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Greasemonkey is Here

Re: OilCan
I have recently stumbled across Oilcan, the greasemonkey style browser for android http://www.jsharkey.org/blog/. I've tried it and the default stuff is all very impressive, and to be honest i wanna use it. But its not fully finished, and the Dev has just been employed by google and seems to have abadoned the project. The browser is basic, it appears to be based on an old version of the google browser.
Whats the future of this application? since it was a proof of concept. The only futures i can see are;
he continues development by himself - unlikely
he adds this functionailty nativily to the google browser - unlikely as he's very smart and likely to be on other more interesting projects
The community take up the slack (thats us) use he's code and create a super brower - what i'd quite like to happen. the source is available, and it appears to be quite simple. I think that if it was to be patched into the jf1.41 multitouch brower it would be a killer application.
http://code.google.com/p/android-cookbook/source/browse/#svn/trunk/OilCan?state=closed
Whatcha all think?
DarkFlare

anyone considering this? these are pretty cool features.

well personally im studying the oilcan code, mostly for the user scripts aspect and it seems fairly easy to implement, and so im hacking away the other features to begin with as i dont see much of a use for filling in forms using my android contacts or scanning barcodes and getting there values. So basically im removing the intent code.
My plan is to edit the main browser to add in the userscript functionailty, but im new to the android platform so it could take a while. I can program in java though which gives me a good head start.
Anyone else interested in helping out?

I just found a site where someone is developing user scripts for the Android browser.
At the moment its only a proof of concept but after watching the video is coming along very nicely
http://oilcan.jsharkey.org/
Hopefully it wont be too long before we can get our hands on it

You alreday can get your hands on it.
http://www.jsharkey.org/blog/2008/12/15/oilcan-greasemonkey-on-steroids-for-android/
APK: http://www.jsharkey.org/downloads/OilCan-100.apk

They got some cool scripts on their website that I would like to use but do they work with the g1? It says some will but the top says scripts for firefox. Also... how would we apply the scripts on the g1? Does the app look for them on the sd or what?
EDIT: Nevermind it says you can load them from the sd or browse to them yourself

i guess i should change it from "coming" to "here"
thanks mannyb

Custom Scripts
EDIT: He figured it out between page refreshs

He released this like a month ago before he went to work for google. It was a nice proof of concept but he was done working on it and was asking for someone to take it over.

atrackdog reported to me that someone has OilCan 2.0
I have not found a dload link yet...

It would be nice if someone picked up where he left off, because OilCan 1.0 is buggy as hell. I'd like to see it built into Steel.

[APP] App Stats (for developers)

App Stats is an Android developer tool which allows you to check application stats and comments from one place. App Stats keeps you informed by notifying you when new information is available such as a new rating or additional comments. The lite version allows you to monitor up to three applications and includes advertisements while the pro version allows for essentially unlimited monitoring and is of course ad free.
Update to Pro (v1.3.0)
Now has a desktop widget =)
Update to Pro (v1.2.0)
Some developers may have a lot of apps to manage stats on such as games with lots of addon content or maybe live wall paper apps, etc. To help alleviate scrolling through a long list of apps, we have added in the ability to label apps and filter the apps list with these labels.
Also, you will find that you can now set per application notification settings. This lets you control when an app update notification is fired so you can now choose specific items to be notified about.
Notes
On certain devices you may not be able to see all of your apps without having root on your device. It is also important to note that if you can not see your app in the market on your device there is no way this app can circumvent that.
If you have any questions, comments or bug reports please contact me here or via our developer email which can be found on the market. (toxicbakery at gmail)
To download, use the attached image or search 'App Stats' on the market and we should be the first two results for pro and lite versions.
Known Issues
- Certain languages may no be available in comments, if you find one please let me know
Upcoming Features
- More graphing options
- Backup search against an app database to find missing data
- Have a feature request? Let me know what you want!
Need another feature? Just ask =)

I love it. But I think that $5 is a bit too much for the full version. I would have gladly paid $2 or $3 even, but anything more takes it out of impulse buy for me.
Don't think I'm bashing your choice, as a dev I understand your need to make money from it, but sometimes the sales you lose from a higher price are worth more than the extra couple dollars you'll make from the higher price.

Thanks for the input! I would have to agree with you that currently $5 dollars is on the high end of price however with the additional features we are working on we feel that it will be a fair price very soon. Depending on what features we end up being able to incorporate we may adjust the pricing.
We almost have the plugin finished that will assist in grabbing your market android id from tcpdump and once we perfect that then it will be possible to search 2.2 apps and copy protected apps when using legit android devices that are rooted. Once this is complete we will have the only app on the market that I know which can essentially hands free get all the needed info to make a 'true' market request that lets you see all applications. This is how sites like androidzoom and like function. Without this additional parameter other apps are limited to 2.1 and less non copy protected applications by design of the market itself.
After that we will be working on letting you attach admob accounts to your apps and possibly google checkout however google checkout looks iffy due to its seeming lack of being able to pull useful information such as 'total sales' etc.
That said, thanks again for the input and if you need help please email me at our developer email for fastest response.
-Ian

One thing that's highly annoying for an application which is not a game, a navigation system, or a media application: Asking for the fullscreen window feature.
Please consider removing it... I don't really see any need for it, and it just breaks the transitions between activities anyway (when you're not making the design consistent). Thank you.
Anyway, once polished up and the bugs cleared up, looks like a useful app

Thank you for the input! We removed the full screen requests on the detailed view and graphs view.
I'm unfortunately out of town currently however either tonight or tomorrow we will be releasing an update that adds in the functionality to search 2.2 and copy protected apps if you have a rooted device. This should alleviate the complaints some people have had about it not finding their apps.
Unfortunately right now having a rooted phone is the only way get the market key we need to make these 'fully enabled' searches due to how the market works currently. The other option is having users use TCP dump to grab the needed packet and then proceed manually with decoding it and running it though protobuf to get the key out.
A few other fixes and tweaks have also been put in place and after we release the updates the Pro version will be available again as we removed it due to a major bug in the licensing we didn't catch before.
Please keep the comments coming! If you don't like something feel free to post it or email us and we will do whatever we can to improve it.
Thank you again to everyone that has voiced their opinion, every bit helps!

Finally got the new version released!
To see copy protected or 2.2 only applications you will need to have a root phone that can already see those apps on the market. For example a 2.1 phone can't see 2.2 applications no matter what you do and theres no way to code around this, sorry.
Once installed, hit menu from the main screen and select settings. Simply hit the "Load Key" Button at the very top and hopefully after a few seconds a Toast should show up saying that the operation was a success.
I know for a fact this wont work on all phones. We tested it to work on a Droid and it works on a G1 with Cyanogen 2.2 rom however it will not work on an Eris. That said I'm sure it will fail to work on other phones but I will be working on figuring out the fix asap. If you are one of the unlucky ones with a phone that doesn't work, please email me or message me here and I will do whatever I can to get you setup!

New version is now out and good news! It appears, on our end, that root is no longer necessary to get copy protected and 2.2 applications. This change is still too new to confirm it works on all devices so please send us feedback on if you can see all of your applications without using the root feature.
As always please feel free to leave feedback!

New version released that will hopefully allow more users to successfully find all of their apps with less hassle. Also a few misc bug fixes and FC issues have been resolved.

Update to pro version released, main post updated.

Released new versions of lite and pro, updated main post.

About App Stats and its development
I am from Mobile application Development company in Singapore. I would like share this stats, today more users are available in through mobile apps. and mobile developments also increasing day by day. So this growth of development is lead the business strategy. Know from our Mobile app development how its useful for business environment.

[Q] JAVA/PHP: Should I build an APP or a Website?

Hello everyone! I am new to the forum. Been thinking of joining for a while but my current issue has been the push I needed to join. I have looked high and low for the answer but to be completely honest I am not entirely sure what to look for. Not sure what my question is. I have also looked around this forum for a a good little while stopping on this thread to ask my question. I hope it's the right place to start. I will try to ask this in a way that is understandable and relevant. In your answer please take into consideration that I am new-ish to Android Development. =) (I can do the basics, Root, hack, crack, etc,.) I know enough though I think to follow your answerer and understand it.
** Question: For my Project should I go with a full Android App, go with a website that can be viewed on a mobile phone, or should I build the back-end on a web server and have an android app that delivers the front-end? (Front-end being the login, the styling of the pages, where the interaction between users take place, etc,. ) I'll elaborate on my question below. **
Alright. I started building a website. Conceptual anyway. I have been designing it on paper, white board, Photoshop etc,. The website is going to be a social site of sorts. Unique in it's own way. At first I was going to do just a website. Then I realized as my creation grew that I wanted it to be an App. Then decided, due to all the back-end server programming and functionality required, I would most likely have to build it as a website or web application. To give a brief summery of the site. There will be a login system with profiles, instant messaging. video chats, group chats, ability to play simple games like cards, chess, and more. I will also need to be able to control sessions. Write new session information on the fly based on certain actions the users take.
My problem, I think, is that i'm not sure the most efficient or effective way to go about doing this. If it was going to be on a computer I would write it up in PHP and obviously display the site with HTML/CSS. The display part I think is where I am at a loss. At least one of my issues. Since I would like for this to be an app for Android I may need a new way to display the 'site' if that's what It will even be called once it's an app. If I'm going to shoot for it to be on mobile phones then I'm thinking I can get the cosmetics looking good as well as using it to my advantage. I prefer the 'app-like-interface' rather than scroll with mouse and click on the page as if it were a website. ( 'app-like-interface': I am referring to buttons, and menus, and a overall 'pretty' interface. touch screen etc,.)
So should I write it as a website in it's entirety and just display it as a mobile site?
Should I completely trash the idea of doing this for mobile phones?
Should I (if it's possible) write everything on the back-end with PHP but create an app with java to display the styling and build the interface?
Or should I do something else entirely that I've not mentioned?
My apologies if this question was a bit to long. Tried to be thorough. Thanks so much in advance as well. This answer is something I need before I can even consider continuing. Thanks!
Az Tek

[APP] FlowReader - Save this awesome RSS reader

This is a long shot, but I since the demise of Google Reader (which this app supported) the developer has decided to no longer continue the development of this app. A tragedy; I think we as a community should try and sway him to continue it instead, adding new back ends, both Feedly and TOR (TheOldReader) support would be great. I would love to continue using this app, as it is probably the best RSS reader I have encountered on Android. It is my hope that we can either convince him to continue the project or allow someone else to (any volunteers ?).
Flow Reader gives you an easy way to be on par with your RSS/Google Reader feeds on the go. It was built to provide a minimalist and seamless experience for offline browsing, while delivering additional features not found in similar apps.
Some of the main features include:
- A sleek and fast user interface;
- Offline item content and state caching;
- Multiple simultaneous downloads for fast content synchronization;
- Content filters that automatically mark as read the items you're not interested in;
- Sort items by state (latest/unread/starred) or author;
- Smart algorithms that remove ads and other undesirable content from items;
- No ads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Developer posted this statement in the most recent app update:
As you sure know by now, Google has discontinued the Reader service, so this app is no longer functional.
Although I am very happy with the (unexpected) success of this app, I've decided to no longer update Flow Reader. This is due to several reasons: a) I built this app "for fun" and to my very specific RSS reading needs. Although I very happy to see that a lot of other people enjoyed it, I was in no way ready for attention it received (due to multiple technical and logistic reasons); b)This app was essentially just a prototype turned into a final product. The Code is very messy right now and it's becoming harder and harder to make any further changes, let alone any major ones (like background updates). c) The app is *very* tied to Google Reader backend, which means that giving proper support to another service would require a very significant amount of effort.
I am very thankful to all my users (especially the ones who donated and gave feedback!), but I hope you can understand the reasons behind this decision - continuing to work on this app would require a major rewrite and too much time trying to (once again) and make the pieces all fit with "spit and glue".
If you are interested in any future app I might develop, you can be notified about it by sending me an e-mail using the button below. You will know beforehand of any project I might be working on (and maybe even receive an alpha/beta version of it?).
Thank you again - and hopefully this won't be the end
The Developer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those who have used the app please voice your support to continue the project as I have emailed the developer the link to this thread.

(Flow Reader dev here)
Right, here's what's going on:
Personally, I'm not very happy with any of the current readers on the Play Store, so the idea of building the next iteration of Flow Reader is one that I really enjoy. Unfortunately, I simply don't have the time that I would need to keep developing it any further. I now have a full time job and not much patience to keep working on the app on my spare time.
The thing is, I have several unique ideas that I believe would greatly improve the experience of Flow Reader. Actually, some of these already graduated from just ideas, as some prototyping is already done and working. I also think there is a decent amount of money that could be made from them, so I'm not very willing to just leave them out in the open.
The fact is, though, it is very unlikely that I'll ever finish this new version of the app that I'm building. I can see two options right now:
OPTION 1 - The cooperation route:
- I will pair with another developer (or a small group of developers). Bear in mind that the code is reasonably complex, so i'd rather work with someone that feels confortable around code.
- The code of Flow Reader will remain closed, but shared with the people that want to be part of this project;
- I will take care of the things that I believe to be my greatest strength: UIX and prototyping. But I will always be open to suggestions on these areas.
- The profit of the app will be split 25% (for me) and 75% (for the other developer(s)).
OPTION 2 - The free route:
- I open up the code of Flow Reader under the condition that it will forever remain open-source and free (under an attribution, no derivatives and no commercial use licence).
- I will no longer will have any direct input or cooperation on the app.
Also, I honestly think it would be better to start the app from scratch. The code is a complete mess right now so trying to build more features upon it would just be less efficient. Still, some techniques and code used in Flow Reader could be reused to save some time.

Choices
I have been a user of Flow Reader for some time and was really sad when it stopped working and that the dev stated that there was no longer going to be updates to continue after the demise of Google Reader.
That said, I totally agree that it should be continued into the post-Google Reader era of RSS news. I originally created a post on Reddit in which I stated that for the continuality of Flow one idea would be to open source the code on a git site to allow others to progress his work further.
Understandably this poses the risk of Flow Reader loosing it's (work)Flow. All that time and effort the dev put in to creating a stunning, and above all easily functional, UIX could well be lost. On the other hand the simplicity of this RSS reader coupled with its parallel article downloading feature would live on and enrich many an Android RSS fans.
So here I am on XDA, stating my opinions for the two options presented.
For the Closed Sourced Approach:
The idea of sharing the workload will mean that whoever is chosen to work on Flow Reader will most likely have a great deal of knowledge to input in to this project. It also means that the UIX will not change without considerable thought first. This I applaud.
The fact that the developer says that the proceeds of the app will be divvied up indicates to a paid app, further indicating to (hopefully) a group of developers with the incentive to push great work "out the door".
For the Open Sourced Approach:
The hands of many a developer could make this app into something even better than it already is....
...or it could ruin it with out the guidance of the one who had the vision in the beginning.
Usually in the open source community when there is a bug and/or a missing feature, if someone with the appropriate know how can fix it, it shall be done.
A question, then, to WildMoves. Would those who have donated need to pay again once it arrives back on the play store? That is if you are going to make it a paid for only app?
Either way, with the way that Flow Reader handles feeds I honestly have never, and believe never shall, discover one better. To which I would like to say that no matter which direction the dev goes, I will support and give as much feedback as I can.
Again, great work mate and keep on coding,
Skinna a.k.a Skinnx86

Skinna said:
I originally created a post on Reddit in which I stated that for the continuality of Flow one idea would be to open source the code on a git site to allow others to progress his work further.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, when I posted my answer I was still trying to develop the next iteration of Flow Reader. I built a prototype to test several ideas before I came to the realization that I couldn't build the full app the way I wanted to in a feasible amount of time and still... well... live. :\ So I am now receptive to offset most of the workload to a developer or group of developers (hence the 25/75 profit split).
Skinna said:
A question, then, to WildMoves. Would those who have donated need to pay again once it arrives back on the play store? That is if you are going to make it a paid for only app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the email addresses of everyone who donated, so I could probably create a mailing list to deliver full versions of the (paid) app outside the Play Store. Assuming that I would have the approval from the other developers, it would be a good sign of gratitude to those who donated, IMO.

Reasonable Thoughts
Well a man has to live. To spend your free time developing and building something you would expect some payback of some sort. But thank you for remembering us early adaptors. I know I for one will be thankful, I can but imagine others will be too.
As much as I was appreciative of the beta's being sent to us, but in case you did not hear, Facebook updated some peoples app out side of the play store. Now Google have banned out-of-market beta testing. I believe that sending an apk to install initially will work and should update through the play store correctly.

[IDEA] App store for HD2/Windows Mobile.

Okay, first, I do not know where I should put this thread, it is for the HD2 specifically, but might one day be useful for other devices.
So, I have an idea, I would like to create an app store for Windows Mobile, specifically Windows Mobile 6.5, NOT Windows Phone, NOT Windows Phone 8/10, NOT Android, NOT Ubuntu or Meego or Firefox OS.
This app store would be updated, it would contain apps that are compatible with WM6.5, also, you would be able to select your device resolution, and get apps that work with your resolution, it could have a tweaks section, so any tweaks could be installed with just a few clicks.
Also, developers would be able to submit their own apps, and people should be able to submit older apps that work on WM 6.5.
So, what do you guys think, would you support such a project.
P.S. What would you think about me trying to get a HTML5 render engine running on WM6.5, so it could use some new mobile-web apps?
P.P.S. Recently, someone with an Android phone, was able to de-solder the NAND chip(with some equipment), and upgrade the internal flash storage, does anyone think this would be possible with the HD2?, maybe we could get 4GB of internal flash instead of 1GB?

Not bad idea.
My company done more basic idea with a repository of apps with description for our WM6.5 users.
Was some quality software for WM, when compare to junk apps you get on android it really night & day, shame Microsoft didn't see potential & develop it more back in late 2000's as it was far better code than android & was the birth of the smart phone & many parts of it copied by iphone & android .

Mister B said:
Not bad idea.
My company done more basic idea with a repository of apps with description for our WM6.5 users.
Was some quality software for WM, when compare to junk apps you get on android it really night & day, shame Microsoft didn't see potential & develop it more back in late 2000's as it was far better code than android & was the birth of the smart phone & many parts of it copied by iphone & android .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, do you think that it would be feasible to make an app store, like this? And what do you think would be a good name for an app store?
I could easily set up a website, however, I do not know how hard it would be to make an installable cab for it.
I could have a basic website, set-up in just a few minutes(without SQL server, which would be needed for an app store).
The main problem though, is getting permission from app developers to put their old apps on the app store, some of the companies don't even exist anymore. And we would need to get NEW developers to make apps and put them in the app store.

You not likely get much support for new apps as just such minority of WM6.x.x devices in use .
Problem 2 is like you say most old apps dropped by developers, many recent apps I got hold of are technically warez but that only way get them & activate them as devs dropped them & purchase option from websites. IM+ was example of this, I wanted purchase a licence but they dropped WM & wouldn't help me out so I had do work around making it a non expiring trial using mortscript to launch app .
If you do any sort of app store and want worthwhile apps then it not going be possible do it 100% legal unfortunately.
Our work web repository is not exactly legal but it keeps WM6 alive & we got about 30 WM6 users who happy
Personally I would do just a good designed web repository with app sections & details & downloads linked to account logins.
If you can build a software app to act as store it would be good, building cab is the easy part .

Mister B said:
You not likely get much support for new apps as just such minority of WM6.x.x devices in use .
Problem 2 is like you say most old apps dropped by developers, many recent apps I got hold of are technically warez but that only way get them & activate them as devs dropped them & purchase option from websites. IM+ was example of this, I wanted purchase a licence but they dropped WM & wouldn't help me out so I had do work around making it a non expiring trial using mortscript to launch app .
If you do any sort of app store and want worthwhile apps then it not going be possible do it 100% legal unfortunately.
Our work web repository is not exactly legal but it keeps WM6 alive & we got about 30 WM6 users who happy
Personally I would do just a good designed web repository with app sections & details & downloads linked to account logins.
If you can build a software app to act as store it would be good, building cab is the easy part .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, it looks like, my website host will not work then, I just made a new account with them too(it is free tho ), my web host says ABSOLUTELY NO warez , however there is this site called "umnet", they have a lot of stuff for lots of devices, including Windows Mobile CAB's. It is not very easy to browse umnet, and there is a lot of garbage, and it is not very easy to sort out what you DO want from what you DONT want. Back on-topic, if I am to make a app-store, I will need to find another host, or something like that.
P.S Is your work app repository, publicly available, or no?

No it on our own server & requires account.

Mister B said:
No it on our own server & requires account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, too bad.
Now, about the app store, I have identified all of the main challenges:
1. Getting a server and/or host.
2. Getting all of the apps.
3. Getting permission from developers to put their paid/non-distributable apps on the server.
4. Setting up a search/description system(will probably be SQL based).
5. Getting the .CAB set up.
6. Getting people to use it.
I have an idea for, convincing developers to make new software for WM6.5, a development fund/bounty. Right now, many people who were once WM6.5 die-hards have stopped developing programs for WM6.5, maybe we can get some new developers, AND get some old developers back, by giving them an incentive to develop for WM6.5. This could be a bitcoin fund/bounty, when a developer wants to make an app, he/she can ask for some bitcoins from the bounty and that could help fund development if his/her app.
Also, ROM's, many ROM's are inactive, my next idea is to, create new ROM's with WEH builds, they will have ALL of the same features and apps and drivers, and versions(6.5.5, the best), but be based on WEH, because WEH has some new under-the-hood stuff like newer security standards, WiFi encryption standards, etc...
Possibly, we could even create new/improved drivers, via reverse engineering or something like that, AND possibly, dig up enough information to implement some of the features of Photon(what WM7 was supposed to be as of 2008), like an unofficial WM7(NOT WP7).