Tip: Use keyboard shortcuts in the Gadget Designer

Monday, February 23, 2009 at 9:48 AM

When writing code in the Google Desktop Gadget Designer, you most likely have used the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste text.

Here are some other shortcuts to work faster in the Gadget Designer. They work only while editing text such as JavaScript and XML files.

Ctrl+D	Inserts a copy of the current line below the current line
Ctrl+L	Deletes the current line
Ctrl+T	Swaps the current line and the line above it
Ctrl+[0-9]	Switches the current tab. For example, if the Preview window is positioned in the second tab, Ctrl+2 switches to that tab.

Posted by Stefan Van Damme, Gadget Developer

A completely new Gadget Designer

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 11:38 AM

A new and improved Google Desktop Gadget Designer is out, with a couple of major new features. The Designer editor now includes autocompletion support and function call tips for the Google Desktop Gadget API and the JavaScript language.

You can start autocompletion by typing the "." key or pressing Ctrl+Space. A list appears that displays objects, methods, properties, events, and constants to choose from, along with visual indicators to help you distinguish between them. Non-object related variables and functions are also dynamically recognized as you type them, and you'll see autocompletion suggestions based on your current scope. The following screenshot shows how Designer displays autocompletion suggestions for view object properties and methods that start with "s".



Call tips display function prototypes and short descriptions. They appear when you type an opening brace "(" or press Shift+Space. The following screenshot shows the call tip for the view.setInterval() method.



We sincerely hope that these new features will save you a lot of time while developing gadgets, making it that much more fun to bring your ideas to life. Please download the latest SDK and try out the new Gadget Designer.

Posted by Paneendra Ba, Software Engineer (Google Desktop Team)

SDK update

Monday, June 16, 2008 at 4:47 PM

Posted by James Yum, Developer Programs Engineer (Google Desktop Team)

We've just released a minor update to the Google Desktop SDK. The most noticeable change is that we've updated the stock images for controls, both in the Designer and in sample gadgets.



The old images are still lying around, in case you miss them. You can find them in the archived Designer (api/tools/designer-1.0.zip).

For a complete list of changes, check out the release notes.

New tutorial: Using Gadget Designer

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 2:51 PM

Posted by Kathy Walrath, Technical Writer (Google Desktop Team)

Back in October, James Yum blogged about changes to Gadget Designer, a Windows application that helps you create Desktop gadgets. Since then, Gadget Designer has continued to improve, with bug fixes and support for the latest API changes.

Now there's a new tutorial that leads you through the major features of the latest version of Gadget Designer, from creating and editing your gadget to debugging it and generating the gadget package. Here it is:

Using Gadget Designer

Even if you've used Gadget Designer before, please check it out. Who knows? You might learn something new, and we always appreciate your feedback.

Gif2GG: Make gadgets from animated GIFs

Monday, November 26, 2007 at 11:00 AM

Posted by Umakanthan Chandran, Gadget Developer

As a Google Desktop gadget developer, I've created gadgets that are based on animated images. (See GlobeOnDesk and Dancing Baby.)

Now you can do the same, even if you have zero programming knowledge. I've created a utility called Gif2GG that converts a regular animated GIF to a complete Google Desktop gadget. Gif2GG is a small download and has a simple user interface. Using Gif2GG, you should be able to create your own gadget in minutes.

Download Gif2GG and see example gadgets at the Gif2GG page.

Gadget Designer 1.1 has been released

Friday, October 19, 2007 at 9:52 AM

Posted by James Yum, Developer Programs Engineer (Google Desktop Team)

We just released Gadget Designer 1.1, so be sure to grab the latest SDK and try it out. This version of the Gadget Designer brings new features, stability improvements, and support for the new 5.5 API. It's all documented in the release notes.

As you might have noticed already, the old Gadget Designer is incompatible with Google Desktop 5.5, so you will need the new Designer if you're running the latest version of Google Desktop. If you're still running an older version of Google Desktop, you'll need to use the old Designer. The October 16 version of the SDK includes both the new and the old versions of the Designer.

If you have bug reports or feedback, drop us a note at the Google Desktop Developer group.

The screenshot below shows my favorite new feature: You can now edit XML source files directly, which means you should be able to work exclusively in the Gadget Designer from now on.