Help finding basic launcher

[mindtrip1016]

Hey guys. PPC newby here. I use the htc touch and am looking for a basic launcher. I need 2 things. A launcher that will allow me to use my own custom icons on the bottom of the today screen. And lastly, the icons can be linked to a program and does not take me to a tab of more icons. I have tried various launchers such as clauncher, ilauncher and the lg plugin that has no configuration tool. I've tried others, but the names aren't coming to mind. Ilauncher was too advanced for what I need and the tabs couldn't be turned off. Clauncher was perfect, except I couldn't get my icons to appear(don't know the handle number) and the ppc kept freezing up. Again, something basic that uses little memory, allows custom icons and no tabs is what I am after. Thank you in advance.

[MrGoodtunes]

Hi mindtrip, there are several ways you can accomplish your goal. My recommendation is to use tdLaunch. It's like cLaunch, but without tabs, and is easily configured to place your Today Screen shortcut icons where you want them. A link to the CAB as well as recent discussion in the Vogue forum are here:

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread...682#post310682

Getting the icons you want to show is a bit more involved in that you have to go outside of the nice easy user interface in tdLaunch. None the less, it is possible to do successfully, thanks to Vicott Wong's very helpful tutorial blog, here:

http://mobile-sg.com/simpleblog/arch...ost.asp?id=849

Hope this helps, MrG

[mindtrip1016]

Seems like I have tried tdlaunch before, but not in conjunction with icon knowledge you have p***** along to me. thank you. I'm going to give it a try this weekend and see where I get.

[MrGoodtunes]

Since you want your shortcuts placed at the bottom of your Today Screen, you'll need to set an appropriately large number of pixels into the "Window top margin" box of the 'Option' dialog page under tdLaunch's 'Options...' (trial & error is quick and sort of fun once you see that what you get from tdL is what you set). Yes, you have to tap the 'Option' button after you tap the 'Options...' button, to set Window top margin. LMK right here, if you need further help. Have fun. I did, specially when I got my 1st icon of choice to replace the default icon.

[mindtrip1016]

Okay. I've went through the 5 custom icons I'd like to use with tdlaunch. I have the resource file of the icons combined with the shortcut info, correct character count and icon index all in the correct format per Wong's tutorial. Now my question is, where do I put all this information to allow tdlaunch to find it? Seems I would to save this icon/shortcut info somewhere and direct tdlaunch to its file path. Is this correct? Am I to save this info to the new icon when I open it as a text file? Sorry if these are questions with obvious answers. I'm just a ppc user.

[MrGoodtunes]

Originally Posted by mindtrip1016

...I'm just a ppc user.

Me too. This is sort of the blind leading the blind, except that I've alraady successfully gone through something similar to what you're trying to do. My way is to go step by step, get a foot hold, and then refine it. In other words, I'm suggesting that you first set up your Today Screen shortcuts with whatever icons the linked apps might come with. Then, you can point to the icons you ultimately want by using LNK files located next to where their respective apps are located. Some of mine are in the Windows folder, others are in Program Files folder, or software makers' folders within Program Files. But in every case, the app and it's LNK are named similarly. This is just following what Microsoft apparently does. Look in your Windows folder, with contents alphabetically listed by Name. Scroll down to Calendar, for example. Right after 'calendar.exe' you should find 'calendar.lnk' listed next. If this is how things already are, then this is how I want to proceed. You can place the file containing your desired icon where ever. But the link to the executable with Wong's clever extension showing the path to that desired icon, the LNK file, is right next to the app itself in my system. But it can actually go anywhere, because tdLaunch lets you browse for it via the [...] button in tdL's user interface.

Are you trying to put all the icons into one file? While that's okay, I believe you need to have a seperate LNK for each app (together with the app's icon path).

[mindtrip1016]

I am sorry. I mispoke. I have everything written down on paper, as far as the resource files, character count and icon index. Where do I input this? I tried just changing the .png file extension to .lnk and opening it in pWord as Wong suggested, but it would not recognize the file. I tried on my desktop pc and it gave me a bunch of jibberish. Right clicking on the .lnk of the icon and scrolling to properties alllowed me to see the shortcut tab containing the target info, but it was all greyed out, saying," This is not a valid shortcut."

I am stuck at this point. Dragging and dropping the .lnk file from the desktop to the ppc did nothing either. Gave me more jibberish. The only thing I can think of is that .png extensions can not be used as .lnk by simply renaming the file. Do I need some sort of file extension converter? Would using the .ico extension work easier? Am I missing a step somewhere along the way?

[mindtrip1016]

I did some searching over on xda developers and I believe I have a much better understanding of what I must do. It involves placing my icons in an empty .dll and creating a .lnk file using notepad to direct tdl to the icon and shortcut. Sounds like fun.

[MrGoodtunes]

Originally Posted by mindtrip1016

I did some searching over on xda developers and I believe I have a much better understanding of what I must do. It involves placing my icons in an empty .dll and creating a .lnk file using notepad to direct tdl to the icon and shortcut. Sounds like fun.

If you direct dtL to the shortcut LNK file, that's it, because the LNK will give tdL the path to your icon of choice.

Yeah, there are some true genius minds at xDA. You could help me and others here at PPC Geeks by letting us know how/if you're successful in creating DLL's with your chosen icon(s). All mine were simply ripped off from existing DLL or EXE or even from LNK files already in storage (though not necessarily in use) on my mobile device.

Wishing you success, MrG

[MrGoodtunes]

Mindtrip, just a couple things that may help:

(1) I used GS Finder Plus to create the LNK shortcuts for use with tdL. It's a freeware alternative to MS WM File Explorer, with lots of nice features. Using GSF+, you browse to the EXE of the app you're linking a Today Screen shortcut icon to, tap and hold, and then select "Shortcut" from the pop up menu. Then I chose to remove the "Shortcut to" from the LNK's file name. Next, tap and hold on the LNK, and this time select "open with" from the pop up, so you can use Notepad to edit the link according to Wong's instructions. If you don't have GSFinder+, here's where I learned about it:

http://tinyurl.com/62eshh

(2) Wong's character count is possibly not what you're thinking. It's only the count of characters in the text of the LNK, not of the icon whose path is in the link, but the characters in the link plus path, minus comma, dash, etc. per Wong's discovery.