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).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
This is a guide to make a widget appear when headphones are plugged in and hide when headphones are taken out.
Requirements:
Tasker
Zooper Widget Pro
this profile: Headphone variable
these tasks: 1- HeadIn 2- HeadOut
Also zipped below!
Download the 2 tasks and profile above
Import them to Tasker by long pressing the relevant tab and selecting 'Import' and navigating to the downloaded xml and selecting.
Create a zooper widget that you like as you normally would (probably makes sense for it to be a media widget).
In the Advanced Parameters section of all the elements you want hidden, add: "[ox]$#THEAD#=0?5000[/ox]
Insert headphones and see if it works. (Hopefully it will!)
jonaseymour said:
This is a guide to make a widget appear when headphones are plugged in and hide when headphones are taken out.
Requirements:
Tasker
Zooper Widget Pro
this profile: Headphone variable
these tasks: 1- HeadIn 2- HeadOut
Also zipped below!
Download the 2 tasks and profile above
Import them to Tasker by long pressing the relevant tab and selecting 'Import' and navigating to the downloaded xml and selecting.
Create a zooper widget that you like as you normally would (probably makes sense for it to be a media widget).
In the Advanced Parameters section of all the elements you want hidden, add: "[ox]$#THEAD#=0?5000[/ox]
Insert headphones and see if it works. (Hopefully it will!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice! Thanks for this. Was thinking about something similar the past few days
Showw thanks
When I create a Tasker value that can be used in Zooper (#T...#), I can not use this value under Advanced Parameters in an argument.
When I type #T...# it gives me the value. When I use $#T...#=Value?, it doesnt work and it leaves the $T..# blank. Any ideas on how to solve this? I want to use this to change the color of an object when for instance GPS is on
RebelwithoutaClue said:
When I create a Tasker value that can be used in Zooper (#T...#), I can not use this value under Advanced Parameters in an argument.
When I type #T...# it gives me the value. When I use $#T...#=Value?, it doesnt work and it leaves the $T..# blank. Any ideas on how to solve this? I want to use this to change the color of an object when for instance GPS is on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is " $#T...#=Value?" the whole string you entered or are you just partially quoting it? I ask because Zoopers parser engine doesn't respond well to incomplete conditionals and that might throw off the substation of variable tags.
Apart from that I adhoc don't have any other idea. Did multiple widgets with Tasker variables and have not yet encountered this problem. If you upload your profile/task and your widget I could take a look at it for you.
Send from my secret moonbase via space carrier pigeons
kwerdenker said:
Is " $#T...#=Value?" the whole string you entered or are you just partially quoting it? I ask because Zoopers parser engine doesn't respond well to incomplete conditionals and that might throw off the substation of variable tags.
Apart from that I adhoc don't have any other idea. Did multiple widgets with Tasker variables and have not yet encountered this problem. If you upload your profile/task and your widget I could take a look at it for you.
Send from my secret moonbase via space carrier pigeons
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The entire string is as follows:
[c]$#TGPS#=on?#4a2d8303$[/c]
In Tasker there is a task triggered by profile Variable set %GPS, that reads:
Zooper Widget Pro Variable
ZW variable = GPS
ZW Text = %GPS
RebelwithoutaClue said:
The entire string is as follows:
[c]$#TGPS#=on?#4a2d8303$[/c]
In Tasker there is a task triggered by profile Variable set %GPS, that reads:
Zooper Widget Pro Variable
ZW variable = GPS
ZW Text = %GPS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try to setup a task that just sets the variable to 0 or 1 depending on GPS status? String comparison in Zooper sometimes is a bit wonky so I usually try to do it with numbered values instead
kwerdenker said:
Did you try to setup a task that just sets the variable to 0 or 1 depending on GPS status? String comparison in Zooper sometimes is a bit wonky so I usually try to do it with numbered values instead
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now it got a bit weird, changed the task to make #TGPS# 1 if gps is on and 0 when off. But when I put the variable in Zooper, it still showed On and Off. So I changed the name of the value to #TSAT# and now the argument works. I think since %GPS is a standard task value, it will make TGPS a standard value as well. Now the argument works with the new value name. Thanks for helping me out
Never mind... forgot I used #TGPS# in another task...fixed that
Greetings!
I have a Tasker task that goes out and grabs an image from the web. I save it with the same name in the same location each time. And I verified that it is different.
In Zooper I added a bitmap module and pointed at that image. The image never changes. Not even on a reboot of the phone.
So, what is the trick to get it to update?
This will be my new thing to learn today!
Thank for any help in advance!
Dave
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
MrBiggzz said:
Greetings!
I have a Tasker task that goes out and grabs an image from the web. I save it with the same name in the same location each time. And I verified that it is different.
In Zooper I added a bitmap module and pointed at that image. The image never changes. Not even on a reboot of the phone.
So, what is the trick to get it to update?
This will be my new thing to learn today!
Thank for any help in advance!
Dave
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Saving it with the same name is actually the problem in this case. Zooper caches external images for its widgets and doesn't reload them after the initial load. If you want your image to change you have to use the same method Media Utilities uses for the coverart: Save the image under a different name on each save (append a random number or a timestap to the name), push the path to the new image as a variable to Zooper (lets say "CHANGINGIMAGE") and then use that variable as an advanced parameter on the bitmap module in your Zooper Widget as follows
HTML:
[b]#TCHANGINGIMAGE#[/b]
Since the name of the bitmap changes, Zooper recognizes it as a new bitmap and will reload it on the widget.
kwerdenker said:
Saving it with the same name is actually the problem in this case. Zooper caches external images for its widgets and doesn't reload them after the initial load. If you want your image to change you have to use the same method Media Utilities uses for the coverart: Save the image under a different name on each save (append a random number or a timestap to the name), push the path to the new image as a variable to Zooper (lets say "CHANGINGIMAGE") and then use that variable as an advanced parameter on the bitmap module in your Zooper Widget as follows
HTML:
[b]#TCHANGINGIMAGE#[/b]
Since the name of the bitmap changes, Zooper recognizes it as a new bitmap and will reload it on the widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting! That variable would have the path to the image is what I'm understanding. The rest makes perfect sense!
Thanks @kwerdenker
It works .. but
It only updates when a minute flips. It doesn't change on request. I'm even displaying the Tasker Zooper variable and it changes but the image waits till the minute changes.
I there a way to make the widget refresh itself automatically??
MrBiggzz said:
It works .. but
It only updates when a minute flips. It doesn't change on request. I'm even displaying the Tasker Zooper variable and it changes but the image waits till the minute changes.
I there a way to make the widget refresh itself automatically??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[SOLVED]
Ok I feel like an idiot now! After staring at this for an entire weekend back and forth from other things. I finally licked it!
It's all about bitmap opacity
The Tasker part was just to supply a 0 or 1 as the toggle switch via the ON TAP event supplied by Zooper.
You have to have two bitmap modules in the exact same position to create the switch effect.
Code:
$#TMAPTOGGLE#=0?[b][bo]ff[/bo]/sdcard/ZooperWidget/Bitmaps/map.png[/b]:[b][bo]00[/bo]/sdcard/ZooperWidget/Bitmaps/map.png[/b]$
That above was my first module and below that I had one with the same code except I was testing for a 1 instead of a 0 and the bitmap name was different.
I would be nice it Zooper gave the mechanism to do this with out having to reach out to Tasker. But it works! :good::highfive:
Hello, Its possible to use bitmaps with conditioins, for example, if there's a missing call the bitmap change?
rogerhnn said:
Hello, Its possible to use bitmaps with conditioins, for example, if there's a missing call the bitmap change?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Define the premises of "bitmap change".
For example, as a part of my setup, whenever I receive a missed call, I have set a condition for my bitmap to "light up" like this:
- Add a Zooper widget to your homescreen > Add the Bitmap module you want for the missed call icon
- Set its normal opacity at 100
- Add this code to its Advanced Parameters:
Code:
$#SMCALLS#=0?[bo]#30ffffff[/bo]$
.
This will lead to the bitmap staying "dim" when there are no missed calls and "light up" when there are.
If you want to completely change the bitmap image, you can do that too within the Advanced Parameters. Here, for simplicity's sake, we will assume that you have a bitmap called "Image.png" in a folder called "Folder" on your Internal SD Card.
- Add a Zooper widget to your homescreen > Add the Bitmap module you want for the missed call icon
- In order to re-direct to a different bitmap when there are no missed calls, add this code to its Advanced Parameters: (without the space after /b)
Code:
$#SMCALLS#=0?[b]/storage/emulated/0/Folder/Image.png[/b ]$
- (Your path to your image on your device will be different so keep that in mind).
This will result in the no missed call icon and won't trigger any changes until you receive a missed call.
Let me know if I helped.
Rickav said:
Define the premises of "bitmap change".
For example, as a part of my setup, whenever I receive a missed call, I have set a condition for my bitmap to "light up" like this:
- Add a Zooper widget to your homescreen > Add the Bitmap module you want for the missed call icon
- Set its normal opacity at 100
- Add this code to its Advanced Parameters:
Code:
$#SMCALLS#=0?[bo]#30ffffff[/bo]$
.
This will lead to the bitmap staying "dim" when there are no missed calls and "light up" when there are.
If you want to completely change the bitmap image, you can do that too within the Advanced Parameters. Here, for simplicity's sake, we will assume that you have a bitmap called "Image.png" in a folder called "Folder" on your Internal SD Card.
- Add a Zooper widget to your homescreen > Add the Bitmap module you want for the missed call icon
- In order to re-direct to a different bitmap when there are no missed calls, add this code to its Advanced Parameters: (without the space after /b)
Code:
$#SMCALLS#=0?[b]/storage/emulated/0/Folder/Image.png[/b ]$
- (Your path to your image on your device will be different so keep that in mind).
This will result in the no missed call icon and won't trigger any changes until you receive a missed call.
Let me know if I helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help!
What I managed to do was to hide the icon if there's no calls using this:
[ox]$#SMCALLS#=0?500$[/ox]
So, if there's no calls it moves the icon 500 in the X axis, otherwise it will display it.
We need a thread only about advanced parameters! :laugh:
rogerhnn said:
Thanks for your help!
What I managed to do was to hide the icon if there's no calls using this:
[ox]$#SMCALLS#=0?500$[/ox]
So, if there's no calls it moves the icon 500 in the X axis, otherwise it will display it.
We need a thread only about advanced parameters! :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, if it works for you, that's all you need. An alternative could be $#SMCALLS#=0?[bo]#00000000[/bo]$ which would achieve the same result except this one makes the bitmap transparent instead of moving it. Same difference, I guess you could say.
As far as the advanced parameters only thread goes, there is just so much potential and possibilities in the ways of using them that I don't think any thread could contain them all.
Having said that, this Q&A thread makes an attempt to fill a void in helping members at any level on their way to achieve their aim in Zooper.
Furthermore, this reference-only thread by the pretty awesome @kwerdenker lists a number of invaluable ready-made advanced parameters to be used as required.
Cheers.