Hi there good people of modaco.

Ok this is my first post on this forum, sorry for not posting these tips and tricks before. But I?ve bean kind of busy the last 2 weeks.

Okay the boring stuff first.
About 3 weeks ago my colleagues and I got a smart phone each as a bonus (Wahoo) anyway we work with development of internet applications so we are quite used to customising different systems. And therefore most of us had made our own home screens before we ever used the phone to make a call. This post is a collection of tips and tricks we have found (maybe found again haven?t read the entire forum).

It's not the entire collection, just the stuff we could remember off the top of our heads at 5am in the morning.

Anyway lets get it on!

Extensive information about the current status of the phone.
Can be found by doing the following.

[list]1 ? Start all Explorer.
2 ? Select SmartPhone (or what ever you called your phone)
3 ? Select menu >> 1 File >> 5 Properties[list]
Now you have an menu item called Info containing 3 items

[list]1 Power
2 Memory
3 General[list]
General is most interesting as it displays the phones current IP (yep the phone have an IP and can be pinged, now who writes the web server?)


Play list in media player.
As some of you have noticed the media player on the phone does NOT have a play list function! This is extremely irritating as the media player then starts movie files when you use it as an mp3 player.

The media player does not support normal play lists, but what I discovered is that it support ordinary .asx files (these files are used for streaming video). and as you might have guessed you are able to make multiple entries in an asx file, and therefore you can use these as an play list.

The asx syntax is quite easy, and does basically use a xml syntax.

Example:

In this example the music files has to be located in the same dir as the .asx file, but you can use direct paths.

To use the play list all you have to do is locate the file in your ALL-explorer or Internet explore, and run it. Then in the menu item Select you only have the files written in the play list.

Start menu folders.
To make the phones start menu easy to navigate it?s a good idea to create folders for your shortcuts, this is done easily by opening the folder IPSMWindowsStart Menu on your phone and just create the folders you want. And thereafter move the shortcuts around as you want.

In the folder IPSMWindowsStart Menu you can also delete the shortcuts you do not want.

Own shortcuts.
Shortcuts can be used in the start menu, or on the homescreen using the shortcut plugin.

[list]1 - Locate the file or application using your windows explorer.
2 - Right click on the file and select Create Shortcut.
3 - Rename the Shortcut to something that makes sense.[list]

To use this in your startmenu all you need to do is copy the shortcut to the IPSMWindowsStart Menu folder.
To use this on your homescreen you need to use the shortcut object described below.


Small customised icons.
One of the things I really wanted when I god the phone was an easy to navigate and simple look on my home screen. And to achieve this I needed a small icon bar, instead of the large icon bar.
Sadly the customised icon bar does not support the icon-size property.
The last item bar gives me that opportunity but I did only want 3 icons and in a specific order.

The solution was the shortcut object {A1536C57-6AC2-4c31-9542-B144B0E9D076} here you are able to make custom links. This plug in makes a 16x16px icon if there is a text assigned to it and the height is set to 20.
I for once did not want any text besides the icon.

Solution one.

The object which is used by the shortcut object support an icon property where you assign the number if the icon you want, sadly after trying around 1000 numbers I only found a few 16x16px icons

16x16px icon list:
[list]
0 = Internet explorer.
61 = Paper
62 = Soccer ball
63 = Theatre masks
64 = Red Soccer and yellow arrow
65 = Paper and smiley bubble
66 = Image and music node
71 = Red paper
72 = Red Soccer ball
73 = Weather icon (Cloud with sun behind)
74 = Car
75 = Pice of paper 3z folded
82 = Home with ball behind (internet explorer home)
92 = Spanner
101 = Brown MSN (2 buddies)
102 = 2 curved arrows (hotsync) [list]
Example:

CODE

<plugin clsid="{A1536C57-6AC2-4c31-9542-B144B0E9D076}" name="orangeh" height="36">

    <format state="selected" bgcolor="COLOR_HOMEHIGHLIGHT"/>

    <shortcut icon="0" action="http://smartphone.orange.dk"/>

    <shortcut icon="65" action="IPSMWindowsStart MenuContacts.lnk"/>

</plugin>

Solution two.

This solution I like the best.
As mentioned the shortcut plugin will use a 16x16px large icon if there is some text assigned to the icon. So by putting the ASCII letter ALT + 255 in the you get a small icon. The selection color will look a little strange but it?s a small price to pay for a better home screen.

Example:

CODE

<plugin clsid="{A1536C57-6AC2-4c31-9542-B144B0E9D076}" name="myicons" height="20" x="2" group="ieo">  

    <format state="selected" bgcolor="COLOR_HOMEHIGHLIGHT"/>  

    <background b-border-width="0"/>  

    <shortcut width="18" action="IPSMWindowsStart MenuWMPlayer.lnk">  

 <text> </text>  

    </shortcut>  

    <shortcut width="18" action="IPSMWindowsStart MenuInternet Explorer.lnk">  

 <text> </text>  

    </shortcut>  

    <shortcut width="18" action="IPSMWindowsStart MenuInbox.lnk">  

 <text> </text>  

    </shortcut>  

</plugin>

Media player skinning:

Simple skinning:
Replacing the files disabled.gif, pushed.gif and wmplayer.gif in the windows directory can change the graphical appearance. This is done to make the media skin fit into your own home screen and color scheme design.
I?ve made a few simple skins just for you! (click to download)



Advanced skinning:
Ohh yeah baby!
What all your people have wanted is a larger screen resolution, sadly I cannot give you full screen (yet, working on it) but I can give you a little step in the right direction!

I give you in harmony with DFeKT (our local Ãœber-gfx guy) the advanced media player skin witch give a screen resolution on your movies on 176x132px.
Just click the image to download



I will not write how this is done, as I would just be repeating information that can be found here
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....ml/wmpcesdk.asp


NOTE that all changes to the media player will be overwritten when you reboot the telephone, so it?s a god idea to have a copy of your media player skin on your storage card in order to restore while your on the run.

Best video format.
A lot about the media format has been posted in here, and I must say I disagree on most configurations. I have tried every configuration posted, and all of them causes large amounts of lagging on the phone. So I did my own research converting around 150 times before I had a quality I liked and had a minimum of lagging, within the confines of the limited storage space on most phones.

First of all I use windows media converter witch can be downloaded here http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsme...wm7/encoder.asp

Settings:
[list] Maximum bit rate: 70kB

Audio:
Codec: Windows media audio V8
Format: 20kbps, 22kHz, mono (use 8kbps, 11kHz, mono if there is no or little music in the file)

Video
Windows Media MPEG-4 Video V3
176 x 132
Frame rate: 8
Key frame interval: 2

Buffer size:
Default (3)[list]

As you might notice I do not use a windows media video codec, because a lot of tests have shown that it lags more then the MPEG4 format.
Another thing is the screen resolution; you might notice its larger then the standard. Scroll up and find media player skinning for the explanation.

If you have a better setting for converting let me know I will be happy to know!
Example of this encoding can be downloaded here http://www.lol.dk/spv/video/2towers.wmv (Two towers trailer)

Complete (? anyone found more, let us know) home screen plugin list. (Gratz to Brian Larholm for this one)
Cell Broadcast/SIM Toolkit Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin clsid="{4e822425-a00f-497c-80ff-1c554665a369}" name="cooltext" height="20">

  <scrolltext textsource="simtkitidletext"/>

  <scrolltext textsource="cellbroadcast"/>

  <background>

     <format state="selected" bgcolor="COLOR_HOMEHIGHLIGHT"/>

  </background>

</plugin>

Call Progress Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{37391041-C324-4725-BEE1-3232ED3539CA}" height="41">

  <background>

    <format state="selected" bgcolor="#2A2CC5"/>

  </background>

  <format state="nocall" visible="false"/>

  <label>

    <text>Call in progress:</text>

  </label>

  <label y="17">

    <text><progress/></text>

  </label>

</plugin>

Owner Info Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{4824B576-EFFE-45cf-BAE9-649B930CD244}" height="20">

  <background>

    <format state="selected" bgcolor="#2A2CC5"/>

  </background>

  <label>

    <text><name/><phone/><email/><notes/></text>

  </label>

</plugin>

Carrier/SIM Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{E09043DF-510E-4841-B652-388316977A7A}" height="40">

  <label>

    <text><carrier/></text>

  </label>

  <clock>

    <time y="17"/>

//Format is identical to the format for the clock plugin

  </clock>

</plugin>

Messaging Counts Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{2F930BF0-6FE9-4a53-9E17-88E9247BAB48}" height="20">

  <background>

    <format state="selected" bgcolor="#2A2CC5"/>

  </background>

  <label>

    <text>E-mail (<unreadEmail/>), SMS (<unreadSMS/>), Voice (<unreadVMail>), MMS (<unreadMMS/>)</text>

  </label>

</plugin>

Clock Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{44FA0F8C-082F-42b4-BE49-82559F23D5D4}">

  <time bgtext="#0000FF" fgcolor="#FFFF00" mode="12"/>

  <time bgtext="#0000FF" fgcolor="#FFFF00" mode="24"/>

  <date bgtext="#0000FF" fgcolor="#FF00FF" mode="short"/>

  <date bgtext="#0000FF" fgcolor="#FF00FF" mode="long"/>

</plugin>

Icon Bar Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{837FC251-FE69-43ad-84E0-EBCEDEBA0884}">

  <iconbar fgcolor="#FFFF00"/>

  <background bgcolor="#0000FF"/>

</plugIn>

Profile Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{95976968-45D5-40c9-9779-2B859B1C2FEC}" height="20">

  <background b-border-width="0">

    <format state="selected" bgcolor="#2A2CC5"/>

  </background>

  <label>

    <text>Profile: <profile/></text>

  </label>

</plugin>

Missed Calls Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin clsid="{0BA8ABB8-1F1D-417f-88C6-DA8530E2E7A6}" name="missedcalls" height="20">

  <background>

    <format state="selected" bgcolor="COLOR_HOMEHIGHLIGHT"/>

  </background>

  <format state="nocall" visible="false"/>

  <label h="16">

    <text lang="0x0409">Missed calls: <calls/></text>

  </label>

</plugin>

All-Day Event Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{2FFD93B3-0FF0-4228-A6D6-D2DF177D7D92}" height="20">

  <background>

    <format state="selected" bgcolor="#2A2CC5"/>

  </background>

  <format state="noevent" visible="false"/>

  <label h="16">

    <text><subject/></text>

  </label>

</plugin>

Text Label Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{5419F376-6520-4407-B8B8-740F5B353EDA}">

  <label bgtext="#FFFFFF">

    <text lang="0x0409">Hello</text>

    <text lang="0x040c">Bonjour</text>

  </label>

</plugin>

Calendar Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{865A354A-4A96-4687-B001-C155DC0DBE76}" height="60">

  <background>

    <format state="selected" bgcolor="#2A2CC5"/>

  </background>

  <conflict><format x="10" y="10"/></conflict>

//the x/y places a "conflict" icon at the specified location

  <label h="16">

    <text><subject/></text>

  </label>

  <label y="17">

    <text><time/></text>

  </label>

  <label y="37">

    <text><location/></text>

  </label>

</plugin>

MRU Plug-In:

CODE

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{79EFB752-CB70-446d-B317-499723482B3D}">

<mru max-buttons="4" icon-size="16" x="4" y="4" button-image="windowsmrubtn.bmp"/>

<appname bgtext="#0000FF" fgcolor="#FFFF00"/>

</plugin>

MRU Plug-In Attribute Description

CODE

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|  

|icon-size               |Acceptable values are "16" and "32". Sets the   |  

|                        |size of the icon shown in the plug-in, either   |  

|                        |16x16 or 32x32. The default value is 32.        |  

|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|  

|highlight               |Sets the color of the highlight used to indicate|  

|                        |selection. If omitted, COLOR_HOMEHIGHLIGHT is   |  

|                        |used.                                           |  

|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|  

|max-buttons             |Maximum number of icons to show in the MRU.     |  

|                        |Default is the maximum that fit in the plug-in. |  

|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|  

|button-image            |If specified points to a bitmap used to indicate|  

|                        |selection. This option overrides the highlight  |  

|                        |attribute. The bitmap is divided horizontally   |  

|                        |into four equally-sized pieces. The first piece |  

|                        |is the selected plug-in selected app state image|  

|                        |The second piece is the selected plug-in,       |  

|                        |unselected app state. The third piece is the    |  

|                        |unselected plug-in, selected app state. The     |  

|                        |fourth piece is the unselected plug-in,         |  

|                        |unselected app state.                           |  

|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|  

|button-transparent-color| The color in the button-image bitmap that      |  

|                        | represents transparency. Default is none.      |  

|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|  

|x                       |Starting position for drawing the list of icons |  

|                        |along the x axis                                |  

|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|  

|y                       |Starting pos...etc... along the y axis          |  

|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|  

When the device is first launched, the plug-in contains five items in the following order:
[list]1. Inbox
2. Contacts
3. Calendar
4. Internet Explorer
5. Solitaire [list]

The label, which displays the name of the selected application, is positioned by using the element. The element supports the standard formatting attributes. The background of the plug-in can be formatted by using an optional element.

The Orange "icon/shortcut" plugin:

CODE

<plugin clsid="{A1536C57-6AC2-4c31-9542-B144B0E9D076}" name="myicons" height="20" x="2">

 <format state="selected" bgcolor="COLOR_HOMEHIGHLIGHT"/>

 <background b-border-width="0"/>

 <shortcut width="18" action="IPSMWindowsStart MenuWMPlayer.lnk">

  <text> </text>

 </shortcut>

 <shortcut width="18" action="IPSMWindowsStart MenuInternet Explorer.lnk">

  <text> </text>

 </shortcut>

 <shortcut width="18" action="IPSMWindowsStart MenuInbox.lnk">

  <text> </text>

 </shortcut>

</plugin>

most support the attributes:


That?s about it this time, but will be back soon to give you the newest tips and tricks from Denmark!

Have fun and play nice
Chris Benjaminsen.
And again tanks to Larholm & DFeKT

Nice!

takker

Good work Q-Rious!

P

Yes, three cheers for Q-Rious.

I am glad we can skin media player (runs off to create a load of skins)

j00 r0x0r !!



;P

Quality work Chris and the rest of Q-Rious.

Just a quick note, liked your compression set-up for vid on the phone, wasn't that dissimilar to my own settings bar the codecs used. I tried yur settings and the ones I had been using, yours still came out better but found a vast improvement on the old settings I was using just because of the screen size increase, so in general good job all round, or as the barley pickers would say 'proper job'.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your very long, very useful post!

A couple of questions about encoding video clips:

1) I used windows media converter, but I dont see how you can set the Maximum bit rate - how do I set this?

2) I get a sliding scale from 0 to 100 with "smoother motion" at 0 and "clearer images" at 100. Where do I set this?

3) I converted a 23 minute video clip of Phoenix nights and got it down to 24MB. Any ideas how I can make this even smaller?

Thanks for any help,

Andrew

Sweet Jesus of Nazareth! I'd be really interested in this - any chance of sharing that when you've reduced the size a bit?

Great post Chris. I now have a screen that looks lovely - the plug-ins work a treat.

Can you expand a bit on the asx files as a WMP playlist? I'm not sure if i should be trying to edit a .asx file that already exists somewhere, or whether I should be trying to create a new one. And where do i put the .asx file? I'm using a storage card.
Thanks for any help.

I rekon you should sticky this one paul its a gem!

Seconded - definately should be sticky... (though maybe in customisation folder?)

Hi there Andrew, just finished an article about converting video to the smartphone. Gives you all the anwsers.

Execpt the size matter, anyway when you change the bitrate the size of the file changes, at 70k as i prefere you shuld be able to store arround 30min of video in 176x132 on 15mb space

Chris Benjaminsen

Hi Chris,

Any reason why the "artile" link in ypu last post should not work?
Thanks
John

"artile" ?? - "article"

Sorry bout that!

Nopes.... anyway you find the article in the tips and tricks section on this forum

the title is
Converting video in 18 VERY easy steps. By Chris Benjaminsen

Chris Benjaminsen

nice work !

i'm trying skin my mediaplayer as you suggested... but i can nt find the gifs anywhere.. where are they located?

cheers

c

U can find it in Windowswmplayer.gif

is that where all the alarm sounds and schemes are kept ?... cos i really can't find it there ?.. anywhere else it could be ?

You sure you are looking in Windows and not IPSMWindows?

yes.... this is so weird !