Database Develop

Cydia-Like app

Hey everybody,
I was thinking about Cydia for the iPhone and thought..why doesn't android have that? So I was wondering if android does have something like that already or one that is in the making. If not then I was going to try and develop something similar. Only it will be one that is very, very basic. Here is how I planned it out.
1. Create an app that has a list of directories
-ROMS
-Scripts
-Apps (Ones such as swapper.apk etc. not ones from market)
* In the ROM's directory there will be a list for different phones
2. To transfer files an ftp server would be used ( I actually don't have one but was hoping someone would be able to offer an alternative or a server)
3. The app would then use the android browser to download the file and place it in the correct location ( updates would go in root of /sdcard or apps would be installed with the package manager)
Like I said I was thinking of something very basic..if this would be redundant then I'll just forget about it.
What does everyone else think?

wasnt there that SAM application? I wiped and never reinstalled it. i'm sure i can find the apk around here. also not the same but there is also a handango app.
Edit: ok did some quick searching... found the site: http://slideme.org/sam2 and http://slideme.org/sam... i hope that helps

That would have to be all custom... side note cydia uses debian binaries such as apt-get and dpkg which afaik is possible since you can install debian on your phone, and on the other hand android market uses a closed source xml.

Cydia is more than just a frontend for http/wget. It is a port of Debian APT. Iirc saurik did make some passing notes about possibly bringing APT to Android. However, from the lack of any implementation thus far, I can only surmise that he has either lost interest, doesn't feel Android needs an APT-based repository, or some mix of both.
You have to understand the main reason why Cydia is a very popular platform for iPhone. iPhone natively does not allow any outside app installation. Thus, Cydia provided a very good central repository for apps outside of Apple's app store system. Android, OTOH, was built from the ground up permitting the user to install apps from any source. Thus, there was never a burgeoning need to have a Cydia clone made because anyone could install apps from their own http server, from adb, from a sdcard, from a third party market.

Ah I should've done a little more research on cydia then. From what my friend told me he says that Cydia is just another appstore for the iPhone and that's it ( the android market is pretty open as opposed to the iPhone). That's the last time I listen to someone who bought an iPhone over an android phone.

thelamacmdr said:
Ah I should've done a little more research on cydia then. From what my friend told me he says that Cydia is just another appstore for the iPhone and that's it ( the android market is pretty open as opposed to the iPhone). That's the last time I listen to someone who bought an iPhone over an android phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, your friend sounds like doesn't know alot about the debian package system. You should take a look. It's very interesting, and it shows how primitive M$ and crApple products have become (pardon my invectives). Linux really is on the cutting edge on these fronts, and the linux backbone is what makes android so powerful.

sha.goyjo said:
To be honest, your friend sounds like doesn't know alot about the debian package system. You should take a look. It's very interesting, and it shows how primitive M$ and crApple products have become (pardon my invectives). Linux really is on the cutting edge on these fronts, and the linux backbone is what makes android so powerful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup Debian has become the most used partition on my laptop but I keep Windows around just in case, also after researching about Cydia it sounds a lot like the Synaptics Package Manager ( correct me if I'm mistaken) and the Software Sources under Linux.

jashsu said:
You have to understand the main reason why Cydia is a very popular platform for iPhone. iPhone natively does not allow any outside app installation. Thus, Cydia provided a very good central repository for apps outside of Apple's app store system. Android, OTOH, was built from the ground up permitting the user to install apps from any source. Thus, there was never a burgeoning need to have a Cydia clone made because anyone could install apps from their own http server, from adb, from a sdcard, from a third party market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the whole understanding, never thought it as that way

A central app for downloading and publishing ROMs, recovery images, and the like (not apps) would be quite cool, though, and tethering applications are still disallowed from the Android Market (at least in the United States).

thelamacmdr said:
Synaptics Package Manager ( correct me if I'm mistaken) and the Software Sources under Linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Synaptics is more or less just a frontend for apt.
coolbho3000 said:
A central app for downloading and publishing ROMs, recovery images, and the like (not apps) would be quite cool, though, and tethering applications are still disallowed from the Android Market (at least in the United States).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No argument here. More options for users is always better (i'm talking to you, Apple Inc), especially when its a platform as elegant as Cydia.

There really is no need for anything like that on the g1 because the market is so free/open. As opposed to the app store which you have to go through a regulatory commission in order to get an app published.

the other part of the idea is good though, having rom selections that could just download update.zips to you phone. Also it would be cool to have scripts and other things you could download to that you cannot get in the market.

I would probably do it jsut for that but it will not be anywhere near as smooth as cydia nor will it run in the same manner

Sorry guys, I told a bunch of lies...because I had forgotten something very basic.
Cydia does NOT utilize *.deb packages like the debian apt system (the one synaptic uses). Cydia is a PORT repository (it holds ported programs, and other programs) designed for the BSD variant system that apple uses. As such, the systems are not compatible. IE cydia would not work on android and vice versa. Part of the problem with an apt based system on android is that it would have to deal with all the dependency issues inherent in typical linux software. To be honest, you'd have to design a completely new set of repositories, and that would be a LOT of work.
Although the current market system isn't quite as sweet as a full fledged debian package system, android isn't exactly a full fledged distro or anything. I think this is one that won't really work WELL until phones get beefier (IE to make it work well you'd need a BIG sd card and a snapdragon chip). You could get it working without those things, but the benefits just wouldn't be that great, because running programs that were small or didn't have a lot of dependencies negates the point of using a package manager.
I'm sorry for misspeaking, and I hope this clears things up.

well that's ok cause that's not what i was trying to do, this is only if I understood you correctly. I do not want port Cydia nor do I want to mimic exactly what it does. Cydia-like was the closest description I could come up with. Anyways, this idea is kind of redundant now that i saw this ( which I think has been up for a while)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=543082

**Mandatory Naming Convention**

Might I suggest a naming convention for posts here ?
Currently we mostly have Windows Mobile, Windows Phone and Android devices on this forum. As this "Paid Software" forum is not split up into different OS's (yet ?) we should have a naming convention.
I am proposing the following scheme, including OS, version number, and root status.
Windows Mobile
[WM 6.x] <appname>
For WM apps that run on all WM 6 versions
[WM 6.5] <appname>
For WM apps specific to WM 6.5 (or 6.0, or 6.1, etc)
Windows Phone 7
[WP 7] <appname>
Any WP7 app
Android
[Android 1.6+] <appname>
For Android specific apps that require at least Android 1.6
[Android 1.6-2.1] <appname>
For Android specific apps that require at least Android 1.6, but are known not to work on for example 2.2 and 2.3
[Android 1.6+, ROOT] <appname>
Same as [Android 1.6+], but requires root.
Release dates, versions
Some apps include release dates and version numbers, suggesting that the date follow the OS specification, and version number follows appname.
For example:
[Android 1.6+, ROOT, 2010.12.31] MyRootApp v1.3 - The greatest app ever!
This is just all just a suggestion. Feel free to comment. I just think it should be easy to see these app sepecifics in the listing directly.

Chainfire said:
Might I suggest a naming convention for posts here ?
Currently we mostly have Windows Mobile, Windows Phone and Android devices on this forum. As this "Paid Software" forum is not split up into different OS's (yet ?) we should have a naming convention.
I am proposing the following scheme, including OS, version number, and root status.
Windows Mobile
[WM 6.x] <appname>
For WM apps that run on all WM 6 versions
[WM 6.5] <appname>
For WM apps specific to WM 6.5 (or 6.0, or 6.1, etc)
Windows Phone 7
[WP 7] <appname>
Any WP7 app
Android
[Android 1.6+] <appname>
For Android specific apps that require at least Android 1.6
[Android 1.6-2.1] <appname>
For Android specific apps that require at least Android 1.6, but are known not to work on for example 2.2 and 2.3
[Android 1.6+, ROOT] <appname>
Same as [Android 1.6+], but requires root.
Release dates, versions
Some apps include release dates and version numbers, suggesting that the date follow the OS specification, and version number follows appname.
For example:
[Android 1.6+, ROOT, 2010.12.31] MyRootApp v1.3 - The greatest app ever!
This is just all just a suggestion. Feel free to comment. I just think it should be easy to see these app sepecifics in the listing directly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a great start, but what about apps that are linked to a specific type of phone?
For example, there a hardware specific apps for the Galaxy S line which includes Fascinate, Captivate, Vibrant, i9000, etc.
What I'm thinking, and feel free to offer a counter to this, is that most phones can be boiled down to a 3-4 letter identifier, which obviously includes the OS.
For example, Samsung Galaxy S series is SGS. So if I have an app for SGS I'd expect it to be:
[SGS 2.2+, ROOT]
Also in some cases there's specific features of ROM needed, for example with the SGS series again, backlight notification. I'd expect this to part of the list with ROOT.
Finally, I'd put version numbers and/or dates at the end of the post, in ()
So:
[SGS 2.1+ ROOT|BLN] My Cool App (v1.0)
[And 1.6] My Other App (01/15/11)
Any thoughts?

I think this sounds spot on. We definitely need a good naming convention given the broad scope of this new forum. Thanks much

Those are good suggestions.
However, it does require the average reader to know what all that means, it possibly makes it all too complicated.
Something like SGS could be an addition, but I think it should still simply start with the OS and version denominator.
For example:
[Android 1.6+, ROOT, SGS, BLN, 2010.12.31] My App v12
This is too long, I know. However date is most commonly in front on XDA. This should also clear up for the WM/WP users that this is not for them. An SGS user will still spot the "SGS" and know it is for them. Non-SGS users might have to read the thread to see that is is "For Samsung Galaxy S devices only!"
We need something better, but removing Android from the title isn't it, I think.

Wow seems really complex. The more it is complex the less it will be followed by OPs.
While I think it's a nice idea to open a section for paid applications I would have created it in all forums that already have an "Application etc." forum. It would sound more logical IMO and it would show OPs that they have to choose between the 2 subfora (development ongoing / paid applications for advertising only).
Creating juste one forum for all OS, devices etc. will make it difficult to find information in it and I don't think people will have the reflex to go in General forum to find applications.
If the application is in HD2 forum for example no need to have a long title people will know that the application is for HD2 only.
Just my 2 cents

You are absolutely right there, but paid apps are not allowed to be posted in the device-specific sections

Chainfire said:
Those are good suggestions.
However, it does require the average reader to know what all that means, it possibly makes it all too complicated.
Something like SGS could be an addition, but I think it should still simply start with the OS and version denominator.
For example:
[Android 1.6+, ROOT, SGS, BLN, 2010.12.31] My App v12
This is too long, I know. However date is most commonly in front on XDA. This should also clear up for the WM/WP users that this is not for them. An SGS user will still spot the "SGS" and know it is for them. Non-SGS users might have to read the thread to see that is is "For Samsung Galaxy S devices only!"
We need something better, but removing Android from the title isn't it, I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully proper sub-forums, as listed here will make the OS portion not needed.
Then phone types would make sense at the start, followed by OS version.
Finally, I was suggesting the date at the end more as a general style that would flow better. Just like for the most part, we go from least specific to most specific when identifying things (for example, Android 1.6) it would make sense that the name would come before any version or date specifier.
While I realize this would break with the tradition some user's have started, at best it is applied inconsistently so standardizing in a well known and defined way seems like a good thing.

It seems indeed they are coming.
Let us then, for the few days we still have to wait, use the suggested format of simply adding the OS name and version in front of the release ?

Chainfire said:
It seems indeed they are coming.
Let us then, for the few days we still have to wait, use the suggested format of simply adding the OS name and version in front of the release ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That seems more than fair.
People may want to hold off posting until the subforums show up, to keep the mods from having too big of a headache.

Great initiative Chainfire.
Once we have a reasonable naming convention, efforts will be required to ensure that it is adhered to.

We can set the App forums to require prefixes. Much like the optional "Is this a question?" adds [Q] at the start of a title.

NotATreoFan said:
We can set the App forums to require prefixes. Much like the optional "Is this a question?" adds [Q] at the start of a title.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I think we should.
We'll let the committee decide on final subject format, and then have it implemented, I guess.

Good idea.

there should be a set of prefixes to choose from, at the beginning of the "create thread title" in "create new post".
you can only use from standard list and no [ ] allowed in titles, custom prefixes with { }
XDA admins would also need to run script on thread titles to replace ALL current [ ] with { } for all prefixes not in list previously mentioned.
not terribly hard, would help a bunch.

nice nice nice

Create Open Galaxy Gear Manager

Ist there some Team/Developer working on an OpenSource alternative to the official Samsung Galaxy Gear Manager? I am the programmer behind OpenFetch (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sindaccos.openfetch) which was just a test to get the HTC Fetch working with any BLE/Android 4.3 enabled Smartphone.
This gave me so much experience with BLE profiles, characteristics and co. so I am searching for some more devs helping me coding an OpenGearManager.
So who is with me?
Regards,
Gamer

Sounds like a great idea hope you get more devs on board

Nope, no work on a OpenSource replacement is going on atm, not in the public anyway.
I´we done some custom Gear apps for the null_ rom but if I´m capable of helping out with this, I don´t know.
I´m sure @fOmey (author of null_) can help out with lot´s of info for the project.

I love the idea !
Pushing notifications to the gear using a open program would be awesome for end users.
Have you checked out M2D ? It would be a great start if you could get the source.

How about an iPhone (Cydia) app that would push notifications to the Gear?

This is the best idea yet. Because of the fact that I'm an idiot I would love to be able to push apps and make other changes via the gear manager. I would think this would open the door for other idiots like myself to get this watch. I am running null 16 but had someone else load it for me. would love to go 22 but don't know how plus I heard you lose settings in touchwiz...a reinvented gear manager would fix this right?

I would like to help, but do not have the time right now. Could it be possible to reverse engineer the proprietary protocols so we can use the apps created for the gear with the open version of gear manager?

I have been looking into this. But there is alot thats way over my head. But i would say its not possible. Not for now anyhow. But anything is possible i guess.

smokestack76 said:
I have been looking into this. But there is alot thats way over my head. But i would say its not possible. Not for now anyhow. But anything is possible i guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't go as far as saying its impossible...
If you have experience in bluetooth communication between devices & JSON requests it may not be as hard as you may think.
It would be a bit of a difficult project tho !
Lets forget about JSON requests for a minute and listen to my theory:
Half of it is done with M2D manager by pacosal, the bluetooth connectivity part anyway... if someone was to code a notification listener for the host phone, we could push the M2D intents to the gear.. simple enough right ?
We then code a listener for the gear to listen for M2D intents, when one of the "notification intents" is received we fire the following intent to show a custom notification.
For a example put this command in adb shell:
Code:
am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -n com.samsung.notifications/com.samsung.notifications.NotificationAlertActivity -e title Test
This would give basic notification functionality, its not that difficult to code and it would work across all android devices.
If I was confident enough to code in JAVA, I would take on the project myself although with a lack of time to learn and other ongoing projects it makes it hard... in saying that tho I am more than happy to help anyone who is game to make a start !
One of the gear users created a third party app to send notifications to the gear: ATN
If only he released the source, it would be excellent to get an idea how things work.

I'm all up for that iPhone cydia app! I really want a gear but don't like samsung phones. I'd pay for the app too, if you list it for a price, I'd pay up to $15-$20 for it
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It would be great to have this working, i am currently using ATN Manager and was a pain to get working as you have to find and use a specific version of the app to get the functionality, i posted about it here as well as getting the WatchStyler working on a non-Samsung device (Nexus 5) here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=50550974&postcount=129
However you only get a message that you got a notification for some and not a full message to read, while that works while your phone may be on silent it would be great to have the full functionality like with a Samsung device.
Very excited about this! Hope someone can get it going! I'd be more than happy to test as I am sure is with other!

First of all - Hi everyone! I'm a frequent reader, first time poster.
Now to the point. As soon as I'm done with my masters defense (around next two weeks), I'm starting a project that might help with this idea.
I'm basically going to implement an android service that will provide an abstract interface for communication between any android phone with bluetooth capability (if possible, still some research ahead of me) and Galaxy Gear. I haven't decided yet if interaction will be done by intents or if it would be in form of a library or even raw classes. Still if the project will succeed I'm going to try to build the same abstract interface for Windows Phone devices (no intents here, so propabbly as a library). If it proves possible then same thing will be done with iOS, by a friend of mine.
Assuming this would work, someone would have to reverse engineer the Gear Manager, so if there is anyone that is able to do that I will be happy to cooperate in any way I can.
I'm not promissing anything for now, but let's see how will things go.

Gohanks said:
First of all - Hi everyone! I'm a frequent reader, first time poster.
Now to the point. As soon as I'm done with my masters defense (around next two weeks), I'm starting a project that might help with this idea.
I'm basically going to implement an android service that will provide an abstract interface for communication between any android phone with bluetooth capability (if possible, still some research ahead of me) and Galaxy Gear. I haven't decided yet if interaction will be done by intents or if it would be in form of a library or even raw classes. Still if the project will succeed I'm going to try to build the same abstract interface for Windows Phone devices (no intents here, so propabbly as a library). If it proves possible then same thing will be done with iOS, by a friend of mine.
Assuming this would work, someone would have to reverse engineer the Gear Manager, so if there is anyone that is able to do that I will be happy to cooperate in any way I can.
I'm not promissing anything for now, but let's see how will things go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, looking forward to where this goes!

[Q] CLOSED: Android Studio -- Current Documentation?

I'm going through all the features of the current version of Android Studio (version 1.0.2) and am frustrated by the documentation. There is existing documentation at JetBrains, but much of it appears to be out of date. I've wasted a fair amount of time trying to follow some sections of documentation only to finally decide that they are simply incorrect; then, of course, I have to work through the system by trial-and-error.
My question is: Is there any comprehensive documentation for the current incarnation of Android Studio? The best I've found so far is the book, "Android Studio Development Essentials" by Neil Smyth. Even that, however, spends far more pages on Android development in general than on the Android Studio too.
As an example, take a look at https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/help/accessing-module-settings.html. The first step is to bring up the Project Structure dialog. That comes up fine, but appears to have been completely redone and the very next step, "click Modules", doesn't appear to be pertinent any longer. Furthermore, the "Modules page" that that should bring you to doesn't seem to exist any more (at least I couldn't find it anywhere). This (i.e., module) information seems to be retained in the app.iml file (the module is called "app"), but I don't see where it can be modified in the GUI.
I have a few questions about Android Studio (given the above), but will post them separately.
Thanks for any pointers .
Barry
-------------
UPDATE:
From IntelliJ Support:
Online documentation is for IDEA, not for Android Studio. Android Studio is a narrow tool for Android development, so it doesn't have all IDEA features.
Android Studio is based on IDEA core code, but it is developed by Google.
Closing this item out. (Although, not to put too fine a point on it, I still don't know where good/accurate/current documentation is for Android Studio (Google?).)

Google Pushes Android Wear 2.0 Back To 2017, Issues Third Developer Beta

Google Pushes Android Wear 2.0 Back To 2017, Issues Third Developer Beta
Google announced Android Wear 2.0 alongside what later became Android Nougat at Google I/O a few months ago, but aside from a second Wear 2.0 developer preview build in July, we haven't heard much since. There's good and bad news on that front: the good news is that Google is releasing a third Wear 2.0 developer preview today with some new features and tweaks. The bad news is that the final release of the software is being delayed.
Wear 2.0's release date has been pushed back from a vague "this fall" window to an equally vague "early 2017" window, presumably so Google can keep testing and tweaking. To that end, Google will release a fourth developer preview build, and the 2.0 update will begin trickling out to supported watches after that.
The biggest addition to the Android Wear Developer Preview 4 is a watch version of the Google Play store that can browse and download watch apps and watch faces without your phone—developers told Google that they wanted watch apps to be easier to find, and this is Google's answer. Text entry still looks painful, and relatively wimpy watch hardware may slow things down, but if the eventual goal is to make watches that can operate independently of phones, this is an important step.
The watch-exclusive store also means that developers can release watch apps that are totally independent of phone apps. Historically, Wear apps have been bundled in standard phone apps—download a phone app, and then the wearable app would be downloaded to the watch from the phone. Apps can still be downloaded and installed this way, but as of Wear 2.0 it will no longer be strictly necessary.
Other tweaks in the new preview build include permission requests for watch complications, a "recycler view" that lets developers display vertical lists of items in a way that will look good on square and round watch faces (the Wear 2.0 app picker uses the same view), and inline actions for new notifications (you would previously need to swipe down on a notification to expose a quick action menu).
Whether your new watch will receive Wear 2.0 is going to be up to its manufacturer, at least in part. The LGE Watch Urbane 2nd Edition and Huawei Watch are safe bets since they're still the only devices you can use to test these preview builds, but we already know that early Wear watches like the LG G Watch and first-generation Moto 360 will be missing out.

There's a toggle in Settings for NFC on LG Urbane 2nd LTE on Preview 3.

kalinskym said:
There's a toggle in Settings for NFC on LG Urbane 2nd LTE on Preview 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does that really have to do with this article?

Just for the note: The setup wizard only finishes in the third developer preview if the system language of BOTH watch and phone are English (US). Did not test other english variants. It hangs at the setup screen if I select German for any of the devices.
Of course, you also need to join the beta group of the android wear compagnion app as stated in the install doc (Same symptom if not done).
Installing wear apps from normal android apps with embedded wear apps:
For windows users: see the post below (Thanks for the tool!).
Otherwise:
1. Enable developer options on wear device & adb access.
2. Download the normal android apk.
3. Open the apk with a zip tool.
4. Extract the wear apk from the folder that is referenced in "META-INF/MANIFEST.MF" (search for the string 'apk') in the apk file.
5. Connect the watch to your pc & grant adb access (if not done already).
6. In a shell / command promt type : "adb install <name-of-the-wear-apk>.apk" (Adb drivers & adb tools must be installed therefore).

Diewi said:
Just for the note: The setup wizard only finishes in the third developer preview if the system language of BOTH watch and phone are English (US). Did not test other english variants. It hangs at the setup screen if I select German for any of the devices.
Of course, you also need to join the beta group of the android wear compagnion app as stated in the install doc (Same symptom if not done).
Installing wear apps from normal android apps with embedded wear apps:
1. Enable developer options on wear device & adb access.
2. Download the normal android apk.
3. Open the apk with a zip tool.
4. Extract the wear apk from the folder "res/raw" in the apk file.
5. Connect the watch to your pc & grant adb access (if not done already).
6. In a shell / command promt type : "adb install <name-of-the-wear-apk>.apk" (Adb drivers & adb tools must be installed therefore).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for installing apps, you can use this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/huawei-watch/general/android-wear-2-0-apk-installer-t3472766