Snarl (software)

Infobox Software
name = Snarl



caption =
developer = Snarl Team
latest_release_version = 2.06
latest_release_date = July 21, 2008
operating_system = Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
platform =
genre = global notification system
website = [http://www.fullphat.net/ Snarl homepage]

Snarl is a notification system for Windows inspired by Growl that allows applications to display alpha-blended messages on the screen.

Unlike other forms of notification, Snarl does not hijack the current focused window, nor does it force the taskbar to be visible. Notifications can either be cancelled by clicking on them, or left to disappear automatically if ignored for a period of time.

Snarl can display several messages at any one time; new messages are simply displayed beneath (or above) existing ones. An application can display any number of messages, and can update the content, icon, and time the message appears for of any particular message at any time and explicitly remove the message if required. Applications can also request to be notified if a user clicks on a particular message.

Developers of other applications can include Snarl support in their applications with almost no effort at all - Snarl uses Windows window messaging functionality to show and hide notifications, making it accessible to any programming language from low-level pure C to high-level Visual Basic 6 or .net-based environments.

Features

* Unicode support
* Windows XP and Vista 32-bit & 64-bit support
* Multiple notifications support
* Notification position can be adjusted
* Substitute native Windows tooltip with Snarl Notification

Use

To use Snarl, simply launch it from the Start Menu. The first time it runs it will test how quickly blended images can be drawn - this test should take less than 5 seconds on most computers - and then display a notification confirming it started okay. After this Snarl will sleep quietly in the background until an application sends it a notification.

Applications using Snarl

* iTunes
* Windows Live Messenger
* Pidgin
* foobar2000
* Floola
* dotWidget
* Process Controller
* Witty
* Ruby (programming language)
* Launchy
* Firefox
* Thunderbird
* Sunbird
* Miranda IM
* mIRC
* Quintessential Player

narl-Specific applications

* SnarlClock (included with Snarl)
* SnarlTray (included with Snarl)

External links

* [http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=191100 Snarl Forums] - Check for newest version
* [http://www.fullphat.net/developer/developerGuide/index.html Developer Guide]
* [http://jsystem.cvs.sourceforge.net/jsystem/Snarl/ Source Code (CVS)]