbLeftButton) Then Start
        If GetAsyncKeyState(vbRightButton) Then Start
    Next
   
   
    'Check if mouse is still
    MyPos = GetCursorPos(CurPos)
    X = CurPos.X
    Y = CurPos.Y
    If OldX = X And OldY = Y Then
        'The mouse is still
    Else
        'the Mouse is not still
        OldX = X
        OldY = Y
        'Create a new StartTime
        Start
    End If
   
   
    'Subtract the current time with the StartTime
    Retval = StartTime - Time
    Retval = Format(Retval, "hh:mm:ss")
    'If it's been 15 min Display the Fomr
    If Retval = "00:15:00" Then
        Me.Show
        'Create a new StartTime
        Start
    End If
   
End Sub

---

If you really want it to act like a ScreenSaver, this next code will show the Form if there is no activity in 15 min and hide the Form if there is any activity when it's running.

Code:

---

Private Declare Function GetAsyncKeyState Lib "user32" (ByVal vKey As Long) As Integer
Private Declare Function GetCursorPos Lib "user32" (lpPoint As POINTAPI) As Long

Private Type POINTAPI
    X As Long
    Y As Long
End Type

Dim CurPos As POINTAPI
Dim OldX As Single
Dim OldY As Single
Dim StartTime As Date

Function Start()
    'Create a StartTime
    StartTime = Format(Time, "hh:mm:ss")
End Function

Private Sub Form_Load()
    'Hide the Form
    Me.Hide
    'Give a StartTime when the Form loads
    Start
End Sub

Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
   
    If Me.Visible = False Then
        'Loop through the keys and see if they were pressed
        For I = 32 To 127
            If GetAsyncKeyState(I) Then Start
            'Do the same for the Mouse Buttons
            If GetAsyncKeyState(vbLeftButton) Then Start
            If GetAsyncKeyState(vbRightButton) Then Start
        Next
       
       
        'Check if mouse is still
        MyPos = GetCursorPos(CurPos)
        X = CurPos.X
        Y = CurPos.Y
        If OldX = X And OldY = Y Then
            'The mouse is still
        Else
            'the Mouse is not still
            OldX = X
            OldY = Y
            'Create a new StartTime
            Start
        End If
       
       
        'Subtract the current time with the StartTime
        Retval = StartTime - Time
        Retval = Format(Retval, "hh:mm:ss")
        'If it's been 15 min Display the Fomr
        If Retval = "00:15:00" Then
            Me.Show
            'Create a new StartTime
            Start
        End If
    End If
   
    If Me.Visible = True Then
            'Loop through the keys and see if they were pressed
        For I = 32 To 127
            If GetAsyncKeyState(I) Then Me.Visible = False
            'Do the same for the Mouse Buttons
            If GetAsyncKeyState(vbLeftButton) Then Me.Visible = False
            If GetAsyncKeyState(vbRightButton) Then Me.Visible = False
        Next
       
       
        'Check if mouse is still
        MyPos = GetCursorPos(CurPos)
        X = CurPos.X
        Y = CurPos.Y
        If OldX = X And OldY = Y Then
            'The mouse is still
        Else
            'the Mouse is not still
            OldX = X
            OldY = Y
            'Hide the Form
            Me.Visible = False
        End If

    End If
   
End Sub

---

Here is how to start the screen saver:

Code:

---

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" _
    Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal wMsg _
    As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) _
    As Long
   
    Const WM_SYSCOMMAND = &H112&
    Const SC_SCREENSAVE = &HF140&

    Dim result As Long
    result = SendMessage(Me.hWnd, WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_SCREENSAVE, 0&)

---

Look <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q146/9/07.asp">here</a> for Microsoft's description on it. If you have MSDN, look up "Creating 16-Bit and 32-Bit Screen Savers with Visual Basic" because it is a MUCH more in depth description (and it comes with a sample) than this crappy free one Microsoft provides on the web. :)

...so glad it supports inline HTML...