Windows Mobile 5 Themes

[jhennig]

Does anyone know of any program that allows me to make themes for my Dell X51v? i hear that its not possible yet, but I need some change... even a place to download themes would be fine.

[Darius Wey]

It is possible to create them, but I believe there's no user-friendly program available which will do it yet. The only real way around it is to use a text editor to alter registry values and a compiler to package it into a TSK.

I'm sure sooner or later, many theme-making programs will be updated to support Windows Mobile 5.0, and to go with it, a wave of sites hosting new Windows Mobile 5.0 themes.

[jhennig]

MUST..... have..... patIENCE!...... 8O

[KAMware]

This is correct. All the thousands of themes out there will not work on WM5 devices! They chaned the color definition file format for some reason. Plus they have not published what the settings are or how to create the file.

I have a WM5 update ordered for one of my devices and when it is installed I will start to try and find out how to create the color file. Hopefully I can get a new ThemeMaker created soon.

Patience is definetly needed although mine is running out...
:?

[jhennig]

Yes! You are just the person to be on top of this! I hope you figure it out soon so I can buy the ThemeMaker again to build my WM5 themes. :)

[dhpss]

Does anyone know of any program that allows me to make themes for my Dell X51v? i hear that its not possible yet, but I need some change... even a place to download themes would be fine.

I posted a .tsk file here:
http://www.sbsh.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1443&st=1725

Enjoy! BTW, Do you know, you can store your .tsk files on your storage card\My Documents to save memory (just delete the ignore me file!)

[KAMware]

OK, I finally got a new WM5 unit and discovered what they changed, I think!

It looks like all the color settings are the same except for the Navigation bar (title bar) and the Command bar. On the pre-WM5 themes you could set a left and right color for the Navigation bar and the OS would gradient the colors in between. On WM5 that is not the case. The color settings for left and right Navigation bar and the lower Command bar are no longer used. Instead there is one base color used to replace those three colors and the OS uses it to handle the animations of the buttons on the Command bar and the selections on the Navigation bar.

So I will have to start coding a bunch of changes in the ThemeMaker programs. I do not know when they will be ready since I started a new gig this week and it is consuming my time like crazy.

I will keep you all informed on the progress.
:)

[jhennig]

Awesome! I can't wait!

[KAMware]

Well here is what I found out so far. The color settings for the Navigation bar (Title bar) and Command bar are ignored. Instead the OS determines a base color based upon the colors of the main image, I think. Then uses that color for the Navigation and Command bar.

There is a Hue setting area of the registry where the theme colors are stored that changes and if you manually change it the hue of the Navigation and Command bars change.

I do not know at what time it places that setting in the registry when it loads a new theme yet. If it does it before loading the other colors then maybe I can put something in the Theme Color Definition file so we can control it but I doubt it. Since it is a Hue setting for a base color which is not in the registry it would probably not be an option.

So for now we have to accept the colors it generates for those areas. It seems all other colors, text, inner lines, dialog boxes etc can still be set thru ThemeMaker.

:)

[KAMware]

I finally had some time to get back to this problem. It looks like we can change the colors of the Navigation Bar (Title bar) and the Command bar on WM5 devices. I put the "BaseHue" registry setting in one of my ThemeMaker Programs and created a theme with it and it changed the colors!

The primary difference from the older OS is that one color setting on the new OS effects what 3 color settings did on the old OS. But you cannot set a gradient in the Titlebar as that is animated by the OS now.

Now I have to create new display graphics and simulation code to put in ThemeMaker. I hope to do that, at least start on it, this weekend.

I will let ya all know when it is done.

:)

[jhennig]

Great! I can't wait.

[encece]

I still can't wait! :)

[KAMware]

I'm sorry but I am just strapped for time! Have to have this project done by an unreasonable time frame and do not have the time to do any more investigating.

I messed with the value long enough to find out it is not just a color value like all the rest. It is called DefaultHue and it acts weird.

When I get to a point in my current project where I can think about this more I will.

The auto generation of this color works pretty good and I for one am satisified with it but I can understand where someone will want more control.

[vicott]

Can the color of the taskbar & menubar be set by editing the registries? Mind to share which registry key is responsible for the color of the taskbar & menubar in WM5? I think this will help lots of theme authors out there who are intending to add WM5 support.

[KAMware]

OK, I finally had some time to work this out and have the code in my head for changing the colors for WM5 devices. I just have to design the interface.

I believe I am going to give an option to allow you to design a theme with proper colors for WM5 and previous versions at the same time. Since the registry entry for the WM5 colors will be ignored by other devices. This will allow a single theme to be viewed properly in a wider range of devices.

Plus an option to make WM 5 themes only.

Be warned that there are only 240 colors to choose from for WM5 devices and that color will be applied to both the Command bar (now soft buttons) and the Navigation bar (Title Bar). It is actually a base hue that is applied as they use it to make the gradient effect when you tap the softbuttons, menu etc.

Currently they use some algorithm to determine what hue they apply to these itemes if there is not registry entry for them in the theme.

I will probably not have a version ready until after the holidays and the first one with the code will be ThemeMaker X.


:wink:

[KAMware]

Another update. I was messing around with color setting on WM 5 themes trying to see what gets changed and what does not and discovered a mistaken assumtion of mine.

The BaseHue that is used on WM5 devices is derived from the left color of the Tittle Bar of a normal theme. It is a Hue value though and not the exact color. So if you set that color to, say, a deep purple the WM5 title bar will be a medium purple gradient. Also other colors in the theme are set to this BaseHue. We can change the value of the BaseHue but only after the OS calcs and uses the other colors. I wish MS would publish what is going on here. It would make is so much easier.

The image is not taken into account. I was making solid color images and trying them and it seemed it used the themes to set the colors but foolishly I was setting the command and title bars to the same color before testing. Well, they looked better!

I am slowly dragging along, getting it together. The grayscale part is more difficult than the color for some reason. Plus time is an enemy of mine these days.

:)

[yvilla]

Hi kamware,

Just wanted to let you know that there are those of us out there who really appreciate the work you've done, and that you continue to do, that helps us so much with VGA themes and thememaking. I felt that way back when you were contributing so to the Toshiba e800 crowd, and now that I have a WM 5.0 VGA device, I am so happy to see you're still at it! :way to go:

Thank you.

[KAMware]

Thank you for you comments yvilla.

Well I think I finally have it figured out. At least to the point where I can put it into a program. I have released version 3.3.0 of ThemeMaker X which has WM5 Pocket PC theme making abilities. No WM5 SmartPhone stuff though since I do not have one of those devices.

I have a page that explains what I found regarding WM5 themes and can be found here: http://www.thememaker.biz/wm5.htm

I will be working on adding WM5 capabilities to ThemeMaker M also. All other versions of ThemeMaker will remain unchanged.

:)

[vicott]

I have read that there are also 2 more new registry keys related to themes in WM5.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ColorColor_SoftkeyFlatCenter
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Color\Color_TitleFlatCenter

They are binary values taking RGB colors just like other standard keys in WM2003 themes. These are used to set the color for the taskbar and soft keys in the middle, so it removes the gradient. This might be useful to obtain flat colors which will make some themes look like full screen themes. Perhaps anyone can investigate and explore on these keys. I do not have a WM5 device to try it out though.

Hope this is useful and kamware can consider this in the next upgrade of ThemeMaker X. :)

[KAMware]

I tried both of those settings and they do not make any changes at all. And when I do a soft reset they are deleted from the registry.

I only found one reference to them on the net, via Google, and they were putting them in another registry key. I tried that key also and they made no difference.

We'll keep on trying.
:)

[KAMware]

One thing I forgot to mention is that the only place I found on the net that mentioned theses values was a site dedicated to SmartPhones and Pocket PC phone editions. So these values may be applicable only to those devices.

:)

[KAMware]

ThemeMaker M now has WM5 support for those of you who do not want everything ThemeMaker X has to offer.

You can see both of them at www.thememaker.biz

:)

[vicott]

Will the demo version for the new versions be available soon? :)

[KAMware]

Demo versions are available.

ThemeMaker X http://www.thememaker.biz/downloadstmx.htm

ThemeMaker M http://www.thememaker.biz/downloadstmm.htm

:)

[vicott]

Earlier, I had mentioned about 2 registry keys used for removing the gradient of the taskbar and soft keys and setting them to a fixed RGB color. However, I realised that the 2 registry paths are "wrong". They should be these instead:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Today\ThemeName.tsk\Color_SoftkeyFlatCenter
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Today\ThemeName.tsk\Color_TitleFlatCenter

Both are RGB colors using hexadecimal codes just like the other standard entries. "ThemeName.tsk" should also be renamed according to the filename of the TSK file. I've tried it to create such a theme and a friend of mine have tested it on O2 XDA Exec and it works.

Here's what I did to the INF file:

[Strings]
reg_path = Software\Microsoft\Color
reg_theme = Software\Microsoft\Color\ThemeGen
reg_bars = Software\Microsoft\Today\ThemeName.tsk

[Registry.Common]
HKCU,%reg_bars%,Color_SoftkeyFlatCenter,0x00000001,00,00,00,00
HKCU,%reg_bars%,Color_TitleFlatCenter,0x00000001,00,00,00,00

It gives beautiful and cool black bars without gradient. :D

[KAMware]

I have been watching threads on this for some time now. Each one had the registry path different so I decided to wait until it got sorted out.

What I do not like about this is you are actually adding a new registry key, ThemeName.tsk, that may not go away if you change themes.

If some one has a automatic theme rotation program that randomly displays new themes it coud fill up the registry rapidly IF the old key is not deleted.

I will experiment with this in one of the ThemeMakers this weekend after I get my freakin :evil: taxes :evil: done.

If some how the old key is eliminated then I will add it to ThemeMaker. If not I probably will not. Or maybe make it a option.

:)

[KAMware]

Well I couldn't wait and since I had nothing to do until my next meeting I modified one of my ThemeMakers with the values.

And as I suspected it leaves the Registry key there. Plus, according to one site I saw, there about 13 color settings that can be set this way.

If I used these new registry keys for every theme then the registry bloat could bet out of hand.

I will have to see if I can search and remove old ones although the RAPI is limited and I do not know if I can do that.

Back to the code...

[vicott]

Great that your brought up the issue cos I completely overlooked it. Looks like I may consider leaving these 2 registry keys out of my future themes as well. Otherwise, I will leave a note for Pocket PC users who are familiar with registry editing.

[BinaryAngel]

I've played around with Windows Mobile 5.0 and its special theme behavior (how to change today screen's background color (not image), free WM5 Theme Creator program). Read more here:

http://www.tl-software.xipx.de/Private/My%20Pocket%20PC/Theme%20Creation/Theme%20Creation.htm

or

http://www.tl-software.xipx.de/Private/main.htm

[vicott]

Actually, I have already released a freeware few weeks back which helps the user to obtain the black bars (other colors for "flat" bars not available though) in WM5. This would be pretty convenient rather than keep using the "special" TSK/CABs which contain the registry tweaks. More info on the application can be found here (http://mobile-sg.com/ppc/apps/?p=TdySchemeChanger). The discussion and suggestion/development thread is found here (http://www.ppcsg.com/index.php?showtopic=76377).

http://mobile-sg.com/ppc/apps/TdySchemeChanger/SS_b1_2c.png
It's as simple as ticking "Use black bars" to get pure black bars on your WM5 device.