Create an icon for an Eclipse e4 RCP application (Windows).

Trying to give your new Eclipse e4 application a new Windows icon is more complex than one might think.

The solution I am presenting here works for my application that is build with Tycho 1.0.0. I don't know if you run into the same problems when doing an export from Eclipse as I have never tried that.

When I tried to change the icon I ran into two different problems:

1. Creating an Windows ICO file that contains all images in the correct formats.
2. Adding the icon to the product definition.

Creating the Window ICO file

The Windows ICO file has to contain 7 images in different resolutions and depths:

• 48x48, 8 bits
• 32x32, 8 bits
• 16x16, 8 bits
• 48x48, 32 bits
• 32x32, 32 bits
• 16x16, 32 bits
• 256x256, 32 bits

You can find many tools to create an ICO file for you. But you always have to export all your files in the right format and add them to the ICO file. I tried that with several tools and never got it working right.

So I went to Linux and just used ImageMagick convert to convert all my images into the format Eclipse needs and than use icoutils to create the ICO file.

Using GIMP I created four versions of the image I wanted to use as my icon: 256x256, 48x48, 32x32 and 16x16.

Then I just ran these commands and got my ICO file.

convert -colors 256 myicon_16x16.png tmp.gif
convert -colors 256 tmp.gif icon_16x16_8.png
convert -colors 256 myicon_32x32.png tmp.gif
convert -colors 256 tmp.gif icon_32x32_8.png
convert -colors 256 myicon_48x48.png tmp.gif
convert -colors 256 tmp.gif icon_48x48_8.png
icotool -c icon_16x16_8.png myicon_16x16.png icon_32x32_8.png myicon_32x32.png icon_48x48_8.png myicon_48x48.png myicon_256x256.png > icon.ico

Adding the icon to the product information

In the product definition of your Eclipse e4 application you can select an ICO file that should be used for the generated executable. When I clicked browse and selected the icon file I had previously generated I got this:

The IconExe tool that is used for replacing the icons during the Tycho buiold was not able to find the ICO file. I had to change that to a local path for it to work.

Android: Install USB drivers for HP Touchpad

If you have a HP Touchpad running CyanogenMod Android, you can use it to develop and test applications on the native device. But before you can use the tools from the Android SDK on a Windows PC, you have to install the USB drivers.

The Android SDK provides USB drivers for Windows in <sdk-directory>/extras/google/usb-drivers. But those drivers don't include the needed information to identifiy a CyanogenMod Android. CyanogenMod has a patched android_winusb.inf file and the instructions on how to install it available in their wiki.

The patched driver information file does not contain information for the HP Touchpad. You have to patch the patched INF file again for the Touchpad.

So here are the steps needed to connect the Touchpad to a Windows PC to start developing/debugging:


1. Turn on MTP, which is disabled by default, on the Touchpad.

Go to Settings -> Storage -> click on the three small squares in the upper right corner -> USB computer connection -> enable Media Device (MTP)

2. Add HP Touchpad Vendor and Product IDs to the INF file

Edit the android_winusb.inf either from the CyanodgenMod wiki or the original file from the Android SDK. Add these lines at the end of the sections for [Google.NTx86] and [Google.NTamd64].

; HP TouchPad
%SingleAdbInterface%    = USB_Install, USB\VID_0BB4&PID_6860&REV_0227&MI_01
%CompositeAdbInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_0BB4&PID_6860&MI_01

3. Update driver in Windows Device Manager

Open the Device Manager in Windows, selection the unknown USB device and update drivers. Select the android_winusb.inf file you just modified.

4) Reboot Touchpad

Sources:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9426430/hp-touchpad-usb-driving-on-android
• http://code.google.com/p/cmtouchpad/issues/detail?id=663

Windows: Create/Delete a service

Create a new service:

sc create SERVICENAME binpath= "<path to executable> -arg1 -arg2"

The excutable is installed as a service. See my other post about building your own service. Please note that there is a space after binpath=.DIf the service needs arguments (which will be passed to the ServiceMain function), you can add them (arg1, arg2 above). Just be sure to surround the executable and the arguments with quotes.

Delete an existing service:

sc delete SERVICENAME

The service will be deleted after the next restart.

C++: Create a Windows service

Creating a Windows service is fairly simple. You start by writing you main() function as you would normally. In the main() function you have to call StartServiceCrtlDispatcher(). The programm has to make this call at least 30 seconds after it has launched. Otherwise Windows will assume the service failed to start up. So the simplest main() function for a service will look something like this:

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  SERVICE_TABLE_ENTRY serviceTable[2];
  serviceTable[0].lpServiceName = "ServiceTest";
  serviceTable[0].lpServiceProc = (LPSERVICE_MAIN_FUNCTION) ServiceMain;

  serviceTable[1].lpServiceName = NULL;
  serviceTable[1].lpServiceProc = NULL;
  StartServiceCtrlDispatcher(serviceTable);  
}

StartServiceCrtlDispatcher() takes an array of SERVICE_TABLE_ENTRYs. Each defines the name and callback function of one service it should start. The callback function is run in its own thread and StartServiceCrtlDispatcher() will only return after all services it has started have been stopped.

As the name indicates, the callback function of the service is the real main function of the service. Here the service should do whatever it is supposed to do. In order to by managed by the Services interface of Windows the service has to implement a callback to a control handler with the RegisterServiceCrtlHandler() function. The callback is invoked every time the service should change its state (Stop for example).

The service should use the SetServiceStatus() function to report its current status to the system. The following code can be used as a skeleton for your own service.

SERVICE_STATUS ServiceStatus; 
SERVICE_STATUS_HANDLE hServiceStatus; 

// Control handler function callback
void ControlHandler(DWORD request) 
{ 
  switch(request) { 
    case SERVICE_CONTROL_STOP: 
      // Service has been stopped
      ServiceStatus.dwWin32ExitCode = 0; 
      ServiceStatus.dwCurrentState  = SERVICE_STOPPED; 
      SetServiceStatus (hServiceStatus, &ServiceStatus);
      return; 
 
    case SERVICE_CONTROL_SHUTDOWN: 
      ServiceStatus.dwWin32ExitCode = 0; 
      ServiceStatus.dwCurrentState  = SERVICE_STOPPED; 
      SetServiceStatus (hServiceStatus, &ServiceStatus);
      return; 
        
    default:
      break;
  } 
 
  // Report current status
  SetServiceStatus (ServiceStatusHandle,  &ServiceStatus);
} 

// Service main function callback
void ServiceMain(int argc, char **argv) {
  int count = 0;
  int result;
 
  ServiceStatus.dwServiceType = SERVICE_WIN32; 
  ServiceStatus.dwCurrentState = SERVICE_START_PENDING; 
  ServiceStatus.dwControlsAccepted = SERVICE_ACCEPT_STOP | 
                                       SERVICE_ACCEPT_SHUTDOWN;
  ServiceStatus.dwWin32ExitCode = 0; 
  ServiceStatus.dwServiceSpecificExitCode = 0; 
  ServiceStatus.dwCheckPoint = 0; 
  ServiceStatus.dwWaitHint = 0; 

  hServiceStatus= RegisterServiceCtrlHandler(
                    "ServiceTest", 
                    (LPHANDLER_FUNCTION) ControlHandler); 
  if (hServiceStatus == (SERVICE_STATUS_HANDLE) 0) { 
    // Registering Control Handler failed
    return; 
  }  

  ServiceStatus.dwCurrentState = SERVICE_RUNNING; 
  SetServiceStatus (hServiceStatus, &ServiceStatus);

  while (ServiceStatus.dwCurrentState == SERVICE_RUNNING) {
    // Do you important service stuff here
    Sleep(5000);
  }
}

This service will run as long as its state is SERVICE_RUNNING. Once the state changes the ServiceMain function will return and the service will terminate.

Visit these links for more examples and explanations:

• Writing a Service Program's main Function
• Five Steps to Writing Windows Services in C

Windows: Shutdown via command line

You can shutdown a computer running Windows using the command line. Use the shutdown command to force a shutdown, reboot or hibernate.

Shutdown computer

shutdown /s

Restart computer

shutdown /r

Hibernate computer

shutdown /h

The shutdown command is available since Windows XP. On older versions of Windows use this command:

Restarting the computer

RUNDLL.EXE user.exe,exitwindowsexec

Shut down the computer

RUNDLL32.EXE user,exitwindows