Windows Vista Desktop Theme

Introduction

This is a work in progress tutorial. This is aimed towards an novice user attemping to create a Windows Vista-like "desktop" for their PDA. For this, I used a Dell Axim x51v (A06) in landscape mode, so please be aware that this setup is assuming you have a VGA device. I don't really care for QVGA, but you can follow this if you want. I have also created my own custom images in these examples and have taken some images from a Windows Vista theme for PC. Most of the graphics are from Xcilions' Windows Vista theme. The background image I have used is customized for personal use; if you want to know how i created that effect we will get to that later.



CURRENTLY EXPLAINS:

• methods of initializing, obtaining files
• set own wallpaper
• creation of taskbar with clock and system tray icons
• creation of start button with working start menu

COMING SOON:

• Sidebar
• Windows
• Log in page
• More ways to add to your pocket Vista desktop

Requirments:

• Wisbar Advance 2*
• Wisbar Advance Desktop*
• Windows Vista Portable Edition theme by Xcilion
• Any graphics you want to use in your theme, be it custom made or found somewhere else

* Personally I use the latest WA2 and the 1.0.7 WAD. However, the download link to WAD points to the latest beta.


SECTION ONE: OBTAIN AND INSTALL NECESSESARY FILES

Get these files from their respective locations:

Wisbar Advance 2 CAB for WM5: http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/dow...4i.2_7_0_2.cab
Wisbar Advance Desktop CAB for WM5: http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/dow...4i.1_2_0_9.cab
Windows Vista Portable Edition Theme WA2 by Xcilion ZIP: http://www.sbsh.net/forums/index.php...e=post&id=9954
Windows Vista Portable Edition Theme WAD by Xcilion ZIP: http://www.sbsh.net/forums/index.php...e=post&id=9956

For the Windows Vista theme, you have to register an account at SBSH.net in order to download the files. Registration is free.

• When you have all of the files, install WA2 first, then WAD. Turn on WA2.
• Connect your mobile device or place expansion card in card reader. Extract the Windows Vista theme somewhere. Personally, I extract the theme in the \Themes folder in the WA2 directory (usually found in \Program Files\Lakeridge\Wisbar Advance 2)
• Load the Vista theme by going into the WA2 Configuration > Themes. Select which version of the skin you want to use. Press Close.
• The theme is now loaded
• Extract the Windows Vista WAD files somewhere. Personally, I extract them in wherever I extracted the Windows Vista WA2 theme (usually \Program Files\Lakeridge\Wisbar Advance 2\Windows Vista Theme\WAD Files)
• Load WAD by going into the WA2 Configuration > Plugins. Check the Desktop plugin and press Close.
• WAD is now loaded, with the default skin present.

SECTION TWO: DESKTOP CREATION

Now that we have loaded WAD, we now see the default WAD skin. We would like to start a new WAD theme from scratch.

• Tap and hold somewhere on an empty space on the desktop
• Select Theme Manager, then select Desktop Theme
• Select the Landscape tab and then press the New button
• Assign your theme a name and press Close
• Select the new theme and press Close
• WAD now loads your new theme with a blank page

The first thing we can do now is hide the taskbar and the today bar located at the top and bottom respectivley.

• Tap and hold somewhere on an empty space on the desktop
• Go to Page > check Full Screen. The taskbar is removed
• Tap and hold somewhere on an empty space on the desktop
• Go to Page > uncheck Show today bar. The today bar is removed

Instead of using the default background, lets use our own. Personally, I use a Vista inspired wallpaper.

• Tap and hold on somewhere on and empty space on the desktop
• Go to Page > Wallpaper

• Select your wallpaper in whatever directory they are located in.

• Optionally, if you want the image to stretch to the whole screen, check the box "Stretch the wallpaper".
• Press OK. We have a wallpaper now.

We now have a blank page with our new wallpaper. Since we disabled the today bar, we can start creating our own taskbar that will be at the bottom. This is where remembering the location of where we installed the Windows Vista WAD files is important. For this, %X refers to the root directory of where you installed everything (example: \Program Files\Lakeridge Software\Wisbar Advance\Themes\Windows Vista\WAD Files)

• Tap and hold somewhere on an empty space on the desktop
• Go to New > Dock. The new dock window appears.
• Select the button that will browse to where our taskbar image is located.
• Point all the way to \%X\Interface by tapping on the arrow located upmost right hand corner. You will see an image named "taskbar". Select that and press OK.

• Check the box "Visable by default".
• Make sure you select the bottom edge to dock this to.
• We will give this dock a name: bottombar

• Once done, press the OK/Close button.

The result is an empty taskbar located at the bottom.



What is a taskbar with nothing on it? We are going to add the time to the right side of the bar.

• Tap and hold on the new taskbar dock
• Go to New > Text. The new text control window appears.
• For object type, select Custom Text
• For Text to Display, input %T12% (this means to show the current time in 12-hour format).
• Set the Align to right.
• Tap Action is optional, but I have mine pointing to the Clocks and Alarms control panel applet (To acheive this, select the box beside the action, then select Control Panel at the top. Then select Clock & Alarms)

• Font is optional, but I have mine using the Segoe UI font using a font size of 4 and white text color.

• Once done, press the OK/Close button.

The result is a taskbar showing the current time in 12 hour format. Position the time over to the right. Do this by dragging the object to wherever. Alternativly, you can tap and hold on the item, then select Position. This lets you move the object a pixel over in whatever direction you want.



If you have actually read the requirements, you will see where I said you could use any custom images you like. In this example below, we will create an icon representing Volume for our system tray. Please note that the WAD files for the Windows Vista theme by Xcilion does not include a volume icon; you will have to find one somewhere else. An example regardless:

• Tap and hold on the taskbar dock
• Go to New > Shortcut

• For Path to Executable, you can select Executables at the top, then select the arrow to the right of that. Browse to the directory of where you installed Wisbar Advance 2.

• Once there, the list populates. Select the WisVol.exe application.

• Uncheck "Use Default Icon"

• For Path to Image, select the browse box to the right. Point to an image you want to use for your volume shortcut. Press OK.

• For Text Settings, do not display the shortcuts' text. Press OK, then OK.

The result is a volume icon in the system tray. When tapped, it will temporarily bring the taskbar back so you can change the volume. Once you are done, select somewhere on the desktop. The taskbar is gone. This is just an example. If you want to have more icons on the system tray, repeat the steps above for the desired application you want to have a shortcut to. A WiFi button is a good choice, as well as a Power button.



So let's get a start button happening here. For your information, we will be creating a button control. A button controll lets us do some important things, such as going to the next virtual page, or toggling a dock. In this case, we want our Start button to show/hide a dock that resembles a start menu. Let's go ahead and create the actual button first. For this, %X refers to the root directory of where you installed everything (example: \Program Files\Lakeridge Software\Wisbar Advance\Themes\Windows Vista\WAD Files)

• Tap and hold somewhere on an empty space on the desktop*
• Go to New > Button

• Select the button that will browse to where our start button image is located.
• Point all the way to \%X\Interface by tapping on the arrow located upmost right hand corner. You will see an image named "start". Select that and press OK.

• For Tap Actions, we will select the first dropdown as Toggle Dock. On the dropdown box to the right of that, don't worry about that just yet becasue we haven't created our start menu dock yet.
• Press OK. You should see the new Vista start button. Drag it on top of the taskbar to the left side.

*The reason why I say select somewhere on the desktop for this button is so that we can get the overlapping effect with the button on top of the taskbar. Any image on a dock cannot overlap; it will get cut off.


Part 2 on next post.

Windows Vista Desktop - Landscape

We now have our wallpaper, taskbar, clock, and start button. Starting to get somewhere with this...so let's create our start menu.

• Tap and hold somewhere on an empty space on the desktop
• Go to New > Dock. The new dock window appears.
• Select the button that will browse to where our start menu is located.
• Point all the way to \%X\Interface by tapping on the arrow located upmost right hand corner. You will see an image named "startmenu". Select that and press OK.

• Do not check the box "Visable by default".
• Check the box "Hide this dock after executing a subitem"
• Do not dock this to any edge.
• We will give this dock a name: startmenu

• Once done, press the OK/Close button.

Personally, I used the dock included with the Vista WAD package but I resized mine to be a little smaller. Also, I had taken the start menu divider from the start menu on my PC that is using a Windows Vista theme to give it a better look.

The result is a start menu that we will be able to toggle after we do this:

• Tap and hold on the start button we created
• Go to Properties
• For Action 1, select Toggle Dock. For Control, select Dock: startmenu

• Press OK.

Move your start menu dock over the buton. If you have to, tap and hold on the start menu dock, and select the Bring to Front option. This will make it so that the start menu will overlap the start button. To toggle the start menu, just tap on the start button.



I'd say at this point, we have about half of the look we are trying to obtain. We have created our own custom taskbar with the clock, and additional sytem tray shortcuts. Along with that, we have a start button with a working start menu that appers when you tap on the button. However, we don't have any shortcuts on our start menu. If your start menu dock is hidden right now, tap the start menu to open it. We are going to make an Internet Explorer shortcut.

• Tap and hold on the taskbar dock
• Go to New > Shortcut
• For Path to Executable, you can select Installed Applications. Scroll down until you see Internet Explorer. Select it and press OK.

** there are 2 ways to go about this
A)

• Uncheck "Use Default Icon"

• For Path to Image, select the browse box to the right. Point to \%X\Icons\Normal Icons\Applications. Scroll down untill you see 2 Internet Explorer icons. Select whatever one you want to use.

• For Text Settings, do not display the shortcuts' text. Press OK, then OK.

• Position the new shortcut icon over on the top left of the start menu dock.

B)

• Check "Use Default Icon".
• Check "Use Small Icon".

• For Text Settings, set it to whatever you want.

• Press OK/Close, then OK/Close
• Position the new shortcut icon over on the top left of the start menu dock.

If you followed step A, do this:

• Tap and hold somewhere on the start menu dock
• Go to New > Text. The new text control window appears.
• For object type, select Custom Text
• For Text to Display, input whatever you want it to display.
• Set the Align to left.
• Tap Action is optional, but I have mine pointing to Internet Explorer (To acheive this, select the box beside the action, then select Installed Applications. Select Internet Explorer.)

• Font is optional, but I have mine using the Segoe UI font using a font size of 4 with bold and black text color.
• Once done, press the OK/Close button.
• Postiion the new text control over beside the new shortcut icon.

Personally, I followed the step A actions. As mentioned before, I have also added dividers to the start menu using the divider image from a Vista theme I am using on my PC. You can follow these steps in order to create more shortcuts. Personally, for any item after Internet Explorer (we bolded the text), I do not set the text to be bold, as seen in Windows Vista.



So after we add more shortcuts to our menu, we have a start menu that works. On the right hand side of the menu, we can add links to other things, like My Documents, My Pictures, Search, etc. I don't add icons to these.

** Will add more tommorow

Windows Vista Desktop - Landscape

THANK U DUDEEEE =] cant wait for further instructions =]

very usefull, I'll must try

great tutorial, thank you

http://encoreppc.wordpress.com/

amazing stuff. thanks for taking the time!

Awesome post. How do you make the "new" start menu created on the taskbar work like the original cascasding start menu, for example you hit start, go to programs and the programs cascade down?

I was wondering that.

Also, how did you get the hovering semi-transparent window (mobile games)?
And are the menu dividers just shortcuts with no path entered?

My desktop is looking a thousand times better, thanks to this great tutorial - I wouldn't have known where to start as I've only just installed WA2 and WAD!

You cannot use the cascading start menu. If you do, then it will bring the original taskbar back at the top and show the cascading start menu. In this case, instead of creating a button control for the start button, create a shortcut control instead pointing to CascStart.exe in the Installed Apllications list.

The Window for Mobile Games is in the Vista WAD package by Xcilion. As mentioned in the tutorial, I have editted the images for my own use (ie, resized dock, created my own close button as the one in the package is corrupt)

The menu dividers as stated are images taken from a theme I am using (Windows Vista).

Windows Vista Desktop - Landscape

great post AFX! Can't wait for the rest of the instructions...I will definitely have to try this out on mine....

KNUMB

Strangely, if I use a start menu of greater than 285 pixels tall, the system hangs when changing from portrait to landscape mode. 285 seems to be the limit. I'm not quite sure how to get round this problem, as I want to display quite a lot of programs on the start menu.


Also - you've got some really nice icons there - did you make them yourself from the real Vista, or did you download them from somewhere?

i have setted up my ppc desktop perfectly the way i like it. I made docks and icons. But the question is how can i save or backup my work in case i have to hard reset?

You can browse to \Themes and then go to Desktop. In that folder you will see your theme; copy it to your computer or memory card.

Windows Vista Desktop - Landscape

Sorry, I know it has been more than a day. I will post very soon.

Next post will outline how to create a sidebar and some other docks.

Windows Vista Desktop - Landscape

Why can't I download the files? I registered and logged in, but it said I do not have permission. Possible to provide the files from other site?
Thanks.

nothin? was looking forward to the rest of this tutorial! Keep up the good work