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Purpose
LinkBoy provides up to 45 shortcuts to frequently used tasks, that can be displayed on the standby screen, or used as a standalone link collection.
Shortcuts are available for the full range of applications, phone settings, multimedia files, web pages, contact actions, and common tasks.
Special shortcuts like application functions and active items are also available.
LinkBoy is most useful on phones whose standby screen offers only a few static shortcuts and has big unused space in the middle of the screen - that is, the P990.
On other phones you can still find a similar use for LinkBoy by adapting its appearance to the available unused space on the standby screen.
On all UIQ3 phones, LinkBoy can be used independently of the standby screen, as a standalone, highly configurable collection of custom shortcuts.
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Compatibility
LinkBoy can be installed and executed on all smartphones running on Symbian 9.x with UIQ 3.x.
Some features that require the presence of a touch-screen are not available on phones that do not have a touch-screen.
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Installation
The distribution package can be installed directly by using the PC install program, or after uploading the .sis file to the phone.
Refer to your phone's User Guide for details on installing.
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Icon panel
The part of the screen occupied by the icons provided by LinkBoy is called the icon panel.
Each icon on the panel represents a link to some action that you can define.
These links are actually shortcuts to execute an application, to view a file, or to perform other common tasks.
Three independent sets of shortcuts are available, one of which is visible at any time.
The icons themselves are represented by images that you can change.
Each icon can have a customizable caption as well that helps you to remember what the shortcut does.
LinkBoy comes with a predefined set of shortcuts that you can change at will using the Shortcut editor (see below).
The icon panel is displayed on LinkBoy's Shortcuts view, and over the standby screen (only on phones that have such screen).
The icon panel is hidden when neither the LinkBoy application nor the standby screen is displayed.
The icon panel either displays the shortcuts, or details for certain shortcut types, like a list of upcoming events, or a sticky note.
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Shortcuts view
LinkBoy has two page views, the left one of which is called the Shortcuts view.
The Shortcuts view displays the icon panel and lets you check its appearance after changing options in the Panel options view.
You can also execute and edit individual shortcuts as described below.
To select a different shortcut set, tap one of the set selector buttons (or use respective menu commands).
To execute a shortcut, tap its icon for a short time.
To edit a shortcut, keep its icon tapped for about one second.
To select a shortcut without executing it, use the navigation keys or the jog dial if available.
To execute the selected shortcut, press the Confirm key briefly.
To edit the selected shortcut, keep the Confirm key pressed for one second.
You can use the shortcuts over the standby screen the same way as in the Shortcuts view.
However, over the standby screen selection keypresses are available only when the phone is in non-touchscreen mode, like when the flip is closed on the P990.
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Panel options view
The right-side page view is for configuring the appearance of the icon panel as a whole.
The settings affect the currently selected shortcut set; you can have different customization for each set.
To change individual shortcuts use the Shortcut editor (see below).
Options available in the Panel options view are the following:
Rows: Set the number of rows of shortcuts that you want to have on the icon panel.
You can have one, two or three rows.
Columns: Choose the number of icons that you want to display in each row.
Alltogether you can display up to fifteen shortcuts on the icon panel for each shortcut set.
Alignment: Choose the alignment to use for arranging icons and captions within the space allocated for each shortcut.
Icons for more than three columns are always centered.
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Icons: Set the required size of the shortcut icons.
You can also choose to not display icons at all, like when you want to see the wallpaper in full.
The visibility of the icons does not affect the functionality of the shortcuts.
Captions: Set the required size for text captions displayed under shortcut icons.
Active shortcuts grow by one line when captions are set to None.
Frames: Select the frame type that will surround the borders of shortcuts.
Using frames is mainly useful when icon display is turned off.
Colors: Select the color scheme used for captions and frames.
The Dark scheme is suitable for light themes, while the Light scheme is for dark themes.
Transparency: Use the slider control to set the degree of transparency of the icon panel.
When transparency is fully turned off, the icon panel has a white background.
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Activity
Activity options for the selected shortcut set can be configured in a separate dialog.
The Activity dialog is launched from the respective command present in the main menu of the Panel options view.
These options are available only on phones that have a Standby screen.
Available settings are the following:
Over Standby: Select the way you want the icon panel appear over the Standby application.
- Never: select if you do not want to use the current shortcut set over the Standby application.
- Always: select to allow displaying the set over the Standby screen, independently of the flip mode.
- Flip open only: select to display the set in flip open mode only.
- Flip open only: select to display the set in flip closed mode only.
Default set: Check the option to make the shortcut set selected whenever the icon panel appears over the Standby screen.
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Shortcut editor
The Shortcut editor serves for changing the function and appearance of individual shortcuts.
The editor is invoked by long-pressing on the icon whose shortcut you want to change.
Available shortcut settings are the following:
Type: Select what kind of shortcut you want to have (see details below).
Target: Define the target of the shortcut, that is the exact action to be performed when the shortcut is executed
(see details below).
Icon: Browse your phone's multimedia directories for selecting an image for the shortcut.
You can choose any image format supported by your phone, including BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, and SVG.
Large images are automatically scaled down to fit within the icon area.
The standard icon sizes are 40x40 and 18x18 pixels for large and small icons, respectively.
Caption: Change the default caption text for the shortcut.
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Parameter: This option is available in the menu of the editor for Application shortcuts.
You can enter a parameter that will be passed to the application when it is executed from a shortcut.
It depends on the invoked application whether and how it processes the parameter.
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Shortcut types and targets
LinkBoy supports a wide variety of shortcut types, so that you can point your shortcuts to virtually anything on the phone.
Available shortcut types include:
built-in or installed Application;
system Setting;
multimedia File (picture, video, sound, document);
Web page;
Contact action (call, SMS, MMS, Email);
New entry for various common tasks, like appointment, contact, sound recording;
Function of LinkBoy, like switching to another shortcut set;
Active item that displays current information about calendar Events, Memory status, or Time and date;
Note to use as a reminder on the screen;
Blank space to leave certain screen areas without an executable shortcut.
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Defining a shortcut is completed by choosing a target which can be executed or viewed.
Target selection is done using one or two additional dialogs which depend on the selected shortcut type.
For the Web page type you are prompted to enter an URL.
Similarly, the Note type prompts for entering text.
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Settings
Use the Settings dialog to change options that affect the behavior of the application as a whole.
Available settings are the following:
Right softkey: Select the action to be performed when the right softkey is pressed in flip closed mode.
This option is available only on phones that have a flip keypad.
Keypress shortcuts: Check the option to use the numeric buttons as hotkeys to the respective shortcuts.
Current set notification: Check the option to display screen messages whenever you switch to another shortcut set.
Adapt to theme: When this option is set, active items are painted using the theme skin for buttons.
Today menu observing: Check the option to hide or display the icon panel, depending on the open/closed status of the standby screen's Today menu.
Disable the option if you experience some conflict, which may depend on the theme used.
This option is available only on phones whose standby screen has a Today menu (P1, M600, W950, W960).
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Allow moving icons: Check the option to make the icon panel movable by touching the screen.
To move the icon panel, set the option, then invoke the standby screen, and drag the icon panel using the stylus.
This option is available only on phones that have a touch-screen and a standby screen.
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Special menu
The Special menu is available in the Shortcut view's main menu.
Using the menu you can invoke the two basic built-in applications of your phone,
Activity menu (also called Standby or Home) and Main menu (also called Applications).
Additional menu items allow you to invoke some phone-dependent extras that are not normally accessible from application launchers.
On SonyEricsson phones you can launch the Service menus (also known as secret or hidden menu)
which allows you to test phone functions and format the internal memory (be careful with using that option!).
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Shortcuts menu
The Shortcuts menu is available in the Shortcut view's main menu.
It contains commands for managing the persistence of your shortcuts:
Backup: The current shortcuts are saved in the \other\Backup\LinkBoy\LinkBoy.sct file on the memory card (if available).
You can transfer the backup file to other phones for exchanging shortcut sets.
Restore: The backed up shortcuts are loaded to replace the current ones.
Reset: Current shortcuts are reverted to the default set.
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Flip closed mode
When the flip is closed LinkBoy appears and works similarly like in flip open mode.
An important difference is, however, that in flip closed mode you can access the shortcuts by keypresses only.
If one of the shortcut sets is marked as Standby FC then that set is displayed whenever the flip is closed.
While LinkBoy's icons are displayed over the standby screen, the visible parts of the latter are dimmed.
This is an operating system feature to indicate that the visible background application does not process keypresses.
The following keypress functions are available when LinkBoy is displayed over the Standby screen in flip closed mode:
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Jog dial: Select shortcuts horizontally.
Navigation keys: Select shortcuts horizontally and vertically.
Confirm:
- when no shortcut is selected: invoke the Main menu application.
- when a shortcut is selected, on short press: execute the selected shortcut.
- when a shortcut is selected, on long press: invoke the shortcut editor for the selected shortcut.
Left softkey: Invoke the Call log application.
Right softkey: Bring up the More menu to select another shortcut set, restore Linkboy's full view, or hide the icon panel.
Back: Bring the Standby application to foreground.
Note that accessing the Standby application's keypress functions requires that it is in the foreground.
Other keys: Clear the selection.
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We at CellPhoneSoft hope you enjoy using LinkBoy, and find it useful in making your smartphone a more pleasant experience. Thank you for using our product! |
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