HouseBot

Hi,



I just got my new IPAQ Hx4705 and was quite disappointed to find the HouseBot Client doesn't work right. I have been using a HP Jornada with the same Theme for a long time.



The problem is that the Panel Graphic is not displayed. I can see all the controls and they work fine as far as I can tell.



Another issue is if I bring up the Menu via a Menu button on mt theme and try to "Reload Theme" the device hangs. I tried this on my Jornada and the same thing happens.



Any Ideas?



Mark

Maybe it has something to do with the background panel... maybe it's size (in bytes). Try one of the stock panels and see if it works any differently.

Scott,



This is the stock panel. CEBotics Blue 240 x 320.



This may be a Windows Mobile 2003SE issue. There are a couple of hacks out there that allow me to force the device to use a Real VGA mode. When I use either of these hacks the panel displays properly. Without these hacks, Windows Mobile 2003SE applies a pixel doubling to fill the VGA screen for applications that are not "VGA aware".



I get the same problem if I try to use the sample theme that came with housebot. Again if I switch to a true VGA mode the theme panel displays correctly and it is just cropped to what fits on the screen.



The reload theme issue seems to be a problem on both my handhelds in all screen modes.



Mark

I've heard of the issue with the reload feature before, but haven't been able to reproduce it myself to actually track it down.



I'm not familiar with any particulars with the Windows Mobile platform, so I'm not sure if there's something specific applications must do to deal with the display.



Can you try to view the image just using the file manager (or whatever it is called on that platform)? Try to navigate to the SWRemote directory and see if you can find the background image on the 2003SE machine. Knowing this will help know if it's an image problem or a application issue.



It's very strange that the controls paint, but the background doesn't. Make sure that the 'Image uses background transparency...' option is not checked on the background panel properties.

Scott,



I thought the reload was working in the past. I guess I could load an old version of housebot if I still have them around and try it out.



I can browse the image and it displays fine so it is loaded onto the device.



The transparency option is not checked.



It is strange. The theme works but the background is missing. If I force the os to think the program is VGA aware, the background paints fine and the theme fills 1/4 of the VGA screen. The client seems to behave properly when it is run in VGA mode. It properly scales everything and buttons are all placed in the right relative position. I think that there is a resouce you add to indicate the program is VGA aware. It looks like you could include this in the client and it will work fine on these VGA PocketPCs. I'll look up some links to info on how to do this and post them later. This would give folks 4 times the area for themes used on a VGA PocketPC.



Mark

Any update?



I'm thinking about purchasing a Dell Axim 50v (Windows Mobile 2003 SE with VGA)

Have exactly the same problem with my new Siemens LOOX 720 . Are there any new release of the Remote software?

maze42 wrote:Are there any new release of the Remote software?

Nope. Not at this time.

Scott,



I was also experiencing the problem of backgrounds and foreground images not appearing in my theme on my Dell Axim X50v PDA, but the theme would work perfectly on a Windows XP machine.



Using this procedure I have created a modified version of the ARM version of SWRemote.exe that is now VGA-aware.



This version works perfectly on my Dell Axim X50v and should also work on other VGA (640x480) resolution PDAs such as the IPaq Hx4705 series.



The only thing is you should use 640x480-sized themes, and larger fonts, because 240x320 themes now render in the top and left quarter of the screen (using only a quarter of the available real estate).



BTW, I love your program!



How do I post the new version of the SWRemote.exe, so that others with hi-res PDA's can also use it? Can I email it to you?

Great news!

andremu wrote:How do I post the new version of the SWRemote.exe, so that others with hi-res PDA's can also use it? Can I email it to you?

You can email it to me and I'll see what I can do.



This looks like something that can be added to the build of the Software Remote. While I could just add the hires resource binary that is attached to the post you referenced, I'd rather add it to the project with the true contents of the resource. Do you have any info on the resource makeup of the hires file?

Scott,



The resource doesn't look like much more than a parameter, in a format similar to a registry key, except that it is compiled. I've emailed you the modified SWRemote.exe.



Cheers,

Andre

Andre,



Thanks for looking into this and applying the patch. I think I can add it easily to the next build. I've attached your version of the remote to this post for anyone else who needs it.

Scott,

Does the PDA SWRemote support VGA mode now?
Would it be safe so buy the Loox 720 or Dell Axim 51v or any other PDA that has a VGA screen for this purpose?

Thanks

The change that was discussed in this post is now in the release version of HouseBot and has been for some time. I can't say for sure how well it works on those PDA models, as I've not personally tested it.