xBar 2.0
 Exploit your multitask Smartphone

http://www.xetranet.com/spv/xbar2
support : xbar_support@xetranet.com

User's Manual
 (English version currently in translation)

1 Presentation
2 Installation
    2.1 PC download
    2.2 Smartphone download
    2.3 Activation
3 Usage
    3.1 Main usage
    3.2 Task managment
    3.3 Shift key emulation
4 Settings
    4.1 Task Scheduler (Version Alpha)
    4.2 xBar settings (xbar_cfg.ini)
    4.3 Visual settings (skin xbar.ini)


 1 Presentation

The operating system Microsoft embarked in the mobiles, Windows CE, is a multitask system. It is the principal quality compared to the competitor system (palm). 

Although the memory of the mobiles is still limited, without a tool it is impossible to shut down an application to release the memory occupied by this one.

Unfortunately Microsoft do not provide any built-in tool allowing to exploit this functionality. 

Gap filled by the various manufacturers of PocketPC (itask on ipaq for example).

 Unfortunately, these tools are not ergonomic.

It is here that taskbar’s like tools are taking again an operation similar to that available in OS of the machines of office such as Windows or Mac OS. (success on PocketPC : wizbar, icbar and there derived)

 

xBar being thus the solution with this gap on Smartphone.

 

xBar offers the following functionalities :

 

All the functionalities of xBar are customisable as well as the visual (skins support).

 

In short, xBar makes it possible to switch, for example, from Mail Box to the Media Player quickly and simply, but also to reduce the number of restarting of your Smartphone by maintaining a usable memory.

 

(1) Via a PC interface.

(2) Require an file explorer (PC or Smartphone) allowing to create short cuts.

2 Installation

2.1 PC download

This procedure applies if you downloaded a zip file.  You have to unzip this file on your office computer, and then execute setup.exe.

2.2 Smartphone download

This procedure applies in the case of an "Over The Air" installation, i.e. without office computer, you must in this case follow the indications on the screen of your Smartphone.

          2.3 Activation

Before this step, check in your Smartphone :
Programs, settings, (more…) Owner informations, the field 'name' must contain the same string as the « owner name » entered when ordering.

Once xBar set up in your Smartphone, you must activate it.  You imperatively have to preserve the recording number provided by your retailer.  It enables you to activate xBar, but also to download the updates.

Activation is very simple, at the first call of xBar, this one requires the regcode, (to call xBar, press during an half second the action key in the center of the pad) enter your regcode (made up of 5 digits) with the keyboard of your Smartphone.  At the fifth digit, xBar disappears and is activated.

 

3 Usage

3.1 Main Usage

By default the call of xBar is done while keeping pressed the action key (in the center of the pad).

The screen of xBar can be divided in several zones :

1 Task Scheduler state ("!" enabled / disabled)
2 Hours/Minutes
3 memory's load level (one point represents almost 20%)
4 Running tasks classified by order of use (Z order)
5 The name of the selected task
6 memory left
7 battery's load level
8 The "ambient" temperature turned over by the probe present in the battery
9 Hour/Date


Default key map

key Function customisable
Left Select task No
Right Select task No
Vol + Paste text No
Vol- Shift key No
up Same as left No
Down Same as right No
Action Switch to selected Task Yes if hotkey
0 Turn on/off crontab Yes
1 Kill all task exept selected Yes
2 Kill all task Yes
3 AutoClean (in update) Yes
0 to 9 Launch shortcut 1 to 9.lnk in the same folder as xbar Yes
* Leave xbar No
# Display system info No
Menu left Launch shortcut A.lnk Yes
Menu Right Launch shortcut B.lnk (default calc.exe) Yes

3.1 Task management

 

The selection of a task (4 and 5) is done thanks to the right/left keys.

To put at the foreground the selected task (5) press on the action key.

To shut down the selected application, press on the backspace key.

Knowing that at each call of xBar, the first task in the list (4) is the current task, this one is always selected.

To shut down the current task, you just have to call xBar and then to press backspace key.

Like the "alt tab" on Windows PC, you regularly can switch between 2 applications, to do that, call xBar, then press right key and validate ; this repeated handling will permute these 2 tasks (Handling usefull in case of the copy/past).

3.3 shift key emulation

Last minute notice: this fnction seems to not be compatible with the i600 phone, please wait the update (plan in a few days).

xBar enable you to use Windows clipboard.

To do this, you must emulate shift key, when xbar is on screen, press Volume down and keep pressing it, xBar disapear but the shift key is enabled.

while pressing volume down, move cursor left or right in order to select text in a textbox.
When you have selected your text, release the volume down, xBar automatically paste the text into the clipboard.

To paste text, you must select the target where paste the text by placing the cursor in another textbox or application, and call xBar and normal pressing volume up.

4 Settings

4.1 Task Scheduler (Version Alpha)

xBar enables you to plan the execution of tasks, like reading a mp3 file for alarm clock use.
It is the file 'crontab.txt' which manages the list of these tasks.
This one is close to the syntax of the same tool under Linux.
It is advised to use the provided interface.

Here, how in several stages, to create a new task.

 

1 Launch on your PC, Xbar Task Scheduler
2 Connect your Smartphone : juste click on the icon or en use the menu ‘connect’.
(Active Sync dmust be connected)

The task list of the Smartphone is displayed.

3 Create a new task by pressing the button or the menu ‘add’ (also accessible by right click)

The command wizzard appears

Specify the moment/the frequency of launch of this task

The star indicates each moment of the period

Examples : to launch a task every 25th December at midnight any day of the week:
Hour=0
Minute=0
Day=25
Month=12
WeekDay=*

To launch a task everyday at 8h
Hour=8
Minute=0
Day=*
Month=*
WeekDay=*

To launch a task the first of each month at 12h15
Hour=12
Minute=15
Day=1
Month=*
WeekDay=*

To launch a task every friday the 13th midnight
Hour=0
Minute=0
Day=13
Month=*
WeekDay=5 (Friday)

4 Choose the task to launch, you can enter the name of a file with its complete path, or use the button 'explore' (capture) to explore the contents of your Smartphone.

Drag and drop the file to launch in the text zone of the task

If this task is not an exe, xBar will launch the file with the associated program (so you can just use a MP3 file as a task)

5 Apply, this task arrive in the list

6 Save the file on your Smartphone using 'save' or the menu ‘save’

Pour signaler à xBar de recharger la liste vous devez appuyer sur raccrocher (noter que cette touche permet a xBar de se réactualiser complètement : skin, crontab, liste d'appli).

4.2 Paramètres xBar (xbar_cfg.ini)

Ce fichier contient tous les paramétrages propres au fonctionnement d' xBar.
Il n'existe pas aujourd'hui d'interface de gestion pour ce fichier, vous devez l’éditer avec un simple éditeur de texte.
Une interface étant prévue dans un futur proche.

Element Description
HIDEAPP0
...
HIDEAPP9		 XBar Hide theses windows
CRONTAB =0 for task scheduler is disable =1 for enable
ICONMEM Display memory level in the tray icon
AUTOCLEAN % of memory load when xBar try to clean memory (0 or 100 for disable it)
AUTOHIDE Delay in seconde after xBar hide
DAEMON =0 for dameon mode else 1 for nodameon mode (expert option)
KEY_DELAY Delay in ms for a long press after xbar display on screen (>200 else =0 for no long press)
KEY_KILLALL Key code of the KillAll option
KEY_KILLALLES Key code of the KillAll Except Selected Option
KEY_XBAR Key code that xBar display on screen.
KEY_SHIFT Key code of the shift key emulation.
KEY_CRON Key code that enable/disable the task scheduler

Key code list (from MSDN)
KeyCode Keypad Key
13 Action
37 Left
38 Up
39 Right
40 down
48 to 57 0 to 9
114 Talk (Green button)
115 End (Red Button)
91 Home
27 Back
121 Record
128 Flip
129 Power
117 Vol Up
119 Star
120 Pound/Sharp
118 Vol Down
112 Menu 1
113 Menu 2

4.3 Paramètres visuels (skin xbar.ini)

Ce fichier contient tous les paramétrages liés a l'apparence d' xBar.
Il n'existe pas aujourd'hui d'interface de gestion pour ce fichier, vous devez l’éditer avec un simple éditeur de texte.
Une interface étant prévue dans un futur proche.


 

Element Description Zone
BARTOP Top of the xbar.bmp : Screen absolute  
BARLEFT Left of the xbar.bmp : Screen absolute  
ICONPOSX Position x of the Iconbar 4
ICONPOSY Position y of the Iconbar 4
ICONMAX Max of icon displayed 4
ICONCENTER =1 center the bar =0 for left align 4
ICONFOCUS = 0:Winfocus, 1:RectInvert, 2:BoxInvert 4
FONTSIZE Size of all font used by xBar 5 to 9
FONTWEIGHT =700 for bold or =0 for normal 5 to 9
TEMPVISIBLE =1 if temp indicator is visible =0 else 8
TEMPPOSX Position X (BARLEFT relative, negative value accepted) 8
TEMPPOSY Position Y (BARTOP relative, negative value accepted) 8
TEMPCOLR Red of the color (0-255) 8
TEMPCOLG Green of the color (0-255) 8
TEMPCOLB Blue of the color (0-255) 8
TEMPTYPE Unit of temp =0 for °C =1 for °F 8
TIMEVISIBLE =1 if time is visible in xbar =0 else  
TIMEPOSX Position X (BARLEFT relative, negative value accepted)  
TIMEPOSY Position Y (BARTOP relative, negative value accepted)  
TIMECOLR Red of the color (0-255)  
TIMECOLG Green of the color (0-255)  
TIMECOLB Blue of the color (0-255)  
MEMVISIBLE =1 if mem level is visible in xbar =0 else 6
MEMPOSX Position X (BARLEFT relative, negative value accepted) 6
MEMPOSY Position Y (BARTOP relative, negative value accepted) 6
MEMTYPE =0 if memory load =1 if memory free 6
MEMHEIGHT Height of the memory level 6
TITLEVISIBLE =1 if title of the task is visible =0 else 5
TITLEPOSX Position X (BARLEFT relative, negative value accepted) 5
TITLEPOSY Position Y (BARTOP relative, negative value accepted) 5
TITLECENTER =0 for left align =1 for center 5
TITLEWIDTH Width of the title text zone (croped if text is too wide) 5
TITLECOLR Red of the color (0-255) 5
TITLECOLG Green of the color (0-255) 5
TITLECOLB Blue of the color (0-255) 5
PLUGINNAME File name of the exe plugin (see SDK)  
PLUGINPARAM Parameters for the exe file  
DATEVISIBLE =1 if date is visible in xbar =0 else 9
DATEPOSX Position X (BARLEFT relative, negative value accepted) 9
DATEPOSY Position Y (BARTOP relative, negative value accepted) 9
DATECOLR Red of the color (0-255) 9
DATECOLG Green of the color (0-255) 9
DATECOLB Blue of the color (0-255) 9
BATEVISIBLE =1 if battery level is visible in xbar =0 else 7
BATPOSX Position X (BARLEFT relative, negative value accepted) 7
BATPOSY Position Y (BARTOP relative, negative value accepted) 7
BATTYPE =0 if battery free =1 if battery used 7
BATHEIGHT Height of the battery level 7

Vous pouvez aussi télécharger des skins sur le site d' xBar.

Bugs connus

Historique des versions

Remerciements
JRC pour son aide générale.
Natacha for the translation.

xBar Plugin SDK

// xplugin.cpp : Defines the entry point for the application.
//
#include "stdafx.h"

int WINAPI WinMain( HINSTANCE hInstance,HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,LPTSTR lpCmdLine,int nCmdShow)
{
    HDC hDC=GetDC(NULL) ;
    SetTextColor(hDC,RGB(0,0,0));
    SetBkMode(hDC,TRANSPARENT);
    ExtTextOut(hDC,80,50,ETO_OPAQUE,NULL,lpCmdLine,11,NULL);
    return 0;
}

 // The PLUGINPARAM define in xbar.ini is sended throuh lpCmdLine
// (Set x and y in PLUGINPARAM in xbar.ini to know where draw plugin