i'm glad i finally got it. it is kind of weird. on jfisher directions it says shortcut1.png. thanks for the help again; i really appreciate the way people help you on this forum. i try to take a peep everyday at whats going on the blackberry forums.

this would never ever have occured to me either.

the app seems to be working fine apart from some people struggling with the instructions, i'll upload a release page of some sort in the next day or two.

Hint: I created a subfolder in the shortcut folder for the installation files. Then I just use the Explore feature in Media to browse to the .jad file for the shortcut I want to install. Click on the .jad file and it will install the shortcut to the device just like an OTA install. This way I can add/remove shortcut apps without having to go back to the pc and use desktop manager.

Now if I could only find a way to edit the config.xml on the device itself.

Also, one thing I failed to mention is that with this new version you will not have to reenter all your shortcuts after an OS upgrade. The shortcut apps should be backed up and restored and the rest is on your card so they will "just work" again.

you've picked up on something there - you can edit .txt files but not .xml - even though they're exactly the same... stupid blackberry. so i either edit each of the ten shortcuts to look for config.txt rebuild and re-codesign or i make a text editor that'll open anything.

and yes - i'll package it up so you can just drop the folder on the sd and install that way. tidy.

good points again and together with peoples other problems - shows why blackberryforums is awesome. i take a lot for granted and skip steps in my instructions.

Yeah, I even tried to rename the file and give it a .txt extension but apparently you can't change extensions using the "Explore" in Media.

I like the idea of just being able to directly edit the config.txt. However, your idea of a text editor to edit anything would be good. But, in a way, isn't that what the shortcut hub was doing? Maybe some kind of "shortcut hub" that edits the config.xml (or .txt) sort of like what you had before. The difference would be that it edits the file on the sd card instead of device memory like before.

Wirelessly posted (Curve 8310: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry8310/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. Wasn't the shortcut hub editing a config file in device memory somewhere? Was it XML, text, or something else? Thanks for the installation tips John. Also, I was thinking, if there was a section in the config file for the PNG, wouldn't that make them stick upon reboot?

no - after rebooting there's no way for the blackberry os to know the shortcuts have icons associated with them - there is a way of doing it but it'd require all the shortcuts to autostart on startup, assign their icons and then quit themselves. it's a whole extra load of development and the gains aren't worth it, it's not really a big deal anyway.

and yes - making a proper text editor that can handle extensions other than .txt would be a fudge and lazy, i was just reluctant to go and rebuild/codesign all ten shortcuts as it's a monotonous ballache but i'll find time in the next few days to get it done.

cheers all!

You're the man, jonathan! As always, good work on this! Looking forward to it.

Yes, great app Jon, really appreciate all the hard work that's gone into it! Possibilities are many with this one.

So here's a guide with screens:

This guide shows how to install Web Shortcuts on a Blackberry Curve 8310 using Desktop Manager 4.2 on Windows Vista Ultimate. It also assumes you have file extensions turned on:



Under folder options, clear the checkbox for "Hide extensions", or just be aware that your file extension is already .png, and name it accordingly:



Make sure that you can read your media card when you plug into the PC. On your BB, go to Options... Media Card... and make sure that Mass Storage Mode Support is on:



Open Desktop Manager and plug in:





Open the application loader and click next:



At this screen, click Add...



Browse until you find the files you extracted for the Web Shortcuts and open the first shortcut:



I recently loaded the newest version on my Curve (4.2.184), and don't have everything set up to show you screens of the remaining steps, but just click Open... then Next and finish up. This will install the shortcuts to your BB. JC also mentioned a better way to do this, which I haven't tried yet, but is probably worth investigating:

Now that you've got the shortcuts installed, let's create the folder structure. With your Blackberry plugged in, open the drive letter that gets assigned to it and create a folder named "shortcut":



Copy over config.xml from the download to the shortcut folder. Right click and Edit...:



Type the full URL including the http:// in between the shortcut fields, then give it a friendly name under the title fields:



Close and save config.xml when you are done. Now all you have to do is associate your PNG images to each shortcut. Simply copy the PNG files you are working with (shortcut1.png, shortcut2.png, etc), to your shortcut folder. Here is the relation:



UNPLUG FROM THE PC. Your memory card won't be read by your BB until you do with it in mass storage mode. The icons will be standard command looking icons, and the friendly names will still show "shortcut 1", etc, until you open each one. Click one, then come back to the home screen, and everything should populate. When you're done it should look like:







Jon, I know you were working up documentation, and I hope I didn't overstep my bounds. Some of this may still be incomplete, and may become obsolete very soon, I would imagine. Again, JC's suggestion for installing shortcuts through the device itself, emulating an OTA install, is probably also better, but there's something anyway.

JC, that avatar has me rolling

My 10th shortcut will not work. I tried several different urls and get this error:

The protocol specified is not supported by the handheld. Please try a different url.

I cut and pasted my other shortcuts and it still doesnt work. I think there is something wrong with my 10th shortcut file? Any ideas. I deleted the cod and alx and reinstalled, but it didnt help.

cheers for the headsup. i'll doublecheck shortcut10 when i do the update

fixed problem, but still have a shortcut10 issue, anyone else or just me?

Xaneth, thank you for the guide, icons are on line and running good.

From what I have tested, it should be possible to use eFile to edit the config.xml file on the external memory card.

toddz

Same problem here as well.....still no fix yet?

No fix yet, but now when I use the 9th shortcut it tells me I need a memory card, which I have. Buggy... I wish it wouldnt clear the shortcuts everytime I reset too.

I've only used 4 of the 10 available.

Jfisher- great program, thanks a lot. Xaneth- thanks for the screenshots. They helped to make the process more understandable.

This is a great product for designing one's own icons. Works in tandem with Adobe PS as well. Icon Workshop 6.1:

Make your own icons, Vista Icon Editor, XP Icon Editor, Macintosh Icon Editor, Windows Icon - Axialis IconWorkshop™

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BlackBerryFAQ

jfisher, have you worked on the 10th shortcut yet?

Hi! I downloaded 5 webshortcuts and installed OTA. Created a folder called shortcut. Dropped in config.xml & all the shortcut pngs. Am I supposed to redirect them in the shortcut hub utility somehow? The icons are not showing up on the screen.

Try the new version. View Single Post - Web Shortcuts

Thanks! It worked! Anyone make any new icons lately?

Good, what icons are you looking for?

Sweet! I was able to resize and create png files with paint so we're set. Thanks all!

Gmail

Nice icons MrKyoo!! Have you or anyone else done a myspace icon by any chance?

I saw a mention midway through this thread of starting a thread with the .png files. Did that happen? Does anybody have a myspace icon?

Thanks,

Kevin

I don't think one got started.

Thanks John. On the first page of this thread, you changed an Icon that a user posted by making it transparent. Any chance you could tell me how to do that?

I think I just used Microsoft Photo Editor and used a feature called "set transparent color." I'm not much into photo editing so I'm sure there's a better way.

Wirelessly posted

OK. Thanks again.

MySpace

Thanks MrKyoo.

I very quickly modified these icons so there could be some rough edges. Let me know if there is and once I get some serious time I will correct them and possibly make some nicer icons.

I've been following this thread, is everything ready to go now? I'm gonna give it a shot tonight, any caution spots?