Windows mobile 5.0 screen saver

[Guest]

Hello!
I am interested to develop a screen saver for windows mobile 5.0. Can anyone
suggest me any resource for windows mobile 5.0 screen saver development
resource. How these screen saver work and how to test and deploy those
screensaver in the emulator?

Thanx a lot in advance.

 

[Andreas Ringdal]

Check the system idletime (don't recall how))
Bring your application to front.
Create a fullscreen application that does what your screensaver is
supposed to do.

Andreas

 

[Guest]

Hi Ringdal,

Thak you for your prompt reply! I have some extra question about the Windows
mobile 5.0 screen saver.

1. Is there any standard application format for screen saver in wm 5?
2. Can you explain in detail about the developing screen saver in wm5?
3. Can we write a screensaver which act as a com server?
4. If we can, what kind of interface and finctionality we should implement?
5. Does the system has any exe which can use our COM dlls?
6. I had a reading which says "we can specify the screensaver idle time in
registry".
Can you give any hints?


regards

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

1. No, there is no standard screen saver API.
2. You're just writing a program that happens to pop to the front of the
application window stack, covers everything, etc. when the device has been
idle for some period. It's just an application, so you can do anything an
application can do.
3. Yes, it's just an application. You can do anything an application can
do. Why would you want to do this, though?
4. Huh? That's up to you.
5. Since you haven't said what the DLLs do, how can we answer this?!
6. There are several time-out values stored in the registry. You can
configure the device to turn off the display backlight after a certain
period of inactivity, with separate settings for A/C power and battery
power, and you can also set the time before the device suspends, again for
A/C power and for battery power. Since there is no system concept of a
screen saver, you won't find any settings already in the registry or any
Control Panel applet for changing them. You'd have to do that yourself.

Why do you want to do this?

Paul T.

 

[Guest]

Hi Paul!

Thank you for your reply! I read in the MSDN document that in WM 5.0 the
screen saver is a dll that is invoked by the system. The time out
configuration need to be write in registry. Here goes the msdn link:

ms-help://MS.MSDNQTR.v80.en/MS.MSDN.v80/MS.WINCE.v50.en/wcetarget5/html/wce50conConfigureScreenSaversInThinClient.htm

Can you help me to understand this? though it is for think client, does this
apply for any WM 5.0 device?

According to your reply, a screensaver is a simple application that will
activate after a certain period of inactivity (I understand that). But my
problem was, how can I determine the idle time? Will the screensaver will
always run in background?

thnx in advance!

 

[Andreas Ringdal]

Have you got a link to that on the web? I didn't install the msdn
documentation.

pixelord skrev:

 

[Guest]

Hi!

Sorry for the local msdn link: Here goes the online link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...wce50conconfigurescreensaversinthinclient.asp

and

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...edsn40/html/cmconkeyboardregistrysettings.asp

Now you can read the content and share your knowledge with me.

Thank you

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

You didn't actually understand what that was about. Those items only apply
for the thin client shell that a Windows CE OEM *can* add to their device.
No WM5 devices have that that I'm aware of, so this isn't going to work on a
Pocket PC. For that matter, only a *very* small percentage of Windows CE
5-based devices would use the thin client shell. None of our devices use
that shell, for example. It's a specific case that doesn't apply to the
device that you want to target...

Paul T.

 

[Guest]

Hi Paul!
Thak you for your kind reply. Now I understand about teh thin client stuff.

Now for Windows Mobile 5.0 can you point me how can I start writing screen
saver?
Will it be a exe file or a dll? How can i install the screen saver in my
emulator and test?
Do i need to configure windows mobile 5.o for enabling screensaver?

Thank you!

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

I have already done so. Please understand, THERE IS NO OS SUPPORT FOR
"SCREEN SAVERS". That is not a concept that exists as a separate thing.
You'll just be writing a program. Read my previous messages...

Paul T.

 

[Guest]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for being so much patient. According to your previous post you
said that

"Since there is no system concept of a
screen saver, you won't find any settings already in the registry or any
Control Panel applet for changing them. You'd have to do that yourself.
"

Now my question is how can i activate my application in windows mobile 5.0
after a certain persiod of time? Do I need to customize registry settings?
How can i activate the sreensaver application after a certain period of time
just like normal desktop pc?

thnx for being so helpful.

 

[Andreas Ringdal]

You'll either have to start the program manually og find some way to
start it when the device boots.
Try searching for run in the regestry.



Andreas

pixelord skrev:

 

[Guest]

Hi Paul,

Thanx a lot for your support.

regards,

 

[Guest]

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for your reply ...

Regards.

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

If you can get the application run once, you can use CeRunAppAtTime() (read
the archives), to have the application launched at a given time. Note,
however, that this is *not* an appropriate way to decide when to start
saving the screen, as user I/O may have occurred between when you set the
time you want to be executed and when that time actually occurs. What
you'll really need to do is either figure out if there is an operating
system event fired when user I/O occurs or check how long the device has
been idle periodically (poll). All of these concepts have been covered
before, although not in the context of "screen saver", which I think is
useless on these devices. Read the archives:

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...tframework?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Paul T.

 

[Simon Hart]

Imagine the battery life when a screen saver program is running!

 

[Robert Simpson]

Well, nobody's outright said it yet in the thread, so I'll try and be as
delicate as possible ...

Your market for a Windows Mobile screen saver will be ... thin. Thin as in,
non-existant. There are some fundamental design issues in play here:

When a Windows Mobile is on battery power, it is typically configured to go
into standby mode after a minute or so of non-use. Usually those minutes
are spent in the cradle or holster, so nobody will be watching any pretty
screensaver pictures. Furthermore, the unit will probably go into standby
mode about 1 second before your app would run or 1 second after depending on
your timing. The most you can hope for is only 1-2 seconds of run time.

Although the concept of a screen saver and the need for one has changed over
the years, the general purpose of a screen saver is to A. Save the screen
from burn-in, and/or B. Provide some eye candy to the user or those passing
by his/her office. A Windows Mobile screen saver does neither of these, and
actually shortens the overall life of the LCD screen's backlight while also
draining the battery for the short duration it runs before the system goes
into standby. In the event your screen saver actually prevents standby
mode, then your screen saver will turn into a battery killer and the few
users that actually downloaded it will send you some VERY angry e-mails,
followed by bad reviews, follwed by lots of silence at your website.

So ... If your purposes are academic and you merely want to see if it can be
done, then by all means proceed. If however, you're expecting to meet a
perceived demand, or fill a perceived gap in availability of such software
to the masses, I'm afraid you will be sorely disappointed.

Robert

 

[Guest]

Periodically call SystemIdleTimerReset.


--
Chris Tacke
OpenNETCF Consulting
Managed Code in the Embedded World
www.opennetcf.com