WVGA Issue

[JesseW]

I'm trying to get the MobileWebbs app/screensaver I created (which can be found in the my creations forum) to work without a title bar and menu/status bar on my new Touch HD which features WVGA 480x800, and I'm unable to get the menu/status bar at the bottom of the form to vanish. Either that, or it is a black spot which shows the addition screen from VGA to WVGA.

Here's my App_Start sub: (the form name is MobileWebbs instead of Form1)

Sub App_Start
   flb.New1("MobileWebbs",B4PObject(1))
   flb.FullScreen2(cPPC,True) 'On the device it will remove the title bar too
   MobileWebbs.Line (0, 0, MobileWebbs.Width, MobileWebbs.Height, cBlack, BF)  'Create black background
   timer1.Interval = 20
   timer1.Enabled = True
   MobileWebbs.Show
End Sub

Here's what I've tried:
1) changing the cPPC constant to True (after reviewing FormLib help file) didn't change anything.
2) unchecked File/Compile/Optimized, which gave me an error "Cannot file file ilasm.exe" when trying to compile to device exe, and brought up web page showing to install .net cf 2.0. Went to activesync, to add/remove programs, selected .net cf 2.0, and it reported that it was already installed (but was unchecked on activesync list of applications)
3) tried forced qvga, but that pixelated the display (to be expected) and slowed it down noticeably. Plus, the gray area I'm trying to get rid of is even larger.

Here's my device info:
---
HTC Blackstone (Touch HD)
WVGA 480x800
CE OS 5.2.20757 (Build 20757.1.4.0)
Processor: Qualcomm MSM7201A-528MHz
Memory: 195.83MB
ROM version: 1.14.401.3 (22273) WWE
ROM date: 10/24/08
Radio version: 1.09.25.14
Protocol version: 52.49a.25.26U
---

Here's a screenshot demonstrating what it's doing:
---

---
(I put a blue border around the screenshot because the blank area wasn't showing up on this webpage )
Any ideas?

Thanks
--Jesse

 

[agraham]

unchecked File/Compile/Optimized, which gave me an error "Cannot file file ilasm.exe" when trying to compile to device exe, and brought up web page showing to install .net cf 2.

I think you misread that web page. That message means that you don't have Compact Framework 1.1 installed on your desktop which is where Basic4ppc expects to find ilasm.exe for non-optimised compilation. I personally wouldn't bother installing it just to get legacy compilation.

As for your main problem I have no suggestions to make

 

[Erel]

The legacy compiler will not help here. It creates applications which behave like Forced QVGA mode but are much slower.
Does this gray bar exist when you don't remove the menu bar?

 

[JesseW]

...As for your main problem I have no suggestions to make

Thanks... I appreciate your time

...Does this gray bar exist when you don't remove the menu bar?

Erel, thanks for responding. Here's what I have w/o full screen

I simply remarked this line: flb.FullScreen2(True,True)
Hope this helps. Thanks again...

Jesse

 

[Erel]

I don't think that you will be able to use full screen on this device. Maybe there is some incompatibility between .Net CF and this resolution.

 

[JesseW]

Well darn! I didn't find the answer to removing the title bar while I was using my Polaris, which is qvga. I still have one that's being repaired. When I get it back, I'll retouch this issue and try full screen on that device.

Oddly enough, Opera 9.5 goes to full screen perfectly on both devices, but I don't know what method it uses. Could it be something with the SIP?

On the Polaris, while I was fiddling with the home screen, I wanted to remove the bottom status bar which contained the two soft menu's, one program, dcinobar.exe, worked under most circumstances, but the SIP gave it problems, similar to the pic above. Specifically, it would seem to work, but the first time a program used a SIP and put that little icon down there, the gray bar stayed with the icon there till you soft reset the device.

When I switched over to the vjay555 program (still on the Polaris), where you can set the top and bottom bar removals independently, (and I learned to tweak it properly) it seemed to work much better than dcinobar. But since I've not yet tired of tf3d and removed it, I've not tried either on the new HD.

You may be right, but I hope not. I sure like showing off that little b4p program I wrote on that large hi res screen, and it would be so nice to be able to use all of it. I'll write more later...

Jesse

 

[JesseW]

Erel, I wasn't satisfied and just couldn't leave it alone, so I kept fiddling with it and actually got it to work in full screen. Here's what I found out, for your reference:

It's the Form.Height property that's the culprit. I changed all the instances of MobileWebbs.Height to a variable, which I set in app_start, AND ADDED 52 TO IT, and all is well. However, it's not transportable anymore. It's stuck to wvga that thinks it's vga???

Sub App_Start
    flb.New1("MobileWebbs",B4PObject(1))
    flb.FullScreen(True) 'On the device it will remove the title bar too
   mw_w = MobileWebbs.Width
   mw_h = MobileWebbs.Height + 52
   MobileWebbs.Line (0, 0, mw_w, mw_h, cBlack, BF)
   timer1.Interval = 20
   timer1.Enabled = True
   MobileWebbs.Show
End Sub

I had to keep changing the value that was added to the height value, and was surprised it ended up being 52. I was expecting 160, the difference between vga and wvga, but that left way too much of the developing image cut off at the very bottom of the screen, so I just started at 40 and went up by 2, compiling and testing.

I'm not sure if this is of any use or value to you, but I'm glad I figured it out. Take care...

Jesse

Edit: Erel, I use Gyrator2 for auto screen rotation and noticed that when I rotated the screen, it removed my black background and messed everything up. I thought I'd let you know that actually starting the program in landscape orientation yields proper results. I was sure it wouldn't, but it did! It still works perfectly! So I'm really thinking now that it's not the difference between vga & wvga, but that we're seeing some system object, like the SIP icon or its placeholder, that pushes the .height value up by a certain amount. Man, I'm excited now!!!

 

[Erel]

Form.Height doesn't change when you remove the menu bar. So after removing the menu bar you get another 52 pixels.

 

[JesseW]

Erel, is it always 52 pix (wouldn't that be easy???) or does it depend on device and/or screen res? Appreciate your help

 

[Erel]

Yes. Basic4ppc decreases this constant value in order to return the available work screen on regular devices and in normal mode (including the bars).
So if you want to get the full screen height you should add 52.