Database Info

S/W Newbie. If you have a moment

Hello
In the begining there was the XDA, and then the XDAII, and now, in the post to me as we speak (I hope) is the XDAIIs.
Ive spent the past hour surfing around this site, and been quite amazed at some of the things you guys and gals can make these devices do. A recent change in company has moved me from my beloved hardware engineering onto software, nothing spectacular at the moment, editing .ini, .bat, .exe and a few other types of files. It has however got me interested in playing with my phone, but the problem is I don't know where to start, I see programs called mkrom which need to run on a unix like system (which I don't have) and RomKitchen ?
Are there any recomendations on a place to start ? whether its online tutorial or a good book you have bought from somewhere, and I mean books that start from the very bottom of the pile. Again, I know bits and pieces but nothing substantial in this area.
At the moment its more the applications for the today screen I`m interested in.
Any info will be much appreciated
All the best
Nikki

Welcome aboard Nikki. You can start here:
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/wiki/FAQ
and move on from there. The forum has tons of info on what apps run best on our beloved XDA. Cheers.

mate, regarding "At the moment its more the applications for the today screen I`m interested in. Any info will be much appreciated"
there are loads of apps you can put on the today screen such as:
1) animated today - animation on your today screen
2) today launch apps - allows you to put icons / shortcuts to your favorite applications
3) weather
4) phone profiles
5) system information showing you amount of memory used, battery remaining, program terminator or switcher
6) nothing on your today screen...just the background pic/theme
7) world time which displays around 6 times zones
8) quotes
9) games on the today screen (e.g. baseball...but if you ask me i'd go for footy)
10) note screen for scribbling
11) let's see....oh you can also put a different kind of clock or date format
12) calendar or task summary
13) and a whole bunch of others...
no need to buy anything really; just hop on over to the 02 and xda websites...not to mention this forum as your means of gaining tons of info.
you can try these links:
http://www.freewareppc.com/
http://ipaqsoft.net/
http://www.pdagold.com/themes/
hope that helps. cheers then

the faq does not satisfy my needs!!!
dear bravo2zero the faq available does not explain everything
it only covers 2 old pdas what about the blue angel & what are the diffrence in the
Rom version
radio version
Protocol version
ExtRom version
Where can we find the tools to edit it ?? & what each tool can do ??
if i'm reading a post i have to open 6 or 7 windows at a time & follow links to many diffrent sites...
Where can we find all in 1 tidy place ??!!!
Thanks

Thats the beauty of it. There is no one single place since this forum evolves out of everyone's contribution. This isn't like a commercial website that offers downloads in a nice structured way. Like everyone else, you just have to read through a lot of posts to get to where you want to be.

Text-to-image utility for WM?

Anyone know of a utility that will take a text file as input and spit out a simple GIF/JPG/PNG/BMP?
If there are none, plan B would be text-to-speech. Anyone know of a good one that sounds reasonably natural?
Thanks in advance!

if there are such options this is the search which will lead you to them
http://www.google.dk/search?hl=da&q=ocr+pocketpc&btnG=Søg&meta=lr=lang_da|lang_en
you can replace ocr with text to speach if you wanna search for that

One of us is misunderstanding...
As I understand Optical Character Recognition, it takes an image (which contains text) and extracts the text. I'm trying to do the opposite - take a text file as INPUT and OUTPUT to an image. (See attachment.)
BTW- I Googled this heavily before posting. Tons of Text2Image links, but everything I found was made for a desktop PC - not Pocket PC. And including "pocket pc" in the search criteria didn't help... lots of pages with Wintel Text2Image software that mention "Pocket PC" somewhere on the page.

Have you thought of using a fullscreen doc viewer (picsel comes to mind...) and a screen-capture mapped to a hardware button? It isn't automated, but it would get the job done.

larsuck said:
It isn't automated, but it would get the job done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With mortscript, you can automate pretty much anything, right? Problem is, that really wouldn't get the job done.
Let me explain the application a bit better...
I use Wisbar Advanced Desktop extensively and I have a pretty sophisticated UI set up. I have a special page for weather, but I'm really not happy with *any* of the weather today plug-ins (and I think I've tried pretty much all of them!) So what I want to do is pass 2 or 3 URLs to mortscript, have it read the file in, parse out the stuff I don't want, leaving me with text that gives me the precise details I do want. I then convert the text to an image file, saving it with the same name ands size every time (e.g. currentconditions.gif - which is already set as a positioned element on the WAD virtual page.) I do the same with extended forecast and surf report (I live at the beach in SoCal) and tell mortscript to go out and update this once per hour. Then, when I go to my weather page, I get exactly the info I want (including sunset time, water temp, UV index, etc.) and my info is no older than 59 minutes.
I'm starting to think that I should just do this server-side... maybe I can find a text-to-image script using php. Hmmmm...

Microsoft Recite: a cool software

DIRECT LINK for the CAB
MS release a technical preview of recite:
What Is Microsoft Recite?
Microsoft Recite is a search technology for your voice that runs on Windows Mobile* devices. With Microsoft Recite, you can use your voice to easily store, search and retrieve the things you want to remember, where and when you need them. Microsoft Recite is available as a free technology preview beginning February 16, 2009.
*Microsoft Recite can be used on devices running Windows Mobile version 6.0 or higher. Not sure what you’re running? A complete list of devices can be found at http://recite.microsoft.com
How Does It Work?
Microsoft Recite’s voice search makes it easy to retrieve your stored thoughts and notes by using voice pattern matching. It analyzes the patterns in your speech and finds matches between two recordings -- the notes you stored on your phone, and the search you do using your voice. With Recite you can store thousands of spoken notes, and then later retrieve the notes you want based on a match with your search term(s). This is different from speech recognition, which has to accurately convert spoken words to application-readable input.
Press “Remember” to record a thought.
Press “Search” to retrieve your thoughts. It’s that simple!
Consumer Use
We can think of countless handy ways that you might use Microsoft Recite… record your shopping list, friends’ birthdays, addresses, school happenings, gift ideas, get togethers, favorite wines… anything you might need or want to remember later. Recite even lets you remember and search in multiple languages.
Here’s an example. Imagine your co-worker, Paul Johnson, tells you about a book that he thinks you might like, Hot, Flat and Crowded, by Thomas Friedman. To start recording a mental note, launch the technology, press the 'Remember' button, then say what you would like to record; in this case, “Book recommendation from Paul Johnson: Hot, Flat and Crowded.” Next, press the “Finished' button to complete the recording and store the note. Later, when you’re ready to buy the book but are unsure of the title, click on the ‘Search’ button and say what you would like to recall. In this case, you might say “book recommendation,” then press ‘Finished’ to begin the search. Recite will then retrieve and play the book recommendation for you.
Or, you might recall that Paul told you something that you wanted to remember, but forgot what it was. In this case, click ‘Search’ and say “Paul Johnson.” Microsoft Recite will retrieve all mental notes that include the sounds “Paul Johnson.” In this case you would hear “Book recommendation from Paul Johnson: Hot, Flat and Crowded.”

No search button - solved, but not capturing voice
I have "remember" on the left softkey and "privacy" on the right one, which loads PIE at the privacy policy page for the project. I can't locate the search funtion. Anybody get this to work?
I have similar funtionality through Evernote, but not the ability to voice search, so it would be interesting to try.
edit: It was not capturing the recordings, so there was nothing to search. Once I got it to successfully capture, the search function was there. It is still shutting down without capturing.

It crash on many HTC .. so its cool but buggy

It doesn't seem to work for me on WM 6.1 (Touch). I can record lots of things but the search always comes up with the same result even if NONE of the words in it match.
No good so far.

New version out. Much improved
I had reported my issues on the feedback page on the beta site, and got an email response last night that a new version is available. I dl'd it and it is much better than the original. It now responds to the touch screen as well as the soft keys, and it captured the recording right 4 out of 4 tries. the search funtion worked pretty well, but not perfect. Saying "Anthony" didn't work, but "Anthony's" did. As in "Anthony's birthday is . . . "
What this program needs to rock is text to speech, and integration with outlook. the ability to speak calendar entries and to-dos into the phone would send MS to the top of a lot of peoples lists.

Yeah this is a cool program. Thanks for letting us know there was an update.

It´s working, but bull.. sh..t
you can´t organize the files you recorded . A delete function is missing .
MS is trying to tease us.

It worked well in my Prophet. But one thing worries me: where are the recorded files saved? It seems internal memory but where?

Could anyone post the Last cab of recite ?
ok got it!
It need to use ie mobile
for downloading the cab !
MS dont like opera!!

MS recite CAB for everyone
I've uploaded the last version that run fine.
Works perfectly on Elfin

Updated again..here it is.

I just found this program and for some reason I am unable to dl it from the microsoft website. Is the cab right above this one the most recent?

need help with my fuze experience - by an ex Blackberry user (long)

Hi Guys,
First thank you all for such a great community. XDA truly "sold" me the HTC fuze...as I was very excited about such an excellent user base. I lurked here for a few days before I bought, and have lurked a few more days while I have played with the phone, so far with very positive experiences...
So here is my question...
I am an ex blackberry user...4 years running. Had the 7290 and the more recent 8800. I liked the phones but were frequently frustrated by things such as lack of home-brew software (or at least lack of software easy to find and well supported), lack of a decent web browser, lack of an attractive UI (albeit theirs was very functional) and lack of 3G (on att at the moment). Now I know that the BB Bold fixed some of this, but to me its the same ole blackberry tricks (do email real well, slack off on the rest), and I was really ready for a highly extensible smart phone.
Enter the HTC fuze...
I love the apps, love the idea of custom ROMS, love that it runs a very common platform (windows mobile, important as some companies write apps that only run on windows mobile), and love the sheer power of the HTC fuze (can easily browse filesystem, look at memory usage...its essentially a very small laptop), but I have one primary complaint...it does all these cool things, but IMO it does NOT do email/messaging/contact management well...and worse, I have not been as impressed with the web browser as I thought I would be (using opera, have not tried IE...also some of this is my fault, I am trying to use fat-client web pages vs mobile web pages, which are faster and just perform better). Now before I get flamed, let me clarify that I am using the Energy Rom 3.0, so some of my griefing may be self inflicted. That being said, here are some specifics of what irritations Ive ran into with messaging/email/contact management...ill list them out categorized in order of importance (can you tell I am an engineer?)
Email
1. No heads up display of new messages on the home screen (have to poke around to the email area to see if you have new messages)
2. Does not enter an @ and . symbol when hitting spacebar key while typing email address in "To:" field (ex-blackberry users will sympathize)
3. I get too many emails for the graphical envelope to be useful...it looks cool, but when I am 30 emails deep i really don't want to have to click menu to get to all messages, just let the mail icon take me right to the goodies please...
4. read/unread/replied messages are not well represented (could be that it is just different that the blackberry feel, but a different color or something would be nice...the standard is bold/yellow/dark is unread and light/white/shadowy is read...and replied as some sort of representation as well
There are a few others but those are the main ones
Messaging
1. Clicking the message, and then immediately beginning to type (as in to reply) will take you to the address book!!, in order to start a new message! It is beyond me why it does not just start entering text as a reply for your current message you are viewing, and this is a huge annoyance!
2. Found this the other day...replying to an MMS message by clicking gives an error (wont deliver) but hitting menu and then reply will then prompt for "MMS or SMS reply?" and the message goes through fine...irritating!
3. Tapping spacebar twice does not place a period, although not capitalizing the first letter in a sentence auto-capitalizes - this is a blackberry feature that is not here and i miss it :'(
4. Once again lack of proper heads up in the home menu....why is the clock giant??? Looks cool but waste of space...I would rather have a breakdown of my messages/emails/missed calls with limited details so I can see whats going on, on my home screen.
5. General slowness when going from the message browsing with the envelopes to the reply, detailed view.
Contact Management
1. Adding a contact is no where near simple...and there are too many "mines" you can accidentally click in the process which will do odd things like add an address book entry with no name in it, or call someone!
2. The "people" tab is useless...i removed it (not really a complaint as I fixed it...but I just don't understand that concept of favorites....that being said my background is in database administration so all data is good data to me, the more the merrier...explains my 500+ contacts, half of which i prob dont need but keep around just in case)
3. Last name first???? Blackberry was always first name last...further more, I entered a business the other day in my contact list, and it put the second part of the business name as the last name, leading to a very odd address book entry...I did not like that bit of assumption on the phones part.
So I guess you could probably sum up all my complaints into 3 things:
1. I am way too used to blackberry shortcuts and having a hard time weening myself off
2. There are 10 ways to do the same things and get to the same places on the phone, and some times a few of those ways are less buggy/intuitive than others...why not just have the best methods enabled only?
3. Too many buttons take you places you did not intend to be...its not one way in one way out of each module (mail, messaging, ect.)...its 5 ways in, 10 ways deeper, uh....im lost, how do I make a phone call? (I'm being facetious of course but you get my drift)
Anyways, I am not trying to slam the phone, it is slick, sexy, and free (refurb through an ATT deal), but I just need some ROM/tweak/psychological suggestions to make it "fit" me better.
Thank you all truly,
Crackberry addict in serious withdrawal

Ok, so piece by piece:
Email:
1. For a pop-up for new email messages, go to start>settings>sounds&notifications>notifications. There you can choose messaging: new email message, and select display message on screen. This will give you a pop up at the bottom every time you get a new email. you can do this for all those other events that are in the drop down too.
2. Don't know of anything to do this
3. There should be a inbox button for your i think left soft-key. Two clicks isn't much more than 1
4. Don't know of anything
Messaging:
1. This happens jut because of lag in the system. You have to wait until everything loads up to start typing. Sounds like you need a cooked rom
2. Bug?
3. My phone does what you ask, although I am running 6.5. My settings in input have "enable auto correct" with a check mark next to them. Don't know if this solves the problem in 6.1
4. Regular Today screen. Try something like TouchFlo Detacher, which allows you with the soft key button to easily and quickly switch back and forth between the regular today screen, which would have all that info that you desire, and touchflo. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=480475
5. Cooked rom, bigger pagepool
Contact Management:
1. Sorry this is just winmo. Contact entry area is not exactly the most finger friendly menu. Try the stylus. I know what you mean, though.
2. Basically the people tab is just for people you call on a daily basis, and it looks cool lol
3. You can change that in the contact's settings where it says "file as"; I like first name first also, so I just changed it so that was the way it is displayed.
Overall Points:
1. It is difficult to go from blackberry to winmo, but everything does have a slight learning curve.
2. Most view this to be the beauty of winmo. You have infinite possibilities, since everyone likes to do things differently. If microsoft wanted to assume that everyone wanted to do everything the same way and that there was one, best, all-powerful way to do things, then they could just merge with apple
3. Lol don't understand this one
Any more questions, I'd be happy to help

thanks
hey,
thanks for the detailed reply. got most of the answers i needed...I am using a cooked rom (energy 3.0) which runs WM 6.5, but it comes with the Manila skin. After doing some research I think I need to ditch that and start from there...any other pointers?

You could try to use the default WM6.5 home plugin instead of TF3D, it may suit your needs better.

Sms Export

I've quested a long time to find a program that just works for this exact purpose. I've pulled my hair out trying to convert csv files in excel and coming up short with random programs that are shareware for the simple act of transferring text files from my phone to my computer - a feature that should be a no-brainer for any and all mobile devices. This program does this so elegantly (and is, AFAIK, freeware). Hie thee hence, ye'all who are searching for an sms export program go here: http://www.smsexport.com/ and be amazed.
This program will take your entire sms archive and put it into a text file. It won't put it into any fancy dandy exotic file that you can't read or have to sort or cut you off with only a few txt messages "for a trial". This is the real deal.
If this is a re-post, double post, known info, w/e then I do apologize. But having scoured these forums and not finding too many complete solutions I figured I'd oblige. Also be sure to choose the PDA version.
Discuss.

Very cool prog!
I also searched for a possibility to save sms on my pc