Release candidate status:
The new xoblite plugins documentation is
still very much a work in progress, i.e. not yet
finalized but will be updated continuously.
Plugins



Overview

xDesignerGUI

xDesktopAnimation
xDesktopLauncher
xDesktopMeter
xDesktopNowPlaying

xControlRGB-Corsair
xControlRGB-LIFX

Other plugins

Contact

Overview

Plugins for xoblite and other Blackbox for Windows branches.

On this page you will find downloads and documentation for some of my own plugins, and links to some other plugins. Click on the links to the left or below to continue!

xDesignerGUI - a "privileged plugin" bundled with xoblite bb5, providing a GUI for its "Designer Mode" functionality.

xDesktopAnimation - an advanced bitmap animation plugin.
xDesktopLauncher - a sophisticated button matrix launcher plugin.
xDesktopMeter - a system meter plugin.
xDesktopNowPlaying - a work-in-progress "now playing" plugin for Spotify users.

xControlRGB-Corsair - a plugin that integrates your Corsair™ iCUE™ compatible RGB HW with the *box experience.
xControlRGB-LIFX - a plugin that integrates your LIFX™ RGB lighting products (e.g. bulbs, light strips...) with the *box experience.

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Any trademarks referred to herein are property of their respective owners.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

xDesignerGUI

Description

xDesignerGUI is a "privileged plugin" bundled with xoblite bb5, providing a GUI for its Designer Mode functionality, cf. an advanced "style maker" tool.

Screenshot



Instructions

• First of all, note that the core shell UI elements will update dynamically on the fly upon edits. Plugins may or may not support similar dynamic updating.

• Click the "Select" button on the left hand side to open a pane to select which *box UI element to perform edits on (note that not all elements support all parameters):
  Toolbar/Label/WindowLabel/Clock/Button/ButtonPressed, Menu Title/Frame/Active/Grip/Indicator/Separator, Dock, Console.
• ...or hold down the Alt key while selecting Toolbar / Menu Frame / Dock as per above to edit the matching "gradient border" element (introduced in xoblite bb5 RC4):
  Toolbar Border, Menu Frame Border, Dock Border.
• In the element selection pane, you can right click on an element to select it for copying (it will turn red to acknowledge), then left click on another one to paste. Right click again to cancel.
• Right clicking the "Select" button will cycle through the elements in sequential order (i.e. providing quick[er] access to the next element).

• The buttons below it either edit values in cycling or increase/decrease fashion, and new values/settings will be briefly displayed to provide visual feedback.

• The colour matrix in the center is a 2D representation matching two of the colours/values of the current input mode (see below), with a vertical bar to the right of it representing the third colour/value (underlined below).

• Left click on the colour matrix to pick a colour.
• Right click on the colour matrix to switch input mode: RGB/GBR/BGR/HSL/Greyscale.
• Mid click on the colour matrix to set that colour as a solid desktop colour.
• Left click the third colour/value bar to set its value, updating the 2D colour matrix accordingly. Right click the bar to reset it back to zero.

• The buttons 1-8, T, O, S, D, G and B on the right hand side select which colour to edit (nb. you can also select colour quickly using mousewheel scrolling):
  Color1-8, TextColor, OutlineColor, ShadowColour, DisabledColour, "GlyphColor", BorderColor.

• Some of the colour buttons also have a secondary right click action, e.g. to reset them back to black/white or enable/disable them.

• Pressing the Space key when the xDesignerGUI window is in focus will pick the colour under the mouse cursor; a convenient way to e.g. find colours matching a specific wallpaper.
• Similarly, pressing the Down/Up keys will select which colour to edit, while the PageDown/PageUp keys are shortcuts to modify the appearance of the currently selected element.

• Click "Save" to save the contents of the current style in memory, each time clicked under a *new* date/time formatted filename - xDesigner_date_time.style - in your main styles folder.

• Ctrl+Right click anywhere in the window to open a plugin menu with some additional settings, e.g. an option to use double scale (HiDPI 2x) mode. Ctrl+Drag to move the window around.
• The plugin menu also provides access to some additional colour related tools - Darken/Lighten/Greyscale/Sepia/Invert/Flip - targeting the currently selected element.

[documentation work in progress, e.g. comprehensive bro@m support etc still to be added!]

Enjoy! :D

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xDesignerGUI (part of xoblite Designer Mode)
© 2020-2023 Karl Henrik Henriksson [qwilk/@xoblite]

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

xDesktopAnimation

Description

xDesktopAnimation is an advanced bitmap animation plugin, currently bundled with xoblite bb5.

It uses a series of horizontally ordered frames inside a single .bmp format bitmap image as well as sophisticated transparency options, playback modes etc to support different use cases.
Animations can also be assigned an action (e.g. regular command, bro@m, @Script) to perform when clicked upon, effectively making them very cool looking "launcher" buttons and beyond.



It is possible to have multiple animations through multiple copies of the plugin, named xDesktopAnimation[number].dll for the second copy onwards,
i.e. xDesktopAnimation.dll, xDesktopAnimation2.dll, xDesktopAnimation3.dll, and so on. Note that as the plugin itself is quite small (less than 40 kB!), having multiple copies
instead of a single more complex one is actually preferable, as there may also be other reasons to keep each of them separate (e.g. dedicated settings, easier scriptability, etc).

Ctrl+Right click on the animation to open the plugin's configuration menu (see screenshots below).

[documentation work in progress]

Enjoy! :D

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Screenshots

  

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Version history

xDesktopAnimation 1.0 RC3+ (2020-10-04) / qwilk
• Second release, bundled with xoblite bb5 RC3+
• Added "Toggle with plugins" option

xDesktopAnimation 1.0 RC3 (2020-09-13) / qwilk
• First release, bundled with xoblite bb5 RC3


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xDesktopAnimation
© 2020 Karl Henrik Henriksson [qwilk/@xoblite]

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

xDesktopLauncher

Description

xDesktopLauncher is a sophisticated button matrix launcher plugin, currently bundled with xoblite bb5.

[documentation work in progress]

Enjoy! :D

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Screenshots

 

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Version history

xDesktopLauncher 1.0 RC3+ (2020-10-04) / qwilk
• Second release, bundled with xoblite bb5 RC3+
• Added "Toggle with plugins" option

xDesktopLauncher 1.0 RC3 (2020-09-13) / qwilk
• First release, bundled with xoblite bb5 RC3


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xDesktopLauncher
© 2020 Karl Henrik Henriksson [qwilk/@xoblite]

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

xDesktopMeter

Description

xDesktopMeter is a system meter plugin, currently bundled with xoblite bb5.

Currently supported metrics are:
• Average CPU load
• Network IP packets
• Memory in use

[documentation work in progress]

Enjoy! :D

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Screenshots



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Version history

xDesktopMeter 1.0 RC3+ (2020-10-04) / qwilk
• Second release, bundled with xoblite bb5 RC3+
• Added "Toggle with plugins" option

xDesktopMeter 1.0 RC3 (2020-09-13) / qwilk
• First release, bundled with xoblite bb5 RC3


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xDesktopMeter
© 2020 Karl Henrik Henriksson [qwilk/@xoblite]

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

xDesktopNowPlaying

Description

xDesktopNowPlaying is a work-in-progress (beta) "now playing" plugin for Spotify users, currently bundled with xoblite bb5.

[documentation work in progress]

Enjoy! :D

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Screenshots



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Version history

xDesktopNowPlaying 1.0b3+ (2020-10-04) / qwilk
• Second release, bundled with xoblite bb5 RC3+
• Added "Toggle with plugins" option

xDesktopNowPlaying 1.0b3 (2020-09-13) / qwilk
• First release, bundled with xoblite bb5 RC3


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xDesktopNowPlaying
© 2020 Karl Henrik Henriksson [qwilk/@xoblite]

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

xWebViewer

Description

...work in progress, stay tuned... :)

[documentation work in progress]

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xWebViewer
© 2021-2023 Karl Henrik Henriksson [qwilk/@xoblite]

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

xControlRGB-Corsair

Description

xControlRGB-Corsair is a plugin that integrates your Corsair™ iCUE™ compatible RGB HW (link) with the *box experience, by replicating
select colours from your current style onto your physical HW (e.g. keyboard, mouse, mouse pad...) == stepping out of the box, literally! :D

Instructions

Quick start:
(1) Download the latest release of this plugin -> xControlRGB-Corsair 1.0, released October 10th, 2020.
(2) Unzip the plugin .zip file to a folder of your choice (e.g. typically a new subfolder within your plugins folder).
(3) Put the included CUE SDK redistributable CUESDK_2013.dll into the same folder as Blackbox.exe (alternatively, you can always download the latest CUE SDK from https://github.com/CorsairOfficial/cue-sdk ).
(4) Make sure that "Enable SDK" is enabled in the Corsair iCUE SW settings (if you're using an old version, you can always download the latest iCUE version from https://www.corsair.com/icue ).
(5) Load the plugin by regular means, e.g. via the menu or drag'n'drop of the .dll to the Desktop.
Done!


Some further notes:

• The plugin will automatically read the first non-parentRelative element from the current *box style in the following order:
  toolbar.windowLabel -> toolbar.clock -> toolbar.label -> menu.grip -> menu.active/hilite -> menu.title -> toolbar -> menu.frame
  (nb. it will also respond to dynamic style changes triggered by the xoblite bb5 Designer Mode, i.e. it is possible to "paint" colours directly onto both *box elements and the RGB HW... =] )

• And before you ask... yes, this particular plugin may also work with other/older *box branches, though obviously then with
  related limitations (e.g. no support for 8-colour gradients as with xoblite bb5, etc, i.e. considerably less attractive overall).

Enjoy! :D

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Screenshots (nb. this plugin has no GUI, sending occasional console messages only)



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Version history

xControlRGB-Corsair 1.0 (2020-10-10) / qwilk
• Original release


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xControlRGB-Corsair
© 2020 Karl Henrik Henriksson [qwilk/@xoblite]

CORSAIR, iCUE/CUE etc are trademarks property of Corsair Gaming, Inc., Fremont, CA, USA.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

xControlRGB-LIFX

Description

xControlRGB-LIFX is a plugin that integrates your LIFX™ RGB lighting products (link) with the *box experience, e.g. by replicating
select colours from your current style onto your physical HW (e.g. bulbs, light strips...) == stepping out of the box, literally!

Want to control the mood of your entire room - or even (part of) your apartment/house?! - from your xoblite-powered desktop? Now you can! :D

Instructions

Quick start:
(1) Download the latest release of this plugin -> xControlRGB-LIFX 1.0, released February 20th, 2021.
(2) Unzip the plugin .zip file to a folder of your choice (e.g. typically a new subfolder within your plugins folder).
(3) Load the plugin by regular means, e.g. via the menu or drag'n'drop of the .dll to the Desktop.
(4) To configure the plugin, open its menu via the xoblite Configuration/Plugins/Bro@ms menu, or using the broadcast message @LIFX Show Menu, e.g. mapped to a hotkey.
Done!


Some further notes:

• The plugin currently supports up to 8 single colour (e.g. bulbs) and up to 2 multi-colour/zone (e.g. light strips) devices, each addressable by an IPv4 address.
  It does its thing using the LIFX LAN Protocol, and communicates using the default port 56700 only (i.e. no device discovery procedures performed).

• When the "Style" colour scheme is selected, the plugin will automatically read the first non-parentRelative element from the current *box style in the following order:
  hardware -> toolbar.windowLabel -> toolbar.clock -> toolbar.label -> menu.grip -> menu.active/hilite -> menu.title -> toolbar -> menu.frame
  (nb. it will then also respond to dynamic style changes triggered by the xoblite bb5 Designer Mode, i.e. it is possible to "paint" colours directly onto both *box elements and the RGB HW... =] )

• When the "User1", "User2" or "User3" colour schemes (i.e. style-independent user favourites) are selected, it will instead read the applicable related style settings from the plugin's .rc configuration file.

• "Fire", "Ocean, "Woods" and "Spooky" (RGBs) as well as "Warm" and "Cool" (whites) are preset colour schemes.

• When the "Manual" colour scheme is selected, the colour of each device is instead manually set using broadcast messages, e.g. mapped to hotkeys or part of an @Script:
  Examples: @LIFX RGB 1 #0000ff (sets device #1 to blue) @LIFX White 2 70 3000 (sets device #2 to 3000°K white light and 70%) @LIFX RGB 3 #000000 (turns device #3 off)
                    @Script [@LIFX RGB 1 #0000ff|@LIFX White 2 70 3000|@LIFX RGB 3 #000000] (== simple script to perform all of the above at once... 8) )

• When "Auto power on/off" is enabled, the plugin will automatically power off your devices when you put your computer to sleep, and power them on again the next time you log on. Cool eh? :)

• Assuming you are otherwise familar with your LIFX devices, the other functions/settings should hopefully be self-explanatory. Try them out!
  (and, as always, all plugin related broadcast messages can be picked up in the xoblite Console in case you're interested.)

Enjoy! :D

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Screenshots (nb. of the plugin's configuration menu, as this plugin has no GUI)

   

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Version history

xControlRGB-LIFX 1.0 (2021-02-20) / qwilk
• Original release


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xControlRGB-LIFX
© 2021 Karl Henrik Henriksson [qwilk/@xoblite]

LIFX is a trademark of Lifi Labs, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Other plugins

Description

The legacy xoblite.net plugins list can be found here. Please note that some legacy plugins may no longer be compatible with today's operating systems or *box shell versions, but YMMV perhaps.

A recently recompiled BBDropFTP 1.2.3 is ready to take on duties also in the year 2020. Stay tuned for an enhanced xDropFTP later on! =]

Some older plugin beta releases can also be found here, e.g. the ever-so-important Boxanoid 2.0b2 ! :D

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THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.