Hello,
since WM6.5.3 the standard Controls like Buttons, Comboboxes, TabControls, Checkboxes etc. have a new Style with gradient Backgrounds and sometimes rounded edges.
If you develop programs with the .NET CF you will get the boring old style. Is there any way to enable the new style for .NET applications?
The only thing I found was this "hack" for the TabControl:
mobileworld.appamundi.com/blogs/peterfoot/archive/2009/09/17/windows-mobile-6-5-tab-control.aspx
(sorry, seems that I'm not allowed to post outside links)
I searched a lot for this but even the documentation from Microsoft gives no hint how to do this.
There is also a new control in many system control panels which replaces the TabControl (the navigation thing at top of the form for example in sounds and notification settings). Is there any chance to use this control in my own programs?
It is really annoying that Microsoft has developed a new themeable style for their controls and nobody can use it
Thanks a lot
Markus
You can but it requires overriding the controls paint events and imo is not worth the hassle. If you want fancy looking controls then you would be better off with 3rd party controls. There's several options out there and some are free. Read about some at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=616838
If you want to work with the native controls and spruce them up a bit check out http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/uiframework for some guidance.
Ren13B said:
You can but it requires overriding the controls paint events and imo is not orth the hassle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for your answer but I don't want to create custom controls or use some 3rd party controls. I want to use the standard controls but with the WM6.5.x style.
Microsoft is really stupid. They were on a good way with 6.5.x. The user interface of the standard apps is mostly consistent and finger friendly. But they forget 3rd party developers now completely. I want to be able to create apps with the system look and feel but it seems that it is not possible. So my own applications have always an inconsistent look when I use standard controls. I always get the old style but when I open a messagebox then I get buttons in the new style.
Microsoft, this is really crap!
You'll have to wait for Windows Phone 7 if you want perfect consistency. Microsoft isn't going to update the controls for 6.5.
Hey there!
Today I did some research into controls, and I found out how to enable 6.5.3 style for buttons and checkboxes. You have to:
edit2: for dialogs - open .rc file in a text editor, and find your dialog, then after a line beggining with STYLE add a line with following contents:
Code:
EXSTYLE 0x1800000
Compile it and run. You should get 6.5.3 look and feel on existing controls without changing them!
Or if you want to create controls in runtime (works good for buttons, checkboxes/radio buttons look ugly):
1) call SHInitExtraControls()
2) when creating a button/checkbox use class TTBUTTON and make sure its style is combined with 0x8000
3) Use 'em like normal buttons.
Now it's time for listboxes & others...
edit2: To mimic 6.5.3 listbox behavior you have to set item height to 64 (or 32 for (W)QVGA), for example in this way:
Code:
SendDlgItemMessage(hwndDlg, IDC_COMBO1, CB_SETITEMHEIGHT, -1, 64);
SendDlgItemMessage(hwndDlg, IDC_COMBO1, CB_SETITEMHEIGHT, 0, 64);
To expand list views, use a empty image list with a proper image height (64 or 32), for example:
Code:
HIMAGELIST il;
il = ImageList_Create(1, 64, ILC_COLOR, 0, 1);
SendDlgItemMessage(hwnd, IDC_LIST1, LVM_SETIMAGELIST, LVSIL_SMALL, (LPARAM) il);
edit: Oops, forgot you want it in .NET. Quick investigation lead me to a sad fact: .NET controls have the wrong window class. But if .NET dialogs are stored in resources there is hope. So I would be grateful if someone post here a compiled .NET application which would show a dialog with a button linked to some simple action. I might try to modify it for 6.5.3 style.
I have created a win32 API for C++ that mimics HTC's Sense UI Look 'n Feel... More informations on my website: charlie-soft.com
DOCUMENTATION : http://charlie-soft.com/Software/Manila_SDK/html/
This SDK is designed for speed: .NET applications are usually very slow to load and not fluid. I use some tricks to improve speed, like drawing only area having changes, scrolling without backbuffer or creating textures for text (GDI text drawing was slower…).
What’s in the box:
PNG resources for VGA/WVGA. They can be easily modified. SDK will resize automatically the resources if your device has a smaller (or higher) resolution!
Design your app for VGA, the SDK will adjust the layout for other resolutions!
Full Finger Control.
Source files (.cpp and .h) of library.
Source files of example.
Class:
MyEditControl: Edit box with different width. Easy get and set text. SIP detection: scroll Edit area.
MyItem: Button (3 types), checkboxes and switch (TripleState!). Event on click, visibility and state can be changed/get easily.
MyPanel : This element is not visible but is used to bring together elements. This element can have a title and dotted separator between each element.
ChildSection : Contains a subsection which is displayed with a sliding effect.
MyLabel: Print text with different font and color.
MyPictureBox: To print image (png, jpg, bmp, gif…)
MySelector: Like the HTML select. Scroll screen if list is out of screen (see video below).
Section: A section is a panel which can be scrolled up/down. It contains the different elements.
MessageBoxSense: Four type of messagebox: info, Ok/Cancel, Abort/Retry and Yes/No.
MySlider: A simple slider of any size... The min and max values can be changed easily, as the cursor position.
Change log
V1.6.4
Added the possibility of multilines in edit control
V1.6.3
Added possibility to add picture to slider of ChildSection...[bug solved]
Explorer bug solved
V1.6.2
Added an event when user click on screen...
V1.6.1
Memory usage improved
V1.6
Loading of image is now safe (use video memory by default but if problems use device memory)
File Explorer
Icons
Speed and memory improvement
V1.5
just add possibility to change color of text for hover and selected...
Minor bug changes:
items out of screen no longer try to redraw
text of items recompute their size when changing
background color is correctly changed
The SDK is now multi thread safe!
Add the possibility to right clicks (long press)
Add the possibility to hook windows message (WM_ACTIVATE for example)
Add the possibility to have a bottom bar.
Add the possibility to have a background image (landscape and portrait).
If the app is allready started, close the new instance and show the previous one.
MySelector can be scrolled if the list is too long.
Text is now printed with alpha transparency.
Compatible with any character (hebrew, vietnamese...).
MyPictureBox can now be stretched.
Memory usage reduced.
V1.4
Minor bugs fixed
Add the possibility to show MessageBox without a main application.
V1.3
Background can be transparent ! (see this app for demo)
Native drawing (DirectDraw was too slow in landscape)
Slider can have a force feedback (see this app for demo)
V1.2
MySlider added
drawing process rewrited: less redraw->less computation->less CPU utilization -> battery consumption reduced
Loading optimisation
The layout is now independent of screen resolution!
top taskbar is occassionally cleared [fixed]
White screen, touching the panel brings it back [fixed]
landscape items position incorrect [fixed]
V1.1
landscape compatible
Abort/Retry added to MessageBoxSense
TripleState Checkboxes and OnOffItems added
FAQ
is QVGA resolution supported?
Yes, SDK will find the correct resolution and select the appropriate resource resolution. The SDK will delete the other resources...
have you planned to extend MessageBox types to Abort/Retry?
Yes, to create one:
MessageBoxSense::show(L"Hello",L"Try again ?", MESSAGE_ABORTRETRY);
is this landscape compatible?
Yes but having refresh rate issue. Seems to be a DirectDraw problem (S2U2 was subject to the same issue...)
If someone know how to solve this problem, send me a message !
Back button too slow.
You can change the speed anim using this function: changeSpeed(double nbMilisecond)
why aren't you including some TripleState Checkboxes and OnOffItems ?
Both are now included:
new MyItem(1,5,15,ITEM_IS_CHECKBOX,ITEM_THIRD_STATE,L"My third checkbox (Third state)");
Other apps
Wake on Wan is a new app which use this SDK. Sources are available!
Quick shutdown is a software which use this SDK too. It can turn off, restart or set the phone in sleep mode. Sources are also available!
"
Sense SDK win32 C++
For informations about SDK (installation, use compile...), see here: http://charlie-soft.com/Software/Manila_SDK/html/
Good work ! thanks for sharing hope devs will use it.
Hello my friend !
Great work !
( C'était exactement ce que je cherchais en c++ pour mes MFC smart device !!! )
Great Work, Thx for the source!!
Really great work!
but I have two questions:
- is QVGA resolution supported?
- have you planned to extend MessageBox types to Abort/Retry?
thank you
regards
NIce work
Altough i don't really know what todo with it... i instalt the example.cab and it was really smooth!
Only one thing if i go to other controls and i want to change the value then the onscreen keyboard should show up right? But it doesn't.... So i slide my qwerty keyboard open, and in landscape i get an error message: DDERR_SURFACELOST(back buffer)
I dont know what it means... is this landscape compatible?
Good job man !
Nice works !
I just have a feedback, I find too slow the animation when you click on the "back" button, is there is a way to speed it up ? (or disable simply the animation)
SDK Manila
Hello all !
I will try to answer all your questions. So :
- is QVGA resolution supported?
No but easy to implement... Just resize resources to correct resolution. I will post resources shortly.
- have you planned to extend MessageBox types to Abort/Retry?
If it's something wanted, I will do it.
- is this landscape compatible?
No, not yet. But will be in next release!
-Back button too slow.
I will add a method to set the speed of animation... in the next release
-Bug with hardware keyboard
The onscreen keyboard don't show up and I don't know why... I will look around for a fix.
If a developer wants to translate .NET applications into C++, feel free to post I will try to help you!
There is still lot of work, but I will try to do this quickly!
petititi said:
- have you planned to extend MessageBox types to Abort/Retry?
If it's something wanted, I will do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for quick reply. I need this extension for my app "htc menu loader" (link in signature) to migrate from .net to c++
again, really great work. You are making something that HTC should have done months ago.
Great project !
I don't know if you notice but I disabled the bottom taskbar... Do you think that I should add the possibility to enabled it? I saw that your application needed one...
I hope you will find my SDK easy to use !
Hey, this looks awesome.
Question though: I'm just shy of clueless when it comes to making an actual working app. Is there any place I can go to read/learn the coding I will need to actually use this?
Application win32 c++
You can use the example application included into the SDK to learn basic stuff or you can download this application: WakeOnWan. It’s based on my SDK (here are the sources).
You need some basic knowledge about Object-oriented programming and C language. I try to explain how to use the SDK in the example using comments or on my webpage.
I will also post a short tuto in second post...
Very, very nice! The demo runs very smoothly on my stock Touch Pro 2.
petititi said:
You can use the example application included into the SDK to learn basic stuff or you can download this application: WakeOnWan. It’s based on my SDK (here are the sources).
You need some basic knowledge about Object-oriented programming and C language. I try to explain how to use the SDK in the example using comments or on my webpage.
I will also post a short tuto in second post...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thanks!
What's sad, is when I was young, I used to be able to code in C. Made my first video game when I was 6 on a Commodore 64 (ok i dated myself here) Now, can't remember very much
C++ ? It's just like riding a bike!
Hatefly said:
Awesome thanks!
What's sad, is when I was young, I used to be able to code in C. Made my first video game when I was 6 on a Commodore 64 (ok i dated myself here) Now, can't remember very much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure you can!
It's just like riding a bike - you never really forget how. And we are here to help you to refresh your memory.
petititi said:
I'm sure you can!
It's just like riding a bike - you never really forget how. And we are here to help you to refresh your memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet thanks! Just downloaded an ebook on c programing.
Sounds (and looks) great, although there are still to many glitches (like not working in landscape etc.) which are preventing me from using this package.
But I have one question, why aren't you (all) including some TripleState Checkboxes and OnOffItems ?
I need them often but you cant find such controls online - not to speak of sense.
TripleState Checkboxes ?
Hello,
the TripleState Checkboxes is a simple feature I can add. To be sure, TripleState Checkboxes will looks like:
And tripleState On/Off:
I will include them in the next release... Be patient, the next release is coming soon and adds support for portrait and fixes a few bugs...
This is exactly what I like to have:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh202916(v=vs.92).aspx
Since there exists no standard control I have written one by myself but I didn't get DataBinding to work (even when using correct implementation of DependencyProperty)
Got 25 votes for:
http://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/1...474043-add-header-property-to-textbox-control
Simple
I think for that screenshot on the MSDN page you give they did what I also did without thinking twice in my own apps: Place TextBlock controls immediately before the TextBox controls.
Indeed, I found the approach of some controls with built-in header text property annoying because they waste a line of space even if you don't need a text.
And where would you stop with your new header property because sometimes you need text in front of a text box, but sometimes below, or in front and in the back at the same time, etc. (Yes, that does not happen with trivial, 3 textbox screens, but drive up the number of features in your program and it will probably happen.)
Don't agree. A HeaderMode enum should do the trick. I don't want do reinvent the wheel each time I need a simple TextBox After a year implementing WP apps I still see advantages of a TextBoxWithHeader control.
Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro2_530 using XDA Windows Phone App
Hello guys!
I love the Windows start screen, the tiles, the metro UI, whatever it's called.
I really hope you can help me out because I can't find any solution to my request all over the whole internet.
What I want is a tile on the Windows start screen namend "Office" and clicking on it opens a whole new tile layer (like the start screen) but just containing my office apps like word, excel etc. as tiles (not regular desktop shortcuts)
I would like to do so with games too.
This new layer can be on full screen (maybe with a "back" button) or inside a quarter depending on the amount of icons it contains like it is with folders on Android home screens.
I don't want to "spam" my Windows start screen over with hundret of games and other stuff to keep me scrolling to the right like a minute before I get to the shortcut/tile I want.
Also I don't want to make a folder on the regular desktop containing all office shortcuts and pin it to the startmenu because clicking on it will open a "usual old ugly explorer window". But I want it to open in the same style as the main start screen is. Either in a new layer or a folder like window like in Android. When I looked this up the last days I couldn't believe there doesn't exist anything like this already because it keeps the start screen much cleaner and is a great feature for Android start screens.
So... is there any solution?
Cheers from Germany
Tarik
PS: If I was not allowed to ask for this here, sorry. Couldn't find any other corner to do so.
General would have been the right place, as this is a request rather than something you're offering, but it *is* a good idea.
Such a shame no one's got a solution. I wonder whether a gif animation showing what I want may would help?
Feel free to make one, but I think people have a pretty good idea what you're after. It's not that easy to make, though. Microsoft hasn't technically prevented people from implementing something like this, at least on x86/x64 Win8, but they have hidden/failed to document the APIs we would need.