Using Control Panel

Vassili Philippov (vasja@spbteam.com), October 29, 2001.

Introduction

Sometimes we need to show a control panel applet (control panel page) from our program. That is necessary when users of your program often change some system settings and you want to provide an easy interface for that. This article shows how to open certain control panel applet from your program.

You should be careful because some Pocket PC devices don't support some control panel applets. You can find information about applets support in Creating Shortcuts to Feature Settings article by Steven Perry.

To open a Control Panel Page

You have to run ctlpnl.exe program with "cplmain.cpl,X,Y" argument where X is Id of the control panel applet and Y is an index of a tab page (most applets have several tabs). Here is a sample code that openes a control page with information about alarms.

CString strParam; strParam.Format(_T("cplmain.cpl,%d,%d"), 16, 1); PROCESS_INFORMATION pi; if (!::CreateProcess(_T("\\Windows\\ctlpnl.exe"), strParam, NULL, NULL, FALSE, 0, NULL, NULL, NULL, &pi)) { //Cannot start Control Panel process }

STControlPanel

You can also use STControlPanel library that encapsulates working with the control panel. You should create a CSTControlPanel object using control panel applet id and tab page index (the second parameter is optional).

Here is a sample code that openes a control page with information about alarms.

CSTControlPanel cp(ST_CPAPPLET_CLOCK, ST_CPAPPLET_CLOCK_ALARMS); cp.Open();

Control Panel Applets

This section enumerates only some control panel applets. Some devices contain more applets then the others, and not all enumerated applets are supported by all devices.

Contrast Applet Id: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_CONTRAST

Password Applet Id: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_PASSWORD

Owner Information. Identification Applet Id: 2 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_OWNERINFO Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_OWNERINFO_IDENTIFICATION

Owner Information. Notes Applet Id: 2 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_OWNERINFO Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_OWNERINFO_NOTES

Power Applet Id: 3 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_POWER

Memory. Main Applet Id: 4 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_MEMORY Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_MEMORY_MAIN

Memory. Running Programs Applet Id: 4 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_MEMORY Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_MEMORY_RUNNINGPROGRAMS

About. Version Applet Id: 5 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_ABOUT Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_ABOUT_VERSION

About. Device ID Applet Id: 5 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_ABOUT Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_ABOUT_DEVICEID

About. Copyrights Applet Id: 5 Tab Index: 2 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_ABOUT Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_ABOUT_COPYRIGHTS

Backlight. Battery Power Applet Id: 6 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_BACKLIGHT Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_BACKLIGHT_BATTERY

Backlight. External Power Applet Id: 6 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_BACKLIGHT Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_BACKLIGHT_EXTERNAL

Input. Input Method Applet Id: 8 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_INPUT Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_INPUT_INPUTMEHTOD

Input. Word Completion Applet Id: 8 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_INPUT Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_INPUT_WORDCOMPLETION

Input. Options Applet Id: 8 Tab Index: 2 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_INPUT Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_INPUT_OPTIONS

Sounds & Reminders. Valume Applet Id: 9 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_SNDANDREMINDERS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_SNDANDREMINDERS_VOLUME

Sounds & Reminders. Sounds Applet Id: 9 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_SNDANDREMINDERS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_SNDANDREMINDERS_SOUNDS

Sounds & Reminders. Reminders Applet Id: 9 Tab Index: 2 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_SNDANDREMINDERS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_SNDANDREMINDERS_REMINDERS

Remove Programs Applet Id: 10 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_REMOVEPROGS

Menus. Start Menu Applet Id: 11 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_MENUS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_MENUS_STARTMENU

Menus. New Menu Applet Id: 11 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_MENUS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_MENUS_NEWMENU

Buttons. Program Buttons Applet Id: 12 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_BUTTONS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_BUTTONS_PROGRAMBUTTONS

Buttons. Up/Down Control Applet Id: 12 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_BUTTONS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_BUTTONS_UPDOWNCONTROL

Today Applet Id: 13 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_TODAY

Clock. Time Applet Id: 16 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_CLOCK Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_CLOCK_TIME

Clock. Alarms Applet Id: 16 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_CLOCK Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_CLOCK_ALARMS

Regional Settings. Region Applet Id: 18 Tab Index: 0 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_RS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_RS_REGION

Regional Settings. Number Applet Id: 18 Tab Index: 1 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_RS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_RS_NUMBER

Regional Settings. Currency Applet Id: 18 Tab Index: 2 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_RS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_RS_CURRENCY

Regional Settings. Time Applet Id: 18 Tab Index: 3 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_RS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_RS_TIME

Regional Settings. Date Applet Id: 18 Tab Index: 4 Applet Id: ST_CPAPPLET_RS Tab Index: ST_CPAPPLET_RS_DATE

Related resources:

• http://www.pocketpcdn.com/sections/controlpanel.html
  Section: Control Panel
• http://www.pocketpcdn.com/articles/controlpanelapplet.html
  Article: Creating Control Panel Applet
• http://www.pocketpcdn.com/articles/enumerate_cp_applets.html
  QA: How can I get information about Control Panel applets like dialog names, icons, etc?
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnppc2k/html/ppc_tcuts2.asp
  Article: Creating Shortcuts to Feature Settings
• http://www.pocketpcdn.com/libraries/stcontrolpanel.html
  Library: STControlPanel