<LI>The GigaBar <I>replaces</I> the CE TaskBar, on any unit from the old B/W guys to the new Pocket PC. This new TaskBar (the GigaBar) provides buttons to switch or close currently running tasks, and multifunction icons. With these, you can launch applications, perform a <I>host</I> of common functions, and browse files. All of the functionality of the old TaskBar (and <I>way</I> more!) is available through the GigaBar, and you can customize it's look and feel with
<A HREF="GigaBar.htm#Skins">Skins</A> and
<A HREF="GigaBar.htm#Schemes">Schemes</A>.
But you <I>do</I> have to know how to use it! (To see this Help File again, Tap-Hold on the Clock, and then select Giga Help.)
<LI>When first installed, the GigaBar only shows <I>one</I> "icon": the Clock, but you can place as many as you wish.
<LI>Each icon can have as many as 10 functions assigned to it. Five of these are directly available, and five more are available through a Tap-Hold menu. Do a Tap-Hold on any of the GigaBar icons, and the menu will show what functions are assigned to it.
<LI>The first five are described as Tap, Dbl Tap, Tap-Left, Tap-Right, and Tap-UpDn. These are the directly available functions, and can be accessed by tapping, double tapping, etc. on the icon. The last three may require a little practice on your part. Each is activated by tapping and dragging in the indicated direction. You don't have to drag far, but the whole tap-and-drag operation has to be completed rather quickly.
<LI>By default, a single tap on the Clock will bring up a list of currently running Tasks, in a
<A HREF="GidgFold.htm">FolderView</A>
window. Tap and drag to the left on the Clock to close the current application. Tap and drag up or down to show or hide the keyboard.
<A HREF="GigaBar.htm#AllFuncs">All of these functions</A>
can be assigned by you, with
<A HREF="GigaBar.htm#CtlPnl">GigaBar Properties</A> in Settings.
<LI>If there are other tasks running on the machine, then these will show as buttons on the left side of the GigaBar. Just tap on one of these buttons to switch to that task. A Tap-Hold on the button will show the Title of that task. Also, depressing the Exit button on the side of the unit <I>and</I> tapping on the button will close the task.
<LI>To experiment quickly with some different arrangements for the icons, check out the
<LI>As you'll see in a minute, it's <I>very</I> easy to change what functions an icon will perform, so bear in mind that your machine, right now, may be configured a little differently than described here. Tap-hold on the Clock icon, and from the menu, select Functions. This shows the
<A HREF="GidgFold.htm">FolderView</A>
/ Functions window, which exposes
<A HREF="GigaBar.htm#AllFuncs"><I>all</I> of the functions</A>
that the GigaBar can perform. Open the Internals folder, by tapping on it, then open the Schemes folder. The Schemes that are intially installed are Starter, Info, and Shortcuts. Starter is, not surprisingly, the Scheme that you started out with. Select Shortcuts. Leave all of the boxes checked in the Scheme dialog that pops up, and select OK. Now, take a look at the GigaBar. A lot of things have changed!
<LI>The background of the GigaBar shows Wallpaper, now. Its color scheme has changed, and now there are <I>three</I> icons, instead of just the clock. Tap-hold on the Outlook icon. All ten of the available functions have been assigned to some of the built-in programs on your machine. Just select one to run it, or, for Calendar, for example, you can just tap once on the Outlook icon without waiting for the menu.
<LI>A Scheme can save the Icons, the Skin, the Colors, and the Button settings (for the Start Menu button at the left, for example). Several are installed by default, but you can certainly save your own! Just look for Save Scheme in FolderView / Functions.
<LI>To change <I>just</I> the appearance of the GigaBar, see the section on
/ Functions, you can browse to Internals / Skins. Here you'll find 10 or 20 different backgrounds and color schemes that can be used with the GigaBar. Also, these skins are real easy to
<A HREF="GigaBar.htm#SkinBiz">make yourself</A>.
<LI>Just tap on a Skin to select it. The changes wll be reflected in the GigaBar immediately. A given skin may also change the color scheme that the GigaBar is using, or not. It's up to the designer of the skin.
<LI>A GigaBar skin is nothing more than a Gif image file, but several areas of the image are "special".
<LI>The GigaBar itself is 240 pixels wide, and 26 tall. The Skins are 320 pixels wide and 26 tall. The rightmost 240 pixels of the image are simply the background that will appear behind the buttons and icons of the GigaBar. It's the left 80 pixels that're interesting.
<LI>There are five "fixed" buttons that the GigaBar can display: OK, Cancel, Help, Start Menu, and Keyboard. Each of these buttons is 16 X 16 pixels, and their images reside at the left end of the skin image, in the listed order. They're centered vertically, with 5 pixels above and 5 below that are not a part of the button image.
<LI>In the upper left corner of the gif, there are seven pixels that set the color scheme for the skin. The first pixel, at (0, 0), is the Transparent color. The pixels to the right of it, from (1, 0) to (6, 0) define these colors: Giga Background, Button Face, Button Highlight, Button Shadow, Clock Text, and Button Text.
<LI>The colors and the transparency work like this:
<LI>Wherever the Transparent color is used, the color "behind" it will be used. If the Transparent color is used in the background image itself (on the right side of the gif), then the Giga Background color will show through. If the Transparent color is used on the button images, then the Button Face color will show.
<LI>Also, if the Transparent color appears in the other six color-scheme pixels, then that color will <I>not</I> be modified when the Skin is loaded. If all seven of these pixels are the <I>same</I> color, then <I>none</I> of the colors will be changed.
<LI>On Default.gif, you'll see that the whole "background" area of the skin is filled with the Transparent color. Consequently that area is just filled with the Giga Background color. Also on Default, you'll see that there are colored "guard rails" above and below each of the button images, to show you just where the "active" button image area is. This is a good image to start with in creating your own skin.
<LI>Select Start Menu / Settings / System / Gigabar, and you'll run the GigaBar Properties Applet. This is where you tell the GigaBar what icons you want it to show, and what you want those icons to do. At the top of the screen, there are three sections: Action, Function, and Icon.
<LI>In the Icon box are shown the icons that currently appear in the GigaBar. Select one of the icons to program it, or Tap-Hold on the icon's name for other options. This way, you can change the order of the icons, disable them (so they don't show in the GigaBar), or
<A HREF="GigaBar.htm#AddIcon">add back icons</A>
that have previously been disabled.
<LI>After selecting an icon, drop down the Action combo to see the 10 functions that have been assigned to it. Select one of <I>these</I> to modify it.
<LI>To assign a new function, drop down the Function tree. The available functions are organized in folders. Just tap on a folder to open it. Tap again to close it. To assign one of these functions to the selected Icon and Action, just select it here.
<LI>You'll notice that Control Panel and Start Menu also appear here. These functions can be assigned to icons just the way the more ordinary "internal" functions can.
<LI>Also note that the organization of these functions into folders is within your control. Tap-Hold on a function and you can Cut, Rename, or Delete it. Tap-Hold on a Folder, and you can Paste a Cut function into it. Tap-Hold on a blank area, and you can create a New Folder, and give it a name.
<LI>A few other options are available at the bottom of the screen:
<LI>The check boxes next to Start and Keyboard will cause Start Menu and Keyboard buttons to appear at the left end of the GigaBar. Of course, these functions can also be assigned to icons, and that way they don't take up space!
<LI>Put a check mark next to Title, and the GigaBar will display the Title for the window that's in the foreground, rather than just its icon.
<LI>Hide OK pertains mainly to the Pocket PC as well. On these units, most dialogs will <I>not</I> have any exit buttons on them, for OK, and Cancel. They depend on the TaskBar for those functions. By default, the GigaBar will show buttons for OK, Cancel, and Help. <I>But</I> these buttons take up space that could otherwise be used to show buttons for other tasks, <I>and</I> the OK and Cancel functions can be assigned to icon functions. So, if you assign the OK, Cancel, and Help functions to icons, then you can put a check mark here, and those explicit buttons won't appear. Note that this box is checked by default on the older (V2.xx) units.
<LI>Hide Hints will simplify the appearance of the Menus that the GigaBar produces. Put a check here, and the "Tap-Up", etc. fields will be hidden.
<LI>Update will cause the image of the System Tray (from the Today screen on the Pocket PC) to be updated twice a minute.
<LI>Exit is a function that's particular to the Rapier / Pocket PC units. Microsoft has decided that you folks don't make mistakes anymore, and so they've pretty much done away with the concept of Cancel. A part of this move has been the elimination or reassignment of what used to be the Exit button on the side of the unit. On the E115, it's the Start Menu button. On other units, it's <I>gone</I>. If you want it back, assign it from the Exit combo box. That Start Menu button on the Casios, or any of the four normal application buttons (1 - 4) can be selected.
<LI>Finally, Drag Time sets the period of time (in tenths of a second) that the GigaBar will wait to see if you're doing a drag, or a Tap-Hold. If the stylus is depressed <I>longer</I> than this time, then it's a Tap-Hold. Less, and it's a tap or a drag. Also, this is the period of time that the GigaBar will wait to see if you're going to <I>double tap</I>, before performing the regular Tap function. Set this value too low, and you'll have trouble getting it to recognize your drags. Set it too high, and the single tap response will seem sluggish.
<LI>The icons are organized much as the functions are, in folders. Just tap on a folder to open it, and tap on an icon to add it to the GigaBar. There are a <I>lot</I> of icons in here, that can be placed in the GigaBar. Note that most of these icons are "blank", in the sense that they probably don't have any particular functions assigned to them. After you've Added one, though, you can assign any functions that you wish.
<LI>When an icon is Disabled, it ends up back in this area. At this time, it <I>still</I> has its functions, though. If you Add Icon it back into the GigaBar, it will still be configured as before. This way, you can experiment, and swap icons in and out, until you find the configuration that works best for you.
</UL>
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By default, the GigaBar installs four icons: The Clock and the System icons are from the GigaBar itself, the other two are from the
<LI>By default, tapping on the System icon (the GigaBar symbol) will show the Start Menu. A Tap-UpDn on this icon will Hide / Show the keyboard. A double tap on the Clock will Hide / Show the icons from the System Tray.
