[Touch Dual, MDA Touch Plus General] pp18:
Thanks to experts in this thread of the Elf forum. Obviously most info below are evolved from it. Hence, i'm not going to repeat the same things here.

[Introduction]

Some Touch Dual is shipped with a 4-side cube while some with 3 sides only. In fact both are supported by Touch Dual and it's just a matter of registry settings.

will split the write-up into 3 posts.

#1 - briefly describe the concerned reg keys and files

#2 - sample .reg for controlling number of sides, animations, and the app launchers

#3 - links to packaged themes attached to this thread

[Usage Notes]

1. You must have a Touch Dual (Nike). Surely the descriptions and reg won't work on Touch (Elf) or Sprint Touch (Vogue), as some registry settings are different. Take your own risk if you try on other versions of the TouchFlo cube.

2. You need to have \Windows\CustAPLauncher.exe shipped with your Touch Dual, instead of a version you got from other sources.

[About the relevant regs and files]

(A) Involved exe

Biotouch - play the up-down animation, play the left-right animation, launch the corresponding exe of each side of the cube

QuickDial - the quick dialer side

MediaHubMini - the Music, Photo, Video side

APLauncher - the default 2x3 application launcher side

CustAPLauncher - the second application launcher side, work in same way as APLauncher

Theoretically there is no limitation on how the 3 or 4 sides are sorted, because they're simply driven by reg. After all, here i purpose "hardcode" the name so that our theme packs (.brn & .reg) can be shared without a big file renaming process:

Side A = QuickDial

Side B = MediaHubMini

Side C = APLauncher

Side D = CustAPLauncher

reading the reg key, i guess Biotouch can handle many more sides, even though i doubt how many people would be willing to flip through a lot of sides. :D

(B) Involved image files

before talking about the image files, must first mention the troublesome "ColorSkin" reg key which is not used on Elf and Vogue, making many cool apps and themes for Elf and Vogue not working on Nike.

in below, {c} = the reg key value for [HKLM\Software\HTC\ColorSkin]Color, which seems to carry a default value of "Blue". all necessary image files must be placed under your \Windows\ directory. no full path is allowed in reg key values. e.g. if your ColorSkin = "Blue", "{c}D0.brn" below means the file "\Window\BlueD0.brn"

I do NOT recommend change in the ColorSkin value. the prob is, the "Blue" prefix is not only used in cube files, but also many other places like the action screen and maybe many more. unless you're very confident that you've created the whole set, better not to modify the key value. fyi, i found 75 .brn and 339 .png under \Windows\ starting with "blue" in my device with a 3-sided cube.

Tips: you can use brnconvert.exe to convert your own 24-bit .bmp to .brn

(B1) Image files for Biotouch

Theoretically there is no limitation on names of the .brn files, because all are controlled by the combined set of "Cube*" and "Path*" keys. yet, I'd like to follow the file names used in the default cube shipped with the device for simplicity.

{c}A0.brn, {c}A1.brn, .., {c}A5.brn = transition from the side A to side B

{c}B0.brn, {c}B1.brn, .., {c}B5.brn = transition from the side B to side C

{c}C0.brn, {c}C1.brn, .., {c}C5.brn = transition from the side C to side D (if 4-sided) or side A (if 3-sided)

{c}D0.brn, {c}D1.brn, .., {c}D5.brn = transition from the side D to side A

Remarks: there are only 4 transition states in Elf, while 6 in Vogue and Nike

{c}X01.brn, {c}X02.brn, .., {c}X05.brn = transition of pulling up/down side X (where X = A, B, C or D)

Remarks: there are only 3 transition states in Elf, while 5 in Vogue and Nike

(B2) Image files for QuickDial

no big difference from Elf / Vogue. just QD_01.png .. QD_04.png not required.

(B3) Image files for MediaHubMini

the same set files as in Elf. yet, all MH_xx.brn and MH_xx_HL.brn must carry the {c} prefix.

(B4) APLauncher, CustAPLauncher, and more launchers

APLauncher.exe and CustAPLauncher are identical, just reading from two different reg keys to get their corresponding settings:

[HKLM\Software\HTC\Biotouch\APLauncher]

[HKLM\Software\HTC\Biotouch\CustAPLauncher]

We can duplicate APLauncher.exe to be called by Biotouch.exe to add even more launcher sides to the cube. the corresponding reg key will be same as the .exe.

e.g., if we create a copy named APLauncher2.exe, its corresponding registry key will be:

[HKLM\Software\HTC\Biotouch\APLauncher2]

of course, will need additional keys under "Biotouch" reg key to tell how biotouch.exe does the animation and call out the additional launchers.

in this level we have the "Background" string value, without path and ColorSkin, to tell the background image of the launcher. by default, they are "AL_Bkgd.brn" and "CAL_Bkgd.brn", referring to \Windows\BlueAL_Bkgd.brn and \Windows\BlueCAL_Bkgd.brn

AL/CAL Buttons

theoretically there is no limit in how many buttons on one side. everything driven by reg:

each button defined by one [AppN] child key, starting from 0. e.g, an AL with 2x3 buttons will have App0-App5, 3x3 buttons will have App0-App8.

for each [AppN] key:

position and size determined by the "xPos", "yPos", "Height" and "Width" values.

Name = {caption shown on 4th side}

Path = {target application to call, in full path}

Param = {parameter to the target application}

IconPath and IconPressPath = images of button and pressed button

must NOT carry file path and ColorSkin. e.g. should specify "AL_ie.brn" to refer to \Windows\BlueAL_ie.brn (assume colorskin=blue)

FontSize = font size of captioned, observed for CAL only but not for AL