Im developing a "desktop" for WM6+ and i was wondering if i can override the draw that WM does when it starts the OS (like the start menu, softkey bar, and background) basically have my program draw the today screen instead of windows. My program will of course integrate everything that the original "screen" integrated.
C++
Do you want to implement a today screen "theme" or have the device operate in kiosk mode? The first one is easy - you would need great experience to do the second one.
There are commercial solutions available that will enable you to operate your device in "Kiosk" mode. These aren't cheap though. If you plan to do it yourself, then good knowledge of Windows CE OS is needed - I suggest that you download Platform Builder (I am not sure how they call it now) and have a look at the source code. This is the best way to learn about the internals of the system.
One, not so perfect but easy to implement solution, is to create a full screen application and have it launched at start up. You need also to intercept the hardware keys.
You have a few options. You can personalize the home screen, which doesn't require code, use a theme generator like the one from Ruttensoft (there are others too, so do some searching). The final option is to write your own theme using either the Home Screen API or the Today Screen API, depending on your target device form factor.
In addition to my question (as i cant edit it) I am not going to use a theme or the today screen api.