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11    Integrating with the Application Launcher

User Interface

Exploring Palm OS®

The Application Launcher is the screen from which most applications are launched. Users navigate to the Launcher by tapping the Applications icon in the status bar. They then launch a specific application by tapping its icon.

To integrate well with the Application Launcher, you must provide application icons and a version string as described in the following sections. In rare cases, you may need to provide a default application category as well.

Icons in the Launcher ^TOP^

Applications installed on the Palm Powered device (resource databases of type 'appl') appear in the Application Launcher automatically. Specifically, the Launcher displays an application icon and an application name.

Your application needs to have two icons and an icon name:

  • A large APP_ICON_BITMAP_RESOURCE, with an ID of 1000. This icon should be 22 X 22 standard coordinates.
  • A smaller icon, also of type APP_ICON_BITMAP_RESOURCE, with an ID of 1001. This icon should be 15 X 9 standard coordinates.
  • The application icon name (optional) is type APP_ICON_NAME_RESOURCE. It is used by the Launcher screen and in the Button Assignment preferences panel.

    The application icon name is technically optional, but if you want the name to appear with the icon in the Launcher's main view, you must supply it.

    Note: If you use an application icon name, make it short!

Application Version String ^TOP^

The Launcher displays a version string from each application's APP_VERSION_RESOURCE, ID 1000. This short string (usually 3 to 7 characters) is displayed in the Info dialog.

A version string should have the format:

major.minor.[stage.change]

where major is the major version number, minor is a minor version number, stage is a letter denoting a development stage (a for alpha b for beta or d for developer release) and change is the build number. Remove the stage and change numbers for the final release.

The Default Application Category ^TOP^

The Launcher divides applications into categories. You can store an application's category in an APP_DEFAULT_CATEGORY_RESOURCE with the ID 1000 in the resource file. The Launcher application installs your application into the specified category.

Most applications should not specify an APP_DEFAULT_CATEGORY_RESOURCE. By default, Launcher installs applications in the Unfiled category, and each user chooses where to file the application.

Only specify an APP_DEFAULT_CATEGORY_RESOURCE in these instances:

  • Your application is intended for consumers and clearly belongs to one of the Launcher predefined categories (see Table 11.1).

    Always specify the Launcher predefined categories in US English in ASCII characters. Launcher provides the appropriate translations for localized ROMs.

  • Your application is intended for a vertical market or you've created a suite of custom applications that work together to provide a complete custom solution.

    In this case, you might define an APP_DEFAULT_CATEGORY_RESOURCE with a custom category name. Launcher creates the category if it doesn't already exist in the Launcher database. When you're not identifying one of Launcher's predefined categories, you may identify the category in any language.

Table 11.1  Launcher predefined categories 

Default Launcher Category

Description

Games

Any game.

Main

Applications that would be used on a daily basis, such as Date Book or Address Book.

System

Applications that control how the system behaves, such as the Preferences, HotSync®, and Security applications.

Utilities

Applications that help the user with system management.

Unfiled

The default category.

Do not treat the default application category as something analogous to the Microsoft Windows Start menu category. The Launcher uses a non-schema database, so the user is limited to 16 categories (including Unfiled). Obviously, that limit would be quickly reached if each application defines its own category. Only assign a default category where it is a clear benefit to your users.