Daily Countdown Wallpaper for Windows

Automatically sets your Windows desktop wallpaper to a base image with a countdown text rendered on top, updating daily until a target date. The app runs silently in the background via Windows Task Scheduler.

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Features

• Downloads a fresh base image and config daily from your GitHub repository.
• Renders a customizable countdown text (with shadow and semi-transparent background) onto the image.
• Sets the rendered image as the Windows desktop wallpaper.
• Runs silently — no visible PowerShell window.
• Task Scheduler integration:
  • Daily at a configured time (default 00:30).
  • At every user logon.
  • Starts when available (catches up if the PC was off).
  • Runs on battery.
• Modular architecture with full Pester test coverage.
• When the countdown reaches zero or below, the app displays an uninstall reminder.

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Requirements

• Windows 10 / 11
• PowerShell 5.1+ (or PowerShell 7 with Windows compatibility)
• .NET Framework (for System.Drawing)
• Internet access (for initial install and daily config/image sync from GitHub)

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Installation

1. Fork this repository, open new branch for each event and push your customizations (see Configuration below).
2. Download or use release/install.exe.
3. Run install.exe as Administrator.

The installer will:

• Download the repository ZIP from GitHub into %APPDATA%\.wallpaper_countdown.
• Load Src/config.json and register a Windows Scheduled Task (ChangeWallpaperEveryDay) that runs Src/daily_run.ps1 silently via Src/run_hidden.vbs.
• Run daily_run.ps1 immediately so the wallpaper is updated right away.

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Configuration

Edit Src/config.json before pushing to GitHub (the installer will pick it up automatically, and the daily run will keep it in sync):

{
  "system": {
    "taskName": "ChangeWallpaperEveryDay",
    "appFolder": ".wallpaper_countdown"
  },
  "github": {
    "username": "YourGitHubUsername",
    "repository": "YourRepoName",
    "branch": "main",
    "imagePath": "backgrounds/1.jpg"
  },
  "wallpaper": {
    "targetDate": "2026-12-31",
    "text": "...עוד {days} ימים",
    "time": "00:30"
  }
}

Key	Description
system.taskName	Name of the Windows Scheduled Task.
system.appFolder	Folder name under %APPDATA% used for local storage.
github.username	Your GitHub username (owner of the fork). Automatically updates when pushed
github.repository	Repository name. Automatically updates when pushed
github.branch	Branch to pull config and image from. Automatically updates when pushed
github.imagePath	Relative path to the base wallpaper image in the repo. Changes take effect on the next daily run.
wallpaper.targetDate	The target countdown date (YYYY-MM-DD).
wallpaper.text	Text rendered on the wallpaper. Use {days} as a placeholder for the day count.
wallpaper.time	Daily trigger time for the Scheduled Task (HH:mm).

Note: GitHub Actions workflows automatically run on push:

• .github/workflows/auto-update-config.yml keeps Src/config.json and Src/install.ps1 aligned with the current GitHub context.
• .github/workflows/build-exe.yml builds install.exe and uninstall.exe, then updates release/*.exe.

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How It Works

1. Install — install.ps1 downloads the repo ZIP, extracts it to %APPDATA%\.wallpaper_countdown, registers the scheduled task, and runs the first daily update.
2. Daily run — Src/daily_run.ps1 orchestrates each update:
   • Polls Src/config.json from GitHub to stay in sync with any config changes you push.
   • Downloads the latest base image from github.imagePath.
   • Computes the number of days remaining until wallpaper.targetDate.
   • If days remaining ≤ 0: prints a completion message prompting you to run uninstall.exe.
   • Otherwise: renders the countdown text onto the image using GDI+ (System.Drawing) and sets it as the desktop wallpaper via SystemParametersInfo.
3. Silent execution — Src/run_hidden.vbs launches daily_run.ps1 via wscript.exe with window style 0 (hidden), so no console window appears.

Module overview

Module	Responsibility
Src/Modules/Logging.psm1	File-based structured logging (Initialize-Logging, Write-Log).
Src/Modules/Config.psm1	Reads and validates config.json (Get-Config).
Src/Modules/Downloads.psm1	Polls remote config and images from GitHub with cache-busting headers (Get-RemoteBaseUrl, Poll-RemoteConfig, Poll-Img).
Src/Modules/Countdown.psm1	Calculates days remaining and formats the display text (Get-DaysRemaining, Get-DaysText).
Src/Modules/Image.psm1	Renders text overlay onto the base image and saves a JPEG (Export-CountdownImage).
Src/Modules/System.psm1	Sets the desktop wallpaper via the Windows API (Set-Wallpaper).

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Uninstallation

Run uninstall.exe (or Src/uninstall.ps1) as Administrator. The uninstaller will:

• Clear the desktop wallpaper (set to black / blank).
• Remove the Windows Scheduled Task.
• Delete the %APPDATA%\.wallpaper_countdown folder.

If the countdown has already reached zero, the daily run will print a reminder with the path to uninstall.exe.

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Development

Run tests

Install Pester v5 and run:

Import-Module Pester -RequiredVersion 5.7.1 -Force

Invoke-Pester .\Tests

Run tests with code coverage

$config = New-PesterConfiguration

$config.Run.Path = ".\Tests"

$config.CodeCoverage.Enabled = $true
$config.CodeCoverage.Path = ".\Src\Modules\*.psm1"

$config.CodeCoverage.OutputFormat = "JaCoCo"
$config.CodeCoverage.OutputPath = ".\coverage.xml"

Invoke-Pester -Configuration $config

Generate HTML coverage report

reportgenerator `
  -reports:coverage.xml `
  -targetdir:coverage-report `
  -sourcedirs:Src\Modules

Build EXE

EXE files are built automatically on push events that modify Src/install.ps1 by .github/workflows/build-exe.yml.

The workflow:

• builds install.exe and uninstall.exe on windows-latest.
• commits them into release/install.exe and release/uninstall.exe.
• uploads them as GitHub Actions artifacts (exes-<branch>-<sha>).

If you want to build locally, install the ps2exe module, then:

Invoke-ps2exe .\Src\install.ps1 .\install.exe `
   -noConsole `
   -requireAdmin `
   -iconFile .\Src\icons\install.ico `
   -title "Wallpaper Installer" `
   -description "Installs wallpaper automation"

Invoke-ps2exe .\Src\uninstall.ps1 .\uninstall.exe `
  -noConsole `
  -requireAdmin `
  -iconFile .\Src\icons\uninstall.ico `
  -title "Wallpaper Uninstaller" `
  -description "Uninstalls wallpaper automation"