CarDock Questions

Hello all, for my first post, I have a few questions about the stock CarDock application. Verizon is selling Droid 2 car docks for about $50. I've talked one of the guys down to $35, but it was still way too much for me.

Alternatively, I bought a universal dock at Best Buy for $15. It's not incredible, but it's cheaper. However, it's missing a few crucial key things. So, my first question deals with the capabilities of the "official" dock that Verizon sells.

From what I've gathered, when you insert the phone into the official dock, it auto-launches (and auto-closes) Car Dock. However, what else does it do to the settings? I have my phone set to lock after 3 minutes of idle time. However, when driving, this is a HUGE hassle, and kinda dangerous. If cradled in an official dock, does it change the settings to keep the screen on (and brighter) until undocked? That's my big concern about buying an overpriced cradle. I don't get any setting customization while in the Car Dock app as it is, and can't find any reviews or mentions online saying that it can change settings while in the official cradle.

My next question is this: I use the Car Dock primarily for music, and the huge buttons in it's music player. I've downloaded Custom Car Dock, and found that even when forcing the phone into Car mode, I can't get that huge music UI. Is there another application for free (or paid) that I can get that both allows me to change the phone setting so that the screen doesn't turn off while in the application (or puts it into car mode to do so) and has a huge media UI? I thought Car Dock Settings would be the answer to my prayers, but it seems to only work when in an official cradle, and can't force car mode.

My last question, and this is a combination of not being able to word it correctly in Google to get correct results and a lack of knowledge, but is there a way to get the source code to the stock Car Dock application? I can add code that would set the screen to never turn off and adjust the brightness once car dock is entered. Likewise, I can add code that would put the settings back once exited, and I could add an exit button. Of course, that requires me to have the source.

Thanks for taking the time to read all this, and thanks even more for your answers.