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Load to background, A simple program to minimize application

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Slavic

Apr 4 2006, 20:28

Post #1

Newbie

Group: Posters
Posts: 12
Joined: 1st April 2006
From: Moscow
Member No.: 181,653

Device(s): i-mate SP5

Hello!

I read this forum since I bought the i-mate SP5 Smartphone about a month ago. "Load" is my first program for this phone which (as I hope) could be useful in some cases. It realizes the "minimize" function, which doesn't directly exist in Windows Mobile in compare to common desktop Windows.

The program doesn't have a user interface, except two screens for info and error messages. I have created it primarily to automate the loading of "Tornado Low Light" program, but it can load different programs without interaction with user. When the desired program is loaded, its window is being sent to background (minimized) with restoring the previous window (or desktop, if no any program was opened before).

Platform: Windows Mobile 5.0, ARM. It uses the basic WinCE API and, as I hope, could work on different OS versions. Program doesn't use the Registry and can be placed in any directory. Of course, the phone has to be unlocked.

Usage: "...\load.exe" "...\program.exe" [arguments]

The quotes are needed only if the path contains the spaces (as usual in Windows). The command line has to be placed in appropriate LNK-file. Below are two link samples with different places for "load.exe" (only for quotes sample).

LowLight.lnk loads the program "Tornado Low Light" at startup:
79#"\Program Files\Tools\load.exe" "\Program Files\Tornado Low Light\lowlight.exe"

BBC.lnk loads the Pocket IE, which connects to Web and loads the BBC news:
75#\Windows\load.exe \Windows\iexplore.exe http://news.bbc.co.uk/text_only.stm

If your Smartphone is unlocked only partially, as mine, I suggest to run the program first time alone (it shows the "Info" screen), and then run the desired link.

load.zip ( 3.8K ) Number of downloads: 274

Cybertronic

Apr 6 2006, 08:36

Post #2

Diehard

Group: Posters
Posts: 411
Joined: 24th May 2004
From: Newcastle, UK
Member No.: 44,249

Device(s): i-mate SP5

Does your program minimise a program into the background as a process which the default task manager doesn't display? :oops:

--------------------

Cybertronic

Apr 6 2006, 08:37

Post #3

Diehard

Group: Posters
Posts: 411
Joined: 24th May 2004
From: Newcastle, UK
Member No.: 44,249

Device(s): i-mate SP5

EDIT: Ignore this post, there was an SQL database error when I posted.

This post has been edited by Cybertronic: Apr 6 2006, 08:38

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Slavic

Apr 6 2006, 16:59

Post #4

Newbie

Group: Posters
Posts: 12
Joined: 1st April 2006
From: Moscow
Member No.: 181,653

Device(s): i-mate SP5

QUOTE(Cybertronic @ Apr 6 2006, 13:36)

Does your program minimise a program into the background as a process which the default task manager doesn't display? :oops:

Currently doesn't. It uses "minimize" instead of "hide" and, therefore, the background process should be visible in the Task manager and can be restored to foreground, when you wish to interact with it.

In other case (I experimented with this), if the process' screen has been hidden, the process cannot be seen in the task list and cannot be easily returned to foreground, i.e. get visible (or more advanced task manager is required, which can show all the processes). Moreover, it's difficult to predict, whether the hidden screen will be visible after second call of the program or not. So I think, "hide" could be useful only for non-interactive programs.

If it is really needed, I can add this option, no problem.

Slavic

Apr 7 2006, 19:35

Post #5

Newbie

Group: Posters
Posts: 12
Joined: 1st April 2006
From: Moscow
Member No.: 181,653

Device(s): i-mate SP5

That's it! I have added the option to hide the loaded program:

load [-hide] program [arguments]

Please use it with caution: it can completely hide the program, you cannot switch back to it and see its screen. This is normal only for driver-like programs, which have to work without direct interaction with user.

Except this, the behaviour remains unchanged as in first version.

Load v1.01

load.zip ( 3.88K ) Number of downloads: 636

UniqueTouch

Apr 17 2006, 11:30

Post #6

Regular

Group: Posters
Posts: 119
Joined: 27th October 2005
From: London, UK
Member No.: 155,902

Device(s): i-mate sp5

QUOTE(Slavic @ Apr 4 2006, 21:28)

Usage: "...\load.exe" "...\program.exe" [arguments]

The quotes are needed only if the path contains the spaces (as usual in Windows). The command line has to be placed in appropriate LNK-file. Below are two link samples with different places for "load.exe" (only for quotes sample).

LowLight.lnk loads the program "Tornado Low Light" at startup:
79#"\Program Files\Tools\load.exe" "\Program Files\Tornado Low Light\lowlight.exe"

BBC.lnk loads the Pocket IE, which connects to Web and loads the BBC news:
75#\Windows\load.exe \Windows\iexplore.exe http://news.bbc.co.uk/text_only.stm

What app do we use to edit the properties of a shortcut?

Thanks

This post has been edited by UniqueTouch: Apr 17 2006, 11:30

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SuperSony

kevinsephiroth

Apr 17 2006, 13:01

Post #7

Enthusiast
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Group: Posters
Posts: 224
Joined: 11th December 2005
From: France
Member No.: 162,389

Device(s): Asus P525,SPV C600,HTC S710

QUOTE(UniqueTouch @ Apr 17 2006, 11:30)

What app do we use to edit the properties of a shortcut?

Thanks

everybody is talking of "LNK" but i don't know what it is....

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Try a NEW FREE EXCITING ONLINE GAME right now!

Slavic

Apr 17 2006, 21:03

Post #8

Newbie

Group: Posters
Posts: 12
Joined: 1st April 2006
From: Moscow
Member No.: 181,653

Device(s): i-mate SP5

QUOTE(UniqueTouch @ Apr 17 2006, 15:30)

What app do we use to edit the properties of a shortcut?

Thanks

Interesting question, indeed... I should to answer "Notepad", but...

Honestly, not only on the Smartphone, I also have used the text editor on the desktop PC. Initially the links (i.e. shortcuts) have been created with Total Commander CE, it has an option "Create shortcut". For me, this program is more comfortable than the File Manager (built-in in HTC Tornado, it also has this option). After that I copied the link to desktop PC via ActiveSync and added needed command-line options. There is one important thing, to calculate the command line size, it's easy if the editor can show the text size or simply shows the current cursor position. Don't forget to subtract the number of digits and 1 for '#' sign. Finally, the LNK file was returned back to the phone.

Some text editors for Smartphone also can show the file size, I tested the Orneta Notepad. But it is not as handy as an editor on the desktop PC.

Cybertronic

Apr 17 2006, 22:14

Post #9

Diehard

Group: Posters
Posts: 411
Joined: 24th May 2004
From: Newcastle, UK
Member No.: 44,249

Device(s): i-mate SP5

Thanks Slavic! It works great

QUOTE(UniqueTouch @ Apr 17 2006, 11:30)

What app do we use to edit the properties of a shortcut?

Thanks

You open and edit the shortcut in notepad

QUOTE(kevinsephiroth @ Apr 17 2006, 13:01)

everybody is talking of "LNK" but i don't know what it is....

.LNK is the file extension for shortcuts

For those who don't understand how to do the shortcut properly, here's an example:

43#"\Storage Card\Program Files\Load\load.exe" -hide "\Storage Card\Program Files\Tornado PowerControl\TornadoPowerControl.exe" bright hide

Slavic's application loads the Tornado PowerControl application (with its arguements) and hides the application as a hidden process so that you won't be able close it when you close all programs in the task manager. With this shortcut, the Tornado PowerControl application won't display in task manager and please delete the startup shortcut you have for Tornado PowerControl because you'll have two of the same processes if you don't.

Tornado PowerControl can be downloaded here

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qazse

Oct 2 2007, 02:46

Post #10

Newbie

Group: Posters
Posts: 7
Joined: 17th June 2007
Member No.: 267,768

Device(s): HTC S710

QUOTE(Cybertronic @ Apr 18 2006, 06:14)

If I put the shortcut in start menu and run it from there, it works perfectly, the TornadoPowerControl now run in the background. However if I put the shortcut into my startup folder, the TornadoPowerControl still can be seen in Task Manager. Any advice to make it work in startup?

Thx in advance.

Barzi

Dec 23 2007, 13:48

Post #11

Newbie

Group: Posters
Posts: 4
Joined: 21st December 2007
Member No.: 335,568

If you have load.exe installed and TornadoPowercontrol is running on the background. If i then use Oxios Memory: close all apps. Will TornadoPowerControl also close? Or will it still be runing? And if I use the taskmanager: stop all?

teemue

Apr 15 2008, 13:35

Post #12

Newbie

Group: Posters
Posts: 4
Joined: 11th February 2008
Member No.: 355,297

QUOTE(qazse @ Oct 2 2007, 02:46)

I'm having same problem (OS is WM6.1). Have you found any solution yet? Anyone?

This post has been edited by teemue: Apr 15 2008, 13:35

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