Skip to content

DeskRealm v0.7.0

Latest
Latest

Choose a tag to compare

View all tags
@github-actions github-actions released this 25 Jun 15:51
v0.7.0
9118840

DeskRealm v0.7.0 — Realm Studio: Your Windows Workspaces, Made Visible

DeskRealm v0.7.0 is a user-facing Realm Studio rework. Instead of treating Windows virtual desktops as anonymous slots, you can now see each workspace as a living card and control what matters right there: switch it, preview or change its wallpaper, update its hotkey, lock its layouts, set it as the default startup realm and inspect the active display layout.

Realm Studio replaces the former WinForms management surface with a focused WinUI 3 dashboard while preserving DeskRealm’s Windows-first core: Windows virtual desktops, Desktop Known Folder switching, Explorer-backed icon layouts and explicit local-only behavior.

What changes for you

  • Your workspaces are visible: every realm card presents its wallpaper, Windows desktop identity, active-layout icon count, hotkey, lock state and default state in one place.
  • Controls are where the state is: wallpaper, hotkey, lock and default actions can be changed directly from a VCard rather than through scattered configuration surfaces.
  • Wallpapers work both ways: DeskRealm previews wallpaper changes made in Windows when the metadata is readable, and it lets you stage a new image before explicitly saving it.
  • Hotkeys are faster to manage: one-click inline capture gives you waiting, reset, save and cancel states directly on the realm card.
  • Locks are unambiguous: 🔒 means currently locked and 🔓 means currently unlocked; realm protection applies across variants without destroying their individual preferences.
  • Startup is intentional: choose a default realm and choose whether DeskRealm starts visible or minimized to the notification area.

Added

  • New Realm Studio WinUI 3 dashboard and unified global modal host.
  • Per-realm wallpaper previews with Windows-to-DeskRealm synchronization for readable Registry-backed assignments.
  • Direct VCard controls for wallpaper draft/save, inline hotkey capture, realm lock/unlock and default-realm selection.
  • One deterministic default realm, surfaced by a star control on every realm card.
  • Start minimized preference independent from Windows Run-key startup registration.
  • Explicit Restart DeskRealm recovery action in Diagnostics.
  • Explicit virtual-desktop rename policy: ask each time, restart Explorer now, or apply at next reboot.
  • Tray-icon recovery after Explorer recreates the notification area.
  • Archived-realm reuse flow: reuse saved layout/wallpaper, start fresh, or cancel.

Changed

  • Realm identity is GUID-bound: renaming preserves hotkeys, wallpaper, default-realm and protection metadata.
  • The original Windows Desktop realm can be relabeled safely; its physical Desktop folder is never renamed, moved or remapped.
  • Realm-card icon counts now represent the active display-topology variant instead of historical totals.
  • Activate is now Switch.
  • Realm lock glyphs show current state: 🔒 means locked and 🔓 means unlocked; tooltips describe the next action.
  • Realm locks inherit to child variants without overwriting individual variant lock preferences.
  • The build/release path is conventional: restore → build → publish. Candidate-specific code repair, source-template manifests and source-text preflight checks are gone.
  • Configuration schema advances to v18, including GUID-bound hotkeys, deterministic default realm, Explorer-restart reconciliation and startup visibility.

Fixed

  • Fixed Windows PowerShell 5.1 parsing of the release-helper CHANGELOG title validation. The helper now constructs the required em dash at runtime and keeps executable PowerShell sources ASCII-only.
  • Prevented false snapshot failed / Desktop 1 duplicate-realm diagnostics after a deliberate Explorer restart.
  • Prevented native Desktop realm edits from touching the physical Desktop folder.
  • Prevented unchanged realm names from triggering rename mutations.
  • Separated active-name conflicts from archived-realm reuse choices.
  • Restored raw nullable hotkey access for the unified Realm Editor.
  • Fixed VCard hotkey capture requiring a second pencil click.
  • Improved inline capture layout with a full-width field, Waiting input..., and dedicated Reset / Save / Cancel actions.
  • Restored DeskRealm’s tray icon after Explorer restarts.
  • Made wallpaper previews reflect externally changed readable Windows wallpaper assignments.

Safety and privacy

  • DeskRealm remains local-only and does not send realm names, file paths, icon names, configurations, logs or telemetry to a remote service.
  • Errors remain explicit; no silent fallback to periodic polling, hidden worker restart, file migration or private virtual-desktop COM layer is introduced.
  • Explorer restart is always an explicit user choice. It briefly recreates the taskbar, Desktop and File Explorer windows so Task View reloads persisted names.

Upgrade notes

  • Existing configurations migrate to schema v18.
  • Legacy number-keyed desktopHotkeys are converted once to Windows virtual-desktop GUID keys when live desktop metadata is available; the legacy payload is removed after successful conversion.
  • Existing users preserve notification-area startup visibility through startMinimized = true.
  • Copy %APPDATA%\DeskRealm\deskrealm.config.json before upgrading if you want a local rollback snapshot.
Assets 5
Loading