Suggestion: Make Up/Down rates as persistent display

Started by radish

Suggestion: Make Up/Down rates as persistent display   26 May 2016, 06:34

Firstly, thanks for Networx. Great little program that I've used for some time now.

As things stand just now if I want to see my current transfer rate DL and UL there are two ways I can do that (provided the appropriate settings are made in Networx settings):

(1) I can click on the Networx tray icon and a notification bubble appears displaying the rates.

(2) I can hover the mouse over the Networx tray icon and a notification square appears displaying the rates.

Both of these ways of displaying that information is really good - it's simple and succinct. However, by both methods, the notification bubble/square quickly disappears if the user moves the mouse away from the icon. Also, it seems, that by both ways of displaying the information the rates are only a 'snapshot' of the rates applying at the time the notification bubble/square pops-up. I have suggestions on how this could improved. The suggestions involve three components:

(1) Arrange things so that the rates are updated in real time, say, once every second. This is better than showing just a static rate at the time the bubble/square popped-up.

(2) Arrange things so that these notifications 'bubble' and/or 'square' can be made to display permanently - irrespective of whatever else the user does with the mouse - until such times as the user double-clicks inside the notification 'bubble' or 'square'.

(3) (Icing on the cake if the first two suggestions are implemented.) Make it possible for the user to click-and-hold inside the bubble/square and drag-and-drop the bubble/square anywhere on the desktop. (Again the bubble/square remains persistent until the user double-clicks inside it.) Linked to this it would be good if the bubble/square had an "always on top" (of other windows) setting so that it need never be obscured by any other desktop item. (Actually a setting to toggle on/off this "always on top" behaviour would be useful.)

Hope I've written my suggestions in way that is clear.

To do (1) would be good. To do (1)+(2) would be very good. To do (1)+(2)+(3) would be excellent!
SoftPerfect Support forum - Andrew avatar image

Re: Suggestion: Make Up/Down rates as persistent display   26 May 2016, 09:43

Thank you for the suggestions, but what you are asking for is either already possible or will break the Windows UI's expected behaviour.

If you want to see UL/DL rates permanently, we have the so called desk band component. It can be displayed next to the clock:

SoftPerfect support forum

If you want these anywhere on the screen, just use the graph and place it anywhere you want. It can even be shown and hidden with a hotkey wink

SoftPerfect support forum

Re: Suggestion: Make Up/Down rates as persistent display   26 May 2016, 22:13

Thanks very much Andrew - better informed now.

However, I couldn't find how to display the graph in the system tray (your first illustration). I searched and searched but I just couldn't find it. Frustrating! Then I went to the NetWorx Online Manual and found out this is only available for the installed version, I use the portable. Ah, well.

I did find out how to get the the "NetWorx (All Connections)" graph to display (your second illustration) and there are some great options to tweak the graph a bit and how it functions. As it stands it pretty much addresses most of what I was getting at in my original post and a little bit more. Great work NetWorx! Much happier now!

However, after experimenting with the display options a bit, I came across one part of this display that could be improved on a bit. So I would like to make a feature request/suggestion for this improvement. As follows:

I have the window setup so that it displays the information I want in the following way:

SoftPerfect support forum
(Illustration 1)

That is a very good display and very much covers all I want. However, the display window can be resized (excellent feature) so it is possible for the user to get this down to minimum useable size. I resized it and got the following:

SoftPerfect support forum
(Illustration 2)

As you can see the current rate download and upload values get mixed up because the display window has been resized horizontally to a smaller size. This is a pity as I'm looking to get the window to a minimum useable size.

Therefore, I would like to make the following feature request/suggestion to improve on this aspect of the display window. Please could NetWorx be coded to do the following for this:

(1) In NetWorx Settings > Graph (tab) could a setting be added to allow this display of the current rates to be a vertical list (download and upload rates being shown as one line one above the other) rather than the current horizontal list (information all shown on a single line). So for example, looking at my first illustration, the information is currently displayed thus:

D: 12 bytes/s U: 91 bytes/s

See, that is all on one line.

Instead show that information in this way:

D: 12 bytes/s
U: 91 bytes/s

See, the information is now on two lines. And that would allow the user to set the window size for the display to a smaller horizontal size.

(2) Still speaking of the same issue, rather than making a new setting in the Settings > Graph (tab) code things so the following happens:

(a) The display is shown as it currently is (in my first illustration) with the current download and upload rates on one line. However, if the user alters the horizontal window size the following happens:
(b) When the user alters the horizontal window size to a point where the display of the current download and upload rates would become 'garbled' (mixed-up) then the display of those values just automatically switches to being displayed on two lines. (This allows the user to use a much smaller display window size.)

Suggestion (1) is probably the easiest to code for and, in some ways, might actually be a better a solution than than (2). There is scope for things to go wrong with (2). Okay that is my suggestion - I hope it finds favour.

All the above said, I'm greatly impressed with this aspect of NetWorx even as it stands. Brilliant work! Thank you!
Attachments:
open | download – screenshot.1.jpg (15 KB)
open | download – screenshot.2.jpg (13 KB)
SoftPerfect Support forum - Andrew avatar image

Re: Suggestion: Make Up/Down rates as persistent display   26 May 2016, 23:15

Good point, done in the latest build. As you can see below when there is sufficient vertical space, the rates will be displayed on separate lines:

SoftPerfect support forum

SoftPerfect support forum

Re: Suggestion: Make Up/Down rates as persistent display   26 May 2016, 23:32

Downloaded and tried the latest build. That's it! Excellent! Thanks very much, Andrew.

Reply to this topic

Sometimes you can find a solution faster if you try the forum search, have a look at the knowledge base, or check the software user manual to see if your question has already been answered.

Our forum rules are simple:

  • Be polite.
  • Do not spam.
  • Write in English. If possible, check your spelling and grammar.

Author:

Email:

Subject

A brief and informative title for your message, approximately 4–8 words:

     

Spam prevention: please enter the following code in the input field below.

  ******   **     **  ********  ********   **    ** 
 **    **  **     **  **    **  **     **   **  **  
 **        **     **      **    **     **    ****   
 **        **     **     **     **     **     **    
 **        **     **    **      **     **     **    
 **    **  **     **    **      **     **     **    
  ******    *******     **      ********      **    

Message: