Show keyboard while hiding SIP toolbar below - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General

Hey,
I am developing for WM5 using C# ... is there any way that I can show my SIP keyboard but without the bar below it? I am running my App fullscreen and it just looks silly with the little bar below it... also it's a waste of real estate of the screen.
this is a pic of what I mean
Is there any reg key/COM usage/code/workarounds or anything I can do (not sticking something on the screen ) to hide this while showing the keyboard?
Mark

is this is an iphone keyboard??
i understand your pain. This is a design decision from Microsoft so that the user is able to switch on and off the keyboard at any time. But obviously they messed it up.
When I was trying I was not even able to draw something upon it to at least make it invisible. Anyway, if u are programming in C++ you could create your own SIP class. try this article from MSDN to help you out http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/02/10/370355.aspx

Hehe... yes it is indeed an iPhoney keyboard
I got it using the PCMKeyboard Here and then skinning it with this skin I actually found somewhere in xda dev forums
I have seen that link, that would allow me to create my own SIP keyboard and add it in... I like the iphone one and want to use it.. just without the stupid little icon. I'm happy to hack it off but ideally only when in my app... it'd be a bit annoying to lose it permanantly. I was thinking about some way to even force it offscreen... so it's "there" it's just not visible? ... might be a load of hassle as id'd have to catch the scrollbar everytime and only show it when the screen content was > screenheight + 20 px or something... but that might be an idea. Obviously I could write a keyboard controll but that's a lot of hassle to write and skin it.... unless there is already one in .net out there
Hope some xda dev genius can come up with a better solution though...

Resco Keyboard Pro also has iphone keyboard skin.

Yeah we work closely with Peter and the guys at resco with their mobile forms toolkit and co-design a lot of custom items... unfortunately that is just another SIP keyboard... so I would run into the same problem of hiding the evil little icon/toolbar.
There must be someone here who knows how to do this.. I mean I just watched videos of people proving they are smarter than HTC and writing OpenGL drivers for a phone!! lol... I might go and annoy a jr developer to make myself feel smart again as reading posts in this forum are no good for my ego

Not sure if there is anything in here for you. I can't see what your after, but I'll post it anyhow. You might be able to gleam something from it...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa182530.aspx
Ta
Dave

DaveShaw said:
Not sure if there is anything in here for you. I can't see what your after, but I'll post it anyhow. You might be able to gleam something from it...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa182530.aspx
Ta
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... nothing there, but thanks very much. I have created a menu bar and when I add more than 2 items to it the sip icon moves to the right hand side, so there is obviously something somewhere that can control this... if it is docked in that menu, I wonder if there is a way to hide the menu as opposed to removing it and possibly hide the sip thing too??! or the sip thing might exist "above" the bar and just appear to be on it....
Any more ideas would be very welcome!
Cheers for the help,
Mark

I'm no programmer so I can't help. But I remember when I was using PocketCM contacts (written by the tene who wrote PocketCM keyboards), during the sms screen the keyboard will popup but the little "evil" bar won't appear. You may want to ask tene how s/he achieved that.

wearefree said:
I'm no programmer so I can't help. But I remember when I was using PocketCM contacts (written by the tene who wrote PocketCM keyboards), during the sms screen the keyboard will popup but the little "evil" bar won't appear. You may want to ask tene how s/he achieved that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ooh... cheers for that! I'll post on the PocketCM forum and see if I can get an idea.. or is he a member here?
Can't believe how much hassle such a small thing is... unfortunately my plan to push the form 25px lower to simply hide the bar doesnt seem to be working....
Mark

I just saw the thing about the Q&A thread ... so sorry for doing this... but in for a penny and all that...
I have seen here what looks like the code to hide the sip button.. but I am unsure how to call that in c# anyone able to help?

markmcgookin said:
I just saw the thing about the Q&A thread ... so sorry for doing this... but in for a penny and all that...
I have seen here what looks like the code to hide the sip button.. but I am unsure how to call that in c# anyone able to help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im having a play, let me see what I find...
Dave

Cheers dave!
Much appreciated!

Heres a quick Port of what I need to do to show/hide the SIP.
Did you also spot the link to the C++ article at the bottom. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266244/EN-US/)
Ta
Dave

Dave,
Thanks for your help... that seems to just be the same as
this.InputPanel1.enabled = false;
and if you still click there it proceeds to appear. I really want the keyboard up.. but with no icon or space down there. (Tempted to say it's impossible just to spark peoples interest in a challenge! lol)
I have tried this and it's PERFECT for what I want... only in VB
So I am going to have a go at converting it to c# ... but we all know... this will never work... lol so I will keep you posted and put the solution up when I finish. (P.S - Please dont tell my boss I've spent all day on this... but you know what it's like when you come up against a problem that puzzles you!)

HORRAY!
We have success... this is based on the work from the link that the guys in the above post have done in VB... I won't lie I don't understand it 100% but I get most of it. I have ported it over to .cs and it works a treat!
the commented out line in the code is for me, I have a custom iphoney SIP with different dimensions in it. The project as is should work for the standard windows kb sip.
Thanks so much for all the contributions and help though!
solution is attached

markmcgookin said:
HORRAY!
We have success... this is based on the work from the link that the guys in the above post have done in VB... I won't lie I don't understand it 100% but I get most of it. I have ported it over to .cs and it works a treat!
the commented out line in the code is for me, I have a custom iphoney SIP with different dimensions in it. The project as is should work for the standard windows kb sip.
Thanks so much for all the contributions and help though!
solution is attached
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Grats Mark,
I was just looking at that code. What it does, is it gets the Handle of the Window of the SIP (keyboard and the bar your trying to hide) using Find Window, SipWndClass is the name of the SIP window.
And them moves them down, off the bottom of the screen.
Ta
Dave

I dont mean to bring up old threads but I just wanted to add a note for any one that stumbles across this on the intertubes(as i did). In fact, the sipbutton and sipkeyboard have different handles. To actually hide the sipbutton(and not just move the keyboard over top of it) you need to use the "MS_SIPBUTTON" class to get your handle instead of "SipWndClass".
i.e.
Code:
Dim h As IntPtr = FindWindow("MS_SIPBUTTON", Nothing)
MoveWindow(h, 0, Me.Height, 0, 0, False)

With Fingerkeyboard you have the option to simply not show the entire bar

Would it be possible to have this work only if your keyboard was in landscape position? I know Fingerkeyboard has this option but I would like to do the same thing with a different keyboard. Thanks in advance.

Oh wow.
I have been looking for this solution for a LONG TIME. I'd love to be able to have the same type of screen as using Pocket CM (keyboard at the bottom of the screen) in other programs, without losing the functionality of the screen buttons... like "Send" "Menu" in messaging.

Related

(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?

input changer arrow too small

hate how small it is.... very hard to use without the stylus... is there an easier to use input changer that could be more touch friendly out there?
LOL SERIOUSLY! someone has to agree!
I agree but it's not worth the effort to alter.
liquidsilver said:
I agree but it's not worth the effort to alter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you hurt my feelings
Try QuickMenu. It has a feature to change SIP.
It would be great to develop a small program with command line switching of SIP. Then we could assign certain SIPs to hardware buttons. Especially useful for skanndelus
been looking on the web for a tweak for this, can't seem to find anything relevant in any files or registry either
I agree, the arrow is way too small and it also takes far too long for the menu to pop-up.
THis is a serious issue for me as I write e-mails and text messages in dual languages every day. If that arrow was an ear hair bigger I could get it with my thumbnail....how frustrating!!!! What about adding an item to the tap-and-hold menu or making a switch I could assign to a hardware key? I would gladly donate $20 to someone who can fix this!
Try this little app...
Hi Lycox, the little app you posted is "phonepad" I think this is not a solution, but could be usefull if I could just hit the little arrow to select it from my really slow sip list.
Well I don't get it, it maybe just made phonepad the default sip, didn't think I had it installed.
Doh, now I get it, I assigned it to a button and of course Lycox, this is exactly what I wanted. Would be nice to just flip between two favourite sips, rather than go through them all, but I'll probably find out it does in a minute. Thanks anyway Lycox.
it's fantastic! Now we need to find a way to get rid of 'keyboard' and other SIPs we don't use. If there were just two on the list this would be it.
I don't find the arrow size as annoying as the time it takes for the menu to pup up.
I find it easier to go Start-> Settings-> Input and change things there. Silly really.
Just found this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=242503
Edit: but I can't get it to work.
found this at pocket gear http://classic.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=26285 but it's not free.
10$ ? That's a lot for a little tool. Anyway.
With the one posted by Lycox I get an error every time I do the full circle of input methods:
"SipSetCurrentIM Error=0".
Not a big issue, annoying nevertheless.
How to disable unused SIPs?
sabestian said:
10$ ? That's a lot for a little tool. Anyway.
With the one posted by Lycox I get an error every time I do the full circle of input methods:
"SipSetCurrentIM Error=0".
Not a big issue, annoying nevertheless.
How to disable unused SIPs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i figured out how to do this last night.... i'll see if i can find the link... it was just a matter of finding the reg keys under classes, then changing a dword value from 1 to 0 to remove it from the list.
Do NOT remove the default "keyboard" from the SIP list. If you do and something goes horribly wrong, you can be left with an inputless device.
can read about removing unused SIP modes from the list here...
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=WM5_Tweaks_Other
bump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slide2Gesture?

Maybe this has been discussed before but no one tried to develop the idea.
well instead of S2U, i prefer to have a gesture that i choose to unlock the device... so no one can unlock it other than I... if im dont have these programming skills
anyone is able to do it?! it can be a modified version of A_C's S2U2...
karim099 said:
Maybe this has been discussed before but no one tried to develop the idea.
well instead of S2U, i prefer to have a gesture that i choose to unlock the device... so no one can unlock it other than I... if im dont have these programming skills
anyone is able to do it?! it can be a modified version of A_C's S2U2...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha! Shouldn't that been called Gesture2Unlock?
johanromijn said:
Hahaha! Shouldn't that been called Gesture2Unlock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whatever G2U ...
I like the idea of this
Cool thinkin...
No passworded needed, just a gesture.
Someone needs to copy the Microsoft Origami thingy where you unlock by tapping a certain sequence on a picture of your choice, with more security gained by moving to a smaller grid size.
ell, honestly, if you delete the images from your S2U2 directory, that should accomplish the same thing. You would just have to remember where to slide from. Or use your DPAD.
lawmangrant, i think you're missing a handy side-effect of having G2U: you can still view the today screen. I imagine that you can view the today screen, but not be able to do anything until you gesture. If anyone uses PointUI, it's kinda like the builtin lock. You see the main screen until you tap, upon which the lock screen comes up. It's pretty nice (personally use s2u2 instead) but G2U has potential uses.
It's a good idea, especially if you don't have the instructions right on the screen, it's a good locker to keep people out of your phone.
It should be Gesture2Unlock (or G2U for short) and it was discussed in the Kaiser forum here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=362231&highlight=gesture
A_C, the author or S2U2 was contacted, but he didn't think he could do it, as you can see from the thread...
I still like the idea.
I have a program in mind that does exactly what you want...
hm.. not exactly...
you have to tap to 4 or 5 different points on your touchscreen to unlock your phone...
but I don´t know the name at the moment....
I´ll try to find it....
This is a great idea.......
strange !!! walking down the street today i had this exact thought
may be some day!!!!
This was good, but doesnt work anymore...
http://softava.com/archive/pp/otp_features.html#
interesting. Would be very similair to taking a biometric of a persons signature. presumably tho one wouldn't want the signature to be drawn as you gesture2unlock, but instead "draw" onto an invisible notepad.
its no easy process (have researched biometrics) as the important part if the learning/recognition algorythm which will probably involve some neural network coding (ouch but fun).
What you need is something like this!!!
http://bip.golana.pub.ro/~mmihai/sign/index.html.
I've emailed Mihail about this (the author), pointing him to this post. I will post his reply as soon as it arrives.
Here's my email:
Dear Mihail,
I came across your website whilst looking for clues as to how we might implement a fellow forum contributor’s idea on xda-developers.com (here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=370632&page=2)
His idea was to unlock a pda using a gesture on the touch screen. To my mind that mean signature which lead me to search for some algorithms on the net. Your implementation was particularly interesting as it seems quick to operate, has low memory footprint and could work on a low spec machine (such are many pda’s).
I was wondering if you implemented such a system, or if the algorithm you have developed has been release for others to use, commercially or non-profit.
Your input into the discussion would be highly valuable.
Best wishes
Sean
lawmangrant said:
ell, honestly, if you delete the images from your S2U2 directory, that should accomplish the same thing. You would just have to remember where to slide from. Or use your DPAD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Azimuth21 said:
lawmangrant, i think you're missing a handy side-effect of having G2U: you can still view the today screen. I imagine that you can view the today screen, but not be able to do anything until you gesture. If anyone uses PointUI, it's kinda like the builtin lock. You see the main screen until you tap, upon which the lock screen comes up. It's pretty nice (personally use s2u2 instead) but G2U has potential uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see pluses and minuses to this approach as opposed to using s2u2 with the deleted slide graphics.
If you want true privacy when someone picks up your phone, you wouldn't really want them to see your today screen especially if it contains appointment and tasks info, etc. That's where I think using a modified s2u2 would be better.
If you don't have appointment info on your screen or nothing that is "dynamic" or constantly changing except the clock, then you could skin s2u2 to "match" your today screen and place the clock exactly where it is on your today screen. For example if you have HTC home as your today screen, you can skin s2u2 clock to match the position and font as HTC home and then take a screenshot and modify it to a wallpaper, cutting out the clock par. The tricky part is the missed call and sms counter. S2u2 has the potential to disply that info but to replicate that look of htc home would require major changes, probably requiring A_C's help?
Of course if our devices had the horsepower, we could modify s2u2 to just take the screenshot of the today screen and load it as a wallpaper everytime it starts up, maybe a mortscript, but it would probably would be too slow realistically.
Im glad that u liked the idea... A_C said that he doesnt have the skills to do it.. but im sure he can help...
i don't mind if the appointments info appears on the screen, but i prefer no one can access all other applications... typing a password takes time... especially when activated side by side with S2U2...
Why a signature recognition? How about a gesture system like the one found in firefox plugins:
https://addons.mozilla.org/pl/firefox/addon/39
https://addons.mozilla.org/pl/firefox/addon/12
They're based on eight directions - four sideways and four diagonal.
Directions are defined as:
U - up
D - down
L - left
R - right
7 - up/left
9 - up/right
1 - down/left
3 - down/right
So to program a gesture you just need to input the directions of strokes it consists of.
For example URDL would mean drawing a rectangle starting from bottom left, and then going up, right, down, left. You can also describe more complicated gestures that way - R2D1L7U9R would mean drawing a circle starting from its top point and moving right.
In my opinion biometric algorithms don't make much sense, since they would need a styluys to work - try to draw your signature using a finger
Simplified gestures should work with finger as well as stylus, and should still provide more than enough security.
Great minds think alike.
What I wanted was a way to use touch to unlock the device very easily without it being easy to copy. I also wanted data to be safe should the device be reset.
I thought of using the standard S2U and just using a skin which didn't make it clear how to unlock so as to deter casual snoops.
There must be a way to do this! If no-one comes up with something soon then I'll dust off my programming books and give it a try.
the new Ftouch Flo a.k.a FtouchSL has some new gesturing features ( like corners )..maybe this would be useful

Transparent Keyboard

Hi guys,
I just got an idea about keyboard for PPC... that will be more finger friendly, PLUS, screen friendly.
Would it be possible to build something like FULL SCREEN keyboard overlay the screen, but still able to see the running software and able to see words is inputting? Just like a transparent keyboard layout on the screen, but doesn't really eat up the screen space. Not sure if I describe well enough. What do you guys think?
I am not a programmer, so I can only hand off my idea and pass the development to any volunteer programmer who has the knowledge and ability to make it.
- andre
Sounds like a great idea
Post your suggestion on the PocketCM.com forum and maybe the keyboard over there could be adapted.
As many of the screens on WM6 are designed for the built-in kb, the dialogue boxes can get cut off if you use an opaque kb.
Thanks. I've done so. I hope to see something like this one day. =)
That is actually a very good idea. I wonder how difficult it would be to do? I know nothing about SIP programming, heh.
Unless I am mistaken, it's impossible to do that as WM6 does not support transparency or graphical layers
Ufufu said:
Unless I am mistaken, it's impossible to do that as WM6 does not support transparency or graphical layers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How the S2U2 volume is working? It's transparent if you wish
romualdrichard said:
How the S2U2 volume is working? It's transparent if you wish
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it is... All programs that appear transparent (and there are many, throttlelock, mortbuttons, s2u2 volume etc etc) just take a screenshot of the background and draw over that. Which means that they just appear to be transparent - if things change beneath, you cannot see them, what you see is the screen like it was when you launched the program.
I hope someone corrects me on that, but I am pretty sure it works like that
Ufufu said:
I don't think it is... All programs that appear transparent (and there are many, throttlelock, mortbuttons, s2u2 volume etc etc) just take a screenshot of the background and draw over that. Which means that they just appear to be transparent - if things change beneath, you cannot see them, what you see is the screen like it was when you launched the program.
I hope someone corrects me on that, but I am pretty sure it works like that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So make it take a screenshot every second or so...?(Dynamo 3 does that, not for transparency but for thumbnails, but it does that)
I don't know if it's doable. It's easy to get the current screen (what WM is currently painting), but not that easy to get a screenshot of a background program, or the desktop. Programs that do that (eg, CapSure) switch to the program you want to take a screenshot of first, so even if you could switch to the program, take a screenie, and get back to where you were in 1 second, the screen would "flicker" all the time.
About Dynamo, I didn't check the latest versions of Dynamo3, but maybe it takes screenshots of the running (front) program? And I don't think it takes screens every second!
Even if I am wrong (very probable), and it's doable, I don't think it would be very practical! For locking programs, this would totally ruin baterry life. For a "transparent" keyboard, 1 per sec would not be enough, and it would probably ruin responsiveness.
Then again, I never tried to play with screenshots and fake transparency for a WM program, so who knows! Maybe! O_O
I've tried to do that for ThrottleLock. My first choice was using the WM_PRINT window message, but it's not supported for windows mobile ... other choice was to send the WM_PAINT message or a refresh and trying to get the DC associated with the window to use BitBlt to copy it to a target Bitmap... Not luck as the window will not be painted while it's not visible... As far as I know it's not possible... If anyone figures out another way to get it please let me know
todaylife can do that all. fully transparent pngs over a changing background.look at my screenshots of my skins, everything is working in background. dont know how dazzlingdazz made it but its true.
In TodayLife, it's the app itself that's painting the background... So it's easy to paint other stuff on top and still show the main screen underneath. Unfortunately not the same thing we want other applications & wm interface to show beneath the transparency.
Android supports multi-layer drawing for applications, let's hope wm7 has it too.
Some 'marshall wait cursors' are transparent. But I don't know anything how they're working.
I had this idea myself about a year ago, but thought that it is impossible to make a transparent sip, because it is not displayed over a program. It's under it. I don't know how to say in English, but I thought the sip reduce the fullscreen-size.
But maybe someone can write a program that is no real sip but transparent over other programs.
I mean like the phone pad, it is no real sip but used as an input method.
Sorry for my bad english, I hope you can guess what I mean.
ReinerK said:
Some 'marshall wait cursors' are transparent. But I don't know anything how they're working.
I had this idea myself about a year ago, but thought that it is impossible to make a transparent sip, because it is not displayed over a program. It's under it. I don't know how to say in English, but I thought the sip reduce the fullscreen-size.
But maybe someone can write a program that is no real sip but transparent over other programs.
I mean like the phone pad, it is no real sip but used as an input method.
Sorry for my bad english, I hope you can guess what I mean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Marshall waitcursors work with screenshots too.
The SIP doesn't reduce the screen size, some programs however can detect it and re-draw itself, making it seem like the screen size is reduced - but not all, it doesn't work like that I think
There are already fullscreen keyboards over other programs, that's not the problem, the problem is the transparency
excellent idea.
transparency is supported.
Look at RetroPPC clock. the only thing that I had to do to make my clock transparent, was to use PNG-24 format.
so the clock just revolved on top of the background even when it had to shift for the scroll bars.
in any case, the effect can be achived. what about a flash based keyboard?

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?
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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).

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