HoverDesk Tutorial - The CPU Plugin

The CPU Plugin.

The CPU is a very useful plug which can tell you (either in bar form or text or text/percentage) how your computer is performing.

Right click the plugin to view all the different options you can apply to it.

Now we're starting to get into the slightly more complicated stuff.
Teaching how to skin the CPU is more complicated than teaching how to skin QuickNotes believe it or not, so please bear with me. This could be a long page!!

Unlike the Eyedropper and Command Line, the CPU is almost freeform skinning at it's best. I say almost because there are some things which are fixed in it. e.g.. If you choose to show the percent, it shows within the bar, we can't show the percent at a location we want to specify and the corresponding bar somewhere else. But there are ways to work round it.

First and best thing to do would be to right click the plugin and try ticking and unticking all the different features.
While you're doing that here are some examples of what can be achieved with the CPU

Finished playing? Great! Let's get started!!

As you can see from the picture there are lots of different ways to skin the CPU.
On most occasions personal user preference will dictate what form the CPU takes, sometimes the theme itself will dictate the shape/form.

Different areas of the CPU

Magnified for clarity

Loading the Plugin

OK, so first right click the main tile and from the pop up menu select plugins then HoverCPURes (HDResCPU.dll)
The CPU plugin will appear on the desktop in position 0,0 (top left corner) in it's default state.
Pretty ugly huh?

Right click the main tile again and from the pop up menu select plugins then HoverCPURes (HDResCPU.dll) again.
This will unload the plugin and write the necessary information to the modules.ini file.

Once more right click the main tile and from the pop up menu select plugins then HoverCPURes (HDResCPU.dll)
The CPU plugin will appear on the desktop in position 0,0 (top left corner) in it's default state again.

Configuring the modules.ini File

Shift and drag the CPU to an area we can work with it.

For this theme I'm going to describe how to do the CPU with CPU, MEM and SWP showing in a horizontal bar with no percent showing and an unfilled graph underneath the bars.
We're going to configure this plug using the modules.ini file, so if it's not already open browse to the Pixel Perfect theme folder and open the modules.ini file.

fntname = The name of the font to be used for percentage display
fntsize = The size of the font to be used for percentage display
start = The minimum displayable percentage
percent = Select 0 to display percentages, select 1 not to display percentages
fast = Select 0 to monitor at normal speed, select 1 to monitor at fast speed
trans = Select 0 if your bmp does not contain any pink, select 1 if it does contain pink.
CPUStartColor = The RGB color for the start of the CPU indicator
CPUEndColor = The RGB color for the end of the CPU indicator
cpuX = Offsets the CPU display area horizontally
cpuY = Offsets the CPU display vertically
cpuW = Width of the CPU display area
cpuH = Height of the CPU display area
vertCPU = Select 0 for a horizontal display area, select 1 for a vertical display area
MEMStartColor = The RGB color for the start of the MEM indicator
MEMEndColor = The RGB color for the end of the MEM indicator
memX = Offsets the MEM display area horizontally
memY = Offsets the MEM display vertically
memW = Width of the MEM display area
memH = Height of the MEM display area
vertMEM = Select 0 for a horizontal display area, select 1 for a vertical display area
SWPStartColor = The RGB color for the start of the SWP indicator
SWPEndColor = The RGB color for the end of the SWP indicator
swpX = Offsets the SWP display area horizontally
swpY = Offsets the SWP display vertically
swpW = Width of the SWP display area
swpH = Height of the SWP display area
vertSWP = Select 0 for a horizontal display area, select 1 for a vertical display area
GRAFStartColor = The RGB color for the start of the Graphic CPU usage indicator
GRAFEndColor = The RGB color for the end of the Graphic CPU usage indicator
grfX = Offsets the Graph display area horizontally
grfY = Offsets the Graph display vertically
grfW = Width of the Graph display area
grfH = Height of the Graph display area
unfiledGRAF = Select 0 for Graph to appear to as a vertical bar, select 1 for a line graph
PercentColor = The RGB color for the color of the percentage font
texture = The name of the .bmp to be used as the background for the plugin.

*Tip: When making a CPU which displays the percentage only set the CPU, MEM, SWP width and heights to 0. This saves having to make the bar the same color as the background, and it also means you can have a gradient background for the percent text!. It may take a little bit of tweaking the X and Y coords, but it can be done.
*Thanks to Richard Amoah aka risblaque for the tip!

It's simply a matter of filling and adjusting the modules.ini file to make the plugin fit the texture.
Please use the settings in the screenshot.
Save the file then right click the plugin and select reload settings.

A problem I noticed while making this tutorial:
Even though I have written in the modules.ini file trans = 1 (i.e. there is pink in the .bmp and I want transparency applied) it does not get rid of the pink by reloading settings.
You must unload the plugin, save the modules.ini file, then reload the plugin.

OK we're almost done, but the graph isn't showing in the bottom bar.
Simply right click the CPU plugin and select view from the popup menu, then make sure GRAPH is ticked.

Once you have the CPU looking like the one above shift and drag it into position.
My CPU sits just above the Recycle Bin and just below the Eyedropper.

Tip: When I have my plugin configured correctly I exit HVD then reopen it.
This ensures the settings are saved.