SnoopSoft Inc
Profile Dashboard Skins Other Products Links Contact
About MyDash Manual FAQ Buy
SnoopSoft Dashboard

SnoopSoft Dashboard Manual

SnoopSoft Dashboard is a skinnable Today Page module for your PocketPC.

If you would like more information on this product, please check out our SnoopSoft Dashboard Product Page.

Before SnoopSoft Dashboard
With SnoopSoft Dashboard
Features of SnoopSoft Dashboard
  • Designed to quickly show you the most important information Today
  • With 5 customizable unique views it's like having 5 Today pages
  • Has the ability to use the current Today Theme and can even overlay any Dashboard skin on top of the Today Theme for more functionality.
  • Built-in Agenda module shows Appointments *and* Tasks simultaneously
  • Collapsible Days to quickly access just the information needed
  • Built-in Mail module displays Emails from the default ActiveSync Inbox
  • Built-in Launcher module can run any program and is user-customizable
  • Built-in Contacts module shows Contact information
  • All built-in modules can be mixed and matched with available Today modules for complete customization of the Today screen
  • Add to all of the above, Wallpaper backgrounds!
  • Ability to define multiple wallpaper backgrounds per skin to create a 'theme'!
  • Completely skinnable with the ability to rotate skins automatically!
  • All views offer 3 "font" sizes for easier viewing and customization!
  • Ability to use fonts other than the Today screen default font with ClearType as an option
  • Calendar and Task information is loaded in a background process freeing up the program to perform other tasks while waiting.
  • SnoopSoft Dashboard works with all PocketPC devices. As of SnoopSoft Dashboard version 2 - Windows CE 2.11 devices will no longer be supported.
  • SnoopSoft Dashboard is being distributed for $13.00 as GuiltWare
Skins

SnoopSoft Dashboard allows you to define however you want your Today Page to appear through the use of Skins (or the look and feel of the program). Every aspect of SnoopSoft Dashboard can be manipulated through the Skin definition file - from the background wallpaper to the icons used to represent the status of Tasks and Calendar items.

One benefit to this approach is that you can use skins designed by other people that you find interesting. Because of this, it's impossible to describe the various portions of the program using screenshots because the program can look completely different for different users depending on the skins that are in use on the devices.

General Navigation

Below is an image of SnoopSoft Dashboard in action with the various areas of the screen labelled appropriately. Keep in mind that each skin is unique and the various sections can be placed in different areas on the display or even aligned different than what is depicted here. However, this image should be fine for the purpose of an overview and is the default skin that currently ships with SnoopSoft Dashboard.

Today Plugins

New with SnoopSoft Dashboard version 2 is the ability to display Today plugins inside the main Dashboard view area. Multiple Today plugins can be placed on the view as long as they do not cause the window to scroll. The screenshot to the left shows Journal Bar and Microsoft Money displayed inside Dashboard.

If there is also a SnoopSoft Dashboard module displayed, it will size itself to fit within whatever space remains after the Today modules have been sized.


Main View Area

The Main View Area consists of an area defined by the skin where the view modules are allowed to draw their content. This area can be as large or small as the skin designer wishes and the view modules are responsible for insuring that their content sizes itself to fit within this area.

As of SnoopSoft Dashboard version 2 it is strongly recommended that skin designers allow modules to occupy the full width of the screen. Some Today plugins are not coded properly and always assume they will have the full width even when it is not available.

Page Bar

The Page Bar is provided for the various view to use for paging forward/backward. There can be at most three (3) toolbar icons in this area. Again, skin designers have a lot of flexibility in where the Page Bar appears on their skin and how it will look. Most of the default view modules for SnoopSoft Dashboard provide support for Previous Page, Page Number, and Next Page in this bar.

SnoopSoft Dashboard was designed as a quick-access vehicle for your data and the default modules provided with the program support up to 9 pages of viewable data. The reason for this is that, by design, if you require access to more than 9 pages of data then you should be using one of the more powerful applications to access data stored at that level of detail.

MiniLauncher

The MiniLauncher is shows on the screenshot but it can be activated/deactivated on any view. It provides a quick way to launch common programs.

Options / Help

New with SnoopSoft Dashboard version 2 is the ability for skin designers to add Options and Help buttons to a skin. This helps to alleviate some of the confusion of earlier versions where it was difficult to locate the Options button.

Main Toolbar

The Main Toolbar is used to switch between the 5 views that SnoopSoft Dashboard provides (Agenda, Mail, Tasks, Launcher and MyDash - see below for a full description of each view). Skin designers have great flexibility in how and where each of these icons can appear - or if they appear at all (yes, these can be disabled from within a skin).

To switch between views, simply tap on the view icon that you would like to make active.

Each view can support one or more modules that perform the work of displaying data in the Main View area. To switch between available modules for a view, tap on the Options button - the Options dialog will display with the tab for the current view pre-selected. The Options dialog allows for the configuration of what is displayed on each view as well as what order it will appear.

All Skins have an Options button somewhere on them. Newer skins will have an Option button placed on them by the skin designer but sometimes on older skins it may be hard to locate. Many times it is located along with the Main Toolbar somewhere. Other times, it is accessed by tapping on the View Title text (i.e. the words "Agenda", "Mail", "Tasks", "Launcher" or "MyDash"), or by tapping on the current date text.

If all else fails and you are unable to locate the Options button area for a skin, load up the stand-alone version of SnoopSoft Dashboard and use the Tools menu (located at the bottom of the screen on the PocketPC) to get to the Options and change to a different skin.

View Bar

The View Bar is provided for the various views to use for view-specific icons. There can be at most three (3) toolbar icons in this area. Like the Main Toolbar, skin designers have a lot of flexibility in where the View Bar appears on their skin and how it will look. Most of the default view modules for SnoopSoft Dashboard provide support for Font Size, Screen Refresh, and Quick Launch in this bar.

Contents

Modules

The SnoopSoft Dashboard program contains the following functionality and modules:

  • Dashboard Manual
    • Information for initial setup, configuration and normal use of Dashboard itself.
  • Agenda & Tasks Module
    • Displays Agenda and Tasks from Pocket Outlook
  • Mail Module 
    • Displays Mail Items from the ActiveSync Inbox
  • Launcher Module
    • Launch any program from the Today page
  • Contacts Module
    • Basic Contacts functionality provided as a SnoopSoft Dashboard module
  • Date/Time Module
    • Display the Date and Time on the Today Page in any format
  • Owner Module
    • Display the device Owner and Phone Number
  • Web Module
    • Launch a webpage or Search the Web directly from the convenience of the Today page
Advanced Topics
  • Theme Design
    • Describes in detail how skins are defined for SnoopSoft Dashboard
  • SnoopSoft Dashboard Module Design
    • Describes in detail how to create View modules for use with SnoopSoft Dashboard
    • Basic knowledge of C/C++ required