Drawing Icons on Today Plug-in - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General

Hi all,
I am programming a today plug-in and I need to draw some icons on the screen.
The problem is that when I draw the Icons on the screen, they appear with sharp white edges which does not give the real feel of the icon when viewed on Windows or open in microangelo studio.
Here is a picture, please notice the edges of the icons, note that resco plug-in draws icons with smooth edges. So how can I elimnate this problem??

Query resolution of icons, appropriate use of trasparency on .ico, use of transparent bitblt, whether you need to use png with an alpha trans layer or an artificial smoother on the drawing routine.
V

Thanks Vijay for the super fast reply,
But I am a begginer in this issue, I see that resco uses png alpha images, but I dont know if I can load png images using LoadImage function.
About Bitblt issue, can you please explain it with a bit more detail?
Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks alot
Mohammad

If you want to load a png try SHLoadImageFile, it worked when I tested it just now.
Are you drawing the icons this way (bitblt) to stretch them bigger? If not then why not just use DrawIconEx?

Hi,
I use DrawIcon, ofcourse with no stretching, but still some edges of the icons appear as white.
Now, how to create the alpha image??
Mohammad

Related

creating icons for dialling direct from today screen using I Launcher

Hi there,
Just put the excellent phone dialer from Vijay555 on my i Launcher (on a K jam), which works just fine - but being a computer duffer I can't work out how to change the phone dial icon to mini - pictures of my family who I'm calling - even though they have been successfully pinned to their slots in Contacts - (they live in My Pictures).
I guess I should shrink them down to icon size - but how do you do that??? !!! aagghhh!!
Can you help??
Thanks!
You'll need a photoshop type program and shrin your icons down then save them as TGA files. Theres instructions on sbsh.nets forums for creating your own icons as well.
I've posted about this here and there - I use claunch as my launcher, but the photoshopping is the same either way.
Find a nice portrait photo, use the crop tool and crop in as close as you can around the face/boobs etc, and make it squarish.
Crop that.
Then resize your nice square crop to 32x32 pixels. That's very small, so there'll be hardly any detail, but it should do the job.
V
Brilliant - I'm very grateful
Thanks so much - even a knuckle head like me managed to do it - I'm very grateful!

Help!! Can you convert this to bmp Icons?

Hi..
I found these icons from the new Frestyl Launcher...
they are 60x60 PNG Icons..
i want to convert them into 32x32 bmp Icons so i can use it with the new Clauncher V12.04..
Can someone please help?
here they are...
I don´t know why you did not do it on your own.
Using a freeware gfx viewer/converter like XnView and this is done in one little step.
hey thanks.. but this isn't what i had in mind..
I actually used photoshop and resized it to 32x32x150 resolution and then save it as bmp file but it still has a White border around the icon...
then i tried to crop it .. which made it a bit better..
but i still have a problem with the gradient background from the png file...
dont know if I'm making any sense.. but basically..
the PNG icons have a gradient background and the Bitmap icons have a purple-ish background that seem to he transparent when its on windows mobile..
if someone know how to convert it with the purple background can you please show me how?
all replies are appreciated..
How are you getting the icons to display on the WM device?
I was led to believe that they needed to be in a .dll or a .exe "library" in order to be used as icons by Windows Mobile Devices.
Is this not correct?
PNG can be transparant, BMP can not be transparent unless the program that uses the BMP has a specific colorcode that it uses to make it transparent, and even then it cannot show faded transparency. Only 100% or 0%
(If this was what you are after)
I am using it for Claunch 12.04 .. I guess it allow you to use .exe, .dll, .cpl, and .bmp files as icons...
Okay here are the exsamples..
1st is the original PNG icons @ 60x60 (with the Gradient background)
2nd is the BMP done by Chistian72D @ 32x32 (with the White background)
3rd is an icon from an icon pack for Claunch (with the purple background)
the purple will blend in with whatever color you have on your windows background..
thats what I was looking for..
thanks again guys.. let me know if you know of a way to do this..
here is an easy way to do this
download "Irfanview" install and run it,
click "options", "properties", "viewing", "Choose" (main window color)
In the lower right quadrant of the color window enter values: red=255, green=0, blue=255
click "OK" then "OK" again. This will change the background color to the proper value for claunch.
Now open your pngs in Irfanview, resize them (click "Image", "resize/resample" or CTRL-R)
Then save as BMP.
The newly saved bmps will have the proper background color.
Good Luck

cLaunch mods for large icons (CAB and source included)

cLaunch is GREAT, but unfortunately it doesn't handle icons larger than 32x32 pixels all that well. I wanted to create a bunch of big 48px photo shortcuts (32 was just too small!). However, even with a 48px bitmap, cLaunch just crops to 32px and scales up to 48px. Results are not what I wanted, and ugly.
So I created a hacked up version of cLaunch (based on version 12.04, 11 Jan 2008) and I called it cLaunch_48px. It works just like the normal cLaunch does... The only difference is apparent if...
you set the icon size to 48 AND
have a 48px bitmap file as the icon
...it WILL show the entire 48px bitmap, without distortion. Your icon size should be set to exactly 48px in cLaunch, otherwise you will see the regular cLaunch behavior. Note: You can still use any size icons you want, you'll just get the default behavior. For example, I have one tab with 32px icons and another with 48px.
To use: download the CAB and install as normal. It can even coexist with an existing cLaunch installation. This version will share settings with any existing cLaunch installation so you won't need to do anything special to import. You do not need to remove your existing cLaunch, if you have it installed already. Use at your own risk so backup your \Windows\cLaunch.dat file just to be safe.
To hack--experts only: Source code included as zip (project/solution file is VStudio 2008). The only file changed from the original is main.cpp, included in zip (other than vstudio project files). FYI: If you want, you could create an even bigger version (such as 64px) modeled after this version (diff main.cpp with the original cLaunch 12.04 version)... I didn't do that here for two reasons (1) I didn't want 64px icons and (2) supporting both 48px AND 64px icons would use up too much memory.
If I get a chance sometime, I might actually provide a screenshot, but it won't look much different than a typical cLaunch screenshot, expect for nice and clear 48px icons.
Works great with go2contact (created by me).
Also, SUPER THANKS to the creators of cLaunch!
??????
Great Idea. I like claunch because of its small siZe, but I don't use it because of the small Icons. Tried the prog and it doesn't work. Icons remain at 32 even after I resized them. I can tell they are larger because it only shows a portion of it. Is there a setting somewhere that I'm missing?
Got IT
OOPs figured it out. Works Great. Thanks
_craig said:
cLaunch is GREAT, but unfortunately it doesn't handle icons larger than 32x32 pixels all that well. I wanted to create a bunch of big 48px photo shortcuts (32 was just too small!). However, even with a 48px bitmap, cLaunch just crops to 32px and scales up to 48px. Results are not what I wanted, and ugly.
So I created a hacked up version of cLaunch (based on version 12.04, 11 Jan 2008) and I called it cLaunch_48px. It works just like the normal cLaunch does... The only difference is apparent if...
you set the icon size to 48 AND
have a 48px bitmap file as the icon
...it WILL show the entire 48px bitmap, without distortion. Your icon size should be set to exactly 48px in cLaunch, otherwise you will see the regular cLaunch behavior. Note: You can still use any size icons you want, you'll just get the default behavior. For example, I have one tab with 32px icons and another with 48px.
To use: download the CAB and install as normal. It can even coexist with an existing cLaunch installation. This version will share settings with any existing cLaunch installation so you won't need to do anything special to import. You do not need to remove your existing cLaunch, if you have it installed already. Use at your own risk so backup your \Windows\cLaunch.dat file just to be safe.
To hack--experts only: Source code included as zip (project/solution file is VStudio 2008). The only file changed from the original is main.cpp, included in zip (other than vstudio project files). FYI: If you want, you could create an even bigger version (such as 64px) modeled after this version (diff main.cpp with the original cLaunch 12.04 version)... I didn't do that here for two reasons (1) I didn't want 64px icons and (2) supporting both 48px AND 64px icons would use up too much memory.
If I get a chance sometime, I might actually provide a screenshot, but it won't look much different than a typical cLaunch screenshot, expect for nice and clear 48px icons.
Works great with go2contact (created by me).
Also, SUPER THANKS to the creators of cLaunch!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi craig,
good job. Would you by any chance have an idea why claunch 1204 would show only a quarter of the icons (and what's worse, only a quarter of the setup menus) on VGA (x51v)?
Do you think there's anything to be done about it? I like claunch 1203 but there the icons are shown with pixel doubling and therefor very coarse.
cheers
kuifje
kuifje_xda-developers said:
Would you by any chance have an idea why claunch 1204 would show only a quarter of the icons (and what's worse, only a quarter of the setup menus) on VGA (x51v)?
Do you think there's anything to be done about it? I like claunch 1203 but there the icons are shown with pixel doubling and therefor very coarse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know much about 12.03 and what changed with 12.04. However, with 12.04, from what I could tell by the code: it's best to use 16 and/or 32 px icons/bitmaps (or 48 if you're running cLaunch_48px) and show them at their native size. Otherwise, scaling/cropping will occur.
craig,
I am only using this for shortcuts to regular apps with their own built-in icons. I suppose they are 32*32.
When I set the icon size to 16*16, i see the icon in normal resolution but only the upper left quarter of it.
When I set the icon size to 32*32 I still see only a quarter, but now with pixel doubling, instead of the whole icon in normal resolution. When I set the icon size to 64*64 I see the entire icon, with pixel doubling, but distorted at the bottom.
Also, the upper left corner of the icons is shown in the setup screen, and of the settings and options dialog (and ONLY those), only the upper left corner is shown (this makes it impossible to configure the settings, but I can still do that through claunch 1203 which I have installed also.
can you see anything VGA-related in the code?
Kuifje
I have installed the CAB file but when I go to change the icon size to 48, the icons appears tiled on my today screen. The icons are 32*32 and tiled in the allowed 48 icon size. Do I need to make changes to additional settings??
Hi,
I have a freshly purchased Ipaq 214, and i use to use Claunch on my Asus620.
the Ipaq is VGA, and i have same behaviour you mention, ie can only see quater of the configuration menu... which does not really allow to tweak the interface, and finally makes it unusable!
not to be too particular, but 48 point is too large. can you hackup another version that accept 36-40 pixel? thank you so much if you could.
cLaunch Settings
I am a little slow on how these things work outside of loading them and adjusting the settings so this could be me being dense, but I am hoping someone can help.
I just went from a Touch to a Touch Pro and when I loaded cLaunch it is tiny on the screen. When I go into the settings the left side of the screen has some info, and on the right some of the tabs are there but cut off, and I can't get to the other ones.
I have tried the version above as well as 12.03 (which says it is not a valid pocket pc app and can't be loaded) and 12.04. I have loaded cLaunch.dat into the windows folder and see my shortcuts on the screen but they are very, very small.
Is this a setting I need to change? I have been through all the settings I can think of. I love this app and would appreciate any help anyone can give me to make this work.
vincej said:
I just went from a Touch to a Touch Pro and when I loaded cLaunch it is tiny on the screen. When I go into the settings the left side of the screen has some info, and on the right some of the tabs are there but cut off, and I can't get to the other ones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem and I'm pretty sure that it's the touch pro has the TFT 480 x 640 px and the Mogul was 240 x 320 px (Half) I don't know much but I'm sure thats the problem. I'm having this same issue with a few of my old apps (Skyfire, Music ID, Claunch) I'm bummed Can anyone offer a tweak or solution?
bump please make a vga version
Pls a VGA Version.
It don´t runs in my new HTC TOUCH HD
Many thanks,
Omnia qvga it does not work
It looks nice, but when I set the setting for icons to 48 icons are tiled. It does not show the full 48x48 icon when set to smaller size. I have not the tools to do it myself. Thanks for any help.
vincej said:
I am a little slow on how these things work outside of loading them and adjusting the settings so this could be me being dense, but I am hoping someone can help.
I just went from a Touch to a Touch Pro and when I loaded cLaunch it is tiny on the screen. When I go into the settings the left side of the screen has some info, and on the right some of the tabs are there but cut off, and I can't get to the other ones.
I have tried the version above as well as 12.03 (which says it is not a valid pocket pc app and can't be loaded) and 12.04. I have loaded cLaunch.dat into the windows folder and see my shortcuts on the screen but they are very, very small.
Is this a setting I need to change? I have been through all the settings I can think of. I love this app and would appreciate any help anyone can give me to make this work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
I'm new on this forum and would like to confirm exactly the same problems on my HTC Touch HD.
I've been using this software for years on my old MIO, but I must now move to another soft for my HTC.
Like other people in this thread, I really would like to come back to Claunch.
Any chance to get it upgraded ?
Many thanks for that wonderfull software.
I would like to have Claunch size 64
Hi,
I am very happy with Claunch size 48, but it would be better en size 64 : the friend of my mother had an AVC and he can't speak.
I put pics and shortcut to .mp3 : when he clic on one pic, the pocket PC read a little sentence.
He can use it in size 48, but it would be easier in size 64.
Many thanks for that wonderfull software.
Excuse my bad english, I am french....
Chantal
vga screen
it doesn't work with vga screen .. ie v900
it would be kind if it was possible to make it working for vga screen
many thanks
plus 1 on this if anyone can make a higher res icon version for wvga
would like to try this on the HD2 but icons are only a quater size with this version.
Can you get exe instead of today's plug in?
What i mean can we also jave claunch.exe which can be excuted from PPC as stand alon application instaed of today's plugin

GlassIcons VGA

OK, as most of you probably know, I'm not the big designer...
The background and the general idea is based on notilad's Clear Glass icons set.
Note the icons don't look well on bright backgrounds - they only consist of semi-transparent white...
The main icon image templates are mostly from the free Tango icon library, but some are also from Windows resp. the default app icons, and a few from other icon libraries I found out there...
The SPB PocketWeather theme is based on SPB's Black47 theme.
For SPB PocketPlus, there's also an iconset with black background, so you can memorize the position of the wanted icon there - because it's really hard to see white icons on white background...
The screenshots show some examples: The Today screen uses PocketPlus with SPB Weather as rightmost plugin, below is a custom phoneAlarm Skin using the TGA icons. The MortButtons main menu uses the PNG icons.
Thanks, I will be using these in my WAD2 setup.
Thanks!
Will also try to make a nice looking WAD2 Skin out of them!
this looks incredible! how do I even begin to get something like this on my x1 given that im clueless to installing and making all this unofficial stuff?!

Wallpaper Size

I have been creating a few VW style wallpapers for a while in 480 x 800 as jpeg's.
When I assign it as the today/lock screen it is not centralised. As when I press start the image moves up. If you understand? I'll try and get some screenshots.
I have an Image of a BBS alloy before and I'm sure that this didn't do the same. I was pretty sure the resolution was 480 x 800. Is this correct?
Hoping somebody that creates themes/wallpapers could help me out.
I'm using photoshop CS3.
Thanks,
Al.
A.Calamita said:
I have been creating a few VW style wallpapers for a while in 480 x 800 as jpeg's.
When I assign it as the today/lock screen it is not centralised. As when I press start the image moves up. If you understand? I'll try and get some screenshots.
I have an Image of a BBS alloy before and I'm sure that this didn't do the same. I was pretty sure the resolution was 480 x 800. Is this correct?
Hoping somebody that creates themes/wallpapers could help me out.
I'm using photoshop CS3.
Thanks,
Al.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the image you see when you go into the start menu, is the 'lock screen' wallpaper, so i think it displays this between the top and bottom bars... so if you're using CHT or another app to make your wallpapers fullscreen (i.e. cover the top and bottom bars) it'll look weird.
I had the same issue..... i think
yup 480*800 is correct...
Yeah, I was pretty sure on the resolution. But yes. It does cut out the top and bottom where the black bars are. Is there a way to stop it doing this?
What is CHT? I'm not using that to make them fullscreen I don't think.
Its just when I make the wallpapers because I crop most of the image and line it up with the bottom of the picture for a good "look" It most likley cuts it off on the today screen. Which cuts some of the detail out sometimes. So I have to make sure that it is far enough up the screen. I suppose I could get the resolution between the two bars. Although when you get the lock screen there would be two gaps.
Is there a way to have a different lock screen?
A reg key pointing to the image?
Thanks,
Al.
when i used to be a WM user, this is what i figured out about WM6.5(.x) behavior.
the HD2 has a 480x800 screen. WM6.5 can be set to have a wallpaper (***cough***iPhoneSux***cough). WM6.5 can also be set to have transparent "top" and "bottom" bars.
now, things start to get a little confusing.
1. ideally, we would like to see the ENTIRE wallpaper on the lockscreen and homescreen, with the status/notification icons overlaid.
2. similarly, we would like to see the ENTIRE wallpaper behind the start menu. if transparent "top" and "bottom" bars are used, we would like them to be transparent when the rest of the wallpaper is visible as just described in the scenarios.
3. however, we would like the transparency to go away when an application is running in the foreground (being able to see thin strips of the wallpaper when an application covers the rest of the screen looks silly i guess).
it turns out that WM6.5 ALMOST covers all those requirements. it sort of fails on the homescreen (where it matters most!). now, things get complicated on the homescreen also. there may be:
a. NO homescreen plugin OR...
b. the native "titanium" homescreen OR...
c. HTC's "sense" homescreen (also called touchflo, manila, etc)
now, simply using a 480x800 file yields the following results...
i think i remember that (a) fails, but most of us have SOME homescreen plugin. i think i remember that (c) also fails because "sense" seems to take over the responsibility to draw a wallpaper in its background.
i have been a loyal HTC "sense" user as long as i was using WM. i always had CHT installed as well (Cookie's Home Tab, a plugin to enhance HTC's "sense" homescreen by adding many more options). i believe CHT1.8.5 and later added a new style of wallpapers and the ability to skin" the "top" and "bottom" bars with corresponding strips of the wallpaper. this meant i could just feed it a 480x800 image and it would do the necessary clipping/cropping/skinning to achieve the effect of a seamless wallpaper, whether on the lockscreen or homescreen or when viewing the start menu. a side effect was that my "top" and "bottom" bars were always skinned, even with an application in the foreground, but such is life!
i hope that helps...

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