ForumsTips & TricksSimple, lightweight desktop client for Windows...


Simple, lightweight desktop client for Windows...
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Tim Skoch

Posted: Mar 24, 2009
Score: 1 Reference
I'm a recent convert to ToodleDo (my brother showed it to me). When I started using ToodleDo, I wanted a VERY lightweight client which simply (1) showed me my tasks, (2) didn't get in my way, and (3) was readily accessible when I needed it (without having to open up a new IE window, navigate, sign in, etc...). The program I wound up writing is available here for anyone to use:

http://timskoch.com/toodleDoWidget/

Feel free to use it. The source code is also available there for anyone who wants to use it. Note that this isn't really meant to be fully-featured software - it was just a quick fix to suit my needs. Feel free to modify/redistribute/whatever.

A few notes:

-When you run it, a window will appear, but no icon will appear in your taskbar.
-An icon WILL appear in the notification area.
-You can move the window by dragging the dark-grey bar at the top of the window.
-A right-click on either (1) the notification-area icon or (2) the dark-grey bar on the top will bring up a context menu.
-The only way to properly exit the app is through the context menu.
-A single left-click on the notification-area icon will bring the window to the front.
-Within the context menu, you can toggle between ToodleDo's slim and regular versions.
-Requires .NET framework to be installed.

If people are interested in using this, but would like a more robust program first, let me know, and I'd be delighted to flesh it out a little and repost it - I just don't want to go through the effort if nobody is interested.

I make no guarantees about which platforms it runs on, but it SHOULD be fine on anything running the latest version of .NET. I've only tested it on my Vista Enterprise machine (because that's the only place I intend to use it).

BTW: The program merely wraps ToodleDo's webpage in a small window, so what you are seeing in the window is simply ToodleDo's website. Any changes to ToodleDo's URL's may break the program (but it would be easily fixable);


This message was edited Mar 24, 2009.
Sytone

Posted: Mar 24, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Very simlar to my solution, i created a WPF app with a webbrowser object in it pointing to the site :D

I wanted to remove the distraction of tabbed browsing and the web in general and only hve this site with a Home and Back button. Ill fix it up a bit and post it as well.
Anders

Posted: Mar 24, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by Tim Skoch:
I'm a recent convert to ToodleDo (my brother showed it to me). When I started using ToodleDo, I wanted a VERY lightweight client which simply (1) showed me my tasks, (2) didn't get in my way, and (3) was readily accessible when I needed it (without having to open up a new IE window, navigate, sign in, etc...). The program I wound up writing is available here for anyone to use:

http://timskoch.com/toodleDoWidget/


Very cool. Thanks a lot for making this available.

If you decide to do more work on it, I think it would be great if the window was resizable, and could be pinned on top of other windows. Other than that, all it needs is offline access, but I suppose that is far more complicated.

Edit: By the way, I am using a very different machine (MSI Wind), and it works fine.


This message was edited Mar 24, 2009.
Sytone

Posted: Mar 25, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Anders

Posted: Mar 26, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by Sytone:


I like the one posted by Tim, but I thought I'd try the one you posted as well. I can't get it to run. I just get the "Toodledo Distraction Free has encountered a problem and needs to close" message when I try to open it. I believe I have the latest .net installed, but perhaps it is just my computer. Let me know if I am doing anything wrong. I just downloaded it to my desktop and double clicked on it, then confirmed that I wanted to run the executable file. Thanks for posting it anyway, even if it doesn't work for me.
toodledotest

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Hi,

I have not tried it on XP but it should be fine on Vista 32/64bit with .Net 3.5 SP1. Ill get my parents to try it out as they have XP still :)
Sytone

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Whoops wrong account... Oh well you know my test account now :)
slamp

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Works well on XP (32bits SP3).
Anders

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
I have XP SP3, but I only have .net framework 2.0 installed. I don't really understand the whole .net framework thing, and my old computer has an incredible amount of hard drive space dedicated to various installations. I am assuming that since they do not automatically replace previous versions, you cannot just delete an old version when you install a new one. I am not looking to weigh this computer down too much so I would appreciate some clarification on this subject if anyone can offer it.
Sytone

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Sure,

The .Net framework provides additional capability for developers to build solutions for the world.
Im my case I am using Windows Presentation Foundation to build my application and in particular some fuctionality in 3.5 SP1 of the framework.

The famework versions build upon each other and can run along side each other. so you will have no issues installing 3.5 as well as 2.0. In some cases applications which are still designed for 2.0 will not use the 3.5 functionality (and 3.5 is built heavily on 2.0 but I will not go down that twisted discussion) so you will need 2.0 on the system. The framework is only loaded when a aplication calls it so there is no perceiable background load on the system, just extra files on the harddrive.
Sytone

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Also... I have updated the binary on my site and you can min/max the window by double clicking on the top and there is now a hide link which will minimise the window.

Feel free to add any sugestions.
Anders

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Okay so either .net 3.5 or TD-DF just totally broke my internet. I am putting my money on the .net, but I can't find any mention of similar problems on their support site. Please let me know if the Distraction Free app changes any connections settings that may have contributed to this problem.
Thanks.
Sytone

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Nope, and I would be supprised if the framework broke your connection. I have installed it on many machines without hassle.
Anders

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
That's what I figured. I have just tried a couple of system restores to no avail. I hope MS support who I emailed earlier can provide some assistance because for now I'm stuck.

By the way, looked like a cool application while I had the chance to use it. I have some suggestions, etc. that I will post later, but I have more pressing, frustrating issues to deal with right now. Keep getting "connection to server reset" in both FF & IE. Makes me want a Mac.
Proximo

Posted: Mar 30, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
I did the same thing with no programming involved. Read my post on it. Works for anyone using Firefox. If you don't use Firefox.... What are you waiting for? It's the best. lol

https://www.toodledo.com/forums/3/1664/0/toodledo-slim-application.html
gui

Posted: Apr 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
I agree. Great way to work without distractions and you don't mes with your PC. Use Firefox
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