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Click here to download DevMode Widget 1.0
What's New?
| 9 June 2005 | Version 1.0 is the inital public release. Please read the FAQ below! UPDATE: Now available via.. |
Release History
| Version 1.0 | - | Inital Public Release |
F.A.Q.
| Q: | What is this? | |
| A: | The DevMode widget serves two functions. First, it shows the current status of Dashbooard Development Mode. Second, if you click on the widget it will turn devmode on or off. Devmode is on when the widget shows the green 'On' icon you see above. If devmode is off you will see a red 'Off' icon instead. | |
| Q: | Okay, so why would I want development mode turned on? | |
| A: | Devmode enables you to drag widgets out of the dasboard layer and onto the desktop. After devmode is enabled, you may drag a widget out of the dashboard layer by following by...
You can now show and hide the dashboard layer and the widget you moved to the desktop will stay on the desktop layer. You can put widgets back into the dashboard layer the same way. Just grab the widget, press the dashboard key, and let it drop back into the dashboard layer. |
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| Q: | Wait a minute, I saw somebody do that without development mode enabled. You don't really need to turn on development mode to drag a widget to the desktop do you? | |
| A: | The short answer is that yes, it is possible but this way is much better.
The long answer is that there are a lot of limitations if devmode is off. Without devmode you can only move a widget from the widget bar to the desktop. This means that you cannot move a widget that already has data in it, for example. More significantly, the next time you activate the dashboard layer, the widget that was moved to the desktop is swept back into the dashboard layer. You can only have one widget on the desktop at a time this way and it will only stay there until you activate dashboard again. This seems to defeat the whole purpose of moving a widget to the desktop. |
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| Q: | So now I have a widget on my desktop. How do I make it go away? | |
| A: | Just hold down the option key and move the mouse over the widget. The close button will appear.
You may also want to know about one other shortcut. You can press Command-R to reload the widget. Both of these work in the dashboard layer too. |
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| Q: | I clicked on your widget and the dashboard layer went away and took the dock with it. Did your widget do that? | |
| A: | Yes, and there is a very good reason for it. First, you should know that the Dashboard application you see in the dock does not do anything. It is a shim. All of the real work that is going on with dashboard is done as a part of the Dock process. When you change the devmode preference, you have to restart the dock process to recognize the change.
This widget does a very polite shutdown and restart of the dock process, but there is no way to eliminate the rude disappearance of the dashboard layer. |
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| Q: | Is there documentation for Dashboard Development Mode? | |
| A: | The only official documentation I have found from Apple is Developer Technical Note TN2139. | |
| Q: | Does it cost anything? | |
| A: | Nope. | |
| Q: | What if I want to get in touch with you? | |
| A: | Feel free to email me. As a matter of fact, if you like this widget, I would love to hear from you. I can be reached at williams.jeremy@mac.com. On the other hand, complaints may be summarily ignored. |
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© 2005 Jeremy Williams |
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