The6

I've been making some tweaks to the default mediate Ice skin to suit my own needs more.

The main change I've made is to create another screen and embed an application called "My Mobiler", which gives me remote control of my PDA.

I currently use this to run Tomtom Navigator 6 on the PDA. I use this for guided navigation as this is probably one of best pieces of software for doing this.

I also have PC Navigator 6 installed and use this with the mediate application. This gives very good close up maps so is very handy for driving around areas in which you are not familiar with, as you can see all the street names around the road that you are currently on.

I have a Sony RM X4S steering wheel controller which I use to control the mediate application. One of the buttons on this I've configured to switch screens. With this I can switch screens very quickly within the mediate application making best use of both Sat Nav applications and also enjoying my music/videos.

The Sony RM X4S I have plugged into a K8055 Velleman USB experiment board, which is configurable from within medaiteIce. Using the mediate config screens I can map which actions to assign to the buttons and whether the actions are repeated if the button is held.

All this means that I can use PC Navigator, TomTom (or what ever software I want on the PDA like Opera browser), also browse and play my music/videos very easily and seemless switch between the screens.

For embedding MyMobiler I've had to create a new screen and added it to the front screen as well as create a external app config file in the plugins directory.

The other changes are more minor :-
1) not changing to full screen visuals screen on clicking on a track or video (I can still goto the fullscreen screen by clicking on the preview window).

2) I've changed the video play list screen to that it has no back ground, so in essence the video plays behind the media list.

3) I've removed date/time on top right hand corner from all other screens bar the main menu.

4) I've made the music preview window bigger

5) I've removed the background to the menu buttons on certain screens.

Some screen shots :-




You can download my amended theme here

I've got some further changes in mind - I'll keep you posted.

Ultimately I want to write a new theme from scratch.

MP3Car.com

 

The6

If you wish to use the MyMobiler functionality to control your PDA you will need to create a plugin xml file and place it in a plugin directory.

The plugin file I have called mediateextapp.xml and contains the following the :-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?>
<PluginDescriptor name="myextapp" description="mediate ext app plugin">
<!-- Plugin type is "native" or "external" -->
<Plugin type="external">
<!-- Native plugins live in the mediate bin directory - don't specify a path -->
<Path>c:\LaunchMM.exe</Path>
<Parameters></Parameters>
<!-- External plugins should specify a window class if known -->
<WindowClass>My Mobiler</WindowClass>
<!-- External plugins must specify a window name -->
<WindowName>My Mobiler</WindowName>
</Plugin>
<Version>1.0</Version>
<Author>The6</Author>
<Documentation>This plugin embeds MyMobiler and provides remote control of a PDA.</Documentation>
</PluginDescriptor>

You'll notice that the app actually launches a program called LaunchMM.exe and not the MyMobiler.exe. Let me explain this. The MyMobiler.exe is probably running anyway in the try icon, what is needed is to actually maximise this. So I used Autohotkey to create an script to maximise it and then from this I created a .exe file which I called LaunchMM.exe. Make sense ?

rex6000

Hey "6"

I don't think I have a use for this product right now but I can surely appreciate the time and effort you have put into learning what is needed to get this done!!

All I plan on doing with my TruckPC is:

NAV (from a PC application like "street atlas")
Run standard PC functions (mobile office)
Music (mp3) functions
Play DVD's (long trips for passengers)
Back-Up camera
Some sort of interface with my iPhone would be nice - so I can keep it docked, charging and use speakerphone and/or bluetooth headset but not have to stare at the little phone screen (use FE software?)


Perhaps your application could be modified for use on my last line item?

At any rate - keep up the good work!!

__________________
Truck PC about 90% done.....Most of the work lies in mounting the LCD (as usual).
'04 Chevy 2500HD 2.4g P4 ATX, Display = 10.4 inch Samsung TFT/LCD
Live on the edge, but first, learn good balance.

qbunnie

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I was wondering how you used autohotkey to open MM up. Mine only records mouse click and location, but that seems like a poor way of doing it. Isn't there a way to write a script or something to open the window up? And also, does it need to be stretched the way you screenshots are? Or can we just fill the space with a blank background if needed?

The6

Hi, My carpc isn't working at the moment, so I can't check exactly how I do this but I think its along the lines of the following example :-

IfWinExist Untitled - Notepad
{
WinActivate
}
else
{
Run Notepad
WinWait Untitled - Notepad
WinActivate
}

as seen on page http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Tutorial.htm

You can also include the full directory path on the Run command.

I then converted this autohotkey script into an .exe and in the embedded application settings I call this .exe direct.

The6

I forgot to answer your other question, the mediateICE app will stretch the embedded application to fill the size of the container where you placed it. So I guess you could have a smaller container to avoid the app looking over stretched. And then layer that on top of whatever background you like.

Currently skinning on mediateICE app is all manual but the @homemedia guys will be bringing out a theme designer very soon.

MP3Car.com