Christmas Lights updated
· 2009-12-11 17:40 by Thijs Kroesbergen for Brokenwire.NET
I just published a new version of the popular Christmas Lights. You can grab your free copy from the publish page right now.
So what’s new in this years update?
- New light bulbs: The new bulbs are bitmap based instead of “dynamic” WPF shapes, this reduces the CPU usage. And I think these look nicer too.
- Better stability: I resolved several issues which caused crashes when you changed the display resolution when the lights where active. Now you can also add/remove monitors while the lights are running.
- Plasma “burn-in” prevention: When this option is switched on the lights move a bit every minute so they don’t burn in your nice big plasma TV. :)
- Fully tested on Windows 7 but the lights will run on any pc having .NET framework 3.5(sp1). (This includes Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003)
I’ve already got some nice ideas for a future version, but suggestions (or patches) are always welcome!
Possible features for a next version:
- Make the blinking speed dependant on the power level of your laptop battery: As the battery gets empty the lights should blink slower (or faster).
- Make the lights blink when sound is detected, so they can sync up with your favorite Christmas tunes.
- Create more blinking patterns and add a pattern to cycle through all other patterns.
So prepare your PC for the Christmas season and install the lights!
And if you are curious about the code that makes all that goodness happen, take a look at the “Wpf Christmas Lights” CodePlex project page. There you can also report bugs or post suggestions.
Happy Holidays!
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