Related
The new HTC Homeplug looks really good, but there are several issues with it, which I propose to discuss in this thread.
[size=+1]Adding new weather sources[/size]
1. Go to http://wwwa.accuweather.com/world-city-list2.asp (update: try also http://htc.accuweather.com for those having trouble getting their cities to work) and enter your city under "Find an International Location by Name" (the top box) and click Go.
2. Click on the city you want in the results
3. Copy the zipcode query string from the URL, e.g. Coventry, UK is "EUR|UK|UK001|COVENTRY" (don't copy the last pipe).
4. Open both HH_0409_WeatherCities.xml and _HH_0409_WeatherCities.xml from the \Windows folder and copy one of the other lines, replacing the data with the city name and the code from part (3).
It should look something like this:
Code:
<city name="Coventry, UK" locationcode="EUR|UK|UK001|COVENTRY"/>
5. Save the file back to the \Windows directory
6. Select your newly acquired city from the list!
This doesn't seem to work for everyone as it appears to be restricted to certain cities, no one is particularly sure why yet. If after following these steps you get an error downloading data then it probably does not support the city code you entered. To find your city look here: http://htc.accuweather.com
[size=+1]Weather not updating[/size]
No solution yet
[size=+1]Photocontacts in the applications[/size]
See Vijay's solution here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1312528&postcount=59
(See screenshot atatched to this post)
You can also use the same approach to use VJSMS and VJEmail to open SMS and emails to your contacts.
[size=+1]Making it smaller[/size]
The biggest issue (pun intended) for me is the size of it - there isn't room for much else on the today screen. I know the idea is that it is thumb friendly, and it is, but I would like to make it a little smaller. I've looked through the reg and can't find anything to do this, nor any options anywhere. Probably requires decompilation / impossible.
If you have any ideas / solutions to these problems, or more problems of your own, post them below. I will try and keep the first thread updated, if you have a solution PM me so that I don't miss it.
Thanks
With the Today plugin there's no need to use the "No unread messages" plugin, since they pretty much defeat each other, so there's one thing that can be removed to make more room. I'd like to see an MMS shortcut?
I've removed the messaging plugin too.
With regards to the MMS counter, I think that because the SMS/MMS inboxes are now combined, it might count the cumulative total in the Unread SMS counter? I haven't tested it yet. I also want to find out what happens when I sync my texts to Outlook with Jeyo Mobile Extender, and how it treats MMS.
ronfin44 said:
With the Today plugin there's no need to use the "No unread messages" plugin, since they pretty much defeat each other, so there's one thing that can be removed to make more room. I'd like to see an MMS shortcut?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that is right. It is double things showing on the Today.
Oliy said:
The new HTC Homeplug looks really good, but there are several issues with it, which I propose to discuss in this thread.
Adding new weather sources
1. Go to http://wwwa.accuweather.com/world-city-list2.asp and enter your city under "Find an International Location by Name" (the top box) and click Go.
2. Click on the city you want in the results
3. Copy the zipcode query string from the URL, e.g. Coventry, UK is "EUR|UK|UK001|COVENTRY" (don't copy the last pipe).
4. Open both HH_0409_WeatherCities.xml and _HH_0409_WeatherCities.xml from the \Windows folder and copy one of the other lines, replacing the data with the city name and the code from part (3).
It should look something like this:
Code:
<city name="Coventry, UK" locationcode="EUR|UK|UK001|COVENTRY"/>
5. Save the file back to the \Windows directory
6. Select your newly acquired city from the list!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi thanks for the twaek...
But this seams dont work...
Do they not show up in the list? Try a soft reset.
Make sure you update both xml files (one has a _ infront of the name) and make sure the _ file is read only after you save it, works for me
I have managed to put photocontacts in the Applications tab, see first post for details. Not particularly elegant but it works!
Question about icon(s): What are the dimensions? 32x32, or any size and it'll resize it automatically?
The original icon size in VJDialer.exe is 32x32 and 8 bit depth. I managed to replace it with 64x64 pixels and 24 bit colour depth with Resource Hacker so you can have good quality photos. They show up a fixed size on the app tab though.
I'm pretty sure you can use whatever size icon you want, but 64x64 was noticeably better quality than 32x32.
1. Create icons (*.ico) for all the photo contacts you want using GConvert or similar icon creator.
2. Extract VJDialer.exe from VJPhonetools and open it with Resource Hacker.
3. Open the Icon > 1 folder and right click on 2057, which is the icon
4. Select "Replace resource" and replace it with one of the icons you made earlier
5. Save the .exe with a new filename, e.g. contactName.exe
6. Repeat steps 2-5 for each icon you have created.
7. You should now have a set of exes which each have your contacts' photo. Copy these to your phone, for example "\Program Files\Phonetools".
8. Create shortcuts to each of these exes and place them somewhere in \Windows\Start Menu. I use \Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Speed dial".
9. Go to the HTC Homeplug and add new button. Select your photo contacts!
Can you simplify these? For some reason it didn't work. I was able to add the shortcut, but wasn't the same. Didn't show an icon I made and showed me an error
Oliy said:
The original icon size in VJDialer.exe is 32x32 and 8 bit depth. I managed to replace it with 64x64 pixels and 24 bit colour depth with Resource Hacker so you can have good quality photos. They show up a fixed size on the app tab though.
I'm pretty sure you can use whatever size icon you want, but 64x64 was noticeably better quality than 32x32.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to be a pest. Just not grasping using the Resource Hacker. I followed the steps, but I'm missing something. Is there a laymans version or a cheat-cheat for dummies? lol
I didn't explain it very well, here is an alternate explanation:
Create icons for all your contacts out of pictures
1. Use GConvert or similar to open an image file and save it as an icon eg contactName.ico.
2. Do this for each contact you want to display.
You now have an icon file displaying each of your photo contacts
Create a series of VJDialer.exe files each with an icon of your photo contact
1. Use Resource Hacker and open VJDialer.exe from VJ's cab
2. In the pane on the left, click on "Icon" to expand it
3. Click on "1" below "Icon" to expand that
4. The object below "1" is the icon, right click on it and select "Replace resource"
5. Select one of the icon files you created earlier
6. "Save as" a new name, for example contactName.exe
You now have an instance of VJDialer.exe with the photo for an icon for each of your photo contacts
Create links to the exes in the start menu
1. Bring up the context menu on one of the exes and "Create shortcut"
2. Edit the shortcut to include the phone number of that contact as documented on Vijay's website
3. Copy the shortcut to the \Windows\Start Menu directory.
4. Do this for each instance of exe
5. Add all your contacts to HTC Homeplug
ronfin44, just have a play around with it, one or two of my icons didn't work properly the first time I tried, if in doubt try another icon just in case.
Thanks bo. I opened VJ's dialer shortcut in Notepad and did a quick edit of it so it would dial a specific number, but now I'm gonna try your instructions.
my icons etc work fine. ...the only issue is when im recieving a sms through the plam threader the plugin cant reconize that i recieved a sms. Is it because its through the threader emails etc show up but my guess is because im using the plam threader.
I'm stuck on how to edit the exe once I make it, like how do I add the number? Not too clear on VJ's website. It shows the example, but what do I use? When I tried it in Notepad it gives me an error when I try to Launch it:
No recipient found!
Format eg:
VJDialer123
Please Donate! etc etc
Not sure if this is part of the new Touch stuff, but the new battery icon in the top bar (in line with the start button) blocks the time/date from showing where it normally would.
Is there a way to remove this icon so the time and/or date can be displayed there?
hahaha I figured it out! I'm an ass! I kept selecting the wrong icon in the menu, and NOT selecting the shortcut! lol Thanks for all your help guys! -fin
Oh, I make awesome icons if anyone wants some!
even the new weather info wont help
i really need the weather to work, can any one prove to me that it works for CHAMPAIGN ILLINOIS UNITED STATES
http://www.accuweather.com/world-index-forecast.asp?partner=accuweather&locCode=NAM|US|IL|CHAMPAIGN&metric=0
Updating HTC Weather Plug-in with GPRS....
I can update weather via wifi and active sync but i cannot connect and update via gprs. I can surf the web just fine, Windows live mail works fine, just cant update HTC weather plug-in. Used Weatherpanel with Dymond with same gprs setting and it worked as well. Anyone else having these issues.
using Tmobile USA Blackberry Connect plan
Thanks
Hey, if you are like me and are so lazy that you can't stand to do an absolute minimum amount of work, and you use Internet Explorer 7, than this tip is for you!!!!
You can add google search xda developers to your inline search box at the top right of your IE7 window. It only takes a few steps to add this, and you can have it in your IE7 search box for convenient google searching of xda developers any time you want.
or if you prefer the old way, the instructions are still located here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=304582
Follow these steps (they look like a lot, but they are simple):
1. Go to the regular google / XDA developers search url
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=+site:http://forum.xda-developers.com&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all
2. Type the word TEST (all caps) into any one of the search boxes ( with all of the words, with the exact phrase, with at least one of the words) that google offers you (depending on how you most like to search xda developers) (if you type TEST into the "with all the words" field, that is the default google search method)
3. press "google search"
4. Copy the url of the current page you are on
5. click the little pull down arrow next to the picture of the magnifying glass in you IE7 search box
6. on the pull down menu click "find more providers"
7. on the page that comes up, there is a yellow box on the right side of the page that says "create your own" paste the url that you had previously copied into the first text field in the yellow box
8. In the second text field in the yellow box type the name that you want your new search shortcut to be called (I just called mine XDA DEV)
9. click "install" in the yellow box
10. A dialogue will come up with the final options (you can click cancel to quit at this point) you can click add provider to add it as one of your search shortcuts, or check the "make this my default search povider" box to make it the one that is automatically seen in that search box when you start IE7.
11. Success!!! if you didn't already add it as your default search provider, then you can pull down the box with the little arrow next to the magnifying glass and select it whenever you want to search xda developers quickly and conveniently through google.
12. to also add google search the XDA wiki, repeat these same steps, except with this as the url for step 1:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q= +site:http://wiki.xda-developers.com&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all
13. You could also use these steps to google search any website, or even use the website's own search engine too
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Same can be done for firefox 2 and I'm using it myself.
There is a standard keyword on google to search a specific site, so in this case, go to google, type your search, and then site:forum.xda-developers.com
eg On google, to search for vijay555 within the forum, type
Code:
vijay555 site:forum.xda-developers.com
Mike: I didn't notice any large, detrimental features in IE7. Firefox is still probably the way to go, but I tend to drift between the two depending on how much WMV porn I'm watching.
Actually, I use my own browser, VJMultiBrowser, which IMHO is nicer then both, but that's another story.
V
vijay555 said:
Actually, I use my own browser, VJMultiBrowser, which IMHO is nicer then both, but that's another story.
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
strange
Google gives no results when searching for VJMultiBrowser?
mestrini: VJMultibrowser has never been released, to anyone except BuzzLightyear. It's very very much built around how I work, but it's been my main browser for a few years (ie since I wrote it), although obviously it's in continuous development.
That is in fact a problem, I've squeezed so many things in there, I forget what it can do. I just remembered that it has a flick gesture for flicking to the next page in a set of documents, eg, flick mouse left/right to go from
http;//forum.xda-developers.com/p=1436702
to
http;//forum.xda-developers.com/p=1436703
etc
Anyway, yeah, it's never been released, hence no information on it, but I recently made up a bit of an overview/description of it for the recent LifeHacker.com non-Firefox browser wars. However, I think I went slightly outside the limitations of the competition (they wanted a max image size of 1280*1024). There was too much to fit in, so I think I got disqualified. However, if you wanna have a look, check out the image below.
I suggest that you first put your browser in fullscreen mode (press F11), and then scroll right to the bottom first, to see how I use it in a 1x3 (ie 4 browser panes) setup normally. Then scroll back up the graphic to see some of the main features (but not all!).
V
Warning: 0.9mb image!
Click to enlarge:
http://www.vijay555.com/smilies/VJMultibrowser.png [no compression]
VJMultibrowser - Features Part 1
PS: Some of the features, as described to LifeHacker.com
VJMultiBrowser is a browser “shell” I started working on some time back. Necessity was the mother of its invention – I worked in an office that had banned use of Internet Explorer. As such, I started discreetly using a custom version of Internet Explorer in Kiosk Mode to have a very low profile browser – no chrome at all, and no easy way to navigate.
I then started working on the MiniBrowser, a single browser with minimal chrome, ie very low profile interface, designed to use 99.5% of the available screen space for the browser, using only a tiny area for the necessary interface (Back, Forward, Home, Refresh, Save etc).
I quickly realized that for most efficient use while browsing, I would typically need at least 4 windows to be open simultaneously. This gave birth to VJMultiBrowser. The browser starts off as a single browser window with low profile interface. However, as required, up to three sibling browsers can be spawned to join the parent. Each browser is color coded in the top right so as not to lose track of them.
Each browser can be used to drag and drop using the MiniIcons in the top right near the navigation bar. Thus one can stay within the same browser window but drag off interesting links to its three brethren easily. The target browser will show a fluorescent green highlight to show it’s the required drop target, and if it’s currently obscured, it will jump up to the top to show which browser you are dropping into.
The home icon can also be used as a drag icon (to drag the current URL) and also as a drop target (eg highlight a URL in Word and drop it onto the home icon and it will navigate there).
The address bar and page title can be resized or completely hidden if not required. The home icon can optionally display the URL and Title as a Balloon, so no interface is required unless needed.
The address bar is a full command line – apps can be run, calculations performed, or jump to various shortcuts and favorites. Favorites and URLs will be autocompleted.
The concept is that I can use 4 browsers as a super-tabbed browser: 4 mini tabs accessible from each browser, and each browser can be hidden or viewed by clicking on its associated miniicon. Each browser can be maximized, closed, toggled in height, shrunk to an icon (MicroIcon mode) for non-obtrusive browsing. Each browser can be freely resized, or optionally docked together (like Winamp) and joint resized in proportion. Browsers can be resized using the numeric keypad for presets, or the cursor keys for pixel perfect resizing.
Layouts and current browsing sessions can be saved and reloaded by double clicking an icon or drag dropping a session onto the navigation bar. A single click can also resize the 4 browsers to quarter full screen (ie each browser takes a quarter of the screen), quarter non-full screen (same, but not the whole screen is used), explorer layout (1 large browser, 3 vertically adjacent mini browsers) etc.
Although typically 4 browsers are sufficient, for occasional usage you can “clone” either a fully featured MutliBrowser, or its little brother, the MiniBrowser. MiniBrowsers have full functionality, but have an even lower profile chrome/interface, ie just a context sensitive back and forward button, a home icon for drag drop saving etc, and a mini address bar. MiniBrowser are designed for temporary usage, and specialized usage, eg popping up Alexa information, a list of links on the page etc. Lists of links etc can be live filtered by typing the required path into the Mini Browser address bar.
A non complete list of features (as it’s in continuous development, and also, I forget all the little things built into it!):
* Built in command line from address bar - do calculations, run applications, aliases, live search and highlight, path navigation (with one button navigation up and down the website/directory path).
* File explorer – will navigate through local system to replace the Windows Explorer with a 4 pane multi-explorer.
* Use of customisable command aliases in address bar eg:
g] LifeHacker = google lifehacker
m] Bourne = find times for films containing Bourne
i] Bourne = imdb query Bourne
TRF to translate to French, TRG to translate to German etc.
* Aliases for most popular search engines, eBay, Movies.com, Wikipedia, IMDB etc. All aliases are user configurable
* Some Greasemonkey and embedded Javascript support, and customisable advanced bookmarklet support (can inject javascript and CSS sheets directly into the page. Optionally disable scripts, CSS and frames).
* CSS remover and rewriter.
* Built in WYSIWYG HTML editor.
* Live search type-ahead Google searches with one click access to searches and "I'm feeling lucky" targets (eg, start typing LifeHa, and press Ctrl + 1 to execute a Google search on the most popular hit for that search. Press Ctrl + Alt + 1 to go directly to LifeHacker.com).
* Live highlighting, eg start typing in Life and all references to Life will be highlighted, and a popup showing the hit count will appear. Quickly navigate forward and back through hits using F11 and F12.
* Live zoom in and out, and rotation (clockwise and anticlockwise). Can be used on websites and while image viewing – particularly useful when used in Explorer replacement mode, to browse through a folder full of images.
* Optional alpha transparency for the browser.
* Optional ghost mode for true transparent browsing – makes a selected colour on the webpage transparent, to allow viewing through webpage onto desktop etc. This is useful for example docking a display of live stock prices on the desktop, but not obscuring screen in any way.
* Gesture recognition for most important browsing functions.
Eg mouse drag left/right to go forward back, mouse drag up/down to navigate up and down directory path, button + drag to get special context menu for shortcuts, favorites etc. Browse with mouse only, no forward and back clicks required.
* Can host both the Internet Explorer and Mozilla browser for the best of both browser engines.
* Ad blocker, using customisable list of blockable urls.
* Anti-phising filter.
* Anti-spoofing filter and blocker (will catch rule defined exploits and warn before displaying the page, or optionally present a text only view of the page to disarm the spoof).
* Popup blocker, with optional override (either force popup into parent browser, or into a mini-browser so as not to obscure main session).
* Popup history to show URLs of overridden popups.
* Session based Browsing History (optionally saveable, by default erased on close). Color coded history shows what webpages were viewed by which Multibrowser.
* Form Filler – single click form filler to fill forms with generic, predefined form data eg Name, Address, Telephone) or fill in a form, save that data, and re-use pre-saved data to fill in that form on request.
* Save multi-browser layouts as shortcuts to reload and resume pre-defined browsing sessions with one click (eg have a folder on your desktop containing special layouts for News, RSS, Local Drives, YouTube).
* Image extractor (will present a list of all images on the page).
* Link extractor (will present a list of all links on the page).
* Site summarizer (will present a list of all links on the page with associated neighboring text, to quickly summarize the contents of a long page of links).
* Shortcut/Alias access to Alexa data and WhoIs data (presented in a mini-browser to not obscure main browsing session).
* ThumbNailer (will inject thumbails into links on the current page to see what the destination looks like).
* Built in RSS news reader.
* Optional Magnetized windows (like Winamp) to allow window docking and for the docked windows to be dragged as a group).
* Built in scratchpad/notepad with drag and drop save.
* Built in HTML to Text and HTML to PDF conversion. Merely drag the Home icon onto Notepad, Word etc and it will be automatically converted. Optionally right drag the home icon to save the URL only as text.
* Built in Speech engine to speak page or selected text.
* Zapper – remove any annoying page element (eg flashing adverts) by moving mouse over the element and pressing ctrl + z.
* Cropper – select required selection on the page and choose menu option to crop the entire page just to the selection: useful when printing only selected parts of a complex web page.
* Built in Favorites searching with wildcard searching and session saving.
* Gesture-based Favorites popup – Favorites presented as a popup menu by merely flicking the mouse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
V
VJMutlibrowser - Features Part 2
Some more of the features (messages have a limit of 10,000 characters. Who knew!?)
* Drag and drop search for Dictionary references, Google and Wikipedia (merely drop a selected word or phrase onto the navigation menu and a popup for each of these searches will appear). No keyboard required.
* Any corner dragging – resize the Browser from any corner using tiny drag handles in each corner. Alternatively use the efficient Multibrowser Gripper in the top right to drag and position the window, (left click and hold), resize the window (right click and hold), maximize (double click), minimize, toggle size etc.
* Desktop docking - immediately dock to any corner or edge. Use cursor keys for pixel perfect placement.
* Resizable Breadcrumb bar to allow single click navigation through local and web paths (eg, http://www.google.com/images/deviants, clicking on ‘images’ will immediately navigate to that URL. Also for local file browsing, eg in a path C:\Documents and Settings\MP014292\Desktop, clicking ‘C:\’ will browse to C:\.
* Status bar – hidden by default, can be displayed, resized. Carries an item history to see browser ‘status text’ all previous items. Will automatically extract embedded items like YouTube movies, flash games etc so they can be saved locally with one click.
* Optional keyboard only link navigation – jump to selected links, eg alt + 6 to jump to the 6th link on the page.
* Unlimited MultiBrowser and MiniBrowser clones – if more then 4 browers are required, more fully function browser windows can be spawned at the click of a button. MiniBrowsers (limited functionality browsers for displaying popups etc) can be similarly spawned.
* Custom error screen – if page cannot be found, a Google search will immediately be initiated, with links to Google Cache, Internet Archives, different domain suffixes (eg, Vijay555.com, .org, .co.uk etc)
* Single click appending of www. .com, www. .net, www. .co.uk, www. .org etc.
* Lots of other stuff I forget.
* 238k, installed. No spyware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note that the screenshot doesn't show all features. But hopefully gives some idea of how it works. All browser panes are freely resizeable etc though, so you can have any layout you want.
V
Use the XDA-Developers Toolbar,
Take a look at it at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=330587
OK, I have been with a blackberry now for 2 years and my WM skills are very rusty. I have a TMO Dash running the latest HTC ROM posted here. I remember on a pocket pc you could reorganize, add/delete things on the home screen. How do you do this on the Dash?
My homescreen displays the following in order:
Blackberry: Connected
Owner: Tedy
Get More... 10:20PM
WiFi: Off 1/28/2008
Profile: Normal
Text Messages (1); Email: (0); MMS: (0)
Enter a Password
No Upcoming Appointments
"a bunch of one-click icons"
How do you rearrange these items, e.g. I don't want to display owner info, or I want to move Blackberry:Connected to the bottom. How do you do this?
TIA.
It depends on how much pc and scripting knowledge/background you have.
If you're proficient, you can copy over the *.xml file found in \Application Data\Home.
Open it up on your pc with an xml editor app or directly in notepad, and at that point re-script it to show the plugins and other information in the order and arrangement you prefer.
You're second option is to install some ready-made homescreens which take the onus of choosing what to display on your homescreen and how to arrange it. (If you search this forum for "home screen" or "themes" you'll get the necessary resources)
Suggest a google search for "Q home screens" minus the quotes. Then drag and drop the xml and images to "application data\home" on the excalibur
that or goto http://www.madbeetle.com, where they have a freeware homescreen builder, no XML nowledge required!
This was from the windows mobile team blog. More to follow but wanted to post it for those who don't read that.
Original link: http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2008/06/03/customizing-the-sliding-panel-homescreen.aspx
Customizing the Sliding Panel Homescreen
from Windows Mobile Team Blog by Jorge Peraza
Hi, my name is Jorge Peraza; I am a Developer on the Windows Mobile team that was responsible for the new “Sliding Panel” home screen in Windows Mobile 6.1.
When we were working on the visual style and functionality of the home screen we tried to make something that looked both professional and appealing while still showcasing all the information the user is going to need to know what’s important and requires attention. While I think the default design looks really cool, we added some customization features to enable users to make it their own.
Customizing the layout
The home screen layout can be modified using the same home.xml file from previous versions of WM, the schema of the file was extended to allow the customization of many of its elements, this includes the art assets that are used for most of the plug-ins.
When you open the SlidingPanel.home.xml file (inside \ApplicationData\Home) you will find the plug-in element that corresponds to the sliding panel home screen (its CLSID is {E9267CAB-02EE-4f37-8216-6BF6A8FF5A71}). All the child elements inside it are designed to tweak and customize the way the home screen will look.
The top level element is the plugins tag, this has one attribute called “Order” and it’s used to list the plug-ins that will be shown and the order they are going to be laid out on the screen.
The built in plug-in names are:
1)CClock – The big clock
2)CAppointments - The calendar plugin
3)CHome – The notifications plugin
4)CMyPhotos – The photos plugin
5)CMessage – The message center (this is off by default on all sliding panel built in layouts.
6)CMusic – The music plugin
7)Settings – The settings plug-in
8)Custom Plugin – Users can specify custom plug-ins with static content that can be displayed on the home screen.
For example, the XML snippet bellow moves the photos plug-in to the first position and enables the message center (which is turned off by default on both "Sliding Panel" and "Sliding Panel Media")
<plugin clsid="{E9267CAB-02EE-4f37-8216-6BF6A8FF5A71}" name="Bronze" height="266">
<Plugins Order="CMyPhotos;CClock;CMessage" />
</plugin>
There are many other ways of customizing the home screen using the plug-in settings like overriding the default images or even adding your own custom plug-ins that display static content, I'll post and updated entry latter on on how to do this in detail but for now, you can use the provided home.xml files to start experimenting with this.
The notifications plug-in and message center
In the sliding panel home screen, the notifications plug-in by default serves as a dual-purpose notifications/gateway to all you phone/message accounts where every page represents one account (so, if you have multiple notifications in one category they will be shown as one summary page).
There is however an alternative behavior where individual notifications are added as independent pages (Similar to what the T-Mobile shadow home screen does) and the plug-in only shows accounts that have new notifications in them. One cool feature of this alternate behavior is that each individual notification can be dismissed without having to leave the home screen.
You can enable this alternative behavior by setting the following registry key to a value other than 2 (The actual value indicates how many pages of each notification type will be added to the home screen before collapsing them into a summary page. We have tested 2 and 5 but feel free to experiment with other values)
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Chome\Chome]
PageCollapseThreshold: DWORD
Note that this prevents you from being able to access the email/phone account data if there are no notifications for it. If you still want to be able to do that you can always re-enable the message center as described in the previous section as a separate plug-in.
There is one more behavioral change you can make that allows you to “dock” the condensed view of the first plug-in to the top of the screen when it is not active, we added this for people like me that want to have the clock always visible. To enable just set the following registry key to “1”
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Chome]
DockOperatorBar: DWORD
Advanced layout modification
There are even more advanced things you can do to further tweak the look of the home screen but it is unsupported by Microsoft at this moment so you’ll have to experiment on your own J (Hint, look at the following files \windows\CHome_240x320.cpr and \windows\CHome_320x240.cpr).
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Thanks to djNutz for posting this information & OrganicM for his efforts.
I wanted to create a post with info about what the different keys do in the CHome section of the registry. So, I'll start with a brand new one, that I bet nobody knows about....
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Chome\Chome]
PageCollapseThreshold: 2 or 5 (DWORD Value)
This will collapse your Notifications panel to only show active notifications. You can enable this alternative behavior by setting the following registry key to a value other than 2 (The actual value indicates how many pages of each notification type will be added to the home screen before collapsing them into a summary page. 2 and 5 were tested and work pretty well.
More to come of course....
should this change be made to the security section too, or does that matter? actually, do changes to the security section ever matter, cause they seem to apply even when you only edit the software section.
p.s.
i'm pretty sure people are gonna ask, so maybe i'll save some trouble instead of looking like an ass by answering preemptively. This DWORD value must be created with your registry editor, it's not already there, at least on ricky v24.
2 = default or normal (i assume cause it looks the same as before) and 5 = condensed.
But for the rest of us who don't have the time to be on every WM blog and forum at once here's my favorite:
To “dock” the condensed view of the first plug-in to the top of the screen when it is not active, set the following registry key to “1”
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Chome]
DockOperatorBar: DWORD
This is so you can have the clock always visible, no matter which panel you're on. You could also set it so that CHome Weather's compact view is always on top. Whatever plugin is first on the list.
More info from MS coming down the pipe:
We can get the day of the week on the clock plugin at the top of CHome by doing this:
Replace this portion...
<!-- Date --> <Text ID="Date" Left="180" Top="83" Width="110" Height="19" FontFamily="Segoe Condensed" FontSize="9" FontStyle="Bold" Wrap="False" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Trimming="EllipsisCharacter"></Text>
With this!
<!-- Date -->
<Text ID="Date" Left="180" Top="83" Width="110" Height="19" FontFamily="Segoe Condensed" FontSize="9" FontStyle="Bold" Wrap="False" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Trimming="EllipsisCharacter"></Text>
<Text ID="Day of Week" Left="65" Top="83" Width="110" Height="19" FontFamily="Segoe Condensed" FontSize="9" FontStyle="Bold" Wrap="False" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Trimming="EllipsisCharacter"></Text>
I will incorporate this in Chome Weather fore sure!
Here you go, the first is my Home
2nd is Scroll Down once
3rd is Scroll Down twice
4th is Scroll Down Thrice
heh
Edit: Tried Month in cpr, no luck.
will keep trying
I'm glad people are finally getting this information out. It makes customization that much easier. I'm adding the tips to the wiki as well, as they come out.
How to Reload the Homescreen
I have two questions:
1. After editing my CHome cpr file, how do I reload the homescreen without having to reboot the device?
2. How can I show any text on the clock panel? Regular text is defined by Text ID = "xxxxx", where xxxxx is something like Time, Network Name, etc. However, suppose I want to have the text "Knowledge Rules", how do I set it up in XML?
I have very little programming and Excalibur experience. So, I apologize if these questions are too naive or have been answered before.
Thanks a lot in advance.
you can use this if you dont use OrganicM Chome Weather
I don't think Microsoft has put out much documentation on the sliding panels plugin yet. Most of the CHome configurations use
Code:
TextID="text 1"
as the delimiter for static text. But that's not to say that the clock plugin will recognize that as a valid section. Could work. Could make your phone useless.
beartard said:
I don't think Microsoft has put out much documentation on the sliding panels plugin yet. Most of the CHome configurations use
Code:
TextID="text 1"
as the delimiter for static text. But that's not to say that the clock plugin will recognize that as a valid section. Could work. Could make your phone useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not understand. How do I make the phone know that:
text 1 = Knowledge Rules?
Typical syntax seems to be Text ID = "xxxx", where xxxx is a variable name, which is recognized by the device. If Text 1 is a valid variable for the device, how do I assign it a value? Am I rambling here?
No, you're not rambling. As far as the information coming from Microsoft and disseminated here on this site goes, it's a best guess right now.
someone at msdn blog asked the same question.
Someone at msdn blog asked the same question. Let's wait to see if we get an answer from there...
From http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile...ustomizing-the-sliding-panel-homescreen.aspx:
"Jorgeba, thanks for taking the time to educate your user. I have some questions.
How do you change the text in the condense clock? The .cpr file has Text ID="Text 1". How is "Text 1" define? I would love to add the date to the condense layout.
The ActionURL and Softkey2 URL in the Appointments plug-in always open calendar in the today view. Is there a way to make one of the button opens calendar in the month view? Setting the default view for calendar does not help."
Easy as pie......
If you know what you are doing.
If you have any xml experience,then you'll know how to adjust x and y values to position things in different places. Yes, you can do that. Just change x=whatever and y=whatever to where you would like them to be. Just know this means that it will start on the left and move x pixels over and y pixels down. If you put in negative values, it will shift them in the opposite direction.
Eg. x=-whatever will move it to the left vs a + value which will move it to the right. Same for y=
Also, you can adjust the valignment and halignment to center, left, or right.
Have fun with these. They apply to everything in your cpr (That's the layout for your homescreen.It's in your \Windows directory on your phone).I mean everything, from where your network displays, right down to your pictures.
That's it. Have fun!
jaymit said:
Hi,
Sorry Im kind of a newbie :s, is it possible to edit home screen panels? I wanted to change the layout and look of the clock plugin.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anybody know how to change font color for certain panels or certain lines of text in the panel? Is it only possible for the whole homescreen?
As far as I know even as far as old xml coding works, you can only change a font color for a selected word or unselected word. Meaning, if you have the old 6.0 your plugins that are selected could have a different color, but unselected could be another color. This applied to the entire homescreen. I have not seen different colors for different plugins, since each panel style is basically its own plugin (each has its own unique GUID), then I doubt you can change font color for each plugin. You can more than likely only change the active selected panel and inactive panel fonts. I am not sure what their titles are in the cpr, but I know that in the old 6.0, the homecolor was one of the fonts colors and the other was called something else.
Eventhough this is 6.1, it doesn't look like much has changed as far as the fonts color goes. You could, however, always try adding a "fontcolor=" command in the cpr and a hex code and try it, to see if it works.
Hope this helps.
Edit your registry or get CHome Config
Both do the same thing. You want to change the plugin order for CHome. It's located in HKLM\Security\CHome\Default Settings and in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\CHome. Edit the order you want your plugins to go. Reboot your phone and the new edits should be reflected in your homescreen layout. If you are having trouble cause this is new. Just search this thread for CHome Configurator. It's stickied at the top of this forum. Download it and it will let you select the order in a much easier way. Make sure you reboot, though, or else your changes won't show. Hope this fixes your problem. Later.
tae-xda said:
How to change the default location for where the CMyPhotos plugin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rollingondubs1 said:
I have that already, All my games are under a folder which i cant make it as a action url
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this
"ACTIONURL" = "\Windows\Start Menu\Games\xxxxx xxxx.lnk
or this
"ACTIONURL" = "\windows\fexplore.exe; \windows\start menu\games"
Yes you can
One last time, I think I've figured out how to help you.
1. Open Chome Config.
2. Scroll to MyApplication and select it with your center button.
3. Scroll to any page you want to edit. Then scroll down to where it says ActionURL. Press menu.
4. Once in the menu select the "1 Change URL" item.
5. Once you have selected that it will take you to a file explorer. Go to \Windows\Start Menu\Games. This is where your games should be. If not, then wherever you store, your games, navigate yourself to that folder and select the file you want.
I think this should cover it. Hope this solved your problem. HOLLA!!!!
rollingondubs1 said:
I have that already, All my games are under a folder which i cant make it as a action url
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How to change the location of CMyPhoto to \Storage Card\My Documents\My Picturs
** version 5.3 available now! **
Information:
You no longer need to uninstall previous version(s) before installing the latest version!
If you have AppToDate you can use that to update the application to the latest version!
This requires .NET compact flash 3.5!
This supports Windows Mobile 6, 6.1 and 6.5.
Supported resolutions are 240x320, 320x320, 240x400, 480x640 and 480x800 in both portrait and landscape modes.
Downloads are in post 2 or you can use AppToDate to update it.
If you create your own language files please upload them to this thread so I can include them with the application!
Upcoming:
Add language support for configuration utility and save/open/browse dialogs. Currently only the main application supports alternate languages.
Possibly adding price information option per item (this would toggle-able by a setting).
Possibly adding finger gesture recognition for different things.
Possibly adding SMS support.
Possibly adding Today plugin.
Possibly add D-pad support.
Version 5.3:
New features:
Shopping Cart Companion - You can use this tiny application to easily create and manage lists (both standard and master lists) from your PC and transfer them directly to your device.
Fixes:
Optimized code greatly for larger lists. Opening a large list, e.g. 40 items per tab over 3 tabs opens in 5 seconds instead of 30. This has a huge impact on older / slower devices.
Version 5.2:
New features:
Shopping lists now have the typical elastic rebound effect when a list is scrolled beyond the beginning or end of a list.
Fixes:
The position of a shopping list no longer automatically scrolls to the top of the list if you click an entry that is below the "first page" of the list.
Version 5.1:
New features:
Save As menu option for new lists.
New setting to save a new list automatically.
New option under Settings/General/SIP. Show automatically when entering: Enabled, Enabled in Portrait Only, Disabled.
Fixes:
Exporting all marked items of a master list to a regular list doesn't work when using "mark all items".
Exiting from the master list without saving or anything says that the user tried to save the masterlist as a regular list.
Various errors with save dialogs not appearing and files not being saved.
Version 5.0:
NOTE: You will have to uninstall the previous version because of the name change! Otherwise you will have both applications installed!
New features:
Landscape for all supported resolutions. This is currently only within the main application screen, not the settings screen, save/open screens, etc.
New initial GUI upon start of application (enabled or disabled by a setting)- a "home" screen with more intuitive quick-launch buttons to access application features.
New option on long-press-hold over an item - copy item text to input field.
Language files included have been updated with the new entry above and need to be translated. When you do, please upload them to this thread.
A new setting to prompt a user to overwrite an existing saved cart rather than just doing it.
Application will be renamed to "Digicast Solutions' Shopping Cart" from "cRaCKwHoRe's Shopping Cart"
Fixes:
Intermittent application errors / crashes when deleting / duplicating items / opening and closing SIP.
Application not remembering last opened list.
Saving a list sometimes doesn't actually save it. This is fixed.
I am trying to prevent where a list of items scrolls back to the top if you are scrolled down and click an item.
Version 4.2:
Fixes:
Scrolling issue resolved.
Inability to add new categories/tabs resolved.
Resampled and resized images thanks to aiiro.
Version 4.1:
Fixes:
Opening a saved master list would cause an error. This has been fixed.
Installing the latest version of Shopping Cart will no longer overwrite your customized application settings with the default ones. They are now saved between versions.
Adjusted size of item container on different resolutions so that all items can be seen completely when you have a larger list.
Other:
Still trying to duplicate the "scrolling" issue affecting some users so that I can fix it...
Version 4.0:
New features:
Duplicate item (context item)
Rename item (context item)
Move item up/down (context item)
Check / uncheck item (context item)
Rename tab (context item)
Rename tab (menu item)
Add tab (menu item)
Delete all items (menu item)
Sort list (menu items)
Addition of master list functionality
Addition of Help screen
Addition of AppToDate support
Changed application installation location and registry location to "Shopping Cart" instead of "Shopping Cart v x.x" for compatibility with Sashimi and AppToDate
New setting for prompting user to clear cart
New setting to disable single-clicking an item to check/uncheck it. Disabling it requires a tap+hold and select from a context menu to check/uncheck an item.
Fixes:
Application now shifts/resizes when SIP is displayed so you can see everything (may add a setting for this, what do you guys think?)
Lots of new language items so language files will have to be edited
Tweaked some code and fixed a few memory leaks to make application faster overall
Saved lists are now automatically saved as Unicode files to preserve special characters.
Version 3.1:
New features:
Multiple resolution support - now currently 480x800, 480x640, 320x320, 240x400, 240x320. I only have a 480x800 device but on my emulators everything looks fine on the other resolutions. Let me know what you find!
Included updated/new language files posted to thread into cab file.
Fixes:
Saved cart being opened in reverse.
Version 3.0:
New features:
Multiple resolution support - currently 480x800, 320x320, 240x320. More coming...
Functionality to remove an entry altogether.
Tabbed cart lists to separate shopping carts for different stores.
Custom/enhanced save/open/browse dialogs. Default Windows Mobile ones are awful.
Context menus.
New configuration utility to change application settings, rather than modifying the registry.
Numerous new user-configurable settings and options via configuration utility.
Saving a list now retains the marked/unmarked status of a list when it is saved and re-imported.
New menu item(s) to check / uncheck all items in the cart list at once.
Fixes:
Slow scrolling issue.
Rearrange status and item list columns so longer items don't display over or behind the status checkbox.
Unicode character display issues with language files.
Labels no longer cut off in different languages.
Other:
Changed checked-item image to green checkmark to match "Manila" styling.
There are 15 language files now included, thanks to all the contributors for making the changes from the previous version. Old language files are not compatible with this release and will cause an issue when the application loads if you try to use one.
Had to temporarily remove color and strikethrough options for compatibility. Will try to add this back in for next release.
Version 2.1:
Fix startup issue for alternate language roms.
Remove scrollbars but still allow scrolling, to be more like other touch-sensitive scrolling applications.
Ability to customize the color of checked / unchecked items if MultiColorFonts is enabled.
Multiple language support.
Moved application settings into registry rather than .xml file.
Downloads
The files are below. Shopping Cart Companion needs to be extracted. It requires .NET 3.5 framework on your computer.
Also, here is a link to all the .NET 3.5 compact framework installation files.
You specifically need to have:
NETCFv35.wm.armv4i.cab
NETCFv35.Messages.XX.wm.cab (where XX indicates your phone's language)
Hi thanks, that's really cool. I will use it as a to do list (I had raised this question a while back). It's not quite as good as getting it as a front page tab, but it will suit me fine. Cheers!
Fantastic, thank you.
Just last week I was thinking that it would be better to have a program that I could easy mark off what I have got. Now it is here. Cool
Thanks
Looks good...thanks!
Looking mighty fine crack . Lol @ forgetting cab file in first post.
/a
great work buddy.
Any one has ried on qvga?
Hey just tried this and on QVGA and it works but it seems that the spacing is slightly out compared to yours on the WVGA? Have a look
Apart from that all seems good!
great work, thanks!
cRaCKwHoRe said:
A while back I wrote a very basic utility where I could write a shopping list and use it on my phone to go shopping with rather than taking a piece of paper and a pen with me. I got tired of forgetting stuff LOL! I use it every time I go to the store. I just thought I would share it with you all.
You can manually type in items to add to the shopping list or you can type up a list in Notepad or something similar. If you want to import a list in the application just save the file as a text file with each entry separated by a carriage return (new line / Enter) and copy it to your device. Then, in the application click File and Open and browse to where you copied the .txt file.
When you tap an item (click it) it toggles strikethrough text style, in effect marking it as found
Attached are a few screenies.
I'm open to suggestions as far as modification and such. It is designed for and works for the Touch HD as far as resolution is concerned. I don't know about other devices as I haven't tested it on any as I have no others.
Also, it requires .NET compact flash 3.5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like it
How about I help you with designing some graphics for this? It's functional as it is, I'd just like to see it a bit prettier
antrak said:
Looking mighty fine crack . Lol @ forgetting cab file in first post.
/a
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hush you! I was drinking last night!!!
chris10230 said:
Hey just tried this and on QVGA and it works but it seems that the spacing is slightly out compared to yours on the WVGA? Have a look
Apart from that all seems good!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What resolution is that? I know I can fix it... just forget what that resolution is
Rozenthal said:
I like it
How about I help you with designing some graphics for this? It's functional as it is, I'd just like to see it a bit prettier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please do! I am the suck at graphics but can develop anything
Anyway of getting it to work on TF3D home screen as a plugin? Like it could say "10 items on list" then you click it and it loads the program?
nicelad_uk said:
Anyway of getting it to work on TF3D home screen as a plugin? Like it could say "10 items on list" then you click it and it loads the program?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the home screen being where it shows the clock, your missed calls, voicemails, calendar events, etc. right? If so, I wasn't aware things could be added to that. If they can I could look into it.
saw your announcement in Dutty's area, and got it. Work like a charm, man, thanks. I have been looking for a super simple one like this for long
Simple and useful...
Thanks!!
cRaCKwHoRe said:
You mean the home screen being where it shows the clock, your missed calls, voicemails, calendar events, etc. right? If so, I wasn't aware things could be added to that. If they can I could look into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would really make it perfect for me for what I was after to use as a to do list.
cRaCKwHoRe said:
What resolution is that? I know I can fix it... just forget what that resolution is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be 240x320 mate and good work simple and easy to use, its just a shame so many good apps get lost in the different development threads, i only found this due to pocketnow.com