Related
Is there a widget or something to customize my homescreen? Seeing how on android and BB phones they have a super notification panel that displays Facebook notifications and instant messages the user recieves, I'm just wondering if there a way to do this on my Maple's homescreen. Is there a program out yet that makes this possible? A homescreen plug-in, widget, anything! I know this isnt so much to expect so im wondering if something like this exists! Thanks in advance
it really depends on what you want to do exactly. to start off, you can customize the homescreen with CHome Configurator. If you want to go further, you can install a custom ROM such as those proposed on this forum.
Are they able to sync with your social networking sites? I never seen a custom rom that can do this. All im saying is that most android phones and blackberrys can do this and winmo still hasnt implemented it. Which is why I was wondering if there was a plugin or widget that could do this.
Aricrj said:
Are they able to sync with your social networking sites? I never seen a custom rom that can do this. All im saying is that most android phones and blackberrys can do this and winmo still hasnt implemented it. Which is why I was wondering if there was a plugin or widget that could do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a facebook app available on the windows marketplace, but i don't know how the notifications are implemented in there since i don't use it. you should just try it out, but as for notifications, don't expect it to be better than android, after all it's win mo...
Aricrj said:
Are they able to sync with your social networking sites? I never seen a custom rom that can do this. All im saying is that most android phones and blackberrys can do this and winmo still hasnt implemented it. Which is why I was wondering if there was a plugin or widget that could do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and no. It can be done if you edit your xml files. Any static information can be displayed.. even Facebook and Twitter. I have my twitter displayed in one of my panels on my home screen (its done via rss feed) and it updates once every 15 minutes. CHome Config will do most of the work for you but you will have to tweek it. You could also create a widget (there are tutorials for widgets online.. google is your friend here) a widget is just a web page in effect, compressed into a small package that PIE an open and display. You could also use Mortscripts to pull the info you want and display it.
There are options, you just have to educate yourself on them. WinMo has always been a "do it yourself" OS, I like it because of that.
Is there some kind of technical limitation of Android that prevents this most rudimentary of features of a computing device with a screen?
I'm on my second Android phone (from Hero --> to new Desire) and after 5 years with Windows Mobile I not only have zero regrets, I just pity anyone still stuck on WM... but enough of that ... at least there are screen shot apps! I just don't get it at all. It can't be that nobody has asked for one. So, what is the limitation of Android that prevents something so simple as a screenshot to be generated?
Sign me,
Frustrated in San Francisco
Oh what the hell, while I am at it, I might as well show off svetius's newly available YOUTUBE embed code here at XDA -- which -- shhhhh!!!! --- it's a big secret, only I alone am supposed to know about it.
PHP:
[media=youtube]xxxxxxxxxx[/media]
where xxxxxxxxxx = the video file name in the URL after watch?v=
I don't think there is any technical problem, I think it just wasn't added to official API yet. Yes, I know it should.
And if you are in urgent need of doing some screenshots, then you could take quite awkward, but working for non-rooters, approach: take screenshots on your PC using Android SDK.
I agree it should be much easier to just take a simple screenshot. Where can we ask google to add this function?
DBBGBA said:
Where can we ask google to add this function?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could star this issue:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6547
I don't know, wouldn't that be a pretty big security issue?
A screenshot app is good for nothing if you can only take screenshots of the app itself. So it has to have access to screen captures of any app.
Now I'd just write some service running in the background waiting for key presses and taking a picture every time. When you type in passwords, the default option is showing the letter for a small time.
That should be sufficient to get user passwords. I would not want software that can do this on my phone.
I know open home has a screenshot feature you enable by the camera button. Maybe someone can rip the code from there and make a separate app?
erronr said:
I know open home has a screenshot feature you enable by the camera button. Maybe someone can rip the code from there and make a separate app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The home replacement apps only take screenshots of the home screen (OpenHome, dxTop).
You can easily use Droid Explorer on a Windows PC to do screenshots.
Hey guys,
In an effort to 'hack' the Sense homescreen to use a custom launch/shortcut bar, I am creating an app that needs to know if the homescreen is currently visible. With this, I need some help.
I've been looking at four possibilities to do this:
1. constantly poll the window manager for the current activity. This works, however my battery doesn't like this and it's generally bad practice.
2. Use a widget to tell the service wether it's active. Too bad, Android doesn't seem to provide some kind of event to a widget when the homescreen is opened. Strange though, as you'd say this would be very useful when updating widgets. Am I overlooking something?
3. Watch the logcat or message broadcast. This works nicely to intercept a user moving away from the homescreen at it will output this when switching activities:
08-22 12:25:28.891: VERBOSE/HtcAppUsageStats(255): (launch app, package): (People, com.android.htccontacts)
I think I could intercept that, but then there's another problem. Pressing home broadcasts this message for com.htc.launcher, however using the back key (or even software options) to move back to the homescreen do not invoke this.
4. Intercept hardware presses. This seems rather hard when you don't want to actually do something with the presses. This combined with the above method would give me a decent way to see if the homescreen is active.
But all of those methods just don't work the way I want them to. Anyone got a clue on how to accomplish this? I don't mind if I require root access or some dirty programming, by the way. After all, it's some sort of a hack.
A push in the right direction would be very welcome
Quick kick. No one knows a solution for this?
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
If this is just for sense, have you checked the openSense sdk?
From something awesome
I haven't really looked into this, I also have no experience with widgets, but using my general knowledge in how Android works, concerning 2), does the widget not receive a visibility change? I know for LiveWallpapers there is a void VisibilityChanged(boolean visible) method that allows it to update when visible. Do Widgets not have this?
killersnowman said:
If this is just for sense, have you checked the openSense sdk?
From something awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't find the documentation of it. But it must be somewhere, this is indeed another option to look into.
Metastable said:
I haven't really looked into this, I also have no experience with widgets, but using my general knowledge in how Android works, concerning 2), does the widget not receive a visibility change? I know for LiveWallpapers there is a void VisibilityChanged(boolean visible) method that allows it to update when visible. Do Widgets not have this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried all the event listeners I could find in the reference. I don't remember the VisibilityChanged method thou, will look into that tonight. Otherwise I might be able to build a Live Wallpaper and hook it to a service.. Interesting
Thanks both!
... freaking hate them.
Just kidding, would be nice to have them. Unfortunately high-res icons are not provided very often, though, as you can see on the top left of the play store app, they technically exist. The devs are required to upload 512x512 icons to google, but not to include them in the .APKs.
Do you do anything about it? Has anyone found a convenient way to replace the icons throughout the system, e.g. not only on the homescreen but also in the app drawer? (Modifiying the APKs manually on the PC or with Ninjamorph is too much of a waste of time in my opinion.)
What I do about it:
Get the Icon: Advanced search for images (Google), filetype PNG. If there is no icon: Screenshot in the play store app, remove background, save as PNG. It should be downscaled to 144x144.
Store it on the device.
Replace icon on homescreen: Via longpress in Nova Launcher. Other method, works with every launcher: Create a "Desktop Visualizer" widget, and link it to the desired app. In case the icon looks blurry, check the Desktop Visualizer settings.
However, keep in mind that the app drawer icons remain as they are.
Please tell me if you know some launcher or a highly automated APK modification app that also replaces the drawer icons.
Cheers!
Thats actually quite interesting. I noticed the high-res icons in the Play Store. I don't have my Nexus 10 as of yet but I would hate to have low-res icons simply because the developer didn't take the 10 minutes to convert the icon and upload it with the .APK!
I would suggest we try to clip this problem at the source - TELL developers of this issue! Email them about it. Request it. Developers are in it for money, customers (and, being human, they obviously appreciate positive feedback). Tell them what we want, make it an issue, show them we care, and it will get fixed. Don't just rely on Google to push for a better ecosystem, tell them yourselves!
If someone posts their email to a developer about this issue here, I will take and alter that email to send to them in support, give a bit more force behind it. Sounds like the best option to me!
CWalkop said:
Thats actually quite interesting. I noticed the high-res icons in the Play Store. I don't have my Nexus 10 as of yet but I would hate to have low-res icons simply because the developer didn't take the 10 minutes to convert the icon and upload it with the .APK!
I would suggest we try to clip this problem at the source - TELL developers of this issue! Email them about it. Request it. Developers are in it for money, customers (and, being human, they obviously appreciate positive feedback). Tell them what we want, make it an issue, show them we care, and it will get fixed. Don't just rely on Google to push for a better ecosystem, tell them yourselves!
If someone posts their email to a developer about this issue here, I will take and alter that email to send to them in support, give a bit more force behind it. Sounds like the best option to me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. However, if you want to get it done quickly and properly, you will have to do it yourself. The problem is that I couldn't find a workaround, which is weird, because the idea exists. A long time ago, I had an iPod Touch, where you could install "Winterboard" - a Cydia app which redirected the read access to the icon file (which is stored within the app on iOS, too) to a folder where you could place custom icons.
If I were Google, I'd change the filetype of icons (or even more ui elements) to a vector format like .SVG. This way every device could calculate its own full resolution icons once and cache them for fast access. There wouldn't be the need for new icons everytime the displays are improved, which is happening all the time.
Hi all,
If you've read the text that USED to exist here before, scratch that. Big Thanks to @Sunius1 for clarifying what I thought was a win. Due to this, I DID find something interesting in regards to the ExtensibilityApp class (Windows.Phone.System.LockscreenExtensibility.ExtensibilityApp). I happened to also find a hidden capability "ID_CAP_SHELL_DEVICE_LOCK_UI_API" (Seems to be a locked CAP because it only works on Emulator. I get a deployment error on my if I try including this capability). I suspected that these two worked together, but I wanted to make sure of this.
Before we get started, read through the documentation from this site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...lockscreenextensibility.extensibilityapp.aspx.
We have the following methods:
BeginUnlock
EndUnlock
GetLockPinpadHeight
IsLockScreenApplicationRegistered
IsSystemOverlayApplicationRegistered
RaiseToastNotifications
RegisterLockScreenApplication
RegisterSystemOverlayApplication
UnregisterLockScreenApplication
UnregisterSystemOverlayApplication
EDIT: After the release of the Live Lock Screen app, my speculations about the ID_SHELL_CAP_DEVICE_UI_API capability and the ExtensibilityApp object were correct. Thanks to @jessenic for finding out a good bit of info on this with me.
It seems that in order to get this working, we have to add an Extension to the WMAppManifest.xml
<Extension ExtensionName="LockScreen_Application" ConsumerID="XXXXX" TaskID="_default" ExtraFile="Extensions\\LockAppExtension.xml" />
In the LockAppExtension.xml:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<x:Extension xmlns:x="urn:LockApp">
<AppID>AppNameForLockScreen</AppID>
</x:Extension>
As usual, Microsoft doesn't really give us much in terms of documentation.. Probably because it isn't meant to be used by the normal developer Confirmed: For now we have to actually ask for permission in order to use the cap. As to whether we'll get that granted? Who knows....
All of these methods have no parameters at all, but I can almost guarantee this has to do with having an application that can control the lock screen.
This thread will be for efforts in breaking this open and seeing whether we can create lockscreen applications..
Homebrew Lockscreen Apps:
Lockscreen App by @-W_O_L_F-
There are actually two Windows.winmd files in Windows Phone SDK, one for Silverlight 8.1 apps and one for Jupiter 8.1 phone apps (located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Phone Silverlight Kits\8.1\ and C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Phone Kits\8.1\). There's only one the phone. And some APIs support only one app type (it's phone limitation it seems: faking .winmd file results in Platform::InvalidOperationException, saying you cannot use that API from this app type). That explains why the one on the phone has more APIs available than either of for single app type.
As for LockscreenExtensibility - it's documented, just not available for Jupiter apps:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...ows.phone.system.lockscreenextensibility.aspx
Sunius1 said:
There are actually two Windows.winmd files in Windows Phone SDK, one for Silverlight 8.1 apps and one for Jupiter 8.1 phone apps (located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Phone Silverlight Kits\8.1\ and C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Phone Kits\8.1\). There's only one the phone. And some APIs support only one app type (it's phone limitation it seems: faking .winmd file results in Platform::InvalidOperationException, saying you cannot use that API from this app type). That explains why the one on the phone has more APIs available than either of for single app type.
As for LockscreenExtensibility - it's documented, just not available for Jupiter apps:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...ows.phone.system.lockscreenextensibility.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that is very good to know! Thanks for the clarification. The best part is that I was actually able to compile without receiving an error (somehow).
I found something that may be of use in order to get the LockscreenExtensibility working (I just tried on a Silverlight 8.1 app and got access denied).
<Capability Name= "ID_CAP_SHELL_DEVICE_LOCK_UI_API"/> <----. Can't be used OOTB
EDIT: I just tested this in the Emulator and it really IS the capability that the LockscreenExtensibility needs in order for it to work.
snickler said:
I found something that may be of use in order to get the LockscreenExtensibility working (I just tried on a Silverlight 8.1 app and got access denied).
<Capability Name= "ID_CAP_SHELL_DEVICE_LOCK_UI_API"/> <----. Can't be used OOTB
EDIT: I just tested this in the Emulator and it really IS the capability that the LockscreenExtensibility needs in order for it to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume this is the thing Rudy Hyun used to create the lockscreen app at Build?
TheInterframe said:
I assume this is the thing Rudy Hyun used to create the lockscreen app at Build?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I speculate that this is what he's using. I bet there's more going on that we have yet to figure out. It also could be that the base class EXISTS, but the full implementation isn't available yet. Who knows.
snickler said:
I speculate that this is what he's using. I bet there's more going on that we have yet to figure out. It also could be that the base class EXISTS, but the full implementation isn't available yet. Who knows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, Yes that makes sense. I wonder if there are any other "half-baked" API's in the SDK?
Edit: I Know it sounds stupid but honestly I think we should have a thread dedicated to finding odd API's (Just found one: Windows.Phone.System.SystemProtection, nothing terribly useful though)
TheInterframe said:
Ah, Yes that makes sense. I wonder if there are any other "half-baked" API's in the SDK?
Edit: I Know it sounds stupid but honestly I think we should have a thread dedicated to finding odd API's (Just found one: Windows.Phone.System.SystemProtection, nothing terribly useful though)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are also some hidden APIs in the current SDK for 3D Touch-enabled Apps!
From WP Central:
Some of the features include APIs for gestures, side interactions and even heat maps.
Crazy stuff.
Believe it or not, some of these APIs for developers are in the current SDK, they're just not visible. What this mean though is developers will have access to this 3D Touch technology for their apps. It also means that Microsoft will have a small batch of third-party apps supporting this 3D Touch technology on launch day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
source: http://www.wpcentral.com/microsofts-next-flagship-windows-phone-november-3d-touch
Yea, even though those 3D touch APIs may be available, they're not particularly useful, as they require special hardware to work.
Sunius1 said:
Yea, even though those 3D touch APIs may be available, they're not particularly useful, as they require special hardware to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is true. Sort of of a side question though, has anyone made a OEM account and looked over the API documentation there? There maybe some useful things we could learn about WP and maybe further a jailbreak for all WP devices....
TheInterframe said:
That is true. Sort of of a side question though, has anyone made a OEM account and looked over the API documentation there? There maybe some useful things we could learn about WP and maybe further a jailbreak for all WP devices....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
API isn't much useful as long as you cant really use most of functions due to policies.
ultrashot said:
API isn't much useful as long as you cant really use most of functions due to policies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, Yes that makes sense....
http://www.wpcentral.com/joe-belfiore-announces-new-updates-sheds-details-lock-screen-app
Sounds like there will be a dev preview update to enable lockscreen functionality quite soon. Joe also mentioned keeping the lock screen in memory. So 512 MB devices won't get the functionality soon....
Good stuff. Another question: can apps show the action center? Because I want code an app to show notifications on lockscreen. Thanks
Marocco2 said:
Good stuff. Another question: can apps show the action center? Because I want code an app to show notifications on lockscreen. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
something to force the volume/music control on the lock screen to automatically open would be really useful as well
Updated first post with some more data since the Live Lockscreen App debuted yesterday. There's more I didn't get into, but I want others to dig in and find out
I suppose we can only speculate how it works at this point, but if I had to guess, it goes like this:
1. You have 2 projects in your LockScreenApp solution, one for the application to register the lockscreen, and the second one for the actual lock screen application.
2. The former would use ExtensibilityApp APIs to register the the second one, coupled with the manifests so it's all "valid".
3. The second application is just a another app that is able to process input and draw whatever it wants on the screen. That would explain why there's a delay at it starting when you press lock screen button while the phone is sleeping (probably it's a time for .NET to startup? Direct3D app should be able to start much faster).
Although this is only speculation, I think this makes sense, because that's how background tasks work on Windows, at least. I wonder though, why Microsoft is not releasing the APIs to be used in public - are they afraid somebody will make a lockscreen application that will drain the battery fast or something?
Sunius1 said:
I suppose we can only speculate how it works at this point, but if I had to guess, it goes like this:
1. You have 2 projects in your LockScreenApp solution, one for the application to register the lockscreen, and the second one for the actual lock screen application.
2. The former would use ExtensibilityApp APIs to register the the second one, coupled with the manifests so it's all "valid".
3. The second application is just a another app that is able to process input and draw whatever it wants on the screen. That would explain why there's a delay at it starting when you press lock screen button while the phone is sleeping (probably it's a time for .NET to startup? Direct3D app should be able to start much faster).
Although this is only speculation, I think this makes sense, because that's how background tasks work on Windows, at least. I wonder though, why Microsoft is not releasing the APIs to be used in public - are they afraid somebody will make a lockscreen application that will drain the battery fast or something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think its that but most likely the fact that the API is un-optimized, some of the facts you stated (i.e. Slow start up, documentation is lacking) etc... The fact the OS needs to be updated to show a section telling the user what lock screen app has taken over (since the setting page doesn't now)
Edit: Remember what Joe said about keeping the lockscreen in memory and 512MB devices might not be supported for that reason? Yeah seems like they aren't doing that since you can see the resume time for the lo screen is wayyy to much
Sunius1 said:
I suppose we can only speculate how it works at this point, but if I had to guess, it goes like this:
1. You have 2 projects in your LockScreenApp solution, one for the application to register the lockscreen, and the second one for the actual lock screen application.
2. The former would use ExtensibilityApp APIs to register the the second one, coupled with the manifests so it's all "valid".
3. The second application is just a another app that is able to process input and draw whatever it wants on the screen. That would explain why there's a delay at it starting when you press lock screen button while the phone is sleeping (probably it's a time for .NET to startup? Direct3D app should be able to start much faster).
Although this is only speculation, I think this makes sense, because that's how background tasks work on Windows, at least. I wonder though, why Microsoft is not releasing the APIs to be used in public - are they afraid somebody will make a lockscreen application that will drain the battery fast or something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct. Two projects: One is the settings page, which is the main entrypoint of the app when it's opened from the start menu and the second one is the actual lockscreen app.
The settings page uses the ExtensibilityApp APIs to register the second one as a lock screen application. That second application is another 8.1 Silverlight app that uses a LockScreen_Bridge WinRT component that has native access to read what is shown on the lockscreen from the WP Settings item.
It then uses some storyboards to make it do different things as you're swiping up and down on the LayoutRoot grid. It does use a timer so that's where that little lag comes from.
The only background stuff it's doing is latching on to system events ("Start button being touched for example").
I can see where MS would be protective of this. They DID say that they would be releasing a public version of the API at some point. I'm hoping it's not one of the situations that leaves it public only when they've approved you to be able to use it.
It does suck that it's restricted to 8.1 Silverlight though. I could see some Music Apps wanting to take advantage of the lockscreen like this.
snickler said:
You are correct. Two projects: One is the settings page, which is the main entrypoint of the app when it's opened from the start menu and the second one is the actual lockscreen app.
The settings page uses the ExtensibilityApp APIs to register the second one as a lock screen application. That second application is another 8.1 Silverlight app that uses a LockScreen_Bridge WinRT component that has native access to read what is shown on the lockscreen from the WP Settings item.
It then uses some storyboards to make it do different things as you're swiping up and down on the LayoutRoot grid. It does use a timer so that's where that little lag comes from.
The only background stuff it's doing is latching on to system events ("Start button being touched for example").
I can see where MS would be protective of this. They DID say that they would be releasing a public version of the API at some point. I'm hoping it's not one of the situations that leaves it public only when they've approved you to be able to use it.
It does suck that it's restricted to 8.1 Silverlight though. I could see some Music Apps wanting to take advantage of the lockscreen like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite interesting...!
The API in itself is quite powerful, custom lockscreens with weather animations are possible! http://wmpoweruser.com/wp8-1-live-l...amazing-lock-screen-weather-animations-video/