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Currencies Overview: How do I add and remove currencies and where do I go in the app to update the exchange rates over the internet?
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Once you have installed Better Measure onto your Windows Mobile device for the first time and start exploring you will notice that only a handful of currencies come up on the various currency tabs. Better Measure has most of the world currencies built in but works with and displays to you a subset of those at any point in time that we refer to as the Active Currencies. The Active Currencies make it easier for you to select a particular currency from a short list of just those currencies that you care about. It also means that when you update the currency exchange rates over the internet that the program can save time by only worrying about currencies from your active list.
There is one Active Currency list that applies to all profiles and is the same through out the entire Better Measure program, so to adjust any of the basic currency information you first need to go to the Home screen (also known as the Select Profile screen) at the highest level of the application. The menu on that screen shows a Currency Settings option. Selecting that menu item takes you to the Currency Settings screen where you can manually view and edit any of your active currencies (except you can not edit the Rate for US dollars as it is the logical base currency used by Better Measure). If you want, you can set any currencies exchange rate, change the descriptive name used on the conversion screens or toggle on and off the system wide option that controls whether or not Better Measure displays only the base (typically dollar) units of a currency or if it also provides the various denominations for that currency as well.
When first getting started, the two important items to note on menu of the Currency Settings screen are Download Rates and Active Currencies.
Download rates takes you to a screen where you can choose one of the provided exchange rate feeds and download the latest exchange rates directly to your device over the internet. It is important to note that if you are connect to an internet connection where you pay for the amount of data that gets transferred that you may be incurring charges from your provider when you update you Download Rates. Better Measure will use your current data connection if one is connected or it will try to establish one if it does not find one already setup. If you connect your device to your PC through ActiveSync you should also be able to use the pass-through connection of your PC to connect to the internet. Detailed discussion of Windows Mobile data connections is a subject that is beyond the scope of this getting started topic.
There are a few feeds already setup up in Better Measure. Different feeds have different lists of currencies that they provide rate information on, and the accuracy and timing of each feed can also vary. Most feeds only update their data once per day, so it typically is not necessary or helpful to update your exchange rate info more often than that. You can also point Better Measure to other feeds by using the Add Feed option and entering in a name for the feed and the exact URL or web address of that feed. Better Measure is designed to consume RSS-CB feeds that contain exchange rate data, pointing it to any other type of feed may produce undesirable results.
The second important menu item was the Active Currencies list. By selecting that menu item you will display the Select Currencies screen where you can individually toggle on and off currencies from the master list of world currencies so that your active currencies contains only those currencies that interest you. You can also go back in and change your active currencies when ever you need. The master list is long, so you may want to make use of the Search and Goto Next menu items to find and navigate through the various currencies on the list. If need be, you can also add custom currencies to your Active Currency list from the Currency Settings screen and those custom currencies can be removed from your active currency list by deselecting them from the Select Currencies screen. Once you remove custom currencies from the Active Currency list they are deleted from Better Measure and you will need to re-add them if you need them again.
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Digital Ruler: What is Ruler Calibration and how do I figure out my screen size?
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Once you have installed Better Measure onto your Windows Mobile device the first time you go to use the Digital Ruler feature from within any profile you will be prompted to calibrate the ruler to your device.
Calibration is only necessary the first time you use the ruler because Better Measure stores that information for future use. If need be, you can go back in and recalibrate the ruler to different settings in cases where you incorrectly entered the information the first time or now have more accurate dimensions for your device.
The dropdown list of Screen Sizes on the Ruler Calibration list is a list of diagonal screen sizes in both inches and millimeters. This is the screen size measurement provided by many manufactures. You can either physically measure your screen size or you can look it up in your documentation or online. One great resource for Windows Mobile device screen sizes is the
PDAdb where you can search for your device and display its technical specifications. In particular you are looking for Display Diagonal in the Diagonal specifications section.
If you have a ruler or tape measure handy it may just be easier to measure it yourself. If the diagonal measurement is one of the items on the Better Measure screen size selection list you can pick it and Better Measure will then display the Width and Height for that particular selection. If the screen size for you device is not represented on the list, simply scroll to the bottom of the list and pick Custom and then enter in the width and height measurements of the devices display area as accurately as possible.
Once you complete the calibration screen the Digital Ruler will appear. You can control the measurement calipers with the DPad, arrow key or Stylus (for those devices with a touch screen). Properly calibrated, the Digital Ruler makes your Windows Mobile device a very accurate measuring tool for small items. See the Hot Keys listing under the User Interface section of this Help system for a full list of keys that you can use to adjust settings on the Digital Ruler or explore the Menu items available on that screen for more options.
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