How do I not select a row on the homescreen? (ex: like date)

[Guest jasperkins]

Simple question. How can I fix the screen so that rows wont be selected? For example like the Carrier plugin which displays the date and time. It is not selected, and the first row then becomes the next plugin (which happens to be vmail, email stats).

Yet I cant get the next 2 plugins which are email/voice mail numbers and Profile to not be selected. (I have been playing with the format=unselected command)

Basically I want to create a locked screen except for the last plugin on the bottom (which is just a list of shortcuts). Is this possible? To create a screen that I dont have to scroll through plugins?

If I cant skip plugins from the homescreen, is there any way to always default to a selected plugin? Say for example- always default to the Profile plugin?

thx-

Jason

Edited June 21, 2006 by jasperkins

[Guest Doskei]

I'm interested in the answer here as well, if there's a way. I am a big fan of dexter_roos's multi-page designs, but would REALLY like to design one that was more "smooth" - that is, where it looks like only a small portion of the screen is changing each time you move down, even though the phone is in fact bringing up a whole new page of info. That means I need to have the iconbar on every page. And although I haven't gotten far enough yet to test it, I'm guessing it's not going to work without some weird manipulation, because as far as I can tell, dexter_roos hasn't ever done that, and I bet he would've if it'd been possible...

[Guest w411y]

@Jasperkins - The tag you need is

selectable="false"

For example, in my latest screen I used ...

<plugin clsid="{05E393E9-1712-41ac-B9D3-533B52F10A36}" name="SmartMonitor" height="40" b-border-width="0" selectable="false">

@Doskei - I started a screen with the exact desription you just mentioned (My Chrome Aqua v2.0). However at the time I didn't get much done so I'm going to pick up on it over the weekend. Anyway... in order to use the Iconbar on each 'page' you will need this spacer plugin above the iconbar plugin ...

<!-- Spacer Plugin -->

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{5419F376-6520-4407-B8B8-740F5B353EDA}" height="3"></plugin>

Edited June 21, 2006 by w411y

[Guest Doskei]

w411y ~

How do you manage to be so helpful so consistently? Wow....

Anyway, thanks. And, annoying question - is that actually going to push the iconbar down by 3 pixels? I know I will find out soon enough, but I'm curious now!

: D

- Doskei

[Guest jasperkins]

Yes w411y, thanks for all the answers you have added to this forum.

I would love to know if you can figure out a way to get the Chrome Aqua v2.0 to display correctly. With your help, I have managed to get the iconbar perfectly on every screen when "scrolling" though the plugins.

However while the iconbar, plugin looks great when moving forward through the plugins, take a guess what happens when you move backwards through the plugins :-) Instead of the iconbar on the top, it loads the iconbar first which places it on the bottom.

Anyways I am still searching for a method that will let me statically display information on different screens and smoothly scroll to the next screen. I'm just not sure it can be done- without getting tricky and using the 4orangeh.dll (which does not help the general public).

[Guest Jamma14]

Anyways I am still searching for a method that will let me statically display information on different screens and smoothly scroll to the next screen. I'm just not sure it can be done- without getting tricky and using the 4orangeh.dll (which does not help the general public).

Even if you have multiple selectable plugins within one of these screens you want to scroll to, you can put an unselectable spacer plugin the whole length of the homescreen (eg. height="293" for QVGA) between each page and then it will smoothly scroll up and down, keeping the background put not moving the plugins out of line. See image for exactly what I mean. A good plugin to use as a spacer is the carrier/date/time plugin as w411y showed eg

<!-- Spacer Plugin -->

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{5419F376-6520-4407-B8B8-740F5B353EDA}" height="293"></plugin>

Hope that helps, James

Edited June 23, 2006 by Jamma14

[Guest w411y]

Howdy stranger :) However, I don't think he would want a spacer with height of 2933 :)

Oh and your much welcome guys ;)

Edited June 23, 2006 by w411y

[Guest jasperkins]

Even if you have multiple selectable plugins within one of these screens you want to scroll to, you can put an unselectable spacer plugin the whole length of the homescreen (eg. height="293" for QVGA) between each page and then it will smoothly scroll up and down, keeping the background put not moving the plugins out of line. See image for exactly what I mean. A good plugin to use as a spacer is the carrier/date/time plugin as w411y showed eg

<!-- Spacer Plugin -->

<plugin file="sysplug.dll" clsid="{5419F376-6520-4407-B8B8-740F5B353EDA}" height="2933"></plugin>

Hope that helps, James

Thanks for the layout James. And I think I am following it. The problem is try going in reverse (bottom up). Let me give you an example, as it wont load the whole page.

plugin1: IconBar

plugin2: background

plugin3: Spacer (of a page)

plugin4: IconBar

plugin5: background

plugin6: Spacer (of a page)

plugin7: IconBar

plugin8: background

Going forward through the pages works just fine. The problem is going in reverse- if you are on the last page. So for example I have plugins 7/8 loaded and taking up the whole page. then I go backwards- it skips the spacer plugin and loads the background plugin- but not the iconbar plugin. This is where the delima is.

How to scroll backwards through pages and load the whole page of plugins- not just the "last" plugin for the page.

Example code from wm5_osx downlooad section (ps- I have a landscape phone (215 x 340)

<!-- PAGE 4 (MEDIA PLAYER) -->

<!-- Spacer Plugin -->

<!-- PAGE 5 (CAMERA) -->

<!-- Spacer Plugin -->

<!-- PAGE 6 (FILE MANAGER) -->

<!-- Spacer Plugin -->

<!-- PAGE 7 (INTERNET EXPLORER) -->

I hope this makes sense.

[Guest B Low]

Thanks for the layout James. And I think I am following it. The problem is try going in reverse (bottom up).

Yep - I think that's always going to be a problem. Creating a "psuedo-page mode" going top to bottom is always going to leave it off-kilter when trying to page back up.

It's not that it's not loading the plugins correctly - it's doing exactly what the xml tells it to do.

** PAGE 1

plugin1: IconBar

plugin2: background

plugin3: Spacer (of a page)

** PAGE 2

plugin4: IconBar

plugin5: background

plugin6: Spacer (of a page)

** PAGE 3

plugin7: IconBar

plugin8: background

The problem is that means going back up will result in...

** PAGE 3

plugin6: Spacer (of a page)

plugin7: IconBar

plugin8: background

** PAGE 2

plugin3: Spacer (of a page)

plugin4: IconBar

plugin5: background

** PAGE 1

plugin1: IconBar

plugin2: background

plugin3: Spacer (of a page)

I would settle for a solution allowing you to cycle through, so that once you reached the bottom page, it would continue to wrap back around to the top. Or even an action button that sent you back to the top of the homescreen - that could allow me to accomplish what I am going for.

Edited June 23, 2006 by B Low

[Guest B Low]

It's too bad that this selectable="false" tag doesn't work for all plugins - Missed Calls and Message Count, for instance.

[Guest Jamma14]

Howdy stranger :P However, I don't think he would want a spacer with height of 2933 ;)

Oh and your much welcome guys :D

Hey, yeah I realise I've been a bit of a stranger l8ly just had lots of stuff happening so haven't been able to spend that much time on modaco B) shock horror :P, and I've noticed you've vastly overtaken me post wise!! :)

I'll try to catch up soon you hardcore modacoer... :D oh and height changed...cheers lol.

@jasperkins: Whoops sorry forgot about going up, yeah you're right that's not going to work. :) I remember coming into that problem with the xp screen so I decided to fiddle around with the orange plugin instead..

I think it should work if you only have one selectable plugin per page and have it at the top, that way it'd skip the space and the unselectable one(s), until it goes up to the selectable one. If your didn't mind putting the iconbar at the bottom of you're pages in the homescreen you've just shown and then other plugins above it...not 100% sure if it would skip the unselectable one but that's my best suggestion. :D

[Guest B Low]

It would still skip the unselectable ones, but it will still introduce the problem of not displaying pages the same way going forwards and backwards.

Basically, every page would have one selectable bar, and an unselectable page. If the bar is at the top, it will always be on the top going forwards, as the display will grap the each bar (on top) and display the following page underneath. But, when going back to the top, the display will grab a bar at the bottom and display the page above it on top.

Same thing goes if you reverse the order, only backwards.

[Guest jasperkins]

I would settle for a solution allowing you to cycle through, so that once you reached the bottom page, it would continue to wrap back around to the top. Or even an action button that sent you back to the top of the homescreen - that could allow me to accomplish what I am going for.

Edited June 23, 2006 by jasperkins

[Guest Jamma14]

It would still skip the unselectable ones, but it will still introduce the problem of not displaying pages the same way going forwards and backwards.

Basically, every page would have one selectable bar, and an unselectable page. If the bar is at the top, it will always be on the top going forwards, as the display will grap the each bar (on top) and display the following page underneath. But, when going back to the top, the display will grab a bar at the bottom and display the page above it on top.

Same thing goes if you reverse the order, only backwards.

O yeah. Duh. :) :) ;)

Dunno what else to suggest then...orange plugin?? I know everyone hates that lol...

But that's why I had to use it for my Xp and Mac screens, it is the only way you can do certain things that you want to achieve with the homescreen short of writing another plugin...

Edited June 23, 2006 by Jamma14

[Guest jasperkins]

O yeah. Duh. :) :) ;)

Dunno what else to suggest then...orange plugin?? I know everyone hates that lol...

But that's why I had to use it for my Xp and Mac screens, it is the only way you can do certain things that you want to achieve with the homescreen short of writing another plugin...

I was going the orange route, however the end goal is to share the XML with everyone. Since most users dont have access to the dll, or are not capable of understanding how to register the dll :D it is not fair to the majority of folks.

Now if I can only figure out a way to make the homescreen wrap back to the top....

[Guest Jamma14]

I was going the orange route, however the end goal is to share the XML with everyone. Since most users dont have access to the dll, or are not capable of understanding how to register the dll :) it is not fair to the majority of folks.

Now if I can only figure out a way to make the homescreen wrap back to the top....

Yeah I realise that can be a problem I've felt the same myself but I think you may end up having to go down that road or else comprimising on your design.

Anyway it isn't that hard, for example I imagine if one searched for the plugin name on google, one *might* *theoretically* be able to find a cab that would install it for you, say on the second link of the search or something... :)

Edited June 23, 2006 by Jamma14

[Guest w411y]

Try and catch me if you can

We all know I am the greater MoDaCo fan ;)

To do this 'wrap' you could copy and paste the code loooads of times so you could scroll down and down. But there's always someone whos going to try going up :) This is quite a pickle eh?

I've decided not to bother doing this with my chrome aqua v2.0 ... patience got the better of me :)

[Guest w411y]

Just thought of a workaround B)

If you want the iconbar on the top of each page then for each page you have to include 2 of the same plugin. I'll try explain through a diagram (Bear in mind you need a selectable plugin on top of the page :) )

Page 1

MSG Count (with no label and a height of 1 and is selectable)

Iconbar

MSG Count (with a label and is not selectable)

Smart Monitor

Page 2

Spacer plugin

Page 3

Profile (with no label and a height of 1 and is selectable)

Iconbar

Profile (with a label and is not selectable

Smart Monitor

If you still don't understand why I've done that then either try it and see what happens ;) or I'll try putting an example homescreen together. I'm confident that will work.. uhh hopefully :) :D

Edited June 25, 2006 by w411y

[Guest B Low]

Aaaahhhhh. Took me a little while, but I see it now. I was thrown off by the comment about needing two of the same plugin on each page - that really isn't necessary. All you need Is a blank 1-pixel tall selectable plugin at the top of each page and the rest must be unslelectable, it doesn't matter if any are the same or not. It should work.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Guest w411y]

Aaaahhhhh. Took me a little while, but I see it now. I was thrown off by the comment about needing two of the same plugin on each page - that really isn't necessary. All you need Is a blank 1-pixel tall selectable plugin at the top of each page and the rest must be unslelectable, it doesn't matter if any are the same or not. It should work.

Thanks for the suggestion!

The reason I put the 2 plugins the same is because if you look at the screen and you see message count and you click it then you will go into messages, rather than something else. You wouldn't want to click the joystick and go into profile when you can see msg count on the screen would you :)

Edited June 26, 2006 by w411y

[Guest Doskei]

So then I guess the question is, is there any way to use this method (plugin duping) on a homescreen design that includes one or more of the plugins for which "selectable="false" does not work. If I'm understanding correctly, this method basically puts two copies of the plugin on each page: one is selectable but not visible (1px height) to provide clickable functionality and tell the plugin where to "stop" when scrolling. The other one is the visible one, to make the page look right. However it seems that if this second copy is selectable then your scrolling problem (iconbar @ bottom) will reappear, because when you scroll "up" to that page, the scroll will stop at the second iteration of the plug on that page, which is below the iconbar.

Does that sound right? I have yet to finish one homescreen, so I'm just not skilled enough with the xml to throw one together and test this.

If that's right, though, then it sounds like the whole idea is pooched if you want to use these plugins ... unless you are willing to maybe throw them both on the last page, so you never scroll "up" into them. Even so, less than perfect. : ( Are these definitely the only two native plugs that don't support the "selectable" tag?

Finally, what about facade and orange? Again, I'm not terribly experienced with this stuff but from what I've seen, it does seem like either of those could solve this problem outright. Can anyone confirm that? If so, anyone point me in the right direction to get started using them? I'm assuming that it's a layer or two more complex than what I've seen so far.

Anyway, great discussion. Thanks all for ... being awesome. : D

- Doskei