Database Info

Protecting Owner Information?

All respect to senior members, don't u ppl think that there should be some lock or password or something like that for protecting the "OWNER INFORMATION" contents being edited by somebody other than the actual owner itself.
This actually happened with me, a friend of mine picked mey phone(jokingly) edited the owner information and kept it back.
I was shocked to see his name instead of mine.
I seriously look forward for resolving this **** issue left by microsoft.

I think that there are allready many ways to protect your device with multiple passwords. If you have an auto lock on your device before using it there should be no problem.
If you want to use the phone without accessing the registry I think I've found one weakness already. A user can't edit the owner info, but can use TotalCommander and import a reg.key with new user info. Or simply mess up the owner info by edit the reg.keys containing the current info.
The best way to protect your device is by not to hand over your phone to anyone And use one of the many phone lock apps around.
Just my € 0,02

I second the request for owner info lock, I want it to be there on the Today screen, butit should not be edited by every touch of the screen, the same I would like to have for the clock of the Today screen, every time I take out my phone from my pocket the Owner screen or clock screen are open.
Anyone?

This seems like a valid concern. I too would like to know what steps I can take to protect my user info... But I'm not entirely surprised that security on a Microsoft OS has taken the back seat...

I would like to ask again, is there A way to lock the Owner Info applet, the same as there is an option in some tweaking programs to lock the Clock applet?
Please someone look in to it, (I can't have my Owner Info changed all the time.)
Thanks in advance.

There might be one option to do this. Can't say it works 100% but you can enter your contact details and hide the owner information icon by changing the right settings in the registry.
Don't know the exact registry value but I guess it should work. Someone with a lot of time and knowledge could change the personal information by reversing these steps but it should be sufficient for most paranoia people

I think it would be easy enough to disable the control panel in a handful of different ways, but if you want to prevent access to it from Settings, use your registry editor, go into
HKLM\ControlPanel\Owner
and add a dword value called "Hide" (no speech marks) and set its value to 1.
That hides the panel from settings (after a soft reset).
It may still be accessible from the today plugin, but I don't use that.
If you need to disable the panel entirely, it's possible, but requires more low level hacking.
V

That's the one I meant Thanks vijay555!

vijay555 said:
I think it would be easy enough to disable the control panel in a handful of different ways, but if you want to prevent access to it from Settings, use your registry editor, go into
HKLM\ControlPanel\Owner
and add a dword value called "Hide" (no speech marks) and set its value to 1.
That hides the panel from settings (after a soft reset).
It may still be accessible from the today plugin, but I don't use that.
If you need to disable the panel entirely, it's possible, but requires more low level hacking.
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand how this can help,
#1) This will not block the Today screen plugin from being edited by mistake, (and worst thing is, this changes your user name which is needed for registered applications, I once had it changed just by laying in my pocket, and all app's where unregistered).
#2) If you hide it, and also don't show it on the Today screen, then why do you need it at all?

pinny said:
I don't understand how this can help,
#1) This will not block the Today screen plugin from being edited by mistake, (and worst thing is, this changes your user name which is needed for registered applications, I once had it changed just by laying in my pocket, and all app's where unregistered).
#2) If you hide it, and also don't show it on the Today screen, then why do you need it at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The owner info plugin is a complete waste of space. The idea of hiding it in the registry hides the owner info icon from the control panel so it can't be accessed. Just make sure your name is right and hide it. You shouldn't ever need to change it, and nobody can see it.

HD2 book collection database software sought

I got my new HD2 and was delighted, but then tried to get the software that I have been using previously to work on it.
As I travel around and look in second hand book and record shops, I am never totally sure from memory whether i have a particular book or cd. Publishers keep changing the covers and synopses.
On my Psion, it had as standard a lovely card database / rolodex type of program. It was easy to input, easy to search.
When I moved to the hx4700 on windows 2003SE I lost that. Eventually I found Data On The Run which is fully access compatible. So I've converted all of my lists to access, and was happy enough. It wasn't great as it tries to get too much on, and portrait only.
Now on the HD2, the software does not like fingers, only styluses. Scrolling is virtually impossible, as it won't drag to scroll. The pop out scroll bar helper does not show. The developer is one guy and hasn't time to continue developing.
I've looked at stuff like Bookbag plus and someone mentioned "My Collection" but I cannot find it anywhere on the net. There are serious commercial pieces of software that are in effect full database programs, but that is a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

I know this may only help in the short term, and doesn't solve the software issue.
Have you changed the original theme on the device? If so the Pop out function on the theme is lost in order to return it without going back to the original theme you could try this. please remember to backup
Hope this helps in the short term.

Try this
Try ListPro.. it's a great application..

Neville.Holland said:
I know this may only help in the short term, and doesn't solve the software issue.
Have you changed the original theme on the device? If so the Pop out function on the theme is lost in order to return it without going back to the original theme you could try this. please remember to backup
Hope this helps in the short term.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for hte idea, but Nope, original theme. Pop out scroll is there for other apps.

Klaus1960 said:
Try ListPro.. it's a great application..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THanks. I had seen Collectorz which has templates for this, but had not found listpro. It looks a fairly steep learning curve, and I need to import my existing lists. However, its great advantage is that it is only one program that covers a multitude of lists, so i won;t be paying out twice or three times for basically the same thing.
I've installed and imported my book list, so can now try and get it synchronised. I had to install the cab file separately. I can set up the synchronisation in the Windows MObile Device Centre, but that has to be done through "files" and unless i have missed something that only lets me synchronise to the machine, not the storage card. That is no damn good.

[Q] Android Developers, why are you treating my SD card like a garbage can?

This has been bothering me for quite a while, so I conjured a little story to help sooth my frustration.
Lets say my Android device is the new tenant of a nicely formated loft, this loft being 16gb of square space. To commemorate this new exciting space my device throws a house party. Most of the Apps he invites are pretty well behaved, but some start spilling drinks, then puking on the carpet, then having an orgy, then bukkake-ing the root directory. After discovering such acts, the device politely requests the disruptive guests force quit and leave. "I need more space on my phone." the device replied as each questioned on their way out. To his disbelief, NONE of the Apps cleaned up their mess! Even worse it seems some of the classier Apps, though more organized seem to have been influenced too. Unfortunately the device is forced to live with it, as the police force stopped responding to calls in his neighborhood. One man tries, but it always returns to a mess.
I hope that entertained someone.

i know exactly how you feel... there is at least 7 unused folders just wasting space on my phone. not to mention random mp3's hidden deep within my phone...

PhxkinMassacre said:
i know exactly how you feel... there is at least 7 unused folders just wasting space on my phone. not to mention random mp3's hidden deep within my phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you understand about the unused folders and NOT the bukkake-ing!!

hello, nice story!
I won't say that I am even close to being a developer but I do develop some apps and the thing that I wan't to point out is that apps do not run when they are installed or uninstalled. It's not each application job to clear up the mess it may have created but package manager's which apparently leaves some files be just in case you would like to reinstall the app later(?)...
I would propose to look for a more efficient package manager or doorman/janitor for your loft

That's why I don't invite the guy whos only existence is to make farting noises!

Very good point. However, one thing I don't know is if uninstalling through the market cleans up the SD card better than using a third party mass uninstall app. Something you may want to experiment with.

Back at it again...
Here I am again, and I still don't flippin get it!
After reading some of your comments I realized my main point kind of got glazed over(no pun intended @Scudderb)
My big issue is that there's no hierarchy in place for this crap. In windows, program files are stored in the 'Program Files' directory. In Android (and I credit google and the developers for this sloppy BS) Apps are just throwing all their **** in with my stuff on the ROOT.
How is this acceptable. Seriously, HOW? And if its all cache files and/or temporary documents than WHY THE **** ISN'T ALL THIS CRAP BEING PUT INTO A TEMP/CACHE FOLDER.
I'm PISSED! Why does every app I install get to put their own folder on the ROOT WITH the FOLDERS and FILES that actually matter to me ex: like my music, pictures, movies, documents (OH and by the way, a lot of apps developers do a REALLY ****ty job with their NAMING CONVENTIONS so the folders being created may or may not even look related to the app that put it there!)
::end rant::
My apologies for the colorful language, folder structure and hierarchy are something I design as a web designer so when I see this crap going on in my phone like the inmates are running the asylum... I get angry.
Today I was cleaning up my SD card for the umteen'th time, and found that Foursquare was dumping its temp files directly onto the root of my directory. I blew my top and had to get it out of my system... so..
A MESSAGE TO ALL THE APPS PULLING THESE SHENANIGANS: GROW UP!

The problem here is that it's hard to do it right
For custom data, files are supposed to be saved into "/data/data/com.appname/blah" (that's from the top of my head, could differ slightly). That's the directory to use for data files, but there's one big issue with it: it's on the internal memory storage. We all know that internal memory on Android (without custom ROMs) is.. limited. That's probably why most devs are using SD for larger files.
There's also the "Android/data/com.package_name.blah/blah" directory on the SD card. This directory should be used by apps to store files into and is automatically deleted when the user removes the associated app (but only when you're running Froyo or greater).
The issue with this approach is that users (and developers too, when testing the app) will lose all their data when removing an old version of a specific app. Let's say there's a bug with the Market again and the app suddenly gets uninstalled. User will have to reinstall, result: data will be all gone. That's only one of the many doom scenarios.
I can't speak for other developers, but that's more or less the reason why I started to use a common directory outside of the preferred ones when I was doing apps. It's not a great situation, I fully agree. But would you rather have your data accidentally deleted?
If anyone knows a good way to get around this issue, I'd love to know more about it...

orly
Thanks for the reply @Stripeymilk
I can think of multiple solutions:
#1 Development community adopts a universal directory for files deemed 'User' or 'Save' data that should be stored for future use. (or Google creates this for developers)
#2 Development community adopts the practice of allowing users to pick the directory users want to store an apps data in. (prompt at app's first start)
#3 Store files/data in the cloud.
#4 Users dump trash in the lobbys/living-rooms of developer's and see how quickly they find a solution.
#5 USE THE "Android/data/com.package_name.blah/" FOLDER WHEN ALL YOU'RE REALLY DOING IS STORING CACHE/TEMP FILES!!!
BOTTOM LINE: Its not hard to do it right, Its just hard to get people to do it.

You make it sound so easy
1) I'm all for it, but Google needs to put its weight behind an approach like that because otherwise people will say "I like /Data better than /data or /Mydata or /MyData". It's a bit like coding conventions: everyone wants to be different.
2) Good for techy people, not so good for "normal" users. Could make it easier with a small "file manager", but that's too much work for indie devs. Could be a nice idea for a new open source project though.
3) Great idea, could actually work if the associated account would be created automatically (like in Cut the Rope for Android with Scoreloop), but:
- The backup functionality in Android for storing data in the cloud is available for API level 8 and greater, making it of not so much use when you're targeting API level 5 or 6 and greater. Could be fixed by using something like Google Storage combined with Jets3t instead, but that would be useless for apps written in C++, like many games are.
- Cloud storage isn't free. Developers can't pay for that as it would be too expensive. If every Android user would've gotten free cloud storage from Google it could be a nice alternative, but (yeah, there's always a but) most current users don't have that.
4) If you're prepared to send your trash by plane to another country, go for it!
5) Agreed. Useful for temp data.

I'm not trying to make it sound easy, believe me I know how it isn't. I'm trying to make it sound simple, because really.. it is...
In response:
1) I agree and this is exactly what I mean by the real hard part is getting people to do it. This requires widespread endorsement by developers big and small - that this is a 'best practice' that should be adhered to. I think the gate swings both ways though.
example: Twitter didn't invent hash tags, their users did, and with its widespread adoption, Twitter adopted/implemented it too.
2) Another good point, though this process can be curated to drive the user in the right direction (holding their hand). The XBOX 360 does this for every game you play, the first thing it does is ask you which storage device you want to use for game saves.
example: in combination with solution # 1, the default folder the app saves to could be '/data/theAppsName' and the prompt could say "This app saves files to your SD CARD in '/data/theAppName'. Would you like to choose a new location?" [Yes] [No] [?]. The [Yes] option brings up a simple file manager, the [No] option uses that location, the [?] option brings up an easy to understand write up on what its asking and why its asking it.
3) We'll get there eventually, my point really was if you've got the resources, why not. Its a solution better than #1 and #2
4) I plan on sending human clones to create trash individually and exponentially
5) AMIRITE~!
In all seriousness though, thank you @Stripeymilk for taking the time to go in depth and have a conversation about this. I seriously think it doesn't take an act of Godogle to solve this (to what I beleive) is a big issue!

I can't agree more with you.
As developer (Windows, iSeries) I try to make my programs as structured and readable as possible. The same goes for the files and folders used used by the programs, but sadly, even with all the available resources, some people (colleagues) make a complete mess of it, cause "that's not/less important", as long as the program does what it's intended to do ...
It's all about the resources and people using them the right way!

Cool, didn't know about the hash tags on Twitter
Well, we're on a great site here with developers on it. If everyone here would adhere to the same standard, it could at least be a nice push to make the Android SD card world a better place.
What's the directory we're going to settle on? Any pros and cons?

Do large download sizes put people off?

(EDIT: Apologies, the thread title should have stated this is relevant to the market(s))
I'm considering creating a series of applications, some of which contain a database of images thus making the final apk size quite large.
Does large file sizes for reference programs (when the user knows there will be a large amount of data involved) put them off downloading it or do people prefer having things pulled from a host? (or even having a small app size but then asking the user to install xx MB to there SD card?)
I suppose the best option would be to have an option for both.. but just want to know what other dev's have done in this situation.
(P.S - First post.. lurked here for a while but mainly been at modaco )

Whats puts me off is when I want to buy a program and I know I will not be able to test it within 15 minutes because of the extra files needed after the install.
I'm not paying for something I can't test out, blame stupid Google for their 15 minutes refund policy.

i don't really like large size file

why not pull the images from the interweb when the app opens?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

It depends on what you mean by "large."
I don't want to spend time downloading an app that is a few hundred megs.
If it is only a few megs, I don't think of it as large though.
I'll also add that I don't want to download an app to find that I have to download more things to use it. If it is pulling data from a host, I don't want to experience any delays at all.

Thanks for the responses but I think I ended up answering my own question in the first post - have the option for both.
The best option from a dev point of view is downloading the extra files first, then the reliability and speed of hosting isn't as much of an issue as people won't need to access these on demand.
As I'm typing this post a 4th option has also become apparent - download all the text data in the beginning and for each entry you can pull the image manually.
Some of the apps are most useful on the go (Think: Wine lists/database), making using their mobile data compulsory would put people off I think.
Thanks for the advice
P.S By large I mean less than 70mb, which I'd say is quite large for a phone app)

[APP] Motion detector with recording abilities

Hello everyone,
I am new to this forum. I decided to register here after I completed my android project.
I created a program that can detect movements and save pictures of the moving objects. Phone has to remain static in order to work properly. The program also features separate address book. Address book keeps phone numbers for SMS notification. In order to activate that you have to create a new contact then long press the item in the list. The program creates folder on memory card where it saves the pictures. The speed is very high on Galaxy S. You can throw something fast and phone still snaps the flying object if it passes by the camera.
The program has many settings that can dramatically alter the performance. Settings have to be adjusted in accordance with the lighting conditions.
I tested app only on 2.2 Vibrant. I am really curious to see how it works on other 2.2 devices.
ARMv7 processor is a must!!
Please give me some feedback!
App is called Motion Recorder

this sounds like a great app. gonna try it now on my incredible.

My app MobileWebCam also does this (simpler detection algorithm I suppose) and can automatically save, upload the pictures or send email:
Development Thread is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=950933
Are you interested in sharing your motion detection code? Possibly we could combine functionality of both apps?

dirtsky, If you have any questions or if you find any bugs please write in this thread.
The program is little hard to use so feel free to ask.
_miha_, Mine detects motion by analyzing color. What about yours?
How do you send e-mail without the annoying pop up?

theandre said:
_miha_, Mine detects motion by analyzing color. What about yours?
How do you send e-mail without the annoying pop up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My motion detection is three steps: Image is converted to grey, then I max every pixel with the ones around to remove the flickering pixels (especially needed for night/low contrast situations) and calc the difference between the last and this new pixels. Some magic value (which should better be configurable later decides about the motion. Problem is this is very slow (should use the ndk but only began working with it recently) so I have to scale down the image before which is bad for small/distant moving objects.
Email: Is not sent with Android/Intent. I use JavaMail. I had some difficulties with the libs but got it working somehow (and even more difficulties with proguard which I needed because file size is getting too large without using it).

_miha_, did you test my app? How does it stack up against yours in terms of performance?

I cant seem to find where the images are being saved on my SDcard. Epic 4G Froyo ec05 midNight Rom
I looked for the folder "Motion Recorder" and i dont see it. and theres nothing in the Gallery

zman519, since your device is basically Galaxy S type it will save in internal memory(aka 14 GB "SD card").
Please let me know if you find the folder there.

I have total 105 installs out which 35 are active. Is it considered as bad result?

UPDATE: 59 active installs out of 109 which makes it >50%. Is it good?

theandre said:
zman519, since your device is basically Galaxy S type it will save in internal memory(aka 14 GB "SD card").
Please let me know if you find the folder there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Epic does not have an internal sdcard. That must be the problem. I looked around with root explorer and did not see the folder.
Sent from the Drivers Seat of my Suby txting and Driving doing 100MPH+ in a school zone! Ha.

zman519, thank you for feedback, I will fix that and let you know once the update is ready. It should not take more than half an hour.

Question to developers:
My program saves pictures to the following path:
String path = "/sdcard/Motion Recorder/TakenOn" +...
Why does it not automatically save to external sd card in the case when there is no internal sd?
UPDATE. I figured out myself. Working on update that allows user to choose between internal and external memory.

Hello dev,
I tried it on my DHD - it crashes and don't save settings.

I just updated to v0.42 which adds support for the external storage. Just go to settings and tap the checkbox. Unfortunately I have not tested the new feature on the actual hardware because I do not have one at the moment. So please, those of you who can test it please let me know if it does not work.
drast-x, Thank you for the feedback. Please give me some more details. When does it crash? After you hit the start? When you hit the start do you get the preview from the camera? Unfortunately settings do not save after the exit except contacts...
Did it happen on:Jun 11, 2011 9:32:07 PM ? I ask you this because Developer console shows me one crash that occurred at that time:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Fail to connect to camera service
at android.hardware.Camera.native_setup(Native Method)
at android.hardware.Camera.<init>(Camera.java:294)
at android.hardware.Camera.open(Camera.java:271)

Does saving pictures work on any of the phones except Epic 4g?
Thank you

I updated to v0.45
Now settings will save. Motion Recorder 0.45

Many thanks to the user of my app who sent this feedback:
"force close when start button clicked in nexus".
It turns out Nexus One (or S?) does not support either VGA or QVGA preview frames. So I had to fix this issue by requesting the supported resolutions. Very surprised by this issue. I expected that Android OS would figure this out on its own...
Thus new version 0.45.5 is supposed to fix the issue. I do not have Nexus One so I am not 100% about the fix. Those of you who are reading this and have Nexus One, please try new version!
Thank you!

Have you tried first reducing your image resolution to something ridiculously small like 32x32 and apply a DCT to keep only the low frequencies?
This might offer much better performance.
You can perform very good
_miha_ said:
My motion detection is three steps: Image is converted to grey, then I max every pixel with the ones around to remove the flickering pixels (especially needed for night/low contrast situations) and calc the difference between the last and this new pixels. Some magic value (which should better be configurable later decides about the motion. Problem is this is very slow (should use the ndk but only began working with it recently) so I have to scale down the image before which is bad for small/distant moving objects.
Email: Is not sent with Android/Intent. I use JavaMail. I had some difficulties with the libs but got it working somehow (and even more difficulties with proguard which I needed because file size is getting too large without using it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse