screensavers and exe's

[Cahlel]

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.

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.

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:

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&)

[DoOMsdAY]

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.

[DoOMsdAY]

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