Database Users

Putting PPC (Harrier & iMate) app on Treo 700wx Issues

Hi,
I have an application which has been running nicely on Harrier and iMate devices, well any PPC devices really because of their rectangular screen shape.
My client has gone and bought some Palm Treo 700wx devices, and they have a smaller square screen.
In the resource of my project the screens are designed to fit PPC. When it runs on the Treo the Treo automatically pops up a scroll bar to allow the whole view to be seen.
The issue is when I first go into the app I can't see the top of the screen, about 20 odd pixels heigh aren't displayed. The scroll bar still displays and I can scroll down to the bottom of the view, and when I scroll up again the top of the screen is still out of sight.
If I exit the app just by tapping on the x in the top right corner (so the app is still running, not exiting properly via my Exit button which shuts down the app), I exit the app and then when I go back into the app the screens are displayed correctly, there is no missing space at the top of the screen.
If I exit the app via my exit button and then start the app again, the top of the view is missing again.
Does anyone know why the screen isn't displayed correctly when I first enter the app, or why it should come right when reloading the view again? Has anyone else had problems with screen layout when putting PPC apps on the square Treo 700wx?
Thanks

It sounds like you have a 'refresh' problem. I haven't encountered this my self and it is really hard to diagnose when you don't even tell us what language your app is written in, but basically here is what I think happens:
When your app is launched, part of its window doesn't get properly painted (not sure why exactly).
When you click the X the app isn't closed, but minimized.
When you return to it the window is maximized and repainted. Second repaint goes correctly.
The quick solution to this would be to force a window refresh just after the app is fully started.

Sorry I forgot to add the language.. it's written in eVC++ 3.0
I'll give the refresh a go, thanks

Further Questions..
I thought that minimising and then maximising the screen fixed the problem, but only partially..
Because the screen in resource is designed for regular PPC it is bigger than the Treo 700 screen size, so the OS automatically shows a scroll bar.
The new issue I'm seeing is to do with the scroll bar. The steps I take to reproduce the issue are:
1. Go to View1, and I scroll down the view (I'm using CView not CDialog)
2. Go to View2
3. Go back to View1. When I go back to the first view the scrollbar is scrolled down in the position I left it.
4. Scroll up to top of view and some of the controls in the wrong place. Some controls I dynamically create in OnInitialUpdate, and as part of the Create() I pass in CRect to tell it where to create the control.
If I set CRect.top to say 10, it's created 10 down from the top of the visible screen. The problem is that because I've scrolled the view previously the view draws it 10 down on the visible portion of the view.
I had thought that the easiest solution would be to always reset the scroll bar to the top of the view before creating my controls, but I'm not sure how to force the OS scroll bar to the top of the view. I've tried SetScrollPos(0,0) or ScrollWindow(0, y). ScrollWindow moves the actual view up or down, but the OS scrollbar is still in the same position.
Any ideas on how to set my view window to the top and to reset the scrollbar?
Thanks again

How to refresh a view?
I have sorted the issue mentioned just above, by finding the scroll position and factoring in that when I set the value of CRect area of the controls I need to dynamically draw.
I'm now just left with the first issue, of when I first start up the app the top part of the window and scrollbar are covered by the Title/Taskbar at the top of the screen.
If I close the app via the x button and restart the app, the issue resolves itself. Or if I open up any dlg like the About screen or even display an AfxMessageBox, when I close the dialog the original screen is redrawn correctly, in the correct position and scroll bar fully shown.
I have tried calling RecalcLayout(), RefreshWindow(), UpdateWindow(), Sending WM_SIZE messages and a whole range of things, but I can't seem to get the screen refreshing correctly apart from when I open any dialog and close that dialog.
When you close a dialog what messages get sent to the previous view that force it to redraw? Does anyone have any suggestions how I can force a refresh myself?
Thanks again

Did you try InvalidateRect?
I am getting a bit rusty with MFC, since I now try to do things the hard way and use pure win 32, but this should work.
If you can't use it as a class member, call the API directly using you view GetSafeHwnd() function for window handle). Use NULL for lpRect to redraw the whole window and FALSE for bErase to prevent flickering.
Note that UpdateWindow() only triggers repaint if part of the window becomes invalid (the contents needs redrawing).

No I hadn't thought of using InvalidateRect(), so I should give it a go.
In the end I just wanted the issue fixed so opted for a quick 'n dirty solution of displaying a temp CDialog as soon as the app starts and calling EndDialog() immediately in the OnInitDialog() so the dialog disappears before you see it.
It worked and the original screen gets updated to correct size, layout and scroll bar.
Cheers.

General use questions

Hi,
I'm considering buying an Advantage when it comes out. I have some questions about the Ameo/Advantage that I'm hoping someone can answer.
1. Is the Ameo/Advantage ROM upgradable to WM6?
2. Does the screen wash out in direct sunlight?
3. Are the two WM5 menu buttons available without the keyboard?
4. What's the story with the cursor button on the top left corner of the unit? 5. Is it a true joystick? If so, where are the left and right mouseclick buttons located?
6. Will the keyboard also attach itself to the back of the unit when you don't want to use it for input, or do you have to set it aside?
7. Can you answer or return a call when the keyboard is covering the screen?
8. When you have an SD card inserted can you see both it and the HDD in explorer?
9. Is WM5 on this device still limited to a "seeing" a single directory level under My Documents for such things as opening documents from the Office apps? It would seem silly for it to be so when you have 8Gb of storage available.
Thanks in advance!

Tref said:
Hi,
I'm considering buying an Advantage when it comes out. I have some questions about the Ameo/Advantage that I'm hoping someone can answer.
1. Is the Ameo/Advantage ROM upgradable to WM6?
Yes
2. Does the screen wash out in direct sunlight?
I don´t understand what you mean. There are strong reflections in the sun, but when you use a protection film ist much better.
3. Are the two WM5 menu buttons available without the keyboard?
Yes you cant tap on it with the pen
4. What's the story with the cursor button on the top left corner of the unit?
You can use it to navigate. If you push it you have the same function like tap on the screen with the pen.
5. Is it a true joystick? If so, where are the left and right mouseclick buttons located?
There are no left and right mouseclick buttons
6. Will the keyboard also attach itself to the back of the unit when you don't want to use it for input, or do you have to set it aside?
? I don´t understand this question
7. Can you answer or return a call when the keyboard is covering the screen?
No you can´t, but you can choose automatic answer.
8. When you have an SD card inserted can you see both it and the HDD in explorer?
Yes
9. Is WM5 on this device still limited to a "seeing" a single directory level under My Documents for such things as opening documents from the Office apps? It would seem silly for it to be so when you have 8Gb of storage available.
Yes it is still limited, but i guess WM6 is coming soon, so this problem will be solved
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are welcome

like all the reviews on the web clearly show, the keyboard sticks over the screen not the back.
It comes with a leather pouch which when used holds the keyboard separately when it is not used.
as for the left and right click buttons.....?
it's a standard joystick. they never have left and right mouse click buttons. If you mean the soft keys, they can be tapped on the bottom of the screen as already stated.

bigsmart, thank you for answering what you could!
rhedgehog, the htc site also sort of shows the keyboard behind the back of the device (in the 360-degree view), though not attached. I understand the "normal" position for storage of it is over the screen. But I'm also wondering if you chose not to use the case, and also not to use the keyboard, whether it could be safely attached to the back while using the stylus on the screen. The design of HTC keyboards leave something to be desired, and I rarely use the one on my 8125 for that reason. But still, I like that this sort of keyboard is on the Advantage because at the least it would make for a good screen protector. I just don't want to have to keep track of it if I take it off the front and it won't stick to the back, because the case, while well designed adds bulk to something that is already comparatively large.
Where I was going with the joystick was an attempt to find out if it worked similar to the ones on the OQO 2, and the Flipstart (and other uPCs and UMPCs). Having the ability to position the cursor over an object, and then click on it to either execute it (left click), or bring up a context-sensitive menu for it (right click), would be more than a little handy. But barring that, if you can use it to position the cursor, and then press it to simulate a left click, I'd be happy with that.
The question of the buttons was to find out if you could have access to the Windows Mobile menuing system without the use of the keyboard or stylus (one-handed operation). My 8125 has two buttons below the screen for this, and each provides context-sensitive menus or functions. So with one hand, and no stylus I can for instance pull up the menu that allows me to turn on the speakerphone by pressing the right button during a call, then navigating to and selecting the appropriate menu item with the d-pad and OK button. I realize the Advantage/Ameo is not really designed for one-handed operation, but being able to use it without the keyboard or stylus for basic operations (such as a phone), would be a benefit.
Reviews and/or pictures rarely address all the questions we'd like the answers to...for instance, another important issue (to me at least) is the inability of Pocket Office apps to see more than a single directory level beneath My Documents (or to even do away with the My Documents model). It is somewhat less than useful to bundle apps that do not have the ability to see multi-level storage on a device with 8Gb of data storage built into it. I just finished watching a WM6 demo but unfortunately they did not touch on that aspect of the new OS.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I'll reply about the keyboard question if I may.
The keyboard doesn't 'stick' to the back of the unit - I guess there's no metal plate/magnet located there. However, if you're using the leather pouch in the back, the keyboard will just hang from the leather pouch (only attached using the power of magnetism). I normally just have it hanging down, but you can rotate it and hold it against the back of the device, in the wallet should you so choose. But I love the keyboard - far better than the softboard within WM5 itself and find myself using it more and more. The only problem I do have with it is the phone button is in the wrong place (top left) where I hold the keyboard whilst using it walking around. Hope that helps.

Digital.Diablo,
Thanks for the reply. I decided I did not want to wait for the X7501, and the limitation of the directory visibility in the pocket office apps has been a hindrance to me for just too long. So today I took the plunge and purchased a Sony UX280P. I'll carry that around, along with my phone, instead of an Advantage. But at least I'll have some additional options as a result.

A few perplexing questions

My HD seems to have the occasional quirk, well two at the moment that are a bit annoying.
Firstly the time on the TF home screen has randomly changed styles twice now. I have no idea why and can't find a way of changing it back (after it changed the first time it changed back again the next day) Any ideas how/why and has anyone else had this?
The other main thing that is now really annoying me is the portrait keyboard has changed from full qwerty to compact qwerty, I have tried changing it back in the "input" setting but it doesn't want to save the setting. Again anyone have an idea why this has changed and any way I can change it back and keep it changed?
Also could anyone tell me what the name of the thin bar at the top of the TF screen is (and where I can find it?) because I would like to delete it if ti's possible.
Thanks

Amp34 said:
The other main thing that is now really annoying me is the portrait keyboard has changed from full qwerty to compact qwerty, I have tried changing it back in the "input" setting but it doesn't want to save the setting. Again anyone have an idea why this has changed and any way I can change it back and keep it changed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same annoying compact querty problem coming out of nowhere and I found the solution: you can't change it from settings->input, but when you open any app which permits the virtual keyboard(eg: sms/mms) you will notice a little arrow "^" near the virtual keyboard button in the middle. when you press that arrow instead of the virtual keyboard popping up, it will popup a menu where you can select between compact/full querty and there it is, the change remains

for your clock problem, i think you have to slide it back from up to down to show the one you want. And yes the little arrow near sip sign open a finger friendly menu where you can choose compact or not. Hope it helps, in my manual for the HD all about this is tell, but i've read it...
PS: when you have a prob like that post a screenshot, use capsure for example, it work with HD.

how to deal with dropdown menus

the HD2 has done something strange with programs that use dropdown menus - it has replaced them with a bar.
this is fine for some apps where you can use the slider at the side of the screen in order to scroll, but where there is a small box which just drops down a short list of data for you to choose from, the bar replaces the box, stops the list dropping down and thereby disables you from using the dropdown menu.
is there any way to stop it behaving in this way and reverting to the old form of dropdown menus?
thanks
rjstep3

I think I know what you mean. Can you give an example of where this happens?

"a picture paints a thousand words" but unfortunately I don't have a camara with me so can't take a picture to upload (at the moment).
An example is a program which give a list of dates in a dropdown menu - on my HD, that is fine, tap the box, the list of dates drops down, and I can select one. On the HD2, however, no dates drop down, but a bar appears inside the box, it's the sort of bar that appears at the side of screen when you use your finger to grab the side-bar and slide down a long window quickly.
That's the best description I can give in words. I was talking to someone who couldn't use the HD2 as it prevented him from using one particular app which used dropdowns extensively to enable selection of items from dropdown lists.
Hope that helps - can't find anything on it in the tips and tweaks, and searching generally reveals nothing at all.
Can't believe I am the only person with this problem/issue.
rjstep3

Again, I think I know what you mean.
Did you know you can scroll by moving the items in the dropdown up and down? You don't have to use the scrollbar. Obviously, if the dropdown is too narrow that won't work as you'll open the scollbar when you try to grab an item.
The alternative is to try a different theme. That might sound daft, but there was a thread a while back discussing how to get the popout scrollbar working and it turned out that it doesn't work on most of the themes. (I believe it only works on the HTC Black one).
Maybe that would help?

I think you do know what I mean!
As you rightly say, when I tap the scrollbar that has appeared inside the dropdown box, that opens up the entire list in a different screen, and so for this program at least, that is the workaround. Whether that works for all other programs that use dropdowns is another question of course.
I am using HTC Black - which I prefer as a theme, I try some others when work subsides and see if that helps.
thanks for quick posting.
rjstep3

rjstep3 said:
I think you do know what I mean!
As you rightly say, when I tap the scrollbar that has appeared inside the dropdown box, that opens up the entire list in a different screen, and so for this program at least, that is the workaround. Whether that works for all other programs that use dropdowns is another question of course.
I am using HTC Black - which I prefer as a theme, I try some others when work subsides and see if that helps.
thanks for quick posting.
rjstep3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries mate - good luck!

[TUT] How to Enable Swiftkey on HDX

The Keyboard Settings on HDX is hard coded for the Kindle Fire OS keyboard, but alternative keyboards *can* be loaded or sideloaded into a very confusing menu. This is how you get Swiftkey to work.
The steps should work for other keyboards as well. I've gotten it to work with Fleksy and Google Keyboard. YMMV.
1) Download and install Swiftkey to your HDX through Google Play Store (if you have hacked it onto your device), Amazon App Store, Aptoide or 1Mobile, or even sideload it. However you do it, install it.
2) Once you got it installed, run the Swiftkey app, which is also the installer. Keep going as far as you can until it tries to trigger the settings and so on. It probably will bring up Keyboard Settings, and you'll be utterly lost here.
3) Bring down notification, and go into settings (far right button, usually)
4) Go down to Language & Keyboard and tap it
5) Tap on "Keyboard Language" (should be 3rd one down)
6) Keep scrolling down the languages (and you'll see TONS) until you finally find Swiftkey, make sure it has a checkmark (if not, add it now).
Optional: Also enable any other keyboard you may have loaded. Beware that some keyboards appear here actually as a language. For example, Google Keyboard appears as "English (US)" if you have that installed, though Fleksy appears as itself.
7) Once you have checked all the keyboards you want to enable, scroll back to top
8) Tap "Default language", which is first choice, and you should get a pop-up of all the different keyboards/languages you enabled, and among them should be Swiftkey (or Flesky or whatever keyboard you put a check mark on in step 6) Pick your favorite keyboard now.
9) Hit BACK to go back to "Language & Keyboard" screen
10) Tap "Keyboard Settings" (4th choice?) If you had previously selected Swiftkey, this should bring up Swiftkey Settings, or perhaps the installer if you have not completed the steps like Sign into Google Plus to enable CloudSync. Complete any remaining steps in the installer.
Your new soft keyboard is now active! Enjoy!

I've actually done this several times using the swiftkey apk from my phone extracted from a titanium backup. Every time I have tried it though the nav bar on the bottom (portrait mode) or right(landscape) has covered part of the keyboard making it unusable. I may have missed it in one of the other threads but what needs to be done to fix this? Having a working swiftkey would be great as the stock keyboard is really slow on long press combos like numbers and sometimes doesn't even recognize the first one.

Indeed it's a bit annoying... The best I've been able to achieve is to set the keyboard size to the largest one and also select the extended keyboard option so that most keys are on top of the space bar... But still we need a fix on this one and I think the problem is on swiftkey 's side not recognizing the fireos bar...

Swiftkey has an undock setting. I activated that and just moved the whole keyboard up the screen further. Works fine for me.
Rich

dorpmuller said:
Swiftkey has an undock setting. I activated that and just moved the whole keyboard up the screen further. Works fine for me.
Rich
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is this option located? I can't seem to find it.
*edit* Nvm, found it, haven't used Swiftkey in ages so forgot where the swiftkey icon was. For those unfamiliar with swiftkey, it's the second one from the bottom left. You can use this video as reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVeoy51IkME

glimmer00 said:
I've actually done this several times using the swiftkey apk from my phone extracted from a titanium backup. Every time I have tried it though the nav bar on the bottom (portrait mode) or right(landscape) has covered part of the keyboard making it unusable. I may have missed it in one of the other threads but what needs to be done to fix this? Having a working swiftkey would be great as the stock keyboard is really slow on long press combos like numbers and sometimes doesn't even recognize the first one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Undock is your only option. It's easy in landscape, but almost impossible in portrait mode. You'll have to guess where's the swiftkey button and from there, undock.
I was about to suggest "arrow keys" but I realized Swiftkey hides the arrow key option on the tablets (WHY!?!?!?!)

kschang said:
Undock is your only option. It's easy in landscape, but almost impossible in portrait mode. You'll have to guess where's the swiftkey button and from there, undock.
I was about to suggest "arrow keys" but I realized Swiftkey hides the arrow key option on the tablets (WHY!?!?!?!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed I also thought of activating the arrow keys just to see it's not an option on tablets...
I don't like the undocking option as sometimes the undocked keyboard appears on top of the text field you're trying to type in, effectively blocking your view of the typed text...

Thanks for this post! I had really missed the language recognition ability of SwiftKey.
I haven't had any of the above problems due to the nav-bar covering the keyboard. Unless I update this post, you can assume I'm one happy guy
I installed Swiftkey from the 1Mobile appstore on a non-rooted device (Thor 7 inch, Kindle OS 4.5.5). There were 6 versions of Swiftkey available to install. The only version that worked for me was "Swiftkey Tablet Free," Version 4.2.1.202.