FloatMe - a stupid, but maybe usefull 'tool'

[_TB_TB_]

Hello!
After a looooooong and bloody battle between me and eMbedded Visual C++ 4 installer battle, I have written a simple tool: FloatMe. What does it do? Well, it changes the foreground window style (WS_STYLE) to something floating - see screenshots

The windows can be moved and scaled; the [X] CLOSES the application (do NOT try closing the "Programs" window, or your CE shell will reboot)

The resized window can have its original style restored WITHOUT resizing of the window - you can obtain something like above. In order to restore - run FloatMe again.

To download: http://bodz.elsat.net.pl/vis/uploade...tme.zip&op=get
no-close-button version: http://bodz.elsat.net.pl/vis/uploade...ose.zip&op=get
CAB version: http://bodz.elsat.net.pl/vis/uploade...cab.zip&op=get

Coding of it took me about 10 minuts, but the results are funny...

14.11.2006 - Update:

Minimize and maximize icons. They work normally, are not initially drawn, howver. To see thwem on screen - tap and move the stylus off the button without releasing.

PS - set one of your HW buttons to FloatMe

[CWKJ]

Wow. Cool.

How is this compare to Vijay's uncompleted version?

Will try and feedback!

CE Shell reboot = soft reset?

What is the difference between close & no close?

Update Version from _TB_TB_ on page 2

Originally Posted by _TB_TB_ Use this CAB: http://bodz.elsat.net.pl/vis/uploade...cab.zip&op=get

[vijay555]

Probably a similar idea, and curiously, same name I used on my app when I was coding it (the GSFinder bar in the top left)



VJSihaya is on pause because I want to integrate some other usability features - changing window styles to floating is not difficult, but turning that into something like an OS shell/desktop replacement requires lots of other features I did some work this weekend that will hopefully move things along again finally though.

V

[_TB_TB_]

http://www.pdaclub.pl/forum/viewtopi...asc&highlight= - the polish - language topic about reverting WM to WinCE 'usercontrol' user shown an app that did enum all the windows and set their attrib to those that my app set. Since he did not publish it anywhere (nether EXE, nor source code) I wanted to make my own version and release it to all

usercontrol is working (at least he claims so my app kicked his butt to get to work ) on app called betterWM - it is supposed to restore the 'classic' CE taskbar, and some more features (windows minimizing/maximizing, etc).

The app was created for two purposes - eVC++ test and as a small and hopefully usefull tool

Source code is stunningly long:

#include "stdafx.h" 

int WINAPI WinMain(   HINSTANCE hInstance, 
               HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, 
               LPTSTR    lpCmdLine, 
               int       nCmdShow) 
{ 
   HWND wnd = GetForegroundWindow(); 
   if(wnd != FindWindow(NULL, _T("Desktop"))){ 
      if(((WS_VISIBLE & GetWindowLong(wnd, GWL_STYLE)) != GetWindowLong(wnd, GWL_STYLE))){ 
         SetWindowPos(wnd, HWND_TOP, 0, 26, 10, 10, SWP_NOOWNERZORDER|SWP_NOSIZE); 
         SetWindowLong(GetForegroundWindow(), GWL_STYLE, WS_VISIBLE); 
      } 
      else{ 
          SetWindowLong(GetForegroundWindow(), GWL_STYLE, WS_CAPTION|WS_SYSMENU|WS_SIZEBOX); 
      } 
   } 
   return 0; 
}

And the reset I'm talking about is a regular soft reset (the same effect when you kill Programs window with TaskMan)

[CWKJ]

Before I try, one more questions, do I need to exit from Wisbar Advance 2, NEW MENU from one of the forumer and other today plugins?

[vijay555]

_TB_TB_: what's the progress on reverting WinMobile to WinCE on the Polish thread? I'm afraid my Polish isn't very good!

There have been successful efforts to get better versions of WinCE running on some old Palm-size PCs, but unfortunately I've never seen the source code, and replicating the efforts without source would be almost futile... it was a very big project. It's a shame it died.

However, this required using a generic WinCE install, which means that for us, most of the driver incompatiblities etc would leave it even more pointless. Better to work on linux then WinCE for that work.

VJSihaya (if I ever get time to spend on it) is likely just to be a shell, but there are various shell level/hooking challenges to implement before it can be usable as a full shell replacement. However, removing the PocketPC shell would be the best way, it will save resources and keep things much smoother, but you then have to replicate memory and notification callbacks and quite a bit of other stuff. I don't think it's really worth doing that, so that leaves you with running a shell on top of the default PocketPC shell... bad for memory, but best for functionality.

Also - I found when writing VJOkButt that closing the control panel might also cause a system crash. [That might be a useful tool for anyone seeking to exploit Windows Mobile using shell code btw]

V

[hanmin]

nniiiiccceeee ... but I find my 320x240 screen a bit too small for floating windows. I like the idea of Alt-Tab for switching apps, but I ran out of buttons to do so. Will use this when I get a 640x480 version

[_TB_TB_]

Originally Posted by vijay555 _TB_TB_: what's the progress on reverting WinMobile to WinCE on the Polish thread? I'm afraid my Polish isn't very good!

Yay, really?

Progress? Nothing new, actually (the newest thing is flame war against me and my program versus never released usercontrol's program btw - try enumerating all windows and setting their attribs to floating - interesting results...). Only some 'news', that we need to launch a regular WinCE shell (or rather front-end, since both WinCE and WM use the same CE kernel). The WM dll libs contain a lot of WinCE stuff front - end. Now usercontrol is writing a taskbar-app, that would enable minimizing/maximizing/restoring windows. The taskbar itself would be a reconstruction of Handheld PC WinCE taskbar functionality.

[CWKJ]

Can floatme (close) & floatme (no close) be combined like Wisbar Advance 2?

That is, short click on the "X" closes th apps and long click on the "X" just minimises it.

That will be really great.

[da_mayhem]

Cool!! this is great..i wanna play SkyForce 1 and Sky Force Reloaded at the same time! lol