Desktop Backgrounds

how can i have my desktop background change automatically from day to night and possibly even with the seasons? obviously it will incorprate more than one picture and on a time interval. so i am curious in how this can be done.i googled this and they said windows 7 has it set up to where your desktop can offer a slide show and all you have to do is enter the time intervals. is this true? what about vista? if the os doesn't incorporate anything like this. do i need a script?if so, are there free ones out there?

how can i have my desktop background change automatically from day to night and possibly even with the seasons? obviously it will incorprate more than one picture and on a time interval. so i am curious in how this can be done.

er... via script?try to make a html with some background that change automatically then make it as your background? i'm not sure though, but they do it to make the movie-background in xp before, so i think it can be used for slideshow-background too

i googled this and they said windows 7 has it set up to where your desktop can offer a slide show and all you have to do is enter the time intervals. is this true? what about vista?

i don't know about vista, but windows 7 has that slide show you said, but the time intervals is up to 1 day only. you can make it change every some minutes or hours, but not more than 1 day

hmmm interesting! html for the background, huh? i will do some research in how to change backgrounds on a timer then. maybe i should make sure an html background will work first...

er... via script?try to make a html with some background that change automatically then make it as your background? i'm not sure though, but they do it to make the movie-background in xp before, so i think it can be used for slideshow-background too

anwii,

I have a php script for this.

I'll find the demo page and post the script as soon as I find it.

 

*edit*

 

Source Code:

 

<?php$hour = date('H');if ($hour < 12 ) {	$image = "morning.png";}elseif ($hour < 17 ) {	 $image = "day.png";}else {	 $image = "night.png";}$image = imagecreatefrompng( "$image" );if (!$image) { /* See if it failed */		header("Content-type: image/png");		$im = imagecreatetruecolor (150, 30); /* Create a blank image */		$bgc = imagecolorallocate ($im, 255, 255, 200);		$tc = imagecolorallocate ($im, 0, 0, 0);		imagefilledrectangle ($im, 0, 0, 150, 30, $bgc);		/* Output an errmsg */		imagestring ($im, 1, 5, 5, "Error loading Image", $tc);		imagepng($im);		imagedestroy($im);		die();	}header("Content-type: image/png");imagepng($image);imagedestroy($image);//<!-- C:\xampplite\htdocs\time.png\index.php  -->?>

This snippet finds the current hour (server time) and provides an image based on th time. It uses 'morning' as midnight to noon, day as noon to 17:00 hours, and night after 5pm.

 

demo: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

 

This demo would base the image on Server time. I imagine that it could pull the 'local' time on the client by using javascript, but I am not really familiar with js, so you will need to figure that part out.

 

Alternately, you could add a factor for the adjustment from server time to your Local time and arrange for the script to use that.

I liked this feature in Windows 7 and even Ubuntu 9.10 has this but it's interesting to do it with a script...thanks for the script jlhaslip, and thanks for the question anwii

anwii,

I have a php script for this.

I'll find the demo page and post the script as soon as I find it.

 

*edit*

 

Source Code:

 

<?php$hour = date('H');if ($hour < 12 ) {	$image = "morning.png";}elseif ($hour < 17 ) {	 $image = "day.png";}else {	 $image = "night.png";}$image = imagecreatefrompng( "$image" );if (!$image) { /* See if it failed */		header("Content-type: image/png");		$im = imagecreatetruecolor (150, 30); /* Create a blank image */		$bgc = imagecolorallocate ($im, 255, 255, 200);		$tc = imagecolorallocate ($im, 0, 0, 0);		imagefilledrectangle ($im, 0, 0, 150, 30, $bgc);		/* Output an errmsg */		imagestring ($im, 1, 5, 5, "Error loading Image", $tc);		imagepng($im);		imagedestroy($im);		die();	}header("Content-type: image/png");imagepng($image);imagedestroy($image);//<!-- C:\xampplite\htdocs\time.png\index.php  -->?>

This snippet finds the current hour (server time) and provides an image based on th time. It uses 'morning' as midnight to noon, day as noon to 17:00 hours, and night after 5pm.

 

demo: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

 

This demo would base the image on Server time. I imagine that it could pull the 'local' time on the client by using javascript, but I am not really familiar with js, so you will need to figure that part out.

 

Alternately, you could add a factor for the adjustment from server time to your Local time and arrange for the script to use that.

i am really confused. it is not a php problem

crap crap crap!i just realized that on vista, you have to enter a valid picture file such as gif,jpg,png. wont let me enter an html file at all.on previous versions of windows, i know you could set an active desktop to display web content. visto replaced the active desktop however.but see, i don't even want to go through the web. just create a file that changes night to day....maybe 6 times. i don't want to input any web address but just a file. this sucks.any way around this in vista???

any way around this in vista???

If it's not built in, then you need a third-party tool. Try the one at the bottom. Scan before use, of course.
I'd try to make one, but i have no way of testing it.

well there ya go. i just downloaded it. i'm gonna fiddle with it and see how much resources it's using. it's the closest thing to what i was looking for so far. i'll come back later and post a review. now i just need to find the right pictures that wont interfere with my icons and test it

If it's not built in, then you need a third-party tool. Try the one at the bottom. Scan before use, of course.
I'd try to make one, but i have no way of testing it.

Here is one software that can let you change the wallpaper on desktop periodically. If you use another utility like webshots then chances are you'll get wallpaper that changes with season. I guess this is what you're looking for.