[Q] How to add a specific app to the multiwindow bar vs a random app - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III

Ok, I apologize as I know the answer is somewhere in XDA (I saw it once), but for the life of me I cannot find it via XDA's search function or google. Apparently bad search fu today.
I'm running a custom ROM that has all apps enabled for multi-window use. Which is great. But the problem is when I choose an application that is not on the first screen of apps, it will choose one from the first page instead (in I think roughly the same location of the screen). The only "work around" I've been able to deduce is on the first screen (w/o scrolling), drag the bottom right app into the multiwindow bar. Then remove it fro there. This will shift the apps up by one spot. Then repeat this until you get the app you want.
This becomes annoying when the app you want is towards the bottom of the list.
Anyone know of a better way of doing this? I recall this same issue on my S2, but perhaps I didn't have any many apps installed so it wasn't such a big deal.
Thanks
John

Related

Help finding a task switcher app

Hey,
I've been looking for ages for a task switching app and I was wondering if anyone had seen something good?
I've always thought that it would be really useful to have one that shows the list of apps in the notification bar and can select what apps are show.
Thanks for any help with this,
Drew
Have you tried holding down your home button?
Hey,
Yeah, tried that one, but its usually filled with settings and other things that I dont ever want to go to, so I only see like three or four apps I want to change to...It allso shows apps that are closed.
I'm being a bit fussy, the home button does do what I'm after most of the time, was just wondering if there was anything else.
Thanks,
Drew
drewhopcroft said:
Hey,
Yeah, tried that one, but its usually filled with settings and other things that I dont ever want to go to, so I only see like three or four apps I want to change to...It allso shows apps that are closed.
I'm being a bit fussy, the home button does do what I'm after most of the time, was just wondering if there was anything else.
Thanks,
Drew
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Advanced Task Killer is a free app that will switch between apps. It is essential on the androids. I keep it widget on my desktop. When launced, it will show all the programs currently running on your android. If you hold your finger on an app in ATK, a window will pop up and you can sellect switch too.
there are lots of them, check out multitasking pro, perfect task switcher, etc.
Just do a market search and you should find what you want.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
There are a couple of things I think you might like. Since you don't like having your list of apps cluttered with Settings and the like, you probably want something that you can tweak.
QuickDesk
For one, maybe try QuickDesk. It is basically a single homescreen you can access from any app by either double-tapping Home or holding Search. On top of having any widgets or shortcuts you want, there's also a sliding list of recent apps on the bottom.
SwipePad Beta
If you want something faster and simpler, try SwipePad. Basically, you can create a gesture that lets you access a screen full of shortcuts from anywhere. You choose a corner or side of the screen that you swipe away from to create an overlay that displays shortcuts to different applications.
Wave Launcher
Wave Launcher is similar to Swipepad, only it creates a smaller list of apps that follows your finger around once you do the gesture. I'd recommend following the link and watching the video since it does a better job explaining that I could do.
You should give PreHome a try. You can configure it to only display tasks that are running.
Thanks all,
I'm loving PreHome, for the whole 1 hour I've been using it for...
The double tap home function is better than my 'notification bar' idea...
The other apps look good as well but think I'll be sticking with PreHome.
Thanks again,
Drew

[Q] Removing the TouchWiz Mini Apps Tray

Hi everyone. First of all, many thanks to Gary for Root. It was quick and painless.
Now that we have root, I was wondering if anyone knows what needs to be deleted in order to get rid of that pesky pop up menu you get by pressing on the Chevron/Arrow in the middle of the bar.
I have the Wizz Bar (what an unfortunate name) installed and it does the job so much better. If you're wondering what Wizz Bar is, it basically allows you to pick your own applications or commands and bind them to the little Chevron or Arrow in the middle of the Honeycomb Bar (also called the "Mini Apps Tray")
However the built in action that pops up the Task Manager/World Clock/Calculator etc also initiates. Is there some way to remove the TouchWiz Apps Tray?
Or does this require more tinkering than a simple apk deletion from system/apps
somebody9 said:
Or does this require more tinkering than a simple apk deletion from system/apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's much more involved. That aspect of touchwiz is buried somewhere in the frameworks. The last time I checked (a month ago), several people on both the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 forums were looking for the same thing, but I haven't seen any good solutions.
If you find something over in one of those forums, try to get information on HOW they did it, and I'll try to reproduce it with ours.
I know with HTC phones modding such things requires the knowledge of decompiling, compling and signing apk's using apkTool or apkManager and editing smalis in notepad ++. You would have to track down which particular file contains the code and then know how to edit it to hide the taskbar. As an example just the simple task of hiding the clock in the notification bar of my HTC Incredible phone required the addition of 2 lines of code in the clock.smali file inside SystemUI.apk and the only way to get it to work was to push the file back to the phone and set permissions with adb. You couldn't just copy and paste it back in.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I actually did go look at a bunch of 10.1 and 8.9 ROMs and it looks like there may be a solution out there. I've contacted one of the ROM developers for an answer.
If someone tells you what file to edit and what lines of code to use please post it as it will be useful to the community.
You may install honeybar form market to hide/unhide the bottom bar(notification and clock as well)
Sent from my GT-P7500 using xda premium
i just tried honeybar and it doesn't work for me. I also have go launcher ex installed so not sure if it's conflicting. I see the white box for honeybar, but pressing on it multiple times does nothing (it even goes away eventually as described in the install notes).
Honeybar isn't the solution that most of us are looking for. I myself love the Honeycomb default bar. It's the Mini-Apps Tray that is entirely useless. The least that Samsung could have done was to make the shortcuts changeable by the user.
The whole point of quick access to shortcuts is to have a quick access to the applications you use the most without flipping through homescreens or going to the Apps Tray. Thanks Samsung, I really need the World Time and Calculator more than I need the Browser and Settings Panel.
somebody9 said:
Hi everyone. First of all, many thanks to Gary for Root. It was quick and painless.
Now that we have root, I was wondering if anyone knows what needs to be deleted in order to get rid of that pesky pop up menu you get by pressing on the Chevron/Arrow in the middle of the bar.
I have the Wizz Bar (what an unfortunate name) installed and it does the job so much better. If you're wondering what Wizz Bar is, it basically allows you to pick your own applications or commands and bind them to the little Chevron or Arrow in the middle of the Honeycomb Bar (also called the "Mini Apps Tray")
However the built in action that pops up the Task Manager/World Clock/Calculator etc also initiates. Is there some way to remove the TouchWiz Apps Tray?
Or does this require more tinkering than a simple apk deletion from system/apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've wondered whether there was a way to intercept the trigger that touching the chevron activates and just redirecting it to another command (such as what happens when you hit the "home" button after you've installed a home replacement). That way we wouldn't have to worry about hacking the touchwiz dock for customizing, we just replace it altogether so something else is invoked by touching the shortcut.
rEVOLVE said:
I've wondered whether there was a way to intercept the trigger that touching the chevron activates and just redirecting it to another command (such as what happens when you hit the "home" button after you've installed a home replacement). That way we wouldn't have to worry about hacking the touchwiz dock for customizing, we just replace it altogether so something else is invoked by touching the shortcut.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Re-mapping the function would be more involved than just turning it off but it is possible if you know what you're doing. For HTC phones there's a mod called rosie remap which does just about the same thing but its a complicated hack. It remaps a + button on the phone that ads apps to the homescreen, the mod allows you to reassign the button so it opens any app you want. I believe this is a framework-res.apk mod. Eventually someone who is familar with touchwiz will do these mods, if they haven't already for the 8.9 or 10.1, which should all be pretty much the same.
Edit: I think the chevron function would be in the touchwiz apk located in system/app but I don't know what Samsung calls it. HTC calls their Sense UI Rosie and you mod Rosie.apk to do the remapping of their UI specific buttons. If the chevron is part of honeycomb itself then it would be in the framework-res.apk file I bbelieve.
This is good info flowing in. I'm gonna see if I can figure out some more.
On a positive note - guess what Samsung changed? Exactly what I was *****ing about :
Mini Apps : Upgraded so you can choose and edit your own Mini Apps tray. You can easily access favorite features such as Calendar, Email, or PenMemo as a pop up over full screen applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
somebody9 said:
On a positive note - guess what Samsung changed? Exactly what I was *****ing about :
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was there an update that I don't know about that allows this??? I really like the idea of the mini app tray, but like was said before, not having the ability to put your most used apps there makes it pretty useless.
Please explain how apps can now (or in the near future) be changed in the tray.
Thanks!!!
I guess until they release 7.7 we won't know. Unless there's an update out on KIES. But I really doubt it.
Confirmed:7.7 has fully customisable mini apps tray...i'm disappointed in Samsung for releasing 'premium' products in such close succession that are so different in functionality. Why did they not include this basic and important feature on all new of their new tablet products? I actually feel somewhat conned now
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
rEVOLVE said:
i just tried honeybar and it doesn't work for me. I also have go launcher ex installed so not sure if it's conflicting. I see the white box for honeybar, but pressing on it multiple times does nothing (it even goes away eventually as described in the install notes).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
doesn't go launcher ex look like **** on the tab+? i installed it yesterday and when i found out that i can't remove the dock, i uninstalled it.
diospada11 said:
doesn't go launcher ex look like **** on the tab+? i installed it yesterday and when i found out that i can't remove the dock, i uninstalled it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pare, actually like it better because i don't like stock honeycomb desktop and app drawer. I set swipe up gesture to hide/unide the dock and also changed the stock dock icons.
Once we're able to customize the Touchwiz shortcuts, or hijack the launch command so we can tell it to launch something else, I'll be much happier.
For those who've not seen this function in action yet, check it out in this video at 2.05: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=tBpzweqvKJA
Surely Samsung can put this function in tab plus on an update ... and they need to. The app tray is almost functionless otherwise. The presence of this thread is sufficient evidence that there is a high demand and several unsatisfied customers. Many customers have spent over £400 on this tablet. Why did they put it onto the 7.7 which was going on sale only a few days/weeks after the tab plus?
Sent from my GT-P6210 using xda premium
Just for my two cents, I would also like to see the app tray made editable. I've only had my unit for a couple of days, and I already feel its wasted on me for what it holds. Hoping for that to change in a coming update.
somebody9 said:
On a positive note - guess what Samsung changed? Exactly what I was *****ing about :
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is this "mini apps?" Did I miss something?

Changes in KitKat Apps

So I've been giving KitKat a go today and so far I'm not 100% convinced.
While some things have improved, others have changed for the worse.
Or I'm just too stupid to find the proper settings?
1. The Email app
It finally got some love - Google has been working on it.
BUT - I can't select all emails in one account at once? Seriously? The app just downloaded 54 emails after setting it up and now I have to tap every single one of them to mark them as read?
Somebody please tell me I'm missing something here.
2. The sidebar for the apps that was introduced in Jellybean has disappeared. It wasn't an overly useful feature, but I did like it.
3. Contacts
I have yet to find a way to remove or at least reduce the size of the contact pictures.
Also, to remove a contact, you have to open it first. There's no menu when you tap and hold a contact anymore.
What changes do you guys like/dislike?
Did anybody come acrossed the above mentioned and found solutions?
steeserious said:
So I've been giving KitKat a go today and so far I'm not 100% convinced.
While some things have improved, others have changed for the worse.
Or I'm just too stupid to find the proper settings?
1. The Email app
It finally got some love - Google has been working on it.
BUT - I can't select all emails in one account at once? Seriously? The app just downloaded 54 emails after setting it up and now I have to tap every single one of them to mark them as read?
Somebody please tell me I'm missing something here.
2. The sidebar for the apps that was introduced in Jellybean has disappeared. It wasn't an overly useful feature, but I did like it.
3. Contacts
I have yet to find a way to remove or at least reduce the size of the contact pictures.
Also, to remove a contact, you have to open it first. There's no menu when you tap and hold a contact anymore.
What changes do you guys like/dislike?
Did anybody come acrossed the above mentioned and found solutions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know. It's a little annoying. But the smart RAM Management is good.
I am okay with all of these as long as I get 4GB of Internal Storage....
I haven't missed the sidebar, it's still there. Unless we're talking about a different sidebar
Sent from my Nexus 7
I'm talking about the one in the apps screen, the one you get when you swipe to the left. It allows to change the order and uninstall apps. I haven't seen it in the Kitkat builds from AOSP for XL.
steeserious said:
I'm talking about the one in the apps screen, the one you get when you swipe to the left. It allows to change the order and uninstall apps. I haven't seen it in the Kitkat builds from AOSP for XL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You haven't seen it as this feature is in launcher not the rom itself.
Try installing Sony Launcher from 4.2.2 and you will have it.
Alright, I thought about that but haven't looked into it.
Thanks
Does anybody know how to get rid of the avatars in the contacts?

[Q] I need a better clipboard functionality

One of the things that I loved about my ASUS Padfone 2 was the near stock UI.
The things that got changed by ASUS were mostly very useful, like the clipboard.
If I long pressed a textbox on my Padfone 2, the usual "paste" icon showed up accompanied by a second icon "clipboard".
When I clicked that icon, a panel slid up from where the keyboard normally is, which had the last copied elements as a small preview, with an additional button to edit the contents. In edit mode, I could delete elements or mark them as permanent (I guess the system would overwrite them when the cashe would be full at some point otherwise).
I miss that useful function on my Nexus 5.
Does anyone know a mod or custom ROM that does that?
I have looked into this on the play store, but the apps there require to run in the background or to switch to a third app to access the copied content.
You will have to look at the ROM feature list, but this is the first time that I have heard of this feature. If my memory is correct there aren't any ROMs with the feature but don't quote me. Third party app is your best alternative. This phone has 2GB of RAM it'll be ok in the background.
edit: You could also check xposed or make a request in the xposed thread.
I use clipper which is still a 3rd app but it works well for me. I use switchr to swipe in from the screen edge to access it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Thanks for the replies.
I am not worried about the RAM running full, but I don't like to have any more notification icons than necessary.
Looks like I'll have to compromise clean look for functionality.
I wish google implemented the way ASUS did it into AOSP. It was really perfect.
Maybe Cyanogenmod will do this.
Thanks again for your comments.

[Q] Is there any app that can launch other apps directly

So I did some rummaging through the forums and what I found was a small app (xperia thing), that could launch other apps directly. I was actually looking for something like maybe I could swipe from any edge of the screen (kinda like Samsung s6/7 Edge phones) and a small window thingy would come out with a scroll-able list of all my installed apps so that i could launch the app from whatever screen I was on. Would be really glad if somebody could make such an app/ notify me if something similar already exists.
Also, is it possible to have a Small App that could [turn into]/[launch any app within itself as] a small app?
Sorry for being a noob.
thanks.

Categories

Resources