GPS Skinner: User Guide

This page is a manual or user guide to using the application.

Synopsis

GPS Skinner's main aim is to be a flexible skinning engine, this pages covers the basics of setting up and running the application.

System Requirements

GPS Skinner is currently compiled for Xscale/ARM processors. It currently runs on Windows Mobile devices;

- Pocket PC 2002
- Smartphone 2002
- Windows Mobile 2003 (Pocket PC/Phone Edition/Smartphone)
- Windows Mobile 2003 SE (Pocket PC/Phone Edition/Smartphone)
- Windows Mobile 5 (Pocket PC/Phone Edition/Smartphone)
- Windows Mobile 6 (Classic/Professional/Standard)

We plan to release a Windows XP version as well as versions for older ARM/MIPS/SH3 Pocket PC processors. Image file formats may be limited in pre-2003 devices as the SHLoadImageFile API is either unavailable (PPC 2000) or only supports bitmaps (PPC 2002).

GPS Skinner requires a GPS that outputs NMEA data. Some newer devices feature Network Operator Assisted GPS (aka A-GPS), these GPS devices are often not accessible to external applications and are not supported by GPS Skinner.

Installation

To install the application either download a PC installer or CAB file from our download page.

The file may be compressed as a ZIP file, if this is the case you will need to un-zip it first using software such as Winzip or 7-zip (free).

To install using the PC installer, simply double click the installer executable on your PC (not your device) and the application will automatically install the next time ActiveSync is connected. If ActiveSync is already connected the install will happen immediately.

To install using a CAB file, connect your device using ActiveSync, copy the CAB file to your device, start the File Explorer application on your device and then tap the CAB file (on the device) to start the installation on the device.

Skins

A skin is a text file which tells the application what to draw, where to draw it and how to draw it. A skin consists of a number of different pages which could contain anything the author decided to place in there.

After starting the GPS Skinner application for the first time, the tutorial skin will load which explains some of the features of GPS Skinner.

Interface

GPS Skinner runs on a variety of devices. Although the features are mostly the same the interface may look different depending on the target device.

All device platforms will feature a menu bar along the bottom (unless its been hidden through the skin).

In Windows Mobile 5/6 (and older non-touch screen) devices the menu items can be activated using the soft keys on your device. For older devices simply click the menu with your stylus to activate them

The right hand menu item will display a popup menu with various menu options.

The left hand menu item will advance to the next page of the currently loaded skin (if you are on the last page it will return to the first page).

If the menu bar has been hidden by the skin, you can use the tap-and-hold technique to bring up the popup menu. Simply tap and hold the stylus down anywhere on the skin (except on hotspots). The same can be achieved on non-touch screen devices by press the zero key on the device.

Navigation

Navigating a GPS Skinner skin is done through a variety of ways.

On all devices, pressing the left/right keys will move the current page backwards or forwards.

Pressing the up/down keys will change the selected speed limit up or down (only applies to skins with speed limit hotspots).

On touch screen devices you can also activate other pages by clicking on hotspots that may be present in a skin. These may be "button" images embedded in the skin or just general areas in the skin (e.g. left hand side of the skin goes back, right hand side goes forward).

On non-touch screen devices you can activate individual pages by pressing the number pad on the device. Pressing 1 takes you to the first page, pressing 2 takes you to the second page and so on (however, remember that pressing 0 activates the popup menu).

Settings

Coming soon...