[Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General] Dredd67:
Let’s sum up what we already know.

update 19-03-2008 : Icon tutorial by Luigi

update 26-03-2008 : Background mod by asefsef, some cleaning done.

*** IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING USEFUL NOT MENTIONED HERE, JUST PM ME AND I WILL UPDATE THIS POST. ***

0-

Basics

.dat files need to be opened using winzip. To extract the files you will need to use a password which is:

PASSWORD = b0fm18zq

*** WARNING ***

If you plan to use WinRAR instead of WinZIP to reencrypt the files, be sure to change the radio checkbox from RAR to ZIP format before entering the password (thanks cincij for the trick).

1-

Localization

Simply edit the SpbMobileShell.txt file and change the corresponding items to your needs:

…

Text Messages|Messages texte

My Documents|Mes documents

…

Note that not all of the texts will be changed; some of them require registry hacks.

2-

Customize the layouts (Quick and dirty tuto from SPBCLUB, written by met3ora ?)

How to get rid of this annoying icon tab at the bottom (Why do this soft has gestures enabled AND shortcuts ?) netzcoyote has a solution:

3-

Customize the icons

Thx 2 Luigi

Do-it-yourself Icon Tutorial: here. <- Use this !

4-

Customize the background

Thx 2 asefsef

So far, doing this is pretty easy:

- Extract files from qp_bkg_now.dat

- Change the separator2 and its mask to 240x320.

- Make the mask all white.

- Then put whatever image you like into the separator2 bmp.

You have to save the file as a Windows - 16bit - R5 G6 B5 - .bmp file.

if u miss the separator, just photoshop the separator back into the file. (thats not cheatin! >< hehe, it IS the separator layer after all.)

5-

Registry Hacks

You can do some pretty nice things by directly editing your registry:

Look at the keys located here:

HKLM>Software>Spb Software House 2>Spb Mobile Shell>

How to enable the 9th icon with a 3x3 layout:Just create a .reg file with this inside:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Spb Software House 2\Spb Mobile Shell\Menu\Root\Games]
"Image"=dword:00000008
"Text"="Jeux"
"MRUImage"=dword:000000BF
"Index"=dword:00000007
"Inactive"=dword:00000001
"Add"=dword:00000001

Copy to your PDA, and launch it from there. The "Games" Menu should be available in the settings as a 9th icon.

Here’s another exemple done by Vincentvg:

6-

Integration with Pocket Informant, Agenda Fusion and Agenda One

http://www.spbclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7794

7-

Make SPB your Today screen

Have a look here, thedumbkid has done something neet for us, called SPBWatcher.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=2029338

8-

Nice links

HOT Theme collection for SPB mobile Shell 2, maintained by iamwhoiam

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=380103

The development thread at XDA:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=374335

SPB Club:

http://www.spbclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15353

ActualiteMobiles: (french)

http://www.actualitemobile.com/forum/index.php/topic,1195.0.html

English translation of 4PDA.ru:

http://209.85.135.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=ru%7Cen&u=http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php%3Fs%3Da905e4fde300239b84d47f1dfd36ea09%26showtopic%3D31453%26st%3D2340%23entry1522182