[HD2 Windows Mobile 6.5 Themes and Apps] Dunc001:
CHT Background Widget Set

And the second really cool thing at the core of BLUE SK-i is the background widget set. I basically took Poyensa's original background widget and used it as a base to create seven identical widgets, giving you pretty much endless possibilities for creating cool new backgrounds on which to place and combine other widgets/freelinks/etc and have them look like one complete widget. It also means that you no longer have to build backgrounds into the wallpaper to get this effect, which also restricts you to a maximum of three screens.

I have also added in complete defineability (if such a word exists!) allowing you to specify the opacity value, width, and height for the background and even the ability to specify the name that will show for the background in the Add Widget menu! All of these definitions are set by simple registry edits so you'll need to get hold of a reg editor if you don't already have one.

The attached zip folder contains seven background widget cabs which will install the backgrounds you see used in the screenshots. You can choose to install any number of these and after you have installed them you can easily edit them using the reg changes and new images. However to get them to appear behind everything else on screen you first need to update the home.mode9 file. You will find a cab to install the mode9 and make the necessary reg edit in the zip folder with the widget cabs. The one Poyensa has edited for me is based on a 40-slot fix beta by mike2nl and makes the first eight widget slots appear behind eveything else so I have his original background widget and my seven installed and working perfectly. As an added bonus, and because the backgrounds will use up to eight widget slots mike2nl's mode9 is also modified to allow up to 40 CHT widgets to be installed (the original maximum was only 20) so you shouldn't run out of space!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL INSTALLATION OF BACKGROUND WIDGET SET

1. Using registry editor go to HKCU\Software\HTC\Manila and scroll down until you find the widget slot entries - CHT.AddonWidgets.Slot0/1/2/3...

2. Take a note of the widgets you currently have installed in slots 0 - 8. These are the slots which the background widgets MUST be installed into.

3. Exit your reg editor and uninstall the widgets you have just noted down - don't worry you can reinstall them all again once you've installed the backgrounds. You can uninstall all of them at once without soft resetting every time, but once you've uninstalled the last one you will need to soft reset.

4. Install the Modified Home Mode9 cab and soft reset again.

5. Install Poyensa's original background widget first and then each of the seven new ones in turn - again you only need to soft reset after you have installed all eight. You don't have to install Poyensa's one or for that matter the whole of the new set, but you might as well so you have as much flexibilty as possible.

6. Final checks in registry to make sure everything has gone to plan - go to HKCU\Software\HTC\Manila again and first check that CHTI.AddonWidgets.Count is now set at 40, then scroll down and check that the eight background widgets have installed correctly in slots 0 to 8. While you're there you might as well also scroll back up to find the entries that have been added further up for each of the 7 new background widgets - CHT.duncBG1.Width\Height\Opacity\Name. These four entries for each widget allow you to completely redefine it as many times as you like :cool:

7. Reinstall any widgets which you removed to make space and soft reset again (I did warn you!)

OK so if all of that has gone to plan you should now have eight background widgets successfully installed on your phone which you can place/move/resize like any other widgets but which should always appear behind nearly everything else on your home screen (with the exception of the CHT Music Widget and the CHT Text Clock widget - no idea why and Poyensa hasn't been able to figure it out yet either).

OK so now you want to edit the backgrounds to suit your own theme...

HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY EDIT BACKGROUND WIDGET SETTINGS AND IMAGES

You can replace the manila files for each of the backgrounds and edit the dimensions and opacity in the registry but there are a few rules you MUST follow to avoid any problems.

The first thing that you need to understand is that manila likes qtc images to adhere to certain dimensions. After looking into problems with the Oxygene clock widget not showing properly on some ROMs rat_2665 and santod discovered that to avoid any problems with images not showing or showing as a white box the images you create and convert to qtc files need to have dimensions (width and height) which are exactly 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256 or 512 pixels. They can be any combination of these (16x512, 128x128, 512x128 and so on). OK so now that I've said that you can forget this for the first step!

1. Create the image you want to use for a background - don't worry about the size at this point, just get your image how you want it on screen.

2. Check your actual image dimensions in pixels.

You now have two choices depending on how much detail there is in your background image. If it is a simple image (just a black background for example) then:

3a. Resize your image using the allowed dimensions listed above to whatever dimensions are closest to your actual created image, so for example is you have created an image 280 wide by 150 high the resize (squash) it to 256x128. Don't worry - you can set the actual size again in the registry and manila will 'stretch' it back to your desired size.

...or if your image contains high detail such as gloss or actual images etc then:

3b. Choose the dimensions from the list above that are greater than your actual image size, so for example if you have created an image that is 432 wide by 480 high then select 512 x 512. Now resize your image canvas to this size and place your image in the top left of the new space. Again, don't worry if you have blank space around your image as the widget doesn't respond to touch other than in Edit Mode for moving and resizing so the blank space isn't going to interfere with anything.

So now you've created your image and resized it or resized the canvas:

4. Save your image in png format.

5. Using CFCGUI convert your png image to qtc format (I've included CFCGUI in the zip folder).

6. Rename the qtc file to the correct filename for whichever background widget you are editing as follows:

Background 1 - 34AC1773_manila

Background 2 - 4B42A9EB_manila

Background 3 - 34F48AA9_manila

Background 4 - 72D50B6D_manila

Background 5 - 266188FB_manila

Background 6 - 5E4310E5_manila

Background 7 - 303E6A92_manila

7. Copy/overwrite your renamed manila file to \Windows on your device.

8. Edit the background settings in the registry to suit your new background. If you used option 3a when resizing then simply make the Width and Height settings the size you actually want it to be. If you used option 3b then you need to specify the Width and Height to match the actual image size (canvas size) otherwise manila will squash/stretch it. You can also set the opacity value. Finally edit the Name entry so you can easily identify which background is which in the Add Widget list.

If you have copied a new qtc file to your device you will need to restart Sense for the changes to take effect. However if you have only made reg changes and not actually replaced the image file then all you need to do is long press on your home screen and select Edit Mode. The changes will take effect as soon as Edit Mode activates so you can close it again straight away.

And that's it! Quite a lot to take in I know but once you've done it a couple of times it really is a breeze. I'd suggest starting off by playing around with the reg settings for BG6 or BG7 to start with as they are just simple semi-transparent black squares - try editing all four reg entries and watch the effects on background and menu entry.