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Hello.
I recently decided that the i-mate tray battery meter was not good enough for my needs and wanted to find a better one. After a few hours of looking and not finding one that was perfect for me I wondered: how hard is it to write one?
Well, apparently its very easy.
I decided to share the result with the community. There are much better ones out there, but perhaps someone will find this one suitable as well.
Whats so special about it?
Its tiny! Only 8.5k. Downside of this - it doesn't have any options, nor do I intend to add any in the future to keep current size. Also it receives notifications on battery as they come in, so its very accurate without having to constantly check the battery and generate unnecessary CPU load.
It takes its behavior from the device driver which is why it will act differently on different devices when battery is charging. (Some devices report battery full, others report accurate percentage, yet others "slide" it in a loop).
View attachment priview.bmp
Also it starts just after MS logo (as you can see from the screen shot I have that space occupied) and doesn't fill the whole screen (14 pixels are left so the units could be evenly sized).
Well here it is, enjoy View attachment LvmTopBat.cab
For those who wish to learn how this program works, or to create another using it as a base, here is the entire project:
View attachment LVMTopBat.zip
The project compiles under eVC 4 with Windows Mobile 2003 SDK.
This program is now released under GNU/GPL v3.0
(See License.txt for more info)
Hope you will find it useful.
Levenum,
Great little app. I wonder how it differs from the Sbp meter used in PocketPlus.
I like it!
Yeah, don't add any options to it, I like the idea of an 8.5k program. That was my problem with Batti, it just grew and grew and I don't care about that info.
thanks!
look nice, i will try it
Does it change colour? If not could you make a gradiated texture?
1-10% Red
11-30% Yellow
31-100% Green
levenum and others,
FYI, I decided 8.5 kb was just too big :lol: (I'm toally kidding) so just to let you guys know, you can UPX the file down to 6.5kb with no issues. :wink:
JNGold said:
I wonder how it differs from the SPB meter used in PocketPlus.
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Click to collapse
Never tried SPB PocketPlus so not sure. Maybe just the fact that it's not full screen.
Tyr said:
Does it change colour?
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Click to collapse
Actually, it does but only according to what the device reports. I found that on my Jamin for example, it reports 'low' (yellow) at 10% and 'critical' (red) at 5%.
It goes blue when charging, and I would really like to know if anyone got purple. According to MSDN documentation, there can be an 'undetermined' state reported by the system, but I doubt it can be encountered while device actually functions.
malatesta:Nice 8)
When I resume TyTN from the power saving mode, the indicator becomes purple for a second. So I can confirm that it works
It is better than SPB Pocket indicator because SPB is always grey, does not indicate charging, and its segments are of fixed length in both portrait and landscape and therefore have no a real relationship to the charge level.
It is better than IndiLite because it loads from the Startup folder (IndiLite from registry) and does not affect SafeMode of SPB.
Also it does only battery indication and this is good as well - there are too many apps and plug-ins that duplicate each other but not fully. For instance, before I used IndiLite only for the battery indicator, and SPB Pocket for task management.
is there a way to deactivate the spb pocket plus taskbar battery indicator (without removing spb pp), and have it replaced with this one?
Lurker0: Thanks for the test and the compliments.
Also it does only battery indication and this is good as well - there are too many apps and plug-ins that duplicate each other but not fully.
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Click to collapse
This is exactly why I wrote it - small and to the point. No sharing small (yet precious) today space with memory indicators or other stuff.
Now someone needs to make a fully WM5 compatible Today screen plugin that just says this:
Battery: XX%
No fancy graphics, no graphs, no storage card memory monitors. Just something (maybe) with a configurable font (like TodayAgenda).
I know there are a couple out there but some have issues with refresh on WM5 and most others are just giant graphs that tell me nothing :lol:
try this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=55782&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Marx2 said:
try this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=55782&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
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Click to collapse
Wow, thanks Marx2!
I used this app awhile back and completely forgot about it :lol:
malatesta said:
Now someone needs to make a fully WM5 compatible Today screen plugin that just says this:
Battery: XX%
No fancy graphics, no graphs, no storage card memory monitors. Just something (maybe) with a configurable font (like TodayAgenda).
I know there are a couple out there but some have issues with refresh on WM5 and most others are just giant graphs that tell me nothing :lol:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone extracted the O2 battery monitor from their software package version 3. It has a very simple bar for the main and backup batteries and a percentage.
levenum, I have one suggestion
Currently the indicator is divided into 20 segments. As I understand, there are devices that are able to provide battery information with 5% granularity (mine is 10%), and that's why you made it this way. But IMHO it is much easier to count 5 (from the middle) than 10.
So I'd suggest you to draw only 10 segments, and color a half of the segment, if required to display the odd 5%.
Actually, 5% granularity just seemed like a good compromise between accuracy an visibility. Like I said in the above post I made this for my self.
From every device I've seen and MSDN documentation it appears that all WM devices report battery status with 1% granularity so that should not be an issue.
As for your suggestion I currently have to arguments against it:
1) Having different graphics and handling for two halves of the segment (even though there will be half the segments) will mean a slight increase in processing power and size of file - something I am trying to avoid.
2) I don't think that half painted segment will look good.
I am considering releasing a full screen version soon though, so if I hear from more people in support of your suggestion I may implement it there.
levenum said:
I am considering releasing a full screen version soon though, so if I hear from more people in support of your suggestion I may implement it there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, I like 5% (my treo does 1%) so this is just fine.
What do you mean by "full screen version"? You mean edge to edge, I assume?
first thanks for a great little App.
Personally i think that functionality wise it's fine as it is but i would ask for 2 improvements if possible,
1. Full screen , and as you have already mentioned this you can count it as a vote for it .
2. Would it be possible to change the colours ?
For me the green & blue would be better switched around (green charging & blue normal)
As i'm not sure how much this would add to the code and i agree that smaller is better , so is it possible for a couple of releases in the zip of different colour schemes ?
Thanks
Ok, first - yes, by full screen I meant edge to edge.
Changing the color scheme wouldn't add to the code, and is really a miner change. So yes I will release a zip with several versions, but there is something I have to do on the LVMTime project first.
I am also thinking of the following: without adding to much to the app it is possible to make it read some settings from the registry, like color change threshold, color scheme and whether it is full screen or not.
I just wonder if it will be to much to tell people to use a reg editor to change settings. (I am really not feeling up to implementing an XML parser)
well i for one have no problems with reg editing at all
My idea :
To actually have all the menus, scrollbar, default program backgrounds,the dropdown menu(the 1 on whcih we click when in File-explorer to jump from My Device to Storage Card),the Contacts Background,the Messaging Background..etc.
All of them transparent like Glass..This is just a Personal thought as in to change the feel n look of the OS.
WM6.5 all ready has titanium with the kind of glass panels m talking about.
Due to which it enhances the Wallpaper used i mean u can use almost any wallpaper.
And about the Visibility issue which will occur in almost everyone's mind after reading this post i think we can make it translucent the same way it becomes when we click on start menu..the icons r very much visible even with a complete white background.
So i think the backgrounds in the programs like file-explorer,windows media player-library,my pictures,SMS,Contacts etc. can be made the same.
I Wish some expert graphic designers and Programmers make my imagination come true and give all us Windows users a completely new interface.
I think for this .pngs & .jpgs of the system will have to be altered or replaced with the new ones and program them accordingly.
I am not at all good at programming and neither Graphics and i dont even know whether my idea can actually be implemented or no?
so many views n no single reply..
I am no coder, but Windows Mobile does not support transparencies like that. Only specific applications that are contained in themselves (aka titanium renders over itself so it has transparency. Mobile shell renders over itself so it has it too, etc.) But i could be wrong.
i don know either even m not sure about my concept..but i think .pngs can be useful...lets c..i have just put forward an idea..
Ive always wanted that feature too, part of the reason why I like Titanium so much, but as Shadowline pointed out, I think it's a limitation of the OS itself, even WM 6.5.
Then again, hope someone can prove us wrong.
yaah hoping for the same!!
Let's flood microsoft with this so they put it in wm7.
PREVIOUS POST:
Hi all!
My post should be in the developer page, but since I have less than 10 posts I'll post it here. Hope someone'll read it, I think it may be useful to everybody. BTW sorry for my poor english.
I am a user of Windows 8 from the developer preview, and I learned to appreciate the new Start Page and get used to.
The only thing that makes it still "just bearable" to me is the poor (more like nonexistent) non-metro applications customization. I understand that Windows wants developers to create Metro Apps, but their usability on a desktop PC does not fully not convince me; for some uses I prefer a thousand times to use the classic applications.
The question is: how to get the tiles to the classic desktop applications more pleasing than a monochromatic square with an icon?
I started to look far and wide on the Internet, finding not that much (really this does not affect anyone?), but I found something, something (even right in this site).
I've thought about three different ways of solving this problem. Since it's a little bit tl;dr i'll organize them under quotes.
1- An app that opens programs
- it is relatively easy to modify images of Metro Tiles for metro applications already installed, just follow this guide.
- For those who have knowledge of programming C + +, Javascript, or, generically, any language to Visual Basic, creating a tile for your application is extremely easy, so easy even I did it (I don't know programming, sadly). Still, nobody yet has thought to create standard desktop applications with these tiles, even Microsoft itself (Visual Studio RC hasn't got it!).
- I know that Metro Apps work a bit like the sandbox, but you can set the permissions to access images, documents and so on, so should not be impossible to make up a "double bounce" (metro app that opens a link in the Documents which opens the user desktop) without slowing down too the opening of the original program. I do not think is too complex, yet I can not do it alone.
- Also, an xda user found a way to bypass the sandbox and HERE someone (looks like the only one on the ENTIRE internet, apart from me) wondered about this problem and tried to solve this by itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2- The icon, centered and bigger
- a simple and elegant solution: can't we just edit the registry to bring up the icon in the middle of the tiles and change as well as the size of it equal to the tile itself? Then we should just make bigger icons for programs large enough to not be pixelated.
I searched a bit in regedit on:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ ImmersiveShell \ Grid
However, I found "only" how to enlarge or shrink the tile itself or the number of these files. There are a lot of other data but does not have competence to understand the setup.
Seems the easiest way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3- Copying from Google
As you surely know Google has launched the Google Chrome metro interface, with some special features:
- The program does not come from the Windows App Store, but can be downloaded from the Chromium Project site, therefore, is installed in the usual place of Chrome (User / AppData / Local) and not in the folder WindowsApps. This is quite unusual, because I thought it was the "exclusive" folder for metro applications;
- From my analysis I understood that the application that starts, both in desktop and Metro look, is always the same, "chrome.exe". To confirm this I noticed that, in fact, the folder "Metro" in "Google Chrome" folder contains only the userdata files and not specific ones for the program, which instead are contained by the classic Chrome folder;
- I'm pretty sure that all Google Chrome files are in this folder, since I found inside the "Manifest" and the images for the tiles. Trying to change the PNG and cleaning the cache also changed the tile in the Start bar.
- The first step, too simple for it to be working ( ) was to copy the manifest and the images folder in the folder of another program (obviously changing the directory on the manifest through Notepad), clearing the cache and restarting the PC. It did not work, of course.
- The next step was to open the folder "C: \ Users \ MYUSERPROFILE \ AppData \ Roaming \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Start Menu \ Programs" and try to understand more of nature of the link to Google Chrome...Only to find out that the link to Chrome was not there! ... Does anyone know where it is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And that's all. There is still nobody in the world that seems to manage a tweak for having tiles in non-metro applications, so if someone here manages to do this he'll be like the first in the ENTIRE WORLD
Hope this motivates you. I hope to read something from you developers!
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Click to collapse
The user Argony-OT has found a solution to add metro tiles in the start page for common legacy application. Link to his thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1899865
Otinademoniac said:
Hi all!
My post should be in the developer page, but since I have less than 10 posts I'll post it here. Hope someone'll read it, I think it may be useful to everybody. BTW sorry for my poor english.
I am a user of Windows 8 from the developer preview, and I learned to appreciate the new Start Page and get used to.
The only thing that makes it still "just bearable" to me is the poor (more like nonexistent) non-metro applications customization. I understand that Windows wants developers to create Metro Apps, but their usability on a desktop PC does not fully not convince me; for some uses I prefer a thousand times to use the classic applications.
The question is: how to get the tiles to the classic desktop applications more pleasing than a monochromatic square with an icon?
I started to look far and wide on the Internet, finding not that much (really this does not affect anyone?), but I found something, something (even right in this site).
I've thought about three different ways of solving this problem. Since it's a little bit tl;dr i'll organize them under quotes.
1- An app that opens programs
2- The icon, centered and bigger
3- Copying from Google
And that's all. There is still nobody in the world that seems to manage a tweak for having tiles in non-metro applications, so if someone here manages to do this he'll be like the first in the ENTIRE WORLD
Hope this motivates you. I hope to read something from you developers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would think that Microsoft would give a way for Google to bypass the restriction on side-loading (for verified developers like Google or the like) if they requested (Of course, they could also have found a way to install Metro Applications without the developers license/enterprise requirement, etc.)
This is probably how it works since the Metro application is not in the usual Installation folder. It is something to wonder about though.
My god! Me and my friend are having this same problem with windows 8! We like the metro menu a lot, but we want to customize non metro program tiles!! We can make some pretty cool images for the tiles, but we just dont know how to change the tiles. I think ur on to something with Google chrome though! I hope some can figure this out! Ur not the only one who wants this!
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
bb12489 said:
My god! Me and my friend are having this same problem with windows 8! We like the metro menu a lot, but we want to customize non metro program tiles!! We can make some pretty cool images for the tiles, but we just dont know how to change the tiles. I think ur on to something with Google chrome though! I hope some can figure this out! Ur not the only one who wants this!
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that I haven't got enough knowledge (not as much as my dedication to the cause ) to really do something with this...I am kinda searching for some help from XDA Developers
Same problem here
I'm also having the same problems on Windows 8. I'm also finding a way to change the default traditional app icons to the metro look, like what google do. Hmmmm.... Microsoft should add a feature to change default non-metro icons to non-metro tiles.
What's weird is that, as someone made me notice, if you make Google Chrome (the W8 version) the default browser for Metro instead of Internet Explorer, IE loses it's metro icon and become a normal Windows monocoloured tile. It's weird enough for making me think that the "copy Google" way is a bit harder than expected.
On the other hand, I've got a friend of mine searching in Windows 8 resources for a way to enlarge and center icons in Start Scren. Nowadays all the icons are big and detailed enough to fit inside a tile, and if they don't we can always make our own. I think that this is actually the easiest way.
Anyone have any clue that might help the cause? Also, since I still have less than 10 post, might someone link this thread in the Windows 8 hacking-developer forum?
Otinademoniac said:
What's weird is that, as someone made me notice, if you make Google Chrome (the W8 version) the default browser for Metro instead of Internet Explorer, IE loses it's metro icon and become a normal Windows monocoloured tile. It's weird enough for making me think that the "copy Google" way is a bit harder than expected.
On the other hand, I've got a friend of mine searching in Windows 8 resources for a way to enlarge and center icons in Start Scren. Nowadays all the icons are big and detailed enough to fit inside a tile, and if they don't we can always make our own. I think that this is actually the easiest way.
Anyone have any clue that might help the cause? Also, since I still have less than 10 post, might someone link this thread in the Windows 8 hacking-developer forum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what might cause it, but I know that it's a behavior that's been there since Developers Preview, after setting Chrome as the default browser it would go away, Even when I set the older chrome versions as default it would do it.
Still nothing...! This is quite frustrating, I'm searching really deeply a way to edit the METRO UI, but nothing yet found. Any help?
The way I think would be easier is to center and make bigger the Icon inside the Metro Tiles. I'm trying to use a Resource Editor in windows, but I haven't found anything yet.
Hi, I'm (obviously) new here.
I actually joined just to try and help figure this very issue out.
1. I actually noticed about an hour ago (when installing Firefox) the change that occurred with the Metro tile for IE, changing to a default tile. Your post made me chuckle, as I had literally just done that very thing. It was as if IE felt unloved. :laugh:
2. I am a designer. The ability to not change these tiles right now is killing me from the inside! I could easily set some color values or make my own icons in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and then make new metro-esque tiles the way I want for nearly all my apps in no time.
So, with all of that said... I too shall be looking into how we can manage making our own tiles for non-metro apps.
I wonder (and this is a cheap cheap fix) if one were to design an application icon for say, Firefox, and it would be the actual size & dimension of the pre-fixed metro square...would that icon fill the sqaure and at least give the appearance of being a metro app? It may, but I fear it might just down-size the icon entirely leaving us at square one.
All my design programs are on my OS X hard drives. Later I'll plug them back in, then re-boot my hackintosh and try to make a fill-in metro styled icon for testing purposes.
-TYPØ
Hi TYPOGRAPH1C, sadly changing the icon size won't work, nowadays almost every application icon for Windows have a resolution big enough to fit more than just the METRO tile; sadly, it's still not working.
Also, I've tried (withouth success) another experiment: In the "Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" folder you can find the links for some of the METRO APP; those icons are from a DLL! I've tried to simply copy one of those in another folder and make a legacy program use it, but it didn't work. I guess is one way less to try
That is unfortunate. And, who knows this may be something we can't fully tackle until the full release of the OS. But, I do know that I went through yesterday and counted 30+ apps that I personally would like to make icons for. Mainly the general stuff I use, but a lot of them are things many people use as well. So between now and the finalized OS release, I should have them all done. And if worst case, we can never set the tiles ourselves... at least I'd rock some custom metro style icons on my taskbar.
But if we do get this working... I was actually thinking last night about this. If we were able to achieve the correct look for the tile icons, I suppose it would be 100% possible to have practically nothing living on the taskbar in Windows 8 (besides the current open desktop application). Everything could be bound to the Start Menu and grouped accordingly in theory.
-TYPØ
I am also looking for a solution. I really want all my programs to have the tile icon.
What i already did is make a white icon for some programs and then specify it as the icon.
Like this you have the icon in the tile (downsized ofc) but the tile itself isn't filled with a background color.
I looks better than the full colored icons from before but i still want the whole metro tile look.
Otinademoniac said:
Hi all!
3- Copying from Google
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can read all about "metro enabled desktop browsers" when you get some free time. It's a cool idea, but unfortunately, you can only have one.
Could someone who knows how to make Tiles not make a custom tile app that can then handle custom image and file path, so we just update the details within the app so it points the the right place? So we could install the placeholder with the new set details and pop the icons are Larg and Small and offer booting the exe?
I have NO idea how to make tiles but I just thought maybe that could be a way?
rexzooly said:
Could someone who knows how to make Tiles not make a custom tile app that can then handle custom image and file path, so we just update the details within the app so it points the the right place? So we could install the placeholder with the new set details and pop the icons are Larg and Small and offer booting the exe?
I have NO idea how to make tiles but I just thought maybe that could be a way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows Phone has custom tile apps...Wiztiles is one I use. A user can create custom tiles using pictures they have on their phone. These tiles can then be used to link to specific functions. The function I use it for is to point to websites. You can have it open many of the built in apps on WinPhone. It will open email and draft a new email for you with contact, subject and even the body of the mail drafted...all you have o do is hit send, or edit then send. Same with sms. It can be used to dial a contact or perform a search in the marketplace or Bing app. So it doesn't just open an app, it opens and performs an initial action in the app. Not sure how much of a leap it would be to have it point to 3rd party apps, but the basic idea is there.
The website the OP posted which was this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9527644/launching-a-desktop-application-with-a-metro-style-app actually does have a method on creating an app to launch a desktop app if anyone wants to try it. Me I'm not that great with code.
a tip for hex editors, just DUI hackers: twinui.dll UIFILES.
I think that it's possible, because you can open internet explorer desktop from internet explorer immersive
@Ka-la I've tried some time ago, but twinui.dll get corrupted... (Next time I will retry )
Pasquiindustry said:
I think that it's possible, because you can open internet explorer desktop from internet explorer immersive
@Ka-la I've tried some time ago, but twinui.dll get corrupted... (Next time I will retry )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I managed to size content in my tiles in RTM pretty succesfully, not sure why you corrupt it. Im not using Windows 8 at the moment so I cannot really help. I remember there were templates for many variant of tiles (widewithpicture and smallwithpicture and so on). If there is one for that applies to desktop apps, it might be possible to apply a metro one to it
I'll give it a shot once im using Windows 8 but cant promise anything.
Maybe i had wrong edits in wrong place
Windows phone 8 new pretty face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25DKXGKblOw&feature=player_embedded
here u can find the whole video:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Windows-Phone/Summit
I did a quick post about the new start screen on my website. Would love it if people could check it out.
http://geekshavelanded.com/windows-phone-8/
i LOVE the new Startcreen <3
Tile colour variations and folders
I watched the video and it didn't go into the options of..
Folders on start screen
nor
Changing colours of each tile
Both these features I would think are a must to keep up with the although shabby highly effective widgets and folders on ICS 4.0.
If I wan't to visually separate work and play on my windows phone, I would think that having a colour code would be the best visual differentiator. Also, if I wanted to place small sized toggles on the start screen which turned gps on and off, torch on off, 3G on off then I would want to have a specific colour set for those buttons so I could find them in even my most dizzy states of mind. Plus, think of the cool patterns you could make... Is anyone thinking 'Ziggy' from Quantum Leap?
Also, with 100 00 apps and growing, unnecessary crowding could be overcome by placing similar apps into customizable folders (which share the live tile display). I know its a legacy term but I still use an 'Accessories' folder on my SGS3 to place things like calculator, voice recorder etc. just the same as Windows 95.
I've heard rumors / requests but I haven't seen anything definitive from MSFT yet, so have I missed something?
I think it's a very different concept, those tiles.. But i still find it confusing.... I'm that kind of person who is obsessed with organization, tagging things and putting them into specific categories, I don't think I'd be OK with a lot of random things mixed in my home screen... But maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it, and probably this UI is more friendly for smartphone beginners.
I am as well. I have my tiles categorised by their purpose. Personally I think being able to resize the tiles as I please will make this easier to do...
nice
win98 said:
here u can find the whole video:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Windows-Phone/Summit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks., was look for this ...
Okay, so I recently played my friends PlayStation 3. And on its main menu, it had a "wave" style. I think it look fantastic.
And I can only imagine how it would look like on the start screen (hopefully similar to an Android type live wallpaper). I don't know if its even possible. But would be something I can definitely pay for.
Just an idea. :highfive:
It was present before in Desktop with Windows Vista by applying DreamScene, but it cost huge performance hog and battery consumption. Was later removed in Windows 7. Although the start screen wallpaper has already been hacked, maybe there's even a slim possibility that it might work. Then again, maybe not.
This is one of the things i hope to see on windows, a live wallpaper like android, maybe disabled for portable devices, but would be beautiful for desktop pc's.