[ANN] EasyLaunch5 Treo beta

[Neclepsio]

After replacing my TX with a Treo 680, I found my EasyLaunch5 needed to use the keyboard... I also found the Send key was a little bit under-used, so I wrote a stripped-down version of EasyLaunch5 to work only on Treo and Centro.
Just hold the send key, or press option+send, or shortly press the side button, and you get the Applications list:

http://bp2.blogger.com/_edI_FNiAv4c/R7Hp1_consI/AAAAAAAAAAM/QxbV33xl-JQ/s400/EL5Treo.gif

So, write the name of the application (or pref panel, or DA) to launch, maybe using the "." wildcard, and it's done!
You can also execute a lot of actions, like enabling/disabling beaming, bluetooth, shutting down network, go to the last application, setting auto-off and backlight, cut, copy, paste, undo, pop up an ASCII chart...
Please note it's still a beta, so some features are yet "unelegant"...

As EasyLaunch5, it will be released as shareware, with 30-days trial.
Get the beta here (http://digilander.libero.it/neclepsio/El5Treo051.zip).

I'd be very glad to hear your comments, and I hope you will find it useful!

Ignazio

[Neclepsio]

Wow! That's a good start! :-(
First, you can try without a SD card...
Or maybe there's some other "hack" interfering... Do you have some installed?
Does the "please wait" disappear? Can you see the form displayed before the crash?
Would you like to test a debug library?

Thank you

[Neclepsio]

Is anybody experiencing the same problem? I cannot reproduce it, neither on real device nor on simulator.

[bluefishCFC]

Hi Neclepsio,
I like this app on my Treo 650.
No crashes yet, but I would like to have an option to launch with a long press of the applications button. All the other key presses are currently used by other stuff.
Also, I would like to be able to cancel easylaunch5 with via the 5 way selector instead of needing to tap it with my finger or stylus.
There are several apps on my SD card that show up as 'error'. For example Minibar.
As I picked up my Treo to check other card apps that showed up as 'error' I launched Easylaunch5 and got a reset.
It crashed twice and then worked OK. No idea idea what caused it apart from the fact that EasyLaunch5 is installed and it never happened before!

Busy today, will try later
Andy

[Neclepsio]

For fully customizable keys, you can get EasyLaunch5 (which has not Application list yet). Anyway, since the Treo 650 has no "send" key, I will add the "application" hold as trigger. Will you help me with testing?
As for the SD problems, I'm working on them: maybe I will just disable it in this beta until I find what the problem is caused by.
As you suggested, I will add a way to dismiss the form without having to tap. It was already planned.
Thank you.
Ignazio

[Greek]

I've got a 650, so I'll be glad to try it once you release the new version. :)

Regards,

[rossarnie]

On my T680, after a long press of the Send button, the 'Please Wait' dialog appears, then I briefly see the above screen, but it disappears before I can do anything more; but it doesn't crash!

[Neclepsio]

I added the app button hold (hopefully, I cannot test not having a 650), I made send, rec and app key exit the launcher, I temporary disabled SD support, fixed some small bug.
On my unlocked 680 with last update, it's working perfectly and it's very stable.
Please soft reset your device before upgrading from 0.5: there was a little bug preventing the close of the library in very few cases.

You can get the new version here (http://digilander.libero.it/neclepsio/El5Treo051.zip).

Please give me some feedback.
Ignazio

[rossarnie]

Working well on my T680, but when it opens, it already has a 'period' pressed...

[Neclepsio]

The "." pressed is wanted: it allows to search in the middle of the name.
Removing it, you force the name to start with what you type in. Maybe I should document that, or add it as an option.
For example: ".tr" matches "EL5 Treo" and "My Treo" as well as "TrapCatcher", while "tr" without the period only matches the latter.

[rossarnie]

I think adding it as an option is a good idea...

[Neclepsio]

Enotar, even with the last version (0.51)? That's strange because I have disabled SD support... Anyway, can you give me the list of applications you have on SD and the model and version of your smartphone?

[bluefishCFC]

I added the app button hold (hopefully, I cannot test not having a 650), I made send, rec and app key exit the launcher, I temporary disabled SD support, fixed some small bug.
On my unlocked 680 with last update, it's working perfectly and it's very stable.
Please soft reset your device before upgrading from 0.5: there was a little bug preventing the close of the library in very few cases.

You can get the new version here (http://digilander.libero.it/neclepsio/El5Treo051.zip).

Please give me some feedback.
Ignazio


Thanks for the changes.
Works as expected on Treo 650.
Is it possible to give users the option on which items appear in the four lists.
The lists are maybe too lengthy, and the ability to edit them would be useful.

Thanks
Andy

[Neclepsio]

But what about 0.51? Does it crash?

[Neclepsio]

Please try 0.52 (http://digilander.libero.it/neclepsio/El5Treo052.zip). Please soft reset just before you HotSync. I have strongly revised SD handling I wrote when my card was 1024 times smaller than yours :).

If you still have problems:
Do other applications have problems with the 8GB SDHC card?
How many files do you have in the /Palm/Launcher directory?
May you try to check the card with scandisk, chkdsk or similar tool on your PC?

Thank you very very much
Ignazio

[Neclepsio]

I found out! 415 files mean >64k allocation with MemPtrNew, so failed allocation... I will fix it, but that's not so fast.
About the 2nd and 4th tab, the latter is the complete list of the 100+ actions EasyLaunch5 can do. Many of them are not even available on Treos, like the ones involving DIA or screen orientation.
I think I will, as suggested, let the user customize the 2nd and 3rd tab, while (maybe) leaving the 4th tab for contacts calling.

Thank you very much for your help.
Ignazio

[Neclepsio]

It makes sense that "Applications" in the 4th tab goes to ZLauncher, and this is what I wanted. This was because of the lack of an applications soft key on the status bar for the T|X, which I simulated with a swipe.
If you want to launch Palm launcher, use the Applications you find in the first tab.
I doubt Landscape will never work on Treos, as it simply uses the OS calls. It's part of the features unuseful on treos (like DIA, status bar, handedness) that I will remove.

Thanks
Ignazio

[Treo Fan]

I loved EasyLaunch5; the ability to launch a DA by swiping across the screen made a great difference for me. When I upgraded to a Treo, I also wished that EasyLaunch would utilize the keyboard, and now it's happening! :D

I tried EasyLaunch5/Treo and have a few suggestions:

1. It can be activated 3 different ways (send key, or press option+send, or shortly press the side button), and if it is enabled, it takes over all of these keys. But what if the user already has other apps bound to some of these keys and wants to keep these bindings? It would be useful if the user could specify which of these keys should activate EasyLaunch5; the Profiles freeware app does it this way.

2. Will EasyLaunch5/Treo support swipes and the 4 main hardware buttons the way the original EasyLaunch5 did? I hope these features are not going away... Please...

3. Could the Treo keyboard keys be also bound to launch something? And could graffiti strokes (more flexible than straight lines) have bindings too (this is one thing I wished the original EasyLaunch5 would have)?

4. The "Graffiti Ref" action brings up the keyboard reference; I noticed that many other programs also do this (the latter must be overriding the former). Is it possible to bring up the real Graffiti reference?

5. Another great action to include: turn the keyboard backlight on/off.

6. How do I customize the lists in the 4 tabs, e.g. to add contacts?

7. EasyLaunch Helper shows in the standard launcher, but when invoked, it briefly launches Calendar and then exits to the launcher again.

Thanks again for a great program!

[Neclepsio]

1. It would be useful if the user could specify which of these keys should activate EasyLaunch5;

Will be done by 1.0.

2. Will EasyLaunch5/Treo support swipes and the 4 main hardware buttons the way the original EasyLaunch5 did? I hope these features are not going away... Please...

EasyLaunch5 will still be supported, and the features added to EL5Treo will be available to EasyLaunch5 too, so you can still use the "classic" version, setting the green button to the application list and any event you choose to anything you choose. EL5Treo aims to be a smaller, easier and lighter version.

3. Could the Treo keyboard keys be also bound to launch something? And could graffiti strokes (more flexible than straight lines) have bindings too (this is one thing I wished the original EasyLaunch5 would have)?

This would require using 'hede', or patching some OS trap, and this is something I want to avoid in EL5Treo. Maybe I will add in EasyLaunch5.
I think FastLaunch is great about this: you can use both.

4. The "Graffiti Ref" action brings up the keyboard reference; I noticed that many other programs also do this (the latter must be overriding the former). Is it possible to bring up the real Graffiti reference?

Mmmh... I don't even know if there is some sort of Graffiti reference in Treo... Maybe copying some database from other devices... I don't know. I will investigate.

5. Another great action to include: turn the keyboard backlight on/off.

I know. I will do it, but this is not in the higher part of my priorities.

6. How do I customize the lists in the 4 tabs, e.g. to add contacts?

Maybe I will add the possibility to customize them and add contacts.

7. EasyLaunch Helper shows in the standard launcher, but when invoked, it briefly launches Calendar and then exits to the launcher again.

The helper was a quick and dirt way to make some actions just to release a beta version early in the development. (For your informationm, the helper launches an application, waits for the form to be shown, sends an event, then quits the application. When selected in the launcher, so with no parameters, launches Calendar and switches to Agenda view, as a test). The new version (I will upload maybe tomorrow) doesn't require the helper.


Thank you for your precious feedback.
Ignazio

[Neclepsio]

Version 0.60 is here (http://digilander.libero.it/neclepsio/EL5Treo060.zip).

New:
- stable SD support (at least: stable for me...)
- faster dialog showing
- the actions shown in the second and third tab are now shown in the fourth
- no longer needs the helper
- "bluetooth on until off" now works
- better "network disconnect"
- better help text

[Neclepsio]

I always forget to update version numbers! :(
No contact dialing, you're right, but I think it will come. Now, I'm working on other features (for example: keylight, selection of activation method, optimizations).
Can you please better explain the icons issue? I cannot reproduce... Are you speaking of AsciiDA itself or its equivalent in EL5Treo (that is, the action "show ascii table" in the third tab)?

Thank you

[Neclepsio]

Any news on that problem?