Idea: Common boot service for SD stored apps - Android Software Development

Given that the SD card is mounted after the system starts (probably after all the boot notifications are sent to registered apps too) - Would it make sense to create a small service that does the following;
1) Has a very small footprint, as it would have to be stored on the main device memory.
2) Registers with Android for the post boot notification
3) Provides an easy to use API for registration by other apps
4) Waits for SD card to be mounted, then checks if the mounted card has a DB of installed apps, which are 'enabled' for the service and passes on a post-boot notification to them.
This would certainly help other app developers to allow apps to be sd installed, even when they require post-boot notifications.
Thoughts on this? Does it already exist? Would other developers consider using it if I developed such a thing? Is there an experienced developer willing to just take the idea and run with it?

Related

Anyone having trouble with Storage Card Shortcuts?

To date I have had the following problems with shortcuts to exe files located on my 1GB Storage Card:
1) Every time I switch on the device, Skype reports that it cannot load the Skype.exe file on the Storage Card, a shortcut of which is in the Startup folder
2) Every reboot, GSPMagic cannot load itself from Startup. If however I delete the shortcut, then create a new one manually in the Starup folder, it works fine! I have checked the old shortcut and it is exactly the same as the new one! They are identical, yet one says that the source file cannot be found.
3) Microsoft Money installed a shortcut in Programs. The shortcut had no icon, and again said the file was not found or needed to be reinstalled. Yet when I created the shortcut manually into Programs, and overwrote the shortcut setup created, it worked fine.
What on earth is going on, and has anyone experienced something similar?
Most other program shortcuts to the Storage Card work fine strangely!
I was under the impression that anything called at startup had to be installed in main memory.
GSPMagic did not work for me on the storage card, but once in main memory was fine.
Can anyone confirm this?
So I have to install Skype on the Device not Storage Card? I don't think the setup instructions said this :?
Glad to hear you're using GSPM++, it means that mackaby07 and I have helped some people!
I too have had trouble when loading this on the memory card, but in the main memory it's fine, and it doesn't take up enough space to worry about either!
Haven't noticed any real speed increase with that lil prog, just testing it at the moment.
However, what about my issues with Skype, and MS Money, both loading from the Storage Card. Surely they shouldn't cause a problem? Weird one this.
CJSnet - at least on the Magician, storage card shortcuts aren't always ready to be run from softreset, it seems like it takes a few seconds after boot for the storage card to be ready to use (so much OS kerchunking going on in the background perhaps). So it's as if the storage card isn't inserted at that point, so they don't launch.
I'll be trying to write a small fix for this at some point...
V
Great, please do post it back here when you have!
In the meantime any way to fix for example Skype insisting on running every time I wake the device out of standby? It doesn't appear in the Startup group so must be somewhere else, and if on the Storage Card, it won't run -- I get the same error.
4) Microsoft Reader again installs an icon in Programs, but when clicked I get the same error as all the above.
This is therefore not a Startup lag issue.
The exact error is:
"The file 'msreader' [for example] cannot be opened. Either it is not signed with a trusted certificate, or one of its components cannot be found. You might need to reinstall or restore this file".
Help!
Hehe talking to myself here, but hmm, this is odd, I just tried recreating the MS Reader shortcut.
Original from Setup: 19#\Windows\msreader.exe (<-path does not exist)
Manually created by me: 36#"\Storage Card\Windows\MsReader.exe"
Why is Setup, when I tell it to install Reader on the Storage Card, creating a shortcut that does not mention the Storage Card, and therefore cannot possibly work? This must be the issue with the other items.
CJSnet said:
Original from Setup: 19#\Windows\msreader.exe (<-path does not exist)
Manually created by me: 36#"\Storage Card\Windows\MsReader.exe"
Why is Setup, when I tell it to install Reader on the Storage Card, creating a shortcut that does not mention the Storage Card, and therefore cannot possibly work? This must be the issue with the other items.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is driving me mad? Why does it make every shortcut to a prog on Storage Card leave out the 'Storage Card' part of the path? Any help greatly appreciated. Maybe a reg entry? :?
vijay555 said:
... storage card shortcuts aren't always ready to be run from softreset ... I'll be trying to write a small fix for this at some point...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Vijay, any news on this handy sounding app?
I am still getting this problem, and not just after boot.
Why is it, whenever I turn the device on from standby power-save mode, I get an error with Skype saying it can't find itself on the Storage Card?
Why is Skype trying to load something when I come out of standby sometimes, but not always?

2.2 FRF85B Auto installs apps to SD!

In 2.2 FRF85B, if an app supports 2.2's built in apps2sd, when you install it from the Market, it AUTO installs ONTO the microSD card!
Go ahead, test it yourself with these 2.2 apps2sd compatible apps:
AK Notepad
FeedR
FML, Android
LED Tester
Movies
Pandora
Titanium Backup
World Newspapers
obviously there's more, but these are the ones I used and reinstalled from a fresh wipe on FRF85B, and they were automatically installed onto microSD card.
Didn't do it for me....but Titanium Backup did get an update and you can now click move to SD card in Applications menu.
didnt auto install for either :/
SiL3nTKiLL said:
didnt auto install for either :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can set the flag to 0,1 or 2. I believe 0=Auto, 1=Internal and 2=External. Maybe your flag is set to 1 (internal).
It works for me. I have never installed world newspapers before on this phone, so that also eliminates the possibility of the phone "remembering" this setting. I checked and it automatically installed to sd.
There is also a possibility that the developers of the app can set them to automatically install to sd card... but unlikely, since all those apps on your list automatically went to the sd card, not just some of them.
depends on the installLocation attribute: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html#install
I downloaded world newspapers and it automatically went to SD card and I'm on FRF83 : )
The developer sets a flag in the app for Auto, Internal or External.
Most of them set it on Auto, so the phone automatically installs on the card if you have low space on the internal memory.
I remember having a newly downloaded app auto installing straight into SD, i was back on FRF72 back then i think. Dont remember app name though.
At least developers are using it properly.
What is not clear to me is how "auto" setting will be handled in this scenario: first few app2sd supporting apps with "auto" attribute are installed to the phone memory, then a bunch of non-apps2sd apps is installed and phone space becomes low. Will Froyo at this point move apps2sd automatically to SD card? Hopefully it will, but need to double check that.
sergey.povzner said:
What is not clear to me is how "auto" setting will be handled in this scenario: first few app2sd supporting apps with "auto" attribute are installed to the phone memory, then a bunch of non-apps2sd apps is installed and phone space becomes low. Will Froyo at this point move apps2sd automatically to SD card? Hopefully it will, but need to double check that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Developers have two choices when they install the app:
Internal
External
If they choose internal, and there is room, they go internal. If there is no more room, they get installed on external.
If they choose external, they get installed on external.
I don't believe the OS will move your apps without you prompting it to do so.
From here:
internalOnly:
The application must be installed on the internal device storage only. If this is set, the application will never be installed on the external storage. If the internal storage is full, then the system will not install the application. This is also the default behavior if you do not define android:installLocation.
auto:
The application may be installed on the external storage, but the system will install the application on the internal storage by default. If the internal storage is full, then the system will install it on the external storage. Once installed, the user can move the application to either internal or external storage through the system settings.
preferExternal:
The application prefers to be installed on the external storage (SD card). There is no guarantee that the system will honor this request. The application might be installed on internal storage if the external media is unavailable or full, or if the application uses the forward-locking mechanism (not supported on external storage). Once installed, the user can move the application to either internal or external storage through the system settings.
So the issue arrises with this scenario:
1) install some apps2sd supporting apps with "auto" attribute to the the phone memory (cause that's the default). Phone memory is ok.
2) install a bunch of non-apps2sd apps.
3) phone memory low. Get a warning.
4) Now need to go and manually move apps2sd supporting apps to SD card.
Would be nice if OS would be doing that for you in step 4 since there's no easy way to know which apps can be moved to SD card without going through each app in the manage applications.
sergey.povzner said:
So the issue arrises with this scenario:
- install some apps2sd supporting apps with "auto" attribute to the the phone memory (cause that's the default). Phone memory is ok.
- install a bunch of non-apps2sd apps.
- phone memory low. Get a warning.
- Now need to go and manually move apps2sd supporting apps to SD card. Would be nice if OS would be doing that for you since there's no easy way to know which apps can be moved to SD card without going through each app in the manage applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right.
Apps2SD seems to be like a beta product. Besides a quick sign of which apps can be moved, the whole thing with the breaking widget is very annoying. What's the point of moving a big app to the card if it's going to break the widget...
But at least it works and saves us a lot of space while they make the whole thing better
Using Google Earth as a large app not supporting apps2sd in step 2, I just checked that all you get is a warning. OS will not move apps after installation is over.
vitorjna said:
But at least it works and saves us a lot of space while they make the whole thing better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm generally happy even with this "beta" apps2sd. I'm just surprised that Manage applications doesn't have a list or sort function to display only apps that can be moved to SD card.
vitorjna said:
What's the point of moving a big app to the card if it's going to break the widget...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well there is no point, that's why you're not supposed to do it.
There are some large apps with widgets, such as Pandora, which would be nice to be able to move to SD, however I want to use the widget. I wonder how hard it would be for them to make the widget a separate app. That way you can move the large app core to SD, but keep the widget internal.
Also, I wonder if it would be possible for Android to do this automatically. The widget components in the package should be pretty easy to separate from the non-widget parts. Of course if this was done the widget would need to have some code to gracefully handle the cases where the SD part of the app are not available.

Doing a clean uninstal of apps

Galaxy S is my first Android device, so please excuse my noob-question:
I just try alot of apps and most of them will be uninstalled by me a few days later. Does Android do a "clean" uninstall, or are there still bits and pieces in something like a registry (yes I am a windows-user ;-)). Or does that depend on the uninstall-method which is provided by the individual app-developer?
Due to the fact that there is no "General Android" - Forum I will post my question in this forum which at least corrsesponds to my current device.
Thanks for your insight.
quicky
This is funny because I also wonder everytime I delete if there are registry pieces missing lool. but I'm sure that doesn't matter.. There are however SOMETIMES folders IN the SD card or the external Drive of a phone (like the 8gb/16gb partition of the Galaxy).
All android phones are like that, sometimes they leave a folder with settings or sometimes empty folders, and sometimes no folders at all.
I think it's just to keep cache or settings.. you can simply delete those when you enter your sd card.
In Android, every app has his own "sandbox". This is like a exclusive folder for the app, where it stores everything and other apps can't access.
When you remove an app from the phone, android removes this "folder" so there is nothing left behind.
There is just one exception to this: the SD card. Some programs will store some information (for example heavy games store maps, voices,...) to a folder in the SD card. So when uninstalling just look if your SD card contains some folder with the app name and safely remove it too (unless you plan reinstalling the app later!).

Suggestions and thoughts about external sd card issues

After updating my n900 to 4.4.2 KitKat and facing the horrible problem of failed external sd card write, i read alot about that situation, i found alot of complains of users all over the world, i imagined a bad future to my beloved android system, i imagined that i will someday be forced to abandon the plateform and go to windows phone or jolla or tizen phone (no apple phone forever !!!), i managed to solve the problem by the workaround posted for rooted phones, but then i thought that every phone and tablet of the billion activated android phones on earth should be rooted to solve the problem and their users should be technically good to be able to root their phones and be ready to lose warranty which i thought was impossible, ability to have a file system that we could do whatever we want just as our Pcs was one of the major advantages of android operating system to the extent that some of us do not need a pc anymore or at least use it less than the past, they are killing the media editing and creation abilities of the system (just like Pc) and moving the Applish way towards only media consumption, they are removing a function that we paid for , i thought about lawsuits for this, i thought also about suggestions as making five folders by default in external sd card pictures, sounds, videos , documents and others as public folders so for example two third party apps can share the same media on pictures folder etc (not a complete sandboxing) also if app is uninstalled the media on public folders not removed with the main app, i think this solution is better than that posted by google so we prevent media generated or edited by apps to be removed when app itself is uninstalled and also prevent mirroring the same media in two different app private folders of similar purposes also no clutter as apps are allowed to write only to this public folders and their private folders, i think it is a solution in between Google wishes and users wishes and avoid most problems caused by external sd card fail write by third party apps brought unexpectedly by the KitKat update, Also a tick box in setting for allowing write access of third party apps to external sd card just as unknown sources will be more than welcomed !!!

Give Read/Write access to SdCard storage for 3rd party apps ?

Why does it seem that with every iteration of Android, we have to revisit workarounds to get 3rd party apps the ability to read/write to external storage? What is the point of having up to 200GB of storage for only native apps to use? I'm not even talking about Adoptive Storage, which is an entirely other ridiculousness. A lot of the apps I use have been fortunately been updated to explicitly ask for permission from the OS, but is there a way to just tell Android to give it up to all apps? Particularly those apps that are slow/no to update?
-Thanks
P.S. I fully anticipate needing to revisit this nonsense with Android N
The big issue with adoptable storage and running apps from the SD card is speed. This is why Samsung and LG both left it out. If you use an SD card for adoptable storage the whole system will slow down. Then people complain of long startup times for apps. Not realizing that the issue isn't from Android or the phone but from the SD card. If you want to load apps to the SD card you can. But the trade off is slow load times for those apps.
arsmithsr said:
The big issue with adoptable storage and running apps from the SD card is speed. This is why Samsung and LG both left it out. If you use an SD card for adoptable storage the whole system will slow down. Then people complain of long startup times for apps. Not realizing that the issue isn't from Android or the phone but from the SD card. If you want to load apps to the SD card you can. But the trade off is slow load times for those apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just speaking for myself, I bought the 64gig extreme and moved all apps that would let me including games. Now if I reboot it takes forever to load up everything. But once everything is loaded and it settles down, I only notice a extremely small lag. Barely noticeable. I think your card read/write has everything to do with it. My racing games play flawless.
Granted you know and can tell and you know you did it. Most wouldn't and then would complain of slow speeds. They would also throw a cheap card in there and then wonder why the phone was so slow. I can see why Manufacturers would not put that functionality in there. I work in IT and see these type of things all the time.
I can understand (and live with) the limitation for adoptable storage. However, I do not understand why 3rd party apps (most of them) cannot even write data to sd card while still installed in the internal memory? Be it editing/saving pictures, saving backups, etc. Some applications can workaround it by opening a dialog where you select the sd card and the app is granted a write access to the selected folder on the card. Bot most other apps cannot do that and then fail on writing data there (some of them fail even on reading)
Anyone knows why this stupid idea was implemented and how to work-around it?
Vitore1 said:
I can understand (and live with) the limitation for adoptable storage. However, I do not understand why 3rd party apps (most of them) cannot even write data to sd card while still installed in the internal memory? Be it editing/saving pictures, saving backups, etc. Some applications can workaround it by opening a dialog where you select the sd card and the app is granted a write access to the selected folder on the card. Bot most other apps cannot do that and then fail on writing data there (some of them fail even on reading)
Anyone knows why this stupid idea was implemented and how to work-around it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I read that it was done for security reasons but it is really a PITA. No solution for that.
Vitore1 said:
I can understand (and live with) the limitation for adoptable storage. However, I do not understand why 3rd party apps (most of them) cannot even write data to sd card while still installed in the internal memory? Be it editing/saving pictures, saving backups, etc. Some applications can workaround it by opening a dialog where you select the sd card and the app is granted a write access to the selected folder on the card. Bot most other apps cannot do that and then fail on writing data there (some of them fail even on reading)
Anyone knows why this stupid idea was implemented and how to work-around it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Security, only say around it is for the app developers to update their apps.
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