yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
basically, i just want to see number of downloads.

i do this by putting a new version of TaskFacade to taskfacade.mybb3.org forum. There is an automatic counter of downloads there.

but there is no way there to make a direct link to .cab file. The link you get is, e.g.:

http://taskfacade.mybb3.org/download/file.php?id=31

and AppToDate does not understand this type of link, it needs an .cab file link.

If you know another way for me to see overall number of downloads along with providing AppToDate support, please let me know. I am really a layman in this area. :(
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] motisu:
Found a possible bug. I am running FEWidgetslite. When it is in fullscreen mode (no title bar and no softkeys) and I try to bring up TF, TF crashes. If I run FEW in regular mode, TF works OK.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] JNGold:
Nice update. I really like the new theme. However, there is one problem with it. The app names are very difficult to read when not selected. Sometimes a given process or app has a dark preview area so it is important to be able to see the app name on the title bar. Can the theme be modified so that unselected text is readable against the background?

TIA!
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
i agree with you.

also, i would prefer more distinct difference between selected and usual slots. maybe bold text or maybe more light for a selected one.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
well i did that on purpose, since you can use the dpad to move through and see what the apps are if you cant tell what they are by the preview (you should be able to)

but this is easy to change simply by editing the xml (is it possible in settings? not sure id have to check that)

i was thinking of doing one change though.. and that is instead of having the glossy half tone overlay on preview, just have a solid dark color transparency over the unselected/solid light color transparency over selected previews.. what do you think?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
i think that will be another theme ;)

i was trying to do something like this, but the problem is that a darkened white screen is very similar to a whitened dark screen.

but first please check if you have a possibility to upgrade your theme to make selected/usual frame distinguishing easier + more distinguishable usual title.

if not - still not a problem. your current theme goes default anyway.

thanks.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
By the way.

Can anyone (the first suspect is of course htctoucher ;)) make a theme similar to this:

in principle, it's pretty easy, even frame shading.

that would be great!
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
please post a crash report.

i am using several programs running in full screen mode, and they are ok with TF.

as i know, the program you are writing about is in alpha phase, so possibly it is a problem of this program. i cannot imagine how can they interfere though.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] aussiebum:
Just downloaded TaskFacade RC4, so far so good. One small thing though - the icon seems to be missing? Look at screenshot attached.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
thanks. will be fixed in the release
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
yeah i wanted to do this, have shadows behind the previews.. is that possible?

i couldnt really figure out how to do it
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
i attempted to do it by myself. 1 post below is the screenshot...

How to do shadows:

say you have 240 x 320 frame size.

1. fill it with background color (51,51,51 in our case);

2. inside this frame, draw the rectangle for future snapshot (say, ltwh = 5,5,220, 270);

3. apply outer shadow for this rectangle (shadow must also fit in our frame, so the rectangle must be a bit smaller);

4. make rectangle transparent inside;

5. maybe some gloss.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
Taskfacade news

Hi guys.

is anyone still interested in the 4.0 release?

if (yes)

{

did you believe this will happen on 23.02?

}

:)

sorry, i just decided to add some more theming features that you have to test...

1. when loading, settings and theme files will be validated. if a problem occurs, the program informs you and gracefully exits;

2. you will be able to put the whole screenshot into a specific rectangle within a slot (see attachment). it will allow you not intersecting frames and titles if necessary (at the moment, you draw frames and titles always above a screenshot. if a frame or a title uses some large space and are not transparent, you lose some part of a screenshot);

3. there will be no more "Enable/disable titles" feature. There will be no more "Titled/untitled frames" in a theme.

Reason: it will make theme creation easier, not forcing a designer to create a mode he is not willing to create.

Instead, you always can create 2 separate themes.

Bad news here: those who already developed a theme will have to update it (good news - it takes ca. 2 minutes);

4. You will be specify gaps between slots and selected slot's extension (btw, please give me the right word: expansion, inflation, ...?) within your theme. These parameters will be scalable regarding to user's screen resolution, as everything else in a theme.

5. There will be a log file with the info on TF's last launch. You will have all bug info together with some tracing there.

6. Default display mode will be changed to FullScreen for PocketPC, Menu for Smartphones.

7. Maybe a new default theme "Yellow" (see the screenshot attached; please give your feedback).

Are these changes necessary?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] JNGold:
@GPS-Lover,

Love the theme. Really brings out the ability to identify the application that has focus.

Look forward to the update.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Mandragore:
Hmm, I prefer htctoucher's TF4 RC4 theme. But people can change themes whenever they want. No big deal. And take your time if you feel like tinkering some more with the theming features. Yes, I'm impressed with your work and I'm very interested in TF4 and future updates. It has replaced WkTASK over the last couple of days, thanks!

Even so, usability and performance improvements are always welcome.. How do you activate TF4 and get it to show and switch so fast? I've currently mapped it to double press Volume Up with AE Button Plus. AE and TF are installed on Internal Storage. Would it help to install both on the device? Do you have TF3d running? How many processes do you have running on average? Do you know your pagepool size?

I'm also wondering if there's anything I can do to speed up switching. I was spoiled with WkTASK refreshing the screen instantly. Even with just 1 animation frame it takes TF noticably longer to start the actual refresh. Any tips? More importantly, I really miss seeing icons in the taskbar and switching by tapping them. Would you please consider this as a future option, if possible? That would be the best of both worlds ultimate solution for me!

Do you use screen rotating software and can TF deal with landscape? I use changeScreen. When I have a few non-excluded applications including TF3D running in landscape, activating TF shows TF3D instead of the TF previews. Weird. And activating TF a second time crashes TF.

ObjectDisposedException

bij Microsoft.AGL.Common.MISC.HandleAr(PAL_ERROR ar) etc. Let me know if you need the rest.

I can prevent TF crashing by excluding TF in changeScreen and configuring it to always stay face up portrait. Just like I configured TF3D. Now when I tilt my device in landscape, activating TF still shows TF3D. But activating TF a second time shows the previews. Albeit in face up portrait, while the other applications were running in landscape when captured. Weird.

I'm sure I've seen landscape previews as well, but I can't reproduce it right now. Anyway, I've also submitted a bug report to the changeScreen developer regarding another issue with TF. Just so you know.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] SaBo:
RC4 working great on my Touch Cruise.

Would suggest to change default font size and color though:

Font Size 30 -> 40

Font Color 107,107,107 -> 150,150,150 and 225,225,225 -> 255,255,255

It's better in terms of readability on QVGA screens

Sascha
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
can anyone help?

selected slot's (or frame's) ...

? extension

? expansion

? inflation

? increase

? zoom

? enlargement

?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] JNGold:
Can you give a bit more sentence context? What are you trying to convey?

I am leaning toward expansion but will wait to see your response.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Mandragore:
Perhaps you can show a screenshot and point out what you're trying to describe?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] MadMax1978:
OutOfMemoryException

Was testing 4.0 RC4 for a couple of days, works great, except that at some moment, i get OutOfMemoryExceptions from the following applications:MyStopwatch (v1.5 20-01-2009) and CapSure v1.11e/

after closing Task Facade i can start these programs normally.....

I hope you can fix this??
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
see illustration.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] aussiebum:
still don't get it. best guess is,

"selected window's size"?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
try to use it:

go to Settings->Layout->Selected frame's extension, try to set it to something not equal to zero: say, 5 or ten. Then try to navigate over snapshots with your dpad.

A slot that is currently selected will be zoomed in by the extension you specified. This extension can also be negative, in this case a slot will be zoomed out.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
TaskFacade 4.0 Release Candidate 5

2008-02-24: TaskFacade 4.0 Release Candidate 5

+ New standard theme: Yellow

+ New theme: Minimal. This is the theme you use in 3.8.5. It uses practically no resources, made for those who use devices with less memory or launch many programs simultaneously

+ when loading, settings and theme files will be validated. if a problem occurs, the program informs you and gracefully exits

+ A log file with the info on TF's last launch added. You will have all bug info together with some tracing there

+ You will be able to put the whole screenshot into a specific rectangle within a slot (see Yellow theme). It allows you not intersecting frames and titles if necessary (at the moment, you draw frames and titles always above a screenshot. if a frame or a title uses some large space and are not transparent, you lose some part of a screenshot)

+ Gaps between slots and selected slot's extension settings are moved into themes. These parameters will be scalable regarding to user's screen resolution, as everything else in a theme

+ Wallpaper can be of a size smaller than the screen (e.g., logo only, see Minimal theme for an example). In this case it will be put over the solid fill (can be also alpha-blended)

- removed "Enable/disable titles" setting and "Titled/untitled frames" settings for a theme. Reason: it will make theme creation easier, not forcing a designer to create a mode he is not willing to create. Instead, you can create 2 separate themes. Bad news here: those who already developed a theme will have to update it (good news - it takes ca. 2 minutes)

# default display mode will be changed to FullScreen for PocketPC, Menu for Smartphones.

# bugfix: program logo re-added

This is the last RC. It will become 4.0 release on 27.02.2009 if no problems appear.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] lastnikita:
I'd use "zoom" ;)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] zamzungas:
i have this one on omnia works fine however i dont like it
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
what was that? you speak english?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] claus1953:
I would say scaling then....slot scaling..
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] claus1953:
I will try it on my ROM with beta WM 6.5, and report if it works ok.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
well, scaling implies some scaling factor, e.g., 2 times larger.

and this parameter uses pixels.

this means, if it is 2, then the selected slot will be increased 2 pixels each side.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] wuub:
nice app, a little slow to bring up with the button mapped on a Diamond

(animation could be a little faster v4RC5)

but the concept is brilliant...

If you find a way to make it easier and faster to show up I'll definetely keep it installed!

regards and thank you
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
hey gps-lover, is it possible to do this with a theme?

the screenshot above includes two versions of the skin, attached is the second version (with the text below the snapshots)

i havent done the landscape images yet, its just portrait

when i try to make the theme, there are just black boxes.. ill attach the theme, maybe you can look at it?

what do you think?

what am i doing wrong?
​
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
hi htctoucher,

the theme looks great!

please try the updated TF cab attached. It should solve your problem.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] SaBo:
RC5 working fine on Touch Cruise.

Yellow skin makes "browsing" through open applications easier.

Still, would suggest to use font size 40 on QVGA screens of less than 3" size.

Sascha
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
still waiting for your help, guys.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] dody:
RC5 with yellow theme is great just one thing... when i active the option Selection title in task bar it keeps the name of latest selected program even if i already closed it

one request if possible Your Application shots the program after last seen is there away to capture in background so when i press TF hardware button i see the screen shot of latest update of a program

Hope i was clear

Great improvement as always Thanks!
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
unfortunately it's not possible in windows mobile. WM draws only to screen, i.e. when the program is active.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
tried the cab, unfortunately it only seems to have partially fixed the problem

unless its a problem with my theme xml?

it looks like the png isnt blending with the background as it should, see screen attached

is it the theme or the program?

if its the theme, could you let me know what i need to change?

thanks a lot! :D
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Mandragore:
If I'm correct this setting's value determines if TF zooms in or out on the selected task preview. If so, I'd label it something with 'Zoom'.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
I agree it should be something like selected snapshot zoom

I have an issue.. whenever I navigate through the snapshots with my dpad they keep automatically getting selected to be closed .. I tried increasing the hold delay from 300 to 600 but it didn't change.. should I just keep increasing this value?

also is it possible to add fake transparency? for example have the active process or program snapshot not only be a snapshot but also be the wallpaper and then have an option to select a black overlay transparency over the wallpaper?

that's all.. now just awaiting answer to above question and these! :D

thanks for your great work

htctoucher
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
UPDATED!

you should use TF4RC5.2 (see the attachment) for it to work!

Here is how the rendering mechanism works:

1. Draw TF to the screen:

1. Create an empty memory rectangle with the size of a screen;

2. Fill it with the Background's fill color;

3. Draw the wallpaper (alpha-blending can be used here) to #2;

4. Draw every slot except the selected one (see below for details how we create a slot) to #3, using OuterTransparency as transparent color (removing this color from a slot);

5. Draw the selected slot (see below for details how we create a slot) without alpha-blending to #3;

6. Draw the memory rectangle (#1) to the screen without alpha-blending.

2. Draw a slot:

1. Create an empty memory rectangle;

2. Fill it with the peace of the background (see the 1st part);

3. Draw a snapshot without alpha-blending to a specified area to #2;

4. Draw either a usual or selected frame (alpha-blending can be used here) to #2;

5. Draw a title to #2;

6. Draw either a CloseProcess or DeadProcess frame (alpha-blending can be used here) to #2
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
i think i might just wait until real transparency comes for this theme, i just cant get it to work!

i tried setting a background color to 255,0,234 (see attached) but still.. no avail, cant get it to work

its probably just me.. but i just cant do it!

i really like my new theme idea, is it possible?

excuse my ignorance!

htctoucher
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
please check my previous post. it's updated.

check your theme with RC5.2
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
thanks, changed in the future release.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
please come back when you have a device good enough to run it! ;)

(just a joke!)

Seriously, you should look for a button manager (or configure your current one) that does not wait extra time for double- or triple clicks. This is the main problem i believe.

Second, try to use some simple theme. The 4.0 RC5 comes with a Minimal theme that uses less resources.

Third, be reasonable in launched apps. If your device always has 8 programs running - it's not what it is supposed to do. As for myself, I never have more than 5 programs running simultaneously on my Diamond.

Regards,

Serge
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
simply press a direction button shortly, not long. don't wait until it moves.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
with this new version should I use background color and transparency?

or is it supporting real transparency (i tried real transparency it didn't work there were just black boxes with glossy overlay :D)

sorry I feel like I am being a nuisance!

I would like to get it working though and get you another two themes :D
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
I have tried pressing as fast as humanly possible and it still happens!

may be just my device as it is quite used, not sure though
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
have a look at the Yellow theme with a wallpaper enabled.

those frames are really transparent.

Essentially, from now on i draw frames alpha-blended over the wallpaper/solidfill color.

and my explanation above - it describes how rc5.2 works.

you should not be sorry. it's a pleasure to work with you. you really generate ideas. and i like what you do!
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Mandragore:
Thanks! What button manager do you use and how do you have it configured?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
aebutton, doubleclick of the middle button (and i have no tripleclick).
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] MadMax1978:
OutOfMemoryException

OutOfMemoryException

During testing of 4.0 RC5 i still get OutOfMemoryExceptions from the following applications:MyStopwatch (v1.5 20-01-2009) and CapSure v1.11e.

after closing Task Facade i can start these programs normally.....

I have plenty of memory available on my HTC Touch Pro..

I hope you can fix this??
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
No, unfortunately i cannot fix how the programs you mentioned manage memory.

You can monitor TaskFacade with SKTools, for example. It always uses more or less the same amount of memory, which depends on your current theme and a number of running programs (for which it keeps full-size snapshots). That's it.

If you find any memory leak in TaskFacade, please report.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
2 htctoucher

htctoucher,

i'm afraid i gave you a wrong version yesterday.

here is the correct RC5.2

please try it with your theme.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] MadMax1978:
Ok, in this situation, when i get the OutOffMemoryException error, i have no more than four programs running: TF3D, Calender Touch, vito sms and eventually spb mobile shell(for the fast program launcher).

At that moment Task Facade uses 1.9 MB(sktools reported in field "Size) and the

heap size is 1.6MB)

The total of memory is 200.99 MB

in use is 96.58 MB

Later I will post an save list from sktools

I really like the full screen view and glossy theme!!!!!

Nice Job!!!

I now added the processlist.txt attachment (the savelist command from sktools), there you will see the memory consumption of all progs running on my HTC Touch Pro....

But I am afraid it won't help you with solving the problem...

Strange enough I noticed that sometimes restarting task facade did not help, so when i start one of the two apps I still get the error message, but closing Task Facade then will help!

Also tried an other version of the program (v1.4.2.8) but I get the same errors...

Sometimes I get an little different error after which I can view details of the error:

OutOfMemoryException

bij Microsoft.AGL.Common.MISC.HandleAr(PAL_ERROR ar)

bij System.Drawing.Bitmap._Init(Int32 cx, Int32 cy)

bij System.Drawing.Bitmap..ctor(Int32 width, Int32 height)

bij MyStopWatch.OptionPanel.OnResize(EventArgs e)

bij System.Windows.Forms.Control.WnProc(WM wm, Int32 wParam, Int32 lParam)

bij System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WnProc(WM wm, Int32 wParam, Int32 lParam)

bij System.Windows.Forms.Control._InternalWnProc(WM wm, Int32 wParam, Int32 lParam)

bij Microsoft.AGL.Forms.DLG.MessageBox(String wszCaption, String wszBody, MessageBoxButtons mbtyp, MessageBoxIcon mbicon, MessageBoxDefaultButton defbtn, DialogResult& mbret)

bij System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(String text, String caption, MessageBoxButtons buttons, MessageBoxIcon icon, MessageBoxDefaultButton defaultButton)

bij MyStopWatch.Program.Main()
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
ahh thats why!

great!

got it and got the themes working, ill upload them to your themes thread in case youd like to use them as default:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=470096&page=2&post#19

i am getting one issue:

when i switch from landscape to portrait the text size changes (gets bigger in portrait and then smaller in landscape) i think its a bug

oh.. by the way!

i found that if i set the longpress to 600ms delay with the rc5v2 you gave me .. moving with the dpad no longer has the problem of setting a program for closure

great stuff!

htctoucher
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
hey htctoucher,

please check your private messages in a minute.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
thanks. they look great.

but what about the theme you showed yesterday, the one with a black title oval and a cross in the bottom-right corner? I was hoping you will publish it today also.

i do not see such behaviour...
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] htctoucher:
ahh.. i changed the theme from those black bars.. i suppose it would be easy to bring them back in another theme

would you like the black bars across the snapshot, or below the snapshot?

with the new theme i just moved the small cross in the bottomright corner to the topright

also, is it possible to set the offset for the text shadow to something like 0,-1?

this way you could have the shadow above the text?

its good for apple's embossing style
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] gps-lover:
i lieked them both...

sure it's possible. just try it! :)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] claus1953:
I dont have MyStopwatch but have CapSure v.¡.11e and it start normally with TF4.0 RC5 running
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] MadMax1978:
Last days I did a lot of troubleshooting:

The OutOfMemoryException I got still came back, but exit-ing Task Facade did not always help.

It also could help closing other applications. But even after closing all running applications, one time it did nog help to get rid of the OutOfMemoryException from MyStopwatch.

On the contrary, I didn't get any more OutOfMemoryExceptions from CapSure, at the moment when i got them from MyStopwatch, I found another Stopwatch application, also freeware and called Stopwatch which did not have those OutOfMemoryExceptions. Both of them where finger touch friendly!

So it seemed that those errors did not have to do something with Task Facade!:)

You have done a great job!!!:)