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03-18-2006, 11:31 AM
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#1 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
 | Hold & HoldDA
This thread is setup as a walkthough to show people who might be interested in how a simple palm application comes together.
The app in question is "Hold", to any clie user this will sound familar. Basically the application will disable 5-way nav at the users request, therefore acting like a hold button. Hence the name ^_^
Now a little about me, in "RL" my names Jonathan, I live in Hertfordshire, England. I'm 19, and heading to university in september to do Internet application development. Most of my prior work is Scripting, HTML, CSS, Javascript etc. So code isn't new to me, but "Static void main" is. I'm currently learning Java and C.
Now before i start i would like to say i've never made any sort of application in my life. I starting learing Python at 13, and gave up after two weeks, adding numbers is cool, but gets boring after a while 
So lets make some apps.
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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03-18-2006, 11:40 AM
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#2 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| Why Hold DA and Hold
Well i decided on two because i thought that some newer users might not understand the concept of a DA, Plus as i had zero experience with handheld basic, it would give me a chance to take it for a spin.
At this moment in time i plan to code Hold DA in a text editor.
The UI to each is fairly similar
there are two buttons, a activate/disable toggle button, and a "back to player button"
The only difference to the DA version is that the buttons are smaller, but still very "thumb-able"
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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03-18-2006, 12:13 PM
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#3 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| The API, and events
Now i needed to work out what i needed to disable, in my case the 5-way nav.
Thanks to the wonders of google this took about 5 minutes of reading.
Basically, what it said Palm OS assigns each button a virtual character, so your application just needs to "capture" which characters it wants, in my case all input from the 5- way nav. I decided to excude the center button as i thought it wasn't part of the problem. Plus the natural way that one holds a palm, your thumb is on that button. http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/d...eys.html#608590
Now what made me smile was the fact that they outline what code was need to disable the buttons 
So the "events" as they call them that i needed to not respond to where the following:
Events to respond to Code:
vchrRockerUp
vchrRockerDown
vchrRockerLeft
vchrRockerRight
Palmsource was nice enough to mention the basic statement that was needed to disable the keys... Code: void StartApplication(void) {
uint32_t disableKeyMask = keyBitRockerDown | keyBitRockerUp |
keyBitRockerLeft | keyBitRockerRight;
KeySetMask(~disableKeyMask);
...
}
void StopApplication(void) {
KeySetMask(keyBitsAll);
}
Well actually thats my modified verision of it, but you get the point. Now if my understanding is correct, the code above is an application, without a gui, or header. So basically there is no way to make it run on the out of the box palm handheld.
Now i had the inner workings of my app, now the hell do i turn it into a palm application, this part is somewhat more tricky.
this where this came in http://mobile.eric-poncet.com/palm/tutorial.html
So until i read it all, and digest some more C goodness, work is slow.
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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03-25-2006, 04:43 PM
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#4 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| The project isn't dead!
I started a new job this week, doing web design "like" work for a major uk company. So life is a little faster than my usual wake-up, read Digg for 8 hours, go to sleep.
Anyways due to pluckers failures on my wonderful all world beating T|X i couldn't get my development fix on my walk to work. However i did get a dev version from Dr. Pruss, which works wonderfully, and i shall start using it more often.
On friday i read up about netlib, the library that provides an application with network access on a palm, which has been around since palm OS 2! It was a very interesting read. i'm not finished on it yet either ^_^
Next up i read "The PRC" by another author who's name escapes me, when i've completed the project i may reference all the authors and put them in the credits. Dmitry and Tyler are alreadly there, i think Pruss might get throw in too, just for fixing plucker. It showed me just how related the palm and Mac platforms are or at least where until os5
Hopefully i'll write some code this week, onboard the T|X, so there should be something to beta test soon. Right now the only thing stopping me is the no knowledge in C (which plucker will also fix). But i have got my old TJ-35 back so i can test my app on it, and crash it repeatedly without harming my T|X.
Look out for a mid week update
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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04-22-2006, 05:52 AM
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#5 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| One to many excuses...
I'm ordering a second 19" lcd at the end of the month cause refering to the documentation and programming on one screen is no fun. i'm dying to work on the project, but my job is zapping my energy.
i've got some ui shots on my pc, when i find them again, i upgraded it, so everythings a mess.
Transitionary period... bear with me
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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05-09-2006, 04:40 PM
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#6 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| It's here (sort of)
i changed the name a little
Hold on v0.01
so beta, it's only a UI, lol
It sort of does it's job it doesn't respond to 5 way nav input whether it's active or disabled.
But best of all 5-way doesn't wake up the device!!!!(found this out by accident)
I tested it on a TJ-35 and my T|X, i did all of this in about 3 hours! talk about turn around time, ^_^. In my defense i've never used HB++ basic in my life, i've had it for almost a year.
Anyways source code to come soon, as well as a HTTP download, for now PM me or email me at veritech19 at gmail.com, and i'll send direct to you.
Check out my blog for some screen shots
Edit:
Download version 0.01 Here
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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Last edited by veritech : 05-09-2006 at 04:42 PM.
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05-09-2006, 05:04 PM
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#7 | | Why Does Palm Disappoint?
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 5,909
| OMFG!! THANK YOU! FOR YOUR WORK. IF you need an active beta tester. Let me know. I will be more than glad. I am a previous CLIE user and I hate how the Palm devices (except LD) don't have HOLD.
BTW, I was thinking of making an app like this and actually calling it Hold On. NO LIE WHAT SO EVER! Amazing how great minds think a like
JAmerican
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JAmerican
Handspring Treo 90 --> Royal RG135nx --> T-Mobile Sidekick --> T-Mobile Sidekick Color --> PEG-UX40 -- > PEG-UX50--> Samsung T629 (Returned) -- > Palm TX (SOLD)/T-Mobile Sony Ericsson T610(Defective) --> T-Mobile Dash(Broken Screen) --> ASUS EEE 1000H Black/Treo 800w/PEG-VZ90
Accesories: Transcend 16GB SDHC | 8GB Transcend microSD | |
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05-14-2006, 05:18 PM
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#8 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| Just compiled version two, i'm trying to do some very creative things with the app,
incase you wondered how simple the app is, here's the HB++ source code for version 0.02 Code:
Private Sub PushButton1_Click()
keymask =hbKeyHard1+hbKeyHard2+hbKeyHard3+hbKeyHard4+hbKey Power
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click()
app.quit
End Sub
Private Sub Button2_Click()
Dim di As New DatabaseInfo
If di.FindByName("PocketTunes") Then
di.Shell true
Else
MsgBox "Application not found"
End If
End Sub
Sooooo complex right, not really most of it is hacked together code snippets that form the app. Only the keymask bit is my actual code.
Doesn't have to be hard, unless you wanna write in native C, which is still a major goal of mine.
See my post in the T|X thread about some the advanced features i'm working on
and a link to version 0.02 http://rapidshare.de/files/20474448/Hold_on.prc.html
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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05-16-2006, 06:50 PM
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#9 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| Important Lessons
Documentation
I'm not talking about the stuff, you give to your users, i mean documenting your own progress.
In My Dev folder there are three folders
*Builds
*Images -pictures for the app of course original psd's and bmp
*misc - anything really, notes, unused header files etc
The builds folder is spilt in three,
*testing - Contains all the advanced testing builds that aren't stable yet
*stable - Contains stable builds, which have normally been released to the masses
*working - Contains the latest stable build, which i'm building on.
In the first two folders i have a txt file which specifies all the changes that i've made, and what version no. i've assigned to them. Also each build, whether testing or stable is in it's own folder, labeled with the app name and version number, plus inside each folder is a precompiled prc which allows me to test it in a zap in either the emulator or on a device.
Here's what one of my "log" files looks like, for the testing branch of the Hold On app. Code: Testing build tracking
version 0.1
*Second dev version
*Features back to pocket tunes button
*Settings form, although not implemented
Version 0.2
*About Form added
*Attempt at implementing pocket tunes module
*Menu Structure
16/05/06
As you can see, it shows what i've done. Important when you mess up a build and want to skip back a few versions to get back to a stable(-ish) build.
More tips coming soon,
BTW, Hold on is currently on version 0.03! Which includes hi-res+ support and gets rid of the Exit button, however i'm holding off on a general release till 0.04, when i hope to have a little more to show for my efforts.
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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05-29-2006, 11:27 AM
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#10 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| RC 1 is out, and this time it's posted & hosted right here on 1src.
check it out here http://www.1src.com/freeware/fileinfo.php?id=1537
After a little more reading and such Hold On is moving ahead slowly.
Sadly with an app of this nature, progress is limited, before it becomes some sort multi-tasking super app.
version 0.04 differs from the last release (0.02) in that i've added the following (straight from my change log ^_^)
0.04
*Hi-Res+ support
*Hi & lo Res Icons
*Removed exit App button
*Added menus, About me and GPL
*Rolled over to 0.04- RC1
Download and enjoy, and remember that under the terms of the GPL, i must provide you folks with the source code if requested, so if you want it, just ask.
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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05-29-2006, 01:50 PM
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#11 | | Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: 22°18'N/114°10'E
Posts: 3,924
| wow, this will be very useful when I get my hands on my new TX soon! 
As I've been a clie user all along, & always got used to the hold button.
But I've been scrolling threw this thread but seems like it's going in a continuous loop without a proper place for the beta download?
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PalmTX + 512SD
UX50(JP)+256MB MS Pro
NX70/V (JP)+1G SanDisk CF
Last edited by Eddy : 05-29-2006 at 02:10 PM.
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05-29-2006, 02:57 PM
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#12 | | Beta Tester
Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Igloo
Posts: 2,378
| A few things:
1) Since you have no small icon size, the icon spills over neighbouring icons in my recently used apps list.
2) Is it supposed to disable the rocker when the app is exited too (like, to go to pTunes via the button)? For me, it doesn't appear to; and since there are no rocker elements on the screen, I can't tell if it disables it in the app itself.
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My Palm family:
Palm T|X ~ Palm T|E ~ m130 ~ m125 ~ POSE
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05-29-2006, 05:47 PM
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#13 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| Quote: | Originally Posted by _Em A few things:
1) Since you have no small icon size, the icon spills over neighbouring icons in my recently used apps list.
2) Is it supposed to disable the rocker when the app is exited too (like, to go to pTunes via the button)? For me, it doesn't appear to; and since there are no rocker elements on the screen, I can't tell if it disables it in the app itself. |
1. Noted, should be fixed for the next release, penciled in for later this week
2. No it only works while the app is open. It only disables the 5 way nav, the power button and the hard buttons remain active. The idea of pocket tunes button there is to enable you to launch back into pocket tunes to mess with settings etc. Eventually i plan on enabling PT console launch from that button, however the code i'm using still needs a little work no ETA yet.
According to what i've heard diabling 5 way system wide isn't either easy, or very performance friendly, considering the T|X skips a lot already...
Plus to do that it has to be done in palm os native C, Hold on as you may have noticed is written in handheld basic, and i sadly don't know anywhere near enough C to even recode it yet, but it is a plan of mine.
Thanks a lot for your feedback, it's greatly welcome
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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05-29-2006, 06:03 PM
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#14 | | Coder in training
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Herts, England
Posts: 239
| Quote: | Originally Posted by Eddy wow, this will be very useful when I get my hands on my new TX soon!
As I've been a clie user all along, & always got used to the hold button.
But I've been scrolling threw this thread but seems like it's going in a continuous loop without a proper place for the beta download? |
Apologies eddie, this is my dev thread, where i discuss or at least show people what goes on behind the scenes of a minor developer like myself, the download can be found in the 1src freeware section or http://www.1src.com/freeware/fileinfo.php?id=1537
i know how annoying it can be, when you want something and you can't find it.
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Clie SL-10 > Clie TJ-35 > Palm T|X > ???? Treo 680 or E61 ???? Hold On Higher Haks My University Hacks and tips Blog, Helping you hack your way to a degree, one DoS at a time Digg-Mobile
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05-30-2006, 06:12 AM
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#15 | | Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 4
| Strange how two days ago I first experienced this problem when I put my TX in my pocket. And then here I am today reading PalmAddict and an entry about this solution turns up. Spooky.
Thanks | |
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