X51V - how to customize the Battery Pack Lite application launcher

[Watchin]

The OmegaOne Battery Pack Lite which comes on the install CD for the X51v as a "Gimmeware" is supposed to be a
non-customizable version. You get what you get and if you want more go buy the PRO version.
Nice idea EXCEPT.... the Battery Pack Pro from OmegaOne didn't work with WM5.
I tried it on my stable X51v and the latent Microsoft bugs started to appear (where they hadn't before),
those are the CF disappeared, the power button didn't work, placing in the cradle got WSOD, battery went
poof in about 1 hour, and so forth. Something in the pro version aggrivated the OS to no end... funny thing was that the
LITE version didn't exhibit those problems..nuff said...

So I decided to make what I had been given work for me.

The one part of the application that needs to be customized, for normal usage, is the Program Bar (or launch bar).
As delivered it will launch the programs Calculator, Contacts, File Explorer, Messaging, IE, Pocket MSN, Notes,
Solitaire, Media Player, and in landscape mode Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Tasks get added.

These are fine well and good, if that's all you want. Also if you've customized your
Today Menu to remove some of the standard items, they stop working and the icons become the old
"I haven't a clue" icon.

The launch entries are all controlled via registry entries located in the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\OmegaOne\ProgramBar\
hive (or path, tree, location, entry set, "thingy").

The entries there are
"Date" which is set to 01 for US version
"F0" through "F12" for the paths
"I0" through "I12" which are all set to hex FF (I haven't figured these out yet)
"N0" through "N12" which are the titles associated with the paths (used in the window box titles)
"THR" don' know what this is.

Changing the Fx series will change the application launched by that position, and changing
the Nx series will change the associated title for that position.
(for the phenominal-grasp-of-the-obvious challenged F0 is left most F12 is right most)
They are persistant over a soft-reboot ( I don't do hard reboots unless I'm desperate.. so
I'll have to wait to report on hard-reboot persistance; they should be if you do backups.. oh yeah
I forgot Microsoft HOSED the backup utility in the A04 upgrade didn't they..ARGH).

After you've modified the registry entries for the paths, do a soft reset and all the icons will change
to match the linked to applications. You can soft reset without a soft-reboot by doing a Start->Settings->Today
and exiting. If you end up with the "I haven't a clue" icon, check the path (and it's spelling :{)

The one thing I haven't figured out is how to make the program bar be double height so all the
icons show up in portrait mode.

The default entries on my system were:
N0 Calculator
F0 \windows\start menu\programs\calculator.lnk
N1 Contacts
F1 \windows\start menu\Contacts.lnk
N2 File Explorer
F2 \windows\start menu\programs\file explorer.lnk
N3 Messaging
F3 \windows\start menu\messaging.lnk
N4 Internet Explorer
F4 \windows\start menu\internet explorer.lnk
N5 Pocket MSN
F5 \windows\start menu\programs\pocket MSN.lnk [WHY?? is this here??]
N6 Notes
F6 \windows\start menu\programs\notes.lnk
N7 Solitaire
F7 \windows\start menu\programs\games\solitaire.lnk
N8 Windows Media
F8 \windows\start menu\windows media.lnk
N9 Word Mobile
F9 \windows\start menu\programs\word mobile.lnk
N10 Excel Mobile
F10 \windows\start menu\programs\excel mobile.lnk
N11 PowerPoint Mobile
F11 \windows\start menu\programs\powerpoint mobile.lnk
N12 Tasks
F12 \windows\start menu\programs\tasks.lnk

CAVEAT - changing registry values is always risky, these are isolated to the application at hand but
that doesn't mean you couldn't hose the box and have to do a hard reset or worse. Your mileage may vary,
you are on your own, I'll help if I can but take no responsibility for any damage done.

Have fun..

[af8k]

What are you using for a reg editor? I can't find one for wm5.

[Lucky396]

I'll be surprised if Lite works on your unit without problems. It didn't for me and many other posters. Good luck.

[Watchin]

af8k - I've been using the PHM Registry Editor V0.70 without any problems
so far. It's still a beta but appears to be fairly stable for me.

Lucky396 - As for using the Lite - As long as I don't use "Task Bar" I haven't had
any problems. TB seems to be a root of all evil in my world.
I'm using TransCreative Magic Button to manage the tasks, much better
functions and a hell of a lot more stable.

I did notice a few hangs when I first started using it, but interestingly enough, when I did the task setup (above) to
point everything to a "real" program link... problems went away??? go figure!

I also noticed that Wisbar Advanced causes problems (I even tried the latest beta),
but boy did it have more functionality. So I guess I'll wait until a
stable WM5 version gets released.

[af8k]

How did you get PHM to install? I've tried it thru AS but the installer won't recognize my X51v. I can't find any cab files.

[af8k]

I found a cab file I had saved on an SD card. Ran it on my X51v and it's working fine. Tnx for your help.

[Watchin]

Glad you got the reg edit working.. I just looked at my notes and
the normal install didn't work for me either, I just downloaded the CAB
and went from there.

I've noticed another interesting anomoly... themes are causing problems
to appear. If I stay with a default theme (for today and such) or
use one of the spb themes things work. Otherwise the latent bugs
start appearing.