PalmOS: DIA & VGZ...

The PalmOS addicts will have recognized what I am about to discuss here: the DIA (for "Dynamic Input Area", although I think Palm has renamed that recently) and the VGZ (for "Virtual Graffiti Zone") are Palm & Sony versions of the same feature, which allows to use the large screens on recent PalmOS handhelds while keeping a grafitti area that used to be silkscreened on earlier or cheaper devices.

For those who have no clue, let's just say this has been a developer nightmare since its first inception, at least from my standpoint. Well, Palm has had the brilliant idea to add yet another twist on the concept with the Tungsten T|X. That simply means that there are now 5 different (and largely incompatible) versions of the same feature in the wild:

• The "original" Sony version, added in PalmOS 4;
• Another Sony version, for their devices based upon PalmOS 5;
• The trial version from palmOne, which made it on the Tungsten T|3 (the one that required compatibility libraries that so many people install by mistake on other devices);
• The version that was implemented on the Tungsten T|5 and LifeDrive;
• And now, this new one that appeared on the Tunsgten T|X, which looks remotely similar to what should have been the standard in "Cobalt".

And as far as I can tell, each one of these libraries has its own bugs! And don't tell me it's because I don't know how to program: when you close the DIA on a T|5 the screen first extends to about 452 pixels before settling at 448 pixels, I just can't see what's the feature there...

Which brings me to what took me all this day time: Métro still had some bugs (on the T|5 & LD) which I have (apparently) fixed, but the debug versions of the simulator still crashes (for no reason, in my opinion). There are still major problems with the T|X and unless I can find a solution, I would recommend not to play with the DIA on any form other than the main screen.

The good news (at last!) is that the next version of Métro will fully support landscape mode (if I am satisfied with my testing)!