Task Bar icon to show level of user

[garethEds]

Some of you who are familiar with RM networks might remember the little person icon that used to appear next to the clock on the task bar to show the level of user logged into the network.

 

I used to find it extrmely handy.

 

We now use a series of coloured backgrounds to visually represent who is logged in. The network manager has red, the pupils have green and the staff have blue. I hated the green so changed the staff and pupils to blue.

 

I long for the little character icons on the bottom soooo I wonder if anyone has got a script or application similar to RMs that runs on logon, looks that their user type (based on security group) and then puts an icon next to the clock.

 

Maybe a project for someone? If I was to have a go coding and learning how to do it, what language would people recommend?

 

GJE

[Michael]

If you're using BGInfo, you can place images on the plain red/blue/green backgrounds. In theory if you placed it towards the bottom right that should work for you?

[garethEds]

If you're using BGInfo, you can place images on the plain red/blue/green backgrounds. In theory if you placed it towards the bottom right that should work for you?

 

Morning Michael,

 

That sounds like a good idea. I'll chase it up today.

 

Gareth

[mac_shinobi]

Not worked on an RM network before but just curious did it show this in the task bar itself ie to the right hand side of the clock where the other icons in the sys tray resided or was it a balloon bubble or what exactly ?

 

Also I presume it was getting this info by querrying ADUC to find out what OU they were in or how did it work at a guess ?

 

Also what OS are the clients using , windows xp pro ?

[mounters]

It displays it in the systray as an icon.

 

I think it works by interrogating group membership, CCx works with what RM call usertypes to define which user policy will apply to the user and I think it is the membership of this group that it uses to display the appropriate graphic.

[Quackers]

As a very easy way to replicate this, you could create an auto it script that does nothing but pause, and give it an icon you want. Save it, and tell that user type to run it at logon, then that icon will just sit there in the systray doing nothing. As auto it scripts sit there until finished.

[garethEds]

Not worked on an RM network before but just curious did it show this in the task bar itself ie to the right hand side of the clock where the other icons in the sys tray resided or was it a balloon bubble or what exactly ?

 

Also I presume it was getting this info by querrying ADUC to find out what OU they were in or how did it work at a guess ?

 

Also what OS are the clients using , windows xp pro ?

 

Yes it sit's in the sys tray just next to the clock. There were several different icons. It didn't do anything else. We would require three icons for our security groups.

 

pupils / staff / admins

 

I'm looking into several solutions here.

 

GJE

[AngryTechnician]

For those who are curious, this is what it looks like for a pupil account and my admin account respectively:

 

[localzuk]

See attachment - it is a little app I wrote which checks groups against the username in the active directory and has 3 privilege levels (3 icons).

 

To alter the groups, edit the .config file where it currently has Users, Staff, and Domain Admins. The 3 'Title' entries reflect the text shown on mouse over of the icon.

 

It requires .Net 3.5.

 

I've only tested it on 2 machines, so don't know if it will work elsewhere as yet - please tell me if you find any problems.

 

UPDATE v1.0.0.4 now shows the logged in user, computer name, and the time/date when the program was first launched (so as to provide a 'logged in' time, should its execution be via startup folder or scripted).

 

UPDATE v1.0.0.3 now has MOTD functionality built in (it loads a simple web browser control, depending on settings). Double clicking on the notification icon now launches the MOTD instead of the settings. Right clicking shows a menu applicable to the user level (ie. Privileged users now see settings in that menu, other levels don't). Also, spelling corrections.

 

UPDATE: v1.0.0.2 now allows you to edit the images, titles and the like from within the application, if you are in the privileged group (double click on the icon). There is one proviso - when you first set it up, you must still edit the .config file by hand to identify the right groups. After that initial setup, all settings can be altered via the dialogue.

Edited January 23, 2010 by localzuk

[garethEds]

Well it works - but I need to work out what groups I need to put in there. I've edited the xml to the following:

 

Pupils


Staff


Domain Admins

 

But for my domain admin account which is a member of ygg-itcoordinators it is coming up with the unpriviliged icon.

 

I'll test with student and staff later.

 

Gareth

[localzuk]

Ah, you've altered the wrong bits. Also, redownload it, as I made a change after I uploaded it the first time.

 

   
       
           
       
   
   
       
           
               ygg-pupils
           
           
               ygg-staff
           
           
               ygg-itcoordinators
           
           
               Unpriviliged
           
           
               Semi-Priviliged
           
           
               Privilieged
           
       
   

[garethEds]

That's pretty cool. Seems to work here. I wonder how difficult it would be to change the icons and maybe store them in a directory so individual schools could change them as they see fit.

 

I thought about using squares - red/green/blue and so on.

 

I'm not asking you to do it. I'm just interested. Also - a front end on it to allocate your own icons or titles/tags would be cool so instead of saying Priviliged, I could change it to IT Coordinator and so on.

 

Excellent little application though.

 

Gareth

[localzuk]

You can alter the 'Privileged' on mouse over bits by changing the settings below:

 

               CHANGE ME
           
           
               CHANGE ME
           
           
               CHANGE ME
           

 

Regarding swapping the icons, this should be do-able pretty easily I think.

 

The front end is also something that should be relatively simple to alter. I could tie it in to the status of the user - so only those in the privileged group could alter it.

[localzuk]

I've now updated it to include what you mentioned.

[PEO]

I have a better idea... background colours.... black (administrator) Grey (Teacher) blue (student) stands out like a saw thumb and you can glance from a distance

[localzuk]

I have a better idea... background colours.... black (administrator) Grey (Teacher) blue (student) stands out like a saw thumb and you can glance from a distance

 

He already said he does that, but doesn't like it...

[mounters]

See attachment - it is a little app I just wrote which checks groups against the username in the active directory and has 3 privilege levels (3 icons).

 

To alter the groups, edit the .config file where it currently has Users, Staff, and Domain Admins. The 3 'Title' entries reflect the text shown on mouse over of the icon.

 

It requires .Net 3.5.

 

I've only tested it on this machine, so don't know if it will work elsewhere as yet - please tell me if you find any problems.

 

UPDATE: v1.0.0.2 now allows you to edit the images, titles and the like from within the application, if you are in the privileged group (double click on the icon). There is one proviso - when you first set it up, you must still edit the .config file by hand to identify the right groups. After that initial setup, all settings can be altered via the dialog.

 

It appears to be a zipped zip file with no extension to the second zip file, i.e. I had to extract, rename the extracted file to UbiPriv102 (2).zip and then extract the UbiPriv folder from that.

Edited January 22, 2010 by mounters
Spelling

[localzuk]

I think something has gone wrong on your machine there. I just downloaded it on my home PC during lunch and it downloaded and unzipped perfectly...

[p858snake]

posting this since the Mobile skin has no subscribe button.

[mounters]

I think something has gone wrong on your machine there. I just downloaded it on my home PC during lunch and it downloaded and unzipped perfectly...

 

What did you use to zip/unzip it? Tried using Windows Explorer (win7 x86 & x64) and winrar (Win 7 x64) and I get problems, works on my Mac at home though, although I did notice that when it unzipped you can see 2 files being processed.

[localzuk]

Windows Explorer on Win 2k8 and on Windows 7 32bit. It is just a normal zip file. Not sure what would be happening.

 

Is there any other functionality that this might have which would make it more useful?

 

Including MOTD functionality? Basic user management? etc...

[mounters]

Bizarre one then.

 

Is it just a case of adding extra elements to the xml file (and more images, obviously) if you wanted to increase the number of group types available?

[localzuk]

Bizarre one then.

 

Is it just a case of adding extra elements to the xml file (and more images, obviously) if you wanted to increase the number of group types available?

 

No. It is fixed at 3 at the moment. I suppose I could figure out a way to calculate the number by the XML file though. I'll have a play this weekend.

[mounters]

Thanks that would be useful

[localzuk]

I've just uploaded a new version for anyone interested. MOTD functionality built in.