Getting started with homescreen design

[Guest Doskei]

OK, so I've just started getting into homescreen coding, and I've got a number of questions. I've spent quite a bit of time trying to find answers, and HAVE found some, but not others. In any case, I think that the following are very likely pretty common unknowns for people new to XML homescreen design. I'm hoping that some of the veterans can answer some of these very basic questions for us beginners. :)

1) How do I make new homescreens?

Obviously the best entry-level resource for this one is w411y's tutorial thread. My main beef with this thread, though, is that he bases the whole thing on a QVGA resolution, without ever mentioning that he's doing so. I myself was a little lost when I first arrived, because nothing seemed to fit.

w411y - It'd be great if you could edit that first post, add a note that not all phones use that resolution, and that a good first step is to determine what size homescreens will be on your particular phone. Re-writing the tutorial for other resolutions would be awesome, but just a note would at least a lot of confusion.

http://www.modaco.com/Tutorial-Creating-XM...ns-t233425.html

2) OK, so it seems like all these plugins are built around the plugins. Where can I find a list of plugins?

And again, there's obviously a good reference in encece's thread "Homescreen Plugin Listings." This thread, too, could use a little work though. It's not especially complete and it would REALLY benefit from the addition of CLSIDs for the plugins.

http://www.modaco.com/Homescreen-Plugin-Li...gs-t115451.html

3) OK, well this is good and it gets me started. But I've downloaded a bunch of homescreens to use as examples, and there are a bunch of plugins not listed there. Is there another place I could find a more complete list?

This is one thing I don't know. Anybody have an answer? I know that encece wants to put a bit more work into that thread, and I'm wholeheartedly behind that, because I think this is a major gap.

4) I noticed that a lot of these homescreens have references to plugins that I couldn't find for download anywhere. Where can I get the MRU plugin, or the Iconbar plugin?

These are native to the smartphone OS. There are some which are used rarely enough that I haven't been able to determine whether they are native, but that is my assumption when the homescreen info doesn't specify any 3rd party plugins. Still, it's possible I've missed one or two. Having a list of the native plugins, along with CLSIDs and at least a little on how to configure them would be a HUGE service to newcomers.

5) I think I have all the plugins I want to use in my homescreen, and they're installed on my phone. Now, how do I put them in my xml file?

This is the part that took me the longest. I had to laboriously download homescreen after homescreen, trying to find examples of each plugin, so that I could record its CLSID. I finally have a list of the CLSIDs for the 29 plugins that I've found so far. Having not found this information anywhere, it seems like everybody that wants to design a homescreen basically has to reinvent the wheel, and track down all these CLSIDs. A public place for this info would be awesome.

[Guest Doskei]

Here's my list of CLSIDs. Note that this is what I've put together in a couple of days, and I consider it neither complete nor completely trustworthy. Additions / corrections are most welcome.

NATIVE

Allday Event

Native

2FFD93B3-0FF0-4228-A6D6-D2DF177D7D92

Calendar

Native

865A354A-4A96-4687-B001-C155DC0DBE76

Call Prog

Native

37391041-C324-4725-BEE1-3232ED3539CA

CoolText

Native

4E822425-A00F-497C-80FF-1C554665A369

Date/Time/Carrier Info

Native

E09043DF-510E-4841-B652-388316977A7A

Iconbar

Native

837FC251-FE69-43ad-84E0-EBCEDEBA0884

Missed Calls Info

Native

0BA8ABB8-1F1D-417f-88C6-DA8530E2E7A6

MRU Links

Native

79EFB752-CB70-446d-B317-499723482B3D

Owner Info

Native

4824B576-EFFE-45cf-BAE9-649B930CD244

Profile Info

Native

95976968-45D5-40c9-9779-2B859B1C2FEC

SMS/MMS/Email Info

Native

2F930BF0-6FE9-4a53-9E17-88E9247BAB48

Voicemail

Native

DCE58428-275E-491f-B835-F2AC38D0CC17

FREEWARE

Alarm

Freeware

21800C38-E156-4423-B95D-EB0D75DB95D2

BatPlug

Freeware

13091997-1512-2103-3005-197719802002

HiAlarm

Freeware

61868840-7761-11D9-9669-0800200C9A66

Oxios Tasks

Freeware

0FD763F8-2BBE-42A1-94A8-A75A3758049E

RJShortcut

Freeware

F3750050-8E30-4c61-A864-4301F5D7C065

RJTasks

Freeware

EE1DEFE4-6301-4510-9DE4-DF7333F4D4FB

RJTime

Freeware

AAEC6C66-F860-4513-8966-1FE9FA678987

SliClock

Freeware

224BD9C0-7C5C-4eb4-BADC-2390F26C7F8F

SmartMonitor

Freeware

05E393E9-1712-41ac-B9D3-533B52F10A36

PURCHASE

Analog Clock

$1.95

CEF3DB66-AD48-46c1-B849-66CF29B5A26D

Animation

$4.95

AE6CE950-7A8B-41e2-8999-2DD2BA4B9A55

Fa

Edited May 28, 2006 by Doskei

[Guest w411y]

1) Sorry Ill get that sorted :)

2) I think there is a list of standard plugins on the MSDN library. Not sure where however.

3) Same as 2.

4) MRU and Iconbar already come on your phone and in fact Iconbar is used on pretty much every homescreen. Its the bit at the top that displays signal/battery/bluetooth/GPRS etc.

5) Not sure if this is a question or whether you've answered your own question?

Just a note... Ive made a new tutorial and a resource for standard plugins. Keep an eye out for it soon :) ;)

[Guest Doskei]

Thanks w411y!

On #4 - I know those two are native. There're others I'm not certain about, though. My second post contains the fill list of plugins I've found, and notes in each case their CLSID and whether they are (as far as I can tell) native, freeware, or purchasable. I'd love to get verification of the natives, to make sure I have them all / didn't call any plugins native that are actually 3rd party.

On #5 - Yeah, I kind of answered my own question. Like I mentioned, I posted this both to help myself and to help others who are new to HS design, and this question falls more into the latter category. When I first started, I knew I had to call CLSIDs but I had no idea what they were. Hence post #2.

And I'm glad to hear you've got another tutorial on the way! Your original tutorial was invaluable and I would probably have given up before I started, without it. Thanks!

[Guest w411y]

Youve listed MessageCcount plugin twice (Once as SMS/MMS info and once as Messaging plgin)

LED I think your referring to LCD?

You mentioned Analog clock twice also.

Another freeware plugin would be Ephimeride 2006.... a plugin French people use. Something to do with a saint of the day I think.

For WiFi enabled devices theres a native plugin I think they call Comm manager or WiFi plugin.

Theres also a freeware plugin known as the Slideshow plugin. Havn't seen it used much unfortunately.

But yeh its looking very good. :)

Soon going to have 11 weeks with nothing to do except look for a job! Soooo... I'll do my best to put an example of every plugin youve listed on my site and on here.

Edited May 28, 2006 by w411y

[Guest Doskei]

w411y ~

Thanks yet again for your input. I've cleared those two duplicate listings. I was going to add the new ones you mentioned, but wasn't able to quickly find them. I'll keep looking ... meantime, if you've got CLSIDs for them, I can just add them based on that.

And actually, I did in fact mean LED not LCD - I found the plugin here, although upon second examination I'm not certain that's actually a homescreen plugin. Requires a bit of testing. The idea intrigued me greatly, however, because I have an MPx220 which includes a very bright LED (used as a flash), and I was looking for software that could manipulate it. What I'd really like is a small app that allows me to turn that LED on and leave it on, as a flashlight, until I tell it to turn off. No such luck yet, though. That said, though, is there another plugin I don't know about called LCD plugin?

[edit]: Turns out the LED plugin isn't really a homescreen plugin. The post I linked above contains a cab installer, but I'm honestly not 100% sure if there is (at this point) any way to customize it. So, I'm removing it from the list. Also, in case anyone else wants to check it out, here's a homescreen that uses it. You'll need MadBeetle's anim plug though.

Edited May 28, 2006 by Doskei

[Guest w411y]

Your welcome mate. Yes the LCD is another plugin. I don't think I've seen it used on MoDaCo but the french skinners use it all the time. Check out JD Skins, theres loads over there. I can't really explain how it works you'll just have to download a skin and use logic to see how it works but you can display date and time in any way you can think of.

[Guest n8cox]

Hey Guys. Great posts.

I have been looking at this reference page from Microsoft that tells all about the standard plugins that should be loaded onto Windows Mobile as well as the clsids associated and the options for each.

I am using Windows Mobile 5.0 on my smartphone and the information has been accurate, even though the page says that it is for Windows Mobile 2002.

Check it out:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....2homescreen.asp