Hacking the "Start" menu (for VGA mode).... - JASJAR, XDA Exec, MDA Pro General

Hello all!
Was wondering if its possible to hack the start menu (in landscape mode) to display the same menu like in portrait mode (6 shortcuts + 4 recent + programs,settings &help menu items) instead of 6 shortcuts and "recent program icons" when using the device in VGA mode....
The start menu is soooo small and takes up just 1/2 the screen height, and i guess it can display the standard menu instead of using a smaller version...
Hey VJ, i guess you should be able to crack this one easily
Cheers!
San

I think it can be done, but not easily unless there's a reg setting we don't know about.
Unfortunately, the tool I need to hack this isn't available on the board yet. If and when it is, I'll try and get a bit further. I'm on holiday for a week, but after that I'll try and get it done.
I recommend SmallMenu though. I never use the start menu!
V

Related

Lets see your today screen

I need some inspiration.
Heres mine
nice looking today screen there. might be an idea to list the today plugins that your using for any users that might be unsure what they are! will post pics of mine once i have it looking how i want :wink:
Tom
This is my home screen.
I'm running:-
1. PhoneAlarm at the top
2. Plugin of my own showing date, battery life, temperature, notes and voice notes saved/outstanding and operator (with phone number popup)
3. Customised AlarmToday
4. NotesToday (the tiny blue dot, when shrunk, and then in drop down mode).
5. My modded version of QOTD.
6. cLaunch with some mods of my own.
7. SideX to run today plugins I don't need all the time, eg PocketWeather.
8. All running with SmallMenu Plus as my start menu.
Update (15 August 2005):
This is using a program I've written to provide a bigger Today Screen, removing the menu bar at the bottom. I use the bar at the top, so that stays put!)
Basic homescreen:
Showing NotesToday drop down:
Showing SideX today item (Floating keyboard):
Basic homepage showing my phone number popup - I use a dual sim so I can pop up my current telephone number (cus I'm too lazy to remember it!):
SmallMenu start menu button:
Showing my tool to relocate start button so I can have full screen applications:
Sorry for all the photos!
V
Phone Alarm + Pocket Plus 3 + Pocket Breeze
Here's mine..
Marsware WeatherPanel
SBSH PocketBreeze
SBSH iLauncher
RhinoStats
that's mine
Mine is just simple:
From top to bottom:
Spb Pocket Plus
PocketWeather
Phone Dashboard
XCPUScalar (The buttons at bottom and CPU load at top)
Pocket breeze / contact breeze
DK Today
SPB Pocket Plus
This is mine! Very simple, cause I don't want a crowded today screen. I have Pocket Plus 3 and Wisbar Advance 2.4 installed with a custom made Windows Mobile 5.0 theme. I can use it pretty much as a one handed device now, cause I have the cascading start menu onder the contacts hardware button and the REAL close button under the agenda hardware button. So I can navigate and close everything on my MDA by using the hardware buttons and the navigationkey. (Btw if you hold the action button the context menu will pop up, for more non-touchscreen action. ) Me iz happy. :twisted:
hamsup1o said:
Here's mine..
Marsware WeatherPanel
SBSH PocketBreeze
SBSH iLauncher
RhinoStats
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What theme do you use? It's very cool
jackleung said:
Phone Alarm + Pocket Plus 3 + Pocket Breeze
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice what theme are you using?
This is my one
Regards
cimber
vijay555 said:
This is my home screen.
I'm running:-
1. PhoneAlarm at the top
2. Plugin of my own showing date, battery life, temperature, notes and voice notes saved/outstanding and operator (with phone number popup)
3. Customised AlarmToday
4. NotesToday (the tiny blue dot, when shrunk, and then in drop down mode).
5. My modded version of QOTD.
6. cLaunch with some mods of my own.
7. SideX to run today plugins I don't need all the time, eg PocketWeather.
8. All running with SmallMenu Plus as my start menu.
Basic homescreen:
Showing NotesToday drop down:
Showing SideX today item (PocketWeather):
Basic homepage showing my phone number popup - I use a dual sim so I can pop up my current telephone number (cus I'm too lazy to remember it!):
SmallMenu start menu button:
Showing my tool to relocate start button so I can have full screen applications:
Sorry for all the photos!
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really really want that Phonealarm skin you have there......
dmmh - I haven't quite finished it yet; phoneAlarm still needs work on the textwindow (see the up/down arrows on the left? they blank the icons and show a textwindow containing info about SMSs etc. But Bruce (author of phonealarm) hasn't finished implementing it yet.
It still works well right now tho, shows calls/sms/voice calls (you get a red highlight when a missed call etc) and one click access to bluetooth and headset.
On the right you've got a display of profiles (I only use loud, vibrate, flight mode and silent). Clicking on the very left (invisible) will bring up config.
The whole thing is coloured to match my today theme, a plain magneto blue, to complement my OS X start button!
If you'd still like the skin, send me a PM.
V
OK here:
Here is mine
Shortcuts are all working and the window has tabs as you can see where you can switch to different pages.
xcilion said:
Here is mine
Shortcuts are all working and the window has tabs as you can see where you can switch to different pages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really like the "simple" today screens. Can you list what your using, from the top menu bar down.
Thanks
xcilion: it's beautiful, is it claunch, WDA, PPX or something else?! :lol:
Coming from the SPV Smartphone and p900 (WDA is like p900's Tracker software, which is a beautiful piece of software, highly recommended), I think the today screen should do that, show you what you're doing Today/let you use the phone at a glance on switching on the phone.
I think program menus/launchers should be programs away from the Today screen, because you've got to have Today plugins running in the background all the time, whereas launchers and apps you don't need often should be launched as needed to save resources (at least on HTC with smallish memory).
Did you remove the "NEW" taskbar yourself, or is that a 3rd party launcher? I've just made a tool to remove the NEW bar from normal today screen for an extra 26 pixels - yours looks great Size matters!
V
here's mine:
All: I've updated my screenshot to show this program I've written
See here!
V

Any way to quickly change orientation of screen?

I had a Universal until recently (too bulky, buggy, and Wizard is so much nicer!) so I now have the Wizard/O2 Xda Mini S.
On the Uni there was an icon on the Today page for changing orientation of the screen with 1-click. On the Wizard there is none, and I have to navigate through several menus in Settings to change it.
Any way to add the Universal's Today icon to the Wizard?
Or failing that, how can I add Start Menu shortcut to the 'Screen' option in Settings?
Check out phm tools keys. They have a screen rotation shortcut.
I think there are registry hacks to show the screen rotation UI icon though (WM2003 at least)
V
CJSnet said:
I had a Universal until recently (too bulky, buggy, and Wizard is so much nicer!) so I now have the Wizard/O2 Xda Mini S.
On the Uni there was an icon on the Today page for changing orientation of the screen with 1-click. On the Wizard there is none, and I have to navigate through several menus in Settings to change it.
Any way to add the Universal's Today icon to the Wizard?
Or failing that, how can I add Start Menu shortcut to the 'Screen' option in Settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
er...slide the keyboard out?
vijay555 said:
Check out phm tools keys. They have a screen rotation shortcut.
I think there are registry hacks to show the screen rotation UI icon though (WM2003 at least)
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, would really like that reg hack if anyone can find it?
EDIT: I found this for the Universal but it has no effect on my Wizard:
To change the display of the screen rotation icon in the system tray
The setting is at 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GDI\ROTATION'
The 'HideOrientationUI' DWORD value can be set to '1' to hide the icon or '0' to show the icon
For example, to hide the screen rotation icon
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GDI\ROTATION\HideOrientationUI = 1
wilesd said:
er...slide the keyboard out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CRAP! I opened this thread for the sole purpose of making that exact smart-ass response. You suck.
:? Just to clarify for those of you who don't credit me with a milligram of intellect, I wish to orientate the screen when not using the keyboard. This is a feature of WM5 and the Universal allows you to do it from the home screen, but not the Wizard.
I have however solved it by using Spb PocketPlus
CJSnet said:
:? Just to clarify for those of you who don't credit me with a milligram of intellect, I wish to orientate the screen when not using the keyboard. This is a feature of WM5 and the Universal allows you to do it from the home screen, but not the Wizard.
I have however solved it by using Spb PocketPlus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyway to do it without installing pocket plus ?
Why not hook it up to one of the hardware buttons ? If you're worried about running out of buttons, you can probably install one of the button managers?
I've got '<Rotate Screen>' (built-in option in Buttons) under the 'voice call' button, and Magic ScreenShot under the same button+hold (normally 'voice memo'); I highly doubt I'll use either of those voice functions, so they fit nicely there
I just added it to mort button, but its still a key press and then a tap of the screen, would much prefer a today icon just to be tapped.
Well, maybe time for a developer to step in and make a tiny application that rotates the screen
http://www.devx.com/wireless/Article/21590/1954?pf=true
and
http://www.pocketpcdn.com/articles/rotatese.html
have code examples, but no compiles (boo, hiss - why is that?)
ZeBoxx: I've done it, but PHM tools already contains very effective screen rotation icons. Find PHM Keys... assign to hardware key or shortcut or whatever. Use his or my VJTrayLaunch and stick it in the tray as well if you want... oh, mort script does this as well I think.
V
Well, there we go
And for more light-weight (are they, really? I have no idea);
270-degrees (for Wizard):
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=15527
90-degrees (exact opposite side :x):
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=15011
180-degrees:
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=15332
PHM Keys seems to have some other neat things that I might download it for, but personally I'm happy with just having <Rotate Screen> under the 1 button (no special button managers)
off-topic: is the PHM website ever going to be back?
I have pocket plus 3 installed, so i just added 'Rotate screen left' onto the close button context menu.
Now its just a click-hold and click away - even from within a program (comes in handy when using internet explorer).

GSPocketMagic++ configuration.

Hi, first off im new to the XDA EXEC so be gentle , I've already unlocked and updated the device and now I'm just getting use to customizing it.
I've installed GSPocketMagic and although i can get it running theres a few things im unsure of.
1. it seems to slow the boot up of the device considerably, don't know why or if that might be some remnance of O2 stuff kicking around on the device.
2. The icons don't seem to blend into the themes properly. For instance the close buttons seem to be of a different colour and you can easily see that. On the main today screen when no apps are running I have an obvious discoloured sqaure in the top right hand corner. I'm guessing this might have something to do with the bmp pallettes for the images? anyone done anything about this?
3. Skining the menu , on the download site is shows its possible but i've had no luck.
it looks like a good app but its just not reaching what i need any ideas on how to configure it properly as so far from what i've seen theres limited information on it and i've not found any translations etc.
Regards
Download the latest here: http://homepage3.nifty.com/UK-taniyama/tools/GSPMagicPP.html
Goto Start menu > Option > Setting... and and "play" with the settings of GSPocketMagic++
Cheers
i've had a play with the settings already and could really find what I was looking for the most i've managed to do is change the startup menu button to an image but it didn't resolve the fact that the button images for say close are off colour (even if you install the VGA xscale version (as i stated before).
Also I can't see how you skin the menu so it'd look similar to that of the existing menu bar (just for continuity of the plug in). Then finally theres the fact on boot its terribly slow to start up with this addition (or so it seems). However its still a vanillia(ish) device so i could be som O2 crap kicking around that i haven't removed yet?
dunno..hence the thread.
Smallmenu and GSPocketMagic will take quite a while to generate the icon cache on first launch. Just let it do it. It doesn't do it again after the first launch unless you manually refresh. It takes about 30 seconds for me.
V
If you goto Goto Start menu > Option > Setting... and directly close de Setting page it wil refresh the cache again. You can time it how log it takes. I have about 30 shortcuts in the menu (which I pointed to \windows\start menu\programs and not the standard folder), also to the SD card, and it takes about 4 to 5 secs to refresh it.
installing GSPocketMagic
Hello downloaded it
How do I install it on the Exec
Thx.
Tim
lol
is there an update 2 this? where can i find skins?

Development Request: turn HTC [X]button into [OK]button

i am using htc x-button on my treo and like the ability to actually close the application instead of hiding it.
however for onehand navigation it might be very usefull to add an option to close applications with the (hardware) [OK]button.
i am not a programmer but having a look at the size of the original program it might be a very small change to allow that. what do you think?
is it worth the try? would you say this might be a usefull additon?
thanks a lot for your time
ditch x-button & use PQzII instead.
or tman for that matter
@ deadeyes:
nice program but unfortunately doesnt work on treo with WM6. (display problems and OK-funktion not working)
@pat123:
thats "just another taskmanager", but doesnt fits my needs. it requires the use of the stylus to select and close programs.
i just want to use the treo onehanded as much often as possible, no stylus. so using the ok-button to actually close programs would be perfect. PQzII would be perfect (even overloaded for me) if it works with WM6.
any more hints on this one?
I am also trying to make my device (8525) as thumb friendly as possible. I use SPB Mobile shell, which has an easy-to-poke-at-with-your-thumb task manager. The task manager can be used to switch to or close any running application. It can also close all, close all but selected, or minimize all. I mapped the task manager to the PTT button (using Sleuth's PTT fix) for easy access. I also mapped the Today screen to the hardware Internet Explorer button to use as a "minimize all" button. (SBP Mobile Shell also has makes it possible to add large icons to the today screen to launch your favorite programs). I now have a fairly easy time switching between apps while walking or whatever without using two hands. I still wish I could map the "OK" button to close rather than minimize though. Maybe someone with far more skill than I will come up with a way to map the "OK" button to close an appication. I'm more "user" than "developer".
...Or Pbar for that matter.
nehvada said:
@ deadeyes:
nice program but unfortunately doesnt work on treo with WM6. (display problems and OK-funktion not working)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm, I'm using it on WM6 (hermes however), and it working perfectly.
by display problem, do you mean the white square on your top bar? if yes, you can disable it in the icon tab.
did you check the "Use OK button" in the Window tab? if yes and it still doesn't work then you will probably need to map close function manually in the system tab. (you will need to find out the key code in concern, they have other apps to help you do that)
I found something new (to me) since my last post. I just found vijay555's OK/close button application. It can be mapped to a hardware button (not the OK button unfortunately), but it works great. It's much easier to use a hardware button than it is to try to wedge my fat thumb into the upper right corner of the screen. Here's the link --
http://www.vijay555.com/index.php?Releases:VJOkButt

RKeyScroll v0.4b - my gift to you - scroll any window with the keys

Hi !
Here's an utility to scroll the current window. And i do mean SCROLL, not jump page by page.
Since i got my first PPC, i didn't like the way you're supposed to read stuff, i wanted to scroll down, but pressing the down key jumped one page down. I wanted a smooth scroll, so i made one myself.
How it works:
1. Run the app
2. Minimize it (either with your favourite task manager or tap Start/Today) - DON'T CLOSE IT
3. From now on, the UP/DOWN keys scroll the content of the current window - smooth scroll
Volume Up / Volume Down also scroll (a bit faster) - this won't work on some devices that have custom use for the volume keys.
4. You can disable/enable when needed by mapping a button to RKeyScroll Switch (each tap switches between scroll mode / normal mode.
5. When you're finished with it, run it again, or activate it in your task manager and press ok in it (left softkey)
Limitations:
2. It doesn't work in Start/Programs and in Word/Excel (maybe Powerpoint) - I don't know why
If you find other programs (MAJOR PROGRAMS - WHICH MANY PEOPLE USE) that don't work, post here - please don't spam and don't post a program that doesn't need the scroll anyway.
I tested this on my Toshiba G900 (if scrolling with Volume keys, don't hold them pressed) and my wife's HTC Touch.
PS: thanks to Nagakubo Tomohiro (creator of PQz and PQzII) for trying to help.
Change Log:
Code:
0.04b - 26 June 2008
- command line options (by default the app has scroll enabled):
ss - switch scroll mode - only used if app is already running
son - turn scroll mode on - can also be used on startup
soff - turn scroll mode off - can also be used on startup
only use one command line option at a time
this is useful like this:
- In Windows/StartUp copy RKeyScroll Off.lnk to start the app every time the system starts with scrolling disabled
- In Windows/Start Menu/Programs there's RKeyScroll Switch.lnk -map this to a hardware button of your choice (thanks to fisch3009 for the idea)
- made the install easier - packed as a CAB - creates all shortcuts, for automatic startup you must copy manually
- G900 version has scroll switch mapped to camera tap (it cannot be remapped with windows anyway)
0.03b - 25 June 2008
- separate version for Toshiba G900 - this i can test on ;)
- fixed OK button on Toshiba G900
- when no scroll is possible, buttons do what they normally do
- added smoother scrolling on volume up/volume down
- changed the code to avoid future bugs ;)
- still a bug: when start menu/quick menu is opened, it still scrolls the window beneath
0.02b - 24 June 2008
- first release
Hope you like it !
RPG
reserved for future updates
reserved for more future updates
great idée, thanks man
hi rpg
is it possible to use fingers ? instead of up/down buttons
is it a problem using TouchFlo ?
salut monpsy , toujours à fouiner LOL
brunoisa10 said:
hi rpg
is it possible to use fingers ? instead of up/down buttons
is it a problem using TouchFlo ?
salut monpsy , toujours à fouiner LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to get your finger in the way while reading something AND get your screen dirty, use TouchFLO or SPB Plus for finger scrolling
Great Idea! I'm looking for a automated "timer" type scroller? Where you put like 10 seconds in the setup, and it would automatically scroll a page every 10 (or whatever seconds). No need to touch screen or dpad...
This is very cool. I sometimes have trouble reading through my thumb
I notice it still tries to scroll in the application that it can control even when it is not the current focus application.
Could you make it deactivate when the focus program is something it doesn't work in?
Also make it run in the background so I don't have to run it everytime I want to use it.
E.g. when I am in IE and I activate QuickMenu it still scrolls IE and ignores QuickMenu. Also you mention it doesn't work in File Explorer, likewise in Total Commander you can see the scroll bar move but the screen doesn't scroll.
Possibly have an exemptions list similar to FTouchFlo (I can see you don't like this) so we can add programs that we prefer the D pad to work natively in. Also any chance of kinetic scrolling?
Keep it up!
evojulz said:
I notice it still tries to scroll in the application that it can control even when it is not the current focus application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fixed in 0.3b, i will post it later today.
evojulz said:
Could you make it deactivate when the focus program is something it doesn't work in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In 0.3b, if it can't scroll, the buttons resume their normal functions, so yes.
evojulz said:
Also make it run in the background so I don't have to run it everytime I want to use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's already like this - you just run it once, minimize it, and change windows, it will scroll the active one (unless there are bugs )
evojulz said:
E.g. when I am in IE and I activate QuickMenu it still scrolls IE and ignores QuickMenu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fixed in 0.3b
evojulz said:
Also you mention it doesn't work in File Explorer, likewise in Total Commander you can see the scroll bar move but the screen doesn't scroll.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me it works in Total Commander. When i have more time, i will try to see why it doesn't work (how to make it work) in the others.
evojulz said:
Possibly have an exemptions list similar to FTouchFlo (I can see you don't like this) so we can add programs that we prefer the D pad to work natively in. Also any chance of kinetic scrolling?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't like the idea of an exception list - i want to keep this as simple as possible. On my Toshiba G900 i can disable the scrolling with the camera button - so this would solve the problem of using the DPad as a DPad when needed. I will see how I could add this functionality to other phones (i just need the camera button code)
evojulz said:
Keep it up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will. And thanks for the very good feedback.
This program is a great idea, i missed this feature long time.
I don't like the idea of an exception list - i want to keep this as simple as possible. On my Toshiba G900 i can disable the scrolling with the camera button - so this would solve the problem of using the DPad as a DPad when needed. I will see how I could add this functionality to other phones (i just need the camera button code)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhpas you can add an command line option to switch on and off the dpad scroll function, so everybody can map the software to his or her preferred hardwarebutton.
fisch3009 said:
This program is a great idea, i missed this feature long time.
Perhpas you can add an command line option to switch on and off the dpad scroll function, so everybody can map the software to his or her preferred hardwarebutton.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a great idea !
I thought i would make the button configurable in the registry, but the user should know the code of the button. Your way is a lot simpler. I will add it in 0.3b tonight before posting it.
You saved me a lot of time.
Thanks !
Cool, will link to it in my next misc news article.
nice nice idea...
Maybe this is already known, but I cannot change the volume with the scroll-wheel during a call.
Perhaps you also fixed it in your new version. Tnx anyway.
johanromijn said:
Maybe this is already known, but I cannot change the volume with the scroll-wheel during a call.
Perhaps you also fixed it in your new version. Tnx anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fixed in 0.3b.
0.03b released
still to do - enable/disable scroll with a button
still to fix - when start menu is opened, the up/down keys scroll the window beneath instead of selecting items in start menu
0.04b released - now has enable disable mappable to HW button
RPG0 said:
0.04b released - now has enable disable mappable to HW button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, fast development
Installs from CAB and maps to my camera button great.
The switch command doesn't turn it on and off, just opens the RKeyScroll dialogue the same as the RKeyScroll On command. Is this supposed to happen?
I would like it to start and run silently and not even show up in the running programs list and then stop when the switch command is run again.
BTW, still doesn't work in Total Commander for me.
evojulz said:
Wow, fast development
Installs from CAB and maps to my camera button great.
The switch command doesn't turn it on and off, just opens the RKeyScroll dialogue the same as the RKeyScroll On command. Is this supposed to happen?
I would like it to start and run silently and not even show up in the running programs list and then stop when the switch command is run again.
BTW, still doesn't work in Total Commander for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird, for me the RKeyScroll Switch disables/enables the scroll and the window doesn't get activated(just like i programmed it to do).
Oh, I know. You're closing the app and then running RKeyScroll Switch. Don't click "OK" - this closes the app. Just minimize it, and then press the button mapped to "Switch" - it will work. It will not activate the window again.
About the silent start: That's how I want it to behave, but i got sleepy, so... 0.5b will probably do that.
Just a shameless bump

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