Query: Why do various Today plugins randomly fail to start, even when the application and all related materials were installed to the internal memory, not to a storage card? I see this behavior from time to time with lcalendar, but also with other plugins. They might start fine 95% of the time, then fail suddenly and not startup at all. Is there some generic timing issue involved? Thanks.
I've had some trouble with my Wisbar Advance 2 skins failing to load the softkey bar section of the Today screen, and the Lakeridge site has a FAQ item on this issue that might pertain to your problem.
The Windows Mobile operating system allows only so much room for DLLs (system libraries) to be loaded due to the 64MB memory constraints. WisBar Advance uses a DLL to enable the skinning engine. If this DLL cannot be loaded, menubar skinning will not work. There are a few remedies for this:
* Reduce the number of DLLs being loaded by turning off Today screen items
* Reduce the number of programs running by closing them or setting them not to restart automatically (for those that have the option)
* Increase WisBar's boot delay (go to WisBar's settings > Times/Delays)
Rather than alter my program or Today-screen items, I tried the latter suggestion (changing from 0 to 5) and haven't had a problem since, but it's only been about a week.
I also had trouble with PocketMusic's Today plug-in, which like your experience would not show on the screen about half the time. I don't know if this is related to the WA2 problem. I emailed their tech support who said they were aware of the problem and working on it, but I just disabled the plug-in, which I can live without.
Related
Hello everybody,
After searching without success a weather today plugin that meets my needs,
I decided to write a new application of my own, mainly because apart SPB Pocket weather (which shows very little information ie no moon data), no plugin allows to download data from a site of your choice.
I read all the documentation on MSND and from development forums, and I finally build the first version of the plugin, but I ran into a big problem.
Often the plugin disappear from today applet list, other times the plugin is not showed even if is active, and so on.
So, this is my help request: does anybody have a skeleton of a working today plugin? I really much appreciate some help!
Surely I will release my application on this forum, since I don't want to make money with it.
Thanks in advance!
There's a working today plugin in the sdk I think.
Also check here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnppcgen/html/ppc_yapi.asp
There could be many reasons why your plugin is disappearing:
You're not trying to set its height to 0 or less are you? I've found that causes itself and other plugins to bugger up if you do that.
It could be disappearing from the today plugin list because it's causing a crash on being parsed by the today options dialog. ensure you've implemented any options dialog correctly, or not at all.
How are you parsing the weather data? I've got to write my own plugin to do this at some point... Are you parsing xml or hardcoded html pages?
V
First of all, thanks vijay for your reply.
As for your questions:
1) yes, I initially set vertical height to zero, then on the first WM_TODAYCUSTOM_QUERYREFRESHCACHE or when I need to resize, I set the cyp member of TODAYLISTITEM to my desired height and return TRUE. Are you sure that this could be the cause? Every sample I found uses this technic.
2) I've implemented an options dialog, but not via the specific exported function, so in the registry I set the "Options" key to zero.
3) The idea behind the weather data is: I read an XML file with certain keywords, wich is created by an external exe that reads weather data from internet and create the XML file. I have written code that reads from accuweather.com, but everyone who has some programming experience can write his own and read from his favourite forecasts site. Basically you have to read an internet page and create an XML file with my specification, then the today plugin reads and show data.
Bye!
Sounds like a good implementation.
1) is correct, that's how to set the size. I meant that if you try to fix the size to 0 at some point after first refresh, it causes it to screw up. But if you're always > 0 no problem.
2) If you've set the options registry to 0 it shouldn't be a problem. Presumably the options button is disabled in the today options settings?
3) Sounds good, looking forward to seeing it.
Hmmm. I know some of my plugins randomly used to disappear after changing the settings etc. I think it's really just some loose code somewhere, but they're hard to debug. If you get desperate you can send a copy over and I'll try to look over it, but I think if you just fill in the blanks around the today plugin in the sdk, hopefully you should have a working model.
Oh, one thing that does come to mind:
"Painting problems with a PocketPC Today Screen plugin"
http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2004/10/06/238856.aspx
V
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=21786&highlight=today+plugin
This is for you experts in XDA land that I can really trust. Just let me know if any of you have similar experiences and if anyone can give me a fix to my list.
First of all.....
I'm Currently using newest Qtek Rom.
Installed to Main Device:
Batti
Wisbar Advance
Marsware Weather
Resco Explorer and REgistry
iLauncher
Voice Command
Pocket Informant
and everything else is on my Storage
my problems:
-No phone calls come through while on GPRS-goes straight to voicemail (Should I turn my AlwaysON tweak to always off?)
-Volume control changes to silent automatically
-After PIE cache and history set to Storage Card and cleaning up with SKTools, Internal Memory is left to 14.3mb only
-Ram left at Today screen is 13.9mb (What is taking so much process memory?) I have Agile Msgr stopped, Marsware weather is running, and that's it. This device's processor is soooooooooooooo slow!!
-sometimes tapping on start menu doesn't bring up cascading menu
-MMS does'nt send(even with settings from Cingular Rep)on this new Rom because Media Net is gone. Anyone know the settings or the reason?
----The sliding keyboard "loosens" and is not as tightly secure as it was at first. Also the backing where the camera lens is, I can feel is starting to loosen too.
--When pressing Messaging Hardware button, message function lags before appearing or sometimes doesn't appear at all. Tapping on Today screen Message plugin opens the mail/message app always and fast.
Anyone know how to redirect Cache and History of Opera browser?
Anyone have any ideas for fixes?
Anyone have a CAB file of all necessary Registry tweaks and a list of what are included in the file?
Maybe I can just start over....
or else....anyone want an 8125 for sale?
:shock:
I built a Today plugin (with a little help from folks on this forum) originally for WM5 devices (you can see it here). Everything works great.
Based on user requests, I re-targeted it to work on PPC 2003 SE devices also. Here's the problem: Now, the Options window won't open until the plugin is actually loaded. In other words:
1. After a fresh install, go to Today settings, highlight plugin, click options - nothing happens.
2. Check plugin, close Today settings, re-open Today settings - Options now work.
Any thoughts an why it behaves like this? I've compared the two versions ad nauseam, tweaked this and that to no avail. (this was built using VS 2005)
The options + the today item code are in the same dll and it dose not get loaded until after the items window is dismissed. This is normal behaviour and there is not much you can do about it. If you watch the task bar you will notice a flicker at this exact time (ie closing items window). I think a system-wide message is sent at that time to indicate a setting change. Find that message and you may have something to work with but there is no garantee that your item will get loaded even if you send that message during the installation.
OdeeanRDeathshead said:
The options + the today item code are in the same dll and it dose not get loaded until after the items window is dismissed. This is normal behaviour and there is not much you can do about it. If you watch the task bar you will notice a flicker at this exact time (ie closing items window). I think a system-wide message is sent at that time to indicate a setting change. Find that message and you may have something to work with but there is no garantee that your item will get loaded even if you send that message during the installation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey - thanks for the help! Similar to your suggestion, I implemented a post-installation step (another first for me) that executes SendMessage(HWND_BROADCAST, WM_WININICHANGE, 0xF2, 0); This refreshes the Today screen, causing my plugin to load immediately.
Perhaps version 1 always did this and I just didn't notice...
I posted this over at the cingular website, but I thought I might get a better response here.
I have an 8525 with WM6 installed. Sometimes when I perform either a soft or hard boot, the boot time is extremely slow. For example, I read here that a soft boot once a day is a good idea to free up memory. So I performed one. It takes my phone about 1 minute to go from the Windows screen to the screen where I enter my PIN. It then slowly "draws" the screen with the keypad to enter my PIN and eventually the word "unlock" appears in the lower left corner. It seems like it takes forever to not only load, but then draw the screen. Any touch input is then delayed. In WM6 does eventually load, its completely delayed and bogged down. This happens until about the 3rd soft reset when it is fine and the system is stable.
I have the following running on my system:
Sleuth255's PTTfix
enunutz HTC Home Customizer
Skunworks FlashVideoBundle
TCPMP The Core Pocket Media
C. Ghisler & Co. gtotal Commander
Vicsoft Clear Temp
Also, I have made the following registry tweaks:
1. disabled start-up animation and sound;
2. removed battery and communication from lower task bar;
3. moved battery to top of screen;
4. changed scheduling of activesync.
I have 25MB of storage space and 24MB of program space. I also have a 2GB micro-ram. Any ideas or other occurrences like the foregoing?
It may be helpful to see what's in your windows/Startup directory. There might be some sort of collision between two processes or something.
Windows start-up directory contents
Includes:
ClearTemp Startup (12/18/07)
Launcher (9/1/07)
poutlook (9/1/07)
PTTStart (9/20/07)
sddaemon (9/1/07)
TrayIcon_Manager (10/11/07)
Any help?\
Also, it does appear that after 3 soft boots, the system loads normally - in other words, three's a charm apparently for some reason or another.
My apologies if you have already tried to following, just need to know:
Did you try starting your 8525
- Without the microSD card?
- Removing the sddaemon.lnk from the startup folder (it seems to be optional, but to be safe transfer it to your PC first)
- Disabling cleartemp, either uninstall or removing it from the startup folder.
I suspect that it may be cleartemp, but I've never used it. Perhaps another process is competing with cleartemp by trying to write to the temp directory??
Also, which ROM are you using? The official wm6? Sorry for all of the questions.
I have read on many posts that removing the COMM MANAGER icon (your item # 2) from the lower taskbar causes a slow boot and system lags. It actually happened to me once after installing a program, but I successfully remove it yesterday and so far have not detected any problems. I don't know at this point why it would happen.
I've tried removing the SD Card - no change, removed ClearTemp from the startup - no change. What is sddaemon anyway? And I'm running the WM6 Rom that you could download from http://www.america.htc.com/support/8525/software-downloads.html - I guess that's the official version.
I'll try putting the comm. manager back in. It's hard to know if that was the problem, but I'll give it a shot. When you make a lot of registry edits and install programs in often hard to pinpoint exactly the problem.
dgaud007,
It may be a little early, but so far you're a genius. Looks like it may have been the removal of the Comm Manager from the bottom. I've had three soft boots now without incident. This begs the question, do some of those other today customizers which allow you to remove the Comm Manager slow down the system too, or is it just a product of using the registry tweak? On a side note, can somebody go into their registry at HKLM/ and see if there is a subdirectory called "5"? It's empty on mine and didn't know if I just created it by accident.
Thanks everyone!
Glad to help. I still would like to know why this happens. As I recall I had removed the comm manager icon when I first got this phone and it worked fine until I tried to install a kaiser type comm manager program, which didn't work. After that I experienced all the symptons, i.e. slow boot, slow redraw, etc. I then uninstalled the kaiser comm manager and put back the comm manager icon on the screen and the symptons were gone. A couple of days ago I removed the icon again just to see what happens, and so far is working fine WITHOUT the comm manager icon. I will try to duplicate the problem...
Update 12-26-07
I duplicated the problem installing this file: "JUVS_HTC_CommManager_Kaizer_fix.cab". After installing it with comm manager icon removed, it took > 4 minutes to reboot and all the symptoms re-appeared. I enabled the comm manager icon, did 2 soft resets and the symptoms were gone (i.e. boot time < 2 mins). I removed the application and installed "Kaizer Comm Manager(10 Buttons).cab" and so far is working fine without the icon in the today screen.
Same problems...
I can't really help much, but I've been having the same problem, both with the default ROM I had and with vp3g's ROM: extremely slow boot, with a successful boot on the third try...I'm thinking that the system keeps track of the number of times you try to boot, and streamlines the process the third time around to ensure a success.
Several days ago, I did this whole sequence of soft boots, and my phone actually "reset" itself: it went through the phone's "first-time-use" setup sequence, unpacking and installing default programs. I'm still running vp3g's ROM, but it now appears to be a blend of that ROM's customizations and the original system ROM, thanks to that weird reset. Anyone else know about this?
Hey guys,
I just got my HD and have really no clue how to get the gsen to work so i can write sms and emails in landscape. Also I would like a few other applications to be in landscape too.
Can anyone help me??? It would be greatly appreciated.
Can someone please help me? or give me website that gives instructions? I really need help for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
gsen should by default enable landscape for almost any app (with some exceptions like tf3d and so on). after installed you should run gsen manually and then notice if the screen rotation is working. then if you like etc you can run gsen cfg and set it to autostart via left soft key.
crashDebug said:
gsen should by default enable landscape for almost any app (with some exceptions like tf3d and so on). after installed you should run gsen manually and then notice if the screen rotation is working. then if you like etc you can run gsen cfg and set it to autostart via left soft key.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it the best software for the HD to use for auto-rotation? Also how do i install it on the phone? thats my main problem. It seems to have come already pre-installed but cant figure out how to work it....
simply download the cab trasfer to phone and tap on it from the phone
OmZ said:
Is it the best software for the HD to use for auto-rotation? Also how do i install it on the phone? thats my main problem. It seems to have come already pre-installed but cant figure out how to work it....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pre-installed?..... GSen doesn't come pre-installed.
Where did you get it from?
He's probably just talking about the original rotator that excludes most everything, aside from the media/internet based programs.
Works??
Hi again.
I installed the prog right now, started and open the settings. Screw the phone -< works fine. close settings, open programs, tur the phone again -> nothing happens. Like in nearly) every other program. Opening the settings again, nothing happens too.
So i turned the GSEN off an on again sometime, settings work but nothing else.
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM???
Thx for reply
Did you read the readme.txt file that came with gsen?
Works fine on my HD
Here is a part of the file:
1. Description
Auto-rotate screen on SOME devices with g-sensor.
Install GSen and run it.
If you run it again, program will ask you "Unload program?".
If you answer yes - program will be unloaded.
This also possible without question with parameter #unload.
You can use configuration shortcut for edit configuration file.
This file can include this command:
#window(text or class name) - add window description
#timeout(value) - default value 1000 ms
#onlyfor(0|1) - if 0 auto rotate work for all programm except defined by #window, otherwise ONLY for this program.
By default program not rotate screen if Manila or Teeter is foreground application, but you can edit this list.
#fdscreenoff(0|1|2) - if 1, program will switch off screen if you put device with screen on bottom, if 2 device will suspend.
#lockscreen(0|1) - if not present = 1, can prevent, if enabled, rotation with locked device
#poweroff180(0|1) - if not present = 0, determine interpretation of rotation to 180, 0 - rotate screen, 1 - power off.
GSen can indicate self state,
you can setup it with this commands:
#show(0|1) - if 1 GSen will show one pixel (by default) indicator on top bar.
#x(X),
#y(Y) coordinates of this indicator, default X=240,Y=1
#clr(R,G,B) - color, default white (255,255,255)
you also can setup width and height (#width(W), #height(H))
Commandline parameters:
#load - load app, if loaded already - exit without questions
#unload - unload app
#toggle - if loaded will unload, otherwise will load, usable with one shortcut
#about - show about window
if you start without parameters - program will ask "Unload?" if already exist one instance, or simple run if not exist.
NOTE: some programs, like Teeter game, cannot start in landscape mode, so switch to standard display orientation before.
Cheers
Yep
... I did.
First time I installed it I changed someting in the configfile as advised. But it doesn't work so in uninstalled and reinstalled it. Then started the prog.
SOMETIMES the picture turnes but not everytime.
I've got a HTC Touch Diamond :-o Shouldn't be the problem i guess...
Okay...
I just changed timeout to 5 and it works just fine on HTC touch HD
Guess it shoudn't be a problem on Diamond.
What is the Contacts program name?
In the GSen Configuration file, I want to be able to tell the program to leave the Contacts screen alone (to not rotate). The only problem I have is that I don't know the actual program name for Contacts, and where is it located?
Thanks,
Peter
Got it ...
I figured it out. When I entered the following command into the GSen configuration file:
#windows(Contacts)
It didn't work because I didn't first save it. Now that I've entered it again, and then saved the file, it works.
Peter
Is there any way to set it to rotate the Today screen? I'm using the default config and all programs rotate apart from Today.
Steeph said:
Did you read the readme.txt file that came with gsen?
Works fine on my HD
Here is a part of the file:
1. Description
Auto-rotate screen on SOME devices with g-sensor.
Install GSen and run it.
If you run it again, program will ask you "Unload program?".
If you answer yes - program will be unloaded.
This also possible without question with parameter #unload.
You can use configuration shortcut for edit configuration file.
This file can include this command:
#window(text or class name) - add window description
#timeout(value) - default value 1000 ms
#onlyfor(0|1) - if 0 auto rotate work for all programm except defined by #window, otherwise ONLY for this program.
By default program not rotate screen if Manila or Teeter is foreground application, but you can edit this list.
#fdscreenoff(0|1|2) - if 1, program will switch off screen if you put device with screen on bottom, if 2 device will suspend.
#lockscreen(0|1) - if not present = 1, can prevent, if enabled, rotation with locked device
#poweroff180(0|1) - if not present = 0, determine interpretation of rotation to 180, 0 - rotate screen, 1 - power off.
GSen can indicate self state,
you can setup it with this commands:
#show(0|1) - if 1 GSen will show one pixel (by default) indicator on top bar.
#x(X),
#y(Y) coordinates of this indicator, default X=240,Y=1
#clr(R,G,B) - color, default white (255,255,255)
you also can setup width and height (#width(W), #height(H))
Commandline parameters:
#load - load app, if loaded already - exit without questions
#unload - unload app
#toggle - if loaded will unload, otherwise will load, usable with one shortcut
#about - show about window
if you start without parameters - program will ask "Unload?" if already exist one instance, or simple run if not exist.
NOTE: some programs, like Teeter game, cannot start in landscape mode, so switch to standard display orientation before.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont understand any of this talk.. if you go into the gsen edit screen, are those what will not rotate? eg, i would like to see the settings screen rotate, how do i add that? would it be something like #window(settings.exe)