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I took Java in High School (10yrs ago) and don't remember any of it. However I am computer savy and am a quick learner. Here is the deal: My group has meetings several times a week and sometime several times a day. These meeting times are posted on our website. We don't like phones going off during our meetings.
Currently I use a app called "silent time lite" which I program to put my phone on silent during pre-determined times. Would it be difficult to make a simple app which pull the meeting times off our website and puts the phone on silent during these meeting times? I would imagine allowing the user to choose which days they attend the meeting and allow them to change how often they want the app to check with the website regarding meeting time changes. ?
Would it be complicated? Can someone please point me in the right direction. Any Guidance would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.
Ps(using an app which uses google calendar events to determine when to put the phone on slient, like Taker, is not what we are looking for)
I don't think it would be too complicated for an Android developer, but for a novice? Not so easy.
Also depends on how the date and time data is stored. You would have to scrape the html off the page, parse it (we're into PHP scripting here) and send the data back to the phone.
On the phone side, you have to call the php script on the server, and get your data. This app would most likely have to run as a service and sit in the background and poll a date/time every x minutes to see if it matches a meeting date/time and set phone accordingly.
To me, sounds like a lot of fun. Development, debugging, testing, implementation etc., in my opinion is 40 hours minimum. Per hour rate? I imagine that varies from $20 to $70 per hour.
Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately I don't have the means to hire someone right now, but I have plenty of free time (not currently working) and I am a pretty quick learner. I was just hoping for some guidance in terms of what I should look into and try to study. For example, do you think this tutorial is something that would interest me?
http://www.anddev.org/getting_data_from_the_web_urlconnection_via_http-t351.html
or should I look into Http GET? or the like? I was just hoping to follow different relevant tutorials and then putting everything together.
The way the data is posted online is very simple and I was hoping that the app can handle everything instead of getting into PHP:
For example, there exists a simple txt file at: http://www.sample.com/test.txt.
Inside this file it looks like this:
"
1:30 PM
6:30 PM
7:40 PM
9:00 PM
"
I just need to make a simple app which puts the phone on silent during these times + 10 minutes (ex: from 1:30 to 1:40, 6:30 to 6:40 , etc). The app would need to recheck the txt file every 2-3 days as it is constantly changing.
Then I would suggest getting Eclipse on your computer, the Android SDK and JAVA JDK (if you don't have a Mac).
See if you can create a simple app.
From there, see if you can add a button to the app that will switch the phone to silent mode when pressed.
Then, try to get current time from the phone and see if you can do what the above button press does, but based on the current time, i.e.
if(currentTime == meetingTime) { // you can hard-code a meeting time to test
// Silence phone
}
Don't forget about setting the phone OFF silence mode when meeting is over. This should get you going on a basic concept-test. And explain why developers/programmers make $25 to $100 an hour ROFL
Thanks again for your reply. I will definetly look into those suggestions.
So far, I have installed all the software needed and went through the tutorial I posted earlier and I made a apk file which I already sent to my phone. Currently, it is just showing the text from txt file on the app.
So the next step will be to find some ways to put the phone on vibrate etc.
If anyone else has any tips or links, please let me know. Thanks again.
llamas are awesome
this is not exactly what you asked but I am confident you'll muse, "I need that!"
master4g said:
My group has meetings several times a week and sometime several times a day. These meeting times are
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the meetings are a mobile tower away from where the phone may be loud consider the app
Llama
http://kebabapps.blogspot.com/
http://www.appbrain.com/app/llama-location-profiles/com.kebab.Llama
Ps(using an app which uses google calendar events to determine when to put the phone on slient, like Taker, is not what we are looking for)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then you wouldn't use
http://tungle.me
for that.. but you might want to use it otherly
my other WS has a bookmark for 'learn android java by example' or somesuch. no, I don't sync all my profile's bookmarks. If I can find that and remember to post it here then it will appear here edits allowing
thanks for that, I currently use something similar, however it will not work for the rest of the group because of various reasons.
This may be an area where the dumbphones win, but I've only been able to find one app that is just a timer--open the app, you've got a timer--and it's way too cumbersome.
When the app opens, I need to see:
A number pad.
A Next button (for moving from hh/mm/ss).
A Start button.
ETA: Also, number pad input needs to overwrite the current field, not insert.
These features have been available on every dumbphone for over a decade. Can't they be done in Android?
This isn't exactly what you are looking for, but I use it.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.hybrid.stopwatch
It has a stopwatch, too, but remembers which mode you chose and launches in that mode.
Yeah, I tried that one and it has all the same issues as Kitchen Timer, though it's nicer to look at. Who decided an Android timer would use this cumbersome +/- interface? It's made worse by the fact that once you get a cursor in a field, it inserts rather than overwrites, and won't jump fields.
Ideally, the only actions necessary to set a timer should be open-0-0-7-3-5-start, no navigation, no clicking up and down as if we had a device with two buttons (i.e. a watch).
Yeah, I looked around for a timer too. This was the easiest to use that I found. I rarely have to change the time on it so for me I launch it and hit go. But if I was constantly changing the value, it would be annoying. Makes you want to go out and write your own!
I'm poking around in App Inventor to see what I can manage--I would be lost writing code from the ground up. I think I should at least be able to come up with something with multiple one-button presets on the starting page, and they can probably be user-programmable, but I don't think App Inventor has the commands to give focus to a numerical text-box (thereby highlighting the contents for replacement and launching the number pad) on app initialization.
If you want, take the time to send me some EXACT specifications and I'll see if I have time to whip something up; we're not talking 10 year global weather modeling here! LOL
TIA,
Roots
Rootstonian said:
If you want, take the time to send me some EXACT specifications and I'll see if I have time to whip something up; we're not talking 10 year global weather modeling here! LOL
TIA,
Roots
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually making progress in App Inventor, but if it comes to naught, I'll PM you.
Well, it's not finished and it's not pretty, but it's a timer
So far, I can't get the box to grab focus when the app opens, but it's still quicker for entering a new value than the others on the market. The empty red bar will bring up the number pad. Hit hours, mins, or secs to start the timer with the relevant units. Start/Pause work, and if you enter, for instance, "90 + Mins" it will convert it to 1 hour 30 mins. More than two digits in the Hours box will break the UI, but it will count them down
The preset buttons and persistent notification box don't do anything yet, and it doesn't remember the last value entered if you close the app yet, but the core functionality is there.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7299403/TimerSAUR.apk
ETA: enabled persistent notifications and shake-to-stop.
ETA2: remembers last value entered and whether Persist was checked, made some visual tweaks and added an icon.
ETA3: re-skinned the whole thing and hid the preset buttons for now. I can add features, but I'd call it a complete app, and more functional than anything on the market, for my purposes.
ETA4: I, um, even fixed those script errors that caused FCs if you tried to start a timer with all fields empty. Details.
D'oh! As far as I can tell, the App Inventor "clock" function pauses if the device is sleeping--not exactly practical for a timer :/
Maybe I'll have another run at it tomorrow.
Maybe you can save the time that it paused, then calculate how much time has passed when it wakes up and start from there. That won't help much if your time expires while it is sleeping, though. Will App Inventor let you prevent sleeping?
Talking to App Inventor community members, I think the clock provided is just not workable for something like this. Maybe if I'm willing to build a windmill to turn a doorknob, I could figure something out, but I'd probably be better advised to start learning real code if I want to pursue the matter.
Better yet, I could take Rootstonian up on his/her offer
Yeah, it shouldn't be too difficult to build. And since you already have some of the GUI worked out, you can just pass that on.
I've built one Android app but it was a while ago so I'm very rusty. But it sounds like it can be done pretty quickly.
Jason
On PalmOS I had an app called "Blue Moon" that was great, it would record the last time you did something, how many times you've done it, show the days since you last did it, even show you if you were overdue on doing it again, etc... I used it for things like changing my contacts, air filter, etc.. Stuff you do irregularly but need to be reminded about.
Anyone know an app for Android that'll do that? There are numerous ways I could do it, like making notes in Springpad or a todo in GTasks or something, but I don't so much want reminded as to be able to see when I last did it, and I'd like to have more information (how many days ago was it, how many times have I done it would be nice info, etc..)
FYI, here's a description of Blue Moon.
BlueMoon let's you keep track of when something occurred last and when it's due again. In addition to repeating events on a calendar, BlueMoon events can "float" - they are relative to when they last occurred. This makes them great for keeping track of things that happen at some specified interval but that usually don't happen on an exact day. You may want to remember to call a distant relative every couple of months, but you don't call on an exact date for instance. Another use of this capability is to keep track of when you last ate at a certain restaurant or fast-food place. If you have multiple children, this can really be handy! Keep a history log of when things occurred and some information about each occurrence. Sometimes things occur and we want to keep a log of each and every occurrence, or at least a count of how many times something has happened. Examples of these types of things include tracking medical symptoms (for allergies perhaps) or having information showing when you did some required activities (instrument calibrations and checks etc.).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
KeepTrack-Zagalaga
Man I nailed it, I had this same problem, searched forever with no leads, finally found the perfect solution
KeepTrack from Zagalaga
Works for everything you need, set it up exactly how you want.
Hope this saves anyone else looking for something like this a lot of time.
Cheers,
Taz
Current Samsung Note owner!
Trying it today, thank you!
Hi,
when I use the nike+ app for running with my gear s the gear won´t store the heart beat.
When I start the app on the watch i get asked for "Play Music", "and the Facebook question". Then the countdown start ....
It should be there a question about measure the heart beat to store the heart beat and see it synced on the Webpage. But this question did not appear on my watch.
Did anyone have the same Problem or a solution how to activate it?
(activated the watch with a S3, using the nike+ app "stand alone" without the phone, using no sim in the Watch, )
Just use the built-in S Health. The Nike+ app is very basic and missing a lot of features.
The Problem with the S Healt Training app is that it take extreme Long to fix the gps (minutes in my case) and the most important one: I can´t Export the data to a Website (nike+ have a very nice WebInterface) and I do not have a Samsung Smartphone. So Nike+ should be the choise. And the heart rate should work but it didn´t in my case...
For an initial release, Nike+ on the Gear S is terrific — but yeah, support for the built-in heart beat monitor would be swell. And since we're in wish list mode, here's my Top 5, ranked by priority, after a month of Nike+ runs:
I want the ability to set the key display metric. Right now it's distance, with a tiny little text crawl underneath for other metrics that's completely illegible while running. I usually run on time and would like that to be my chief display, others I know run on speed, or calories burned, etc.
For other settings, let me set it and forget it - don't make me have to say no to music and no to Facebook every single time. (Off topic rant: the moment someone starts cluttering their FB feed with robo-broadcast stats is the moment I cut my losses. I don't care about your daily run distance or how many toothbrush strokes you achieved or the two-point-five star rating you just gave to a pair of toenail clippers you bought last week.)
If I could choose a playlist, or even if there were an option for shuffle, then I would start saying yes to letting Nike+ play DJ for me. But listening to the same tunes in the same order every day is enough to send a guy running straight into the path of the first oncoming bus.
I'm almost always in a great mood after I run, at least until Nike+ forces me to rate my mood after I run. Please, stop with all the questions so I can hit the shower and make it to work on time.
That heart monitor thing — see above.
But I will say it again, because it bear repeating: Nike+ is off to a great start. Relatively minor grumbles aside, they're light years ahead of their current crop of competitors, all of which force you to run with both your watch and your phone. The whole reason I bought the Gear S was to ditch the phone whenever humanly possible.
jerome.carney said:
For an initial release, Nike+ on the Gear S is terrific — but yeah, support for the built-in heart beat monitor would be swell. And since we're in wish list mode, here's my Top 5, ranked by priority, after a month of Nike+ runs:
I want the ability to set the key display metric. Right now it's distance, with a tiny little text crawl underneath for other metrics that's completely illegible while running. I usually run on time and would like that to be my chief display, others I know run on speed, or calories burned, etc.
For other settings, let me set it and forget it - don't make me have to say no to music and no to Facebook every single time. (Off topic rant: the moment someone starts cluttering their FB feed with robo-broadcast stats is the moment I cut my losses. I don't care about your daily run distance or how many toothbrush strokes you achieved or the two-point-five star rating you just gave to a pair of toenail clippers you bought last week.)
If I could choose a playlist, or even if there were an option for shuffle, then I would start saying yes to letting Nike+ play DJ for me. But listening to the same tunes in the same order every day is enough to send a guy running straight into the path of the first oncoming bus.
I'm almost always in a great mood after I run, at least until Nike+ forces me to rate my mood after I run. Please, stop with all the questions so I can hit the shower and make it to work on time.
That heart monitor thing — see above.
But I will say it again, because it bear repeating: Nike+ is off to a great start. Relatively minor grumbles aside, they're light years ahead of their current crop of competitors, all of which force you to run with both your watch and your phone. The whole reason I bought the Gear S was to ditch the phone whenever humanly possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your list is exactly the same as my list after my first few runs with Nike+ and the Gear S. How do we get this info to Nike so they can fix things and continue to make improvements?
I think it's a big deal !!!! do not respond to comments on google play. Do not respond to the email sent to Nike + and even those on the main site nike.
This is my review without any response:
Too bad we did not !!!! the application has potential, it lacks the Italian (serious) you can customize the information on Gear S (serious). Black lettering on a red background on the move with the light of day is impossible to read them. ........ maybe I have to stop and put his glasses? or I have to run in the dark? But who program an application tries to use it ?? or proof in the office running between the desks? Forgot ...... not see replies to comments, then you do not care to improve the product?
sabuccia said:
I think it's a big deal !!!! do not respond to comments on google play. Do not respond to the email sent to Nike + and even those on the main site nike.
This is my review without any response:
Too bad we did not !!!! the application has potential, it lacks the Italian (serious) you can customize the information on Gear S (serious). Black lettering on a red background on the move with the light of day is impossible to read them. ........ maybe I have to stop and put his glasses? or I have to run in the dark? But who program an application tries to use it ?? or proof in the office running between the desks? Forgot ...... not see replies to comments, then you do not care to improve the product?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of what you wrote above is hard to read/understand from an english language perspective. I would expect that is why you didn't get a response from Nike. I have posted a question on their facebook page about the ability to add elevation tracking to the Gear S and almost got an instant response saying it would be forwarded to the development team.
Hello,
I have recently bought a watch with Wear OS 2. I quite like it, but I am missing one nice feature from competition watches. I am blind. Apple watch and some other specialised devices can tell you time by certain vibration patterns. e.g. 5:30 am - 5 short vibrations, then pause, then 3 short vibrations... etc. I am thinking about creating something with Tasker, but this would require connection to the phone all the time.
Would someone take this as an interesting project? Or maybe would someone give me a helping hand in developing this? I am a programmer but never programmed for Android unfortunately.
what would be your preferred way of activating the vibration?
i'm thinking about an empty watchface which could, whenever it's activated either by gesture or button, start the time pattern.
also please let me know how exactly such a vibration pattern would best look like. (first hours then minutes, ok. what about 11:34 ? also seconds are not needed i guess?)
I might do a quick app
I really like this idea because the watchface would be sooo battery friendly
btw: any idea for a good name? I think I would go for "time feel watchface" if no one's got a better idea
if everything goes right, I will have a first test version by tomorrow
update: basic watchface running. gonna implement vibration pattern tomorrow.
need info:
-i assume it's no problem that the watchface is always black, this is to save as much battery as possible
-any symbol maybe for blindness i could use for the icon / watchface preview?
-should the vibration pattern start again if you touch the screen?
----I find this problematic because screen usually is only on for a few seconds, maybe i have to let it stay on as long as the pattern is running and it would go to standby immediatly after that... so i'm not quite sure how to handle this
-is a 24 hour mode needed or should it even be default?
Hi, thanks for your response. Yes this is aimed at blind people specifically, I am blind my self. Yes blind people use smart watches, mostly from Apple, but there are also some users of Android Wear OS.
wow I read your reply just now and it seems cool. I have a few points:
A watch face is an interesting idea, but for example I would prefer it to be just an app which even does not launch a screen, does the vibration and exits. I use information I have on my watch face, I use screenreader to read info about upcoming events, battery etc. You may ask why do I need this vibration way of telling time when I can read it from the watch face? Well it is more discrete and does not bother surroundings. I could assign a specific gesture in the screenreader which would launch the app and do vibrations.
Honestly, I am probably the only Wear OS user in Czech Republic and I have to get connected with other blind people to get their opinions.
I think 12 hour format should be OK so far.
so basically you just need an app that vibrates the time when launched?
for example 5:33 x x x x x pause x x x pause x x x?
then i need to rethink that. but that should be even easier
Yes, for me this would be enough. Ideally if the app would do it without displaying any window so that the screenreader does not read anything. Is that possible? I am sorry I did not clarify this at the begining.
As to how to do vibrations:
I imagine this schema:
1 - one short vibration
2 - two short vibrations
3 - three short vibrations,
4 - four short vibrations,
5 - one long vibration
6 - one long vibration, short pause, one short vibration
...
9 - one long viberation, short pause, four short vibrations
0 - long vibration, short pause, long vibration
e.g.
10:56 - short vibration, long pause, long vibration, short pause, long vibration, long pause, long vibration, long pause, long vibration, short pause, short vibration
here's a first prototype.
do you know how to install apk to your watch? you need to enable ADB and WiFi Debugging to install wireless over ADB
let me know what you think. is it too fast?
i know it's not perfect, for example you need to exit the app to relaunch the pattern. i can fix that - can i let the app run the pattern and immediately exit? so you wouldn't need to exit manually everytime
Hello, you are amazing! So fast! Thank you very much. I tried the app.I have few questions:
1. Vibrations are quite fast. Could you make it a bit slower? Let's say that the long pause among numbers could be 1 second?
2. Could you make it so that the app does not open any window? That after launching the icon everything happens in the background?
3. Will this work also on phones or only on watch?
Thank you so much. If you don't mind, I would like to spread the word about this among other Wear OS users.
1. sure. i actually use two different long pause durations: one between the digits and one between hours/minutes
---i need to do this because leading zeros are ignored. i could also do leading zeros so you always have 4 digits and pause can be constant, but imho that's not as efficient
2. In this new version the window exits after launch, I hope that's fine. also fixes not working on second launch and makes the app not stay in RAM.
3. This version is only for Wear OS, but I could copy it to an android app.
Of course you can spread this app however you like. when it's done I can attempt to publish it to the play store.
please check this new version. is it still too fast?
also 12 a.m. seems to be treated as "0". should i change this?
new version with fixed 12 a.m.
if you are fine with this state i'm going to finish it and publish it to play store
Wow thanks, this look very well. I still have a problem with the app creating a window. The problem is that when the window is created and closed again, the screenreader reacts to that - in this case after closing the app window it reads info about previously opened window or a watch face. That is a bit problematic as my idea was to not make any sound at all, so that one can check for the time discretely.
Would it be possible to not display any window at all? Maybe running as a service which would be waiting for the launcher icon to be pressed? I am not good at Android internals so maybe it is a stupid idea.
krecoun said:
Wow thanks, this look very well. I still have a problem with the app creating a window. The problem is that when the window is created and closed again, the screenreader reacts to that - in this case after closing the app window it reads info about previously opened window or a watch face. That is a bit problematic as my idea was to not make any sound at all, so that one can check for the time discretely.
Would it be possible to not display any window at all? Maybe running as a service which would be waiting for the launcher icon to be pressed? I am not good at Android internals so maybe it is a stupid idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now I understand the problem. I need to look into this later. but I guess that's doable.
update: I tried to replicate your problem. I enabled talkback and started the app. only thing I can hear is a click when launching the app. is that what you are talking about? If so, I don't think that can be prevented as it's caused by the launch of the app.
-sorry, I didn't read correctly. so the problem is that it starts reading the previous app. that's a problem. I didn't find an easy way to fix this - as far as I read you cannot launch an app without starting an activity. at least not with an app. maybe i could make the watch sleep after launching? or you can find a solution with tasker or something similar
Hypothetic idea:
Let's say that the app would be running as a service after start. I don't know if this is possible in Wear OS.
1. After clicking the launcher icon, check if the service is already running.
2. If not, launch it. You can display even a window and close it, well while launching the service we probably won't avoid that but that's acceptable.
3. If yes, don't show anything but send some intend / activity / however it is called in Android to the running service which will do the vibration.
Is it doable?
the thing is afaik an app launch always needs to launch an activity.
if i'm wrong i hope someone corrects me
How about this?
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2704084/how-to-launch-an-activity-without-a-ui
krecoun said:
How about this?
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2704084/how-to-launch-an-activity-without-a-ui
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it says you can have an app that's a service only, which starts on boot an can receive intents. but how do you call it? you need to activate something. you could maybe do it as a compilation, but as I see it it's not possible by launching an app.
I see two easy solutions:
-let the app run in an empty window
or
-let the device go to standby after vibration
update: I looked into this a bit more. I guess my solutions would not work. an app can't send the device to sleep and if I show an activity the screenreader always reads the app name...
so I can't help you any further. maybe someone else can
Hi, sorry for looong delay. I must say that I am using your app quite successfully. Sometimes it talks but mostly it does not and vibrations work as expected. Great work. Maybe you could release this app into Playstore, some other blind people could benefit from that or make more suggestions.
krecoun said:
Hi, sorry for looong delay. I must say that I am using your app quite successfully. Sometimes it talks but mostly it does not and vibrations work as expected. Great work. Maybe you could release this app into Playstore, some other blind people could benefit from that or make more suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your feedback, i'm glad you like it.
I find myself running it from time to time, just to see if I can feel the time
I'm gonna try to publish it when I find time. I'm currently starting work at a different project.
Just came across this thread. Very interesting project!
I, myself, am not blind, but I like the direction this is going! I am going to try it out!
Have you published this to the Play store as of yet? This could be good! ??
Yeh, this is a unique app concept for many!
sorry, for not responding in almost a year.
best would be to bake this function into the os, or make it activate by gesture... wouldn't this be awesome? telling time without ears and eyes, just by a movement...
I just remembered this app and thought i might finish it and add it to play store.
HOPEfully this weekend