Database Info

Skinning

I've seen some really nice skins for various software on my Kaiser but I want to know how I can create them myself. Is there special software that's needed or is it as simple as just changing the color of an image? Also, how do I create them from scratch and get them to work correctly? Once a skin is done, how do I turn it into a .cab file? Any help would be really appreciated.
btw.......I have Photoshop CS3 Extended if that helps any.

Well, depends what kind of skin...
I did a very simple one for wisbar here:
http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12617
See the files to understand how to change them.

Eh, I'm no professional photoshopper. All I did was open up the images that came with TouchFlo 2D and use Ctrl + U to do a Hue/Saturation change. If you know how to create Batches in Photoshop it saves A LOT of time because you can basically edit one image and have Photoshop make that change to however many other images you want.

Can anyone help me with a skin for this one:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=427913
I'd be extremely greatful.

Ok I have WinCE CAB Manager 3.0.0.22 and 2 themes (here and here) that are mainly just the image files. How do I turn the themes in to .cab files that automatically store the files in the correct location on someone's ppc?

How much of the 6.5 start menu can be customized?

I know the background of the start menu can be changed by:
1) changing the phones wallpaper like normal
OR
2) replacing the startmenu_background_screen_"resolution".png from within the windows folder.
The second is only if you want a different wallpaper in your start menu to the rest of your phone. (the default file is just a transparent .png which shows your normal wallpaper underneath)
I know you can also change the folder icons, by changing around other png files in the window folder.
My question is how can you change the font style or more importantly the colour?
Also, is it possible to change it so it resembles the wm6.1 start menu instead of the honeycomb?
(please dont say "just use a 6.1 ROM" because i dont want to. lol. I like wm6.5 as its quicker and more finger friendly, i just want the old start menu back)

no one know how to do these things?
anyone?
PLEASE?
im desperate here
lolz

As much or as little as you wish.
Have a look at some of the stuff I posted in here :-
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=504320
Should answer a few of the basics.

Thanks for your reply, but those replies are about the today screen. I dont even use titanium any more. I find M2D more useful.
What i want to know is how to edit the Start menu.
the list of programs shown as hexagon icons
I want to change it to like how it was on wm6.1.
Just a grid of icons with words on a white background

OK, I have got what you are after... sounds like a registry hack somewhere....
Unfortunately the holiday(UK)/vacation(US), season is upon us, and I may not have found the solution for a week or two. If and when I do, I'll post it here and send you a PM.

Thank you.
Its appreciated

cris_rowlands said:
Also, is it possible to change it so it resembles the wm6.1 start menu instead of the honeycomb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this question. And what I want is better not the 'grid view'.
Better we have a registry tweak way, so that we can make a HoneyComb Toggle.
In some cases when I want more RAM, it's better to shutdown the honeycomb and the titanium today plugin.
So another question is do we have a tool to toggle the titanium? Like we can do to M2D? I know we can do it through today settings, but I'm looking for a way like regitweak or mortscript, so that I can use a shortcut to map it to a hardware button, do it within one touch.
[Edit: Got some sence for the half of first question from this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=509160&highlight=start+menu
Seems the WM6.5 honeycomb start menu is an executable called shell32.exe. If so we can shut it down with a powerful task manager like DotFred's TaskMgr.exe or let it show up in the htc task manager by registry tweak and kill it. Will report it back after I test it next week. Or anybody can test it right now?
But the first question still need an answer.
Edit3: So what is the process or service of the WM6.1 start menu ? (for that I think it's not an exe) This may help to answer the question of how to resemble old start menu back.
And then what is titanium? An exe, a process or a service? Got a name?]
Thanks for any help.

there isnt!
there isnt a way to back to 6.1 start menu...
but you can use the Qucik menu that is a lil same... but you need to leave blank the cpr file for grid scene on your windows folder... then use the Quick menu that Utaker post on devs and hack forum just search with this exact words " Quickmenu instead honeycomb" you may get all the answer you need there... Oh and the honey comb can be modded in maaaany ways just search all over the devs a nd hack sections
thanks bye.

How to make custom icons?

i tried searching for a guide on how to swap out my stock icons fro my fuze with some icons im working on. do i need to flash my phone for this to work?

You don't need to flash anything to change icons. What you need to do is specifiy which icons you want to change. The comm manager icons are low-hanging fruit; that's where I'd start if I were you. Just look for the files in \windows with names like Function_FlightMode.png. It's not hard to improve upon the grey-scale crap that comes stock. Manila tab icons are pretty easy, but you need to get manila editor to do it. Folder and program icons are a bit trickier; I recommend getting SK shortcut manager to do that. There is a great thread on changing folder icons in the raph software forum (I'll let you search for it). You need several tools, in particular Reshacker and IcoFx.

[REQ] Customize slider + icons

I want to customize the slider and icons of the home screen tabs by myself (in Photoshop)?
Where are the images of these stored and what registry keys do I need to change (if any)?
Thanks
PS: I use JWMD for the start menu icons, is there a similar app for the home screen tab? - probably not

please guys, somebody help me with this.

i reformulated my request, i've been probably misunderstood - that would explain why nobody bothered to answer by now...

this is my last attempt to get your attention into this. I can't believe none of the people who know answered, is this such a big secret?

antaed said:
this is my last attempt to get your attention into this. I can't believe none of the people who know answered, is this such a big secret?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Antaed.
I'm surprised too that no one has replied to your question.
I think the problem is not so much that it is a big secret, but that it is very complicated and therefore difficult to reply to.
I've done a bit of work on changing icons myself, so I can probably explain to you what is involved and what you have to do. But you will need to decide for yourself whether you want to put in the effort...
The slider icons (and the slider itself) are .png images stored in manila files. So the first thing you will need to do is find out, for your version of Manila, which files contain the slider icons for your version.
The best way to find out which files you need to change is to 'unzip' an existing cab which changes the slider icons on your version of manila and read the setup.xml file to extract the names of the manila files in the cab.
Please note that there are 3 files for each slider icon!
Then you will need to extract the .png files from the manila files. I use CFC GUI (available on this forum) to extract the .png files.
Once you have the original .png files, you will see that the slider icons do not take up the whole 128x128 pixels of the file but are placed approximately in the top left corner of the .png file. This will be your guide as to how big to make your new icons and where to place the new icon within the 128x128 matrix.
Please note that there are two different positions depending on whether the image you are replacing is the standard position in the row of icons or the icon visible 'within' the slider (seen as you move the slider along the row of icons), which is slightly higher and to the left.
Once you have created your new .png files in the same format as the originals, you should then use CFC GUI again to replace the original image with your new ones in the appropriate manila file.
You can then either manually move your new manila files across to your device (not recommended) or create a cab file to install them (and uninstall them) in one go (highly recommended!).
I would advise (from experience) only doing a couple of icons first until you have the exact position for the icon with the file. The position should then be the same for every icon.
The slider itself is fortunately only one file and therefore a lot easier to change. Again the best way to find out which manila file you need to change for your version is to unzip a cab file that changes the slider on your version and read the setup.xml file.
Hope this helps... (Well, at least you got an answer!)
And "No", I do not know of an easier way of doing this!

Johnkst, thanks for your kind reply, I started to have doubts I'll get an answer to this .
About the procedure - yes, it's pretty challenging but I'll try .
First because it's kind of a new adventure for me and then because I feel I owe it to you now, as I don't want to leave your effort in vain .
If I'll succeed (and I don't see why not) you'll be the first to receive my work.
Thanks again and best regards,
Antaed

Changing slider icons and the slider...
antaed said:
Johnkst, thanks for your kind reply, I started to have doubts I'll get an answer to this .
About the procedure - yes, it's pretty challenging but I'll try .
First because it's kind of a new adventure for me and then because I feel I owe it to you now, as I don't want to leave your effort in vain .
If I'll succeed (and I don't see why not) you'll be the first to receive my work.
Thanks again and best regards,
Antaed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the right attitude, Antaed...!
I don't know if it will help you, but I am attaching two cabs to this post. They are ones I made myself for my HD2, which uses Manila 2.5.1920. I THINK the same files are used for 1921, but I don't know for sure...
There might be some stuff in there that you do not need, but they might also be useful to help you identify the files you need to change.
One is for the clear slider on the main tabs (it also slightly changes the black '2nd level' slider), the other for the slider icons.
The slider icons it installs are those from Jaguaralani. Let me know once you have downloaded as I will remove them again. I know Jaguaralani does not want his/her theme split up and my posting a cab which installs only the slider icons probably goes against those wishes... - Done!
Good luck!

done, thanks.

Extracting the wait cursor from a taskbar .CAB(SOLVED... Or so I thought.)

Hey everyone,
I just have a quick question, is it possible to extract the wait cursor from this CAB by Dafunk and put it in a CAB so I can install JUST the wait cursor rather than the whole taskbar?
Please say there is 'cos I love the cursor but I'm not a fan of the whole taskbar compared to the one of EnergyROM's xD
Thanks a lot in advance,
Luke.
EDIT!!!: Here are the results of what I did:
Well, like I said, I found a program that extracts the .CAB, so I did that, got the shellress.192.dll from the taskbar .CAB and then, painfully slowly, added each bitmap (16 in total) using reshacker to the original shellres.192.dll that came with the EnergyROM. (This means it will only work with EnergyROM's that aren't GTX or 6.5.X)
It works great! Here's the .dll (has to be .ZIP'd), can someone CAB it up please? I don't know what I'm doing with that.
Oh and a screenshot...
If someone with the original shellres .dll thing from stock 6.5 wants me to put that cursor (or any other for that matter) just gimme the things and I'll happily do it for you (my little in return to XDA)

If you extract the cab with a cab manager program, you just need to figure out what files hold the cursor and repackage the cab.
Check the registries to make sure they don't need to be extracted too.

Thanks for the quick reply.
Erm, I have a program called "WinCE CAB Manager" (30 day trial) and have looked at the files in the CAB and I can only see .BMP and .DLL files, and I would guess it would a .GIF file being as though it's animated?
I'm a little confused now as to what to do...?
Also, as you said there are REG keys there but I don't think they are relevant to what I'm looking for.

LukeTurner93 said:
Thanks for the quick reply.
Erm, I have a program called "WinCE CAB Manager" (30 day trial) and have looked at the files in the CAB and I can only see .BMP and .DLL files, and I would guess it would a .GIF file being as though it's animated?
I'm a little confused now as to what to do...?
Also, as you said there are REG keys there but I don't think they are relevant to what I'm looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I extracted the cab as well, I do not think any registries are involved.
You'll have to do some research on which combimnation of .dll & .bmps make up the cursor.
Yes, I would assume a .gif as well, but didn't see one in there either.
Another option (I know you're looking for a specific one but....), you can find cursors packaged together with themes that won't overwrite your taskbar.
Sorry I do not have a clear cut answer for you.
You may want to ask one of our many modders out there like in Dusk's thread, or perhaps Maxcy...

Bruce Inman said:
I extracted the cab as well, I do not think any registries are involved.
You'll have to do some research on which combimnation of .dll & .bmps make up the cursor.
Yes, I would assume a .gif as well, but didn't see one in there either.
Another option (I know you're looking for a specific one but....), you can find cursors packaged together with themes that won't overwrite your taskbar.
Sorry I do not have a clear cut answer for you.
You may want to ask one of our many modders out there like in Dusk's thread, or perhaps Maxcy...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I just remembered seeing the cursor shown on the XDA front page (http://www.xda-developers.com/windows-mobile/bw-taskbar-icons-wait-animation/) as a .GIF... If I take that would I be able to put that somewhere to replace the current cursor?

I sent a message to Dafunk2 asking if he can make a .CAB with this... Hopefully this will sort it xD if not I shall keep searching.
edit: He hasn't replied yet... Guessing he's a busy man xD

I hear you with the cursor in these taskbar apps. I think I'm going to use this kids app until it's found how to pull this files out. Link ==->http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=497196

brooklyncat said:
I hear you with the cursor in these taskbar apps. I think I'm going to use this kids app until it's found how to pull this files out. Link ==->http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=497196
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that does look interesting but I don't really want even more things installed on my phone.

LukeTurner93 said:
Well that does look interesting but I don't really want even more things installed on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It crashed & burn hahaha oh boy. I was tryin diff. things anyway. Someone sent me a note about a taskbar that doesn't have it. So I'm waitin for that.

brooklyncat said:
It crashed & burn hahaha oh boy. I was tryin diff. things anyway. Someone sent me a note about a taskbar that doesn't have it. So I'm waitin for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, well I'll stay away from that then xD
I think I'll have to look more into how the wait cursor works so I can try and do it myself.

Hi,
Have you read dafunk2 taskbar thread?
guote:
TO ALL OF YOU THAT WANT ONLY THE CUSTOM WAIT CURSOR:
No guys, there is no way to make a cab for only the custom wait cursor.
This is because the custom wait cursor graphics are into the file shellres.192.dll. Into this file reside also many of the taskbar icons and other miscellaneous graphics. If I make a cab with only the file shellres.192.dll and you install it, you will have my wait cursor, but you will have many of my taskbar icons as well. It's good if you use my taskbar (but if you use my taskbar you already have my cursor ), but if you use another taskbar....you can easily understand what can happen.
So this is why there's no way to make a cab that installs only the cursor.
I'm thinking about to make some colors variations of the cursor, but I think that I will make them for cookers (and who knows how to edit dlls) and I will post the 32bit bitmaps in the Windows Mobile Themes section.
I'm sorry.....but I'm explaining why this is impossible
Anyway, many thanks for the great interest for my custom wait cursor
Regards,
dafunk
So, you need original cursor files and a man capable of editing dll.

artukas613 said:
Hi,
Have you read dafunk2 taskbar thread?
guote:
TO ALL OF YOU THAT WANT ONLY THE CUSTOM WAIT CURSOR:
No guys, there is no way to make a cab for only the custom wait cursor.
This is because the custom wait cursor graphics are into the file shellres.192.dll. Into this file reside also many of the taskbar icons and other miscellaneous graphics. If I make a cab with only the file shellres.192.dll and you install it, you will have my wait cursor, but you will have many of my taskbar icons as well. It's good if you use my taskbar (but if you use my taskbar you already have my cursor ), but if you use another taskbar....you can easily understand what can happen.
So this is why there's no way to make a cab that installs only the cursor.
I'm thinking about to make some colors variations of the cursor, but I think that I will make them for cookers (and who knows how to edit dlls) and I will post the 32bit bitmaps in the Windows Mobile Themes section.
I'm sorry.....but I'm explaining why this is impossible
Anyway, many thanks for the great interest for my custom wait cursor
Regards,
dafunk
So, you need original cursor files and a man capable of editing dll.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah right, that makes sense lol. Thanks for pointing this out

It can be done easily. You need to extract shellres.xxx.dll from the cab. Then edit shellres with reshacker, and find the wait cursor icons. Then swap them to what you need.
PS: Dont ask me step by step instructions.

ai6908 said:
It can be done easily. You need to extract shellres.xxx.dll from the cab. Then edit shellres with reshacker, and find the wait cursor icons. Then swap them to what you need.
PS: Dont ask me step by step instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh right, this sounds good, is reshacker all I need to edit the .dll?

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a .CAB editor please?

I found this one but have not used it. Its available here on XDA.
I use WINCE Cab manager but it's a pay app I believe.

Bruce Inman said:
I found this one but have not used it. Its available here on XDA.
I use WINCE Cab manager but it's a pay app I believe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, this looks good, but it's only for creating .CAB's.. Anyway, as I was dabbling in a bit of cooking (failed btw ) I found a program that extracts .CAB's for use in ROM's so I used reshacker and found there are a LOT of .BMP's for the cursor, but I have no idea what to do with them from here, if anyone has a use for them then I will happily extract them and post them here.

Okay, so I thought I'd found out how to do this... Well I have, BUT now I've got problems with taskbar icons (Messenger notification icon is all I found).
This icon has returned to the default 6.5 icon after I edited the shellress .dll, has anyone got any ideas?
Thanks once again,
Luke.