TamsPalm – the Palm OS / web OS Blog

When I got my Acer Aspire 5622WLMI notebook, PODS 1.1 was no longer around – so PODS 1.2 was the only option I had, despite it scoring rather average in my “first impressions – hands on report“. Anyways, the program I am currently working on demands loads of bitmaps – and this is where good old OnBoardC paired up with TbmpEdit really leaves PODS in the dust.

This is a rant…I am pissed…please forgive the aggressive wording

The first and probably biggest nuissance is the way how the storage for the bitmap data is implemented. PODS uses XML files as resource storage data – and this is where the fun starts. Each bitmap “object” is assigned one ore more bitmap files on the harddisk to store its bitmapped data – this looks sort of like this:

[bitmap_resource RESOURCE_ID="1001"]
[bitmaps]
[bitmap]
[bitmap_density] 144 [/bitmap_density]
[width] 32 [/width]
[height] 22 [/height]
[bit_depth] 1 [/bit_depth]
[bitmap_compression] NONE [/bitmap_compression]
[has_transparency] TRUE [/has_transparency]
[transparent_color]
[index] 0x00 [/index]
[/transparent_color]
[has_color_table] FALSE [/has_color_table]
[bitmap_file] "./AppResources/Bitmap_1001-X2-1.bmp" [/bitmap_file]
[/bitmap]
[/bitmaps]
[/bitmap_resource]


So far, all of this is sensible and ok. However, if you change the ID for a bitmap, the fun starts – the files aren’t renamed automatically. So, the bitmap 1001 could still happily be using files called 1100. Now, when you create another bitmap(that originally gets the number 1100 again because it was free); the resource editor assigns the same bitmap files to the new one. So, you essentially have two different bitmaps that use the same bitmap file for storage..a surefire recipie to desaster.

Obviously, someone at PalmSource doesnt eat his own dog food. If the responsible dolt had tried creating a sensible application once; he would have immediately noted what kind of harebrained junk he has produced. However; he probably didnt for whatever reason(management stupidity? whatever…post it as a comment) – and now its good ol’ Hanna’s ‘job’ to point this out.

IMHO, the only way to create bitmaps sanely is to hand-edit the XML file. Really, thats why I have PODS and Windows XP for…

Just as a side note, I didnt quite manage to create 8bit paletted images yet, either.

Overall, the post IMHO says all about PODS 1.2 bitmap editing qualities. BTW, if you know the developer of the component – commenting on TamsPalm is free and anonymous…speaking up may pay out!

Going multi-screen is a very common trend among programmers(as used CRT prices fall, no LCD for me if I can avoid it). Many of us have two, and plan for getting a third. However, PODS usually cannot go multiwindow and thus cannot go multi-monitor. That is, unless you are a TamsPalm reader.

Clicking Window->New Window will open a new, second windows that is on the same view as the current one. However, all editor tabs are closed. The second window can then be moved to wherever you wish it to be(its really comfortable with the NVIDIA tools, that is if you have an NVIDIA card as primary aka gaming one).

The two windows are permanetly synchronized with one another. So, if you open a file in both of them and change it in one of them, the changes are automatically reflected on the other screen. That is true multimonitor action…finally….

What do you think?

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One of the big strengths of integrated development environments is the wealth of functionality offered by their editors. PODS is based on Eclipse, which is a rather powerful environment. Today, we will show you how to integrate tasks into your source code files.

First of all, open the source file that you wish to modify in the editor. Then, right-click the margin next to the code and select Add Task in the form that pops up:

On that form, you can give a name to the task and assign it a priority. After clicking ok, a little task icon will be shown next to the line affected:

All tasks are gathered at the bottom of your PODS screen(click for bigger version):

You may now wonder what those tasks are good for. But trust me, they are great for noting down stuff about code that NEEDS to be done, but cant be one right now. For example, you may need to adjust a call eventually, but cant do it right now because you are waiting for the new syntax..

What do you think?

Welcome back to Going CVS. It was a long time since we last had an update here, but as you know-stuff that rests isnt stuf that’s EOL;). In the last part of the column, we looked at how to set up a box with CVS:
http://tamspalm.tamoggemon.com/2006/02/08/going-cvs-step-1/
Today, we will take a look at configuring it! The first thing that you will want to configure is the VNC server, as it allows you to access your server remotely from the network. Setting up CVS is very easy. All you need to do is click the Install Service entry in the srat menu, restart the machine, and presto-it already runs. After that, you need to click on the VNC icon at the bottom right of the machine and click on properties. You can set up a VNC password there, I advise you to use a long one than you can easily remember.

From now on, if a user is logged on, you can connect yourself to your VNC server with a VNC client.

On we go to CVSNT. Open the CVSNT control panel from the srat menu of your NT box(you can use VNC). Click Repository configuration, then click add. Choose the location, then copy the contents of the location text box into the name field. You will receive a few alert boxes, just click yes on all of them!

Now, CVS should be set up. In the next part, we will connect Eclipse to the server.
BTW, here are a few web sites with further hints on CVSNT:
http://www.mobilefish.com/developer/cvsnt/cvsnt.html(covers old version)
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=39516

Since I am at my vacation house in tyrol now, I don’t have acces to my good ol’windows 2000 box with PODS 1.1 on it. PalmSource’s current offering is PODS 1.2-so, with much coding lust and little choice, this is what I took. Here are my first experiences after a few days of use:

Pro
Speed
The current machine is about 20% faster, and the project is a bit smaller. However, AutoCompletition really is MUCH MUCH faster now! Generally, PODS feels much zippier-compilation and startup really takes less time.

AutoCompletition
While it still can’t quite match Visual Studio 6′s IntelliSense, AutoCompletition seems to take quite a step forward here. It now provides much more useful results!

Contra
Compiling/running
Here we have the first big bug. The PODS cannot connect to PalmOS 5 and 6 Simulator on a Windows XP SP2 machine, the application never reaches the simulator. This-obviously-makes PODS useless for a developer!

C compiler
The C compiler is bonkers, just plain bonkers. Code that compiled really well in PODS 1.1, now creates loads and loads of insane warnings in PODS 1.2. If you don’t handle all enumeration values in a switch statement, PODS refuses to compile. If you have an unusd function in a project, PODS refuses to compile. The list is long-thus, if you want to reuse existing code, this is not an option!

Resource editor
The resource editor was a discussion topic in the developer list for quite some time. Indeed, working with it is very uncomfortable. You select a new control, and it sometimes doesnt update the selection pointer. Thus, all the changes that you make go to a wrong control-this is lovely. Moving controls,… can be a painful process!

Overall, I would stay with PODS 1.1 if it works for you now-this upgrade is not sensational. The new release of the Palm OS Developer Studio adds a bit of speed-at an insane price. A C compiler that really is extremely picky about code, a resource editor that sometimes simply doesnt do what it is supposed to and a simulator that simply doesnt work are things that can make your life very very ugly fast. The speed increase is nice, people-but is speed really all that matters?

Please post your own experiences. Posting at TamsPalm’s is free and anonymous!
PalmOS Developer Suite 1.2

Meine ersten Eindrücke:

Pro
Speed
Etwa 20% Geschwindigkeitszuwachs, und Projekte werden kleiner. Auto-Vervollständigen ist viel schneller, und es wird auch schneller gestartet.

Auto-Vervollständigen
Nicht so gut wie IntelliSense von Visual Studio 6, aber es scheint einen Schritt vorangekommen zu sein. Es kommen bessere Ergebnisse!

Kontra
Kompilieren/Starten
Erster Fehler: PODS kann keine Programme zum Simulator für PalmOS 5 / 6 übertragen (Windows XP SP 2 Gerät). Nutzlos für Entwickler!

C-Compiler
Code, der in PODS 1.1 wunderbar funktioniert bringt Warnungen, und es wird nicht immer kompiliert. Wenn man alten Code weiterverwenden will, ist es nicht empfehlenswert.

Ressourcen-Editor
Der Ressourcen-Editor ist schon länger ein Thema in der Entwicklerliste. Kein optimales Arbeiten ist damit möglich. Es gibt Probleme beim Verschieben von Feldern, das Arbeiten macht nicht gerade Spaß.

Das Update ist nichts besonderes, wer also PODS 1.1 hat und bei dem es läuft, der sollte nicht wechseln. Es ist etwas schneller, dafür hat man Probleme mit dem C compiler, wenn der Code nicht 100% richtig ist, der Ressourcen-Editor funktioniert nicht und der Simulator auch nicht. Geschwindigkeit ist gut – aber nicht alles.

Senden Sie uns Ihre Erfahrungen!

Sometimes, PODS cancels the compiling process with an error message like this shown in the problems tab of the graphical environment:

*** [Project] Error 1 Project 3. September 2005 21:38:22

There is very little information accompanying such an error-at least for people who didnt discover the console tab of Eclipse yet. Well, no problem. There is a lot of tabs at the bottom of eclipse under the editor-and one of them reads console. If not, add it using (Window-Show View->Console) Clicking it leads to more-less random text garbage. Now, rebuild the project from scratch(Project->Clean…). The compiling process now be shown in the Console tab-and you can usually find an error message like this one here:


src/VfsSelect.o(.text+0x1e0):VfsSelect.c: undefined reference to `VFSOpenFile'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [BinaryClock] Error 1

And indeed, the error is now easy to find. It is a typo in the module VfsSelect.c-the call is VFSFileOpen and not VFSOpenFile. Fixing the call let the program work once again!
Altough PODS is a graphical development environment, it still pays out to look at the console sometimes… . Did you ever have such a problem? Do you use the console view?

I have been using PODS for a few hours by now instead of the aging OnboardC-and got pretty angry about the incredibly bad help viewer. When you change to the PODS with a help viewer window open, all of its contents get garbled! So it is reloading time….
However, a right click on a link showed me that it pointed to a web server on my local machine-although it was running at an unusual port which changed after every start of the PODS. Here is an example of such a link-it will definitely not work on your machine:

http://127.0.0.1:3634/help/topic/com.palmsource.eclipse.tools.doc.user/docs/PalmOSDevSuite/Tools_Overview.html#997748

Curious as I am, I immediately opened a current link in my web browser-and alas, I was at the corresponding help topic-but now the Page was displayed in Firefox and all problems were finished. Even after I closed the Help viewer window, the online help still was accessible through Firefox. Now, that is astonishing! PODS automatically starts a web server when loaded into memory-just to serve up the on-line help! If that isn’t a waste of memory… .

To benefit from this yourself, do the following: Open up Help, and click on one of the links with the right mouse button. Then, you shall see a menu entry details. Click it, and a window with an URL shall show up. After http://127.0.0.1: there will be a few numbers followed by a /, just copy these into the link below instead of the PORT.

http://127.0.0.1:PORT/help/index.jsp

Into Firefox with it, and have fun. I am using this since 4 reboots on my Windows 2000 machine-so one can say that it is stable!
Tell me what you think about it!!!