Thread: New Skin Concept

the shading is fine, i am just not so sure on the use of the four corner colors... i wonder if you could setup the skin to allow the user to either select each individual color, or setup a single color for all spots.

like i said before, i like the idea to separate the different features, i just think that all the colors look kind of busy. and it wouldn't go with any other illumination in my car..


in terms of other things, the wording might be a little thin, though i kind of prefer block lettering to scripty-lettering. i might need to see it on my 7" screen to see if it is thick enough..

the light-colored lettering on a dark background is great. and the lighter-colored highlight also looks really good. both should solve most of any sunlight-reading difficulty.

Thanks for the feedback Soundman, I completely forgot about the volume control. Brilliant!!

Here are a couple more screens shots.

Attachment 62047

Attachment 62046


I hope everyone doesn't mind that I used the OM logo as for song's progress bar.

I will also make a couple different versions of the font styles, but it is a little late tonight. Keep watching!!

Thanks again and please comment.

Wolfo

Originally Posted by soundman98

^overall, i like it. it is relatively clean, and puts all the info right in front of the user.

i am still not crazy about all the colors.. though i really can't think of a good suggestion to correct it-- i agree that the color helps separate the options, but it 'just don't look right'....

I like the controls introduced. The layout is okay. I don't mind a few colors myself as long as it stays away from lacey, frilly, pastel types. Most people have their preferences, how it 'fits' into the rest of the color scheme in their environment. I think that, not just any particular skin, some sort of basic choosing of color should be an option.

For example, even the default basic skin should let the user define the font and background color. My theme lighting is amber. I would choose amber for the font (such that dim would still be amber-ish). In my case I would leave the background black. I guess it would take redefining how skins are built, using global values like 'userfontcolor1' instead of the predefined OM color values.

Okay, so I started rambling again. I have a bad habit that way

John

Originally Posted by jmullan99

using global values like 'userfontcolor1' instead of the predefined OM color values.

My thoughts exactly, I would love to integrate this into v1 but I would like just to get it to work (navigation, plug-ins, etc) before starting any end user configuration. If everything goes smoothly then end user configuration would be awesome!

I have been looking through the repos at some .cs and .dll files and trying to get a good grasp on how to create a skin (also have been reading and watching 'How to' videos of c#). I also have been checking out the Skin Designer, while a cool tool, it doesn't quite give me all of the answers on where to start. I would be happy to upload some images and ask for someone to help start the process on creating one. Give me a little time and I would love to be a player in OM's development.

Thanks in advance,

Wolfo

OK, I see how the Panels are created and plug-ins kind-of work. How does it know where to look for the images when only the name of the image is assigned to the class? What attributes should one pay attention to for OMButton, OMImage, OMList, etc? I've looked at the dll files and it is way overwhelming how much information are in those. Still continuing the adventure but a little guidance would be much appreciated.

Wolfo

Originally Posted by wolfo

How does it know where to look for the images when only the name of the image is assigned to the class?

What are you referring to here?

Images are given to each control like this:

Code:

Button1.Image = theHost.getSkinImage("menuButton");

The code above would load an image from the current skin folder. I wanted to get an image from a subfolder from the current skin folder I could do this:

Code:

Button1.Image = theHost.getSkinImage("subfolder|menuButton");

Originally Posted by wolfo

What attributes should one pay attention to for OMButton, OMImage, OMList, etc?

This is a pretty big question... This depends greatly on what your trying to achieve. But the main ones is name, left, top, width and height. These are generic for all controls then comes the spesific ones based on what type of control you're using.

You can find documentation here: http://openmobile.sourceforge.net/wi.../Documentation although some off it might be slightly outdated.

I'd download the plugin sample and play around with that one together with the latest svn as this would give you a feel for how controls and skinning behaves. You could also look at the controldemo plugin (this is the one we use for testing controls).

I don't know if this guides you in the direction you wanted but I don't know how familiar you are with programming so let me know if I missed the ballpark completely.

Cheers
Borte

That makes a lot more sense, so the .cs files should be in the same folder as all of the .png files that are used in the project. Thanks!!

Originally Posted by Borte

I'd download the plugin sample and play around with that one together with the latest svn as this would give you a feel for how controls and skinning behaves. You could also look at the controldemo plugin (this is the one we use for testing controls).

Where is the plug-in sample to download? I would love to check it out!!

Thanks for all of the tips, I just have to play around some more with the code.

Talk to you soon,

Wolfo

Originally Posted by wolfo

That makes a lot more sense, so the .cs files should be in the same folder as all of the .png files that are used in the project. Thanks!!

Eh.. no. I meant the current skin folder that is located under OpenMobile->Skins->SkinName (Default is the default one...)
Your cs files would go in any folder you'd like but you have to compile to the OpenMobile->Skins->YourSkinName folder

Originally Posted by wolfo

Where is the plug-in sample to download? I would love to check it out!!

Full code can be found here: http://openmobile.svn.sourceforge.ne...vc/openmobile/
Pluginsample can be found here: http://openmobile.svn.sourceforge.ne...MPluginSample/
ControlDemo can be found here: http://openmobile.svn.sourceforge.ne...s/ControlDemo/

Look for the "Download GNU tarball" on the bottom of the page to grab the whole package if you're not using svn.

Where is the .cs file for the top and bottom bars in OpenMobile v.8? It includes the Home, Volume, Back, and Media buttons, as well as the hidden icons for wifi, bluetooth, battery, etc. I have looked all over the repos and I am not sure what the name of the plug-in is.

Thanks,

Wolfo