[v1.53][23-Mar-08] ShantzTodayChanger - Timed Wallpaper\THEME Cycler\App Launcher

[davidebeatrice]

glad u got it solved :)

sorry...not solved....

[shantzg001]

hmm david, basically, the app uses the wm findfile api to get the wallpapers, now generally they are picked in alphabetical order, but it is not gauranteed by the OS. Can you try with alphabetical naming instead of number? because I can make it explicitly circular/random but that means caching up the wallpaper names, which means either:
1) performance loss
2) or losing the ability to just put in new wallpapers into the folder and not having to config again.
not to mention that in both cases, a lot of code will have to eb changed.

[davidebeatrice]

hmm david, basically, the app uses the wm findfile api to get the wallpapers, now generally they are picked in alphabetical order, but it is not gauranteed by the OS. Can you try with alphabetical naming instead of number? because I can make it explicitly circular/random but that means caching up the wallpaper names, which means either:
1) performance loss
2) or losing the ability to just put in new wallpapers into the folder and not having to config again.
not to mention that in both cases, a lot of code will have to eb changed.

i've been tried with alphabetical order but show always random...
i was trying to make a "daylight" effect to today, so when it's night showing night, sunrise-sunrise, sunset-sunset, daylight-daylight, like in "pisa theme" of the samsung sgh d900...:(

[pw-man]

shantzg001 - Great App - have been using it on and off for the past few weeks!

+1 on adding a "random" function to this!!!

Has anybody else had problems with themes not changing colors correctly on WM5 devices?

All of my themes have different shading, etc. for the top/bottom bar (given the WM5 theme goofiness) - that always display correctly when selecting the theme using the "Today" control panel applet. However, using TdyChanger, the top and bottom bars always revert to a shade of blue. (ironically, you can see the correct colors flash for a second, before the blue kicks in).

I've attached an example (using both a compress .jpg and .png image)

For reference, I use ThemeMaker X for creating my theme files...

Any thoughts on troubleshooting would be appreciated!

[daxliniere]

...I can make it explicitly circular/random but that means caching up the wallpaper names, which means either:
1) performance loss
2) or losing the ability to just put in new wallpapers into the folder and not having to config again.


Hey Shantz,
I had an idea for that.
On first run, a list should be generated, the list could be randomised at this point.
This list should be stored on disk instead of RAM.
When the timing interval is reached, the text file is opened, the first line is read, wallpaper is loaded, first line is moved to the bottom of the file, file is saved, wait for next timing interval.
As for refreshing wallpapers, this should be a 2nd notification timer, set by the user. I personally would set it to 1 week, but some poeple may set it to 1 day or even 1 hour, I guess.

[shantzg001]

@pw-man: This is a "sort-of" known issue. I say sort of because this seems to happen only with a few themes, but for a majority of the themes it works fine. But there is no solution yet. Can you try with a few already made themes and not using the ones you made?

@dax: The list thing is what I had in mind while listing point no. 2) (however in a diff way to increase randomness). This way we lose the easiness we have in adding more themes to the fray, as now every time to add themes, you will have to run config again.
Anyways, a good news is that I'm planning to work on the program again after a looooooong break. But I'll be on vacation for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully there should be a brand new release (with a lot of rewritten code) by the middle of march.

[pw-man]

@pw-man: This is a "sort-of" known issue. I say sort of because this seems to happen only with a few themes, but for a majority of the themes it works fine. But there is no solution yet. Can you try with a few already made themes and not using the ones you made?

ok - I've run a couple of tests using the Snowboard theme from WM5 (base theme)

1. I copied it to a different directory (used by TdyChanger) and made a change to the BaseHue using Theme GeneratorCE.

a. Loaded via TdyChanger did not pick up the change.

b. Copied to the \windows directory and loaded via the Today screen control panel applet and it did pick up the change.

2. Took the same base theme and updated the WM5 color using ThemeMaker X.

a. Loaded via TdyChanger did not pick up the change.

b. Copied to the \windows directory and loaded via the Today screen control panel applet and it did pick up the change.

Not being a WM5 Theme expert (other than I love building them). I'm hopeful that helps in at least understand the context of the problem....

I was hoping that it might be the "theme generator" that is causing the problem, by not setting a value/key correctly.

Anybody else that can assess other WM5 theme tools that can get their themes working with TdyChanger?

shantzg001 - Looking forward to you "getting back to work" on this! Great App!!!!

pw-man

[shantzg001]

@pw-man: can you attach all three versions of this theme here: (base, changed by theme gen ce and changed by thememaker x) i'll take a look..

[pw-man]

@pw-man: can you attach all three versions of this theme here: (base, changed by theme gen ce and changed by thememaker x) i'll take a look..

Here ya go - with a few screen shots

1. The three .tsk files named with the generating program.
2. Two .jpg with the prefix PC showing a screen shot of the theme in the appropriate program
3. Five .jpg with the prefix PPC showing a screen shot of the PPC with the theme selected via either TDChanger or the Today Control Panel App (I did not do a screen capture of the original theme via the today.)

[shantzg001]

pw-man, I've downloaded ur themes. will try to take a look but not sure whether ill get sm time before weekend as I'm on a vacation (sort of). If I'm not able to look at them right now, Ill definitely test them out by next Tuesday

[pw-man]

pw-man, I've downloaded ur themes. will try to take a look but not sure whether ill get sm time before weekend as I'm on a vacation (sort of). If I'm not able to look at them right now, Ill definitely test them out by next Tuesday
shantzg001 - no worries on timing... Thanks for looking! :)

[shantzg001]

I went through the themes and found the bug. Actually my program looks at the most prominent colors in the theme and determines the color to be used for the bars (like what windows mobile does) but the bug is that if there is already a predefined color present , as done by any theme maker software (BaseHue), it still calculates the "most matching" color on its own. Its pretty easy to fix it. will do it when I am back from vacation...

[pw-man]

I went through the themes and found the bug. Actually my program looks at the most prominent colors in the theme and determines the color to be used for the bars (like what windows mobile does) but the bug is that if there is already a predefined color present , as done by any theme maker software (BaseHue), it still calculates the "most matching" color on its own. Its pretty easy to fix it. will do it when I am back from vacation...
Way cool - Thanks!!! Look forward to this update!

pw-man

[shantzg001]

hey pw-man, I got some time today to put in a quick fix..but dont have my phone with me to test it..can you test it out..just unzip the attached file and replace your existing ShantzTodayChanger.exe with this one. Let me know the results...

[pw-man]

hey pw-man, I got some time today to put in a quick fix..but dont have my phone with me to test it..can you test it out..just unzip the attached file and replace your existing ShantzTodayChanger.exe with this one. Let me know the results...

ok - had a chance to test... some weird results.

The original theme comes up with grey on the top/bottom as opposed to the original blue hues.

The theme created with Theme X comes up correctly :-)

The them created with ThemeGenCE comes up wrong.

However there is an interesting phenomena that I can't quite explain - when going through the full rotation, (starting with the original and then Theme X and then ThemeGenCE), the Theme X colors stayed the same (i.e. the gold color for the header/footer stays the same and does not change to the blue and green in the other theme files)...

pw-man

[shantzg001]

@pw-man: I just remembered why I hadnt put in that "fix" earlier. because it would interact a bit weirdly with the "previous" theme. But have figured out, that I can put in another small bit of code to handle this issue. Might have a new build for you to test out by tomorrow. Just came back, but a bit travel-sick right now :)

[pw-man]

@shantzg001 - no worries - feel better first, then code ;-)

[shantzg001]

Hey pw-man, sorry for the delay. Here is the new build. Please test it and let me know the results.

[pw-man]

Hey pw-man, sorry for the delay. Here is the new build. Please test it and let me know the results.

@shantzg001 - sorry for the slow response, am on vacation and less on my PC. I did get a chance to do some testing tonight, here is what I found out:

Mostly mixed results, the original WM5 theme (snowboard) does not display the correct colors - instead, retaining the color of the previous theme.

The same is true for the theme generated from ThemeGenCE - it retains the color of the previous theme.

HOWEVER - the themes made in ThemeMaker X did display correctly! :-)

As an additional test, I created two additional variations of the same theme using ThemeMaker X, and switching between the three of them resulted in the correct colors being displayed each time....

So at least at this point, using ThemeMaker X to create themes will work!

Not sure what the nasty bug is that is causing the hiccup with standard themes and ThemeGenCE themes....

Happy to test more as you dwell on this :-)

pw-man

[shantzg001]

hey pw-man. Thnx for the test.
I've also got my phone back now. So will do some tests myself before giving out a fix..

[shantzg001]

Updated to v1.53:
Changelog:
1.53 - 23-March-08 -> RECOMMENDED UPDATE
i)Theme Color Detection has been improved a lot. Should work much more accurately now.

For queries, bug reports, feature requests, updates and downloads, visit ShantzTodayChanger Home Page (http://tech.shantanugoel.com/projects/windows-mobile/shantztodaychanger)

[shantzg001]

@pw-man: You can download the latest version (1.53 , see link above). Fixed the problem you were having (tested with the themes u attached).

[pw-man]

@shantzg001 - am trying right now - I will likely owe you a beer for this one :-)

Of course, a function to randomize the item (theme, wallpaper, etc.) selected for a change would be a nice feature ;-)

[LeoDH]

@pw-man: You can download the latest version (1.53 , see link above). Fixed the problem you were having (tested with the themes u attached).

Hi shantzg001,

I'm testing this app on WM6 Emulator but it don't work :(

I decompressed the whole program in Program Files folder in device, then ran the config. Everything seemed ok, when I clicked apply there were a notice said "ShantzToday Changer was set". But I waited for about 30 min but my today was still the same though the interval time was set to 600 sec, which was 10 min.

Even when I tried to copy some pics (.jpg) to the installation folder in order not have to choose different input folder, which I put in my miniSD card, and is supposed to be the reason of this malfunction, it still do not work :(

So far I have tried many times but nothing happened. Do you have any suggestion ???

P/s: I'm testing with your latest version 1.53, which is supposed to work well with all WM5 and WM6, right?

[shantzg001]

@LeoDH:
Yes, it works with all WM5 as well as WM6 phones. Also tested with WM5 emulator.
Can you post a screenshot of your settings and also the values of the registry settings under HKLM/software/shantztodaychanger?

[LeoDH]

@LeoDH:
Yes, it works with all WM5 as well as WM6 phones. Also tested with WM5 emulator.
Can you post a screenshot of your settings and also the values of the registry settings under HKLM/software/shantztodaychanger?

Thanks for your response. Below are some screenshot as you asked (I tried to embed pics here but it dont work, please dont mind clicking on the links below, sorry for that)

As I said before, I tested this app in the most simple condition (no different input folder, no exe, no mask, ...). Below is the installation folder, which is put in Device/Program Files, and as you can see, I put some pics in the installation folder for today-wallpaper cycling:

http://upviet.com/uploader/view/4503/installation_folder.jpg

http://upviet.com/uploader/view/4503/installation_folder.jpg

And there are settings when run TdyChangerCfg.exe:

http://upviet.com/uploader/view/4503/setting.jpg

http://upviet.com/uploader/view/4503/setting.jpg

About the reg., I didn't find any reg about your app. in HKLM/software/, but I found the below under HKCU/software/shantztodaychanger/. So is there something wrong with my device or did you mistype it?

http://upviet.com/uploader/view/4503/registry.jpg

http://upviet.com/uploader/view/4503/registry.jpg

Hope that it's what you asked for :)

And there are some my question and suggestions:

1. I wonder in order to change today wallpaper, does your app. require to run in background or just make some tweak in registry? Because I checked the running programs using Mermaid but found no app related to your program running?

2. After a soft reset, is it necessary to run the "startTdyChgnr.lnk" again? If yes, can you make it possible to apply the change immediately after tabbing on the "startTdyChgnr.lnk", not have to wait till the first cycle?

Otherwise, if the app automatically run after a soft reset, can you make it change today wallpaper right after being activated?

(about the 2., maybe they're already in your app.'s function, but given the fact that this app. did not work well with me, I just give out my 2 cents ideas for your consideration)

Thanks a lot for your concern.

P/s: I'm also testing on my XDA Zinc, WM6.1 but so far it dont work.

[shantzg001]

LeoDH:
Ur settings look fine. Sorry abt the registry path, that was a typo on my part.
Not sure why it didn't work for u. Will do some testing tomorrow if I get some time to see if I can reproduce it, but it is the most basic setting that has been tested again and again. let's see.
Can you do one thing: Pls check ur notification queue to see if there is any notification for shantztodaychanger present (u can do that using sw like Dotfred's task manager, sktools or memmaid)
Abt ur queries:
1. The app doesn't run in background. This is by design, to save battery life and ram. It works using notifications.
2. The app works even after soft resets so you don't need to do anything. Though right now, it doesnt give you an option to change immediately after wake up, but its easy to do that. You can create a shortcut to the shantztodachanger.exe, and pass a parameter "-c" (without quotes) to it. Whenever u click on this shortcut ur image shud change. For startup, put this shortcut in ur startup folder and ur image will change immediately on startup.

[LeoDH]

LeoDH:
Ur settings look fine. Sorry abt the registry path, that was a typo on my part.
Not sure why it didn't work for u. Will do some testing tomorrow if I get some time to see if I can reproduce it, but it is the most basic setting that has been tested again and again. let's see.
Can you do one thing: Pls check ur notification queue to see if there is any notification for shantztodaychanger present (u can do that using sw like Dotfred's task manager, sktools or memmaid)
Abt ur queries:
1. The app doesn't run in background. This is by design, to save battery life and ram. It works using notifications.
2. The app works even after soft resets so you don't need to do anything. Though right now, it doesnt give you an option to change immediately after wake up, but its easy to do that. You can create a shortcut to the shantztodachanger.exe, and pass a parameter "-c" (without quotes) to it. Whenever u click on this shortcut ur image shud change. For startup, put this shortcut in ur startup folder and ur image will change immediately on startup.

Hi shantzg001,

Thanks for your tip, I do make a shortcut with "-c" parameter and It works. It changes today pic everytime I click on it, Great :D

As you said, I do notice about the notification queue and there is a notification of your app. But the wierd thing is when the time shown in the notification comes, there is no change in today wall papers, which is supposed to be changed, right?

The more wierd thing is on WM6 Emulator, as I said above, when the time shown in the notification comes, the today pic does not change. But if I have a soft reset after this time, the device is back with new today pic :-?

But it's not the same in my WM6.1 Zinc, the today pic doesn't change even after a soft reset :(

I have no idea what's happening :confused: So far, I have to temporary pleased with changing manually by a shortcut with "-c" parameter :D

[shantzg001]

Hmm,
The emulator behaves weirdly some times, so it must be one of those things.
I haven't really tested it on WM6.1 as of now but am planning to install it on my phone in a few days (might take upto a couple of weeks as I'm very busy these days), will look into it after that.

[LeoDH]

Hmm,
The emulator behaves weirdly some times, so it must be one of those things.
I haven't really tested it on WM6.1 as of now but am planning to install it on my phone in a few days (might take upto a couple of weeks as I'm very busy these days), will look into it after that.

Thanks for your attention :)

Will keep following this thread for your update :)

[LeoDH]

Hi shantzg001,

It seems ok for my Zinc now after I tried to extend the interval from 600s to 14400s. Thanks for your great app :)

And there's another question. Is it possible to make this app run only when the device is in idle or suspend mode? Because if we're using device when the interval time comes, it might cause a hang, especially if we choose a .exe to be run, i.e. oxios hibernate.

Of course we can make it run once a day only in special time when we're sure not using the device, i.e. midnight when we're sleeping :D

But what I mean here is we can still choose to have today wallpaper changed several times a day. When the interval comes, if the device is idle, the app will be activated to change today wallpaper and run the .exe. Otherwise, it shouldn't be activated.

[shantzg001]

@LeoDH: Thats a nice suggestiong. Will keep that in my mind, when I start working on the next update.

[LeoDH]

@LeoDH: Thats a nice suggestiong. Will keep that in my mind, when I start working on the next update.

Hi shantzg001,

It's me again :D

I don't know why but your app. seems to support to cycle about 10 pics :( I got about 70 pics in the input folder, all in .jpg format, but only 10 pics are cycled. Is there any way to fix it?

And is it possible to choose pic at random, instead of in order as default ?

[shantzg001]

@LeoDH: That's strange. I haven't come across this so far. Are your pics in storage card or device itself?

About the randomness, right now it chooses things only in circular order because randomness had some performance and usability issues. But that might change in near future. Stay tuned ;)

[LeoDH]

@LeoDH: That's strange. I haven't come across this so far. Are your pics in storage card or device itself?

About the randomness, right now it chooses things only in circular order because randomness had some performance and usability issues. But that might change in near future. Stay tuned ;)

Thanks for your quick respond :)

These pics are placed in storage card since it's quite numberous. However, I don't think it's the reason because if I change once by once by using parameter "-c", I can have all pics cycled. But if let it cycle automatically then about 10 first pics are cycled. I myself found it very strange, too :D

Anyway, I will test more and keep you posted :)

Best regrds,

[shantzg001]

@LeoDH:
Actually the problem with keeping the pics in storage card is that when the phone is awake, and u do the cycling by clicking manually, u wont see any issue. But when the phone is sleeping, then there "might" sometimes be issues in accessing the storage card (that is why it is preferred to keep em in device). So, if on a particular run, if it is not able to find any files, it resets to 0..
Can you test by keeping, say, 20 files on ur device and see if this still happens?

[testdasi]

Hey!!! I think I know why it doesn't work with WM6.1!!!
I tried, it basically just changes the background of the START MENU instead of the Today background.

[shantzg001]

@testdasi: LeoDH confirmed that it's working for him now on his WM 6.1 phone.
What is the time interval for cycling that you've kept for ur phone? And does it happen all the time or after some particular images/themes?

[LeoDH]

@testdasi: LeoDH confirmed that it's working for him now on his WM 6.1 phone.
What is the time interval for cycling that you've kept for ur phone? And does it happen all the time or after some particular images/themes?

@testdasi: Yeap, it works well on my Zinc WM6.1 ROM cooked by cruzzmz (thanks cruzzmz for his excellent work :) )

However, it took time to test and try different settings. You may want to look back my conversation with shantz001 to see if there's anything can help :)

@shantz001: I really do not want to keep pics in device so still keep my pics in SD. However, it has a "progress" recently :D. The number of pics are cycled now is about 20, with some missing in the middle, which means some first pics are cycled as normal, and then having the default pics (which I found in Windows folder under name as Default_stwater_240_320 and Default_stwater_320_240) shown, and then the other pics are cycled. Maybe it's because of the "sleeping issue" as you said.

Another problem I noted is sometimes the wallpaper just stop cycling even when the notification still on, and when I check the pics folder, all pics in this folder seem disappear. But after a soft reset, all the pics are back and the wallpaper is cycled as normal.

For more reference, during about a month so far using your app., this problem have occurred about 4 or 5 times, more frequent at the beginning and seldom recently. Maybe the reason is the "sleeping issue" too, I guess.

P/s: Sorry for a long post and my improper English. Just try to give you a detailed feedback :)

[shantzg001]

Another problem I noted is sometimes the wallpaper just stop cycling even when the notification still on, and when I check the pics folder, all pics in this folder seem disappear. But after a soft reset, all the pics are back and the wallpaper is cycled as normal.
Leo: I think most of your problems are stemming from this reason. If you are not able to see the pics through explorer also, that means there is some problem in accessing them, in which case the changer will also not work. You could try changing your card or atleast low level formatting it once.

[LeoDH]

Leo: I think most of your problems are stemming from this reason. If you are not able to see the pics through explorer also, that means there is some problem in accessing them, in which case the changer will also not work. You could try changing your card or atleast low level formatting it once.

Thanks for your advice, but what do you mean by saying " low level formatting" ?

[shantzg001]

I mean there is a quick format option that basically just erases all the data, and there is another formatting option, that wipes everything clean and rebuilds the file system etc. You need to use the second option.

[newone757]

tried it with a 60 second interval and it applies my backgrounds tiled instead of one big picture like regualr. and it reloads my whole today screen. if i can fix these two issues then ill def use it

[shantzg001]

@newone:
1. Which phone model is it? Does it have a VGA screen?
2. It HAS to reload the today screen. Without reloading, you won't see the changed images/themes until you make a soft reset. Even if you change your wallpaper/theme through Windows Mobile Today applet, it'll reload your today screen as well.

[newone757]

dont thinkits vga. Its a Sprint mogol or 6800 or titan running wm 6.

Might not mind it reloading i'd just up the time interval. But i need it to be a centered fullscreeen wallpaper instead of titled

im using the aurora theme from here and i want the different colored walls that are attached to cycle

[brunoisa10]

I mean there is a quick format option that basically just erases all the data, and there is another formatting option, that wipes everything clean and rebuilds the file system etc. You need to use the second option.


Hi shantzg001


I have your program
I want it to stop
is there a program in Startup?
I have used stop cycling , soft reset and now the change is already there

help me please , can i remove a link in startup ?

[LeoDH]

Hi shantzg001


I have your program
I want it to stop
is there a program in Startup?
I have used stop cycling , soft reset and now the change is already there

help me please , can i remove a link in startup ?

There's no link/shortcut in startup. This app runs basing on notification mechanism.

Why don't you use the stop function? Run the config (TdyChangerCfg.exe) and choose stop cycling or run the "stopTdyChngr", both of them can be found in installtion folder.

If none of those can help, let try other softs that allow you to modify notification queue, i.e. Mermaid, and del a notification of this app then it'll never show up again.

Hope this help.

P/s: What a pity that you don't like this app. I myself find this app very useful :)

[shantzg001]

@newone: That problem of tiling shouldn't have occured because I had specifically added protection for that. But anyways, can you attach the theme that you are using here. Let me take a look again.

@brunoisa10: U can use any one of the methods as told by Leo to stop cycling. And yes, let me know if you had any specific reasons to stop using it :)

[brunoisa10]

@newone: That problem of tiling shouldn't have occured because I had specifically added protection for that. But anyways, can you attach the theme that you are using here. Let me take a look again.

@brunoisa10: U can use any one of the methods as told by Leo to stop cycling. And yes, let me know if you had any specific reasons to stop using it :)

Hi shantzg001

I just wanted to stop for a test with another plugin ( I imagine it was the theme changing which can freeze my PDA) I know the Stop Cycling Options but not working after soft reset ,
I have problem about your program just about the startMenu (I notice it is not changed at all time) , but I'm using SD Card for themes , perhaps it is the reason
I've noticed the program is stopped when changing theme manually so it is OK now

notification queue I don't know that (I have to check)

thank you to Leo for his answers

[HaiLe512]

I load this program and everytime it changed the theme the system hangs. My TC is running wm6.1. I configured for 4hr theme rotation and twice today everytime it runs it hangs the unit. :(

Anyone have this issue. This is a very nice program and I would like to use it.

[shantzg001]

@brunoisa10: It should stop when you press stop cycling. And it should not stop if you just change the theme manually.
Can you tell me ur registry settings (HKCU/software/shantztodaychanger/) before and after you press stop cycling button?

[shantzg001]

A small update: I've added a cab file as well in the zip file download at my site to make the installation easier: http://tech.shantanugoel.com/projects/windows-mobile/shantztodaychanger

[LeoDH]

A small update: I've added a cab file as well in the zip file download at my site to make the installation easier: http://tech.shantanugoel.com/projects/windows-mobile/shantztodaychanger

Hi shantzg001,

Just want to let you know that ur app. now run perfectly on my device. There're no longer errors that I mentioned before, such as not recognising some of pics used to be set as wallpapers, or unexpected stop of cycling. Now all my pics (about 70 pics) are cycled smoothly :D

The strange thing is that I did not do anything to fix the used-to-be bugs. Just try using with bugs several times and then on a beautiful day, all the bugs are gone.

Now all thing are ok, and I'm thinking maybe in ur next version, you could add options of cycling pics in order as now (order of date, if I'm not wrong) and at random.

Thanks again for your great app. :)

[shantzg001]

Good to kow it's working for u leo. I've started working on the next version..need to get some time to test it properly..will make a release soon...

[daxliniere]

Great mate! We're looking forward to it :)

(Hope you're well)

Dax.

[daxliniere]

Great mate! We're looking forward to it :)

(Hope you're well)

Dax.

[shadowmike]

Have you looked into non touch screen devices at all ?

It will run on 6.1 standard but will not change the wallpaper. Im assuming because pro and standard handle the wallpapers differently .

[shantzg001]

@shadowmike: I haven't. And most probably it will no work for standard as I remember getting some reports of the same some time back..

[lisa_sg]

Hi guys,
I have read all your posts about ShantzTodayChanger and it looks like a great app. I downloaded the software but i just cant get it to work. I am using a Samsung i900. Here are some questions which I have:

(i) Where do you store your ShantzTodayChanger Program? Is it in My Device (preferably) or in Storage Card?
(ii) Where do you store your pictures?
(iii)What do you mean by "cycles"? 600 cycles? 14400 cycles?
(iv) What do you mean by "masking"?
(v) Why need to run a ".exe" file (there is an option there)?
(vi) Can the program change to different wallpaper every time when it is due to change?
(vii) Can someone list out the steps which I can follow to make the program work on my Samsung i900?

I read so much on how good this app is but i kinda of miss out the fun of this program :(


Cheers
Lisa

[shantzg001]

Hey Lisa,
I think i900 has a custom shell by Samsung on top of WM, and that might be the reason why u can't get it to work. I don't have the device with me to test so can't really tell. Anyways, ur answrs:
i)Preferably device
ii) Preferably device
iii) that is "cycle interval" in seconds, so 600 means wallpaper/theme will change after every 600 seconds (or 10 minutes)
iv) Masking means that during that particular period, file names that have the specified "mask" will not be used as wallpaper/themes.
v)U don't "need" to run an exe, but the option is there so that u "can" if you want. (e.g. I run Oxios close apps to free up RAM. Some ppl use shantztodaychanger just for this exe feature. For a copy of oxios close apps without the naggin screen, u can look at my tech blog in the link in my signatures)
vi)Yes, it changes to a diff wallpaper every time
vii) The steps aer given in the first post. Apart from that I don't know what special thing u can do for i900.Lemme know if u have any more questions.

[lisa_sg]

Hi shantz,

Thanks for your reply.

I will try the program once i get back home. Anyway, even if it may not work on mine, i am glad u have created this program which have benefited those who are enjoying your program :) Good job!!! ;)

By the way, do you have a cracked version of this wonderful app (quoteToday v1.61)? alternatively, can u try to crack it? it is another wonderful program.

http://www.pocketmax.net/quoteToday.html

It contains more than 1500 quotes from famous and not so famous people to improve your day, make you think or make you smile.

Cheers.
Lisa

[hotrod101]

Hi shantz,

Thanks for your reply.

I will try the program once i get back home. Anyway, even if it may not work on mine, i am glad u have created this program which have benefited those who are enjoying your program :) Good job!!! ;)

By the way, do you have a cracked version of this wonderful app (quoteToday v1.61)? alternatively, can u try to crack it? it is another wonderful program.

http://www.pocketmax.net/quoteToday.html

It contains more than 1500 quotes from famous and not so famous people to improve your day, make you think or make you smile.

Cheers.
Lisa

Lisa

This site does not support pirated software, Cracked, Warez etc.. Do not ask members for these, Do not post any cracked software. Read the forum rules - If you havn't been warned by a moderator yet, you will be if you don't follow the rules. Could result in a ban from this site.

Rod

[shantzg001]

Guys,
I've not been getting enough time to work on ShantzTodayChanger anymore (and couple that with the irritation of having to boot into windows just to work into this). The motivation levels are simply not there. I'm trying to see if there is someone willing to take up and continue development for this, so that I can release the source code. If anyone is interested, please drop me a word at the project's home page: http://tech.shantanugoel.com/projects/windows-mobile/shantztodaychanger

[nickelocene]

This is a great tool. but I have one problem, the WM 6.1 default transparency setting. I know how to change that setting for a single jpg image, but how do I do that with all the jpg images I want to rotate?

[lisa_sg]

This is a great tool. but I have one problem, the WM 6.1 default transparency setting. I know how to change that setting for a single jpg image, but how do I do that with all the jpg images I want to rotate?

does it mean u may be able to use ShantzTodayChanger on a Samsung Omnia?
plsssssssssssss help. i am dying to use this program on my Omnia.

thanks.

[nickelocene]

does it mean u may be able to use ShantzTodayChanger on a Samsung Omnia?
plsssssssssssss help. i am dying to use this program on my Omnia.

thanks.


I'm trying this tool on Sprint Touch with WM6.1. So far, I feel the program works better with tsk than jpg. The rotation of jpg seems a bit off from time to time. But jpg has a bigger problem, that's why I asked the question. WM has a default transparency setting of 65% for jpg backgrounds, which make the image looks very faded. I also found the Changer doesn't handle the rescaling of jpg very well. If the jpg resolution is bigger than the screen resolution, the Changer won't reduce it automatically. But if you use WM to set it to the background, the image will display right. But this can be easily taken care of by resizing the image to the screen resolution. So the transparency problem is the biggest problem. That's why I'm using tsk now.

I also found the Changer doesn't get along with SPB Pocket+ and SBSH's iLauncer. My Touch freezes every time when I have either of those software (never installed both of them at same time). So, if you have any of them, be careful. The Changer seems to work with SPB Mobile Shell well though.

Hope this help. But I'm still waiting an answer about the transparency setting.

[shantzg001]

@nickeloscene: Yes, it will not rescale the jpg's and I'm not sure abt how to change the default transparency setting for wm6.1 either.
abt using with spb pocket, sbsh ilauncher. I think the problem with these softwares is refreshing of today screens which locks them up some times. I found the same problem sometimes even when manually changing the themes.

[nickelocene]

@nickeloscene: Yes, it will not rescale the jpg's and I'm not sure abt how to change the default transparency setting for wm6.1 either.
abt using with spb pocket, sbsh ilauncher. I think the problem with these softwares is refreshing of today screens which locks them up some times. I found the same problem sometimes even when manually changing the themes.

Hey, Shantz, thanks for the reply. This is a great tool you developed. I guess I will use TSKs then. A bit more work, but I asked for it, didn't I. Thanks again for the wonderful program. :)

[skywalker107]

Anyone get this to work on a tilt?

[rowsbear]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me why ShantzTodayChanger isn't working on my sgh-i780? I have a windows mobile 6 installed as my OS. Thanks!

[shantzg001]

@rowsbear: I think i780 is WM standard phone (without touch screen). ShantzTodayChanger works only with phones having a touch screen.

@All: The source code for ShantzTodayChanger has been released. See the announcement and download details here: ShantzTodayChanger Open Source (http://tech.shantanugoel.com/2008/10/30/project-shantztodaychanger-is-now-open-sourced.html)

[rowsbear]

hi shantz,

umm just a correction the i780 is a touch screen phone. Although I have managed to install it in the phone and run it but the problem is that my background screen doesn't change. I tried to cycle a folder with jpegs but the background image doesn't change at all :confused: any ideas about this one? Thanks shantz!

[LeoDH]

hi shantz,

umm just a correction the i780 is a touch screen phone. Although I have managed to install it in the phone and run it but the problem is that my background screen doesn't change. I tried to cycle a folder with jpegs but the background image doesn't change at all :confused: any ideas about this one? Thanks shantz!

I installed this soft on my Zinc WM6.1 and it works like a champ :D I guess you did something wrong when istalling.

If you dont mind, you can detail about your installation (how and where you install, your setting - screenshot prefered) and basing on that I might help :)

[shantzg001]

@rowbear: oh yeah now i remember i780 is an Omnia.

[shantzg001]

oops omnia is i900. anyways, if it is a touchscreen version, it should work. let me know ur settings screenshot..

[devinc]

I really wanted this application, as I have been designing custom themes (using ThemeGenCE), and wanted to enjoy them all. The problem was that whenever a change would take place while some other application was busy trying to work, often the system would crash and I would have to soft reset.

Even worse, one of my applications became corrupted when a crash happened during a theme change and I had to uninstall and reinstall the app.

Since there is really no way for Today Changer to accommodate every possible application routine, and since, frankly, there is almost no need for a Today Theme change DURING the running of an application (after all, what do I care what my Theme is when running Youtubeplay?), this program desperatly needs a feature where you can specifiy that it not cycle when certain applications are running. The best would be a settings screen that lists all exe files and gives you a checkbox for each.

But something needs to be done to turn the cycling off when certain apps are running.

Like I said, I really want to use this app, but simply cannot overlook constant soft resets and having my files corrupted.

Regards,

Devin

[shantzg001]

@devinc: I'm not sure why you are seeing so many lockups. I get a bit of lockup reports here and there but none very severe ones.
Anyways, yes, I acknowledge that a feature as u suggest would be good to exlude cycling when some "chosen" apps are running (through checking a running process or window in focus). However, the caveat is that I'm no longer developing it. I've released the source code for this though (found on my site, link on first post in this thread). If somebody would like to take this up, I'd be more than happy to help out in adding this feature.

[rowsbear]

Shantz,

Does your program work on a Windows Mobile 6? (not the new version of Windows Mobile 6.1) Coz I think that could be the reason why the changer won't work since mine has Version 6 installed. The program tells me that the ShantzChanger is now running but it still doesn't change the background. Well I'll try to post a screenshot of my configuration later. Thanks!

[SeanFromSoCal]

Shantz,

I'm still using your application, its wonderful. Thank you. I think most of the freezing and slowdown problems are because the themes are too complicated. I've seen some VGA or higher res photos inside QVGA. I've also noticed that depending on which software was used to create them the TSK file is more complicated. Plus there is also a lot corrupted themes out there on the PPC theme websites. I'm now using JPGs which switch much much faster.

Also for the future developer who is going to continue on Shantz's great work...perhaps an idle checker. If the CPU is under 5% utilization then it'll change the theme. If the CPU is over 5%, it will check one time every minute until it drops below 5% and then produce the change.

This way any application being used in the foreground is going to halt the change regardless of the application. Just not sure if what the %-age should be? Perhaps that should be a setting options.

[airacutie]

Hi,

I know this is not in development anymore, I am however experiencing quite interesting feature and cannot find what caused it. When I am using this app, all pictures (even when they have the same resolution as screen) are tiled - they appears multiple times on the today (with layout 2 x 2). Any idea? Thx.

[skypawel]

Has anyone managed to use this program succesfully with HTC touch HD (Blackstone)? Default soft, WM6.1. Background simply does not change. I've used the un-check "Use this picture as background" fix, did not help. I have installed the program in program files. I can set all the options, but wallpaper never changes (neither jpg's in dedicated folders nor inside the Shantz program folder :(

Any ideas to make it work? (or maybe recommend another program changing wallpapers?)

EDIT: did not succeed but found another program AntWorks Auto Wallpaper Changer 1.41

http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Wallpapers/AntWorks-Auto-Wallpaper-Changer-82453.shtml

works like a charm :D

[SeanFromSoCal]

Shantz might not work well with newer devices. Here is another app that might better suit your needs and is still being developed:

AntWorks Auto Wallpaper Changer
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=557248