How to make buttons in place of menus - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General

Hi,
how to add a button like the 'Up' button in explorer? I think that they are called soft-key buttons. so how to add them? and are they supported in WM2003?
I also see Resco explorer implements them.
Thanks,
Mohammad

Ok, maybe I havent clarified things so I post a picture of what I want. hope you will help me

You can't.
The soft keys are a feature of WM5. They are actually regular menus. If you create an app with just two menus it will display like that on WM5 device and in the normal fashion on WM2003.
The only thing you can try is covering the menu bar and simulating the soft keys and the SIP button. Read about SHFullScreen on MSDN.

levenum said:
You can't.
The soft keys are a feature of WM5. They are actually regular menus. If you create an app with just two menus it will display like that on WM5 device and in the normal fashion on WM2003.
The only thing you can try is covering the menu bar and simulating the soft keys and the SIP button. Read about SHFullScreen on MSDN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not quite true, you can have the same behaviour in WM2003SE, the only difference is that you have to do everything by your own.
In both OS, the so called menubar is in fact a toolbar. So in WM2003SE, if you want to have the same effects as in WM2005, you have to subclass the toolbar and use custom drawing. You also need to handle the SIP window, if you want to place it in the center. Of course, this is not straight forward...
Cheers,
.Fred

ok. now I know its possible. but can anybody provide some relevant links?? Thanks

mohgdeisat said:
ok. now I know its possible. but can anybody provide some relevant links?? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I don't think you will find a lot on this matter on the net, I already made a dig, but not much found.
Anyway,
1) try http://www.pocketpcdn.com, especially the forums and look for toolbar, commandbar and shmenubar
this article will give you some hints: http://www.pocketpcdn.com/articles/right_toolbar.html
2) read msdn about toolbar subclassing and NM_CUSTOMDRAW handling
3) read msdn about shmenubar api
3) use Spy++ or related application to hook the menubar in wince and see what you get
4) make some tests and you will have something like that (full image in zip):
Cheers,
.Fred

Hi,
I have searched too much but found almost nothing about this issue. Please anybody has any article, link or sample project?? I need it very much.
Mohammad

mohgdeisat: what do you really need to know?
Start by making a project, and cosmetically program a custom menu bar/button bar to emulate the WM5 menu bar. It's not impossible, it's actually quite easy, but it is tedious.
Once you can do that, come back and show us.
Next step will be to patch it into your target app.
Realistically this is quite a tough task, at least if you want to generically patch soft keys into the whole OS, because softkeys (and menu bars) and prepared on a per app basis - the menu bar on the Today screen in Wm2003 is different to WM5 for example. You would have to parse in the WM2003 menu into your emulated WM5 softkeys, per app, and even then it would still not match WM5, because the WM5 menus have been reordered from wm2003 apps to match the Microsoft design guidelines for softkeys.
But start by emulating the softkeys in a standalone app, before thinking about the next task.
V

Yes VJ, I really need to make my first step to learn this stuff, and I will do it soon with god's willing.
I have First exams this week so I might start it next week and I will post what I get here to have your feedback.
Thanks all and good luck

Related

New! Change SIP and toggle SIP from command line!

see this thread
This app will allow you to toggle the sip by loading it from the commandline - ie SipSwitch.exe.
However, specifiying a command line will cause the PPC to switch to that SIP AND toggle the SIP, so if no keyboard is shown:
"SipSwitch.exe Keyboard" will switch to Keyboard and display it. Use the same name as the SIP in the SIP menu.s
Best to try it and see!
My girlfriend's gonna kill me - 4.18am and work tomorrow
Links to the app.
Please leave constructive feedback.
V
Hi vijay555,
good job! Works great
some notes from testing:
- I couldn't switch to SIPs with " " (space) as first character, so I had to rename them (HKEY_Classes_Root/CLSID/... look for IsSIPInputMethod - thanks for advice, BGK )
- Blimkeys SIP suddenly stopped working and "basic keyboard" popped out instead.. SR solved it
- nice tool for testing (and creating shortcuts afterwards) is nOpen - http://www.nakka.com/soft/ptools/index_eng.html (and then with mortbuttons you can switch between keyboards using one hw button)
ideas for next version (in case you survived work&girlfriend ) :
- possibility to specify (.ini file) several input methods and then command line options like --next, --previous or --switch
- possibility to switch method without popping SIP pannel out
krysha - thanks for your feedback.
I wasn't sure about the SIP popping on or off. I couldn't think of much use for changing the SIP but NOT popping it up - you would then need 2 shortcuts, one to change it, one to bring it up, which for one handed use seemed wasteful. However, it's certainly easy to make it so it doesn't bring up the SIP.
I suppose at some point I'll learn how to split command lines. I also need to learn how to trim and do left$, right$ and mid$ and split() in C++. Any ideas?!
The idea about the .ini is intersting. I'll think about how to implement it, but it might take some time! If I forget, drop me a line at some point.
Man, coding so late was hard work. I can barely think straight now!
V
PS I use gsfidner for shortcuts, but thanks for the tip.
Any news on this?
Hi vijay555,
I saw you're coding a lot (VJSMS, VJDialer, ToggleStart and many other nice things - thanks for all your hard work!).
But: Are there any news on this little thingy, too?
Would be cool, if it could be used to switch between two (or more) input methods by calling the same command (by using an .ini-file), because then I could switch between those SIPs by pressing one single button.
Greetings and TIA,
BGK
BGK - I will work on it, I haven't forgotten, but I am still learning my C++ and so have to figure out how to read an ini file and parse it... I'm trying to finish off a more generic version of ToggleToday, and then I'll try and look at this again... Don't know if many/any people use this, but it would be nice to toggle through the SIPs.
V
Hi again,
vijay555 said:
I'm trying to finish off a more generic version of ToggleToday, and then I'll try and look at this again...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great! Thanx a lot! If you need any kind of help - please just tell me.
Greetings,
BGK
vijay555 said:
..have to figure out how to read an ini file and parse it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...or you can provide several input methods on command line and switch between them - that should be simplier
for example "SipSwitch.exe Keyboard FullScreen" would switch between those 2 methods each time you run it..
krysha - that's one way I'm thinking of doing it, but you guys have to think, do you want the selected SIP to be displayed (ie keyboard pops up) or toggled (if on, switch off etc) when you change sip by command line. Sometimes it's useful to toggle the SIP, but the command line will want to switch to the next sip in the command line string.
I'm actually thinking of another version, based on this idea of mine: what it will do is you assign a hardware key to the program, and holding down that hardware key will show you the name of the current sip (eg "keyboard"). Letting go will show that SIP.
However, if you don't let go, but hold down the hardware key, it will flash through each SIP on the system, so it will show a little window in the corner: "Keyboard", "Calligrapher" etc, each name being shown for say 3 seconds and then changing to the next SIP name. That way, you can hold down the hardware key until the SIP you want is shown and then let go, and that SIP will be selected and activated.
What do you think?
BTW - can anyone tell me how to split strings in C++.
Eg for the command line seperated by commas, in vb I would do something like
Code:
Commandline="Calligrapher,Keyboard,BlimKeys"
CommandLineArray=Split(Commandline,",")
How do I do that in C++? I haven't read that far in my programming lessons yet I presume I have to write my own routine or use another library right?
V
Hi ViJay,
vijay555 said:
I haven't read that far in my programming lessons yet I presume I have to write my own routine or use another library right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess - following the software output you had the last weeks/months - there's no more neet to explain that, right? :wink:
You did nice work on all of the software you gave to this community, so I'm asking you just very polite, if you did a little further development on sipswitch, too? :roll:
It would be really cool beeing able to switch between 2 or 3 predefined input methods (from .ini or command line).
If you need help in any way, maybe I could help you (nor very advanced in C++, but... call me Mr. Google... :lol: ). :roll:
Greetings,
BGK
BGK: I will be working on this, but just not right now. I'm working on something quite big right now, but as soon as I can, I wil get around to this, I haven't forgotten, and I'm often thinking of how best to implement it. Unfortunately right now the "bigger" projects have to take priority
It will hopefully have a bit more of a configuration interface to support its use. Thanks for being patient!
V
vijay555 said:
Unfortunately right now the "bigger" projects have to take priority
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. I hope, your effort will be honored right this time... :wink:
vijay555 said:
It will hopefully have a bit more of a configuration interface to support its use. Thanks for being patient!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you do me a favour and tell me how you will change the sip intself (changing registry keys, calling which functions,...)?
Would be interested in this...
Greetings,
BGK
SipSwitch currently starts and compiles a list of the installed SIPs.
If it find the one that matches the command line, it enables and toggles that SIP.
The future version will use a command line of defined SIPs or probably a config file.
Steps:
Compile the array of defined sips from the config file/command line.
Get the array of installed sips.
Get the current sip.
Match that sip to the config array.
If there's a match, get the next SIP specified in the config array.
If next SIP matches installed SIP, switch to next SIP.
No registry involved in SIPs I think!
The work involved is in parsing the config file, preparing the array of sips and looping through the arrays. Nothing too complicated, just needs some attention. I literally don't have a spare minute right now though. I'm on a deadline to finish some code tonight Don't like coding under pressure, just for fun!
V
vijay555 said:
I literally don't have a spare minute right now though. I'm on a deadline to finish some code tonight Don't like coding under pressure, just for fun!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, didn't answer my question, but don't hurry. Just do your job and I will come back on that, if you're ready.
Don't like coding under pressure, too. :wink:
Greetings,
BGK
Good Application
Dear vijay555
i have tried this app and working fine, but i have arabic keyboard name and i can not toggle to it using your app, is there anyway to know the english sip name of my arabic keyboard.
gwassef: have a look at the second post from the top, discussing the registry. I've not really thought about it before, but have a look through the registry, and maybe even change the name of the SIP.
Have to run, apologies!
V
Dear vijay555
thanks for reply, i checked the second post from where i got a link to the wiki registry settings and got the CLSID of my SIP and change it to engish, then i used your sipswitch.exe program to change it each time i soft reset my device.
thanks for you all
Hey Vj, I ran a test on your app.
I made a Shortcut using Total Commander with the following line
"\Program Files\SipSwitch\sipswitch.exe" Keyboard
It gives me a window saying "SIP not found". Any clue?
I think it may be case sensitive - did you copy it exactly? Check the CLSID in your registry to make sure it's exactly as written.
Frankly, it's a very basic app. It needs a complete re-write!
V
Yes, they are exactly the same. Attached (I've cut the bottom half from other screen shot to avoid uploading two pics). Note, the " symbol is on the right way, Total Commander somehow omit the starting " symbol, but the short cut is definately functioning. I'm just wondering if there are any other method of putting the " marks. But I did use the same method for OMAPCLOCK, it works.
BTW, for your info, my "Keyboard" is in
\HKCR\CLSID\{42429667-...}\Default
it will be great if u develop an app which can allow multiple SIP's on the system bar(Ref. mCalc adds an icon next to SIP)
p.s: http://www.xcomsoft.com/mcalc.html

stylus-free use?

Hi, I am quite happy with my Cingulare 8125, but I sometimes find myself in situations where I would rather not use the stylus, and then I wish there was a way to put the start menu and the OK button on one of the device's buttons. Also, if it is bright outside, dialing a number is a bit awkward. has anybody had the same problem and perhaps found a solution?
Yep, it's called Smartskey and it'll do exactly what you want. Do a search and you'll find all kinds of info about it.
Also look for FakeCursor. Works great!
markgamber said:
Yep, it's called Smartskey and it'll do exactly what you want. Do a search and you'll find all kinds of info about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that.
I also use WM5NewMenu and PHM TrayLaunch. Both of these let you arrange the menu/shortcut order to suit your needs and are navigable with the Dpad. With these two and smartskey my wizard is one thumbed use rather than one handed. I have managed easily without a stylus.
Regarding the visibility in bright daylight, try changing your theme/skin to something with more contrast or increasing the backlight settings. Alternatively use MSVoiceCommand or the standard voice dialer for existing contacts, I haven't had much luck with MSVoiceCommand recognising number strings correctly for new phone numbers though.
Thanks to all.
I have downloaded the smartskey and I'll give that a try. It seems to do what I want.
Regarding the dialing: As this is a phone, I'd like to see a dedicated number pad on it, or a remapping of the existing softbuttons to numbers. For example the DPAD (might) have 9 positions (if the corners are recognized differently than left or up), which could be mapped to 1-9. Add 1 other softbutton for 0 and you have a complete dialpad. Perhaps in another release ...
Brilliant
mikebode said:
Regarding the dialing: As this is a phone, I'd like to see a dedicated number pad on it, or a remapping of the existing softbuttons to numbers. For example the DPAD (might) have 9 positions (if the corners are recognized differently than left or up), which could be mapped to 1-9. Add 1 other softbutton for 0 and you have a complete dialpad. Perhaps in another release ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I think this is my first post, for I am a professional lurker and all, but I swear I jumped out of my chair when I read this. This is perfect. Perfect, brilliant idea, would solve the single greatest drawback of this phone IMO. PLEASE tell me that there is a way to make this happen. I know, for example, that smartskey remaps the d-pad buttons to open up contacts, recent call list, etc. So I'm guessing a little tweaking somewhere could make this happen? If not smartskey, a new program perhaps? Here is my promise: someone comes up with this program, and I'll make little numbers stickers to go around the d-pad (yeah, laugh, but I'll do it!)
brentrs
Cing. 8125
Cing. 2.25 ROM

(found) Cascaded programs-only menu

(edit) Quickmenu in english is out !
Hola amigos, since I don't use wisbar anymore I'd love to find such a launcher.
I want cascaded, direct access to the (initially submenu) programs list
I don't need to have recent apps or settings (builtin start menu already does the job quite well).
Cubes are useless to me (too slow, uncomplete lists, don't use the contacts fav. page)
Do you know something like that, or is it still to develop ?
Would you like it as well ?
And at last, does someone know how to make a shortcut that launch builtin start menu ?
Thanks for reading !
SmallMenu seems to be the perfect candidate for you. the start menu that SmallMenu uses is customizable, so you can take out the Recent Programs and Settings as you wish, as well as adding other items such as Running Tasks or Task Management Tools, among other things.
or WisBar Lite.
Thanks for your answers, I just tried both of them:
Wisbar lite is too slow at scrolling application list and can't directly display programs (one need to open the programs submenu).
SmallMenu is really cool. It's uglish, but it does its job well.
I may write another launcher to fit exactly what I need with a better look.
Meanwhile, thank you for the hint !
So, what you want is a pretty SmallMenu? How pretty you want it to be? I mean.. er.. care for a photoshopped of what you are having in mind?
Ok, I just played a bit more with SmallMenu & it's almost perfect.
Actually, I'm member of the Ban-The-Stylus association
Above all I want bigger buttons (I should have mentionned it before), for easy thumb operation.
Also a better look would be nice.
So I need a bigger font (that looks better), separators between each row and a gradient background for each row as well.
The ability to have running tasks displayed in a submenu is also great, and so would be the closing icon if it was, once more, bigger.
Or much better, if we could close the application with tap 'n hold !
I'd be glad to purchase if that wishlist is fulfilled, the problem is, I can't even find a Contact link on their homepage, while the development seems active. Weird.
Do you have an idea how to contact them ?
Small menu is great and all. But isnt there any program out there that can cascade the start menu and dosent give you all the extra stuff thats in small menu and wisebar lite?
I just want a program that cascades the start menu. no task manger, no soft reset, no battery meter and so on....
KidGixxer said:
Small menu is great and all. But isnt there any program out there that can cascade the start menu and dosent give you all the extra stuff thats in small menu ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can disable them. I don't think your concern is about 20/30kb storage space ?
I've been using SmallMenuPlus for a few months and find it too useful to be without. Organize your programs into like directories and it's too easy.
With it being an execute file you can link it to a hard button, cube, shortcut or even a FTouchFlo launch swipe
Now I have no use for the default WM Start bar except to get into Settings (SmallMenu seems to forget where this is on every S/R).
I have no problem navigating and selecting with my thumb, although slightly larger icons wouldn't be rejected.
Taping the small icon in the top left corner can be hit-and-miss sometimes so I made my own larger one and select it with the 'Use external skin for start button' option. This way I can't miss it but still leave a little room to get the default Start bar if I need to. Make your icon 25 high and any width, mine is 42x25.
No one is aware how to contact Small Menu authors ?
Do we get an email address to contact them when we register ?
I'd like to see if they can do something about my requests before I register.... but no forum, no contact form, no email, too bad
alternatively you could try psw indibar 2.7.0 for cascading menus, (have tried the lot and to me, this one's the keeper), and it tops up by giving ram and or battery meters on the top bar, or anywhere you want.
Customization is a pain in the beginning, but once done you;ll be happy
www.apoxsoft.com
lastnikita said:
No one is aware how to contact Small Menu authors ?
Do we get an email address to contact them when we register ?
I'd like to see if they can do something about my requests before I register.... but no forum, no contact form, no email, too bad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try [email protected]
how about "quick menu"... a totally free cascading menu supporting today themes without handicaping the original today menu....the only problem is...only simplified chinese version is available....
http://www.yonsm.net/read.php?358&page=6
note: the latest version is 2.7 which was released on 22/10
by the way, this is his email address: [email protected] egg on him to release an english version if you like quick menu as i do^^
Thanks a lot for both suggestion and contact link, I'll give them a try later tonight !
I have sent a mail to that guy. His other software is in english so I think we have a chance.
iiiox said:
how about "quick menu"... a totally free cascading menu supporting today themes without handicaping the original today menu....the only problem is...only simplified chinese version is available....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm giving up on trying it, too lazy ^^
Does it support font customization (size) ?
Lastnikita,
This is something I am very interested in, if that gives you any motivation.
I too used to use Wisbar but it was far too hit and miss for my liking. Sometimes it would load in, sometimes not. It all depended on teh theme in use at the time as it was sensitive to some, not sensitive to others. In the end I pulled it.
Will keep a watching brief on this thread to see how you get on.
Cheers
WB
iiiox said:
how about "quick menu"... a totally free cascading menu supporting today themes without handicaping the original today menu....the only problem is...only simplified chinese version is available....
http://www.yonsm.net/read.php?358&page=6
note: the latest version is 2.7 which was released on 22/10
by the way, this is his email address: [email protected] egg on him to release an english version if you like quick menu as i do^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yea this program rocks. I searched around for QuickMenu 2.6. from what i found out, he is working on an english version but having problems.
wacky.banana said:
I too used to use Wisbar but it was far too hit and miss for my liking. Sometimes it would load in, sometimes not. It all depended on teh theme in use at the time as it was sensitive to some, not sensitive to others. In the end I pulled it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to sound like a commercial but if plain old vanilla cascading start menu is what you want then why not use WA3 with the default theme which looks pretty much like the WM6 default and disable all the bells and whistles?
I've never heard of a case where the default theme wouldn't load -- it was usually the fancy aftermarket themes that added all of the extra graphics and sounds that caused the loading problems.
can't you just use wm5newmenu?

Enlarged start menu - tips and help!

Hi, I'm in need of a working "enlarged start menu"-application on my SE X1. The thing is that I really much need it to be freeware, and I suppose that "XDA-Team Enlarged Start Menu" isn't (correct?). I'm thinking about developing the application myself, but I would like to know if anyone here has any information about where to start? Is is just a matter of changing some registry keys? XML-files? Thankful for all the help i can get!
as far as i understand, the XDA Enlarged Start Menu is just taken from one of the other HTC devices and is not "payware" or anything like that.
if anyone was developing an enlarged Start Menu, i'd love to see a kinda fullscreen version, this would make it much easier to navigate. kinda in the style of iContact or the latest volume control taken from Diamond. i don't really se why the start menu needs to be only a percentage of the screen size anyway, just seems like bad design, they've made it look like the Start Menu on a Windows Desktop PC so that we all know it's Windows, but have not actually thought about the interface being user friendly for a handheld device. for drunk people with fat fingers. like me.
Dr J said:
if anyone was developing an enlarged Start Menu, i'd love to see a kinda fullscreen version, this would make it much easier to navigate. kinda in the style of iContact or the latest volume control taken from Diamond. i don't really se why the start menu needs to be only a percentage of the screen size anyway, just seems like bad design, they've made it look like the Start Menu on a Windows Desktop PC so that we all know it's Windows, but have not actually thought about the interface being user friendly for a handheld device. for drunk people with fat fingers. like me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes man, I absolutely agree !!! It´s funny, I never really thought about start menu, but now when I read your suggestion it just seems really crazy how much possibilities for improvement there are.
I thought about a completely customizable start menu, fullscreen.
Maybe with a kind of plugin system, volume / vib toggle, backlight strength slider, power off+soft-reset buttons....*sigh* THAT would be cool !
regards,
Martin
What about Touch Launcher http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=433862
It´s a normal app, but I was talking about a REAL replacement. It should hide when I tap "Start" again, and, as I said, it should be really customizable.
To all devs out there: Is anyone interested in coding such an app ? I think this is desperatly needed to make WM a bit more usable, although there are already tons of good software out there.
regards,
Martin
m.schmidler said:
It´s a normal app, but I was talking about a REAL replacement. It should hide when I tap "Start" again, and, as I said, it should be really customizable.
To all devs out there: Is anyone interested in coding such an app ? I think this is desperatly needed to make WM a bit more usable, although there are already tons of good software out there.
regards,
Martin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did u try Quickmenu 2.7?
Mikulec said:
Did u try Quickmenu 2.7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm, main thing i want is fullscreen. that one seems nice feature-wise, but it's not what i'm after.
devs, do any of you know how they changed the size of the Start Menu from the old style to the new enlarged one?
if we know how to do this then maybe we can hack the existing app to at least lengthen right across the width of the screen... or if it was hacked with a config we could pick how many items we wanted...
this could be a great project for the coders!
Mikulec said:
Did u try Quickmenu 2.7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, quickmenu is _almost_ perfect. If it only was more finger-friendly. Being able to scroll trough menus like in icontact and all so many other apps would be great for it, but at least having twice as big menu entries would be enough in most cases. It has all the features needed, it just mimicks the original start menu a bit too much
Touch menu from touch commander suite is exactly what you want,and it has and application menu enlarged. Unfortunaly its not freeware.
Here is little something about system fonts:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms901091.aspx
By changing some registry values you can change size of start menu (including font size etc.) and popup menu as well.
Andreal said:
Here is little something about system fonts:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms901091.aspx
By changing some registry values you can change size of start menu (including font size etc.) and popup menu as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohh thankyou! But, using PHM Regedit I've tried changing the Ht-value for BarFnt, which didn't do anything. Perhaps you have some pointers to what I should try?
nelshh said:
Ohh thankyou! But, using PHM Regedit I've tried changing the Ht-value for BarFnt, which didn't do anything. Perhaps you have some pointers to what I should try?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BarFnt values are for menu bars (for example: bottom bar in total commander).
Code:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GWE\Menu\PopFnt
is for popup menu (screen 1 shows Ht value of 1200)
Truly, I don't know how to change start menu font size via registry.
If you want to have full screen menu try mort buttons
can you launch mort buttons by tapping Start on the screen?
maybe by editing the registry ?
If anyone can duplicate the Touch Commander one it would be perfect. I have touchcommander but do not use it anymore, unfortunately you have to install the whole program to be able to use the Large menu option.
The great thing about it is it enlarges menus in all programs.
Sorry for bringing up an older thread, but I think this is still unsolved!
I also would like to have a fullscreen start menu. I tried quickmenu 2.8,but it just isnt what Im looking for. For me it would be fine if clicking on the start menu would bring up a dialog like when you click startmenu -- programs.
Hope that someone has an idea!
QUICKMENU 2.8 for me too... ^_^
I'd only add that scroll movement and ability to customize the start icon (it already does this, but only with one icon).

X1ButtonMapper - Extends the keyboard and other buttons

Hey guys,
I developed a small application which adds functionality to the X1 keys and keyboard. The reason why I made this program is, that I can't find a decent button mapping tool out there that does what I want - that is:
Extend the normal keys with long press and assign programs/functions to it
Extend the keyboard with a Control key (Tab key is reassigned to control key)
Assign missing FN+Key combination with additional special character or applications
Assign the ok button with really closing an application, depending on your task manager
To achieve this, I was writing this small app which itself checks for specific key events and starts mort script files in case such an event happens. I chose Mortscript because it easily allows everyone to define about almost everything that is possible and the application doesn't need a fancy UI to configure the key events.
You can find a readme within the archive which describes the program in more detail and you can also find some example script files for MortScript as a starting point.
For installation, you have to copy the X1ButtonMapperScripts folder of the archive to your root (\) directory of the device. You also need to install MortScript which you can find at Mort's homepage (mort.sto-helit.de). MortScript is a small and powerful application which is often used and mature. After that, you have to start X1ButtonMapper.exe and then the specific key presses will cause the calling of the script files. When you did not encounter any problems (software is still in testing phase), you can copy a link to the X1ButtonMapper.exe into your \Windows\Autostart folder for automatic loading at reset.
My current configuration, just for example, is as follows:
Ok short press closes an application, Ok long press (~500 ms) causes an app to minimize
Long press of left softkey opens start menu
Long press of right softkey opens MortButtons
Long press of volume up opens comm manager
Long press of volume down opens SPB task manager (Alt+Tab)
FN+a/s/d/f writes special characters I miss on the keyboard (%_\€)
FN+y/x opens Wifi network selection and resco explorer (FN+C/V are unused)
I would appreciate to get any feedback about this software, if it works, what you like, don't like and desperately miss.
Please be aware that this software is free and you are allowed to redistribute it, but please don't change it and always distribute the whole zip archive and not the extracted files!
Please be also aware that this software is in a testing phase and may hang up your device and may even cause data loss (not happened to me yet but theoratically possible). So please backup your data and be aware that I can't be held responsible in case this happens!
Update: V. 1.2 now allows to keep the original OK button function without change and to use Fn+Tab for sending the original Tab key!
i havent used your program but when i was looking for one such as yours, i came across ae button plus. im not familiar with scripts and programing and so i find ae button plus a good program. its not free but for $8, i think its worth it.
otherwise, keep up the good work. we need people like you to get the most of of our phones.
Would it not make more sense to remap the au key rather then tab key to ctrl? I use my tab key for form entry.
AE Buttons plus cannot do what this program does, that's why I did the hassle to develop it. Also PQz2 doesn't do what I need. For example you can't assign FN+x combinations with AE buttons plus and you can't remap the ok button (at least it didn't work for me).
Regarding the tab key, I tried to make FN+Tab to send the tab key, but that didn't really work. Maybe in some next release it will work, but I still think that the Tab key is dispensible.
Regarding the scripts, it's really easy and you can find ready scripts for almost any task. Also I did include some examples as a starting point. The scripts offer a lot more flexibility than any of the button mapping tools existing, so, take the challenge, it's worth it!
Pyrojester said:
Would it not make more sense to remap the au key rather then tab key to ctrl? I use my tab key for form entry.
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Did I miss something or does this remap ctrl to tab? That would be a HUGE thing in my opinion... And no, the au button is used here a lot...
Yes, remapping Tab to Ctrl is one of the fixed mappings it does. One of the most powerful things and something I really missed with AEButtons.
With Ctrl on the keyboard you get copy and paste, wordwise navigation with the cursor, Undo/Redo and wordwise delete/backspace. Check the readme in the Zip File for more details.
I also added Fn+DPad for PageUp/Down and Home/End - also something I really missed before.
Dandie said:
Yes, remapping Tab to Ctrl is one of the fixed mappings it does. One of the most powerful things and something I really missed with AEButtons.
With Ctrl on the keyboard you get copy and paste, wordwise navigation with the cursor, Undo/Redo and wordwise delete/backspace. Check the readme in the Zip File for more details.
I also added Fn+DPad for PageUp/Down and Home/End - also something I really missed before.
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will instal later today...!!!!
Dandie said:
[*]Extend the keyboard with a Control key (Tab key is reassigned to control key)
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and I am officially blind...
Can this program work alongside aebutton plus? That would be great as they both have big advantages. I know this version of the CE core of WM only supports one key hook and I am pretty sure aebp uses a key hook. Are you using a key hook here? Is anyone using both? Great work!
Actually I uninstalled AEButtonsPlus before I was starting the development of this application. There is indeed a limitation about keyboard hooks in WinCE and my program uses them - don't know about AEButtonPlus.
There is a software available which claims to remove this limitation of windows mobile - it is called HookMgr and you can download it for free - check Google. I did not test it nor would I recommend to install several applications using keyboard hooks - they will most likely interfere with each other.
What is it that AEButtonsPlus has that you miss with my application?
Dandie said:
Actually I uninstalled AEButtonsPlus before I was starting the development of this application. There is indeed a limitation about keyboard hooks in WinCE and my program uses them - don't know about AEButtonPlus.
There is a software available which claims to remove this limitation of windows mobile - it is called HookMgr and you can download it for free - check Google. I did not test it nor would I recommend to install several applications using keyboard hooks - they will most likely interfere with each other.
What is it that AEButtonsPlus has that you miss with my application?
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I did not know about that HookMgr software. Interesting.
I have not yet had the chance to try AEButtonPlus, but I believe it allows programming the short press and also double press of all the keys (was not aware of the ok key limitation). Is there a reason why you only provide long press options? Double press is not really necessary, but I would like to change the short press options. IIRC (I should probably stop making comments before my X1 even arrives but can't help it. so exciting) out of the box, only the short press of the soft keys is configurable. It would still be nice if you grabbed these so that I could configure all my buttons in the same place. Also, it doesn't seem that you provide a way to program the short or long press of the panel key. Would this be possible? Lastly, it might be good to make changing tab to ctrl optional and or offer another key to change. The addition of a ctrl key is great, but tab is also useful. The original renderings of the X1 back in January showed a ctrl key on the keyboard. Dont know who's idea it was to delete it.
I would love to help out. I could write a settings application for you that would store the options in the registry. Rather than running the scripts, it could look in the registry for what to execute. By default the registry values would just be the scripts, but users could change it to run an exe directly. I could also make a cab for it. The settings app would be in .NET. Let me know if this sounds good.
BTW, I think the ok and win keys would make good ctrl keys btw, as they are redundant to the keys on the front; ok button being my choice.
JKingDev said:
Is there a reason why you only provide long press options? Double press is not really necessary, but I would like to change the short press options.
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I only provide the long press option because detecting double or even triple clicks would delay every button click and therefore reaction time, that's why I didn't realize it. I kept the short press of the keys (except OK) because they all make sense to me. You need the Softkeys, so their short press needs to be kept and the loudness up/down is essential in my opinion.
I also decided not to allow to remap the camera button because its handling is a bit difficult (two press levels) and I think the camera button is necessary when you really consider using the camera.
I also left the hang up and pick up buttons untouched because they already have short and long press actions (devicelock and handsfree) and I did not want to touch functions which are installed pretty deep into the system. I also like the function the way it is.
JKingDev said:
Also, it doesn't seem that you provide a way to program the short or long press of the panel key. Would this be possible?
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Sure I did - actually I wanted to map it with opening the start menu but it can't be suppressed, not even by a keyboard hook! By the way, this is also the case with the symbol key - can't be remapped!
JKingDev said:
Lastly, it might be good to make changing tab to ctrl optional and or offer another key to change. The addition of a ctrl key is great, but tab is also useful. The original renderings of the X1 back in January showed a ctrl key on the keyboard. Dont know who's idea it was to delete it.
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Yeah, the ctrl button was one of the main reasons why I wrote this application. Also that the X1 keyboard leaves many Fn+Letter combinations unused which is just stupid. As I said, I wanted FN+Tab to send the tab key but that didn't work for some reason. Also I think that Tab is disturbing when writing because when touching it for accident you get holes in your text :/
JKingDev said:
I would love to help out. I could write a settings application for you that would store the options in the registry. Rather than running the scripts, it could look in the registry for what to execute. By default the registry values would just be the scripts, but users could change it to run an exe directly. I could also make a cab for it. The settings app would be in .NET. Let me know if this sounds good.
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Click to collapse
Actually I don't see any problem with the scripts. They offer a lot more flexibility that a UI can ever give and for newbies the experienced could offer a set of reasonable scripts, so I don't see any issue with this. MortScript is easy to use and way more powerful than any button mapper UI on the market - why do people always want GUIs?
JKingDev said:
BTW, I think the ok and win keys would make good ctrl keys btw, as they are redundant to the keys on the front; ok button being my choice.
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First of all, you can't separate between the ok key of the keyboard and the ok key on the front on the level of the keyboard hook, so it would be impossible to remap the one without the other. The win key is not redundant and therefore I decided to keep it because I find it very useful.
Dandie said:
First of all, you can't separate between the ok key of the keyboard and the ok key on the front on the level of the keyboard hook, so it would be impossible to remap the one without the other. The win key is not redundant and therefore I decided to keep it because I find it very useful.
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Ah. That stinks about the ok key.
Dandie said:
I only provide the long press option because detecting double or even triple clicks would delay every button click and therefore reaction time, that's why I didn't realize it. I kept the short press of the keys (except OK) because they all make sense to me. You need the Softkeys, so their short press needs to be kept and the loudness up/down is essential in my opinion.
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True. I wasn't really interested in double and triple. Just really the short. About the softkeys, normally I would not remap soft keys, but the X1 has a shortage of customizable buttons so I would like to change them.
Dandie said:
I also decided not to allow to remap the camera button because its handling is a bit difficult (two press levels) and I think the camera button is necessary when you really consider using the camera.
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Interesting. On my tilt, I had short press opens camera album and long press opens the camera. Something similar would be interesting. Not a big thing though.
Dandie said:
Sure I did - actually I wanted to map it with opening the start menu but it can't be suppressed, not even by a keyboard hook! By the way, this is also the case with the symbol key - can't be remapped!
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That stinks! Why do they insist on forcing panels on us? I do believe there is a registry key that can change what the panel button does though. You should look into that if you dont use the panels or just dont want a dedicated key. I am trying to find that info.
Dandie said:
Actually I don't see any problem with the scripts. They offer a lot more flexibility that a UI can ever give and for newbies the experienced could offer a set of reasonable scripts, so I don't see any issue with this. MortScript is easy to use and way more powerful than any button mapper UI on the market - why do people always want GUIs?
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Lol. I guess its not necessarily a GUI but just options that would be good. You are right, the scripts are very flexible so no point in changing that. The only options I would really like is a choice about the ctrl key (possibly make the win key an option) and an option of whether or not to capture the short press soft keys.
Thanks for takin the time to explain all of your decisions. This is really great software! Hope I dont seem like I am asking a lot. Just some suggestions. Thanks!
JKingDev said:
About the softkeys, normally I would not remap soft keys, but the X1 has a shortage of customizable buttons so I would like to change them.
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You can remap the Softkeys already in the button configuration of Win Mobile, but I personally wouldn't do it. Better to remap them for the today screen via registry and using the long press events from my software for additonal functionality. This way it doesn't interfere with the sytem at all.
JKingDev said:
That stinks! Why do they insist on forcing panels on us? I do believe there is a registry key that can change what the panel button does though. You should look into that if you dont use the panels or just dont want a dedicated key. I am trying to find that info.
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Click to collapse
Well, I think that's just the way it is integrated into the system. Maybe by some kind of driver or something. The "sym" key behaves the same way. We have to live with that fact.
JKingDev said:
The only options I would really like is a choice about the ctrl key (possibly make the win key an option) and an option of whether or not to capture the short press soft keys.
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The softkey can originally already be remapped and for the tab key the best solution would be FN+Tab = Tab. I will have a look into this again.
JKingDev said:
Thanks for takin the time to explain all of your decisions. This is really great software! Hope I dont seem like I am asking a lot. Just some suggestions. Thanks!
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Yeah, that's fine. I would actually like some feedback from people who tried the software. Anyone?
Here it is for those who want to know:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=448067
(Remap panel key)
I finally installed this today and it reminded me the about the good things the Touch Pro has that I previously owned. It truly amazes me that HTC does not put the ctrl key to their HW keyboards, it makes no sense to me.
I started to think that maybe it would be better to use the win key for this, win key kinda is there on top of the screen?
EDIT: and now I bothered to read posts above... fn+tab=tab could also be a good option.. After all tab is not used that often...
Great work on this, one of the best things made to X1 by XDA member so far...
At least someone having the guts to try my software - thank you for the positive feedback!
Regarding the Win-key, I wouldn't remap it because:
1. I'm using it often
2. The win key is often sent in combination with other keys and it will cause some side effects to remap it - that's why I gave up on this idea
When there's more feedback and some problems discovered that are necessary to change, I will have another look into this FN+Tab issue.
By the way, having Tab remapped to Ctrl also has a good benefit - accidental clicks on tab don't happen anymore.
Hmmmm MortScript messed up my OK button.

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