Hi there
I'm developing a web application which will be used on O2 XDA's. It will be php based with a MySQL backend. I've been looking into the capabilites of PocketIE on the XDA and it doesnt support CSS etc. Can anyone offer any advice on the limitations of pocket ie on this version of XDA? I trust it will cope with php pages for a start? Silly qustion I know but 'I'm expecting the unexpected!'
Thanks :?
Don't know how the PocketIE react to the php file-extention, but I guess that can be easily worked around by using apache rewriting-rules...
As for CSS, I've got no problems using it on web-pages on the xda. I've not done any research about using css in a separate file from the internet, but it opened an external css-file very vell from the local memory. The only problem is the lack of @media=hanheld support. And do also note that width: 100% or width: auto, will be about double the size of the screen. And if you've selected "Fit to width" (or what it's called) the width will be the screen-size, thus making the page scroll horizontal if the vertical scroll-bar appears.
I can't see why Microsoft hasn't made it compatible with todays standards... CSS2 would have made it much easier to make pages for both personal computers and other devices like PocketPC...
Hi limepickle,
what's for the php, PocketIE will do his job and display your pages. CSS (1.0 or something very cripled) is supported in some ugly way.
That said, you better should design your website around it's content and less to it's optical outfit. On a handheld device it's the content people wanna see, not flashy animations. If you wanna know the time your flight is at, you wanna get the time, not fancy logos and funny pictures of the airways' planes.
So try to build up a navigation structure that's easy to use on a pda, take care of text lenghs and use just a few and small graphic elements (often wifi and gprs connections are charged by traffic).
And last but not least (then I'll finally stop explaining one of my business models :lol: ):
You can always check your sites without financing your phone company's boss new Porsche:
Just save your website onto a memory card and open the files with Pocket Explorer. In case of dynamic pages you can save them with your computers browser (which saves them as static HTML-files) first and then copy them to a memory card and....
Would be nice, if you could tell us about this project as soon there's something to see (maybe before you launch the site officialy). I'm sure here are people willing to explore the web with their little friends :wink:
Greetings,
BGK
Thanks very much guys for your repsonses, very helpful.
By all means I'll let you have a look, I'm yet to sort out my webhosting, its all still localhost.
As for your comments on CSS, I have had no luck at all and I've had to resort to font tags, but i've achieved the effect I was after, with perhaps slightly more code than I wanted.
I've managed to get a test envirinment set up using Activesync and the cradle, connected to a pc running Apache/Mysql etc.
I'll be back soon! Thanks!
I have ordered a Zenithink ZT-180-102A and plan to use it to view sheet music for the band I play in, and turn the pages with a USB foot switch that sends a PgDn key to Acrobat Reader.
Has anyone tried this before? Any gotchas?
I would think that the tablet will be (just) big enough to view A4 PDF sheet music at 10.1" (would have preferred slightly bigger)
I'm hoping Adobe Acrobat Reader for Android can go full screen and respond to PgDn messages
Battery life seems a bit light, but figure I can run it from the power adapter if required
Hopefully no outside gigs, as I don't know how well the screen would work in sunlight
If I'm reading the foot switch description right, I can configure the key press via the software on a Windows machine, then plug it directly into the Zenithink as a standard HID device. Anyone tried anything like this?
Zilch said:
I have ordered a Zenithink ZT-180-102A and plan to use it to view sheet music for the band I play in, and turn the pages with a USB foot switch that sends a PgDn key to Acrobat Reader.
Has anyone tried this before? Any gotchas?
I would think that the tablet will be (just) big enough to view A4 PDF sheet music at 10.1" (would have preferred slightly bigger)
I'm hoping Adobe Acrobat Reader for Android can go full screen and respond to PgDn messages
Battery life seems a bit light, but figure I can run it from the power adapter if required
Hopefully no outside gigs, as I don't know how well the screen would work in sunlight
If I'm reading the foot switch description right, I can configure the key press via the software on a Windows machine, then plug it directly into the Zenithink as a standard HID device. Anyone tried anything like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, did you get this set up yet? I was looking at something similar for my band. Does the ZT180 have usb slot in it for the foot switch?
Yeah - that particular tablet is pretty iffy in build quality and design. I posted some details on it here.
The main limitation is the screen size for displaying A4/Letter. Since it's a 16:9 (or 16:10?) ratio, you get black bars at the top and bottom if you display the full page, so it's more like A5 size. For most of my music that is readable, but not ideal.
In landscape the size is about right, but you can only see half the page at a time.
The Adobe Reader software lets you do Cntl-N to move to the next page (dunno why PgDn doesn't work). The cheap footswitch I got of eBay works fine (you set it up once with some Windows software and then plug it into the USB port of the tablet)
I've ordered a 3 pedal one to try though, (cheaper than the 2 pedal ones strangely) so I can do Forward/Backwards, a maybe some sort of Scroll with the middle switch if I have it in landscape mode.
A proper A4 one would be nice though. I think I would actually take an eInk based one in preference - if I could find a reasonably priced A4 one - as the battery life would be so much better. Or maybe a Windows tablet so I could also run GuitarRig or similar for FX/MIDI stuff at the same time. Still thinking about it though. Let us know how you go.
Any update?
I would love to hear how this is going.
I am planning on getting a tablet for guitar music and would love foot pedal options.
Any suggestions? Tablets, apps, pedals etc...
I haven't used it much to be honest. The screen is a bit small, esp at 16:9 ratio for A4/Letter sheet music. The pedal idea works pretty well though, I'm using on my Thinkpad (sitting on it's side on a a music stand) for now.
I'll revisit when some genius invents a tablet which is greater than 10.2", and when a decent build quality model with Gingerbread is out.
I have to admit I'm slightly tempted with the 14" (?) EEE Windows slate that has come out recently. I think it's an i5 or so, and this would allow me to run guitar rig etc while viewing sheet music.
I purchased a Viewsonic G tablet for this very same purpose. I can read my music using Adobe in the Portrait mode ok but I would like to put it in landscape mode and use my cicada by page flip foot pedal to do a page up and page down. Have you come across anyone who can remap the keyboard to recognize page up and page down or as you have found out control N for page down.
I got my Gtablet a few weeks ago and have been playing with a few apps.
Chord Reader (pretty much just a phone), eSongBook and GuitarTapp
The each have nice features but I really need a combination of the three. I don't own a foot pedal but would like to have that feature and hear how that is working for other people.
Features I would like:
1. Change keys
2. Make setlists
3. Nice, big display
How are people mounting this for a stand? Or do you just set it on a music stand?
Best rig would be with a 13 inch macbook I believe. Check out Modbook http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook
New Sheet Music Reader: MobileSheets
For anyone that happens to come to this thread looking for information, I recently released an android sheet music reader app called MobileSheets. It's currently only available for 10'' tablets. The app is designed to let you take images or PDFs you have (either from scanning, taking a picture with the tablet camera, or from files obtained on the internet) and create songs from them. You can organize your library based on album, artist, and genre, and create setlists. It also comes with a built-in metronome, and companion app for your PC. Please check out zubersoft.com/mobilesheets for more information.
One of the best reasons to get a tablet ever! How does the footswitch work?
An update is coming out this Sunday, Dec 4th that's going to add support for any bluetooth pedal for hands-free playback. Examples of supported bluetooth pedals include the Cicada PageFlip and the Airturn BT-105. I'm going to start offering a deal soon where if you buy the Airturn BT-105 through a link on zubersoft.com/mobilesheets, you will be given a free copy of the paid version of MobileSheets.
As for how the pedal works, the previously mentioned devices have two pedals. My app supports multiple modes - the default mode is the left pedal goes back one page, the right pedal advances a page. Another mode is the left pedal scrolls the page while the right advances to the next page (great for landscape mode). Once you try hands-free page turning, you will never want to go back
hmmh... this seems to be just what i was looking for... i am planning on going completely digitla on my students, as in: have 'em watch their sheetmusic on the tablet in lesson (in this case motorola xoom), then afterwards send 'em the sheets for them to print out by themselves. i'm just sick of lugging 10+ kg of sheetmusic around all day actually i was planning on buying an inexpensive printer and hook it up to the zablet via usb, wifi or bluetooth and print the stuff for them on site, but as there's no pc or router nearby and usb doesn't semm to work either, i settled for the paperless approach (which does have it's pros and cons).
one thing i'd like to know about your program though: i've got several realbooks in pdf form that i'd like to use, each containing around 2-300 songs on about as much pages. how would i go about organizing those? simply bookmark each song seperately? or would i have to split the huge single pdf into small, single ones?
[/quote] from blue powder --- one thing i'd like to know about your program though: i've got several realbooks in pdf form that i'd like to use, each containing around 2-300 songs on about as much pages. how would i go about organizing those? simply bookmark each song seperately? or would i have to split the huge single pdf into small, single ones?[/QUOTE]
I use ezPDF viewer. (available on Android Market) It allows me to use my foot switch (cicada page flip) and allows me to mark my .pdf sheets with notes for corrections or whatever. I agree with a previous poster, once you use a foot switch you won't want to go back. I am in a JAM that has about 500 songs. It took two 3 inch binders to carry them every night. Well we have now converted 16 of the 21 members to electronic viewers. It is the only way to go.
As far as organizing my folders I simply created 26 folders labeled "A" to "Z". Then every time I add a new song I simply put it in the appropriate folder. You can leave them all in one giant folder but it takes longer to find the song you want later. I found a little pain up front saved a lot of pain later.
Enjoy
do you mark your pdf's using a pen? if so, which one? if not - how DO you do it? that's one thing i would be missing in a purely digital surrounding, being able to mark up certain things etc. i don't think i'm going to have much need for a footswitch in a teaching situation, though, and as far as gigs are concerned, i play mainly jazz, and most of the leadsheets i get are a page long. if not - tough luck, i'll play better from memory anyway ;-)
the folder a to z folder-approach seems absolutely feasible, i'd probably go even more ballistic and create several mainfolders (like fingerpicking, theory, leadsheets etc), then have the a to z folders inside those. something like that. i'm more worried though that my students will be turned off by not getting physical handouts anymore. may take them a while to get used to it
ezpdf app and boxwave pointing devices
bluepowder said:
do you mark your pdf's using a pen? if so, which one? if not - how DO you do it? that's one thing i would be missing in a purely digital surrounding, being able to mark up certain things etc. i don't think i'm going to have much need for a footswitch in a teaching situation, though, and as far as gigs are concerned, i play mainly jazz, and most of the leadsheets i get are a page long. if not - tough luck, i'll play better from memory anyway ;-)
the folder a to z folder-approach seems absolutely feasible, i'd probably go even more ballistic and create several mainfolders (like fingerpicking, theory, leadsheets etc), then have the a to z folders inside those. something like that. i'm more worried though that my students will be turned off by not getting physical handouts anymore. may take them a while to get used to it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK first I would recommend looking at ezpdf on the android market. The developer has been very quick to make certain changes. I can say that the program has really improved 800 % over the past 4 months I have been using it. The developer updates the product about every 4 days. New features and bug fixes. Granted I don't use all of it's features but I think it is better than Adobe. I tried to embed a copy of the annotations page but I could not so go here "https://market.android.com/details?id=udk.android.reader&hl=en"
Pen - I do use a pen/pointer to write on my pdf's. I use the boxwave products as they were rated the best and most reliable on a capacitive screen. I have bought others but I keep coming back to the boxwave products. I even have one with an actual writing pen on the other side of it so I can take paper notes if I have to.
Folders - I do the same thing with my music folders. I have it broken out to Christmas music A - Z, Our Regular Music A - Z, Then stuff that I am practicing for my self A - Z.
Sheet Music - If you are going to stick to one page and you are young enough to be able to see clearly then forget the foot pedal. It is just one more thing to have to carry. I am 60, the old eyes are not as sharp as they used to be.
Students - I don't know how you are planning on giving them the files or where you teach, ( private classes, class room setting, high school etc) But - Hey when I was learning (still am) I would have loved it if the instructor gave me a downloadable file with all of my music for the semester. Then I could either print it or put it on a tablet. My choice. Most parents today think that if they don't buy their kids the latest gizmo they will be stunted or social outcasts, so I bet most of your students already have tablets.
Another thought - Another thing to keep in mind. My buddy teaches banjo. He was going to get a tablet for himself then we talked and he decided to get a tablet and a notebook and a projector. He then calls up the sheet music on his laptop and projects it on the screen for the class of 6 students. He uses the tablet for private instruction with out the projector.
Hope that helps.
Really take a look at ezpdf
Hello -
My solution to this problem was:
1. Scan in all my sheet music as high resolution files (300 or higher).
2. Use a photoshop technique on each image to eliminate grey and make sure the blacks are black and the white background is white - (there is a great way to do this with the eyedropper tool which you can find on youtube). At this stage I also straighten the image of each page.
3. Use a photoshop action to import the individual scanned image of each page as 'layers' on a single photoshop document --- and then save as a photoshop document.
4. Use a photoshop action to stack each photoshop layer (on a given document from step 4) out in a long continuous sheet of music and then flatten the image and save as a bitmap (so now the image would look like a flat, opened out, long, scroll).
5. Use a photoshop action to set the canvas size the correct dimensions and dpi for your given display/tablet.
6. Manually open each 'scroll' and move around the systems of your music to fit in the window you have made in step 5 ---- and save each window as a high res jpeg. Save the jpeg as the name of the piece followed by the page number.
7. Use a photoshop action to add a text layer of the same value as the file name. Save as a pdf.
8. Combine the individual pdf pages into a single pdf document for each individual piece.
9. All done. I now have 3 hours of music as PDFs that are perfectly viewable in my tablet AND can be searched for using the find feature of the PDF reader (thanks to step 7). What could be easier!
----
The lenovo A4 size tablet is an ugly looking brick - I wouldn't like that compared with this ipad solution
Fakebook
For many of the above reasons my favorite gigging tool is the Fakebook. It does PDF very well (even importing and indexing huge collections like a real book or vocal book), but at the same time it has thousands of built in chord charts (transposable). Nice annotation or scribbling, search, links to YouTube and Spotify performances and great playlist editing.
Best $1.50 spent on my Google Play account! play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skrivarna.fakebook.android
The Adobe Reader software lets you do Cntl-N to move to the next page (dunno why PgDn doesn't work). [/QUOTE said:
Yes. ctrl + n gDn. But what could be the code of PgUp?? If anyone knows the answer, please describe it is very important to me. . And there's a code table of Adobe Reader for Android?
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OK - I acknowledge there are quite a number of ways in which Google (and other corporations, for that matter) invades my privacy regularly.
That said, I just got back from a trip away, and Android on my phone (Nexus 5) has just pushed a photo album at me - purporting to depict my trip like a travel album.
Not only is this completely unwanted, it makes me feel sick. I know there's not a guy sitting at a computer in California looking through the photos in my Google+ account, but I really don't care. I just don't want this sort of stuff to happen.
So... I am looking at moving to an alternative OS and all alternative software. Does anyone have any thoughts on doing so? Ie - benefits / downsides... And what alternative OS should I move to?
Thanks all for your help!
fearofbirds said:
OK - I acknowledge there are quite a number of ways in which Google (and other corporations, for that matter) invades my privacy regularly.
That said, I just got back from a trip away, and Android on my phone (Nexus 5) has just pushed a photo album at me - purporting to depict my trip like a travel album.
Not only is this completely unwanted, it makes me feel sick. I know there's not a guy sitting at a computer in California looking through the photos in my Google+ account, but I really don't care. I just don't want this sort of stuff to happen.
So... I am looking at moving to an alternative OS and all alternative software. Does anyone have any thoughts on doing so? Ie - benefits / downsides... And what alternative OS should I move to?
Thanks all for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go into google + and turn off sync photos if you don't want privacy invasion.(any place you store things online can be hacked or looked @ in the blink of an eye. (Locks only work for people who are honest)
Sure... Thanks. I've just disabled a bunch of Google apps and i'm sure it will make my phone go haywire.
I'm pretty curious about alternatives to Android though. Anyone? Seems they'll be limited as they won't have many apps and stuff, but i'd love to get out of the Google ecosystem altogether.
Greetings,
At my office, we rotate after-hours email monitoring but some of the older guys are apprehensive about getting cell phones, so keeping up on-the-go can be difficult. I am wondering about buying a ZTE Open off of ebay and getting a pay/mb data plan and we can pass that around as a dedicated email reader.
Up to that point, there is nothing to worry about, but what I am thinking of playing around with is cutting the OS down to only the email app and settings. I'd like to have it boot directly to email with settings available from the pull-down menu, if possible. I mainly want to keep it simple enough for cellular-phobic people and also take away the ability to browse the web and run up my cellphone bill.
I'm not super fluent in the in's and out's of FXOS beyond the app level, but I'm interested poking around, I'm just looking to gauge the difficulty. There are cheaper android devices that I could try with as well, but I'd much rather hack around in HTML/JS than Java. That being said, I have the option of just customizing the Andriod UI to remove everything except the mail app, so if tearing down the Firefox UI would be a lot of work, I'll just do that.
I have a Flame that I can run tests on before spending any money, but I appreciate your opinions before a throw away a bunch of time that could be used on something useful.
John
That's super doable and not very difficult I think! Only with one (obvious?) condition: you must have full root access to your device. ZTE gives a rooting tool, so if you stick with the Open C (or the flame) you should be good to go. Don't choose a Kliff for example, as they are not rootable yet.
First of all, stripping all of gaia (the top layer of firefox OS, containing all the UI) has already been done by JanOS (for IoT device), so you can get inspiration from them. They reduced it to only one js file and a folder, where you can put your own js that gets executed at startup. Your use case is a bit more complex though: you still want to access settings, and be able to go back to email when needed. Basically, you need the email app to replace the homescreen right?
Creating alternate homescreen is a possibility that firefox os gives you, see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Apps/Build/Manifest#role
You can try adding the role "homescreen" to the email app, flash your device, change the homescreen in the settings and see what happens!
NB: when you change the manifest of an internal apps, you might need to rehash it by downloading https://github.com/julienw/config-files/blob/master/addpref and execute
Code:
./addpref rehash-manifest
while your device is connected (and usb debugging is on).
You might need to add handler in the email for the home button to work correctly, in a similar fashion as in verticalhome (which is the name of the folder containing the homescreen app, not "homescreen").
Good luck! Don't hesitate to ping me if you need any help.
---------- Post added at 11:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 AM ----------
Dude I just tried this and it's working like a charm. The thing that took me the most time was the configuration of the email account
I'm running a stock Moto G7 Power (Android Pie) (no root)
I'm looking for an app that offers a mirrored interface for a cheap reflective HUD gadget with something like Google Maps' driving mode (it shows a map, with my location on it, and [here's where apps like HUDWAY Go and most of what I've found falter] it needs to show street names of the upcoming streets, not just the one I'm on).
I have weird use case, I know, but I'm not looking for turn-by-turn navigation. I'm making a lot of residential stops so that's mostly not even an option (I haven't seen an app that can handle 50 residential stops well [and I don't want to go into why various approaches won't work unsolicited (eg only putting some of them in, futzing around with the routing, etc., if you really feel the need, I can explain of course)]).
I'm tempted to put in a request to an open source app like OSMAnd for the feature, since adding it to a map view can be bodged with `SetRotationY(180)` pretty easily, and for a proper dev, adding a setting menu entry for it would also be pretty easy (an elegant solution would probably take a few hours) or even just forking it and doing the bodge job myself. I figured I'd ask first if anyone knew of an easier or off the shelf solution.