yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows Mobile Software Development] ace10134:
Hmm not a bad thought. How about:

Tap and hold a contact's image and then:

Drag to the left or right to delete

Drag up to foward (feels like your tossing it to someone else's phone)

Drag down to copy their message (feels like your pulling the message down to the text entry box)

You guys like that a little more??
[Windows Mobile Software Development] weijoon:
N1, i can't support u in financial, but i can be a tester while public release, nice app, nice UI, i would definetely replace the default sms app in WM. =)

BTW, will this support QVGA? Cause from screenshot it's only in VGA mode.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] k1sr:
Cool - I thought it was supposed to go through all function (in mockup of course) inc. new, reply, etc... I only got the inbox (I think)...
[Windows Mobile Software Development] TeDeV:
not a bad thought? do guys know what "doing fast something" means? why would someone want to move his finger to the top to drag a picture, and REMEMBER where to drag it in order to do what they want?

stop thinking "star trek" tricks, and think about usability, and how fast u can read - reply to a message. this is what a good sms application means to me.

and don't forget that what you guys are asking in all these posts, is A LOT.

let's have sms first, and then we talk about all the rest.

dealing with microsoft's files is not always easy.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] longice:
Yes, it will be multi resolution once we get an actual version running. The graphical alpha is only VGA because it would have been to much work making one version for every resolution;)
[Windows Mobile Software Development] longice:
Hehe, do you feel the pressure, TeDeV? ;) I agree, lets get the app running first. Then those of you who want, can create a "Star Trek edition" or something :p As it's an open-source, everyone can develop it the way they want!
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
I totally agree. Remember that if you need to 'learn' how to use an application, the application will most likely be thrown away by a lot of users.

And I also agree with you on the second point ... for now our priorities are:

- A light, fast SMS app

- Slide 2 Send (as default ... later as an option)

- Finger friendly

- Attractive UI supporting (almost) all resolutions

The more features that will be added, the slower it will get (hmm, slow wasn't in out priority list, right ?).

The email integration can be added later and is a good idea ... but it's not a priority !

I can see a lot of community response and that's a really good thing !

On the other hand, more users means more requests and expectations.

What the developers need to understand is that more requests does not mean more priorities !

On the other hand ... what the community should understand: this is an open-source .. it's not something that will be built by a software company.

This means that the program is finished whenever it's finished ... but also the way it's finished.

Don't get me wrong, developers MUST listen to the community. But when a developer starts, he should start with priorities, develop something that meets these priorities, release a full version and THEN (not earlier) listen to recommendations of the community.

So for now, the priorities are stated above ... if we complete those, we can start implementing other features.

On a sidenote ... it's awesome we receive this kind of response and feedback !

This means that there are a lot of interested users and this application is a must (and the standard WM app sucks ;-))

Another interesting article for choosing the programming language:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/CSharpVsCPP.aspx
[Windows Mobile Software Development] longice:
You are absolutely correct, kly, these are the focus areas. I've updated the first post a bit to point out what's priority one and what's not. Hopefully, that'll help ;)

When I started this thread, I was wondering if I would ever get a single response.. so yes, the interest is really overwhelming! But that is really good, and I'm so happy that the community wants to put hours into this project!!
[Windows Mobile Software Development] Jclarkk:
By the way nobody mentioned a thing about the program being unicode... this is very important atleast to me since I also use hebrew in my phone
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
Interesting point of view ... should note that as one of the secondary priorities.

First let's create a base program (I will start by the end of this week).
[Windows Mobile Software Development] k1sr:
Don't know if this helps, but Vijay555 has a messaging (SMS and Email) app. very very straightforward...

VJSMS and VJEMAIL http://www.vijay555.com/?Releases:VJPhoneTools

While neither of these 'replace' the WM interface, they bypass it completely. with some permission from Vijay555 these could be used to 'send' the messages (simply pass a message string and recipient to the program from S2S)

Or maybe Vijay might have some tips getting around any of the major headaches putting something like this together...

BTW - this is just a suggestion (which is why we have forums) - before anyone tries to pull me down for being a trekkie... :p
[Windows Mobile Software Development] elementalfusion:
the graphics look damn good! can't wait for a lightweight finger friendly sms app for WM!
[Windows Mobile Software Development] Touchmypro:
Awesome :D
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
Sending an SMS in C++ isn't really the problem ... it's retrieving the existing messages that is the problem.

We can create a c++ program that will intercept all received messages and store it in a local file, or we can create a c# program that will retrieve all the existing messages.

Several libraries like the InTheHand library are written in .NET and requires the .net framework to start, meaning the time we win using c++ will be vanished.

EDIT:

Still ... thanks for sharing information ;-)
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
He he, I think you got the languages the wrong way round :D

I was thinking the same thing about text file, maybe this could be a placeholder function until someone finds a freeware CEMAPI wrapper or.... all the donation money could go to buying the InTheHand .NET library

This provides the PocketOutlook message functionality WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE STANDARD .NET CF POCKETOUTLOOK NAMESPACE YOU MONEY HUNGRY LAZY M$ B******DS!
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
Personally, I think the InTheHand.NET library isn't the right way to go.

It sill uses .NET, meaning the .NET framework has to be loaded whenever the program starts ... meaning it takes a while to start the program :-)

Or we choose to develop in c# and write our own classes for SMS-handling, or we go for c++ and detach completely from the Windows Mobile structure (thus the existing messages will not be retrieved !)
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
But using C++ allows you to natively access the CEMAPI allowing you access to the message stores. I think c# .NET personally is the way to go, given its accessibility. On a seperate note, I am writing an alpha version of this and currently i have just simulated the inbox view by adding SMS message from each contact, I have never uploaded files to hosting sites such as mediashare, rapidshare, etc, which one is the best one to use?
[Windows Mobile Software Development] knownboyofno:
I like megaupload.com because it doesn't really limit you but they have hosting sites that will upload your file to several downloading sites. (uploadjockey.com)
[Windows Mobile Software Development] ajskhan:
you can email it to me and ill find a place to host it, possibly filedropper or my own site.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] dickenz:
If you need any changes to the graphics done please PM me and I'll amend ASAP. I was just waiting for someone to get started.

Yeah megaupload is good too.

@kly: Same goes for you. I have xda open most days so I'll get the PMs rather quick.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] ace10134:
You could send it to me, and I could host it, as long as it's not a big file. If it's just the .CAB, then I'd be happy to host it. And then you can just use a direct link instead of having to go through the Rapidshare crap. Just e-mail me it or something. PM me if you want me to host it.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] :
mediafire is the best no limits or wait times.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
OK I have put together just a inbox preview - it will create a simulated text message for each contact. This is in c# .net cf - I think you will need .net 3.5 to run it. I currently own the Xperia and do not own any VGA device, however I have only used variables pretty much all the way through but have had to tweak them slightly. I shall replace the strongly typed variables with a method to call them from a text file, but I have recently moved house and a lot of things are going on and I have spent all evening coding the scrolling function (this is my first mobile app so please be lenient :D)

FYI the inbox header black background is actually an image so it will be easily replaced, etc. I shall work on implementing the opening of a conversation in the next few days.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=757095c7c87e717f0c814df2efeadc50e04e75f6e8ebb871

It is just an exe, no cab. Copy to device and run.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] longice:
Man, this is GREAT work!! Really loving this preview!!! Great scrolling, and really nice with the simulated messages - i love this inbox view!! Creds, man! :D:D:D
[Windows Mobile Software Development] orb3000:
Awsome!!

Waiting to try final version

Thanks a lot!
[Windows Mobile Software Development] Sean D.:
What resolution is this in?

If it's VGA can someone PLEASE post screen shots?
[Windows Mobile Software Development] ajskhan:
+1 for screenshots
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
Hi there,

I was trying to create some screenshots ... but I can't get the program running (on a Topaz) :-).

I get the OutOfMemory exception ... maybe you are drawing items even when they are not visible ?

Nice work on being the first to create a program though ;-)

Edit:

I've started work on a DLL that can be used to retrieve all messages.

For now it's mainly research and some trial and (most of it) error, but we'll get there !
[Windows Mobile Software Development] pauernet:
here it comes
[Windows Mobile Software Development] [germany]merlot:
Here are three helpful links:

Pocket PC and Smartphone 99% .NET MAPI (C#)

Sending mail using the Microsoft Windows CE Mail API (C++)

Sending an SMS using CEMAPI (C++)

I don't know if anyone of you guys already has this information, if yes don't care about my post, otherwise maybe it'll help a bit.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
Nope, I am trying to be (pretty) efficient when it comes to it. Each SMS item is created as an image to be drawn once when refreshing, so the individual contact image, contact name, preview message, etc is not drawn independently to save time, but doing this means each message image is created and held in memory.

This demo merely creates a simulated message for each contact you have. Do you happen to have a million contacts?? :D
[Windows Mobile Software Development] Kraize:
Go go go! PM me if you guys want to mass test this. I'll cook it into my fuze rom :)
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
Sorry let me clarify this a little :D

I meant all messages have bitmaps created with the Contact Name, etc drawn on to it. Only messages whose Y position is > (MessageRegionStart-MessageBitmapHeight) and <(MessageRegionEnd) will be drawn, but all will remain in memory. I can change this so that all components of the message are drawn in realtime instead of the messages being held in memory, and will have to see how this impacts performance??
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
I think I have about 500 contacts, so my first thought was the drawing consumed too much memory.

Maybe keeping all the images in the memory is the cause ?

Creating the graphics object for each message takes up quite some space (remember it draws the contact picture each time).

If you're going to store all of this in the memory for about 500 contacts, you'll see some heavy memory usage.

Although I'm sure there's another issue here ... Can't immagine I'm the only person with 500+ contacts here.

But let's not focus on that ... you were on track ... I don't want to kick you off that track :-)

Keep up the good work !
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
OK I shall change the code tonight and upload another version which draws the text and images in realtime, hopefully there will not be too much performance overhead (crosses fingers). I think it would be a good idea to optimise this before moving forward, to see what we are capable graphics wise in the NET CF framework.

Otherwise, has any other users managed to test it? Any performance issues, etc?

EDIT: Oh yeah, kly, its all your fault for knowing too many people! :D
[Windows Mobile Software Development] B4PJS:
Works fine for me :)

BTW, can you turn this into an address book? Scrolls a helluva lot better than any addressbook I have tried!!
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
Ha ha, believe me I spent hours last night perfecting the scrolling, this is the first app I have built for .NET CF so I had to write the scrolling code from scratch!! You should have seen some of the behaviour to begin with, I should have recorded it now in retrospect as it was hilarious!

About it being an address book.... eeeerrrrrrrr..... maybe we should finish this app first :D
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
Hi again.

I didn't try your scrolling, so I don't know if it supports 'OutOfRange' scrolling (iPhone wise ... if you're trying to scroll outside of the range, it will let you do that and automatically scroll back).

Because I only have the visual c# express edition at work (which doesn't support WM projects), I've created something we can use for scrolling.

You have to open it on your desktop !!!

Let me know what you think.

I'll upload the source later on.

Greets

PS: I'm still working on the c++ DLL to retrieve the messages, but it isn't easy ;-)

*EDIT*:

Just try to 'throw' the black box outside of the picturebox and watch the result :D

*EDIT2*:

This code is ofcourse easily portable to the mobile platform.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
Yep mine does exactly that (i.e. the same as touch flo contacts scrolling to the beginning or end, where it bounces back? if so I have attempted to make the bounce back even more fluid!)

Also, was thinking, should we use parallax scrolling backgorunds?? :D
[Windows Mobile Software Development] apreichner:
I'm not sure if this is possible to add as far as an SMS app is concerned, as it is more of an addon to Windows Mobile... But, is there a way to add a quick reply to notifications received in Windows Mobile? Similar to what Digsby does on Windows? http://img.digsby.com/screenshots/7_popups.png .

Trillian Astra also added this capability to Windows. If you put your mouse cursor over a notification it offered a Reply and Quick Reply option. Perhaps a mobile version could offer a Quick Reply and Ignore option. And then tapping the message itself would bring up the full threaded conversation.

This would be great because often times I just want to quickly reply to a message without going into the SMS app, and then go back to whatever else I was doing. I'm not a really experienced mobile developer so I don't know if it is possible to created your own style of notification system on Windows Mobile.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] ace10134:
I second apreichner's idea. It would be brilliant if the text notification box popped up on your screen, and then you could just click a little text box within the notification, and write your reply!

That would make this app just amazing and then it wouldn't be just another SMS app.

Please consider the idea, it's important.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] B4PJS:
Well, the way I see it is that you have basically done an address book already by going through all the contacts in the phone. Would hardly take much more to click through to the contact data...
[Windows Mobile Software Development] chrisque1:
There´s a new version of vito sms-chat with a nice improvement in the dark theme. If they just add the pictures of the contacts that app will rule.

Thx to all the team for the great job, I´ll be waiting too for the result of this proyect. ;)
[Windows Mobile Software Development] nir36:
I believe this deserves a nice big fat sticky

*Stuck*
[Windows Mobile Software Development] ace10134:
Suggestion:

I second apreichner's idea. It would be brilliant if the text notification box popped up on your screen, and then you could just click a little text box within the notification, and write your reply!

That would make this app just amazing and then it wouldn't be just another SMS app.

Please consider the idea, it's important.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] longice:
Thnx alot for the sticky, nir!! Love it:D:D

About the scrolling, it seems to work really smooth on the Diamond. Also the "out of area" scrolling - it's really nice!! So we got something good going here;)

About the address book request - take a look at Easy Contact, it's quite a good app for contact management.

Great work these last days, guys, the project is moving on each day! I hope you'll get things figured out with retrieving messages, kly, as it will be an important break through for us now:) Have you managed to intercept new messages? Or looked at the sending sms bit?
[Windows Mobile Software Development] _4saken_:
nice start so far! I just wanted to say that in my opinion the integration of this app within touchflo 3d is very very important. so if I click on the send sms button in the contacts menu I want this sms app to come up, allready preloaded with the right phone number. and I'm talking about the tf3d2 contact menu, not the default windows one. this was the main reason for me not to use any other sms apps like the one from vito.

so please, make sure this works. it needs to completly replace the windows sms tool and integrate within touchflo 3d in every way. other whise it's useless for me.

greets,

4saken
[Windows Mobile Software Development] pipaman:
I want these features also, but I don't know if an ad-hoc add-in could be the best solution.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
ok have uploaded 0.1.1

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=757095c7c87e717f0c814df2efeadc50e04e75f6e8ebb871

this is to (hopefully) fix the out of memory issues when run on phones with large amount of contacts in.

kly, could you please try this version. hopefully will all work ok, but all contact bitmaps have to be pre created and scaled at init, i tried just drawing the contact bitmaps scaled at realtime and the results were not smooth.

also, does running this app on VGA devices auto scale the program down? I have coded the app initially to use variables for screen resolution for layout sake and have hard coded WVGA resolution for this test, but it may scale automatically (in which case I do not have to worry about the resoution settings).
[Windows Mobile Software Development] ace10134:
What do you guys think about that idea? You can quickly reply to a text without even opening the app! Anyone think this will work? Seems like we could easily build it in.

Comments???
[Windows Mobile Software Development] t1one:
+1 Great idea.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
Indeed a great idea !

I think it's possible, but I'm not going to promise things :-).

First let's build the app itself though.

@Odyssey96: I'll try the new version immediately ;-)
[Windows Mobile Software Development] TeDeV:
ody, you might want to consider my UI fixes too. remember u need a scroll bar because people want to know how many sms are there. i can't just have a big scrolling list without knowing how more are there.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
very true, i intend to implement after i implement the message selection, which i will work on tonight if im not too tired when i get home :D

if i did one, it would be more of an indicator bar like in touchflo, not a windows scroll bar control as it would defeat the object of scrolling with your thumb or nose, whichever you use :D
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
Yep, it works .. nice and smooth !

Looks great .. work on the c++ dll won't go as fast I'm afraid :-).

Nevertheless, we'll get there !
[Windows Mobile Software Development] odyssey96:
Great! Now how should we transition from selecting a message to the converstation view? I.e. should we slide the views to the left when 'moving forward' and to the right when 'moving back'?

Shame there is not a simple OpenGL ES c# wrapper - I LOVE the touchflo3d calender transition effect!
[Windows Mobile Software Development] kly:
HTC uses the Vincent openGL API for their TouchFlo3D ... but it's c++ ... not c# :-)

http://www.vincent3d.com/Vincent3D/software/ogles1/ogles1.html
[Windows Mobile Software Development] nir36:
Guys, one of the problems with Windows Mobile 6.1 is that the notification interface is prehistoric.

I think this is a nice idea, but if i were to choose interfaces, i'd say it's better to implement a popup box in the middle of the screen with the message, and the same type-in box you show here... to quickly reply. the box would need to be large enough to be useful for a Touch interface rather than what WM 6.1 has to offer. <-- 2 cents
[Windows Mobile Software Development] ace10134:
Idk, the notifications are fine. I'd rather have notifications at the bottom of the screen instead of right in the middle of what I'm doing! And the notifications are already finger friendly, too. You just click the text box and type, or click the soft buttons for more options.

Sure they don't look incredible, but they're functional, and they have lots of options that are important to the user.

Anyways, developing a new notifier will just take more time and it will use more RAM on our phones. Also, that would mean that a text has a different notification than a reminder.

Just think about it more. Notifications in the middle or the bottom of the screen...who cares?!? Just because the iPhone does it? NO. And everything's already finger friendly, but try and point out one notification that's not finger friendly.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] chrisque1:
Just like the Vito sms-chat notification. It´s nice but in the middle of the screen sometimes mess up your work (like when watching videos), I like better the lower part of the screen with the auto-reply form.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] chrisque1:
Love the idea. Small, quick and fast!

Just make it optional (on/off) for the people that don´t like the idea.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] chrisque1:
Another posiblity is to increase the window size with the finger (touch and hold to pull it up), to see a bit more of the message.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] apreichner:
Why not give a choice? In my ideal application, choice is always the best option. Top, Center, Bottom, it all depends on you, but to say that the 6.1 notification interface is perhistoric... All it needs is to be themed differently and perhaps semi-transparent, and then it would be just like every other notification box on every other phone.
[Windows Mobile Software Development] :
Wasn't the goal to make the app lightweight ;)? Nice work so far TeDeV!
[Windows Mobile Software Development] :
If possible make this application easy to skin. Thank you! :D
[Windows Mobile Software Development] dwizzy130:
Amazing idea! I've never even thought of that!

dwizzy130
[Windows Mobile Software Development] rjmjr69:
I'll throw another $10 if the above feature is installed and is easily used from within other windows
[Windows Mobile Software Development] klockers:
I totally agree, the notification isn't userfriendly at all.

I would like a popup box just lite VITO, this would be much better than the ugly notifications in the bottom of the screen