TodayPlus Boards v2

TodayPlus for the Pocket PC Forums => New Skins / Graphics => Topic started by: arbitrajeu on November 15, 2003, 07:32:17 PM

Title: Minimal v0.10.0
Post by: arbitrajeu on November 15, 2003, 07:32:17 PM
Apologies to those of you who have been using my skin for the delay in getting this upgraded to 0.10.0.  I've been trying to finish the system info region.

I've not made a huge raft of changes, but you will now find the following:
Actually, that's about all there is, in addition to it actually working with 0.10.0.

A few things to bear in mind when making this work for you:
I've included the graphics I use and my shortcut files.  When you unzip the file all the files should be in the right directories, starting from the TodayPlus directory on your PPC.

I hope that's clear.  Attached is a screenshot of how it looks on my PPC at the moment.

EDIT:  Weather.com icons removed.  They can be found in a separate thread if you want them

(http://www.arbitrajeu.co.uk/minimal_0_10_0.jpg)
Title: Minimal v0.10.0
Post by: srs on November 16, 2003, 03:03:33 AM
really nice work, arbitrajeu

the attention to detail (esp in the system info region) is very nice.

I have a couple of suggestion and comments:

1)
if,storage,storage1
initvar,var10,1
else
if,storage,storage2
initvar,var10,2
else
initvar,war10,3
endif
endif


contains a typo (war10), but also, in the current version all initvars are processed regardless of where they are (the skin file is loaded and all initvars are executed once then ignored, hence you can't use them in if statements / different regions etc.  I will correct this problem in the next vesion.

I think I see the reason for this code (avoiding repeated calls to check if the storage exists ?), but I feel that this is unnecessary because the call to check for the existence of path takes almost no resources or time, and if done this way the skin cannot adjust to insertion / removal of storage cards after TodayPlus is initialized.

The best solution is probably to move the if,storage checks into the battery region, and not worry about making repeated calls.

2)  I really love the quotes region, and I noticed that it changed quotes each time it refreshed.  It would also be nice if we could manually go to the next quote (eg by tapping the region), or if it had an auto refresh interval (say, about 60 seconds) that would automatically change the quote.  Currently the only way to change quotes seems to be switching to something else and then switching back to the quotes page.  My apoligies if I missed something obvious :)  Also, it seems that some quotes are just a bit longer than the space allocated, and moving up the quotes by about 12 pixels (about to where the name of the other RSS feeds appear) would allow another line to be displayed, fixing the problem for all but the longest of the long quotes.

3)  In the system info region, some sort of indication as to whether free space or used space is being displayed would be nice (u / f ?)


Also I think perhaps a quotes rss and stocks rss should be added to the standards...

rss,quote1,...
rss,stocks1,...
rss,stocks2,...
Title: Minimal v0.10.0
Post by: arbitrajeu on November 16, 2003, 06:10:31 AM
Thanks for your valuable feedback, srs.  I've attached a revised version of the skin file with your suggestions incorporated.

Quote from: srsI think I see the reason for this code (avoiding repeated calls to check if the storage exists ?)
My thinking behind this set of if's is to ensure that I don't start up with a storage card that is not present displayed.  My system info region should avoid cycling to display a storage card later, but it was the initialisation I wanted to catch here.  I hadn't realised the if's would be ignored.  I've removed them for now and will just take the chance the storage1 is present.  Of course, I'll revisit it when you make the changes you describe.

Quote from: srsIt would also be nice if we could manually go to the next quote (eg by tapping the region)
I've amended the quotes section to scroll throught the quotes if you click anywhere on the quote page.  I have capped the limit of quotes to 10 at the moment, as I'm not sure how many come back.  As mentioned in my previous feature request (http://dark-mojo.com/TodayPlus/viewtopic.php?t=496), it would be nice to be able to display all the ones the feed delivers.

Quote from: srsAlso, it seems that some quotes are just a bit longer than the space allocated, and moving up the quotes by about 12 pixels
I've also changed the dimensions a bit, which makes displaying long descriptions look better.  However, I think it doesn't look so good with one- or two-line quotes.  I'll post a Feature Request for a calcvar (or calcsize) for the size of a particular description, to allow me to centre the quote and place the name just after it.

Quote from: srsIn the system info region, some sort of indication as to whether free space or used space is being displayed would be nice (u/f ?)
I've added a u/f against each of these, to indicate used/free.  I would welcome thoughts on the use of colour-coding or something, in preference.

Note: I've only posted the updated skin file, so anyone who has modified their config.txt already won't lose the changes.
Title: Minimal v0.10.0
Post by: srs on November 16, 2003, 06:14:48 PM
the quotes section works great now :)  adding something to calculate the height shouldn't be too hard, and I do agree that centering the quote will look a lot better.  I'd probably need to add a division command too.

regarding the storga commands:

I think you can replace this:

// -----------------------------------------
// Storage devices
if,var,var10,,=,1


with


// -----------------------------------------
// Storage devices
if,storage,storagepath1


and same for if,var,var10,,=,2 with if,storage,storagepath2
Title: Minimal v0.10.0
Post by: arbitrajeu on November 16, 2003, 06:26:23 PM
Quote from: srsthe quotes section works great now :)  adding something to calculate the height shouldn't be too hard, and I do agree that centering the quote will look a lot better.  I'd probably need to add a division command too.
Glad you like it :)

The rest sounds good... I suppose simple algebraic commands would be helpful in general, for things like rss commands (displaying 3 items per page) amongst others.

Quote from: srsregarding the storga commands:

I think you can replace this...
These commands are designed to ensure that the correct storage information is displayed, based on the user scrolling through the available one.  So, regardless of availability of storage devices, these if statements check which one the user has chosen.  Sorry for the lack of comments in the skin...