Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Dual Remap Dock

Starting with SWAG FLU H1N1 (v1.9.0.8.5), Swagged Out Stock has a sweet feature (thanks to tommytomatoe) that allows you to redirect or "remap" the the left and the right buttons on your dock. This is a really exciting because because SOS and The EVO Classic are the only two Sense 1.0 HTC EVO 4G ROMs to have this feature. Skip after the break to see the how-to.

By default, the HTC Sense dock looks something like this:
With an APPS | PHONE | PERSONALIZE button orientation.

Some users may have noticed that SWAG FLU contains a new dock that sports the PHONE | APPS | PERSONALIZE configuration. This is more practical because you are generally going to want to open your app drawer more than you are going to make phone calls.

Remapping allows you to change the left and the right buttons in this configuration. If you text more, replace the Phone button with Messages. Don't add widgets to your home screen all day? Switch the right button to your browser, Facebook, voice search... whatever!

Now, how do we remap these buttons? We'll go over that after the break.

Get to the SOS Tweaks App
This is where you are going to remap your buttons. To get to SOS Tweaks, you have three options:

1. Open your app drawer and find SOS Tweaks.
2. Under Quick Settings (in your notification pulldown), at the bottom, is an option for SOS Tweaks.
3. Long-press the personalize key (right button on the dock)

Once in the app, you will find options to mess with your status bar clock, the battery, access the Battery Bar and more. But, we are interested in the two options below Dock Button Remapping.
Remap Right Button Activity
First, you are going to have to check the box next to Use custom application. Then, the bottom line will no longer be grayed-out and you can select a custom application. In the menu, you will notice there are some other shortcuts you can place at the right button. Generally, though, you are going to remap the right button to an application. Choose Select custom application, then you will be greeted with a list of all of your installed apps. For this tutorial, I will be setting my right button to Voice Search.
Then, go to your home screen (via the HOME button) and press the right button. The app you selected will open.
You will notice that the icon did not change. This is because we only changed the action, not the icon. However, Team Swag has put together some right buttons in the past and will be putting out some left buttons in the near future.

Remap Left Button Activity
Anyone familiar with the method of remapping the right button on SOS pre-SWAG FLU H1N1 will remember this method. When selecting this option in SOS Tweaks, you are actually brought to another application called LauchKey. So, yes, if you are just remapping your left button, you can take a shortcut and just open that app up. Using this app is very similar to the dialog in SOS Tweaks.
By hitting the Select button, you will be able to choose any app you have installed. Again, the icon on your dock will not change, but Team Swag is working diligently to bring you some add-ons that will allow you to change the icon. Also, never uninstall LaunchKey. If that app is removed from your EVO, your left button will no longer function.

Wrapping it up
That's all you need to know. If you want to check out this new feature, head over to the XDA thread (page 197) to pick up the v1.9.0.8.5 preview (make sure you are running v1.9.0.8 SWAG FLU before updating). Or, you can wait for v1.9.0.9 ICE CREAM SWAG to drop in a few weeks.

Themes will slowly be updated for this new release. The first theme to be patched are the SNAP BACK SWAG themes. Be sure to check those out!

3 comments:

  1. OH NIGGA I'M GONNA RIP IT OUT FTP RIGHT NOW, battery isn't dying at light speed anymore by the way don't worry about all that

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  2. by the way that post is so long I'll never figure the new features out reading that, I'm going to DO IT my damnself. That's how I dooz it.

    ReplyDelete