Blackberry Tutorial: Droid Like Sliding Dock (video)
So you downloaded Theme Builder Studio v5 and when you opened it you had no idea where to begin. Well in my first ever video tutorial I will show you how to design your very first droid like sliding dock which is featured on quite a bit of my themes. This is a long video so sit back and enjoy.
What is it?
You are probably wondering what a “droid like” dock is. If you have ever played around with the new Droid phone, these icons are hidden until you ‘flick’ your finger upward to make them show. All of the phones except for the Storm do not have a touchscreen. So in this tutorial, I will show you how to make your own droid like dock that will stay hidden on your blackberry until you scroll your trackball or track pad downward.
Download Files
I have enclosed a few downloads that you can use. The first two include every file I used to create the Droid like dock in my video. The last link is to download the CODE only.
Download ZIP
Download RAR
Download Code Only (.txt)
Please Note
You have to download the Blackberry Theme Builder tools onto your computer.
This tutorial will be using Composer and Theme Builder.
Video
Please leave comments below.
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Posted in Blackberry, Blackberry Theme Tutorials, Tutorials / How To's, gallery
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Just watch ur hidden droid dock vid just wondering how much of different would it be for a storm then a bb with a trackball. I did very much injoy the video one of the best that i have seen yet thanks again and any help would be outstanding. Samuel Luster(quote this comment)
Sam,
I am glad the tutorial has helped you. If you have a Storm, the code would be different because the Storm is a touch screen. I have a list of tutorials I would like to do prior to that. Please bare with it and check back in a few days to see if there is anything new.
MG Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
Great tutorial. I have been trying to fugure out how to make a sliding dock that keeps the focus in the middle and slides the icons left and right if you have any ideas I would greatly appreciate them. also do you have a video tutorial for a scrolling dock like your 16 icon theme? Josh(quote this comment)
Josh,
I do not have a tutorial for the DroidSlide. I will be making a tutorial on how to make icons slide, but it will not be how I did mine. With the tutorial, you should be able to figure out how though. Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
Thank You Thank You Thank You !!
Alicia(quote this comment)
Your welcome!! Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
Matt,
Thank you so much, I have been wondering for a while how to create my own themes, this was a really great insight into the power and flexibility the tools provide. I think like a lot of people I have an idea of how I want my Blackberry to work, this will greatly help me. My next learning curve is to figure out the today screen and how to have calendar and messages displayed above the “dock” shown in this tutorial. I’m feeling a lot more confident having followed your tutorial.
Thank You
Ian Ian(quote this comment)
I have watched a few of your tutorials and must say that they are great. However, I have a BlackBerry Storm and have been trying to make a sliding dock, but don’t know how to do it. I would really appreciate it if you could make a tutorial on how to do it. Santiago(quote this comment)
Thanks for taking the time to make a tutorial, what would be the resolution for the bitmap on a 8500 series (8520 is what i have) 320×240 right?
Thanks bro Jesse(quote this comment)
Yup. Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
Matt, I’m trying to publish the theme for OTA, it come up with a bunch of files, do i need to zip these, and then upload to a site ( like megaupload rapidshare ect.) so my buddy can try it out?
Thanks man Jesse(quote this comment)
No. You need a server to do it and not just have him install it that way. You can save it for ALX and he can download it using desktop manager. Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
Matt im still having some trouble making the dock, after editing and adding the droid text to my SVG file, and changing it from layer to button, this is the error message i get when i try to reload the SVG file in Theme Builder
SVG failed to import correctly.
Certain portions of the SVG may not be rendered correctly.
”
The SVG file: C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse\Desktop\Hiding Dock.svg may not be rendered correctly for the following reasons:
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined
Duration is not defined ”
What am i doing wrong?
Thanks Jesse(quote this comment)
It’s Buttons not button.
If you want, send me the svg to matt(at)mattginsberg.net Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
Thank you
Where is that code …. I cant find it, the one you paste on the SVG tutorial file with notepad..
Aghhhh it is driving mnuts Titox(quote this comment)
Uhhhh, did you read the post or just watch the video? Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
Matt, thank you very much for all of the tutorials they are awesome! One question…I made a theme with the hiding dock and when moving from icon to icon it is “jumpy” (the icons look for a split second like they are all going to hide but dont). Have you seen that before? Again thanks for the tutorials and themes. Mitch(quote this comment)
It could happen depending on how fast you scroll.
Try changing the duration from .5 to .4 Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
That seems to have fixed it in the simulator but not on the phone…track pad issue maybe? Thanks again, Mitch Mitch(quote this comment)
Its possible… Try lowering it a little more. You will probably still notice a difference. I notice a small one and I have the trackball (8900).
It really depends how fast you scroll. Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
Hello, Matt i do everythink, all good, but when i charge the theme, the theme does not act like in your video,it seems normal. no action , nothing. im doing for a bb 8520. i realy want a hiding dock.
can you please, do a pack in rar like u do for your blackberry?
i do all, i got no errors, all good, but nothing.
please can you help me?
regard from spain Samuel(quote this comment)
This is great stuff Matt. Thanks.
After tinkering a bit further, I made some side docks as well as the bottom docks. . . but here’s the challenge that I ran into. I would love BOTH of my side docks to slide in at the same time. I can get them to slide in separately, but I’d like to get to a point where focusing in on an icon on either dock will cause both docks to slide in. Any advice would be much appreciated!
Ed Ed(quote this comment)
Matt,
Side question, I noticed in your simulaton from your video that your Bluetooth and Location icons are not displayed in your header bar. How can you hide those? I know Theme Builder pretty well, but I have not found a way to get rid of those two icons from the header bar.
Thanks so much! Mark(quote this comment)
Nice looking turorial, very clean and explained well. Not sure why you call it a droid like, cause it’s pretty much a basic Hidden Bottom Dock. Never the less great job. I have a full set of tutorials as well on my site, but because this was so good I will be coming around and checking you out regularly.
PapaMag PapaMag(quote this comment)
It’s called droid dock because that is what the very first droids did.
All tutorials will be going to http://www.bbthemelab.com Matt Ginsberg(quote this comment)
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