Homescreen Issues

[FRanatic]

I just started out with theming. I managed to push out my first theme and I like it. I made a minimal custom os6 layout for 9700/9780 devices.

Some questions popped up while working with Theme Builder (version 6.0.0.55):

When removing all navigation to the homescreen areas (clock; signalmeter), still the clock remains as a shortcut. How do I disable this ?

Furthermore, I would like to add an invisible 1st App tot the homescreen. Adding the icon and navigating to it works, but I can't seem to figure out how to make it invisible.

Last question is how to make Universal Search work with a hotkey. I created an .svg, added the action, but it simply won't launch. Other created hotkeys in the same .svg work just fine.

I hope someone can help me out !
Thanks !!

[wu-wei]

Originally Posted by FRanatic

When removing all navigation to the homescreen areas (clock; signalmeter), still the clock remains as a shortcut. How do I disable this ?

If you remove those hotspots from navigation, then the cursor should not be moving to them. TB will throw an error about how they can't be accessed, but that's the desired effect so you can just ignore that.

Originally Posted by FRanatic

Furthermore, I would like to add an invisible 1st App tot the homescreen. Adding the icon and navigating to it works, but I can't seem to figure out how to make it invisible.

You can toggle the visibility with a hotkey. Here's a sample of the code I use:

<set xlink:href="#S0" attributeName="display" to="inline" begin="0"/>
<set xlink:href="#S0" attributeName="display" to="inline" begin="accessKey(w)"/>
<set xlink:href="#S0" attributeName="display" to="none" begin="accessKey(1)"/>

Originally Posted by FRanatic

Last question is how to make Universal Search work with a hotkey. I created an .svg, added the action, but it simply won't launch. Other created hotkeys in the same .svg work just fine.

Make sure you're calling the correct module. It is:

xlink:href="x-exec://net_rim_bb_universalsearch_app"

[FRanatic]

Thanks for your reply !

Looks like I need to do some handcoding on the .svg...
I made the svg in Composer the easy way and it only contains the hotkeys.

I'll need to look into thta a bit further.

The Search I called was listed in the list with BB apps, but I'll call the module instead.

Disabeling the shortcuts seems easy enough ;P

Thanks for helping !!

[wu-wei]

You can also toggle visibility of the first app icon based on different events, depending on how you want it to appear/disappear.

[wu-wei]

Originally Posted by FRanatic

Thanks for your reply !

Looks like I need to do some handcoding on the .svg...
I made the svg in Composer the easy way and it only contains the hotkeys.

I'll need to look into thta a bit further.

The Search I called was listed in the list with BB apps, but I'll call the module instead.

Disabeling the shortcuts seems easy enough ;P

Thanks for helping !!

Yep, hand-coding is infinitely easier/cleaner/more efficient. Seems daunting at first, but you get used to it.

And yes, Composer does list a Search app, but it is the old OS5 search that comes up, if anything comes up at all.

[FRanatic]

Originally Posted by wu-wei

If you remove those hotspots from navigation, then the cursor should not be moving to them. TB will throw an error about how they can't be accessed, but that's the desired effect so you can just ignore that.

I did just that. I received that error on exporting. In the navigation pane it shows those hotspots, but none are linked. Yet in the theme the cursor is 'set' to Clock.

Originally Posted by wu-wei

You can toggle the visibility with a hotkey. Here's a sample of the code I use:

<set xlink:href="#S0" attributeName="display" to="inline" begin="0"/>
<set xlink:href="#S0" attributeName="display" to="inline" begin="accessKey(w)"/>
<set xlink:href="#S0" attributeName="display" to="none" begin="accessKey(1)"/>

You can also toggle visibility of the first app icon based on different events, depending on how you want it to appear/disappear.

Not sure if that is what I am aiming for. What I want to do is place the 1st app from the app list onto the homescreen, make it accessible by default (like the clock is at this moment) and make it permanently invisible. Clicking the trackpad launches the the app and navigating to hotspots on the homescreen is disabled.

Originally Posted by wu-wei

Make sure you're calling the correct module. It is:

xlink:href="x-exec://net_rim_bb_universalsearch_app"

Done ! Although not hand coded

Originally Posted by wu-wei

Yep, hand-coding is infinitely easier/cleaner/more efficient. Seems daunting at first, but you get used to it.

I'll need to find me a decent write-up and some samples to get that down. I'll just save that for later. Haven't got the time to dive into that at the moment.

Thanks for helping me out !!

[BBThemes]

Originally Posted by FRanatic

Last question is how to make Universal Search work with a hotkey. I created an .svg, added the action, but it simply won't launch. Other created hotkeys in the same .svg work just fine.

this isnt something iv ever bothered to do, as universal search works from typing directly from the homescreen, unless theres something im missing?

[wu-wei]

Originally Posted by FRanatic

I did just that. I received that error on exporting. In the navigation pane it shows those hotspots, but none are linked. Yet in the theme the cursor is 'set' to Clock.

Hmm. Well, I would try disabling all default navigation links which should clear them completely. If not, then you're about to be introduced to coding and compiling by hand.

Originally Posted by FRanatic

Not sure if that is what I am aiming for. What I want to do is place the 1st app from the app list onto the homescreen, make it accessible by default (like the clock is at this moment) and make it permanently invisible. Clicking the trackpad launches the the app and navigating to hotspots on the homescreen is disabled.

If that's the case, then don't even bother with any image code. Make a rectangle, assign it opacity of 0, or just make the visibility attribute = "none" and never make it visible. Do you intend to have the application text fade in and out though? That might be tricky, but I have to think about it....

[BBThemes]

Originally Posted by wu-wei

That might be tricky, but I have to think about it....

a thinking outside of the box suggestion, just place the icon outside the visible canvas area in the .cp file. as long as the layer its on is never hidden you`ll always be able to navigate to it (as long as you set the nav of course) and you`ll never see it.

[wu-wei]

Originally Posted by BBThemes

a thinking outside of the box suggestion, just place the icon outside the visible canvas area in the .cp file. as long as the layer its on is never hidden you`ll always be able to navigate to it (as long as you set the nav of course) and you`ll never see it.

Very true, and that's what I do for the offscreen option on my themes. But I don't even bother making it an icon. Just a simple rectangle with a hotkey loadScene. It really doesn't matter where it is if you set visibility="hidden". And of course if you define it as slot0 you can control focusin and focusout behaviors to handle onscreen text.

[FRanatic]

Originally Posted by wu-wei

Hmm. Well, I would try disabling all default navigation links which should clear them completely. If not, then you're about to be introduced to coding and compiling by hand.

If that's the case, then don't even bother with any image code. Make a rectangle, assign it opacity of 0, or just make the visibility attribute = "none" and never make it visible. Do you intend to have the application text fade in and out though? That might be tricky, but I have to think about it....

Originally Posted by BBThemes

a thinking outside of the box suggestion, just place the icon outside the visible canvas area in the .cp file. as long as the layer its on is never hidden you`ll always be able to navigate to it (as long as you set the nav of course) and you`ll never see it.

Originally Posted by wu-wei

Very true, and that's what I do for the offscreen option on my themes. But I don't even bother making it an icon. Just a simple rectangle with a hotkey loadScene. It really doesn't matter where it is if you set visibility="hidden". And of course if you define it as slot0 you can control focusin and focusout behaviors to handle onscreen text.

Wow, thanks for the insight on that. I didn't realize it would be that tricky. I'll be passing that for now, I first need to learn some more basic stuff.

Another issue I encountered is the following.
After some tweaking and re-arranging the homescreen icons the bannertext for the browser (amongst others) gets cut off. I didn't change anything there.
Any clue on what that might have caused that ? I realise it could be lots of things, but maybe it's a know TB bug.

Thanks !

PS. Check out my latest version

[Rockdog97]

You can make an icon "invisible" by just setting the icon and focus icon as transparent icons. Make a transparent icon in Gimp to whatever size you need then just add it as you would any other icon.

[FRanatic]

Originally Posted by Rockdog97

You can make an icon "invisible" by just setting the icon and focus icon as transparent icons. Make a transparent icon in Gimp to whatever size you need then just add it as you would any other icon.

That trick doesn't work for the purpose I am aiming for.
Thanks for the tip though !

[wu-wei]

Originally Posted by FRanatic

Wow, thanks for the insight on that. I didn't realize it would be that tricky. I'll be passing that for now, I first need to learn some more basic stuff.

Another issue I encountered is the following.
After some tweaking and re-arranging the homescreen icons the bannertext for the browser (amongst others) gets cut off. I didn't change anything there.
Any clue on what that might have caused that ? I realise it could be lots of things, but maybe it's a know TB bug.

Thanks !

PS. Check out my latest version

Yes, I was having the same problem. So I changed the way I build my themes and I have much more control over everything now. It can be fixed, but it ain't easy.

[FRanatic]

Originally Posted by wu-wei

Yes, I was having the same problem. So I changed the way I build my themes and I have much more control over everything now. It can be fixed, but it ain't easy.

I think I have isolated the problem. It's the custom clock icon (the one in the banner) that causes this.
It can be fixed by decreasing the font size in the app banner.

For now it's a nice fix.