SIPChange: Changes the DefaultIM in AKU2

SIPChange v1.1 update: You can now change the timeout from its 10 second default

Here's my first programming contribution! It's for those of you who can no longer change their defaultIM using the posted reghacks after upgrading to AKU2.x. No matter what you choose, the keyboard SIP is always selected after a soft reset.

If you aren't having this problem, then you don't need this little app (unless, of course, you don't feel good about dinking around in the registry changing DefaultIM CLSIDs...)

The problem occurs because some AKU2 based service or process is changing the SIP back to the keyboard. This happens 4-8 seconds after startup programs run. As such, SIPChange is a workaround of sorts because when it runs at startup it waits 10 seconds before changing the SIP to your selected default. Go here for more information on this issue.

SIPChange has two execution modes. If executed with no parameter, it presents the list of SIPs available on your device and allows you to select a default. Once set, this information is stored in the registry. If executed with "SET" as the parameter it minimizes itself, reads the default from the registry and waits 10 seconds. When the timeout expires, it sets the Current SIP to your selected default and closes.

How to use:
1. Copy the attached CAB to your device
2. Tap on the cab using file manager to install.

Now open SIPChange by tapping Start->Programs->SIPChange. You will be presented with a list of your available SIPs. Highlight the one you want to become the defaultIM. If you wish, you can change the default delay as well. Now tap the "Select" button. The SIP will be changed to your selection and SIPChange will close.

That's it! The next time you (or your automatic nightly backup) resets your device, the default SIP will be reset to your choice.

MOD EDIT (DaveShaw): The aformentioned CAB is here : http://rapidshare.com/files/208325629/SIPChange.CAB

Here's a little more explanation on how to install SIPChange:

First, make a new folder under program files called "sipchange" then place the sipchange executable (downloaded from the above attachment) into that folder and rename it if necessary to sipchange.exe.

Now, using file explorer, navigate to \program files\spichange and then tap and hold on sipchange.exe. Choose "copy".
Now, navigate to \windows\startup with filemanager and choose "Paste shortcut" from the menu.

Here's the part where you need a third party program. You now need to modify the execution properties of shortcut you just pasted into the startup folder. Several programs can do this. I use a utility called GSFinder+ which a free file explorer replacement. What you need to do is to change the shortcut execution properties from "\program files\sipchange\sipchange.exe" to "\program files\sipchange\sipchange.exe" SET

There is also a way to do this without any third party file explorers by editing the shortcut file itself with notepad on your PC. The thread that explains this is located here.

I'm not sure how my attachment got renamed from sipchange.exe to sipchange_182.exe tho....

@stainlesspc:

SIPChange shouldn't ever remain in memory longer than 10 seconds when run with the SET parameter. You can check this with settings/system/memory/running programs. So it shouldn't have any effect on program execution time unless you are somehow setting the SIP to something invalid. Try this: make sure that you have run sipchange.exe at least once with no parameter and set a default. I'm assuming you have already done this to sett the letter recognizer as your preferred default. If you haven't, it is possible that something strange may be happening because no default SIP registry entry is present. However, in this case, the set SIP operation should just return an error (which is ignored by SIPChange). I'll check into it though.

SET is indeed the only parameter it recognizes. When it sees SET as an execution parameter, it attempts to change the SIP to the input method you chose when you last pressed "Set Default".

Btw on my 8125 I just used SIPChange to set letter recognizer as my default thinking it may have something to do with the letter recognizer default iteself. Then I soft reset. Unfortunately tho, I'm not seeing the delay you mention . I'm not using the official Cingular AKU2 release as you though. I am running AKU2.3 from Summiter's multi-installer.

@JNGold:

The transcriber is the only SIP that has a "Transcriber Intro" splash screen :roll:

On my 8125, that splash screen has a checkbox called "don't show this" which would seem to be the fix for your issue.

To keep that checkbox from getting cleared on a reboot is a bit of a chore however. I had to select the transcriber, check the checkbox then select a different SIP then go back to the transcriber again (the splash isn't displayed). Pretty kludgy eh? :shock:

Now when I reset, the splash isn't displayed, and the transcriber menubar appears right above the softkeys. I'm running SpBPocket plus btw and I'm not seeing the menubar shift you describe.

Yeah, I understand. I'm not seeing that on mine though. When I (finally) got the splash screen not to show on my 8125, the menubar always appeared right next to the softkeys. The only thing I can think of is that something executes on yours to update the today screen after SIPChange makes the transcriber default and this is somehow shifting the menubar up. When the menubar appears, does it initially show at the bottom and then move? I suppose I'd first try disabling all my today screen plugins to see if the problem goes away then, if it does, I'd re-enable them one by one to find the culprit.

Thanks efjay. I was planning on doing that...

my guess would be that some Fitaly support components need to be loaded that the SIP depends on. SipChange just launches the SIP itself based on what's registered. Perhaps you can launch Fitaly in startup first? I don't know anything at all about the Fitaly program itself so this is just wild speculation on my part btw...