Database Develop

[ThinkTank] How to speed up Market after wipe (Partial fix)

Okay, this has been bugging me for a long time. I've been around since the beginning of G1 and have never seen a solution to this. I'm out of town on vacation, so my updates and responses may be slow. I've found a partial solution for this. If you don't want to read the fluff, drop down to Partial Solution sections, but be warned, this is not perfect (yet). Below is a quick spilling of my guts on this. Please excuse any grammar mistakes and fragmented thought. I posted this in DEV because more research needs to be done by someone that knows how this stuff works. If we get this worked out, I'll update this post with whatever information is necessary.
This post takes for granted the reader has some knowledge of file management and manipulation, so I won't get too detailed with how to copy/move/delete files. There is a lot of information here and I know most won't read it all, but I'm trying to get all the detail into this I can think of in hopes others have ideas that we can share.
I DO NOT KNOW THE RAMIFICATIONS OF WHAT THIS DOES! ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOUR PHONE IS YOUR FAULT, NOT MINE! Etc... Etc... Etc...
Issue: After flashing/Odin/wiping, sometimes the Market takes about a minute to load as does the app and security info screens. The Top Paid button is missing and all that's available is Top Free and Just In. Installing an app takes quite a bit of time. It eventually clears up, but it may take up to a week.
If you restore Market preferences via Titanium Backup or similar app, it can speed it up, but in the long run, you may get cross referenced apps over time or Market problems in general. For example, I install app1 and when it's finished, I select it in notifications and it takes me to app3. Some apps are also missing from Downloads and have to be installed again for them to show up. I also experience Titanium Backup not linking the Market correctly if at all. How to fix that is below, also.
How I Tested: I renamed /dbdata/databases/com.android.vending which reproduced the problem reliably and gave me a working set of databases and .xml's to look at.
Partial Solution: Save a copy of /dbdata/databases/com.android.vending/shared_prefs/vending_preferences.xml and put it back after you've restored your apps and opened Market once (just to lay down the directory structure). There are other files that will get more "stuff" back, but because of issues I've had between vending.apk versions, I choose to restore just this one file. It doesn't seem to change much. You can look in it and find some interesting things, but I've found changing it does very little if anything. Changing local_db_sync_required didn't do anything and it just reverted back to "false" for me.
What you will find, is Market will run quickly again BUT, you have no links so none of your apps show as installed. Although it will probably sync over time, the point of my messing around was fairly instant gratification. Thus the next section.
New Problem: Market speed is normal, but no apps are linked. Hey, I use Titanium backup! Fix Market links works, partially. I have 226 apps backed up in TB (Yes, this is why I wanted to get this working) and when I fixed Market links, it found 167. I fixed them again and it found 9, then 17, then 6 etc... It repeated some apps and never detected others. I checked and some of the "fixed" apps did not show in downloads... So I started looking. Menu -> Legend showed me part of the issue. Smiley face -vs- green M. For some reason, some of my apps were not linking properly. Here's how to get that part working.
Partial Solution: Here's what I did in TB. I filtered by Status: Backed up and Type: User. Starting at the top of the list, I long pressed on the first "smiley face" which means it didn't back up the Market link and if it was "Attached to Market", I Detached it. View in Market and installed the app. When it was done, I backed the app up again and viola, green M showing it backed up the Market link. I did this many, many more times to fix my links. It worked in all occasions as long as I could find the app in the Market. Of course, some apps installed outside the Market cannot be fixed (duh), but all others worked fine.
I still have a problem getting everything attached in one shot. If I fix Market links in TB, I still get strange results, but this is as close as I can get and I found quite a few apps that have not been linked for so long, they were a few revs behind, so I'm happy with how far I've gotten.
Questions that will be asked:
- Why didn't you force attach to Market with TB? Because it didn't work. Some indicated it did, but they didn't show up in Market as installed, they didn't back up as linked and some even reverted back to not being attached and the forced button was available. The above is how I got around all of that.
- What about the other cool DB's and .xml? I didn't find that it was worth any possible issues to restore anything else except this file. That is probably what got me into this in the first place. Your mileage may vary. DB's usually need an update script if any changes are made. If that doesn't happen and the schema doesn't match, that's usually bad. That's why a lot of ROM's require a wipe. The old doesn't match the new...
- Why can't you backup Market with TB now that it is working well? I could and it would probably work, but I know it won't work forever because it didn't before. It also won't help someone else who is in a similar situation. I've been using TB (paid) since it came out and I love it. But, it's not perfect.
- Why should I mess with this instead of waiting for it to fix itself? You probably shouldn't. I've found that if I did a restore of apps, some NEVER go back to the Downloads section without a re-install. That's my concern.
- I don't have any of these problems, why are you posting this? Because I and others have. The universe does not revolve around you. Please move on.
- Why did you post this in Dev? As I said in the beginning, because we need someone who knows how this OS works so maybe a reliable workaround can be had for all. I didn't post in DEV for exposure, I posted here because I started it and I don't know where to go. Maybe a fix can be turned into an app or incorporated directly within a ROM. Who knows? I'm not a DEVing, but I am troubleshooting an issue within the OS.

One thing I've found that helps, is I kinda ignore if it shows up in Downloads in the market after a restore. I check for updates using AppBrain app, it finds all the apps on the phone whether they're in the market or not. Then, whenever an app is updated, it directs you to the market download page. If the market link was broken, that will say "Install" instead of "Update", but an install at that point will update properly, and you'll now have a working market link.
The main goal of having apps show up in the market, IMHO, is updates and uninstalls. Use the system uninstaller rather than the market for uninstalls, and use AppBrain to find updates. Works for me.

Thanks a lot for putting this up! I was banging my head against the wall last night, as I ran into this issue again and couldnt remember how I fixed it on my G1

zimphishmonger said:
Thanks a lot for putting this up! I was banging my head against the wall last night, as I ran into this issue again and couldnt remember how I fixed it on my G1
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yw
lotherius said:
One thing I've found that helps, is I kinda ignore if it shows up in Downloads in the market after a restore. I check for updates using AppBrain app, it finds all the apps on the phone whether they're in the market or not. Then, whenever an app is updated, it directs you to the market download page. If the market link was broken, that will say "Install" instead of "Update", but an install at that point will update properly, and you'll now have a working market link.
The main goal of having apps show up in the market, IMHO, is updates and uninstalls. Use the system uninstaller rather than the market for uninstalls, and use AppBrain to find updates. Works for me.
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I rarely uninstall via market. Have an app that throws me straight to the system uninstaller from the apps icon. I like appbrain, but it exhibits the same issue as the Market for me as far as detecting installed apps in some cases. I use the Market for updates and it works fine for me as long as the apps are linked. I think it has something to do with the hash getting messed up in the assets.db

Is Full Market even attainable (whack-a-mole)?

Hi,
I know that there are already a number of threads, but I was wondering if anyone knows if getting "full market" on the Gtab is really possible?
The reason for the question is that I've been working on this for awhile now, and I've tried every tweak that I've been able to find, and also some of my own, and:
1) I keep finding that I can't see some apps in market, and
2) The apps that I can see vs. not see seem to change, seemingly over time, or depending on tweaks, or sometimes randomly.
For example, earlier today, before began my latest round of tweaking, I had done the main market fix (market clear cache/force down, gsf clear data/force down, start market/get error/reboot), and with that, I could see Miren browser, but couldn't see SQL Editor, Adobe Air, Adobe Flash, or Xscope.
I then did a chance, similar to the Android ID changer posted in another thread, but I did it directly, by getting an AndroidID from a Droid, and then using sqlite3 to change the AndroidID on my Gtab. That didn't let me see more apps.
So, I changed the fingerprint in build.prop and did the market fix, and then I could see SQL Editor, but not Adobe Air/Flash, and Xscope.
Then, I set the time to 11:58PM, did the market fix, shutdown the Gtab, then waited.
When I powered the Gtab back on, after "midnight", I was really surprised that I could then see both Adobe Air and Adobe Flash. Still no Xscope, though.
Then, the latest step, I set the Gtab back to the correct time, and rebooted, and after that, I couldn't see Adobe Air and Adobe Flash, but now I can see Miren and Xscope.
It seems like chasing "full market" is really like "whack-a-mole", and so I'm starting to wonder if it's even possible to get there with the Gtab?
Sorry for going on, but this is really frustrating!!
Jim

Jim, I have been having some weird issues downloading with my Moto Droid for the last 2 days. I really think that Google is doing something with market. Oddly I seem to be having less problems with my GTab

thebadfrog said:
Jim, I have been having some weird issues downloading with my Moto Droid for the last 2 days. I really think that Google is doing something with market. Oddly I seem to be having less problems with my GTab
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Hi,
I'm aware of the network problems (retry popup, etc.), but I've been at this (trying to get a full, consistent market) for awhile. What I related in my earlier post was just what I tried today, but this has been almost since I got the Gtab, just after Thanksgiving.
Mostly, it doesn't bother me, but earlier this week, there was post from reelportal asking to test his new app, which needed Air, which kind of got me going on this again. He had posted the Air APK, but it was still kind of bugging me.
I was really surprised to see Air appear in Market today, but then was shot down when it disappeared later.
Feel like I'm "chasing a ghost" with this (="whack-a-mole" )!!
Jim

BTW. You mentioned Droid. One of my sons has a Droid, and that has been what I was using as my 'baseline', to check if I should or shouldn't see an app. He could see every one, all the time.
That keeps leading me to believe that it is possible, which is what drives me batty about this!
Jim

See? This is the weirdness of all of this. Just posted in response on another thread:
No guarantees, but I've been messing with market, and I just got tank hero. I used Titanium backup and cleared data for market then for googleservicesframework, then started market, and bam. It was there!
Yes, it's back ... but xscope and miren are gone...

Hi,
OK, this is at least a little consistent, and so far, repeatable.
If I use TB to clear market then gsf data, then start market, I get the agreement page, then I can see Air, Flash, and Tank hero, but no xscope, miren, or startup auditor.
If I then do the regular market fix and reboot, I get miren, xscope, and startup auditor, but no Flash, Air, or Tank Hero.
I don't see the logic, but seems to be consistent.
Jim

I was trying to help someone earlier with "earthNC". Wasn't in market so I did the Titanium Market fix and it appeared.

thebadfrog said:
I was trying to help someone earlier with "earthNC". Wasn't in market so I did the Titanium Market fix and it appeared.
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Click to collapse
So are you seeing the same thing as I am? Doing data clear w TB, get Flash, Air, and Tank Hero, but not miren, xscope, or startup auditor, then do regular market fix get the reverse?
Does that make any sense?
Jim

[Q] phire mod forum discussion... .

I've seen in the phiremod development forum that people are having problems with the market showing all apps. Im curious if all the apps show up in a third party market app, i.e. appbrain?

I see all apps installed via Appbrain not like the usual My Apps problem but I still have an issue, if some apps show as to be upgraded in Appbrain, by clicking on them, it loads the Market but then says object not available
Anyone has the same issue?

weirdness
I'm having different pronouns, I flashed 6.2 and it wont load the Google widget, the icons are screwy,and every thing else is off. Like where the buttons are and where they look like they are.
and now it wont reboot to clockwork, ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Mini Uninstaller (fast way of uninstalling apps)

Hello,
I have with me an app I would like to share with the HD2, and XDA community which I previously found on the Google Market which now doesnt exist anymore.
I managed to copy out the APK and I will attach below.
The app is good for
Listing all your installed apps quickly so you can remove them
Smooth scrolling
Sort by Name/Size/Last Installed/Install Location
Search
Just needs to build cache during first launch, and doesnt work on LANDSCAPE, which are the only disadvantages of it.
I personally use the Last Installed sorting mechanism, to view all the last installed and remove. I install quite a number of apps and usually when I found that it sucked, I enter this app quickly and remove them (latest apps appear on top of the list)
I have been using this since 2.2 FROYO and it doesnt seem to give errors back then. On GB 2.3, I noticed an occasional error message :
[Opps Sorry I got error ] but this doesnt stop it from uninstalling the application.
I have given this app rigorous testing and it has survived 2.2+ and 2.3+ Androids application removal, whether it produces errors or not.
I also noticed that this app has been removed from the Google Market, without reason from the developer / Google. Hence I would not mention anything about future release or support, neither do I know whether it would damage your device/ operating system but I certainly ONLY been using this app to remove applications and it has been TREMENDOUSLY awesome. Give it a try, and let me know whether you found similiar apps in terms of speed, features and outlook.
Credits to its developer, which I remember to be known as MINIGUY after a few Googles. I also couldnt find this application anymore hence I am posting it here
If this has been posted before I apologize.
Dont forget to click the THANKS button if you found this app useful
On another note, this applications is FREE and is not WAREZ

It sounds like appsaver.. is it better?

Hnktc said:
It sounds like appsaver.. is it better?
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i think ive tried appsaver but this is an app that lists out all your apps pretty quickly and lets u just choose to uninstall them
its like add/remove programs, but way way faster than anything ive tried especially 200 apps
default manage applications takes nearly 15 seconds to load, while this takes 1-2 seconds, tops

Thanks for the app. I will give it a try! :0)

I realized that this application was ripped and published as someone else's work as follow up
its called "Uninstaller" in market , which uses the same error message, logo, text, font, settings, buttons, icons
you are free to use both as they produce the same results and same settings

paid market apps and my apps

ok stupid question..but im thinking of buying tibu and beweather from the market.. when i purchase them..and updates continue to come out..can i update them always..or do i always to pay again when an update comes out..and if there are free updates..how does it work if i reflash a rom or something using cm7.. thanks
and while im here..one more question..im my rom experience will be complete.. lol i went to flash cm7 and when i did all the restore and stuff it should that i had 50 updates but then that went away in my market..and now my complaint is i know i have more than 100 apps and it doesnt show on my apps in my market..ive rebooted reflash all that..im using tibu 4.0.0 but when i browse for that app..it does say its installed..its just that if i got my apps some of them are not there..basically if i wanna see if theres an update i have to browse for it to see if it says update or just installed..but if recall..i think when i did an update it finally was seen in my apps in market correctly after the update..what gives please help..thanks..sorry for the two questions in one and the long ramble

I am sure you pay once and all the updates after are free. I haven't bought applications on android, but am just assuming it's like digital distribution in general.
... I can't really understand your second question/ ramble. If it's about your downloaded applications list disappearing when flashing a new rom, yeah, that happens. You could just use titanium backup to restore applications once you are done flashing the new rom. Sorry if I missed the meaning of your second question.

i have tibu pro and i get the updates on the same licence. it's one of few apps i've bought. you need to go to manage applications to the market , clear data and you will see your apps.

fractaline said:
i have tibu pro and i get the updates on the same licence. it's one of few apps i've bought. you need to go to manage applications to the market , clear data and you will see your apps.
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what you mean you get updates on the same license? i mean i get my updates like i said..but thats if i browse through the market catalog manually without going to my apps since i cant see half of my apps in my apps section..and i did do that btw..even the cache i cleared nothing..still 50 apps instead of like 104 or something.. wahhh! thats all i need is my apps showing and im all good!!! im pretty sure that if you do buy an app your good to go you can update as often it is needed for free..just need my apps to show..and i already reflashed too.. hay!

did you try to reinstall the market? after the flash... also were the apps all d/l'ed from the same market account originally? not trying to be a smartass just throwing a few more ideas out there...... back to stock???

bluerogue85 said:
what you mean you get updates on the same license? i mean i get my updates like i said..but thats if i browse through the market catalog manually without going to my apps since i cant see half of my apps in my apps section..and i did do that btw..even the cache i cleared nothing..still 50 apps instead of like 104 or something.. wahhh! thats all i need is my apps showing and im all good!!! im pretty sure that if you do buy an app your good to go you can update as often it is needed for free..just need my apps to show..and i already reflashed too.. hay!
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Yeah, I think that's a common problem when restoring from TiBu...the market gets confused. Happened to me...it's an easy fix:
First, reboot the phone to make sure everything is closed. Go to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications. Tap the All tab. Scroll down until you find Market. Tap Market to open it's application settings. Tap the "Clear Data" button. Reboot the phone. Your market should now show everything.
If you purchase an app from the market, updates are included in the original price (i.e., you won't have to pay again). Purchases are tied to your Google account, so even if you buy a new phone, when you log in with your Google ID, the apps you purchased will show up in the "My Apps" section of the Market. You'll have to reinstall them, but you won't have to pay again.

^ this.
Although you don't have to reboot first to clear market data just clearing it will do the trick.

ok so heres the story..i did what everyone ask me to do..somehow still didnt work..then i did the market doctor thats suppose to fix the market links didnt work..i uninstalled tibu..rebooted and now i shows all my apps with like half of them needing updates..i know theres some that need updates and some that dont..but i did it ne ways just to be sure..so basically i got all my apps back! yay..thanks guys..so wait one of you said that i dont have to pay again and as long as i have my google id i can still dl it even if i flash ANY rom on here..thanks again!

Paid apps are linked to the google account that purchased them.You could sign in to your account on a completely different device and download them. So yes flashing then away will not cause you to have to repurchase them.