Related
Since we have all been having fun watching the stock market recently, I decided to write a quote/chart app, using the style of that fruity excuse for a phone as a springboard. So I present for your enjoyment an app called "Ticker Tape".
Notes:
Requires .Net CF 3.5
See the 2nd post for revision history and features.
Please read the FAQ and the planned Future Features - your question or suggestion may already be there.
See this post for a version translated into Russian. Resource files will be supported soon for translation into whatever languages you want.
As always, your thoughts and bug reports are appreciated!
UPDATED Nov 24, 2008 to version 0.5.1 (see next post for revisions)
To Avoid Losing Your Custom Lists:
The install might overwrite your data file. If you want to keep your existing lists, make a copy of TickerTape.dat before installing, and copy it back after installing.
Many thanks to those who have donated to this project!
:: dlugo, Tazkika, pwhooftman, mhoesch, 69alfa, romant,
:: fryman, ld-runner, zcai2672, rspman, vadim_bogaiskov
:: Sperbs, arcsvibe, klassej
Your continued support might inspire me to actually finish it.
.
Features
Create and edit ticker lists
Download quotes and charts for the symbols on your lists
Show charts for period ranging from 1 day to 5 years
Show charts in line, bar, or candlestick format
Show chart fullscreen
Completely touch-friendly
Scroll through lists and tickers using touch screen buttons, gestures, or D-pad
Set the download (refresh) rate from 5 seconds to 30 minutes, or Never
Settings for download behavior, and chart caching
Integration with AppToDate for automatic updates
Note: "Compare To" will be expanded later so you can get charts comparing any tickers.
FAQ
Can you add the ^XYZ index and the XYZ stock to TickerTape?
NO. The data is downloaded from Yahoo, because it is the only free service I know of. If Yahoo doesn't have it, then I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it for this app.
The data is not scraped off a web page, so sites that display the data you want (even Yahoo's own real-time quote pages) are not useful to Ticker Tape.
Yahoo (and therefore Ticker Tape) has information for a lot of the world markets, but there are some markets it does not provide. Again, I'm sorry, but that's just how it is.
How do I get quotes for Company X?
Find the ticker symbol here, and add it to Ticker Tape.
I added a ticker, but there's no data. Why?
You probably need an exhange extension at the end of the ticker. Find the correct ticker symbol here.
Where can I get a list of indices?
Here for US indices, or here for major world indices.
Where can I get a list of currency exchange symbols?
Here
How do I get the price of Gold, Crude, Lean Hogs, and other commodities futures?
Use the symbols found here
What stock exchanges are available in Ticker Tape?
A list of them is here.
How long are the quotes delayed?
This depends on the exchange. The delays are listed here. Most indices are real-time.
How much data is downloaded?
Quotes: ~80 bytes per ticker (~480 bytes for a full list)
Charts: ~2.5KB each
Can Ticker Tape do [insert feature here]?
Yes, of course it can. The next version will do your laundry too.
I installed it on my non-VGA device, and it looks funny.
Ticker Tape was initially designed for VGA. This *is*, after all, a forum for Diamonds. The latest version has been tweaked to support QVGA, but there might be some areas that still need work. It does not and will not have support for square-screen devices.
Future Features
Custom symbols for "Compare To" charts
Implement settings for download rate in off-market hours
Search feature to find ticker symbols
Adjust times based on regional settings
D-pad navigation in menu and other places.
Ability to rearrange/insert lists and tickers
Advanced ticker properties, such as notes, held positions, and alarms
Ability run in a TF3D tab - THIS DOES NOT SEEM TO BE POSSIBLE AT THIS POINT - See this post
More adjustments for non-VGA resolutions
Import/export lists
Revision History
Version 0.5.1 - Nov 24 2008 (minor update)
Added swipe (gesture) to switch between lists.
Added Exit button to menu.
Changed application icon.
Tweaked menu item borders to look better.
Rearranged menu a little to accomodate more items now and in the future.
Version 0.5 - Nov 9 2008
Optimized menu for speed.
Implemented settings for download behavior and chart caching.
Replaced price change calculations with downloaded values.
Tap chart to show fullscreen.
Some tweaks for various resolutions.
Version 0.4 - Nov 4 2008
Fixed the keyboard issue.
Fixed a problem where ticker data was not displayed when the previous closing price was not available.
Fixed the percent change calculation.
Added support for 3 decimal places.
Enabled comparison charts (limited ... this will be explanded later).
Other minor UI tweaks
Version 0.3 - Nov 2 2008
Enabled use of D-pad for naviagation on main screen
Fixed numeric displays for various regional settings
Added integration with AppToDate
Fixed issue with (some?) tickers that are reported in non-US currencies
(NOTE: the above fix should take care of all the crashes reported so far, as they were all related to the issue of either non-US currency, or symbols that weren't found)
Changed application icon (happy now th1nm1nt? )
Other minor UI tweaks
Version 0.2.1 - Oct 31 2008
Enabled everything except "Compare To" and "Settings"
Bug fix when adding symbols that don't exist
Version 0.1 - Oct 31 2008
Initial "concept" release
keep working... I have faith
GeckoDev, I'm still waiting for a decent stock app and this looks very promising. I'll be an avid supporter if you keep developing.
My only suggestion, and you've probably already thought of this, would be to include enough options in settings for what happens over the data connection based on the usage of the app.
For example: have checkboxes/choices in settings for options like such as:
-Continue streaming in realtime when program is minimized
-Prompt user that data is still streaming when program is minimized or unfocused after: (then add choices for 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, etc)
-Do not download any data when program is minimized
-Only update manually
-Update every: (choices of times)
You get the idea, something like that. The point being that those of us that don't have unlimited data connections, warnings and settings should be there to prevent accidental overages of data usage. A streaming stock app would be a very easy app to end up forgetting is on and using data and causing overages, whereas at least with a broswer, you're most likely eventually just going to end up parked on one page with no further data being streamed, if you accidentally leave the browser open.
It seems great, I willing to wait for this.
very nice, looks good as a start
will be following this thread
exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks
stpete111 said:
-Continue streaming in realtime when program is minimized
-Prompt user that data is still streaming when program is minimized or unfocused after: (then add choices for 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, etc)
-Do not download any data when program is minimized
-Only update manually
-Update every: (choices of times)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like those options. I had planned on the last two already, but the first few for what to do when minimized are great ideas.
And here I thought I was taking a day off ...
I have been searching for a suitable charting program for over three years. I have tried them all and consider all of them unsuitable. I have had to make my own local HTML files with links to www.stockcharts.com/avantgo mobile charts to deal with the shortcoming.
This Apple-like program would be awesome. If you put this on Handango, I would buy it.
Recommendation: as a first attempt, you could do a lot worse than the Apple interface, so I say stick with it for the first version.
Are you using Yahoo! data for this? I prefer Bloomberg, but Yahoo is OK.
nosro said:
Are you using Yahoo! data for this? I prefer Bloomberg, but Yahoo is OK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Yahoo is the only free feed I know of. The Bloomberg feed costs several thousand in subscription fees. Some apps out there screen-scrape to get their data, but I think that approach is prone to error, so I'm just getting the raw data, which is why it downloads so few bytes.
The problem with the Yahoo feed is the delay, even though I'm telling it to send me real-time quotes. It appears to ignore that part (except for indexes). Does anyone know of a free feed that provides real-time data?
Yes, this is fantastic. I think MSNBC has a feed, but not sure of how interactive it is (think I read that somewhere from a developer). Very pleased with the appearance, and look forward to customizing to my portfolio.
FYI...I selected "This is amazing" in your poll, and not the second one. I felt it unfair to send you half of my gains since you're not willing to take half my losses (down 56% in the last 45 days...UGH).
Your application looks fine
Great job. It's a pre-pre-pre version and needs a lot of development but it looks fine ;-)
looks great! will love it!
Very cool app, would love to see this go further
GeckoDev said:
Yes, Yahoo is the only free feed I know of. The Bloomberg feed costs several thousand in subscription fees. Some apps out there screen-scrape to get their data, but I think that approach is prone to error, so I'm just getting the raw data, which is why it downloads so few bytes.
The problem with the Yahoo feed is the delay, even though I'm telling it to send me real-time quotes. It appears to ignore that part (except for indexes). Does anyone know of a free feed that provides real-time data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know of any that are free unfortunately. All the services want "power-trader" subscription fees to be able to get true realtime. If anyone finds a true free realtime feed, let us know!
In the meantime, a delay is fine with me since I won't be making spot trading decisions based on what my phone is telling me at any given second.
I have just updated the cab to version 0.2 -- you can now edit the quote lists and set the download rate!
Check the first post...
this is so great, thank you so much for your work, i have been waiting for something like this for a long time. and it's so easy on the eyes.
very nice apps, need to add some error handling in case of wrong symbol, the app just crush.
thanks,
argov said:
very nice apps, need to add some error handling in case of wrong symbol, the app just crush.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops! It's fixed now.
This program is amazing. I like it very much.
Just some ideas for further development.
1. Please add an "exit" command. I don't know how to exit this program.
2. For the updates, please add a timer on it since market time is only from 9 to 4pm.
3. can you make it response to direction keys?
Thanks.
Hi.
Market URL https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dhr.commmgrpro&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5kaHIuY29tbW1ncnBybyJd
I am porting CommMgrPro from Windows Mobile to Android.
This is the original post.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=299070
The goal of this project is to customize the behaviour of your device depending of many events, like time, date, position, battery state, calendar, radios states, and any environment element.
Rules Engine is a complete rules engine to customize your device behaviour automatically. The idea is simple and powerfull:
The device broadcast automatically events about many thinks
Hardware events like Bluetooth, wifi, battery level, cpu state, position events, time events, calendar events, phone ring state, screen state
And much more...
And the device can perform automatically many actions without user intervention:
Set hardware state, wifi, bluetooth, speaker, launch or kill a program, apply a predefined profile, send a SMS/Email, ringtones....
And much more...
With Rules Engine you can create many rules. Each one is composed of:
Conditions. Simple or complex conditions using AND/OR clauses. For example, if weekday is monday, between 7:00 and 9:00 and my current position is my office and battery level is higher than 20% then send an email .....
Actions. Actions to be executed when the rule passes from unmatched to matched and actions to be executed when the rule passes from matched to unmatched. User can set their order, delays, etc
Other features:
Profiles: These are set of actions that the user can select / unselect quickly from the main page.
Quick timed switchers: For example, set Bluetooth on, but put off again after 90 minutes
New actions and conditions are being added each day.
Current conditions:
Weekday and time
Wifi state
Speaker state
Bluetooth state
Flight mode state
Data connections enabled / disabled
AC power / Battery
Location. To be inside or outside of some place (defined by point and radius)
Screen state
To match or unmatch other rule
Some program is running or not
Battery level (min, max)
Bluetooth connected to an specified device
Phone status (ringing, in call...)
Calendar events. To be in a caleendar event that contains some word, like 'meeting"
Autorotation screen On/Off
Mobile network type in use (GPRS, HSDPA, CDMA, LTE, etc)
Data connection On/Off
Headphone plugged or not
Car mode activated / deactivated
Current action:
Set wifi state
Set speaker state
Set bluetooth state
Set flightmode state
Set connections enabled / disabled
Launch a program
Kill a program
Apply a profile (Set of rules)
Set autorotation screen state
Set screen bright state
Set auto sync accounts state (gmail, facebook, etc)
Play a song.
Send SMS
Send Email
Set car mode
Set wallpaper
Set ringtone (as user mp3 or android ringtone)
As we did with CommMgrPro for Windows Mobile I hope this project become a user driven project.
Thanks¡¡
Known bugs
Empty
Next features being developed
Roaming condition
Condition connected to a specified hotspot
Was a CommMgrPro user for a long time on WM so I'm looking forward to how this turns out on Android, Daniel. Glad to see you're here!
For my part, I'd like to
1) have ALL of those notifications available to me (with the possible4 exception of date/time set)
2) be able to change settings, run scripts, use Locale plug-ins (no reason for you to replicate functionallity that's available in existing code), start/kill other apps and send arbitrary Intents to other apps. Output to a file would be nice as would being able to read and parse a file (rudimentary parsing is OK)
Perhaps a tall order, eh? Start small. GPS and/or cell tower location-based notifications to trigger actions like turning on/off WiFi, bluetooth, cellular radio, conditioned on time of day/day of week/date would be a good start, for me at least. I'd also like to be able to create profiles that I can trigger manually, preferably by a shortcut. While I'm not big on widgets, people will want them and give you bad ratings in the Market if you don't have them.
short/y said:
Was a CommMgrPro user for a long time on WM so I'm looking forward to how this turns out on Android, Daniel. Glad to see you're here!
For my part, I'd like to
1) have ALL of those notifications available to me (with the possible4 exception of date/time set)
2) be able to change settings, run scripts, use Locale plug-ins (no reason for you to replicate functionallity that's available in existing code), start/kill other apps and send arbitrary Intents to other apps. Output to a file would be nice as would being able to read and parse a file (rudimentary parsing is OK)
Perhaps a tall order, eh? Start small. GPS and/or cell tower location-based notifications to trigger actions like turning on/off WiFi, bluetooth, cellular radio, conditioned on time of day/day of week/date would be a good start, for me at least. I'd also like to be able to create profiles that I can trigger manually, preferably by a shortcut. While I'm not big on widgets, people will want them and give you bad ratings in the Market if you don't have them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks¡ and happy to see you again
Hi Daniel,
Great news that you are thinking of a port to Android. You will make me (and a lot of others as well) very happy with that. I am still using a bunch of programs to let at least do a part of what your program did for WinMo. After I finally ported my HTC HD2 permanently to Android (one of the things that was holding me, was the lack of your program for Android), but I am still missing CommMgrPro.
short/y said:
1) have ALL of those notifications available to me (with the possible4 exception of date/time set)
2) be able to change settings, run scripts, use Locale plug-ins (no reason for you to replicate functionallity that's available in existing code), start/kill other apps and send arbitrary Intents to other apps. Output to a file would be nice as would being able to read and parse a file (rudimentary parsing is OK)
Perhaps a tall order, eh? Start small. GPS and/or cell tower location-based notifications to trigger actions like turning on/off WiFi, bluetooth, cellular radio, conditioned on time of day/day of week/date would be a good start, for me at least. I'd also like to be able to create profiles that I can trigger manually, preferably by a shortcut. While I'm not big on widgets, people will want them and give you bad ratings in the Market if you don't have them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do totally agree with this. Lets start with cell-tower switched on and off, of 3G, WiFi and GPS. One of the biggest problems with Android is the huge amount of battery drain. This will make a good start. I know, there are a lot of programs which does it in a simular way, but CommMgrPro has a lot more to offer, after some time. And Daniel, you have the proof and skills of a very good programmer
Thanks!
Hi.
Right now there is a fully working version. I am testing it myself and works very well. In a few days I will post it. Then I will fix bugs and will add more features. Basically:
1) More conditions to trigger a rule. Battery level, incomming call from XXX, incomming SMS, etc
2) More actions to be executed when a rule is matched: run or kill a process, etc
Thanks
Gigabyte Gsmart G1345
I will be locking forward to get this working on my device.
It is really needed.
I sincerely hope that it could work on my device with Android 2.3.4.
God damn D man you finally turned to the dark side. Thought you had abandoned development. CMP was the only thing that kept me on WM until Jan this year. Have looked for CMP for android a couple of times but now you are ready. Cool man. I have started to use Tasker, and have some pretty crazy rules, but some things are not possible with Tasker, so I hope that you make it possible to integrate with Tasker as a plugin.
Anyway D. Its good CMP have not died.
One thing I miss. Being able to run my CMP as a service. Actually I believe tons of apps could save battery if they were better programmed and just called the part of the app that is needed. Maybe its nonsense, as I am not a dev, but I look forward to have you back on the train D.
---------- Post added at 11:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:30 PM ----------
Just went to the CMP page. MAN, memories from good old wm days. I really spent many hours tweaking CMP.
I miss the possibility to see all cell towers in a time scheme, and then add them to different profiles..... Is that part coming?
By the way, what phonie are you having?
HI answer in my next post (5 minutes)
Hi Martin. Time passes hehehehehhe
Well, as I posted before I didn't want to waste your time with buggie releases.
Answering your question, positions are given by location + radius. But I will develop a simple way to provide cells. It is a old way but has a good advantage. It doesn't require internet connection. You teach CMP which cells are near your home so CMP doesn't need internet. Well, currently you define a point and a radius.
As you know CMP is a rule engine. The device gets thousand of events (battery levels, positions, week days, hardware status, calendar events) so you can create complex rules to launch actions (set hardware status, launch programs, kill processes and much more.
The program will be FREE and will probably contain ADDs. There will be a donate version (0.99$) to avoid ADDs to support me.
Don't forget Martin, post suggestion about conditions and actions. Rememeber, one rule = Condition 1 AND Condition 2 AND condition 3.......and if matched then execute Action1 and Action 2 and ACtion 3......
There are other rules programs, but this one will what we really need (from programmer to programmer)
andddd just sold my galaxy S2 to buy a galaxy note. I ve iPhone 4s to develop projects for old and busy customers (you know, MAC=MONEY)
Don't worry, I will come up with suggestions if something comes up. Like your way to always answer our good and sometimes stupid questions, but important to me is flexibility. I know there is is problem calling GPS functionality, but Secure Settings solved that by an external plugin that could be called from Tasker and others. So are you planning an SDK or similar to let CMP interact with other software? In my head CMP could be a standalone app, but also the app that could be used in bits or integrated with other software.
Have another...
One thing I miss on android is being able to copy screen press like calling an app and then copy the button interactions. I will send you thoughts on this in a pm later when more thinking have been done as it could be a standalone app you could develope later.... And perhaps make some earning on.
Note..I am thinking about buying it, so I look forward to hear your thoughts about it.... When do you get it?
Hi Martin.
CMP will interact with other programs using android Intents. And other programs can interact with CMP, applying rules for example, using intents too.. I dont really know if you know what intents are, but they are a nice and easy way to allow programs interaction.
I didnt understand your sugestion about copy press. What does it mean? You know my english is poor, hehee
Enviado desde mi GT-N7000 usando Tapatalk
Daniel, I've been away from CMP (and Windows Mobile/Phone) since Android launched but I have missed CMP just about every day. Because of the value I received from CMP back then, I plan to buy it as soon as it's available. And when you're ready for beta testers I want to participate.
looking to test myself,I remember testing back in the wm5-6.5 days
Very soon I will upload the first version. Let me finish a couple of conditions (a program is running or is stopped and other one, battery level range). So probably next week i will upload it,but remember, much work to do
Enviado desde mi GT-N7000 usando Tapatalk
may i ask why you don't simply use one of the many many already available apps of this kind?
just to name a few:
tasker
settings profile pro
llama (it's free)
...
Well, it isnt a profiler. Its a rule engine. Of course, you can use it as a profiler. The idea is a total automation of the device. Soon the conditions can be used as complex AND/OR clauses. Well, its a rule engine as I think it should be. I did it in Windows MObile and I am trying to translate it to Android learning from old errors...
tasker is a rule engine too.
and llama and settings profiles is just a simpler rule engine, more optimized towords profiles, but not only!
Thanks, I am trying to make CMP better than those programs
ok. no worries. i just wanted to mention this as maybe it would be easier.
but this of course is a reasonable reason to port it.
good luck.
I've used several of the other apps (Locale, Tasker, Settings Profile and a few other profile programs I can't recall). Tasker is currently my workhorse. It's extremely powerful but it's a PAIN to program. There's no good way to cross-reference variables or other tasks so, to make global changes to a routine, I need to export my profile, bring it up in a file viewer on my PC and do searches and such on the PC while changing the programming on my phone. I'm not knocking Pent, the developer, he's done a phenomenal job on Tasker, especially given that it's only one person doing the development. But, for all its power, once I got beyond a few relatively trivial profiles, its become nearly unwieldy.
I don't know exactly what Daniel has in mind but I know what I did with CMP on Windows Mobile. With the additional capabilities in Android, I think Daniel could do really really good things (no pressure, Daniel). I'm looking for power with more facilities to make it easier on someone who does lots of things with the app.
Here’s the gist of a thread I started @ WPCentral that I wanted to bring over to XDA to get an additional perspective.(Let's be honest...XDA is a bit cooler than WP Central good )
How about allowing for users to create 2 custom Hubs? The Custom Hub would have two panes – the default being a notifications list, and the second being a list of all the apps added to that hub.
How about allowing Kids Korner to be a Hub where parents can add in apps and other educational stuff for the kids to look at (then at the bottom of Kid’s corner, put a menu option that allows the parents to put in a password to get into the rest of the phone)?
How about expanding the Lenses idea to give third party apps the option to pick one key feature of their app that gets integrated into a Hub?
How about tighter integration between Hubs? For example taking the option of in the phone dialer to hit the phonebook icon and get sent to the People Hub and using it this way…if I’m in the Calendar Hub and make a reminder note to meet with someone, or to call someone, that note shows up under that person’s name in the People Hub. If I want to edit that, when I am in the people hub I hit that note which sends me back to the Calendar to change it.
These are just some thoughts I had on how MSFT could flesh WP8 out and give it an edge. I think RIM is trying to do that in its BlackBerry 10 Blackberry Hub, but MSFT has more resources in WP8 to make things more seamless and less cluttered.
Here’s the link to the original thread:
http://forums.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-8/220854-hubs-over-folders-lenses-improve-core-apps.html
But I’d love to get feedback here on XDA.
HMm not so sure this is really worth it. Besides, to integrate an app with a specific hub is a specific job the developer needs to do. In order to integrate with the music+video hub, for instance, you need to do specific thing. Same goes for people/photo/whatever hub.
Having a custom hub is very difficult for the apps to integrate properly with it and sloopy developers might actually ruin the entire experience with poor integration.
While i see where you are going with this (notification center), the need is really not that big.
The kids corner is a completely different thing and is not similar to a hub in any way.
EDIT: the news/notification thing in the hub is something the apps do, and not the hub itself. The hub just centralizes them in a ... hub. In order for the hub to know what to centralize and from who, the apps must call specific APIs.
mcosmin222 said:
HMm not so sure this is really worth it. Besides, to integrate an app with a specific hub is a specific job the developer needs to do. In order to integrate with the music+video hub, for instance, you need to do specific thing. Same goes for people/photo/whatever hub.
Having a custom hub is very difficult for the apps to integrate properly with it and sloopy developers might actually ruin the entire experience with poor integration.
While i see where you are going with this (notification center), the need is really not that big.
The kids corner is a completely different thing and is not similar to a hub in any way.
EDIT: the news/notification thing in the hub is something the apps do, and not the hub itself. The hub just centralizes them in a ... hub. In order for the hub to know what to centralize and from who, the apps must call specific APIs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. I think I follow along with you comment.
But MSFT does have these some of these elements in play in the OS itself, so why not use them more effectively? I know Apple has a more stringent control of apps that get approved before going in the app store, so could MSFT enforce these add-ons?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Microsoft regularlly provides the Options and in my experience developers will use them by themselves, simply because it increases the usability of their Apps a lot more than it adds required effort. It's rather a problem how to implement this in a way that does prevent a badly written App from affecting the system's Performance and stability.
That especially gets a Problem when Apps are allowed to surface data somewhere as could be seen by the problems Skype originally caused with the People Hub Integration.
I'm pretty sure Microsoft will add more Integration Points into the System with the next API update - let's just wait and see.
As for making usage of some of those Integration Points mandatory. I don't believe that to be a good idea. I also don't believe that it is necessary. Developers regularly complain that they can't integrate somewhere so I really believe that if they were allowed to do it they would do it by themselves. This is also necessary because the Integration regularly involves the Transfer of data to the invoked App (Images, Files, etc.)
Stevie, I think what you've said is fair. I suppose MSFT could just use their own apps like Photosynth and Skype as a way to sure more seamless integration instead of making that a mandatory process for all devs.
Do people even see the need for such integration in the platform going forward?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
In general I believe that it can make for a more fluid experience if there are well done Integration points. Camera Lenses or the Image editing capabilities are a great example for this. Another is the possibility to have an App specific contact store (like Skype does it now).
What I believe would greatly improve the concept would be Message Integration into the Messaging Hub and the ability to create an app specific calendar store that is also availble inside the Standard calendar App.
Also nice would be the possibility to register Apps for all filetypes. Currently you can only consume files inside your App that are not assigned to System Apps (e.g. MP3 or JPEG Images).
So in short: yes, those integrations can greatly improve the workflow and I'd love to see Microsoft in the end deliver on the promise of Hubs they gave when introducing them. When you want to do something with Images, open the Image Hub. If you want to message someone open the Messaging Hub, etc.
If it were up to me, here’s how I’d organize the Hubs in WP8. I’d love to hear other’s thoughts:
Store: Same. Just better Secondary links from the all the other Hubs. This and People Hub should be the two primary Hubs where all other Hubs have shortcut links to.
Photos: Same. Shortcut Links to Store, People, Search, Content Manager
Music and Videos. Same. Shortcuts to Store, People, Search, Content manager
Games: Same. Better shortcut links to Store. Also links to People, Search, Content manager
Productivity: Office + Calendar + Note Apps + Voice Personal Assistants here (allow Tell Me to be an app where you can add commands to it).
- 3rd party apps list include: any note, calendar, language, Office Assistant Apps.
- Secondary shortcuts to People (especially Rooms), Content Manager, Wallet, Store
Content Manager: Skydrive and a page showing list of downloaded content here...not a full file manager where you can move stuff around on the phone itself, but a general downloads folder.
- 3rd part apps include Box and other upload apps
- Secondary Hub links – Photos, Music + Videos, Office
People: You manage contacts and social media here.
- Me Tile: Notifications...and have the option to reply to an individual tweet or FB post or Skype message from a listed contact here.
- 3rd party apps include: All social media apps
- Secondary shortcuts: all the other hubs.
Messaging: Emails, SMS, Skype IM is here.
- 3rd party apps include all IM apps, FB messenger, shortcut to Skype.
- Shortcuts to People, Store, Phone
Navigation: All Maps and Transit apps here.
- Some of Local Scout functionality here (also accessible in the Search Hub).
- Secondary Shortcuts to Search, People, Store.
Search: Same, except adding one more page to list search related apps.
- Secondary short cuts to Navigation, People, Store, Content Manager
Phone: Skype (calling features, video chat) and Dialer are primary options here. Other apps that tap into this Hub (or get listed here) are 3rd party Video Apps
- Secondary shortcuts to People, Messaging.
Wallet: Holds Credit Cards and Financial Apps
- Secondary shortcuts to Search, Store, Productivity (in particular – calendar), People
Corporate: Same. Allow Corporate IT to do their thing. Better links to the Productivity, Office
Custom Hubs: Users are allowed to create only two. A two pane look – default page with app related notifications and a second page with the app list.
It is still a hybrid mix of hubs and apps – if you don’t want to use a Hub, don’t use it.
Sent from my Lumia 810 using Board Express
My head hurts. It is just too complicated.
This implementation can go wrong in soooooooooooooooo many ways, it will be a wonder if a developer manages to get it right for every scenario.
I believe you're making it more complicated than it needs to be and a lot of what you are talking about is already there. I don't need an explicit link to go from Calendar to people. If I open an appointment and swipe to attendants I can tap on any of them to be taken to their contacts page inside the people Hub (as it should be).
It's a good idea to have those kinds of shortcuts around that are contextually aware but adding a load of Buttons to jump somewhere else is mainly getting the UI cluttered or getting confusing/annoying.
Some of those connections you mention are already there - e.g. Store in Music/Videos.
What actually would be a nice idea is to allow productivity Apps to tie into the Office Hub similarily to how it works with imaging Apps in the Pictures Hub.
Some of the other stuff you mention is also there. Cloud Storage applications can integrate themselves into the system for automated Uploads similarily to SkyDrive but currently limited to Pictures so it can definitely be improved upon.
TellMe is also extensible to allow Apps to tie into it and use voice command functionality. Audible would be one App that takes advantage of this. It doesn't really make sense for all Apps though. E.g. a picture taking App will require the ViewFinder etc. so it would not benefit that much from Voice Control (and it is quite a hazzle to implement this - especially if the App is getting localized in several languages).
As for search - if there would be something like a search charm on Windows 8 it should tie into the Bing App which already has a permanent shortcut in the search button.
I guess your idea would be to allow people to jump easily from Hub to Hub without going to the Homescreen. Having Links for this in every other Hub just isn't the way to go there. A possibility would be to add all the Hubs at the bottom of the Task Switcher Screen. So you would long press on the back button and would get the Thumbnails of running Apps and at the bottom the icons for People, Calendar, Messaging, Pictures, Music/Video and Office. I'm not sure if that would be an improvement over just going via the Home screen though.
So in short: more integration of Apps into the OS: yes, more context aware integration of Apps with each other: yes, adding loads of shortcuts: no
StevieBallz said:
I believe you're making it more complicated than it needs to be and a lot of what you are talking about is already there. I don't need an explicit link to go from Calendar to people. If I open an appointment and swipe to attendants I can tap on any of them to be taken to their contacts page inside the people Hub (as it should be).
It's a good idea to have those kinds of shortcuts around that are contextually aware but adding a load of Buttons to jump somewhere else is mainly getting the UI cluttered or getting confusing/annoying.
Some of those connections you mention are already there - e.g. Store in Music/Videos.
What actually would be a nice idea is to allow productivity Apps to tie into the Office Hub similarily to how it works with imaging Apps in the Pictures Hub.
Some of the other stuff you mention is also there. Cloud Storage applications can integrate themselves into the system for automated Uploads similarily to SkyDrive but currently limited to Pictures so it can definitely be improved upon.
TellMe is also extensible to allow Apps to tie into it and use voice command functionality. Audible would be one App that takes advantage of this. It doesn't really make sense for all Apps though. E.g. a picture taking App will require the ViewFinder etc. so it would not benefit that much from Voice Control (and it is quite a hazzle to implement this - especially if the App is getting localized in several languages).
As for search - if there would be something like a search charm on Windows 8 it should tie into the Bing App which already has a permanent shortcut in the search button.
I guess your idea would be to allow people to jump easily from Hub to Hub without going to the Homescreen. Having Links for this in every other Hub just isn't the way to go there. A possibility would be to add all the Hubs at the bottom of the Task Switcher Screen. So you would long press on the back button and would get the Thumbnails of running Apps and at the bottom the icons for People, Calendar, Messaging, Pictures, Music/Video and Office. I'm not sure if that would be an improvement over just going via the Home screen though.
So in short: more integration of Apps into the OS: yes, more context aware integration of Apps with each other: yes, adding loads of shortcuts: no
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stevie, I like much of your suggestions. The goal here isn't to clutter the OS - if it were up to me I would use the contextual menus and a few other existing options in the OS to facilitate moving from Hub to Hub instead of adding extra buttons.
Based on how the OS is, there may not be a need to have list of all the hubs at the bottom. The goal is to jump from certain Hubs to each other based on "common user tasks that would involve multiple Hubs or steps that can be reduced". Now if you want to do things the current way, fine. More I think some would welcome more intuition.
I was just trying to describe a smoother way to leverage the existing strengths of the OS and to see where MSFT could make the quickest improvements. No question, the OS is smooth but if they build out these extensions, you can have an improved user experience. My apologies if my explanation was convoluted.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Should MSFT eventually push an all Hub version of WP8?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
What do you mean by "All Hub"? The Hubs are a thematic grouping but I guess we will always have certain use cases that don't exactlly lend themselves to being integrated into one of those Hubs so putting everything into the Hubs probably isn't the best idea. Giving developers the integration points to integrate their data into the Hubs if it is suitable should be the priority.
I agree. Apps are mostly isolated programs running on their own. If apps could talk to each other more easily we can have more interesting behaviors and abilities that no other mobile os has. For quality control, just give the user a on off switch for each app just like the background task.
Hello everyone,
Based on the release of the new forums here, and the seemingly enthusiastic response, I have decided to create a repository of libraries that are useful to Android developers.
Libraries:
AChartEngine : This is a library that lets you make and display all kinds of charts, from line to bar to scatter charts. A very good solution, should you need charts.
Uses: Well... Charts!
Made by 4ViewSoft.
ActionBarSherlock: This library will help you in maintaining an easy-to-use and consistent UI across all version of Android above 2.1.
On Android 3.0+, it will use the native ActionBar, and below that, a backport of the 4.x native ActionBar has been used. Note that this is not needed if you want to target APIs that support the AB natively.
Made by Jake Wharton.
aFileChooser: The basic version of Android File Chooser, it features somewhat less graphical hints about, for example, your current folder, but does provide a somewhat cleaner UI.
Uses include a simple file chooser for opening a file from a specific folder.
Made by Paul Burke.
android-hybridchoice: A ListView that lets users open a single list item, while also letting you select one or more other items. This way, you can (for example) view a mail while selecting others to throw away, instead of having to do that separately.
Uses: Making any app with items that have detailed info in a ListView that can be changed.
Made by Kiran Rao.
android-lockpattern: A library for you to include a lock pattern in your app. It was adapted straight from Android source code, and is very useful for keeping data secure.
Uses: Root apps, apps with sensitive data or other apps that could hurt one's phone.
Made by Hai Bison.
Android FileChooser: Helps you in letting the user select a file. A visual GUI is made available to you and the user, through which the user can navigate to select a folder.
Use cases: A file explorer, a downloading action, moving/copying files, etc.
Made by Hai Bison.
Android Maps Extensions: A library that extends a number of Google Maps API v2 features. It features things like marker grouping, where it won't display individual markers when there's a lot of them together.
Can be used in an application with a Maps View, to make it clearer and easier to understand.
Made by Maciek G
Android Proxy Library: This lets you provide an easy and better (than Google's) solution to the Android Issue 1273 (OF DOOOOOOOM!). It allows you to easily get the proxy settings of an Android device.
Uses: You know, getting the proxy settings.
Made by Marco Pagliari.
BetterPickers: A cool library that implements the Android 4.2 Clock time picker for you to use in your own apps as you please. It is a very nice way to keep your app Holo-themed, and it continues the push for a consistent UI in Android.
Among others, uses include clock and calendar apps.
Made by Derek Brameyer.
Build.prop Tools: A library to get access to the properties in a device's build.prop, which include its codename, Android version, CPU name and others.
Uses: Having to edit or otherwise get access to certain build.prop entries in your app, for example to display system info.
Made by Jonathan Haylett.
Cieo: A library that lets you animate text. It is currently in very early Alpha stages of development, but does work.
Uses: Word games, for example Hangman, where you can add a little extra to make it more dynamic.
Made by Igor <LastNameUnknownException>.
DroidParts: This library helps you add the most used parts of Android apps without problems. It can help you add a number of more complicated parts that have been modded to be simpler, like an ImageFetcher and an improved ASyncTask.
Uses: Just about every app can do this. Easier everything!
Made by Alex Yanchenko.
droidText: A PDF creator library. Should you need to create a PDF easily, this is the library you want!
Uses include parsing user input and saving it to a PDF file for later use, or to send (i.e. via email).
Made by Markus Neubrand.
EventBus: This helps you tie together Activities, Fragments and background threads. It eliminates the need for overly complex listeners and interfaces, to make your life a lot easier.
Uses: Apps with background threads, Activities and/or Fragments working together.
Made by Markus Junginger.
FlipView: A FlipBoard-like animation to use for scrolling. Give your app a little extra eye candy, when you have multiple pages to scroll through.
Uses: News readers and other apps that separate content into clear "pages".
Made by Emil Sjölander.
GAST (Great Android Sensing Toolkit): A library to help you use an Android phone's internal sensors. It will help you control many sensor, including NFC, the camera and the accelerometer.
Uses: A diagnosing app, or one that uses certain sensors for controlling an app feature.
Made by Greg Milette and Adam Stroud.
GoogleDateTimePickers: TimePickers done right. A beautiful replacement for Google's standard DatePickers and TimePickers, It is designed with the Holo style in mind, and makes it much, much easier to select the date and time of your liking.
Uses: Letting the user pick a date or time, e.g. when setting an alarm.
Made by Mirko Dimartino.
Hansel And Gretel: This allows you to visually display the Fragment Stack. When you open a new Fragment, it is added to a 'tower' of Fragments, from which you can also pop (remove) the top one. This library allows you to visually represent that Stack in your app.
Uses: If, for example, you travel through multiple Fragments within one Activity, you can show which Fragments the user has gone through.
Made by Jake Wharton.
HoloEverywhere: A library that backports the Holo UI design to earlier Android versions (like ActionBarSherlock does for the ActionBar). It uses the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean assets and makes them usable on Android versions 2.1 Eclair and up.
Uses: An application that needs Holo on all platforms it runs on. Be aware that it might disrupt the UI consistency for the user, so think about that before including this in your app.
Made by Sergey Shatunov and Waza_Be.
Inscription: For displaying information about your app to the user. It contains a ChangeLogDialog and a WhatsNewDialog, where the former displays more detailed information (version numbers, etc.) than the latter.
Useful for showing a dialog after the user updated your app, without having to write too much code.
Made by Martin van Zuilekom.
JacksonInFiveMinutes: A library to help in parsing and processing JSON, offering different ways to do so: A streaming API, a tree model and data binding.
Of course, you can use this anywhere to parse JSON data (Twitter apps, for example).
Made by Tatu Saloranta (?).
JazzyViewPager: Makes it easy to add a nice effect when changing pages with a ViewPager. Easily done: just add it, change some references and pick an animation!
Uses: Spicing up your app's animation portfolio, when using a ViewPager.
Made by Jeremy Feinstein.
ListViewAnimations: An easy way of animating your ListView items easily and nicely, to give your app that little bit extra.
Uses: To spice up any ListView that needs more fancies.
Made by Niek Haarman.
NumericPageIndicator: A ViewPagerIndicator 'plug-in' that lets you easily display which page you're looking at. For example, show "page 2 of 20" at the bottom of the page.
Uses: Letting the user know which page they are on.
Made by Manuel Peinado.
OrmLite: A library that simplifies database interaction in Android apps. It is designed to work with multiple database systems, including SQLite and MySQL.
Uses: Database creation, management in Android. Various DB systems supported.
Made by Gray Watson.
osmdroid: An almost full, free replacement of Google's MapView. It includes numerous functionalities, like a number of on- and offline tile sources.
Uses: To add a map to your app, and easily use functionalities surrounding it.
Made by a number of non-disclosed awesome people!
PDFViewer SDK: A free PDF viewer library that works well. However, it does have a watermark on the screen, and you'll have to pay to remove it.
Uses are obvious: Building all kinds of PDF viewers!
Made by GEAR.it.
PlayView: This helps you in creating a Google Play-like style in your UI, by extending the CardsUI library (which can be found in the PlayView thread).
Good to use in an application where you want a nice smooth UI, with a modular and changeable look and feel.
Made by Androguide.fr and GadgetCheck, among others.
ProgressButton: A nice library that shows you the progress of a download in the same button that you press to start the download. See Google Music for a working example.
Comes in handy when there's a list of items to download, and you want to facilitate easy downloading and keeping tracks of those downloads.
Made by Prateek Srivastava, based off of Roman Nurik's examples.
PullToRefresh: Expand a Listview (multiple versions are supported) with the ability to refresh its content upon pulling down at the top.
Uses include social media clients, lists of other network-based updated items (orders, for example).
Made by Chris Banes.
Remote Metadata Provider: Get system information about, for example, which music is playing on your phone. This could help you implement lockscreen music controls for your app.
Uses: Lockscreen music controls, for example.
Made by XDA member Dr.Alexander_Breen.
RoboSpice: A library that makes long-running asynchronous tasks easy. For example, it offers caching (very useful for orientation changes).
Uses: Any app that implements an ASyncTask, especially when it is a bigger and longer-running one.
Made by Octo Technology.
RootTools: This library will make it very easy for you to gain superuser access and execute commands based on that. This way, you can, for example, move and replace files anywhere on the system.
This is especially handy when you are making a sort of backup app, or when you need the ability to do things that aren't possible without root access.
Made by Stericson.
ShowcaseView: This is a library that lets you highlight certain areas of the screen. Just like the Android launcher on first launch (or YouTube), it will allow you to tell the user how to interact with what, and what it does.
Uses: Clarifying certain UI elements and their purpose to the user.
Made by Alex Curran.
SlidingMenu: This lets you include a menu that slides into your app from the side, like the YouTube app has it. There, you can add a whole hosts of options and actions that don't fit or belong in the ActionBar. SlidingMenu also lets you customise the menu. The new Android supportv4 library version, revision 13, also has a basic version of this.
Uses: Menus with additional items, like channels in the YouTube app, shortcuts to your app's settings, etc.
Made by Jeremy Feinstein.
Spring For Android: A library that helps you integrate some features easily. For example, it can simplify using REST in your app.
Uses: Whenever your app needs REST of auth support.
Made by GoPivotal.
StandOut: A library that enables you to make your apps float! Basically, you can make any app you want float. Look in the thread for numerous examples!
Useful when you are making an app that is also used parallel to other apps, like a calculator or note taking app.
Made by Mark Wei.
StickyListHeaders: This is a great way to help you order alphabetised lists in a clear and very recognisable way. The current letter which you are scrolling through will be shown at the top of the screen, for as long as the first letter of the top item on the screen starts with that letter.
Use cases are, for example, scrolling through songs, email addresses, names and articles.
Made by Emil Sjölander.
Sugar ORM: An easy way to use SQLite libraries in your app. It takes away some of the more complex and annoying tasks of database management.
Uses: Managing and querying SQLite databases in your app.
Made by Satya Narayan.
UpdateChecker: This library is a quick and easy way of making sure that users know about updates to your app. It will show a Dialog every 5 times (by default) the app is launched, informing of an app update being available in the Play Store.
Uses: Making sure people update your app. It is handy in just about every app.
Made by Pietro Rampini.
ViewPagerIndicator: This library emulates the multiple ways of showing tab locations without using the ActionBar. This can be used to replicate the Play Store, older Google+ versions, launcher-like indicators and more!
This library is always handy when using tabs, but without wanting to, for example, sacrifice too much screen real estate to use the ActionBar.
Made by Jake Wharton.
Sites, etc. collecting libraries:
Android Libraries provides a big list of libraries for all sorts of tasks, including graphics engines.
Android Snippets is a collection of little snippets of code to help you in navigating some commonly (and less commonly) seen challenges in Android development.
Android UI Patterns for all kinds of UI libraries, with a nice app to go with it.
AndroidKickstartR is a web-based tool for quickly starting an Android app, including a number of (library) options to help ease some of the pain of adding extras. Fair warning: this seems to include older versions of some things, double check the generated project.
AndroidViews for multiple nice UI-based libraries that help make your app look and work awesome!
DevAppsDirect is an app with examples of libraries. Test without setting up a whole new project!
ramdroid77's Google+ community for GitHub-based libraries.
Libraries for developers: A nice little app that has a collection of libraries available to developers.
Also make sure to spread the word about and contribute to this repo!
Have fun,
bassie1995
very helpful thread! thanks mate
roottools is also a very helpful library: http://code.google.com/p/roottools/
nikwen said:
roottools is also a very helpful library: http://code.google.com/p/roottools/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgot that one as a big one. Shame, since I used it . Will add in a sec.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
I used this library to include a file-chooser in my App:
https://code.google.com/p/android-filechooser/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and forked this, that acts basically the same:
https://github.com/dentex/aFileChooser
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
xda_dentex said:
I used this library to include a file-chooser in my App:
and forked this, that acts basically the same:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I shall be including this later today. Thanks for contributing!
bassie1995 said:
I shall be including this later today. Thanks for contributing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome!
Also the other project seems valid. If you want, point to the original repository.
The main difference is that it stays on the standard sdcard only, by default.
I also found a really good site with cool libraries: http://www.androidviews.net/
I'm sure I will want to include some of them.
xda_dentex said:
You're welcome!
Also the other project seems valid. If you want, point to the original repository.
The main difference is that it stays on the standard sdcard only, by default.
I also found a really good site with cool libraries: http://www.androidviews.net/
I'm sure I will want to include some of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I'm including both. Also, AndroidViews is already mentioned at the bottom of the OP .
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
bassie1995 said:
...AndroidViews is already mentioned at the bottom of the OP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops... Sorry.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
I'm running a community on G+ about Android libraries hosted on github. Tons of stuff in there:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/100609058582053363304
ramdroid77 said:
I'm running a community on G+ about Android libraries hosted on github. Tons of stuff in there:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/100609058582053363304
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, will include the link in OP.
I was going to mention androidviews too; a very handy site. There's also a handy little app out on the Play store called Android UI Patterns (free), which is basically an app with quite a few libraries built in, so you can see what they look like in action on an actual device.
And I'm not sure if I should post this, or if it should have it's own thread (paid libraries or something), but I would argue that as there are quite a few professional developers here, a compilation of good, paid, non viral licensed libraries would be a good resource. On the other hand, XDA is all about the homebrew, open, sharing community.
Anyway, whatever the mod-gods decide, I was looking for a good, cheap, non-gpl3 licenced PDF framework for the company I work for. Many frameworks were RIDICULOUSLY expensive and many open source ones were SLOW or not functional enough. In the end I found a good alternative at androidpdf.mobi . It's fully functional, affordable and they have good support. I know this may sound like an add, but I spent some time researching this, we now use it in production and figure I might save someone some time.
MacDegger said:
I was going to mention androidviews too; a very handy site. There's also a handy little app out on the Play store called Android UI Patterns (free), which is basically an app with quite a few libraries built in, so you can see what they look like in action on an actual device.
And I'm not sure if I should post this, or if it should have it's own thread (paid libraries or something), but I would argue that as there are quite a few professional developers here, a compilation of good, paid, non viral licensed libraries would be a good resource. On the other hand, XDA is all about the homebrew, open, sharing community.
Anyway, whatever the mod-gods decide, I was looking for a good, cheap, non-gpl3 licenced PDF framework for the company I work for. Many frameworks were RIDICULOUSLY expensive and many open source ones were SLOW or not functional enough. In the end I found a good alternative at androidpdf.mobi . It's fully functional, affordable and they have good support. I know this may sound like an add, but I spent some time researching this, we now use it in production and figure I might save someone some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen and used Android UI Patterns, forgot to include it.
About the licensed libraries/technologies, maybe that's a good divide for this thread. Not between UI and functional libraries, but between paid and free? Don't think there are many paid libraries for daily use, though?
If you can link me to the PDF parsing library you used, I will be including that.
Also, everyone, updates are a little slow due to school work. Hardest exam that's yet to come is on Monday, will update it probably that afternoon (my time zone ).
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
The pdf library is found at androidpdf.mobi.
You can d/l the sdk and use it for free; you pay to get rid of the watermark on each page (the fee is per application, though).
I have come across some paid UI widget libraries (coverflow type things etc). It took me a while to adapt existing OS code to achieve the same kind of effect, so sometimes, if it's the right price, it's more effective to buy these kinds of things...
AChartEngine is a good one for charts and graphs http://www.achartengine.org/
MacDegger said:
The pdf library is found at androidpdf.mobi.
You can d/l the sdk and use it for free; you pay to get rid of the watermark on each page (the fee is per application, though).
I have come across some paid UI widget libraries (coverflow type things etc). It took me a while to adapt existing OS code to achieve the same kind of effect, so sometimes, if it's the right price, it's more effective to buy these kinds of things...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tmka said:
AChartEngine is a good one for charts and graphs http://www.achartengine.org/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you both. I hope to be updating the OP tomorrow.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
StandOut is a great library to create floating app :good:
Hello everyone,
I'd suggest also DroidText, for creating PDF files
Tiwiz
ciao99 said:
StandOut is a great library to create floating app :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That looks awesome, I think I'll try it myself
tiwiz said:
Hello everyone,
I'd suggest also DroidText, for creating PDF files
Tiwiz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, a PDF creator! I'll take a look and add it.
To everyone: Sorry for not updating, exams are busting my nuts right now . I'll try and get some more in there today or tomorrow .
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
With the exams over and spare time at 1:44 AM, I'll update this again with all the suggestions from this thread. I'll add more "external" ones later.
EDIT: Done!
I've been thinking about how all these new apps are out now that would work great on my old NST if only it ran a more recent version of Android. I saw on the old l337 thread that the NST is confirmed to be able to run more adavanced versions, but that we'd have to pull the files from a phone or other, much more powerful device, rendering the resulting ROM pretty much unusable.
Until, that is, the Nook Glowlight Plus and 3 came along. The NG+ and NG3 run Android 4.4.2. 4.4 Android could mean being able to run apps like Overdrive and Libby, without workarounds. And that would be pretty sweet.
Now these are two different devices. I'm having a hard time finding data on the difference between the guts beyond the fact that the newer models have a higher DPI screen. I'd guess they have similar amount of processing speed to preserve battery life, though maybe more RAM.
I did a little googling, and I found this CM11 Mod but it looks like it it fizzled out after getting pretty close.
Do we think this can be done?
Was wondering about this the other day. There are an awful lot of NSTs floating around ebay for US$15 now. It would be fun to be able to breathe a little life into them, if only to use them for displays of calendars, to-do lists, or anything else you can do with more modern android apps
jptiger said:
There are an awful lot of NSTs floating around ebay for US$15 now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The NST, NSTG and the first Glowlight used TI OMAP3621 processors.
The Glow2, 3, 4 use Freescale (now NXP) iMX6SL processors.
That's quite a difference.
I don't think that anything would be compatible.
jptiger said:
Was wondering about this the other day. There are an awful lot of NSTs floating around ebay for US$15 now. It would be fun to be able to breathe a little life into them, if only to use them for displays of calendars, to-do lists, or anything else you can do with more modern android apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I'm going to promise not to look at ebay!!! Three devices are enough, even at that price. But it's very tempting. Too bad the NSTGs are rare as hens teeth and always high priced. Then there is a screen artifact issue. The one I finally got has three, but it's not too bad, I guess.
Other than watching movies or live TV (both of which, admittedly, are actually possible with the NST if you can stand it), it seems to me these devices are still wonderfully versatile. With a minimal installation of GApps you can have all the calendar displays you want, to-do-lists, etc. For some of these applications, there are still apps that work fine. For other uses (you dream it up) it's amazing what can be done with Tasker to create an app that looks like "the real thing". And while the learning curve for Tasker is a little steep, baby steps and lots of online help and examples are available.
The one clear drawback is almost anything that requires a login. The fact that Overdrive has not yet been hacked to address this issue is probably due to a lack of interest from a person with the proper expertise (not me). But really, selecting a library book on Opera Mobile from your local library? I'd sooner slit my wrists. Books can still be downloaded to a PC and then transferred to the NST via Adobe's software (or you can get around the whole DRM issue if you wish). And, you can get mobi format books from most libraries now and they will still magically appear in your Kindle app
That said, having flashed a Nook Tablet with CM 11 (KitKat), I can attest that there are still issues with that less-old Android version. For example, you can't view XDA properly in any browser. You have to go back to an earlier skin which has tiny print and is most annoying. In fact you can't get to some sites at all with any browser. And the OS returns SSL errors for some operations with other apps. So KitKat is no panacea. Even so, I like my Nook Tablet running CM 11. It's an 8 GB version and so has limited RAM and storage. Therefore I have scaled down my usual apps to some essentials and things it is really good at. In fact, it has fewer apps on it than my NST!
Every one of those NSTs on ebay is a treasure. But I'm not going to look!!!!
Renate NST said:
I don't think that anything would be compatible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant as fas as kernel, various hardware libraries.
nmyshkin said:
Other than watching movies or live TV (both of which, admittedly, are actually possible with the NST if you can stand it), it seems to me these devices are still wonderfully versatile. With a minimal installation of GApps you can have all the calendar displays you want, to-do-lists, etc. For some of these applications, there are still apps that work fine. For other uses (you dream it up) it's amazing what can be done with Tasker to create an app that looks like "the real thing". And while the learning curve for Tasker is a little steep, baby steps and lots of online help and examples are available.
The one clear drawback is almost anything that requires a login. The fact that Overdrive has not yet been hacked to address this issue is probably due to a lack of interest from a person with the proper expertise (not me).
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Thanks for the thorough response! I didn't realize you could do so much! I was envisioning having three mounted on walls in various places in my apartment, one with an interactive Google calendar, one with my to-do list from Any.do, and one with a local transit app that shows if there are delays on specific trains etc. (though I guess that one might wait until we're all using public transit again...) I've never used Tasker before, do you have any suggestions of resources or guides on getting it to replicate any functionality like this on an NST?
nmyshkin said:
Every one of those NSTs on ebay is a treasure. But I'm not going to look!!!!
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Good luck! Save your money and vicariously help me do stuff with them?
jptiger said:
Thanks for the thorough response! I didn't realize you could do so much! I was envisioning having three mounted on walls in various places in my apartment, one with an interactive Google calendar, one with my to-do list from Any.do, and one with a local transit app that shows if there are delays on specific trains etc. (though I guess that one might wait until we're all using public transit again...) I've never used Tasker before, do you have any suggestions of resources or guides on getting it to replicate any functionality like this on an NST?
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There is only one version of Tasker that will run on the NST/G (check your PM). It is designed to run in the background and execute tasks from shortcuts on the home screen or automatically start a series of tasks based on some trigger (time of day, opening a specific app, connection to WiFi, etc.). I originally used it to automatically start WiFi for apps that needed it. This is definitely a "baby step" idea. I don't use Tasker as a background service any longer. There is a companion app called AppFactory which takes your Tasker routines and converts them into stand-alone apps that anyone can run (with the caveat that either GApps must be installed or else two small Maps library files would need to be copied onto the device--actually this is a dependency for Tasker itself also). You can see many examples of "apps" I have created in this fashion in the last section of this forum. You design your own GUI to fit the NST/G screen. Tasks can vary from a simple activity call to website data scraping and massaging (definitely advanced) and more.
AppFactory will not run on the NST/G. It requires Android 2.2. I have a KitKat device which will run both the ancient version of Tasker and also AppFactory, so after I finish designing and testing the routines on the NST I move all the files over to the KitKat device and compile with AppFactory. The resulting app can be installed on the NST and behaves just like any other app (and does not require the presence of Tasker to run).
A lot of patience is required to get things right, especially if you want a full-screen GUI since Tasker seems to hate screen edges and when you edit a screen containing a near-full-screen image it tends to resize it a little smaller, throwing off other elements. Fixing this requires hand-editing the coordinates in the xml files which describe the scene elements. Also, because the file structure on the NST is not the same as on a KitKat device, references to images have to be edited by hand before (or after) moving files to the second device to compile. For example, "/media/" might need to be changed to "/storage/external_SD/Pictures/" or similar. Also, the touch screen on the NST is not always as responsive as we might like.
Finally, there is one one last fly in the ointment, so to speak. Tasker will not install on FW 1.2.2 for some reason unless it is resigned. When it is resigned, it ceases to interact properly with plugin apps (things like RotationLocker, or Minimalistic Text, as examples). The compiled apps will work properly, but testing on the NST is problematic if you are referencing plugins. On FW 1.2.1 everything works properly. Since I have three devices (gulp) I kept one on FW 1.2.1 to help me with this issue.
There is a Tasker Wiki with many examples, but just Googling will yield all kinds of things. There is a guy (Hollywood Frodo) who created all kinds of videos from the basic to the exotic and I found some of those very helpful. Finally, there is a Tasker Google group where--to judge by my personal experience--no question is too stupid!