yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
xml file seems to be correctly imported :confused:

Just to be sure... what do you exactly do (step by step) when trying to use the new widgets?

Let's say, for example, that you're trying to use a new digital clock: you should add a standard digital clock to your screen, then you should edit it, go to "change skin" menu and in the skin list you should find the new digital clock widgets.

Is this what you are doing, or are you trying something different?

Also, if I'm not mistaken touch pro is a vga device, so be sure that you installed vga version of the widgets otherwise they won't work (I know it sounds obvious, but it happened already that someone took the wrong version, so double checking it can't harm) ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Of course I don't mind :)

Can't wait to see the picture, and maybe you could make it available for download for other users too ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] BigWilly11:
Here is the picture
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Looks cool! :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] BigWilly11:
Even if it means overwriting your va_DClockMilitary.dat?
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
You're welcome :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] ali1010:
Thank you. very nice!

i have omnia. didnt work before. i will try it again with this new version.
[Windows Mobile Themes] mguzzy:
Vostradamus..

Nice mod. is there anyway to apply colors by category to the items in the agenda, Tasks lists or calendar. For example I may have an appointment with a category marked important and then any items with that category a defined color. I've been poking around to see how to do but have no clue. I

Mark
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Feel free to ask if you have problems, it's working 100% expecially on omnia (it's my phone too) :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
I fear it's not possible: in the configuration file I can specify just one color, there are no different settings for several categories, at least not that I know of... for something like that we must hope spb will release a sdk, but so far there's no sign of it :(
[Windows Mobile Themes] ricci87:
hello everyone,

please i need some help. when i change the qa_layouts in the spb order. then i make a soft reset. them only came error on the screen???

i dont know what its the mistake??
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Sounds a lot like a corrupted qa_layouts.dat file....

Are you sure you followed correctly the various steps to modify your qa_layouts?

- Copy you qa_layouts.dat file from your device to your pc

- Rename the qa_layouts.dat on your pc to qa_layouts.zip

- Open it with winzip (NOT winrar, it could mess it up)

- Drag WidgetsZioGian.xml on the winzip window with the opened qa_layouts.zip

- Be sure the checkbox about encryption is checked!

- Encryption password is b0fm18zq

- Once added WidgetsZioGian.xml, close winzip

- Rename qa_layouts.zip back to qa_layouts.dat

- Copy the new qa_layouts.dat back to your device, replacing the old one

If you still have problems, if you want you can send me your qa_layouts.dat and I'll modify it for you ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] ricci87:
ciao vostradamus,

i think i made it right. i be thankfhul when you can do this for me..:)

mille grazie ricci87
[Windows Mobile Themes] strifej:
mirror

Can someone upload the latest versions (I only need WVGA) to a non-mediafire site?

mediafire is blocked in China.

Thanks!
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Was this the not working qa_layouts?

It looked ok, but just to be sure I replaced the xml file inside it all the same.

Rename it as qa_layouts.dat and put it in the mobile shell folder on your device.

Be careful when you rename it, if your pc is set to not show file extensions for known file types, then your renaming it in "qa_layouts.dat" would just produce a "qa_layouts.dat.zip" as a result, and that's not gonna work for sure.... if that's the case, set your pc to always show the file extensions and rename it after this :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Here it is, enjoy! :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] ricci87:
to vostradamus

yes this was the file. and i have the problem that the qa_layouts.dat.zip i cant renamed it. i dont know how to do that it comes a zip??
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Uhm... ok, I'll try to guide you through the steps to make sure you rename it correctly...

- open a My Computer

- click on the "tools" menu, then choose "folder options"

- pick the "visualization" folder

- scroll down to an option called "hide extension for known file types"

- be sure the above option is NOT checked (that's probably the source of all your problems... I just HATE microsoft for default checking that abomination...)

- Click ok

- Now rename your "qa_layouts.dat.zip" to "qa_layouts.dat"

- Copy your qa_layouts.dat file back to your device and restart your shell

This should work :)

EDIT: hope I got the menu names right, my operating system is in italian, so I'm not 100% sure that my translation will match microsoft's one :p
[Windows Mobile Themes] ricci87:
yes it works!!! thank you very much vostradamus!!

now i have i beautiful screen like yours!!!!:D:cool:
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Yayyy!! Congrats on making it work, and thanks for your appreciation! :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] DanRo80:
Could you make PURPLE an option?
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
On a specific widget or on all the ones in the package?

It's possible of course, just if you mean all of them it will take me some time 'cause I'm working on other widgets too and I don't wanna "steal" too much time from them 'til they're ready :p

Any preference on the exact purple tone? If you can give me its rgb color code I can make your exact preferred one :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] DanRo80:
Thanks, I haven't downloaded yet but mainly the clock (I use digital clock). (gray-lavender) 135, 91, 166 and a (deeper purple) 93, 44, 128.

Thank You Much
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Got it :)

Digital clock eh? Maybe you'll want to wait a bit more then, one of the things I'm currently working on is another kind of digital clock....

Here's a little preview:

It will have all the date and alarm info as the big one, but using less screen real estate :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Well, it would be the user choice ;)

Or if you want I could add it to the package, changing its name a bit to make it cohexist with the other one (and creating a qvga version too)
[Windows Mobile Themes] BigWilly11:
That would be create. I have create a few stylest . Changed the Metal panel as well.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Great :)

Then maybe you could open a whole new thread and publish your creations, I'm sure a lot of users would be delighted ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] BigWilly11:
Here are 4 style i played with
[Windows Mobile Themes] BigWilly11:
When it comes to programing ....... :o
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Took a look at all of them, they look nice indeed :)

The whole thing does not really involve much "programming", believe me :)

You already played with the graphics, and that's the main thing

Now try taking a look at my "WidgetsZioGian.xml", just open it with notepad and take a look around, I'm positive you can find find it not too difficult to understand ;)

If you get that part, the only remaining thing is understanding the registry keys needed for every widget, and that's not hard too. I could also send you some example .reg files (viewable with notepad too)
[Windows Mobile Themes] tacchan23:
I feel the opposite (but thanks again Vostradamus for helping me doing something on the graphic side too^^)
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
I am looking in the shell folder on the device memory now and im seeing all of your widgets as "va_dclock_pro" whick is the same format as everything else in the folder? Obviously I am doing something wrong...
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
mmmh... I can't really get where's the problem... the widget names showing up in the list mean that the registry keys are correctly registered, you checked for the files and they are where they're supposed to be. The only thing that could prevent it from working would be a qa_layouts without the xml inside. Are you 100% sure you correctly extracted the file I sent you and placed it in the shell folder replacing the old one (soft resetting the phone after that)? That's the only thing I can think about :confused:
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
As I said I am learning as I go here (I found out how to un-hide the files on my computer so I can now change them from dat to zip!!) so I am going to try and recheck my process. :P
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Keep me updated, and good luck! :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
ok. so now I can get the combos to work (combo cyan/black/etc) but nothing else.

For sake of argument, I am going to list out what I did:

Downloaded the file you gave me (File ok with xml added.zip)

Plugged my TP2 into my windows computer and opened folder to view

extracted qa_layouts.dat

Dragged onto my memory card on my phone

moved qa_layouts.dat into My Device>Programs Files>Spb Mobile Shell replacing the qa_layouts there

Is that correct?
[Windows Mobile Themes] brunoisa10:
hi Vostradamus

installed your new widgets yesterday : perfect as usually :)

I'm using WidgetInjector (some copy paste in my directories) and it is always working like a charm :)

your circle status and narrow calendar :) I love them :)

can you make a try on a player widget ? rather transparent and can you see all possible parameters , I think it is a poor widget but perhaps some things hidden !
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
That's correct :)

Now, for all the other widgets there's no need to alter qa_layouts again ('til the next release at least)

What you have to do is just install the other widgets cabs (only the ones you want of course) and restart the shell or soft reset the phone.

Again, be sure to install them on device memory 'cause they need to be where the shell is.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Will take a look at it as soon as I'll have a bit of time, can't promise anything ATM 'cause I never tried it so far... but the wireless widgets, which have the graphics inside the same dat file, do NOT work... the new skins appear in the list but then the graphics are not taken from where they should be, so the only way would be changing the original ones, which I do not want to do 'cause I want my widgets to be addons and not substitutes for the default.

I hope the player widget will not suffer from this same bug (which I reported on spb forum but got ignored...), time will tell I guess :p
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
Ok so maybe Im not so incompetent. :P So, I had already gone through and added all the widgets before I did the xml (cause it was last alphabetically). Should I remove them and readd them?

Thank you so much for all of your help and patience!!!!!
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
uhmmmmm....... if you already installed them before they should be working already :confused:

Things to check again:

- if you installed the correct version for your screen (vga)

- if you installed them in the right place (device memory)

- if the two above points are ok, if the dat files are really where they should be (in mobile shell folder)

Removing them and reinstalling them would not do harm though, so if you wanna do it just to be sure, go ahead.

Oh, and don't forget a good old soft reset/shell restart after the installations and before trying them ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
Ok, Im going to try to remove them (I downloaded them all! haha)
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
Still no go for whatever reason. I am just going to uninstall everything and retry.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
:confused::confused:

I can't really imagine where the problem is....

Lemme know how it goes after reinstalling everything
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
Ok, so I uninstalled everything and reinstalled. I installed the cats clock as a test and that works just perfect now as does the polished and the beer/duracell. I did install the nature and girl and the stardock weathers and they are the only ones that do not seem to work for me.

Its a start tho! Lol
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Ooook, that's a nice start anyway :)

Your version of mobile shell is?

Stardock and Nature and Girls weather widgets works only from 3.5.1 on, if you still have 3.5.0 they can't work... could that be the problem?
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
Hmmmmmmm yup. Lol How do I upgrade this??
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Just download it from spb homepage, from 3.5.0 to 3.5.3 (the latest) the upgrade is free :)

Be careful though... if you have installed any of mskip packages I fear you will have to uninstall everything before installing 3.5.3

On the other hand, if you installed only my widgets you can upgrade right over them without problems, reinstalling only the xml after the upgrade (just be sure to quit the shell before the installation)
[Windows Mobile Themes] okerobert:
That was it!!!. My steps were wrong. I had thought your widgets will appear in the list of widgets on the phone.

Everything is working fine now..

Thanks a million for sparing me your time
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
You're welcome! Glad we finally sorted it out ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Released version 2.25 :)

ChangeLog, detailed info and download links in the first post ;)

Enjoy! :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] LUDANNCO:
Is it possible to have full screen appointments calendar widget ?
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Never tried to make it full screen height... but what would happen when going to landscape mode? It could not fit in the screen... dunno how the shell would react to it.

Mskip designed a fullscreen picture frame, but if you accidentally switch to landscape when you have one of those, the shell crashes and it requires a soft reset... I think there's a quite high chance that a fullscreen calendar would have the same problem.
[Windows Mobile Themes] jotha:
Hello Vostradamus,

the new fuel gauges are superb. They are truly innovative. I would appreciate your help with a little question: I tried to modify the graphics for the small fuel gauge, so that there is no little sign in the middle of the gauge ( I want to put a battery percent meter there). When I put the graphics back into the dat file (of course with the appropriate password), the widget disappears. Could it be because my graphics program makes a 24-bit bmp out of the file where the original of you was 15 bit? If that is the reason, with which program do you make the 15 bit bmp. None of my programs can do that.

Additionaly, I would love a even smaller version of this skin.

Thanks for your time
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
That could actually be the reason.

The originals were not 15bit though, but 16bit (65k colors), I use ahaview to convert my graphics to that format.

I'll try to see to the even smaller version, have to test it a bit 'cause I fear a too small one would lose too many details.

EDIT: Forgot to mention... I'm glad you liked them :p
[Windows Mobile Themes] jotha:
Thanks, that did it. Downloaded ahaview and converted the bmp. Works like a charm. Now I have the percent of the battery in the middle of the gauge. Looks good.

Thx again
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
You're welcome :)

Stay tuned for the next release, will try to add a tiny version of the fuel battery ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] brunoisa10:
any change to have a registry widget ? to display the content of a registry :)

even using a mortscrit to copy into spb registry

I know how to do into a sideBar but can't make it working as a real widget
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
I take it you didn't have luck when you tried hijacking the operator widget? ;)

I'm sorry, but I still don't know how I could do something like that :(

Just curious: what would you use it for? :confused:
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
Hello again Vostradamus-

Alright, so I finally got around to upgrading to mobile shell 3.5.3! Yay! Solved the problems. Now, I have recently stumbled onto naong's Mobile Sense app on:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=604146&highlight=mobile+shell.

Does your widget pack work on this?? I cannot get them to. Just curious.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
I never tried mobile sense, but I think it should be ok... my widgets are just addons which does not alter mobile shell behaviour in any way, they just get added to the possible choices.

Only thing is: when you install something "bigger" which modifies the shell in a deeper way (like mskip themes, and I think mobile sense should be similar), there's a very high chance that the theme installation is going to replace your qa_layouts.dat, so once you're done installing the theme you should import again my xml inside qa_layouts.dat

If you did it with the xml installer, simply re-run it

If you did it manually, just do it again

(and of course restart the shell after it) :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
Alright, thank you very much for your time, patience, and kindness. As soon as I can get my hands on a friends cc, I will buy you a drink. :P
[Windows Mobile Themes] jotha:
Just did a little paypaling. Should be enough for some tuna-cans and a (cheap) drink. But you should code not drink :-)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
lol you're right, I'll double the tuna cans then and I'll also add a couple beef-with-rice cans ;)

My cat says "Meeoooww!" which could mean either "thank you so much" or "I'll be sure to keep that lazy bum of my owner tied to the keyboard", your choice :D

EDIT: Forgot to mention... next release will probably be quite soon, tiny fuel will be in it (I managed to find a smaller size without losing too many details) ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] brunoisa10:
to display all what I want (for exemple next time for my PocketWakeUp is in the registry)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
I'll give you a buzz if I find a way to do it :)

Meanwhile, why don't you give Spb Time a try? It handles alarms quite well, it's fully integrated with mobile shell and it also has some nice additional widgets ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] brunoisa10:
good idea , I'll try it :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] tacchan23:
Some time ago I did in the highest size (to be able to still rotate to landscape) all the calendar styles available in Vostradamus package.

It's just for VGA.

In case you interested you need to import the xml (remove the .zip extension) file to your qa_layout.dat.

In case Vostradamus would like to add it to its package I'd be more than happy (also becouse actually I just followed his "step by step" instructions to do them:P)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Do you know someone who deserves to be nominated for the 2009 Devvy Awards? There's still time: nominations are open 'til the end of this month!

Rules for nominations in the first post of the linked thread.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Oh, you're right... I forgot you made those some time ago :p

I must be getting old :eek: :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] brunoisa10:
lol :D:D :):p
[Windows Mobile Themes] LUDANNCO:
I have Omnia 900 isn't it WQVGA so i think it's not for me ?
[Windows Mobile Themes] whs5711:
Skinnable Big Box rounded corner

Hi Vostradamus,

Thanks for the iphone like big box with rounded corners in your latest version.

It would be a huge favour if you could make it skinnable.

It would make possible to use own iphone like icons. Probably a solution might be possible with a picture widget?

I hope you'll find a way (and time) to create such an option.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
I fear that's not possible....

as you suggested, the only way would be, in theory, using a picture widget... the problem is: spb picture widget does not support png transparency, so it would not be possible to make it with rounded corners :(
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Actually, I think tacchan used my the same filename standards that I used in my version, so if you have my ones installed and you install his vga version it could work because the qvga files mentioned in his xml would be present because of my ones (extra large calendar versions use the same skin files as smaller ones).

The only "negative" point would be some memory "wasted" by tacchan vga files (around 60k), but you can go to mobile shell folders and get rid of them :)

I can't be 100% sure (maybe tacchan could confirm it), but trying it can do no harm... if it does not work you can always uninstall the cab and delete the xml from inside qa_layouts
[Windows Mobile Themes] rubadub234:
Thanks again Vostradamus for keeping my widget addiction going:D:D

Dime bag headed your way:)

i had an idea for status icons. How about like a larger text only with no icon. Maybe like a half or a third of the screen width just a plain; voicemail, text, email, missed call. Kinda like the wm 6.5 today screen idea

Anyway, just an idea. Thanks for all you do
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
lol you're welcome! :D and a big thank you from me + "meow" from my cat :p

Text Only Status Icons: definitely a cool idea! Will see to it for the next release! ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Released version 2.26 :)

ChangeLog, detailed info and download links in the first post ;)

Enjoy! :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] jotha:
Hi Vostradamus,

Thx for the tiny Fuel Gauge. I want to try to get a resolution of 5% instead of the given 10%. Would it be enough to create additional graphics or do I have to edit some code in your xml or is it simply impossible because the 10% are fix in MS ?
[Windows Mobile Themes] aziz1:
Thank you for the great work
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Creating additional graphics is enough, as long as you keep each one of them the same height of current ones. :)

And don't forget to update both the actual image and the transparency mask, of course. ;)

EDIT: forgot to mention... the final result will work differently according to the device though... some devices have battery drivers able to give you the charge level in 1% steps... some others 5% steps and so on....

My phone (omnia i900), for example, uses 10% steps, so a 5% increment would be useless for it... in the end it all comes down to how your battery drivers work
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
You're welcome! :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
Hey buddy-

Lol ok, request? Can we get a memory meter widget both text and gauge of some sort? Maybe an RPM gauge to match the fuel for the car maniacs out there (me)?
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Would love that... but unfortunately mobile shell does not have a memory widget.... as long as spb does not release a sdk (if they'll ever do it at all) I have no ways to create widgets with fresh new functionalities... I can just work on the already existing ones :(
[Windows Mobile Themes] WMLover212:
:( Lol. Is spb Mskip or is he just creating additions the same way that mobile sense is, do you know??
[Windows Mobile Themes] rubadub234:
From this point forward, I will refer to you as VWW. That is short for Vostadamus the Widget Wizard. :) WOW that was quick turnaround. Text status looks great, thanks!

I hate to by "that guy" but, if you have time could you make a larger text size also? I mostly check my text and emails in my car and its a touch too small for bouncy reading. Maybe a 2x fatter and 3/4 or 2/3 screen across would work. Again if you have time.

Thanks for your work
[Windows Mobile Themes] jotha:
MSkip is a guy like vostradamus who creates Add-Ons for us. The SPB Guys sit in St. Petersburg, MSKip in GB.
[Windows Mobile Themes] jotha:
Thanks. Does the meter accept transparency via png or does it have to be a 16-bit BMP (when I use png I would alter the filename in the xml of course)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
As wrzlgrmpft already wrote, mskip's work too is an "add-on".

Many users have already asked spb guys for a sdk to be released, but so far we've just been ignored (not even a "forget it"... just no reply, at least that I know of) :(
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
No problem, I'll see to it for the next release :)