PocketMatrix

PocketHAL 1.0.2 now available.

This is a maintenance release and includes the following fixes:


- Fixed performance problem on VGA devices.
- Fixed orientation issue on VGA devices.
- Fixed name mangling issue between EVC and VS2003/2005.

You can download PocketHAL here: http://www.droneship.com/downloads.html

Donators can obtain the registered copy (without the logo/banner) by e-mailing us.

Thank you very much for your dedication and your time.

One of the fixes listed in version 1.0.0 was for the Moto Q and Samsung Blackjack, does this mean that when we request a portrait screen mode of 240x320 it actually appears rotated to fit the 320x240 pixel screen?

With PocketHAL, you do not specify the resolution you want, but the orientation.

If you request ORIENTATION_NORMAL (the default) on the Morotola Q, you will get a 320x240 screen.

Dear Kzinti!
You have told us that you have fixed orientation problems in this release. Does it mean that we can now use the stylus coordinates as they come from Windows without writing complex orientation/transformation code?

If not, please can you include orientation handling inside PocketHAL or inside examples/common, because we get lots of complains from people that stylus is mapped incorrectly on some devices... We spend a lot of efforts to handle this and still cannot figure out how to do it correctly... We have lots of different "orientations" - PocketHAL orientation (what's this exactly?), orientation of GetDC(0), ChangeDisplaySettingsEx orientation, we can also guess orientation with GetSystemMetrics( SM_C*SCREEN ) and EnumDisplaySettings. Also we note that when PocketHAL starts, the OS orientation changes several times... How can ordinary PocketHAL user write correct stylus transformation function using all these information? Impossible! PocketFrog code apparently does not work (how can it work on for example 800x480 device if you have 320 and 240 coded there? )

Look, half topics on this forum are about orientation... We really need a good fix which always maps stylus coordinates correctly! We need it in library written by Guru (you).

Update: read your last post "now stylus coordinates are always portrait-oriented" and nothing became clear... We need an example that just lets you paint with stylus on screen!

Thank you for your time.

I am going to give a closer look at what you sent me by email.

In a nutshell, PocketHAL doesn't deal with input at all. It does set the display (shell) to ORIENTATION_NORMAL / DMDO_0 at initialization time, and it's all it does. Note that there is no such thing as "orientation portrait", so I am not sure what you mean here. Some devices have 320x240 in normal orientation (ie: landscape). This is why PocketHAL uses "normal" to describe the normal orientation of a device.

You can run into problems if something outside your app changes the orientation. I will investigate how PocketHAL can handle this.

I do not maintain PocketFrog anymore. Feel free to modify it to suit your needs.

Dear Kzinti!

It is nice how PocketHAL works and how it selects normal orientation for device and that it does not deal with input at all.

But we ask PocketHAL to paint something (button) around x,y coordinates. Later when the user clicks the button, we need to get (x,y) back, because we need to understand that the button is clicked.

That's why PocketHAL cannot be completely independent of stylus user input.

We just need a (small) piece of code which allows us to get right (x,y) back from the stylus. Without this code PocketHAL is useless for games and applications, because users cannot interact with what they see on screen.

PocketHAL is a graphics library much like DirectDraw. They both provide you with access to the framebuffer. DirectDraw doesn't deal with input (and it doesn't need to). Same with PocketHAL. You can use WM_MOUSE messages to know where the mouse is.

I understand you ran into issues when some other app changes the orientation behind your back. I will shortly provide some support related to that in PocketHAL, as I believe it would be useful to a lot of people.

That said, it never was a goal for PocketHAL to provide any input functionality beyond what GAPI already provides.

Stay tuned, I am working on a solution to the problem.

Great! Thank you for your time!

Here is a release candidate for 1.0.3:

The stylus input is now always in the same orientation as the PocketHAL display. This should also work when the display orientation changes behind your back. And of course, it should work on the Motorola Q.

hrissian, this is the same lib I sent you by email. Let me know how it goes.

Edit Oct 15: removed RC1 (still has problems to be addressed).

Release 1.0.3 is available and fixes all input issues with stylus, arrow keys and orientation changes from the shell / OS.