Customizing/Replacing the Windows CE 5.0 Taskbar? - windows-ce

I'm currently getting my feet wet with Win CE 5.0 to update some code on an existing platform. We're interested in deploying a custom shell/home screen/application launcher as well and I had a couple questions:
1) We're running the standard CE shell and I'm assuming it can be customized because the source code is made available with Platform Builder. I was wondering how "painful" it would be to completely replace it with something like a status bar at the top of the screen (think iPhone). I was thinking task switching could then be handled by shortcut keys exclusively. I have my doubts about this.
2) If it can't be removed, can the taskbar be resized and moved to the top of the screen? We're basically trying to find a way to reserve the first 20 or so pixel rows at the top of the screen for our own status bar and prevent maximized application windows from drawing over top of it.
Thanks very much for the help.
-ksudeadeye

I was happy and angry when I found the solution because it's more easy than I expect.
For 2) reserve space you need to do this:
RECT rc;
SetRect(&rc, 0, 25, GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSCREEN),GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYSCREEN));
SystemParametersInfoW(SPI_SETWORKAREA, 0, (void*) &rc, SPIF_SENDCHANGE);
With this code you reserve 25 pixels in the top of the screen.
:D
If you have doubts maybe this can help you or this.
Good luck.

To hide the task bar is a simple registry change:
; Hide the windows tasbar by default.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shell\AutoHide]
""=dword:1
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shell\OnTop]
""=dword:0
As far as customizing, your own, that is a little more work, and not something I've attempted.

I have some experience with modifying the taskbar in CE 5.0. It is not an easy task, but the results can really add that personal touch to the device. I was tasked with adding a user mode second taskbar with a password dialog and a second type of shell notification to add icons to the user bar.
In the end, it is just standard Windows CE programming - the taskbar, notification tray, start button, etc. are just like any other windows in the CE environment.
You should start exploring here:
C:\WINCE500\PUBLIC\SHELL\OAK\HPC\EXPLORER\TASKBAR\taskbar.cpp
Be careful, clone your code, and be prepared for lots of debug cycles. This is more than 5000 lines of serious spaghetti code.

Related

How can one greate grid/tile view of selected parts of windows on xfce/linux

I have a few windows on my linux machine using the xfce4 desktop enviorment.
I wish to have a grid-like view where i can see only the part of each window im intrested in.
An example for the general vision:
see a script running without the window borders on terminal across the header
see work status of F#H client out of the advenced client view in the middle left
see only the turrents status list of qBittorrent at middle right
have another terminal at footer (again without header/borders)
My best way to describe it shortly is to generate a view from selective parts of windows.
Added a picture for illustration
Is there any way of doing such thing in a practical way? Am i missing out on a great software?
There are several tiling helpers for Xfce.
Perhaps try xpytile , which is a tiling add-on for Xfce. It offers
automatic tiling, manual tiling and can simulaneously resize side-by-side windows (like AeroSnap for MS-Windows).

Logisim Task Bar Issue

When I open Logisim on my Windows 10 device, the task bar options are all clumped together and difficult to read(Screenshot tagged in the post). But looks fine on mac.
Screenshot of Left side Task Bar
Any help would be great.
Try pressing Windows Key + Up key.
Another possible solution is to hit the Windows button. This tends to bring up the task bar in most programs, for me, at least.
This may seem off topic, but I'd create a manifest file for this particular program if it occurs only there. That may solve the problem if done correctly.

Modifying the screen of existing Direct2D application

This question is related to: Which API Microsoft Word (Office 2013) is using the paint the screen, which was left unanswered.
I have an Office plug-in (native C++) which is fairly involving with Office. Using hooks I'm modifying the client area of Office application.
Things were working great for me up to Office 2010, hooking WM_NCPAINT, and using GDI method on the Office Window.
But Office 2013 uses Direct2D, DXGI, and DirectWrite. On Windows 7, if I draw something on the screen - it gets erased the next time the cursor blink. On Windows 8 - I don't even have access to the screen.
Currently, my thinking is to hook ID2D1DeviceContext::BeginDraw, ID2D1DeviceContext::EndDraw - and on last function, just before delegating to the real function, I will add my stuff. Another idea is the hook IDXGISwapChain1::Present1. Problem with both these methods that I've hard time identifying what is going on above.
I'm even thinking even a different process (or GDI based window - if possible) on top of the client area I want to decorate, with the majority of the real eastate being 100% transparent. Problem with this solution are issues like keyboard focus and mouse click.
Any tip or suggestion will be appreciated. Any tool (the Spy++ for DirectX) will be appreciated. Does DirectX (specifically Direct2D) has documented extensible or plug-able story, I'm not aware of and could use? Is there anything in Kernel Mode I'm missing?
Hm dont know exactly how that works on Direct Draw, but i hooked once the EndScene function for Direct3D and added some stuff to the scene before the real EndScene could be executed.
I made a little video that shows that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFshqIEaLBc
Here's my advice: don't do that. Any of it. If you find yourself having to hook and hack into the host that deeply, it's a clear sign that you just shouldn't be doing that. Find another way to draw what you need, or change your UI design so that it fits in with what Office already accomodates. Even if you assume it's possible to get this working, every time Office is updated (patch, service pack, new version) you will be at high risk of all your stuff breaking, with no guarantee that you'll be able to get it working again.

Entering text in Windows 8 in C#/MonoGame app

I'm writing a WinRT game for Windows 8, in C#, using the excellent MonoGame. I've reached the part where the user has achieved a high score and needs to enter their name. This is causing me more pain than I'd anticipated so I thought I'd ask for help.
First of all, is there a simple "enter some text" function that I can call, similar to Guide.BeginShowKeyboardInput in Windows Phone 7, or the ancient InputBox command in VB? I'm using Windows.UI.Popups.MessageDialog for displaying simple dialog messages, but can't find any similar thing for requesting text from the user.
Failing that, is there a way I can easily use a little piece of XAML to present a textbox for the user to use?
If neither of these are possible, I guess I'll have to wire this all up myself... I then would plan to intercept keystrokes and display the required text on screen myself. As I don't have a physical tablet (just the simulator) I'm struggling to start with this. How can I:
Detect whether the device has a physical keyboard, so I know whether or not to display the on screen keyboard?
If there is no physical keyboard, how can I show and hide the on screen keyboard?
Some of these sound like they should be easy to answer, but I've yet to track down answers to any of them.
Many thanks!
Adam.
Hey there is such a way to do this in monogame. There is a new template that allows you to create a XAML + Game game which allows you to use the game class you a used to with the xaml bits as well. These links should get you started. The monogame team rocks.
There are the three game types listed there. You want XAML + Game there is a template for it now if you get the proper version of monogame.
https://github.com/mono/MonoGame/wiki/Windows-8-Project-Types
let me know if you need more help
This is not a cross platform solution but you could use a FlyOut and place the controls for data entry on the window. FlyOut guidelines are here and UI Controls for text input guidelines are here. I have also used MessageDialog in a MonoGame for asking the user simple questions (up to 3 options) or to get a Yes|No response. You can get details of that class here.

Screen capture doesn't work on MFC application in Vista

We've got some in-house applications built in MFC, with OpenGL drawing routines. They all use the same code to draw on the screen and either print the screen or save it to a JPEG file. Everything's been working fine in Windows XP, and I need to find a way to make them work on Vista.
In three of our applications, everything works. In the remaining one, I can get the window border, title bar, menus, and task bar, but the interior never shows up. As I said, these applications use the exact same code to write to the screen and capture the window image, and the only difference I see that looks like it might be relevant is that the problem application uses the MFC multiple document interface, while the ones that work use the single document interface.
Either the answer isn't on the net, or I'm worse at Googling than I thought. I asked on the MSDN forums, and the only practical suggestion I got was to use GDI+ rather than GDI, and that did nothing different. I have tried different things with every part of the code that captures and prints or save, given a pointer to the window, so apparently it's a matter of the window itself. I haven't rebuilt the offending application using SDI yet, and I really don't have any other ideas.
Has anybody seen anything like this?
What I've got is four applications. They use a lot of common code, and share the actual .h and .cpp files, so I know the drawing and screen capture code is identical.
There is a WindowtoDIB() routine that takes a *pWnd, and a source rectangle and destination size. It looks like very slightly adapted Microsoft code, and I've found other functions in this file on the Microsoft website. Of my four applications, three handle this just fine, but one doesn't. The most obvious difference is that the problem one is MDI.
It looks to me like the *pWnd is the problem. I'm not a MFC guru by a long shot, and it seems to me that the problem may be that we've got one window setup in the SDIs, and more than one in the MDI. I may be passing the wrong *pWnd to the function.
In the meantime, it has started working properly on the 64-bit Vista test machine, although it still doesn't work on the 32-bit Vista machine. I have no idea why. I haven't changed anything since the last tests, and I didn't think anybody else had. (On the 32-bit version, the Print Screen key works as expected, but it does not save the screen as a JPEG.)
Your question title mentions screen capture but your actual question doesn't. Please elaborate more clearly. Is the problem that you can do screen capture of three of your applications, but not the fourth one? You can use different screen capture software that can capture OpenGL/DirectX windows. Those surfaces are handled directly by the Window Manager and won't show up with a simple 'PrtScn'.
Switching to GDI+ won't solve it, nor will switching to SDI.
If it's the content of the CView that you want, then yes, that should be right one. If it's the content of the whole screen (at least the content, without the toolbar(s) and status bar), then you should pass it the CMainFrame (that's the default name which may have been changed, the one that is derived from CMDIFrameWnd).
Can you post the code of WindowToDIB()? I've just tried it and It Works For Me (TM), but without OpenGL code in the view. Try passing the following windows to your WindowToDIB() function:
CMainFrame* mainfrm = static_cast<CMainFrame*>(::AfxGetMainWnd());
- mainfrm
- mainfrm->MDIGetActive()
- mainfrm->MDIGetActive()->GetActiveView()
and see what you get.
The contents of each window are directX surfaces and are only assembled by the window manager in the graphics card. You'd not be able to capture this unless you switch off the new interface (DWM) or code specifically for screen capture from the DWM.
Wikipedia has a good description of the Desktop Window Manager (DWM)
Sorry, I still don't understand. You're trying to get the Print Screen key to work on all four applications? Or you're trying to get the WindowtoDIB() function to work, which takes a 'screenshot' (from within your own application) of the application itself, so that it can be saved as an image file?
Also, what do you mean with 'he Print Screen key works as expected, but it does not save the screen as a JPEG.'? Print Screen only copies to the clipboard, what happens when you paste in Paint?
If your WindowtoDIB() function only 'captures' the window you pass to it, then yes, your MDI child windows are not going to show up.
We eventually solved this by creating a different OpenGL context, and drawing everything to that. We gave up on the screen capture.

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