Free, fast and fantastic...

[Andy Sjostrom]

<a href="http://www.stardock.com/products/pocketblinds/">http://www.stardock.com/products/pocketblinds/</a><br /><br />... cuz' it's got that Close-button! PocketBlinds is a free skinning extension with which you can graphically customize almost anything on your Pocket PC. At last, the wait is over. We saw the announcement a long time ago. Then the team got themselves into a couple of software issues that now have been addressed. Visit the PocketBlinds home page, download the software and SDK and start creating!<br /><br />"PocketBlinds is the first free form skinning extension for Windows CE 3.x or later (PocketPC). PocketBlinds allows you to skin the title bar completely and add/position as many buttons as you can fit. Moreover, it is compatible with the WindowBlinds plug-in format allowing users to easily make their own title bar "gadgets" (MP3 players, stock tickers, memory meters, etc.). It's also free. ... PocketBlinds integrates directly into the OS by extending the Windows CE GWE(Graphics, Windowing, and Events) subsystem, so it is fast and small. ... PocketBlinds skins are truly free form. It also has an open plug-in architecture, which means that users can make their own plug-ins to extend the navigation bar.. It also means users have a great deal more control over where a button is placed."<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/blinds_01.jpg" />

[Jason Dunn]

Very cool - I'd love to see what Thoughts readers can come up with! Come on guys, I know you're creative... :D

[heyday]

Good luck un-installing it. I tried it out and decided I didn't want it anymore and it will not un-install. It keeps saying there are 3 .dlls in use even though I have everthing unloaded...

heyday :(

[kalex]

heyday,


soft reset the device. browse to the windows directory and rename the dlls. soft reset again and delete them.

[Furan]

Hi heydey,
PocketBlinds only includes 1 dll outside of the skins. Was PocketBlinds running when you tried to uninstall it? (If so, unload it, then try uninstalling again :)
Thanks,
Ian

[van_mierlo]

Good luck un-installing it. I tried it out and decided I didn't want it anymore and it will not un-install. It keeps saying there are 3 .dlls in use even though I have everthing unloaded...

heyday :(

rename those dll's and try again

after that just delete the folders...it works

[van_mierlo]

Hi heydey,
PocketBlinds only includes 1 dll outside of the skins. Was PocketBlinds running when you tried to uninstall it? (If so, unload it, then try uninstalling again :)
Thanks,
Ian

The 3 dll are in your logika folder...just rename those

make sure you install it in your main directory...storage card won't work

[Furan]

What I meant was that there are usually 2 dlls in a skin(ok/close & clock plugins). If you try to uninstall while PocketBlinds is running, the uninstaller would show pbgwe.dll and those DLLs. The best thing to do if you want to uninstall it, is unload it via the tray icon before uninstalling.. I'll include a custom installer call in the next release that will unload PocketBlinds if you try to uninstall it while it is running(not that I want everyone to be uninstalling it...)
-Ian

[ChrisW]

how does this compare in functionality to GigaBar or Wisbar? Or are they completely different things?

(hoping not to start a religious war)...

[Furan]

The major goal of PocketBlinds is to reach the level of customization that we have on the desktop with WindowBlinds. So that's buttons, toolbars, scrollbars, menubars, system colors, tabs, trackbars, etc...(Right now we've got the nav bar, buttons, toolbars, and menubars). WIS Bar, GigaBar, and the like are all aimed at enhancing navigational bar functionality. So while there is some feature overlap(in that one of the things PocketBlinds skins is the nav bar), you can disable the nav bar skinning in PocketBlinds to use both at the same time.

[CTSLICK]

Seems to seriously tax my poor old EM-500, oh well. Guess you can't blame the app for that too much. Also doesn't get along with HanDBase 3.0 if I have it set to skin the control buttons...I get a fatal error trying to open any of my databases. Back to WisBar...someday I'll have a shiny new fast PocketPC to try this out again.

[JF in Detroit]

Thanks Heyday, I really enjoy side-stepping a big hassel. :D

[jizmo]

How about changing the default font to some other font? In my opinion the typeface of the system adds as much characteristics to the OS as changing the title bars.

And I really could use a bit smaller font to get more information on screen while browsing the files, for example

/jizmo

[cludwig]

Boo hoo! :cry:

Can't have pretty nav bars with Phone edition, unless you're willing to lose phone / data icons and "special" volume dialog.

[Furan]

Seems to seriously tax my poor old EM-500, oh well. Guess you can't blame the app for that too much. Also doesn't get along with HanDBase 3.0 if I have it set to skin the control buttons...I get a fatal error trying to open any of my databases. Back to WisBar...someday I'll have a shiny new fast PocketPC to try this out again.

I'll have to check that out. What apps do you have running besides HanDBase? I'll fix the HanDBase issue in the next point build.

Thanks :)

[Furan]

Boo hoo! :cry:

Can't have pretty nav bars with Phone edition, unless you're willing to lose phone / data icons and "special" volume dialog.

Yep, that's due to the notification icon stuff not being in. I hope to have support for it in a point build.

[Furan]

How about changing the default font to some other font? In my opinion the typeface of the system adds as much characteristics to the OS as changing the title bars.

And I really could use a bit smaller font to get more information on screen while browsing the files, for example

/jizmo

Wouldn't be too hard to do, will think about it. :D

[CTSLICK]

Seems to seriously tax my poor old EM-500, oh well. Guess you can't blame the app for that too much. Also doesn't get along with HanDBase 3.0 if I have it set to skin the control buttons...I get a fatal error trying to open any of my databases. Back to WisBar...someday I'll have a shiny new fast PocketPC to try this out again.

I'll have to check that out. What apps do you have running besides HanDBase? I'll fix the HanDBase issue in the next point build.

Thanks :)

First time I tried it I had Agenda Fusion running when I attempted to open a small database in HanDBase. I thought it might be a memory issue since I don't have a bunch of that to go around on my EM-500. So I shut down Agenda Fusion, did a soft reset and tried again with the same results...fatal exception. Here's the sequence of events:

1 - Open HanDBase, no problem, it opens to the password entry screen
2 - tap in password for the database, and click OK
3 - fatal exception.

If it makes a difference I have both HanDBase and my databases installed on my memory card. I had PocketBlinds installed in main memory.

[Furan]

Seems to seriously tax my poor old EM-500, oh well. Guess you can't blame the app for that too much. Also doesn't get along with HanDBase 3.0 if I have it set to skin the control buttons...I get a fatal error trying to open any of my databases. Back to WisBar...someday I'll have a shiny new fast PocketPC to try this out again.

I'll have to check that out. What apps do you have running besides HanDBase? I'll fix the HanDBase issue in the next point build.

Thanks :)

First time I tried it I had Agenda Fusion running when I attempted to open a small database in HanDBase. I thought it might be a memory issue since I don't have a bunch of that to go around on my EM-500. So I shut down Agenda Fusion, did a soft reset and tried again with the same results...fatal exception. Here's the sequence of events:

1 - Open HanDBase, no problem, it opens to the password entry screen
2 - tap in password for the database, and click OK
3 - fatal exception.

If it makes a difference I have both HanDBase and my databases installed on my memory card. I had PocketBlinds installed in main memory.

Thanks CTSlick!

[Mike Temporale]

I tried out the RC's of this a while back, but there was never anything good in the way of skins. But now.... I just browsed through the skins @ wincustomize, and they are lookin' much nicer. And some of the default skins that come with PB are great.

Glad to see this is coming along so well.

BTW, not sure if it's just me or not, but it seems faster than the earlier RC's. Furan? You guys make any changes in that area?

[AlexMakin]

Hey there,

Has anyone else had problems syncing once PocketBlinds is installed? I found that whenever I dropped my Cassiopeia E-115 (PPC2000 - MIPS) in the cradle, it would not be detected by my desktop PC and come up with a little red cross over the active sync icon down in the task bar. As soon as I unload PocketBlinds, remove the PPC from the cradle and then re-insert it, bingo! She syncs... Remove from cradle again, reload PocketBlinds, load into cradle, wuh-whoa.... error again... Any ideas?

It really struggles to connect via Active Sync when PB is enabled. I have to select "Get Connected", the connection process checks through both ports, tells me neither ports have detected anything, then 2nd time around, tries to sync, errors (see attachment) and then just gives up when you select 'OK' ... Note, the attached error does not occur when PB is not loaded and my appointments (and everything else) syncs okay...

The specific error I get on my PC is attached if anyone wants to see it...

Alex Makin
Melbourne
AUSTRALIA

[AlexMakin]

Hi... me again...

Grabbed another screenshot of an error if its any help to pinpoint the problem when syncing...

Alex Makin

[Furan]

Hi... me again...

Grabbed another screenshot of an error if its any help to pinpoint the problem when syncing...

Alex Makin

Hi Alex,
Feel free to mail it to me: [email protected]
Also, does the activesync connection dialog respond on the device? Is the problem just the device syncing, or is the dialog for the sync on the device having a problem? This is a very odd issue, PB doesn't touch the activesync api's or do anything invasive in the syncing code.
Thanks,
Ian

[Furan]

I tried out the RC's of this a while back, but there was never anything good in the way of skins. But now.... I just browsed through the skins @ wincustomize, and they are lookin' much nicer. And some of the default skins that come with PB are great.

Glad to see this is coming along so well.

BTW, not sure if it's just me or not, but it seems faster than the earlier RC's. Furan? You guys make any changes in that area?

Yes. Earlier RC's did not hook into the GWES, which made skinning extremely slow and the window tracking was CPU consuming. The big thing behind PB 1.0 was overcoming these issues. Now it'll be easier to cocentrate work on modifying more of the look and feel, compatibility, and OS behavior emulation(for example the notification icons).

[CTSLICK]

Well, I'll jump in on the ActuveSync issue too. If I did not have any other apps running I my EM-500 and dropped it into the cradle it would connect but really slowly. Normally takes about 1 second without PB running, takes about 6 seconds with PB running. If I had another app running...well...forget it. It would hang up while trying to display the "Connecting" dialog box on my device. I had to soft reset it.

Once again, I chalk this up to having an older, slower PPC with not as much memory available.

Any chance the code just need a little MIPS optimization?

[Furan]

Well, I'll jump in on the ActuveSync issue too. If I did not have any other apps running I my EM-500 and dropped it into the cradle it would connect but really slowly. Normally takes about 1 second without PB running, takes about 6 seconds with PB running. If I had another app running...well...forget it. It would hang up while trying to display the "Connecting" dialog box on my device. I had to soft reset it.

Once again, I chalk this up to having an older, slower PPC with not as much memory available.

Any chance the code just need a little MIPS optimization?

It's a casio specific issue with the sync stuff. I remember I saw this issue on my EM-500. Hope to have it fixed for 1.01
-Ian