A FOSS OHM Gauge VB6 WoW64 Widget for Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10/11+. There will also be a version for Reactos and XP, watch this space for the link. Also tested and running well on Linux and Mac os/X using Wine.

My current VB6/RC6 PSD program being worked upon now, about 95% complete, awaiting handling of input from alternative source libre Hardware Monitor, testing on Windows XP and Win7 32bit and some multi-monitor checking, completion of the CHM help file and the creation of the setup.exe. This Panzer widget is based upon the Yahoo/Konfabulator widget of the same visual design and using very similar operation.

Why VB6? Well, with a 64 bit, modern-language improvement upgrade on the way with 100% compatible TwinBasic coupled with support for transparent PNGs via RC/Cairo, VB6 code has an amazing future.

I created as a variation of the previous gauges I had previously created for the World of Tanks and War Thunder communities. The Panzer OHM Gauge widget is an attractive dieselpunk VB6 widget for your desktop. Functional and gorgeous at the same time. The graphics are my own, I took original inspiration from a clock face by Italo Fortana combining it with an aircraft gauge. It is all my code with some help from the chaps at VBForums (credits given).

The Panzer OHM Gauge VB6 is a useful utility displaying the temperatures of all cores and components in a dieselpunk fashion on your desktop. This Widget is a moveable widget that you can move anywhere around the desktop as you require. Requires installation of Open Hardware Monitor to allow the temperatures to be extracted and written to the WMI data repository. The Panzer OHM Gauge VB6 extracts the temperature data from that repository and displays it as a Panzer gauge on the desktop.

This is the pertinent bit:

Set objSWbemLocator = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator")
Set objSWbemServices = objSWbemLocator.ConnectServer(strComputer, "root\OpenHardwareMonitor")
Set colItems = objSWbemServices.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Sensor WHERE SensorType = 'Temperature'")

In time there will also be coreTemp and Speedfan versions of the same VB6 widget - watch this space!

This widget can be increased in size, animation speed can be changed, opacity/transparency may be set as to the users discretion. The widget can also be made to hide for a pre-determined period.

Right clicking will bring up a menu of options. Double-clicking on the widget will cause a personalised Windows application to fire up. The first time you run it there will be no assigned function and so it will state as such and then pop up the preferences so that you can enter the command of your choice. The widget takes command line-style commands for windows. Mouse hover over the widget and press CTRL+mousewheel up/down to resize. It works well on Windows XP to Windows 11.

The Panzer CPU Gauge VB6 gauge is Beta-grade software, under development, not yet ready to use on a production system - use at your own risk.

This version was developed on Windows 7 using 32 bit VisualBasic 6 as a FOSS project creating a WoW64 widget for the desktop.

It is open source to allow easy configuration, bug-fixing, enhancement and community contribution towards free-and-useful VB6 utilities that can be created by anyone. The first step was the creation of this template program to form the basis for the conversion of other desktop utilities or widgets. A future step is new VB6 widgets with more functionality and then hopefully, conversion of each to RADBasic/TwinBasic for future-proofing and 64bit-ness.

This utility is one of a set of steampunk and dieselpunk widgets. That you can find here on Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/yereverluvinuncleber/gallery

I do hope you enjoy using this utility and others. Your own software enhancements and contributions will be gratefully received if you choose to contribute.

BUILD: The program runs without any Microsoft plugins.

Built using: VB6, MZ-TOOLS 3.0, VBAdvance, CodeHelp Core IDE Extender Framework 2.2 & Rubberduck 2.4.1, RichClient 6

Links:

https://www.vbrichclient.com/#/en/About/
MZ-TOOLS https://www.mztools.com/  
CodeHelp http://www.planetsourcecode.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?txtCodeId=62468&lngWId=1  
Rubberduck http://rubberduckvba.com/  
Rocketdock https://punklabs.com/  
Registry code ALLAPI.COM  
La Volpe http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?txtCodeId=67466&lngWId=1  
PrivateExtractIcons code http://www.activevb.de/rubriken/  
Persistent debug code http://www.vbforums.com/member.php?234143-Elroy  
Open File common dialog code without dependent OCX - http://forums.codeguru.com/member.php?92278-rxbagain  
VBAdvance  

Tested on :

ReactOS 0.4.14 32bit on virtualBox    
Windows 7 Professional 32bit on Intel    
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit on Intel    
Windows 7 Professional 64bit on Intel    
Windows XP SP3 32bit on Intel    
Windows 10 Home 64bit on Intel    
Windows 10 Home 64bit on AMD    
Windows 11 64bit on Intel  

CREDITS:

I have really tried to maintain the credits as the project has progressed. If I have made a mistake and left someone out then do forgive me. I will make amends if anyone points out my mistake in leaving someone out.

MicroSoft in the 90s - MS built good, lean and useful tools in the late 90s and early 2000s. Thanks for VB6.

Olaf Schmidt - This tool was built using the RichClient RC5 Cairo wrapper for VB6. Specifically the components using transparency and reading images directly from PSD. Thanks for the massive effort Olaf in creating Cairo counterparts for all VB6 native controls and giving us access to advanced features on controls such as transparency.

Shuja Ali @ codeguru for his settings.ini code.

ALLAPI.COM For the registry reading code.

Rxbagain on codeguru for his Open File common dialog code without a dependent OCX - http://forums.codeguru.com/member.php?92278-rxbagain

si_the_geek for his special folder code

Elroy on VB forums for the balloon tooltips

Harry Whitfield for his quality testing, brain stimulation and being an unwitting source of inspiration.

Dependencies:

o A windows-alike o/s such as Windows XP, 7-11 or Apple Mac OSX 11.

o Microsoft VB6 IDE installed with its runtime components. The program runs without any additional Microsoft OCX components, just the basic controls that ship with VB6.

• Uses the latest version of the RC6 Cairo framework from Olaf Schmidt.

During development the RC6 components need to be registered. These scripts are used to register. Run each by double-clicking on them. They are in the BIN folder.

RegisterRC6inPlace.vbs
RegisterRC6WidgetsInPlace.vbs

During runtime on the users system, the RC6 components are dynamically referenced using modRC6regfree.bas which is compiled into the binary.

Requires a PzCPU Gauge folder in C:\Users<user>\AppData\Roaming\ eg: C:\Users<user>\AppData\Roaming\PzCPU Gauge Requires a settings.ini file to exist in C:\Users<user>\AppData\Roaming\PzCPU Gauge The above will be created automatically by the compiled program when run for the first time.

o Krool's replacement for the Microsoft Windows Common Controls found in mscomctl.ocx (slider) are replicated by the addition of one dedicated OCX file that are shipped with this package.

During development only, this must be copied to C:\windows\syswow64 and should be registered.

• CCRSlider.ocx

Register this using regsvr32, ie. in a CMD window with administrator privileges.

c:                          ! set device to boot drive with Windows
cd \windows\syswow64s	    ! change default folder to syswow64
regsvr32 CCRSlider.ocx	! register the ocx

This will allow the custom controls to be accessible to the VB6 IDE at design time and the sliders will function as intended (if this ocx is not registered correctly then the relevant controls will be replaced by picture boxes).

If you are developing multiple widgets needing this ocx, the above only needs to be done once.

The above rigmarole is only for development. For ordinary users during runtime, there is no need to do the above. The OCX will reside in the program folder. The program reference to this OCX is contained within the supplied resource file, Panzer OHM Gauge.RES. The reference to this file is already compiled into the binary. As long as the OCX is in the same folder as the binary the program will run without the need to register the OCX manually.

Sample preference screen showing CCR slider in place and operating

• SETUP.EXE - The program is currently distributed using setup2go, a very useful and comprehensive installer program that builds a .exe installer. Youll have to find a copy of setup2go on the web as it is now abandonware. Contact me directly for a copy. The file "install PzCPU Gauge 0.1.0.s2g" is the configuration file for setup2go. When you build it will report any errors in the build.

• HELP.CHM - the program documentation is built using the NVU HTML editor and compiled using the Microsoft supplied CHM builder tools (HTMLHelp Workshop) and the HTM2CHM tool from Yaroslav Kirillov. Both are abandonware but still do the job admirably. The HTML files exist alongside the compiled CHM file in the HELP folder.

Project References:

VisualBasic for Applications  
VisualBasic Runtime Objects and Procedures  
VisualBasic Objects and Procedures  
OLE Automation  
Microsoft WMI Scripting V1.2 Library wbemdisp.tlb 
vbRichClient6  	- RC6Widgets (RC6Widgets.DLL)
               	- RC6 (RC6.DLL)

LICENCE AGREEMENTS:

Copyright © 2023 Dean Beedell

In addition to the GNU General Public Licence please be aware that you may use any of my own imagery in your own creations but commercially only with my permission. In all other non-commercial cases I require a credit to the original artist using my name or one of my pseudonyms and a link to my site. With regard to the commercial use of incorporated images, permission and a licence would need to be obtained from the original owner and creator, ie. me.