background positioning for plugins

[Guest paraxion]

I'm putting together my first homescreen - had the phone (i-mate SP5 running WM5.0) a whole five days, but can't resist the urge to hack - and while I'm pretty sure I've got the gist of most of it (mainly thanks to w411y's phenomenal tutorial) the one thing I'm stuck on is getting the backgrounds for plugins to position themselves correctly.

That's is the screen without plugin backgrounds at all (gir.home.xml). Now, I'm happy enough with it, but I'd like some "selected" backgrounds; it makes it a bit easier to use when you can see what you're doing. :)

Adding a selection background, with some strategically placed x and width directives, gives:

Notice the blue bar that extends across the entire image, almost shaving poor Gir clean. (gir_withsel.home.xml)

I'm using the Microsoft Device Emulator to test this theme, by the way. And I'm glad I did, because my next step was to copy out a screen-width slice of the the image, alter it to show a highlight, and put it back in as a bgimage. (gir_bgimage.home.xml)

Which did this:

The latter problem is probably either something to do with the emulator or my own inept coding. But I don't really need image-based selections, it's probably way over the top for a simple homescreen like this.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I've attached the entire theme as it stands in the zip file; I'm happy for anyone to use it for their own mischevious devices, although it wouldn't hurt to wait for the final version...

Thanks in advance,

-matt

gir.home.xml

gir_withsel.home.xml

gir_bgimage.home.xml

gir_theme1.zip

[Guest paraxion]

...I'm happy for anyone to use it for their own mischevious devices, although it wouldn't hurt to wait for the final version...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:exclaim: Okay, before that comment bites me in the ass, I'd like to mention that the image in the theme is not mine, and was borrowed from an artist on DeviantArt* when the homescreen was for my sole use only. I make no representations of ownership or creatorship of the image, nor the characters it represents; If you steal it (or the theme) for anything other than adding a little joy to your life and your phone, then may whatever deity you believe in have mercy on your soul.

-m

* I'd like to note that while I'd love to credit the original artist, I can't for the life of me remember, nor glean from the Exim data, who that was. I'll continue with my fruitless googling unless someone comes forward.

[Guest m1.carson]

Use Homescreen designer, makes life much easier !.

[Guest barrowfordred]

Use Homescreen designer, makes life much easier !.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Link!!!!

I've been using Ruttensoft but not for WM5.

[Guest paraxion]

I've looked at both Homescreen Designer and the Sunnysoft one, but both of them do a very, very rough job, and neither of them support the QVGA of the i-mate SP5.

Thanks for the suggestions, though. :)

-m

[Guest rizzles]

I'm putting together my first homescreen - had the phone (i-mate SP5 running WM5.0) a whole five days, but can't resist the urge to hack - and while I'm pretty sure I've got the gist of most of it (mainly thanks to w411y's phenomenal tutorial) the one thing I'm stuck on is getting the backgrounds for plugins to position themselves correctly.

That's is the screen without plugin backgrounds at all (gir.home.xml).  Now, I'm happy enough with it, but I'd like some "selected" backgrounds; it makes it a bit easier to use when you can see what you're doing.  :)

Adding a selection background, with some strategically placed x and width directives, gives:

Notice the blue bar that extends across the entire image, almost shaving poor Gir clean.  (gir_withsel.home.xml)

I'm using the Microsoft Device Emulator to test this theme, by the way.  And I'm glad I did, because my next step was to copy out a screen-width slice of the the image, alter it to show a highlight, and put it back in as a bgimage.  (gir_bgimage.home.xml)

Which did this:

The latter problem is probably either something to do with the emulator or my own inept coding.  But I don't really need image-based selections, it's probably way over the top for a simple homescreen like this.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I've attached the entire theme as it stands in the zip file; I'm happy for anyone to use it for their own mischevious devices, although it wouldn't hurt to wait for the final version...

Thanks in advance,

-matt

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

where can you get the Microsoft Device Emulator??

EDIT: i found the link to the microsoft page but how do i go about downloading this software??

Edited January 31, 2006 by rizzles

[Guest w411y]

Thank you for the compliment :)

Right... the selected background image will only be shown on the background of the plugin layer. So in your example.... its gone all blue because its showing the top of the image your creating.

If your plugin is, for example purposes, height="60" then the background image you use to create the selected background should be 60 in height.

If you cant quite understand what Im talking about ... download DrBlows GV1 homescreen for QVGA and take a look at some of the images that come with that.

Hope that helps... Good luck

[Guest paraxion]

w411y, thanks for that, I'll look into it today and see if I can't get it to work. I need to spend less time on it, though... boss is getting suspicious...

rizzles, check out this thread on smartphonethoughts (second post down on second page) for a step-by-step guide to setting up the emulator; you can download the standalone emulator from Microsoft here, and the images to go with it are available here.

On a side topic, what I've seen done before - and I've tried it myself, come to think of it - is you can install the Emulator and images on a flash memory key, then you have a little standalone mini computer you can run on any Windows XP machine, anywhere.

Check out the details here.

-m

[Guest rizzles]

w411y, thanks for that, I'll look into it today and see if I can't get it to work.  I need to spend less time on it, though... boss is getting suspicious...

rizzles, check out this thread on smartphonethoughts (second post down on second page) for a step-by-step guide to setting up the emulator; you can download the standalone emulator from Microsoft here, and the images to go with it are available here.

On a side topic, what I've seen done before - and I've tried it myself, come to think of it - is you can install the Emulator and images on a flash memory key, then you have a little standalone mini computer you can run on any Windows XP machine, anywhere.

Check out the details here.

-m

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cant seem to get this to work... i have downloade this file: Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone SDK

then i put this in the command prompt: msiexec /a "Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone SDK.msi

then all i get is an error saying that it cant be opened, am i doing something wrong??

[Guest paraxion]

Cant seem to get this to work... i have downloade this file: Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone SDK

then i put this in the command prompt: msiexec /a "Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone SDK.msi

then all i get is an error saying that it cant be opened, am i doing something wrong??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Rizzles,

Running the emulator isn't for the faint of heart, so be sure you need it before you go forward. That said, it's probably worth giving it a try.

You'll need to make sure you're running Windows XP; or you have the Windows Installer package for 2000, Me, 98 or (i think) 95.

I'm gonna assume from here on in you're running at least Windows 2000.

Once you've done that, you'll need to make sure you've got the following things:

1. The standalone emulator available from this link; you'll need to sign into the Microsoft Beta system with a Microsoft Passport, and use the Beta Code "MSDEVICE" (no quotes) to get the emulator download.

2. A set of images; you can either get those from the SDK, or by themselves from this link.

First step is to install the Standalone Emulator, this is done by just double-clicking on it and accepting all the defaults. It should install itself into c:\Program Files\Microsoft\Device Emulator Preview\.

Second step is to get the device images; these are the Roms you need to actually run the emulator. You can do this one of two ways.

If you've got the SDK, then unless you have Visual Studio 2005, you'll need to do an Administrative Install to unpack the files somewhere you can get to them. The easiest way to do that is the following:

1. Right-click on the file, and choose Create Shortcut.

2. In the box marked "Target", go to the beginning of the text and add msiexec /a at the front so it reads something like:

msiexec.exe /a "C:\downloads\Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone SDK.msi"

... assuming the file sits in c:\downloads\.

3. Run it, and accept all the defaults (except maybe the location, that's up to you).

If you've downloaded the standalone images, you should be able to just run the installer and choose a location for it.

Once you've done that, there should be a folder called "0409" in the location where you unpacked the SDK or Images to. Grab that folder, and move it to the spot where the emulator is.

Now you need to actually run it.

First step is to see if you can run the Emulator Manager; it's not a vital component, but it does allow things like ActiveSync to run.

If ActiveSync is already running on your machine, disconnect your existing device, then go:

Start->Run

and type:

tskill wsecomm

... and press Enter.

This will kill ActiveSync temporarily.

Now, try and run the file dvcemumanager.exe in your Device Emulator Preview folder. It might run straight away, in which case, skip the next step. If it doesn't load at all, you need to do the following.

Open up a command prompt (Start->Run->type "cmd"->Enter).

Type the following, and press Enter after every line.

c:

cd "\program files\microsoft\device emulator preview"

regsrv32 /s DeviceEmulatorProxy.dll

regsrv32 /s SerDMAASPlugin.dll

... then close the command prompt, and try running dvcemumanager.exe again.

Once you've got it running (if the above didn't work, you're on your own, sorry), you can set up the emulator to run a smartphone image.

Go back into the Device Emulator Preview folder, and right-click on DeviceEmulator.exe, then choose Create Shortcut.

In the Target box, go to the end, and add the following:

0409\SP_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR.bin /video 240x320x16 /s SP_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR_state.dat /flash SP_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR_flash.dat /sharedfolder c:\ /memsize 128 /vmname SP_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR

The whole line should read something like:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Device Emulator Preview\DeviceEmulator.exe" 0409\SP_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR.bin /video 240x320x16 /s SP_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR_state.dat /flash SP_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR_flash.dat /sharedfolder c:\ /memsize 128 /vmname SP_USA_GSM_QVGA_VR

And that's it!

It should now be a matter of just running the shortcut you just made. The emulator should boot up a QVGA Smartphone 5.0 image; it'll show up in the Emulator Manager too, from where you can "cradle" the image and get it to connect to ActiveSync.

Good luck,

-m

[Guest rizzles]

i've managed to get the emulator working! Two questions though:

Is it possible to get wm2003 qvga rom on it?

How do i load my homescreens onto it?

[Guest paraxion]

i've managed to get the emulator working! Two questions though:

Is it possible to get wm2003 qvga rom on it?

How do i load my homescreens onto it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Does wm2003 even have a QVGA rom? If it does, then you'll need to do some hunting for that, and just modify the load screens. I'm not sure the emulator doesn't even come with them; check the subdirectories under where you installed it and see what's there.

To load your homescreens onto it, you'll need to hook up to it using the Emulator Manager's "cradle" option, and a copy of ActiveSync. From there, you just use the Explore function as you would with a real smartphone.

Good luck,

-m

[Guest rizzles]

Ah theres my problem then... device manager wont open