Database Develop

Noobies, Roms & Program Compatibility Issues...

I have been a Windows Mobile user for quite some time. I was a lurker in these thread begining in the 2002 & then Blue Angel days. I didn't really start try to contribute until the Kaiser came around. By this time I had spent 2 years watching, learning & reading. I also still consider myself very much new to CE & embeded devices.
One of the biggest complaints, the highest number of posts revolve around program compatibility issues with roms, both OEM & chef prepared.
One of the things most overlooked is the effect that installed programs can have upon each other. But it's not just the apps themselves that can cause issues.
Did you know that apps can both work or not work depending on the order they were installed? Have you ever wondered why a certain program just works for most, but not for you?
Before jumping to conclusions & thinking it must be something that the chef did that prevents you from using that favorite application, think about all of the programs you install & realize that many of them have to interact with parts of the OS at the same time & each program affects both the system & registry & hence can also affect each other in turn.
I have seen suggestions from others, particularly Kyphur, suggesting you to start over with installs. This is good solid advice. Install a few, see that they work & keep a few notes on the order of installation & what has issues when.
One point often overlooked, is that the order in which you install programs can have a great & varied effect on what works & what doesn't.
For instance, I know that with some Dutty roms that my favorite SIP, Teksoft FingerTouch, will not work if I install it before SPB Pocket Plus. I haev issues with BlackBerry Connect many times if I don't install it as one of my first applications.
You need to remember, that these roms are written by many different people. The are partly written by the Manufacturer, partly by Microsoft, influenced by OEM's & carriers, altered by chefs & then you are installing a dozen programs written by at least that number of developers. That leaves a lot of variables in which something can very easily go wrong.
Know your applications, always install your priority apps first, & don't install a high number of apps manually without a reset. You are much more likely to have issues mass installing apps than you are when you install a few, soft-reset, test them out & then continue your installation process.
Today alone, I had 6 messages about programs not working. For a few of these I installed the same rom, & after changing the installation order, I had no issues.
There are too many variables in these systems & their programs to think you can just install everything the same & always have it all work. Sometimes you need to take a little initiative & try something new, a different way.
The same can be said for Auto installers, UC & Shashimi. Installation order can make a difference. Now hopefully I get a few less messages about this, LOL, yeah right.

Great post and contribution as always. I just wonder how many people will actually read this.

My thoughts exactly as I happened to be online during Leo's Diamond v.1 feeding frenzy and the day the TyTn II update came out. Then reading the follow up soon later. Such as wait a minute, this is crap. It doesn't work with Igo , It doesn't work with HHC and on and on. Like Leo or HTC was supposed to load every obscure piece of kit ,to make sure that all of you could load your phones with garbage and they will still work as smooth as day one.
A little prethought and common sense go a long way. Well said GSLEON.
Edit: And congrats AllTheWay on the promo.Well deserved
Just noticed.

AllTheWay said:
Great post and contribution as always. I just wonder how many people will actually read this.
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Click to collapse
I read it makes sense too
-McMex

Great post! Now to get the noobs to read...

GSLEON3 said:
This is good solid advice.
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It most certainly is. I didn't know this info before. Thanks GS.

i've read it

footnotes please? lol j/k
Seriously great post how many will read. Make sticky!!!

thanks for the post

Great information GSLeon (as usual). That's why I prefer clean/lite ROMs, and installing the apps myself. I didn't know the reason - just noticed I had less (ie no) problems doing it my way. Now I know why!

This is also basic troubleshooting... This is exactly why when you come to a thread asking for help (particularly cooked roms) the first question the chef will usually ask is:
What all have you, or what do you have installed...
Most chefs wont even begin to consider YOUR issue a problem until this base has been covered. Installation of programs is the #1 cause of issues when dealing with the billion variable cooked roms.
My best advice is to actually spend the time knowing your programs, know what they depend on, know what goes where (kinda like sex ed). If you want everything to work straight out of the box without any fine tuning then your probably in the wrong place!

Excellent Post!!!
Thanks for the info GSLEON!!!!
I have had my Tilt since Oct 07......having never owned a Windows based product ever before I read this forum like is was war and peace.....also never creating a thread just searching, searching, searching!
I have ran into this before and have a word doc with the order to install when flashing anew
Thanks for the great post and all of your help in the past.

I agree with most of what you're saying GS except for one instance that is messing with me. I jus bought a TyTn II to replace my water damaged Tilt. I bought it here from the U.S. but the box says Singapore. I flashed the WM6.1 update and everything is cool except for the HTC weather. This is a HTC application and they should have gotten it right b4 releasing the Rom. Things that come STANDARD with an OEM ROM should automatically work. All the 3rd party stuff that you said I do agree with. Now, anybody know how to fix this little issue?

Well said! Consider myself as wery fresh on CE, this can probobly be repeated to the even more advance user as it is easy to forget that every brick plays a part on how the device acts. When I am starting on a new rom the first 2-3 days goes to the setup, alot of testing and hard resets. Its easy to forgett the fact: what worked yestoday on duttys rom does not automaticly work today on Laurentius26 (or any other chefs) rom.

(Oct-20) Little App: FuelCal v0.1.1

Hi everybody,
I wanted to learn some (basic) programming in VC# and the .Net Framework. So i looked for an idea. After a short time i had this idea, to create a program, in which you can keep track of your Fuel consumption of your car. (i think it is kind of useful, because the prices are changing every day).
I thought i'd share it here.. maybe someone is looking for a piece of software like this.. if not, just ignore it
you can test it, use it etc (whatever you want)..
Currently, there are two languages: German and English, but i dont love my English translation...
News:
v0.1.1 is now online:
I fixed the bug but another problem appeared: people who upgrade to the new version will lose all their data stored in data.xml with the uninstaller...
So i decided to create a simple Backup-Restore Function. Now, with the new version, you can Backup your Data before Upgrading and after that, you can restore it... If you use the Backup - the files will remain in your memory, until you delete them..
This is not the best way to solve the problem, because these files will stay on Memory even if the user uninstalls the program...
I read, that there is a way to costumize the setup process with a custom "Setup.dll" but i could not figure out how this works.. if anyone knows how to do this, please PM me..
Changelog:
v0.1.1 - 10/20/2008
fixed: storing units did not work
added: simple backup-function
added: simple restore-function
v0.1 - 10/19/2008
inital release
Beware: I will not guarantee for damage on your devices
If you have Bugs, ideas for new features or other feedback - let me know ..

This is a cool little program, would help a lot of people who have to teavel to work, etc..
I wish i had this when i was having some mileage problems with my car.

FuelCal
It looks good. I will give it a try.
Don't worry about your English, you can program!!!
Have a great day.
Glenn

FuelCal
Now for some more fun programming.
The store function is not storing the updated info.
It would be very useful for me if it would also calculate Mile/Gallon
Thanks.
Glenn

thanks for the feedback...
well i did not test the "Store" Feature for the Units ... bad in this case...
is will release a fixed version soon, stay tuned...
have a nice day

Just what i was looking for.
Thank you very much.

A bug
Hi. Excellent idea. You should check that on "Evaluation" the "price per Km" should be divided by 100 because it is done in cents but the unit says, when you change it, $/Km and not $cents/Km
Thanks.

Suggestion
Nice idea g3eB4Y. I will try the app.
This is something that could grow into a larger application if you want to track vehicle maintenance too. Also, I think that it would be helpful if you could simply enter the odometer reading and fuel quantity and allow the program to calculate distance.

First of all, thank you for your feedback...
maxzr said:
Hi. Excellent idea. You should check that on "Evaluation" the "price per Km" should be divided by 100 because it is done in cents but the unit says, when you change it, $/Km and not $cents/Km
Thanks.
Click to expand...
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I think there is nothing really wrong with the calculation.
When you change something on the settings page, you will only change the mask, but it will not affect the calculation..
The first Textbox under "Currency" will change the display for the "big-currency-unit" (€,$...) and the other textbox will change the "small-currency-unit" ($Cent, €Cent.. )
I can include a feature, that you really can change the calculation and display mode (€/km, €Cent/km, €Cent/20km ...) but at this moment, it does not
artyjeep said:
Nice idea g3eB4Y. I will try the app.
This is something that could grow into a larger application if you want to track vehicle maintenance too. Also, I think that it would be helpful if you could simply enter the odometer reading and fuel quantity and allow the program to calculate distance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have some idea for new features, i will try do implement them in one of the next versions, stay tuned...
its great to see, that somebody uses it... thank you!

g3eB4Y,
Very nice app you have. I've been using a excel spreadsheet to do this and now, I'm moving over to your app.
I wonder if you could add in another method of calculating the fuel consumption.
Distance travelled / No. of Litres = km/litre
Hope you can add that in to your next update.
Thanks once again.
PS:
No big deal but if you could name your cab file with the version number, it would be great!

noob needs help coding app

Ok so I've never coded in java before its all new to me and i am trying to make an app that would do the same as this (check it out here) old Motorola razr mod, the led's and screens would flash in a pattern when music was played or any vibration into the microphone. I thought this idea could make a cool app for android, so i have begun coding it, and i have pretty much got the interface setup, but when it comes to making the slider i added actually do anything i have no idea and i have no idea how to make buttons actually preform an action, also i have no idea how to go about controlling hardware on the phone like the microphone and various lights to flash. Is there any way anyone can help or give some tips i appreciate any input. Thus far my layout consist of a spinner to chose the different patterns for the lights to flash, then the start button, then a slider to choose how sensitive the microphone is to incoming vibrations. They do nothing yet cause i am not quite sure where to go from here. If you feel you can contribute any knowledge my way i will be grateful, the only coding i have done is minor html stuff although not much different than the xml code involved i have no idea what to do for the java part. Please Help.
Thank you much!

There really isn't anything one could contribute to your knowledge if you don't have experience with an object oriented language like Java. You will need to hop on Google and look at Java tutorials and possibly some object oriented design books. Once you have a good grasp on Java you can then begin learning the API's for Android that Google provides.
So if you're looking for a suggestion there is mine.
Steps you should take
Learn object oriented programming (OOP)
Learn Java
Learn the Android API

thank you, will do.

Yeah man if all you know is minor html you have a lot to learn since theres almost no relation there. I started to learn some java a couple years ago but lost any time for it but when I was learning the best way I found to learn apart from actually taking a class was AppDev. I had the J2SE and J2ME learning programs. Its as close to being in a class room as you can get. There is an instructor, exercises, tests ect. Basically the Rosetta stone for programing.

Do the Hello, World! demos on the official Android site, and take a look at the APIDemos included in the SDK- there's lots of short code samples demonstrating things like buttons and sliders.
And I disagree with the prior poster- learn Java, then OOP. The explanations of object oriented programming will just confuse you until you have some coding practice.

thank you all for the advice, its nice to see that people care enough to help out a noob around here lol

I was a noob to android awhile ago too, though now I'm finalizing a falling sand game for the market =D.
I had experience in c++, c, and html when I first started looking at android. What helped the most was going throught he examples and copying and pasting code into my code until I could figure out how stuff works. The android developers section on www.android.com helped alot, espcially the guide and refrence tabs. I also did a google code search to find the source of another android project that I could reference off of.
It also helps a lot if you have another person that you can work with, it's a lot harder to get discouraged that way.
One last suggestion, use the android-developers forums from google, there's a lot of really good help there. The stack overflow website is also really helpful if you have a general question about java, but not android in specific.
Good luck!

Will be glad to help you along your way once you start coding it. I can write an example app that does all the flashing bits for you. Would have to make it play off the internal media player though and not external audio. Not sure I could code it to do exactly what they did in the video.

Whatever you do, don't ready the notepad toturial that is way advanced and confusing. I highly recommend the hello views tutorials as well as reading the application fundamentals and all the stuff in that category of the dev guide, I forget what its called. But just reading will only get you so far, just try things one at a time. Also #android-dev on freenode ca be a ton of help if your there at the right time, but sometimes its tottaly dead....
There are a ton of awesume tutorials on android-dev's website reading the code there allways helps me understand how new ideas work. But as mentioned earlyer you really need to know oop programing and java...

orb 3000 does not like money offers...

but the fact remains i've asked for help since last year and nobody no one advanced me a single helping hint about flashing my htc trin100 from wm5 to wm6.1, once i do not know why but i can not active sync my device in both my rigs: an asus desktop and/or a Fugitsu notebook, both recent and working fine in every other aspects. But i do not reach "active syncness" with them and my htc now does not even allow to install any new application whatsoever - it wheels and wheels around and around and does not install. And if i try another application installment, it returns to the anterior attempt and ends up declaring it did not succeed!!! The damn thing!
Now i thing its clear that the system reached a no-return status of pseudo-brickness: because applications will sometimes either run smoothly, either inform they could not find some component... which, days later, they seem to find and happily run then.
I do not have the know-how or the patience to try to learn how to cope with this stupid obnoxious situation.
That's why i'm here requesting help which i'm prepared to pay for.
Regards,
HN ([email protected]) [Lisbon, PT]

N'Rique said:
but the fact remains i've asked for help since last year and nobody no one advanced me a single helping hint about flashing my htc trin100 from wm5 to wm6.1, once i do not know why but i can not active sync my device in both my rigs: an asus desktop and/or a Fugitsu notebook, both recent and working fine in every other aspects. But i do not reach "active syncness" with them and my htc now does not even allow to install any new application whatsoever - it wheels and wheels around and around and does not install. And if i try another application installment, it returns to the anterior attempt and ends up declaring it did not succeed!!! The damn thing!
Now i thing its clear that the system reached a no-return status of pseudo-brickness: because applications will sometimes either run smoothly, either inform they could not find some component... which, days later, they seem to find and happily run then.
I do not have the know-how or the patience to try to learn how to cope with this stupid obnoxious situation.
That's why i'm here requesting help which i'm prepared to pay for.
Regards,
HN ([email protected]) [Lisbon, PT]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
be more specific what you ask...??

I want to flash my htc ROM and dont know how...
Well my good people from orb 3000 (whom i do not know and ignore their
possible disciplinary role in this site...), i don't want to appear offensive but i feel compelled to argument my case as follows:
1st - I am not offering money: its clear and obvious i am requesting a service and declaring i am willing to pay for it.
2nd - I find it curious enough that orb 3000 or whoever takes time and
patience to advise it (he/her, them) do/does not like to see someone
performing what i described in the above point, but does not care or
assume any negative assertion against « soliciting », and let me remind the eventual reader that one can detect sundry appeals as "DONATE" in
various posts in this here site.
Donate what? credit-KUDOS?!
Frankly...Orb 3000!!!
Kind Regards from
N'Rique

Would like to Dev for W8, have ideas, more places to start?

Hello All,
I have two small App Idea's that I want to implement on the Windows Phone 8 platform. The problem is I'm a little unsure where to start for resources.
The issue however is that for all the Dev resources MS has given us, they mostly start at weird points and has no or little impact on where I want to, or figured one should start. So stuff like, setting up a DB, or Using an Azure Server etc.
If not that, most other help I've found have been off point starting as well. XDA's own vids start off with OAuth etc, which are all great, but I'm not even near there yet for what I want to do.
Most other guides, like even MS's own recent JumpStart videos all hop and skip over certain things. So you're following along (Or I'm trying to) and they jump forward, skip tasks and pull out pre-done code so I assume I need different foundation before I can jump in at their stage.
So, I have my idea of what I want to do, buttons, calculator, lists. But I don't know how to start from some basic things. And I am a little reluctant to jump in to what they have for WP7 cuz I don't want to use anything that's been deprecated.
Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Check out LinkedIn. I started a group a long time ago for Windows Phone developers and enthusiasts. It's filled with programmers, Microsoft people, and there's lots of good references and people to ask.

McHale said:
Check out LinkedIn. I started a group a long time ago for Windows Phone developers and enthusiasts. It's filled with programmers, Microsoft people, and there's lots of good references and people to ask.
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Thanks for the reply, any specific link to this LinkedIn... I gotta admit, I never thought of LinkedIn as a place for help in this kind of thing...
As an update though, I already have started on the app I had in mind and now have some specific "How-do-I" questions, but undure where to post these. Thanks again however.

Here's the group. There are some pretty active members who are programmers.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=124767
-Mc

As weird as it may sound: I would suggest you get a beginners book on programming C# on the Desktop. That way you should learn to program from the ground up and get a solid foundation on how the language works (classes, properties, attributes, events, etc.)
Everything else later on is different libraries you will use. That is what most of the introductory videos are about. They show you which classes you use for certain functionality, how you properly wire everything up so it works together.
When you have the basics of how C# works (and most current programming languages like Java but also Objective-C or C++ share the same concepts although there are differences) the best way would be to start with a small project and ask questions when you get stuck or first have a look at StackOverflow if the same question has already been asked and answered.
Teaching someone how to program from the ground up in a forum only rarely works in my experience. But the previous poster might have had different experiences.