Community SSU/Features/hildon-desktop

The current scope of this wiki is to provide information on editing all parameters in transistions.ini and the contains of usr/share/hildon-desktop

Information is still required on how some parameters effect the transitions. Notes for parameters are provided with each section.

Information regarding other features of hildon-desktop like gconf has been left in the Features and Features/Stable sections due to differences between Stable and Testing branches.

1 Community SSU Features of hildon-desktop
- 1.1 Transitions
  - 1.1.1 Backing up transitions.ini
  - 1.1.2 Editing transitions.ini
    - 1.1.2.1 Applying the changes to transitions.ini
- 1.2 Contents

[edit] Community SSU Features of hildon-desktop

[edit] Transitions

This wiki covers manual editing of the transistions.ini file and requires knowledge of Terminal.

Please note if transitions.ini becomes corrupt, or you mess the file up, it may stop the desktop from loading correctly. Therefore a backup is recommended before editing.

For GUI editing of transitions please see CSSU Features Configuration and Theme Customizer applications.

[edit] Backing up transitions.ini

The transistions file is backed up upon installing CSSU. The location of all backups is the hildon-desktop folder.

/usr/share/hildon-desktop/

Any program that edits this file will create a backup. Some of the contents may include.

/usr/share/hildon-desktop/transitions.ini.precssu
/usr/share/hildon-desktop/transitions.ini.default
/usr/share/hildon-desktop/transitions.ini.dpkg-dist

Is it a good idea to create your own backup to refer to

While in the hildon-desktop directory:-

cp transition.ini transition.ini.mybackup

To restore your backup

While in the hildon-desktop directory:-

mv transition.ini.mybackup transition.ini

An alternative method is to use the CSSU Features Power key entry (if enabled). This will take you to the CSSU Features application and provide options for restoring transitions.ini

[edit] Editing transitions.ini

To enable the CSSU features you have to edit a file (I use leafpad, but any editor works). After any CSSU update you have to do redo the edit or restore the backed up file (read below).

Editing the file requires Root access.

The file to edit is transitions.ini and is in:

/usr/share/hildon-desktop/

So the command is:

leafpad /usr/share/hildon-desktop/transitions.ini

Noted with older versions of theme-customizer

If you use a theme that has a custom transitions.ini file, it may override the one above, so check in

/opt/usr/share/themes/[name of the theme you're using]/transitions.ini

if changing the transitions.ini file in the above path doesn't work.

The CSSU tweaks have to be turned on at the end of the file one by one, where there is also a bit more documentation about them.

If you don't see an option there, you need to update the CSSU install (via the application manager). You can check which version you have using System, Settings, About Community SSU.

After an update to the CSSU, the old transitions are backed up in /usr/share/hildon-desktop/transitions.ini.old, so you can restore them easily. However, if there have been two or more updates since you last did this, the .old one wont contain your changes. There is a bug logged to improve this behaviour. You can restore this saved copy using

mv /usr/share/hildon-desktop/transitions.ini.old /usr/share/hildon-desktop/transitions.ini

To apply the changes, see below.

[edit] Applying the changes to transitions.ini

Some of these changes (taskswitcher, zaxisrotation, forcerotation) apply as soon as you save the file, while others (blurless) require you to restart hildon-desktop. You can do so by turning the phone off and on again, or running as root:

killall hildon-desktop

This will kill the hildon-desktop process, and it will be automatically restarted with the changed settings loaded and applied. Be sure not to "killall hildon-desktop" too often in a row (like several times in one minute), or the system will restart (nothing dangerous, though - just an annoyance).

Running killall hildon-desktop is not recommended, since hildon-desktop it's possible that it not come back in a 100% clean state.

[edit] Contents

Default contents, values and usage of the transitions.ini file

Full plain text output of the stock CSSU file is here

Community_SSU/Features/hildon-desktop/Default_values

[edit] Blur

[blur]
turbo = 0
duration = 250

[edit] Task Nav

[task_nav]       
zoom = 0.85                              
zoom_for_home = 1.4                     
zoom_duration = 250                            
fly_duration = 250                               
notifade_in = 150                                 
notifade_out = 150                     
tile_font = Nokia Sans 15

[edit] Home

[home]
radius = 12
radius_more = 16       
saturation = 0.8  
brightness = 0.4 
zoom = 0.93      
zoom_applets = 0.85 
zoom_on_press = 0  
parallax = 1.3

[edit] Zoom effect

Zoom press just does a quick little zoom out and back in again with you touch certain things, such as an icon on the home screen or the main top menu in applications.

[home]
zoom_on_press = 0

[edit] Home screen parallax amount

parallax is when you scroll across desktops and the icons scroll faster than the background, making the icons appear closer. a larger number in the transition.ini file for parallax and the faster the icons will move.

[home]
parallax = 1.3

[edit] Launcher

Note these come default as commented out. Uncomment for faster panning on launcher page.

[launcher]
#deceleration_rate = 0.97
#strong_deceleration_rate = 0.7

[edit] Launcher Glow

[launcher_glow] 
duration_in = 100
duration_out = 200
radius = 10
brightness = 0.75

[edit] Launcher In

[launcher_in]
duration = 250 
sequenced = 0
depth = 225
keyframes = 0, 0.17, 0.39, 0.65, 0.87, 1.13, 1.26, 1.22, 1.17, 1.13, 1.09, 1.04, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
keyframes_icon=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1          
keyframes_label=0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1

[edit] Launcher Out

[launcher_out]
duration = 250
depth = 150

[edit] Launcher Out Back

[launcher_out_back]
duration = 250
depth = 150

[edit] Launcher Launch

[launcher_launch]
duration = 400
delay = 500
duration_out = 700
depth = 100

[edit] Launcher in Sub

[launcher_in_sub]
duration = 250
sequenced = 0
depth = 200
keyframes = 0, 0.17, 0.39, 0.65, 0.87, 1.13, 1.26, 1.22, 1.17, 1.13, 1.09, 1.04, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
keyframes_icon=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
keyframes_label=0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1

[edit] Launcher Out Sub

[launcher_out_sub]
duration = 250
depth = 150

[edit] Launcher Back

[launcher_back]
duration = 250
depth = 150

[edit] Launcher Forward

[launcher_forward]
duration = 200
depth = 100

[edit] Rotate

[rotate]
duration_in = 200
duration_out = 200
damage_timeout = 0
damage_timeout_plus = 0
damage_timeout_max = 0
angle = 45

[edit] Screen rotation transition usage

duration_in = time for rotation before blanking
duration_out = time for rotation after blanking
damage_timeout = in the rotation transition, the amount of milliseconds to leave after we get a damage event before we transition back

from blanking.

damage_timeout_max = maximum amount of time we may wait if we keep getting

damage events.

angle = rotation angle for each transition, in degrees. Ideally this is set so that the screen looks like it keeps turning at the same speed

during blanking. 0 is none, 90 degrees is side-on

[edit] App Close

[app_close]
duration = 450

[edit] Popup

[popup]
duration_in = 250
duration_out = 250

[edit] Fade

[fade]
duration_in = 200
duration_out = 500
banner_note_alpha = 0.85
info_note_alpha = 0.85

[edit] Notification

[notification]
is_cool = 0
duration_in = 400
duration_out = 450

[edit] Subview

[subview]
duration_in = 250
duration_out = 250

[edit] Loading Timeout

[loading_timeout]
load_average_factor = 7.5

[edit] Load average factor

This value is multiplied by the load average to find the timeout in seconds before "Unable to load" is displayed.

[edit] Edit Mode

[edit_mode]
snap_grid_size = 4
snap_to_grid_while_move = 1

[edit] Size of spaces between grid snaps

[edit_mode]
snap_grid_size = 4

[edit] Snap to Grid While Move

Set to 0 if snap to grid should be only happen when widget is released

[edit_mode]
snap_grid_while_move = 1

[edit] thp_tweaks

Most features go under the [thp_tweaks] section present in transitions.ini at the bottom of the file after a CSSU update. However, if you use your own transitions.ini files (for example from MaeModder), this section will not be present and you must add it.

[thp_tweaks]

Entries under other sections have this indicated. Add them at the end of that section instead.

[edit] Blurless

If you want to enable a blurless effect for the background when switching apps (Off = 0 - On = 1)

blurless = 0

[edit] Blurless Saturation

If you want to enable a blurless saturation effect (Off = 0 - On = 1)

blurless_saturation = 0

[edit] Task Switcher Layout

For the task switcher layout you can choose 1, 2 columns or the default (Default = 0, Single Column = 1 and Double Column = 2)

taskswitcher = 0

More details and some demo videos of these features are here : http://thpmaemo.blogspot.com/2011/02/community-ssu-features-to-look-forward.html

[edit] Rotation Effect

For the alternative rotation effect, spin in place rather than flip. (X/Y Flip = 0 and Z Spin = 1)

zaxisrotation = 0

[edit] Forced Rotation

The point of forcerotation is to make it easier to identify the apps which are:

Closed source but work well. A "white-list" will be developed and included in a future CSSU so that these rotate out-of-the-box.
Open source but work well. These will have the appropriate flags added to their source in the git repos.
Open source but nearly work. These will have the appropriate flags and changes added to their source in the git repos.

You can force all apps to rotate (Auto = 0 and Forced = 1)

forcerotation = 0

This isn't likely to work well for all applications - and never will. The point of forced rotation is to make it easier to identify the apps which are:

Closed source but work well. A "white-list" will be developed and included in a future CSSU so that these rotate out-of-the-box.
Open source but work well. These will have the appropriate flags added to their source in the git repos.
Open source but nearly work. These will have the appropriate flags and changes added to their source in the git repos.

Therefore, unless an app falls into one of the above categories, please do not raise bugs in the CSSU.

[edit] Tactile Pop-ups

If you want to enable tactile pop-ups (Off = 0 - On = 1) An additional package is required to use this feature. "tactile" located in the maemo.org repos.

tactilepopups = 0

[edit] Blacklist/Whitelist

These are features provided in Community SSU, that allows individiual applications to be blocked/allowed from rotating.

Currently the only way to edit this is manually via a text editor from Terminal, unlike many of the features above.

Blacklisting should be used to block an individual application from rotating when using forcedrotation (see above)

Whitelisting should be used to allow an individual application to auto-rotate. This is the recommended way to allow auto-rotating of applications in CSSU.

Note:- "X-CSSU-Force-Landscape=true" can used in an applications .desktop file by the developer. If this is used then the application will ignore forcedrotation automatically. This means it cannot be and/or wasn't designed for portrait support, or tested using the forcedrotation devtool.

[edit] Editing the Blacklist

In the default transistions.ini an example is provided. To add an application to the list use the following format

blacklist= appname1 appname2

[edit] Editing the Whitelist