Bblean FAQ

Q: Certain task tray icons I normally see aren't appearing (battery/wifi).
A: Install bblean as a shell.

Q: How do I remove taskbar/tray/status icons?
A: The easiest way is to shift+right click the icons on your bar. Otherwise, ctrl+right click your bblean bar.
Edit settings, and find this line: "bbleanbar.item: Tray". Put a "!" in front of it, so they won't load.

Q: How to I hide these workspace names (alpha) and the taskbar arrows?
A: Edit your bbleanbar.rc and put a "!" infront of these lines:
bbleanbar.item: WorkspaceLabel
bbleanbar.item: WorkspaceButtonL
bbleanbar.item: WorkspaceButtonR
bbleanbar.item: WindowButtonL
bbleanbar.item: WindowButtonR
See: https://raw.github.com/xDemonessx/dotfiles/master/bblean/Settings/bbLeanBar.rc

Q: How do I remove the side bars/slits/analog clock (etc)?
A: Unload the plugins under your configuration. The names are self explanatory.
Settings>Config>Plugins>Load/Unload
You may also edit your plugins.rc and comment out each plugin manually with a "!"
Settings>Config>Plugins>Edit plugins.rc
See: https://raw.github.com/xDemonessx/dotfiles/master/bblean/Settings/plugins.rc

Q: My Volume keys on my keyboard stopped working when I installed bblean. Is there a fix?
A: Yes. Some kind anons found a fix for it that works, however it involves some scripting with Auto Hot Key.
If you are unfamiliar, see the window tiling/autohotkey section.
First, download NirCMD http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html
You can find links at the bottom of the page.
Extract the exes to your Windows directory (C:\Windows).
Create or add the following lines to your Auto Hot Key Script:

Volume_Up::
run nircmd.exe changesysvolume 2000
return
Volume_Down::
run nircmd.exe changesysvolume -2000
return
Volume_Mute::
run nircmd.exe mutesysvolume 2
return

The same method with nircmd also applies to bbkeys. The code for bbkeys would look something like this:
KeyToGrab(Num9), WithModifier(Win), WithAction(ExecCommand), DoThis(C:\Blackbox\usr\bin\nircmd\nircmd.exe changesysvolume -2000)
KeyToGrab(Num0), WithModifier(Win), WithAction(ExecCommand), DoThis(C:\Blackbox\usr\bin\nircmd\nircmd.exe changesysvolume 2000)

Just edit the key you want to use for volume controls, save the .rc and restart blackbox. If you wanted to use the buttons or sliders on a media keyboard, use bbkeyhook to define them.
Run the script. You an also compile the script with Auto Hot Key, and drop it in your windows Startup folder. This will allow Windows to run it automatically on boot. Copy the compiled .exe to C:\Users\"username"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

Q: How do I extend the width of my bbleanbar?
A: Ctrl+Right click>Config>Width percent.
Alternatively, edit the bbleanbar.rc by selecting "Edit settings" and edit the bbLeanBar.widthPercent value.

Q: I want my bbleanbar to stretch across both monitors. How do I do this?
A: There are two ways to do this. The easiest (and recommended to those with equal resolution monitors) is to edit your bbleanbar.rc settings and override the max width percent by changing the value of "bbLeanBar.widthPercent" from 100 to 200. If you have uneven monitors (i.e. 1440x900 and 1366x768) you would use a value closer to 170 or so. Alternatively, you can load in a separate bbleanbar and drag it to your other monitor. You can simply clone your current settings. To do this, follow these steps:
Go to your bblean installation directory. Open the plugins folder, and find the bbLeanBar folder.
Copy + paste it in the plugins directory, and rename the folder to "bbleanbar2"
Visit Settings>Configuration>Plugins, and edit plugins.rc
Add the name of your new bar under the current bblean bar entry. It should look like this:
# - Integrated toolbar with tasks and tray
plugins\bbLeanBar\bbLeanBar.dll
plugins\bbLeanBar2\bbLeanBar.dll

Save As plugins.rc
Restart blackbox.
The bar should appear automatically, if not you should now have the option to load it within the plugins menu.
Repeat the steps provided for however many you need. Please note: ctrl+right click your current bbleanbar to drag it around if you aren't seeing the new bar load. Chances are it loaded on top of the current bar, since you cloned your settings.

Q: My Windows start button/taskbar is still appearing/glitching and getting in the way. How do I get rid of it?
A: Install BBlean as a shell. If there is still an issue, look at http://docs.bb4win.org/FAQ.html#Ic

Q: I've installed BBlean as a shell, how do I set my wallpaper?
A: You can do so by putting your wallpapers directory and image name in your current styles .rc settings manually, or by using bbstylemaker > other > image directory\name.
Alternatively, if you'd like to continue to use the same windows personalization settings for your wallpaper, you can do so by navigating to: blackbox>configuration>graphics>uncheck "enable background".
May work as a software alternative: https://johnsad.ventures/software/backgroundswitcher/windows/

Q: Japanese characters aren't displaying. What do?
A: Under configuration, visit Misc > Use UTF-8 Encoding. Restart blackbox.
(Still not displaying? Edit your blackbox.rc in notepad++. Change the encoding to UTF-8)

Q: Firefox/my application window is weird looking/overlapping and has a flickering bar. What do?
A: This is caused by conflicts with the bbLeanSkin plugin. You can unload/disable/uncheck/toggle bbleanskin under your configuration if you choose not to use it. However there may be some ways you can get it to work through trial and error.
To Disable:
(settings>config>bbleanskin>toggle skin)
(settings>config>plugins>load/unload>bbleanskin)
If you still want the skin enabled, do the following:
Put these in your Exclusions for Firefox/Nightly:
"firefox.exe"
"xul.dll:MozillaHiddenWindowClass"
"xul.dll:MozillaWindowClass"
Some other exclusions were mentioned here http://blackbox4windows.com/index.php?/topic/14-help-me-make-firefox-play-along-nicely-with-bblean/page-2#entry254
For Google Chrome, put: chrome.exe
To turn bbleanskin off permanently, you can manually comment it out in your exclusions (blackbox>bbleanskin>edit exclusions to open the .rc). Just put a "!" in front of "plugins\bbLeanSkin\bbLeanSkin.dll . You can always uncomment it later if needed.
Some fixes that may help you get the skin to work:
Keep the Menu Bar enabled when using firefox. Use addons like https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/app-button-remove/ and https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hidemenubar.
For issues with explorer not being skinned properly, try disabling Aero and transparency.
You may also add "EXPLORERFRAME.dll:CabinetWClass" to exceptions

Q: I can't close tabs, and Firefox is not operating properly with bblean.
A: Set Firefox to vista service pack 2 compatibility. Alternatively, downgrade firefox to before version 25. You can also just uninstall bblean as a shell.

Q: My Rainmeter skin is overlapping with my bbleanbar, what do?
A: Change the width% of your bblean bar to match your skin. If you are using bb_bar, load
the background bar on "normal", and set the bb_bar to "topmost"; via your rainmeter settings.

Q: I want a 12 hour clock.
A: Change your clock format to "%I:%M"
For additional time and date formats, see: http://bb4win.sourceforge.net/bblean/docs/bblean_details.htm#Clock_Formatting
If you want to completely remove the clock, leave the clock format window blank or put a "!" in front of bbleanbar.item: Clock in your bbleanbar.rc settings.

Q: Google Chrome is lagging/crashing on certain webpages ever since I started using Bblean. Whats going on?
A: This is a pretty widespread issue with Flash. I don't know why its so often reported/linked with Bblean, but the root of the problem is flash+Chrome. To fix this, navigate to:
chrome://plugins/ > click details > disable Shockwave Flash 11.5 r31
Make sure you disable the correct version.
For bug tracking and other reports on this bug, see http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=161307
You can also try navigating to: chrome://flags/ and disabling "GPU compositing on all pages" and "Threaded compositing". This has been reported as a successful fix.