wow i am so happy that i got this working correctly...i mentioned it in the remapping contacts soft button thread but i think it deserves a mention in this thread...
i have bound handyswitcher to my start menu hardware button...i figured i didn't need the start menu nearly as much as i needed the ability to switch between and close programs with one hand...next, i was able to remap my calendar soft button to the start menu...thus regaining that lost hardware button (with the caveat that you can only access it from the today screen...but using handyswitcher's minimize all (with one hand) gets me there)
as a recap...handyswitcher allows you to toggle between open programs...it also has buttons that allow you to minimize all, close all and close all except active...
version 2.5 will be available soon...they made it so you could properly use the 5way joystick to navigate the handyswitcher menu...attached is a 15-day preview/beta version of the 2.5 version which should be released soon, according to DinarSoft (current version is 2.2 and it works great except that the hardware button sometimes closes the program instead of switching to it...)
next, using this link
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=769373
i was able to remap my calendar button to open the start menu...i don't use the calendar much and i can always run it one-handed through the today screen appointments plugin instead of using the soft button...
basically you install a program called mortrunner (free!
) which allows you to make a file "startmenu.mortrun" that, when executed, will simulate a click/stylus press on a given point on the screen...in this case, "0,0" hits the start menu button...it does not run in the background, so it won't use extra memory...it just executes the command then closes. i bound the calendar soft button to this file...
as a result...i can always get to my start menu using the soft button or i can use handyswitcher to minimize all and then use the soft button.
this is working out great for me. if u need any help let me know.
-jeff