Theme editor for WM5 ?

[martinlbb]

Hello all,

I've been using McDeb Theme Generator with further version of WM2003.

Since WM5, thoses themes are not working well.

Do you know a theme generator who handle WM5 ?

Thanks,

Martinlbb

[ßeta]

SPB Extended Theme Generator

[ZeBoxx]

The McDeb version is a special branded version of ThemeMaker by KAMware. They have a WM5 version of the unbranded available;
http://www.kamware.com/

However, you can largely do it for free, as WM5 doesn't really have color theming and such. You do need a bit of working knowledge of modifying files and the pocketpc registry and such - but unless you change the theme all the time, that shouldn't be too big of an issue.

Here's a step-by-step:

1. Download this:
http://www.ida.net/users/oe1k/progra...uilder2003.zip
( that site also has instructions - ignore them )

2. Download the attachment. Inside it is a picture - it is a template. The green area is what you can *normally* see of the entire picture when in portrait (vertical) mode. The red area is what you can *normally* see of the entire picture when in landscape (horizontal) mode. Yellow is both. You may wonder why you shouldn't just cut off the bottom - well, reason is that you may be using an app like vijay555's to remove or reduce the soft key buttons, in which case you would probably want to see more of your theme there.
( Ignore the filename, but heed it at the same time. The Theme.inf file needs work, and the file should probably include a template for VGA devices, etc. So please don't distribute - a much better job at it can be done, I just tossed it together in a hurry. )

3. Make a picture that's 320x320 and fits into the template under 2 nicely - e.g. so that you'll see what you want to see when in portrait/landscape mode. You can't have two different pictures by normal theming, so place your picture wisely

4. Save this picture. You can save it as BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, anything. However, I would very much recommend that you save to GIF - and use the best 'dithering' option available to you in your graphics application. The reason for this is that the your LCD is only 16bit, and some say that the Today Screen only shows 12bit, or even 8bit. Can't be bothered to figure that out, myself. But what's important to understand is that if you save a nice smooth gradiented image as the today screen image, and then display it, you will see a horrible 'posterization' effect. So instead, use GIF, dither, and it will look perfectly smooth as long as you didn't use too many colors in the picture

5. rename this picture to "tdywater.gif" (even if it is a PNG, BMP, JPG!)

6. Now you may want a different picture for your Start Menu background (desaturated, darker, lighter, completely different - whatever). If you do, follow steps 3-5 again, but instead rename the picture to "stwater.gif". If you don't want to use a different picture, then just copy "tdywater.gif" to "stwater.gif"

7. The download you did under step 2 - it contains a new "Theme.inf" file that leaves all colors in your registry intact. Just overwrite the original. You can edit this file, change some values around, etc. For help with the colors in the registry, see: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index...sMobile5Colors

8. Now run "build.bat" from the download under 1. This will make a ".tsk" file called "Theme.tsk".

9. Rename "Theme.tsk" to whatever you want your Theme to show up as in the Today screen themes dialog.

10. Copy the new .tsk file to your PPC's \Windows\ folder, and your theme should now be available

--------------------------------------------------

Q. I made a theme, loaded it, and now my system colors are all greyscales!
A. Modify the BaseHue value either in the registry, or in the "Theme.inf" file directly - examples for all colors of the rainbow are included, just uncomment the correct one, or set your own value.

Q. I made a theme with a nice BaseHue value, but other colors are still wrong.
A. Modify the appropriate values in the registry or, again, set them in the "Theme.inf" file.

Q. This is a lot of work?
A. Buy ThemeMaker
A2. I hope to stick this in a wiki at some point, and toss up a piece of javascript that will spit out the contents of a "Theme.inf" for you.

[ZeBoxx]

Just to note - I also tried the SPB one. It's a bit bloaty, unless you use SPB products, and it actually failed to create several themes on my machine. It's certainly more userfriendly than my steps above - but not as lean / flexible. YMMV

[martinlbb]

Thansk ZeBoxx for yours informations.

I have a dozen of french railway themes to upgrade (Mobile 2003 to WM5).

I thinks it should be quick to upgrade with your method.

Thanks,

Martinlbb

[martinlbb]

I found a better method (I have to check If it's work as I want).

I just rename the .tsk file in .cab file and work with a cab editor.

Martinlbb

[ZeBoxx]

yeah, .tsk files are basically just .cab files - the first download is just a collection of files that includes the cab building executables