WISBar available for download again - with source code [Archive]

Ed Hansberry

02-16-2002, 07:56 PM

<a href="http://www.walkers.ne.jp/">http://www.walkers.ne.jp/</a> WISBar, one of the most popular Start bar skinning apps, has been made available for download again after several months of being offline. Apparently the author of the progam has fallen on bad health - we wish him the best and a full recovery. In the mean time though, he has stated that he won't be making any updates to WISBar in the near future, but has posted the source code so someone with a bit of talent can pick up where he left off. Thanks to <a href="http://www.tekguru.co.uk/?">Tekguru</a> for the heads up.

McDeb

02-16-2002, 08:16 PM

This developer is certainly deserving of a big honkin' THANK YOU! WisBar is a great app, and now it has the potential to be even better. What a great community contributer.

Registered

02-16-2002, 08:39 PM

Kudos to the developer to open up the source.. and all the best and hope for a speedy recovery.

spg

02-16-2002, 09:03 PM

Three cheers for the developer!!! He has created a great program, it is nice to see it go open source for improvement. I wish him the best of luck in the future!

speter

02-16-2002, 11:22 PM

This developer is certainly deserving of a big honkin' THANK YOU! WisBar is a great app, and now it has the potential to be even better. What a great community contributer.

Amen to that. Now let us honor this developer by diving into the code, and extend wishes for a speedy recovery.

JonnoB

02-17-2002, 01:01 AM

I haven't used WisBar since going to a PPC2002 device. How well does it work and is it worth it? Will it host the new notification icons?

Ed Hansberry

02-17-2002, 02:32 AM

I haven't used WisBar since going to a PPC2002 device. How well does it work and is it worth it? Will it host the new notification icons?

That is the only reason I don't use WISBar on my PPC 2002 device - the notification icons are hidden. :cry: If it were updated to provide all of the PPC 2000 functionality and include support for the notification icons, I'd install it again in a heartbeat.

Hooch

02-17-2002, 02:39 AM

I hope somebody modifies it for PPC2002. I tried it on my 3835, but it later disabled my sound. Has that happened to anybody else? Uninstalling Wisbar didn't bring it back, so I eventually had to do a hard reset (first time ever on my ipaq :cry: ).

GadgetGuy

02-17-2002, 03:01 AM

I use it. First thing I installed after upgrading to the new OS.

I don't know if WisBar is the culprit, but I found inconsistency in sound / muting on my iPAQ under the old and new OS's.

I really think of WisBar as an integral part of my PPC experience. It is a great little app that I've been using since its very early release.

I, too, thank the developer (in Japan, I believe) and wish him well. If he asked for compensation for his wonderful little app, I'd be at the front of the line.

Don, the Gadget Guy

Daniel

02-17-2002, 06:20 AM

I'm also sorry to hear that the developer is unwell and wish a speedy recovery.

Good to see that open source was chosen rather than leaving Wisbar to stagnate.

daniel

burmashave

02-17-2002, 06:32 AM

I would like to echo the comments above. I wish the developer strength and a swift recovery. I would also like to thank him for an elegant, thin solution for what MS left out. We are better off that they did.

BTW > I have no problems using WisBar with PPC 2002 (I don't miss the alarms). I am using a Casio E200.

Teddy

02-17-2002, 11:24 AM

Yes, I wish Kazuhiko gets well soon! I was one of the beta testers for wisbar and he was and is a very cool guy!
Take care and see you soon!!! :D

Chad

02-17-2002, 04:43 PM

I have used Wisbar since the beginning and if you pair it up with Dashboard, the combination is unbeatable. When I traded up from my 3635 Ipaq to the 3850 with the skinnable PocketPC 2002, I was looking forward to trying the "supposed" program kill button on the top toolbar. I was very disappointed that it wasn't at all like the wisbar program kill button, which is an essential pocket pc feature. So I immediately installed Wisbar again and love it!! (Note: I have no problems with audio on my 3850, for the person who posted that he was having problems, I think it is unrelated).

I just want to thank the developer for a small and powerful application.

Best wishes to a speedy recovery.

garretwp

02-17-2002, 08:22 PM

So who is going to get cracking and start making that wonderful app a joy to use?

Garrett

Shapeshifter

02-17-2002, 09:49 PM

Well, I think we should collect suggestions for things we would like to see in WISBar and see if there are any developers who would help coding them.
Remember, this is not Gigabar.
I would like to see a decent color picker that allows me to chose any color, as well as a skinable battery/memory-o-meter.
-Shape

griph

02-18-2002, 12:14 AM

(Note: I have no problems with audio on my 3850, for the person who posted that he was having problems, I think it is unrelated).

I just want to thank the developer for a small and powerful application.

Best wishes to a speedy recovery.

I would echo the wish for a speedy recovery. I tried Wisbar and used it with Dashboard after upgrading to PPC2002 on my Ipaq 3650. I immediately discoverd that my screen/button clicks would be spontaneously reactivated (I switch them off) and the alarm function was deactivated. I didn't have the problem before Wisbar, I removed Wisbar and carried on with everything else unchanged - and no problem. I am convinced that it was related to Wisbar - albeit probably an interaction with other software. I miss some of the functionality that Wisbar provided and will use it again - if the problem I experienced is sorted out. I was interested to note from this discussion that I was not the only one to have problems with the prog.

JonnoB

02-18-2002, 01:02 AM

Well, I think we should collect suggestions for things we would like to see in WISBar and see if there are any developers who would help coding them.

The suggestion I would have would be to have WisBar host the PPC2002 notification icons and baloons. With this, it becomes useable for the current generation devices, especially as we see more applications taking advantage of this option.

Daniel

02-18-2002, 01:14 AM

Maybe we could host a WISBar development forum on PPCT?

daniel

JonnoB

02-18-2002, 01:39 AM

Maybe we could host a WISBar development forum on PPCT?

Someone however needs to have oversight on code changes. One of the things that I don't like about the open source community is the ad-hoc nature of source control.

Daniel

02-18-2002, 01:49 AM

Someone however needs to have oversight on code changes. One of the things that I don't like about the open source community is the ad-hoc nature of source control.

Well maybe we should talk to devBuzz then? What do you think?

daniel

JonnoB

02-18-2002, 02:42 AM

It would be great to see Jason's Thoughts to become a great resource for this sort of joint project as well.

philfp

02-18-2002, 01:07 PM

The suggestion I would have would be to have WisBar host the PPC2002 notification icons and baloons. With this, it becomes useable for the current generation devices, especially as we see more applications taking advantage of this option.

I absolutely agree. The "kill application" and "volume" icons had their equivalent under WisBAR on the old PPC OS, but the balloons, the notifications and the connection status are invaluable and that is why WisBar hasn't remained on my iPaq since the OS upgrade.

Oh... and I couldn't go without wishing the author a very speedy recovery.

Phil

Len

02-18-2002, 03:14 PM

I absolutely agree. The "kill application" and "volume" icons had their equivalent under WisBAR on the old PPC OS, but the balloons, the notifications and the connection status are invaluable and that is why WisBar hasn't remained on my iPaq since the OS upgrade.

That, and more annoying was the fact that I use PPC2k2 Themes (not Dashboard), and I got tired of trying to find a Wisbar skin and icons to match themes as I changed them around.

I would like to see a PPC2k2 version of WisBar that did not rely on skins so much for the look of the bar. Ultimately, if WisBar could use generic PPC2k2 style icons and grab the icon colors from the scheme file, that would be great.

At this time I am using Pocket Nav because it really does not interfere with the themes, thanks to its PPC2k2 UI option. But, I really do miss Wisbar and having the running app icons on the toolbar.

I sure hope this can be done. I would love to have Wisbar back!

Len

philfp

02-18-2002, 08:02 PM

philfp

02-18-2002, 08:05 PM

Someone however needs to have oversight on code changes. One of the things that I don't like about the open source community is the ad-hoc nature of source control.

That's always the difference between a good Open Source project and a bad one. Sites like www.sourceforge.net impose a good discipline on new projects and simplify a lot of the annoying details.

Phil

Len

02-18-2002, 10:22 PM

At this time I am using Pocket Nav because it really does not interfere with the themes, thanks to its PPC2k2 UI option. But, I really do miss Wisbar and having the running app icons on the toolbar.

Sounds good, at least until WisBar is PPC2002 compliant. What's the URL?

Pocket Nav is at http://www.scottandmichelle.net/scott/cestuff.html

Quite a nice little task switcher, thugh not quite as nice as WisBar.

Len

Daniel

02-19-2002, 05:02 AM

shyam

02-19-2002, 06:27 AM

Hi,

I am thinking of taking up the WISBar development effort. I
would really appreciate it if people would post the features that
they would like to see in the next version of WISBar.
The one that I can think of is

PPC 2002 Notification icon support.

Thanks,
Shyam

philfp

02-19-2002, 08:56 AM

It seems to cover part of the time, what's the story here? Is it just me?

Pull down the little lightning bolt icon and select Options -> PocketPC 2002 UI and all the 2002 icons appear as before except that the close icon becomes a little squashed and the lightning bolt icon appears on the far right hand side.

spg

02-19-2002, 05:53 PM

I am thinking of taking up the WISBar development effort. I
would really appreciate it if people would post the features that
they would like to see in the next version of WISBar.

I've been looking at the source code myself and I may be able to help out with it some. It depends on if I have any time to spare though. (Forget this section)

Jason Dunn

02-19-2002, 06:44 PM

JonnoB

02-19-2002, 07:06 PM

We have a developer forum here and can create new ones if need be.

Jason - go ahead and let's see it get going. Thoughts can grow through more developer oriented news and thoughts.

spg

02-19-2002, 07:14 PM

If it is ok with the devloper I can setup a fourm on my site to have people post ideas, updates and kinda keep the project under control. Let me know what you guys think of the idea and I can contact the developer.

Hey now, don't go poaching my readers for your site. :-) We have a developer forum here and can create new ones if need be.

Ok, sorry Jason. :oops: I'm thinking about dropping out of the news arena anyway you guys do it so much better then I can do myself. I was just offering to create a forum just for the WisBar project. Without any connection to my site except the URL. I have deleted that comment in the post now.

Daniel

02-20-2002, 07:17 AM

Pull down the little lightning bolt icon and select Options -> PocketPC 2002 UI and all the 2002 icons appear as before except that the close icon becomes a little squashed and the lightning bolt icon appears on the far right hand side.

I did this, still no go.

We have a developer forum here and can create new ones if need be.

Why don't we get permission to do this then and try and get some structure (not that it wasn't there before) into the continuing development of such a great product. I'll be happy to help also given time contraints of course.

Jason - go ahead and let's see it get going. Thoughts can grow through more developer oriented news and thoughts.

I agree with JonnoB on this one. I don't think you want to become a devBuzz necessarily, but it would add some depth in this area. Not to mention making you look good. ;)

daniel

Jason Dunn

02-20-2002, 08:10 AM

If you guys are serious about this, I'd be glad to create the forum, but I'm wondering if it might be best to start it out as a thread first - we can always move it later if there's enough "volume".

Daniel

02-20-2002, 01:51 PM

If you guys are serious about this, I'd be glad to create the forum, but I'm wondering if it might be best to start it out as a thread first - we can always move it later if there's enough "volume".

If you think that a thread is a better option then let's do that.

We need to get permission from the developer to get the source code, and also to redistribute it (although this is covered on the site). Then we should figure out a way to start development. I think it might be cool to poll the PPCT users to find out what features are a priority. I would vote to fix existing bugs personally (if there are any).

daniel

spg

02-20-2002, 04:22 PM

We need to get permission from the developer to get the source code, and also to redistribute it (although this is covered on the site). Then we should figure out a way to start development. I think it might be cool to poll the PPCT users to find out what features are a priority. I would vote to fix existing bugs personally (if there are any).

I've got the source code, I'll e-mail the developer and see if I can get permission to post up here to this thread.

spg

02-21-2002, 11:50 PM

I e-mailed the developer and he doesn't want me posting un-modified code up here. If I make changes to it I can, but otherwise he wants people to e-mail him to get the code. So I guess go to his site and e-mail him and get a copy of the code. Once you have a copy we can modify it and get feedback from Pocket PC Thoughts users.

I have posted a feedback post in the software forum, we can gather feedback and ideas from there.

Jason- Should I create another post in the developer forum for us to post source code changes and stuff into? Or should we go some other route with a seperate forum or something? I don't care whatever would be best for everyone is fine with me. :)