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NOW WITH ANIMATED ICON SET AND FULLY USER TRANSLATABLE
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Massive THANKS to jmart518 for the cab files !!!
CHANGELOG IN POST 3 - CHECK THERE FOR LATEST VERSION INFO
Well here it is, finally! What started out as three of us playing about with basic layouts and text colours has morphed into 6 weeks worth of work in my spare time creating from scratch a completely new WVGA theme for Weatherpanel. Every layout has been written from scratch, pretty much every icon, background, transition, etc has been created specifically for DDT (except the actual weather icons which is a modified set of Rumball's static Diamond VGA icons as they are without doubt the best weather icon set out there) and this is the result - we hope you like it!
This thread originally started out as a tutorial for getting Weatherpanel up and running on your HD2, giving it somewhere to live (in our case Second Today from Chi-Tai) and linking it using CHTE to be the default weather app. I've removed most of the rather longwinded background behind the project from this post as I'm sure most of you have read it by now, however for new visitors to our little HD2 WP community, welcome and we hope you find what you're searching for here! Weatherpanel really is the most comprehensive weather app out there - it may be old but it is still the best as far as information, accuracy and user customisation goes. Now with this new theme we reckon that visually and from an intuitive UI point of view it blows the other weather apps away (and it's free!)
Before we start I must give credit where due to Marsware, the original creators of Weatherpanel, Chi-Tai for Second Today and of course the remarkable Mssrs Cookiemonster & JCM for the unbelievably superb CHT & CHTE without all of whom none of this would have been possible. Thanks also to my two brothers in insomnia - Davej and Troed whose initial tweaks to the original Phatphinger and Diamond themes set us off down this road in the first place, and for keeping me going over the last few weeks - thanks guys!
Right, so here's why - Basically, fed up with the lack of information on the Sense weather tab I was looking for a way to click on the weather section of the Home tab and be taken to a much better weather app than the weather tab. Days and weeks of searching and experimentation finally led me to the following solution - Weatherpanel (an old WM Today plugin) given a home in Second Today which is in turn set as the preferred weather app in CHTE. It is all beautifully simple and works perfectly.
Let's get this out of the way before we start in BIG RED LETTERS:
This does not replace the Sense weather tab !!!
It is still there and can be accessed from your slider as usual. This setup simply directs a touch on the weather element of CHT to Second Today & Weatherpanel.
About DAVEJ's Animated Icon Set
My very good friend Dave has spent way too many hours editing Rumballs original VGA animated icon set and resizing the various sets to make them fit this theme. The icons set is huge at over 88Mb! Unfortunately WP uses a rather crude MNG image format (renamed .wpa) which means very large files compared to gifs. As a consequence the size of the main screen large animated icons has had to be kept smaller than we would ideally have liked because to make them the same size as the static icons would have meant each file was way over 10mb and caused WP to run at a snails pace or crash altogether. So Dave arrived at the best compromise he could to balance size over performance. The smaller sets are absolutely fine. We have culled frames in many of them to keep the overall size down and have made them all single play. And as you go up in the various sizes Dave has thinned out the sets progressively until the Huge ones on the main screen have just the most common weather types animated and the rest are static (otherwise you'd have had a 150Mb icon set!). They do slow WP down a bit but we think they are well worth it! We all run both icon sets and themes and switch between them as the mood takes us...
IF YOU WANT TO USE THE ANIMATED ICONS YOU MUST INSTALL THE RELEVANT AI (ANIMATED ICON) VERSION OF THE THEME AFTER THE MAIN INSTALL HAS COMPLETED - INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDED BELOW!
Here is the walkthrough:
IMPORTANT FOR NEW USERS AND EXISTING USERS UPDATING TO THE NEW THEME:
For some reason the maximum useable screen area for WP differs between 6.5 and 6.5.x ROMS. Basically in 6.5 ROMs WP can be set to a maximum visible height of 720 pixels, whereas 6.5.x can go to 760 pixels (proper full screen below your taskbar). Also, we have discovered that Weatherpanel takes it's time format from your main phone settings (12hr/24hr) and as the layouts I originally wrote were for 24hr there were errors on screen if you are using 12hr time format. I have therefor created two complete versions of the theme so make sure you download the correct one for your WM version, each with three layout options in both 12 and 24hr format, otherwise the theme will not look right and you may be left with a scrollbar and overlapping elements on screen. Also, you must pay particular attention to the setup instructions for Second Today on first run - Disable Command Bar - as otherwise you will not get full screen and instead will have an unsightly scrollbar down the right hand side of your screen.
FULL INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR NEW USERS
(ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ANIMATED ICON SET IN THIS COLOUR)
There are two cab files linked to below which will do 90% of the installation for you. Make sure you download the correct cab for your WM version (6.5 or 6.5.x). Both cabs can be used for installs with or without CHT, and include the necessary reg settings for both CHT 1.8.5 and CHT 2.0
1. Download the relevant cab file for your WM version:
COMPLETE CAB INSTALL FOR WM 6.5
COMPLETE CAB INSTALL FOR WM 6.5.x
If you want the option of using Dave's animated icon set you will also need to download and unzip the relevant additional AI (Animated Icons) theme folder :
ANIMATED ICONS ADD-ON FOR WM 6.5
ANIMATED ICONS ADD-ON FOR WM 6.5.x
2. Download and unzip one or both of the icon sets:
STATIC ICON SET
DAVEJ'S ANIMATED ICON SET
IMPORTANT - When unzipping files you may find that you end up with a folder within a folder (DDT Mod Diamond WVGA Static Icons>DDT Mod Diamond WVGA Static Icons, same with icons folder) - Make sure you take the 'inner' folder out and use it to copy as if you forget to do this the icons will not appear in Weatherpanel
3. Install the cab to your storage card (you can put it in main memory if you like but the icon files will need to go there too and they are big folders (around 17Mb for the Static Icons and 88Mb!!! for the Animated Icons) - it runs perfectly well from the SD card). The cab will then install Second Today automatically to your device, and Weatherpanel and the theme to your storage card.
4. When the cab finishes intalling Weatherpanel runs through an extract process and will probably leave you with a WP window asking you to select language (default is English). Select your language then press your hardware back key. Then you can click OK as normal after a cab install.
5. Now you need to copy the complete unzipped icon set folder(s) to Storage Card>Program Files>Marware>Weatherpanel>Icons. If you are installing the animated icon set you also now need to install the unzipped AI theme folder to Storage Card>Program Files>Marsware>Weatherpanel>Themes
6. SOFT RESET
7. Now you need to open Weatherpanel for the first time. If you are using CHT then simply touch on the weather element of your home tab. If you are not using CHT then you need to go to Start Menu>Second Today and click on Second Today. First time you open it you will either get a blank screen with a message at the top saying invalid layout or you will see the Second Today settings window. If you see the few lines of text at the top of an otherwise blank screen then simply touch on this message and it will open the Weatherpanel settings screen. If you see the Second Today settings window it means that the ST settings haven't 'stuck' during the install so you need to do the following before proceeding:
7.1. On the plugins tab check the box beside Weatherpanel and make sure NO other boxes are checked
7.2. Still on the plugin tab check 'Use Custom Background' and then browse to whatever wallpaper you want for your main WP screen - don't use anything too light as some of the text won't show up!
7.3. On the display tab delete any text in the Window-Title box
7.4. Check the box beside 'Disable Command Bar' - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!
Once you have made these changes click on the right softkey to accept the settings and you will be taken to the blank screen with the few lines of text at the top (touch on the text at the top of the screen), or directly to the WP settings window.
8. You then need to set up Weatherpanel by doing the following:
NB There is no confirm or back softkey in the WP settings screen so once you have entered all you need to on a certain screen you need to press your hardware back key to return to the previous screen or to exit settings altogether.
8.1 Add your cities (NOTE - WP does not utilise My Location so you have to manually enter locations you want weather info for) which is just a case of clicking 'Add New', then entering your city name in the 'Search For' box.
8.2 Once you’ve added each new city you then need to add weather images for each city (if you want weather maps to show up). If all your cities are in the same part of the world (i.e. Europe) then you just need to add the same image(s) for each city. I’m in the UK so all my cities use the same Europe maps. For more info on finding and adding weather images look HERE and try http://www.weathercharts.org/ - thanks again Troed
8.3 Once you’ve added all your cities and images click on the Display tab. The theme, icon set and layout are all already preselected by the cab install. You do however have a choice of six possible DDT layouts to select from in the Layout dropdown list (V2+, V2Mid, V2Lite in either 12 or 24hr format - see below). Select the layout you would like to try first, and make sure you select the correct version for the time format you use on your phone. If you are wanting to use the animated icons and have followed the instructions correctly to this point you need to change the Theme to the AI theme you will have in the Theme dropdown. Then simply choose your preferred layout as before, and in the Icon dropdown select the Animated icon set.
Once you’ve done this then click your hardware back key and you should then see the main WP display for the first city in your list. The left/right arrows beside the location name let you scroll through your cities. To exit the WP screen back to wherever you were simply click your hardware back or home key.
Job done
If once you've followed the installation instructions you are having any issues with not seeing the full screen, or having a scrollbar down the right hand side of the screen (and you have definitely installed the correct version of the theme for your WM version) please do the following:
With Weatherpanel open press your hardware Start Menu button. The open the Second Today folder and click on SToday Settings. In the Display tab make sure that 'Disable Command Bar' is checked. Exit by pressing the right softkey and Weatherpanel should now look correct.
About User Translation
THIS WILL ONLY WORK WITH DDT V2 - NOT PREVIOUS VERSIONS
This final edition of the theme is now fully user translatable through the use of the lang.txt file attached at the bottom of this post. All you need to do is download the file, open it in any text editor (Notepad is perfect for the job) and translate the text on the right hand side of each entry. The attached sample is for German users so if you want DDT in German then simply use this file! Once you've completed your translation save the file as lang.txt and copy it to the main Weatherpanel folder on your storage card (Storage Card>Program Files>Marsware>Weatherpanel).
There are a few things to bear in mind when you are translating:
1. Please stick as closely as possible to the number of characters in the english version of each text entry as this is the text the theme was designed around and if you increase the number of characters it will mess up the look of the theme or the text may not display at all.
2. You will be limited to the language specific characters available in the fonts used in DDT (Helvetica and Helvetice Neue Thin) so probably no Chinese or Russian translations?
3. Once you have translated I apologise if some of the grammar or syntax doesn't track perfectly but again the theme is written in English and although I have done my best to break the text up in such a way that when translated it makes sense there may be one or two elements that aren't perfect!
If you do translate the lang.txt into something other than German (or if you produce a better German one than mine!) please post it in the thread with the filename lang_*language*.txt (i.e. lang_french.txt) and I will compile a library of translation files in the second post.
Dave and I also reckon there should be a prize for the most amusing English adaptation of the text - do and English to English translation but substitute where relevant for amusing alternatives (ie Snow=Jeez, it's cold out here etc...)
CREDITS FOR USER SUBMITTED TRANSLATIONS:
GERMAN - lang_DE_V1.5.txt - Thanks to ceh01
PORTUGUESE - lang_POR.txt - Thanks to filipepro
DUTCH - lang_DUTCH.txt - Thanks to luckyuser
POLISH - lang_PL.txt - Thanks to Jack_Surfer
FRENCH - lang.FR.txt - Thanks to t00ms
DANISH - Lang_DK_v1.2.txt - Thanks to polpot
SWEDISH - Lang.SE.txt - Thanks to halloj
Remember to rename these files to lang.txt before copying to the WP folder.
UPGRADE INSTRUCTIONS FOR CURRENT USERS
1. Download the correct DDT theme zip for your WM version:
DDT ULTIMATE V2 THEME ONLY FOR WM 6.5
DDT ULTIMATE V2 THEME ONLY FOR WM 6.5.x
If you want to use Dave's animated icons also download the relevant AI theme zip for your version:
ANIMATED ICONS ADD-ON FOR WM 6.5
ANIMATED ICONS ADD-ON FOR WM 6.5.x
Download the fonts:
DDT WP FONTS
Download the icons:
STATIC ICON SET
DAVEJ'S ANIMATED ICON SET
2. Extract all the zips.
3. Place the fonts in your Windows>Fonts directory on your device
5. Place the theme and icon folders in the relevant WP folders on your storage card as usual.
6. BEFORE YOU RUN FOR THE FIRST TIME - Go to your Start Menu and open the Second Today folder. Click on SToday Settings and in the display tab check the box beside 'Disable Command Bar'
7. Run WP and select theme [COLOR=Dark Orchid](AI version if you want to use the animated icons)[/COLOR], icon set and layout (DDT_Ultimate_V2+ DDT_Ultimate_V2Mid or DDT_Ultimate_V2Lite, either 12 or 24hr)
8. Enjoy
IMPORTANT: For anyone using Android builds see Android section in FAQ's
FAQ's in Post 2
Main screen layout options and navigation overview
V2+
V2Mid
V2Lite
There are three options for the main screen in the theme - V2+ (shown on the left above with two hide/reveal panels to play with), V2Mid (shown in the centre with the 5-day forecast permanently displayed and a hide/reveal info panel) and V2Lite (shown on the right above withboth the info and forecast panels permanently displayed). In the V2+ and V2Mid layouts the info panel is opened with the info button on the left hand side of the screen, and in the V2+ layout the five day forecast panel is opened by clicking on the five suns at the very bottom of the screen. Once the forecast panel is open you can then click on each day to be taken to a full forecast summary for that day.
Most elements on the main screen are clickable as shown above, and in each subsequent screen you will find a shortcut navigation panel on the top right of the screen allowing you direct access to anywhere else in WP you might wish to go. In addition, wherever the moon appears in the theme you can click on it to be taken to the Lunar Schedule page. It would take me forever to explain the function of every element in the theme, but as they are all very intuitive and each screen is fully self-explanatory I'll just let you play around and discover it all for yourself! You can't break it by playing around too much so have fun! As a rough guide however the various screens are as follows:
Main screen - contains all relevant current weather data (with info panel open), 5 day overview (with forecast panel open, sunrise/sunset times, local time for location selected, current moon phase, current temp, etc
1 - Current conditions screen - gives a bit more detail along with a 24 hour combined temp/rain chart
2 - 10-day summary page - each day is clickable to access the main forecast page for that day
3 - Lunar Schedule - with current and next moon phase info
4 - Charts page - four hourly/daily charts showing forecast max/min temp, precipitation, windspeeed and humidiy
5 - Full forecast page - Day and evening forecasts for the selected day, plus moon info
6 - Radars page - where web weather images, traffic cam images, etc you specify in your radars.txt appear and can animate. The player buttons are hidden when you first open an image page - to open the controls simply touch and hold on the image for a second or so and the buttons will appear.
If you are in Europe then you can download the attached radar.txt file and overwrite the one in the Weatherpanel folder on your storage card as it contains several more Europe radar image URLs.
Hope this walkthrough helps anyone else out there as thick as me to get there a lot quicker than I did! Now I have four questions for the clever people out there to do with things that would make it better but which I have no chance of finding a solution to on my own:
Any questions/suggestions please feel free to ask.
Enjoy
One word of warning - WP can be pretty data intensive so beware! I have two cities and four weather images and the update size is around 1MB, so if I have it set on hourly updates I can easily hit 10MB+ each day. I only hook up on wifi at home and work so not a problem, but if you are using mobile data you may want to keep an eye on it.
POSTS IN THREAD FOR NEW THEME START HERE
If you like my work please buy me a coffee to keep me going
FAQs
FAQs & Add-ons
City name cut off or overlapping left/right arrows - When you search for your city in the WP Add City screen it will appear in the Name box at the top of the screen as City, Country. In a lot of instances this will make the name too long to fit on screen in the space I have allowed. All you need to do is edit the City name in the Name box at the top of the screen to either remove or abbreviate the Country or State name and it should now fit. Also if you cannot find your tiny village in the search then just search the nearest large town, select it and edit the name in the top box to that of your village.
Can I use other WP icon sets - No. I have edited the Diamond VGA icon set, which has included adding in some missing ones and creating a full new set of resized moon icons. The theme also uses 5 different sizes of icons which other sets will not necessarily have.
Does it work with My Location - No. I am hoping someone far cleverer than me may pick this up and find a way of making it work but I'm afraid this is far beyond my meagre skills!
Animated icons? - Davej is currently working on an animated set of the main screen icons but at present the set is about 120Mb+ and slow to run so don't hold your breath - it may take some time!
Scrollbar showing on right hand side of screen - Either you are using a 6.5 ROM and have not followed the instructions for overwriting the 6.5 optimised files, or you have not followed the last instruction in Step 9 to Disable Command Bar in Second Today settings
Multiple city images overlapping when switching between cities - HERE - Thanks fmlarsen
Waiting for storage card error message - HERE - Thanks scandiskfr
Get rid of annoying beeps and alert noises - HERE - Thanks davej
To add additional weather images - Search online on your PC for current weather forecast for desired location. Once you've found a weather map/satellite image/radar image/etc that you want to use right click on it and select properties. Then copy the URL from the properties box. Open the radars.txt file from your WP folder using Notepad on your PC. You then need to add a name for the image, then hit enter and on the next line paste the URL (it'll make sense when you open the file!). Note - quite a few of the good looking weather images you'll find will be flash so you won't be able to incorporate them. Also try http://www.weathercharts.org/ and look HERE for more info Troed has posted on this
Sunrise/sunset times not showing correctly in 12hr format - MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SELECTED ONE OF THE 12hr LAYOUTS IN THE DROPDOWN LIST
LITE version - If you would prefer to have the two popout panels (info and 5-day forecast) permanently displayed on the main screen there are two layout options in the theme folders available for download in the first post. Open WP settings and select DDT_Ultimate_V1Lite in the layout menu.
For Lite users - if you would prefer not to have the semi-transparent background behind the info panel 996r has created a fully transparent version which you can download HERE - just overwrite to the DDT theme folder.
Changing the background on all screens - The custom background you select during the setup process for Second Today is the background that will appear on the main screen only. If you want to apply the same (or any other background image) to the rest of the WP screens (with the exception of the Lunar Schedule and Detailed Forecast screens which use specific custom backgrounds) then you need to make a background image exactly 480x788 in png format, name it bkg.png and overwrite the one in the DDT theme folder. Restart WP and there you go.
Android causing problems with Weatherpanel - Look HERE - many thanks to jaguaralani for this one You'll have to follow his instructions for both the V1+ and V1Lite wpl's if you have both in the theme folder
GPS Setting - On the Connection tab in WP Settings there is an option for setting the GPS Port and Baud Rate. This does absolutely nothing so don't bother with it. The original developer of the core WP software disappeared in 2005 and it has remained pretty much unedited since then. This was something that appears to have been being planned for a later revision but that never happened.
For US Users - In some parts of the US Weatherpanel will provide weather alerts for certain conditions. As I don't get these in the UK I hadn't thought to do anything about an alert POPUP so WP uses the one from the default theme folder which isn't very pretty! I'll have a go at putting one together but as I can't test it it will be good luck if it looks any good! In the meantime Troed has edited the default one to be a bit more readable. Download and unzip the Alert.zip from this post and copy the Alert.wpx into Storage Card>Program Files>Marsware>Weatherpanel>Themes>DDT Ultimate
Changelog
1/10/10
V2 Final Edition Uploaded
Some icons and arrows updated
New 'Updating' icon thanks to LessCro!
Now fully user translatable through lang.txt file
DaveJ's animated icon set now uploaded!!!!!!!
Additional Add-On version of the theme added to accomodate correct positioning on screen for the animated icons
Alert window fixed for US users
30/8/10
CAB files now uploaded - MASSIVE THANKS TO jmart518 FOR THESE
25/8/10
Completely revised theme folders uploaded
Screenchanges away from main screen now done with POPUP/CLOSE so number of layout files needed reduced. Once away from main screen changes still done by smooth fade between screens. Pressing Home shortcut then closes POPUP screen and immediately returns to main screen (much quicker!)
Final bug fixes for Update button
12 and 24hr versions now consolidated into one folder for each WM version for less confusion and more choice in layout selection - 6 DDT layouts (V1+,V1Mid & V1Lite in both 12 &24hr format)
23/8/10
Fixed update button not working on main and forecast screens - all theme folders updates and reuploaded 10.55 GMT
23/8/10
V1Mid layout added to all theme versions (fixed 5-day forecast panel, hide/reveal info panel
All theme folders bugfixed and reuploaded
Bug on main screen not allowing touch on main weather icon to access current conditions now fixed
21/8/10
Created and uploaded complete themes for each WM version/time format (6.5, 6.5 12hr, 6.5.x, 6.5.x 12hr) and uploaded to first post. These theme folders also now contain both V1+ and V1Lite layouts so you can choose either from the layout menu in WP settings.
Minor modifications made to main screen layouts to increase response area for pressing on Info button, and to remove the problem of touching on the top left temp info on the main screen causing a new window to open with unsightly grey bar across the bottom.
If you have already installed the theme you can download the latest update for your WM version/time format from the first post, then delete your existing DDT theme folder and replace it with the complete new folder.
20/8/10
Lite version added
20/8/10
Additional Overwrite files added for 12hr time format
19/8/10
Completely new DDT Ultimate WVGA theme uploaded
Install walkthrough revised for new theme
Gone to bed for a week now to recover!
26/6/10
Amended install process to make it easier:
Reuploaded PhatPhinger IV Altered zip now with all irrelevant layouts removed and Kangmas's tweaked layout included
Original Phat+265 layout amended slightly
Complete HTC VGA Icons folder now uploaded to Mediafire for single download - original three zip files removed from this thread
Great! Great! Great JOB!
Thank you very much for your efforts!!
Greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks, It's fantastic!!
It will be better if high-resolution big icon is used...
Anyway, the weather is more accurate in my country, I'm from Hong Kong...
THANKs Dunc001
THIS IS GREAT
OMG ... .. . Finaly , we could have WP in HD2
but coud it be inserted into manila weather page !!!!!
abumhmmd1 said:
THIS IS GREAT
Finaly , we could have WP in HD2
but coud it be inserted into manila weather page !!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so. The closest solution would be one similar to here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=563150 - where you'd need to use MTP or similar to add a new tab in manila then deselect Sense weather tab in display settings. You'd then need to find the right bit of the registry to edit for CHT to then send you to the new tab when touching on the home tab weather element?
I didn't want to do this as it seems like far too much hassle and the solution above is really easy to implement.
Thanks a ton. Great instruction. Only problem: The Name of my city in the main screen is cut on both sides (as if it was too long), but there is still a lot of space to the edges of the screen. Any suggestions?
super, but, can i have this app in one .cab please, i'm geek ;p
thank you
I have followed everything step by step multiple times but when I get to the step to choose the layout, I don't see the option on the drop down for Phat+265.wpl, any ideas on this? Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Thanks for a great walk-through
elburna said:
Only problem: The Name of my city in the main screen is cut on both sides (as if it was too long) Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Second this...followed instructions and everything else is working a treat.
elburna said:
Thanks a ton. Great instruction. Only problem: The Name of my city in the main screen is cut on both sides (as if it was too long), but there is still a lot of space to the edges of the screen. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this too, sorry forgot to mention it! Basically I found that when you go into WP settings to add or edit one of your cities you just remove the country name from after the city name in the very top box on the screen, then just hardware back key and it is saved - job done!
aurelien hd2 said:
super, but, can i have this app in one .cab please, i'm geek ;p
thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, way to big for a single cab.
morfis said:
Thanks for a great walk-through
Second this...followed instructions and everything else is working a treat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answered above
hey op,i see your from pickering,i live in thirsk, great init lol....
is it totally not possible to cab this file as i'd love this on my phone.....great job by the way.
great app!!!!!!!!! now if it only came in GTX
Works great, thanks very much, now if only I could enter where I actually live, damn living in the countryside.
Can someone confirm it working on HTC-Stock-ROM 1.48 GER (Sense 2.5.1921xxxx, WM 6.5, no .x) ??????????????
troed said:
Can someone confirm it working on HTC-Stock-ROM 1.48 GER (Sense 2.5.1921xxxx, WM 6.5, no .x) ??????????????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does as it is not integrated in Sense and therefore dependent on the SenseVersion or something (like the Sense-Tab-Integrated-Version you might have seen somewhere). This Proggi is fully based on SecondToday which should even run on WinMob2003
Greets
pretty cool.. good job.. hopefully a cab will be issued
1000 Tx for the prompt answer. This forum is a treasure ...........
There's a new file explorer app for android that has a lot of nice features and a weird name.
ScaliCommander http://sites.google.com/site/gslngr/
The developer is very quick to respond to questions and fixes and I'm surprised that it has as few downloads as it does.
Features:
Two Panel browsing with drag-and-drop Copy/Move between folders (single or multiple files)
Image Gallery View with extreme zoom (see 5-10 images per line or zoom in to 1 image per line)
Fully customizable in colors and text/folder sizes
Excellent search capabilities
Some of the setting menus can be hard to find at first but are mainly done by long-pressing on a file or folder.
1: When looking at a folder of images, by default it will be in Details View just showing a list of files. Long-press on the folder bar and select Icon View and then you can pinch to zoom in to your desired thumbnail size.
2: To select a batch of files in Multiselect mode, select the first file, scroll to the last file and long-press and it will give you an option to Select Span
looks quite interesting.
going to read the documentation later, hopefully i'll understand how to operate scali after that
I started a huge thread on hints and tips for the HTC Leo (see my signature) so I thought now that I have a Surface tablet I would do the same. It is early days yet but I will update the thread as I discover more so if you have tips please share. Some tips I have discovered myself and others I have found on the internet. I am in no way claiming credit for all. I just want to put all advice in one thread. These tips should also apply to other Windows 8 tablets and not just the Surface. In some cases they even apply to Windows 8 for PC. BTW, I typed this whole thread on Surface using Touch Cover
1. How to Select a File or Photo.
Simply use a downwards flick gesture on multiple photos or files to select them. Flicking upwards also works. You can share multiple selections.
2. How to Take Screenshots
Press the capacitive home button and the downwards volume button at the same time. The screen momentarily dims. Screenshots are saved to a Screenshot album in Photos app.
3. How to Allow Video, Music and Photo Apps to See Media Stored on your MicroSD Card
At the moment you can only store and browse media files using file explorer. Those media files do not show up in their appropriate apps. This is what you need to do. Go to search and type “Disk Management”. The entry in Settings will show “Create and format hard disk partitions”. This is Disk Management. Click it. You will see that your microSD card has already been assigned a drive letter. Right-click your “Removable” drive and select “Change Drive Letter and Paths for <drive letter>…” Once the card has already been inserted and assigned a drive letter, you cannot simply click “Change…” here (the option you need will be grayed out). So you have to click “Remove”. Now the only option you have is “Add…”. Click it and you will see “Mount in the following empty NTFS folder:” Create a folder in your Users directory or in C:. For instance, C:\Users\username\microSD. Select that folder. You are now able to treat your microSD like any other folder in Windows 8, including adding to Libraries like Pictures, Video and Music etc. You can now open File Explorer and right-click the Pictures, Video and Music Libraries in the left hand Navigation Pane, select Properties, then Add and select the folder you just mounted in your microSD in. Now when you go into the Photos, Videos or Music apps in Surface you will be able to see your media files you added to your microSD card.
4. Update your Office 2013 Preview to Office 2013 Final
Search for "Windows Update" and then choose “Install optional updates” instead of Windows Update from the search results (under Settings). This will display the Windows Update control panel. Now, either check for updates or tap the link that says updates are available. In the resulting list, you’ll see “Update for Microsoft Office Home & Student 2012 RT Preview.” Select it and install that and whatever other updates are available. After a reboot, you can access your updated Office Home & Student 2013 RT apps, which drop the Preview branding and have some new features, including the Ribbon Display Options feature.
5. How to Enable Rotation Lock
Open the Charms menu and tap on Settings. Tap on the screen icon near bottom right. Above the brightness bar is the rotation lock icon. Tap to toggle on and off.
6. Enable Virtual Reality Mode in Panorama Photos in Travel App
Tap on the compass/GR round icon when viewing a panorama photo to be able to see around the photo by moving and tilting your Surface.
7. Unlock Without Swiping
Instead of Swiping up the lockscreen image to unlock, just tap space bar on your keyboard. You can also wake up your Surface from sleeping by tapping any key on the keyboard.
8. Keep Photos Private and From Appearing in Photo App Library
In Desktop mode, open file explorer and move any photos you want to prevent showing in the Pictures Library in the Photo App to a new folder. Right click that new folder and click on Properties and then Advanced. Uncheck "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed...". You can even mark the folder and contents hidden if you wish. To see changes you may need to rebuild your index from scratch if you had already opened the Photo app and saw those photos. To rebuild the index, go to Control Panel and click on Indexing Options, then Advanced and then Rebuild. Will take a while to rebuild.
9. Speed Up Web Browsing by Blocking Advertisements
Open Desktop Internet Explorer and go into Internet Options. Click on the Programs tab and then on Manage Add-Ons. Click on Tracking Protection and then Get a Tracking Protection List Online. Add a couple from the list, such as EasyList and Fanboy. Save and exit.
10. Make your Surface Desktop Wallpaper Match your Modern UI Experience
At the moment your Desktop wallpaper does not match your new Start Screen theme and style. Follow the instructions in the link at the end to make the overall experience 'consistent'. You should disable syncing of Desktop Personalisation in PC Settings if you create a similar wallpaper for your Desktop PC as it will have a different screen resolution to your Surface tablet and you don't want your PC wallpaper syncing to your Surface Desktop and vice versa. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1963066
11. List of Keyboard Shortcuts
http://tech2.in.com/features/software/tips-and-tricks-windows-8-shortcuts-cheatsheet/551452
12. Access your Last Photo and Camera Roll Photos Direct from Camera App
In Camera app, after taking a photo or video, swipe the screen to the right to see your most recent capture. You can continue scrolling to see more photos/videos. Also, pinch to zoom out from viewfinder screen to see a smaller view more easy to navigate.
13. Enable Hidden Start Screen Animation
When you first boot into the Start screen after a fresh install, you get a lovely animation of all the tiles and text flying into view. To enable this again to occur each time you enter your Start screen, execute the following registry tweak. Type Regedit in Search and launch it. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Grid and create a new DWORD: Launcher_SessionLoginAnimation_OnShow and set its value to 1. To disable the animation if you don't like it set the value to 0.
14. Boost Speaker Volume
Surface's volume is quite low. Go to Control Panel, then Sound, then click on Speakers, then Properties, then Enhancements and check Loudness Equalisation and Virtual Surround too if you wish. Apply changes.
15. Pinch to Zoom Out to See More Content
If you execute the pinch gesture in the following apps, you will see more content or shortcuts: People, Bing, Store, Photos, Camera, Weather, Travel, News, Sports, Finance and Reader.
16. Recover More Space After Refreshing Your Surface
When you refresh your Surface via PC settings, a folder called Windows.old is created in your C: Drive. This can be a huge folder in size as it contains previous files. You can delete this folder and reclaim some storage space as follows: Search for "Tools" and click on "Administrative Tools" in the Setting results. Next click on Disk Clean-up and after loading click on Clean Up System Files. Make sure Windows.old is checked and click ok.
17. Reposition the Virtual Keyboard in Desktop Mode
Tap on the small icon to the left of the X icon at the top right corner of the keyboard to manually reposition it. To dock the keyboard again tap on the X button. Only works in Desktop mode.
18. Enable Swiping Gestures to Advance Forwards or Backwards in Metro Internet Explorer
You can swipe the screen left or right to advance forwards or backwards by enabling Flip Ahead in Internet Options. Don't swipe from the bezel, but anywhere within the screen.
19. Check Settings for Every App/Page you are Viewing
This may sound obvious but via the Charms menu, click on settings to see if there are additional options for the app you are viewing. Do this also again in the same app if you are on a different page. You will be surprised at what additional new options you may encounter. Spend some time to do this for all your apps.
20. Enable Matrix White on Black Theme
Change the entire look of your UI to a funky Hi Tec white text on black background. Go to PC Settings via Charm and tap on Ease of Access. Turn on High Contrast mode to see the effect. Turn off to return to normal UI.
21. Access to 780 Emoticons Built Into the Keyboard
More of did you know than a tip. The keyboard has 780 emoticons (yes I counted them) split into seven categories. Just tap the smiley face key and then the ➡ key above the &123 key, to scroll through them. The bottom row of emoticons has the different categories to choose from.
22. Make Web Links Always Open Up in IE for Desktop Instead of the IE App
Search apps for inetcpl.cpl and hit enter. This is IE options. Click on the Programs tab and change the "Choose how you open links" option to Always in Internet Explorer on the Desktop.
23. How to Find All Apps in Store - Even Unlisted Ones
In the Store, enter the character * and search. You will see every single app for your country and if you sort by newest, you see a lot more new apps compared to the normal way of browsing in the store. As of writing this, there are 6525 apps listed for the UK. Also you can show even more apps by going to the Store's settings, choosing Preferences and turning off "Make it easier to find apps in my preferred language". With it on and searching for * there are 6525 apps. With it turned off there are 7799 apps. A big difference. A most excellent tip!
24. Enable Alternative Virtual Keyboard
Via the Charm menu, go to PC Settings and then Ease of Access. Change "Pressing Windows + Volume Up will turn on" On-Screen Keyboard. Now when you press the Windows key and Volume Up key, up will pop a very small keyboard. Worry not, you can resize it by dragging the bottom border down and the side borders across. You can resize it to the full width and height of the default virtual keyboard. As big as you want. The size is remembered after closing the keyboard by tapping X. Another feature is this keyboard has predictive text with word suggestions popping above the keyboard - something the default keyboard does not do. You can customise the keyboard via the options key near the lower right corner.
25. Enable Full Screen Browsing in Desktop Internet Explorer
On a normal keyboard you can enable full screen web browsing by pressing F11, however the on screen virtual keyboard and the touch keyboard do not have the F keys. Worry not. Launch the alternative keyboard (tip 24 above) and press the Fn key (Function Key) in the lower left corner and all F1-F12 keys appear on the top row. Press F11 for full screen web browsing. To turn off full screen browsing launch the alternative keyboard again and press F11 or use the trackpad on the Touch Cover to move the mouse to the top of the screen to get access to the navigation icons.
26. Tips on Saving Battery
By default, Bluetooth is turned on but if you don't really use it often, turn it off to save battery. Go to Change PC Settings and then Wireless and turn it off there. Also you can turn off live tiles which need to connect to the web such as news tiles. Finally, prevent some apps running in the background by removing them from the lock screen.
27. Change Volume on Screen by Touch
When you press the Volume Keys on the side of your Surface, a small volume graphic appears on screen at the top left corner. As well as continuing to press the Volume Keys to change the volume, you can also place your finger on the graphic and slide the bar up or down.
28. See the Time from Within Any App
Want to know what time it is at any moment? Use your right thumb to slide the Charm bar into view just enough to pop up the time in the lower left corner and immediately swipe your thumb to the right to close the Charm bar and time. You should do this gesture without releasing contact of the screen. A quick in and out thumb swipe is enough.
29. Get to Task Manager Quickly
By pressing the Windows key and Power button at the same time you get to a screen were you can Lock, Switch User, Sign Out or Use the Task Manager.
30. Kickstand Works in Portrait Mode
Should you need to display your Surface in portrait mode, then open the kickstand and stand it up. The kickstand keeps it upright also. Great if you are displaying a slideshow of portrait photos.
31. Disable Logging
Generally logging can cause some sluggishness at times because log files are constantly accessed and written to. You can turn these off if you wish. Search for gpedit.msc and launch it. Navigate to User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, and then select Windows Error Reporting in the left column of the Group Policy editor. Double-click Disable Logging in the Settings section of the Group Policy editor. Select Enable and then click OK to save the changes. Do the same for Disable Windows Error Reporting.
32. How to Move a Tile to a New Group Very Quickly
When you install a new app, it automatically gets added to the end of your tiles on the right. If you have several groups full of lots of tiles it can be quite a chore to drag to a group near the beginning. A quicker way to do this is to drag the tile to the bottom of the screen. Automatically all the grouped tiles zoom out and now you can move it to any group you like whereupon the tiles get zoomed in again.
33. Security Wallpaper Idea
What happens if you were to lose your Surface? How would anyone know who to return it to if they can't get past your password/pin code screen to browse your Me tile in Contacts? In Photoshop, add a text line to a wallpaper you want to use on your Surface's lock screen. Position the text near the bottom right corner and have it say something like: "If you find this tablet, please contact (phone number) to return it to it's owner and claim a reward for doing so." Then upload it to your tablet and apply it to your lock screen.
34. Multi Select Emails
You can multi select emails by swiping sideways the email header in the list. Swipe either left or right. You can move, mark as read or mark as unread.
35. Enable Flash for Specific Websites
Microsoft only allows certain websites to play flash content. These sites are listed in a 'whitelist'. You can edit the whitelist to include other sites of your choice. Click on the link and follow the instructions: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1961793
36. Reclaim Storage Space
You can reclaim additional space by deleting unwanted files. Go to the Control panel, delete temporary files and history. Also go to General section in PC Settings and then to Available Storage. You can view app sizes to delete unwanted pre installed apps like finance or sports.
37. Touchpad Supports Gestures
Two finger scrolling is possible on the keyboard's touchpad. You can bring up the menu from the bottom and scroll horizontally through your tiles and photos. Also double tapping is enabled too!
38. Use Home and End Keys to Navigate Quicker
To quickly go to one end of long list of tiles to other, use PgUp and PgDn keys to scroll by pages of tiles as opposed to columns of tiles.
39. Switch Between Running Apps Using Keyboard Shortcuts
On your keyboard, press the Windows and Tab keys to switch between apps. You can also use the Alt and Tab keys too!
40. Sync Multiple Google Calendars
Having more than one Google Calendar is now possible on the Surface. Follow the instructions here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sync-multiple-google-calendars-windows/
41. Map Network Skydrive Folder in Surface
Here is a way to get access to your Skydrive files without having to navigate back and forth through the Skydrive app. You can now access the folder via file explorer in Desktop mode. Follow the instructions in the link: http://rashedtalukder.com/how-to-map-skydrive-folder-on-windows-rt-desktop-mode/
42. Increase Internet Explorer Performance
Follow the tweaks here to speed up your web browsing: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1998414
43. Sharing a Volume Out from the Surface
Windows RT supports file sharing (server-side), but it's hidden and disabled by default. Search for 'Services' from your Start screen. Find 'Server' in the list. Right click or tap and hold and choose properties. Change the Startup type to Automatic and you can create and share a folder like normal. Note: this might impact battery life.
44. How to Backup Recovery Partition to USB Flash Drive
Follow the instructions in the link to backup your Recovery Partition which may be useful if you want to delete that partition from the Surface. Don't delete it though until you have researched properly: http://www.shinysurface.com/2012/11/13/how-to-backup-the-surfaces-recovery-partition-to-a-usb-flash-drive/
45. How to Boot from USB Flash Drive
If you need to boot from a USB flash drive simply shut down your Surface, plug in your USB flash drive and hold down the volume button as you press the power button.
46. View Change Log of App Updates
The only way to view the change log of an app update before installing it is to deselect all the apps that want to update and select any one app. A 'View Details' button appears at the bottom which you can tap to see the details. Repeat for the other apps to be updated.
47. Share Selected Text from a Website
When you are on a website and want to share the page, you don't have to share the whole page in a link. You can highlight to select words on a website and when you share it by swiping the charm bar into view, only the selected words will be shared.
48. See Estimated Data Usage of your Wi-Fi Connection
You can see how many megabytes/gigs of data has been transferred via Wi-Fi on your Surface. Tap on Settings in the Charm bar, and then tap on your active Wi-Fi SSID name. IN the Networks list, tap and HOLD on your active Wi-Fi name and from the pop up menu choose 'Show estimated data usage'. It will show for example: Estimated usage 5.71gb since 1 day ago. Just tap on your W-iFi name next time to see the latest data usage.
49. Make your Desktop Explorer User Interface More Touch Friendly
Search for 'Display' via the Charms bar. In Settings results, tap on the blue monitor icon result. Everything is at 100% default size for text. Tap on Medium at 125% and hit apply to make everything in Explorer mode that much easier to read and touch. Make sure to set zoom level in both Internet Explorers back to 100% though.
50. Make your Keyboard Touchpad Scroll in the correct Direction
At the moment, when you scroll via the touchpad, the screen moves in the opposite direction to where your fingers move. Now you can reverse the direction thanks to a registry tweak here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2007987
51. Disable Animation on Opening Apps
If you find the flipping animation annoying when launching an app you can disable it as follows. In Charms menu search for "Performance" and tap on "Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows" in Settings results. In the Visual Effects tab, uncheck 'Animate windows when minimising and maximising'. This gives an instantaneous launch. To disable the animated live tiles, uncheck also the 'Animate controls and elements inside windows' box. To revert back to the animations, just check the boxes again.
52. Install Apps Direct to SD Card
By default only media files can be installed to the SD cards and apps are installed to internal memory. If you have a 32gig tablet, you will realise internal memory is precious and limited. Free up internal memory by changing the location of where apps are installed. Run Regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx and change the location path of the PackageRoot key from C:\ProgramFiles\WindowsApps to say D:\WindowsApps (where D: is the drive letter of your SD card and WindowsApps is the name of a folder you created in your SD card). You may need to change permissions on the Appx registry folder so that you can edit the key. You can also change the app repository to another directory by changing the PackageRepository key in a similar manner.
53. Install Apps from Other Countries
Do you want Flixster installed but you're annoyed that it only shows on the US store? Wish you could download it? Now you can and any other FREE app (can't buy apps from other countries, only free apps). Search for 'Region' via Charm menu and tap on the results in Settings category. Tap on the Location tab and change your Home Location to any country you want. Now you can navigate the store app for that particular country and download any free apps you like the look of. Change back to your original country when you had enough. Incidentally, Flixster works perfectly well with UK location and cinemas so not sure why its not in the UK Store.
54. Speed Up Scrolling by Reducing Friction
Launch the Registry Editor and navigate to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Wisp\Touch and change the Friction value from 32 to 0. Reboot to see change. If you feel the screen sensitivity is too fast now, change the value to say 16 or any number up to 64. 64 means high friction. 0 means low friction.
55. Stream Media Files From Your Surface to Non Windows Certified DLNA TVs
If you have a TV set which has DLNA media streaming feature, but it is not a Windows?Microsoft Certified TV (check in Devices in PC Settings), you will not be able to stream/share media files from within certain apps. However, you can stream them through Windows Explorer using the 'Play To' feature. Find your media files you want to stream in your Pictures, Music and Videos folders. Tap on the file to select it but not launch it. Tap on the Play tab in the Ribbon UI at the top of the screen. Finally tap on the Play To button and select your TV which should now be active. Make sure to turn on network discovery in the Network and Sharing Center in Control Panel, if this is not working for you.
*January 24th Update: Added entries 54 - 55.
*January 22nd Update: Added entry 53.
*January 3rd Update: Added entries 51-.52. Updated entry 26.
*December 6th Update: Added entries 47-.50
*November 22nd Update: Added entries 34-46.
*November 10th Update: Updated entry 23 and added entries 30-33.
*November 9th Update: Added entries 24-29.
Reserved.
Second Reserve.
Final Reserve.
Good summary. First one to figure out how to get a fourth row of live tiles gets a cookie.
Also, how do we replace pinned IE tiles with something a little nicer?
I've been spending all my free time trying to figure out the fourth row, and reversing scroll direction on the touchpad.
I feel ya.
As for the IE tiles, I suppose you could just create new .png files and replace the current for whichever you want:
c:\users\profile\appdata\local\microsoft\internet explorer\pin-xxxxxxxx\
I haven't tried it but, looking in there it seems like it might work.
tboy2000 said:
7. Unlock Without Swiping
Instead of Swiping up the lockscreen image to unlock, just tap space bar on your keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also press the space bar to wake the device. You don't have to press the capacitive windows button, or the lock/wake button.
MrGreencastle said:
You can also press the space bar to wake the device. You don't have to press the capacitive windows button, or the lock/wake button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually any key, or the touch pad.
tboy2000 said:
12. Optimise your Surface
Once in a while execute the following: Search for "Defrag" in Settings and click on Defragment and Optimise your Drives. Click on C: drive and then click Optimise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WTF?! Have you heard about NAND?
Useless guy said:
WTF?! Have you heard about NAND?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this, you could actually do harm as well you do not need to optimize/defrag Anne or any type of solid state.
Useless guy said:
WTF?! Have you heard about NAND?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I read the Optimise feature was different to defragging. However, I will substitute that entry to be safe. Thanks!
Replaced Tip 12 with: Access your Last Photo and Camera Roll Photos Direct from Camera App.
I believe I read on Anandtech that the Optimize function actually does a manual TRIM, if it's detected as an SSD.
jhoff80 said:
I believe I read on Anandtech that the Optimize function actually does a manual TRIM, if it's detected as an SSD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does. I did it and it said it was trimming
guitar1969 said:
It does. I did it and it said it was trimming
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So is trimming ok? Shall I add the entry back in?
it should be okay, but windows also manages it on its own, so there shouldn't be too much need for manual use
Three more added. 21-23.
adiliyo said:
it should be okay, but windows also manages it on its own, so there shouldn't be too much need for manual use
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On my windows 7 desktop my pc trims my ssd when the pc is in a standby mode. Wonder if surface does something similar
tboy2000 said:
23. How to Find All Apps in Store - Even Unlisted Ones
In the Store, enter the character * and search. You will see every single app for your country and if you sort by newest, you see a lot more new apps compared to the normal way of browsing in the store. As of writing this, there are 4984 apps listed for the UK. A most excellent tip!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is nice, but holy crapware....I found it quite pointless to browse through this list.
another tip if op wants to add is how to force sufrace into recovery.
plug in a usb keyboard, hold SHIFT, click power-. restart. Ta-da blue recovery screen.
Hi guys!
Before few times i asked this question, but no one answered. Looks like I found a way through. Usually, this option is available for iOS users only.
1. Your photo needs to be blurred - Live Focus, Portrait Mode (gcam) etc, you got the point.
2. Upload the photo to https://www.depthy.me
3. You will see some kind of error. Click load and upload the same picture to create depthmap.
4. You will see the preview of the 3D image now in the next step you need to look at the bottom and click on the image icon.
5. Here you will see the Depth Image Map. Save it.
6. Rename both files to 1.jpg and 1_depth.jpg
7..Upload both files to the desktop version of Facebook.
8. After few seconds you will see new window which says Creating 3D Photo.
10.Done!
Tip:
You can set the privacy to only me if you just wanna see the result.
Here you can check the original way. I'm doing in like this because I don't use google camera as the main app.
Source: GatgetGig
P.S
I set the privacy to be able to show the result.
You can see it here:
https://www.facebook.com/mefistoreyon/posts/3315614768464052
Hi guys,
I often see the question howto backup and restore GB Whatsapp...
I faced this problem by swiching in april 2023 to a new phone and restored all there, my chats, my pictures, my videos, just everything!
Its very easy to do this and here is my tutorial...
1 ) On youre old phone open GB Whatsap, tap the 3 dots menu on the top right corner,
then tap on the bottom of the popup menu settings (NOT GB SETTINGS), tap chats, on the bottom of this menu tap Chat-Backup!
2) For the next step start again on the 3 dots menu on the top right corner,
now tap GB Settings (the opposite of the first step), then tap Universal, then Backup and restore, on the top tap Backup WhatsApp data!
3) Now close GB Whatsapp and connect your Phone via USB to your PC with Datatransfer enabled, i use a Windows PC, first time will take a view seconds to install the Drivers (on Windows 10 and 11 automaticly), then open the File Explorer and click on youre device (xiaomi, samsung or whatever), on Linux and OSX it should be allmost similar!
4) Now you will see the SD-Card folder, there you click the Android folder, then media folder, there you will find a folder named com.gbwhatsapp!
Copy this folder wiht all inside to your PC, for example on your Desktop! Be aware the folder can be huge , depending on your chats pictures and videos inside,
my folder was about 5 Gigs and needet about 10 Minutes!!!
4a) Instead of copy to PC you can connect a USB Drive to your phone and copy the folder to it!
5) Now connect your new Phone to PC the same way like before your old phone!
5a) Now connect your new Phone to SD-Card the same way like before your old phone!
6) Now copy back the saved folder to the same folder like before (Android - media, if the media folder dont exists, create it... )
7) Now install GB Whatsapp and open it.
8) ON THIS STEP YOU HAVE TO BE VERY CAREFULLY, DONT TAP THE RED RESTORE BUTTON, INSTEAD TAP THE GREEN BUTTON UNDER THE RED BUTTON called something like AGREE AND CONTIUNE!!!
DONT INSTALL GB WHATSAPP BEFORE YOU COPIED THE BACKUPFOLDER or if you did allready, DONT OPEN IT BEFORE!!!
Enter your Phone Number using the simcard from your old phone (DO NOT USE A NEW SIMCARD/PHONE-NUMBER) and recive your verification Code after verification you will get a message something like found backup, restore? Tap yes, your username will be showed (in my case it was correct) and let it restore...
I think if the username is not correct (like John D. instead of John Doe) the restore will fail so if you make the backup it can be usefull to check your EXACT username just to prevent failtures...
Thats all, after restore everything should work like on your old Phone!
Let's get to the themes!
I really searched all over the internet
there is NO ONE tutorial on how to create your own GB Whatsapp Themes!
Everywhere you will only find "download themes through the app" etc!
However, I found out how to change background images of ready-made themes and that's enough for me personally!
So the themes of mine are existing themes where I just changed the background, in other words, don't thank me but thank those who created the original themes!!!
First, just look for one (or more) original themes where you like the layout, i.e. icons, colors, fonts, etc. regardless of the background image! If you download a theme in the app, you will find it in the Download - FMThemes folder, let's take the Coca Cola theme as an example!
It consists of 3 files:
Coca_Cola.xml
Coca_Cola_homeW.jpg
Coca_Cola_w.jpg
The first file is apparently responsible for the layout already mentioned and is not changed!
I'm not sure about the second one, although it has a .jpg extension, it can't be opened as an image file, so we'll leave that one as well!
The third file is clearly an image file and can be opened as such!
We will now replace this file with an image file of our choice!
To do this, we right-click the file on the PC and go to rename, we copy the marked text (Coca_Cola_w) with another right-click!
Then we find the image file we want to replace the original with, right click on it again and go to rename again and then right click on paste again, this way we make sure the file WILL BE NAMED EXACTLY THE SAME!
That's almost it, now you add your theme (preferably in a separate folder) back to the Download - FMThemes folder on your smartphone (or wherever you want)!
Then you open GB Whatsapp, go to the 3-point menu at the top right - GB Settings Themes - Load theme - look for the folder Download - FM Themes - Coca Cola Theme (or whatever you named the folder where your theme is)
and select the file Coca_Cola.xml from our example! If you then go back to your chat folder you can see your new wallpaper...
Some themes also have 2 working background images, there you can of course change both background images using the method mentioned above!
Presumably the non-working .jpg files mentioned above can also be changed with it, which will probably change the chat overview, but I haven't tested it myself! Feel free to do that and post the result here!
I picked a total of 18 themes and varied each of these 18 themes with about 90 different background images, that's over 1500 variable themes that I've attached in a zip file! I've also included the 18 original themes that were used as a zip file, so you can see for yourself what I've changed! Have fun tinkering...
Ps: My favored Varables are
1
3
6
8
9
10
(see in each Folder) Which variables do you like most?
I have also created some themes with adult content, but for understandable reasons I will NOT post them here, not even via PM!!!
You can basically use any type and size of image as long as it is in .jpg format!
I allso found a animated theme from an other whatsapp mod, maby a older version, the xml file is totally different from the files above and dont work in this version of GB Whatsapp! Is here a coder who maby can translate the code to work in this version of GB Whatsapp!?
Would be great if someone can make this work...