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[TOOL] iAPK Suite v0.9 - Drag & Drop APK Installer

Alright, straight to it.
This is iAPK Suite 0.9. The newest incarnation of iAPK. It's functions have been vastly increased, while keeping it's sole purpose still unique.
The new version of iAPK merits it a new name, iAPK Suite. This means it not only installs APKs, it is a full fledged manager. It installs, deletes, backups, and restores APKs from your respective Android devices. Aside from being drag 'n' drop friendly, i've incorporated a tremendous amount of useful features. Hell, it even signs APKs with a simple click.
There are currently two versions. iAPK Suite and iAPK Mini. The Suite version allows full APK management, while the mini just has simple drag and drop as well as the docking panel without any other APK functions which makes the file size practically cut in half.
Mind you, the usage of this application gets a lot easier when you learn all of the shortcuts I implemented to making things a lot quicker. A wiki will be made to explore everything about iAPK and how to use every function i've built into it, even the not so obvious ones
..:: Screenshots ::..
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
..:: Features ::..
- Sleek Drag n' Drop User Interface
- Docking Panel
- File Type associations with .apk files
- APK Management
- Signs APKs
- Drag Multiple APKs for installation
- Drag Folders containing APKs for installation
..:: Wiki ::..
iAPK Suite 0.9 Wiki *DOWN*
..:: Download ::..
Download iAPK Suite for Windows (LINK UPDATED JUNE 2012)
..:: Issues/Todo ::..
- adb sometimes has an issue with apks installed from folders with spaces in their name. (Working on a fix)
- small animation glitches tend to appear depending on the environment. (Does not pose any functional problems)
- a system tray icon needs to be added to allow for easy configuration of certain adb options/switches. (Working on)
- several adb switches need to be added to allow forced apk installed (-r) and other various tags. (Working on)
- deleting apks has not been testing thoroughly. (Waiting for feedback)
- iAPK needs an installer instead of being just compiled into a zip. (Working on)
..:: Changelog ::..
v0.9
+ Added quicker docking panel
+ Added File type associations with .apk files
+ Added APK management through the Android Device Bridge (adb.exe)
+ Added APK manifest dumping using the Android Asset Packaging Tool (aapt.exe)
+ New UI built from scratch
+ New Information panel notifier
+ Added a mini version for smaller file size
v0.3
+ Added Update Checker(Now notifies the user if an update is available)
+ Added Directory APK Installing(Not tested)
+ Now checks to see if adb is in $Path or already specified instead of always making a copy of adb locally(Not tested)
+ Added a configuration panel(Intended for internal use, otherwise no use right now)
- Taken out some un-needed functions(may work a little faster for some people)
++ Will be available for Mac OSX, Linux in the next release.
++ Will incorporate a default filetype & shortcut for windows(allows auto-install on doubleclick)
v0.2
+ Added Multiple APK Installing functionality (Drag and Drop multiple APK's)
+ Cleaned up some more code
+ Operation manager for internal use (Allows for batch calculation and apk management)
+ Added small tool tip for future use
+ Added an operation summary at the end of each..operation.
- Taken out 99.9% of the popups
- Taken out clunky option gear graphic
++ Coming soon... Just mention it.
This application works globally for ANY Android Device. Posting it in here is just because i'm in this sub-forum a lot. But this application will work with ANY Android device. It would be nice if this thread was pinned for easy access

Pretty cool. Heres another alternative i use. I just created a batch file where i made it pickup a file as an argument and "adb install -r" it. I compiled it to an exe and gave it an icon and set it as a default program for apk's. Here it is for those interested. You can either set it as default program for apk filetype, or just drag an apk into it.
Link

I like it. Simple and nice interface and easy to work with it

Thanks
10 char.

qberty said:
Hey xda inhabitants!
Here's something I made to shorten APK installing. This is my take on an easy drag and drop apk installer with quick and to the point functions. It's very simple and straight forward, drag and drop your APK onto my program, and it will install it over ADB to your phone! Very simple as opposed to using the 0.04 second long browse button, Dragging and dropping saves a bunch of time!
Screenie-bo-beenie
Download-oh-...err
1.4MB RAR
1.6MB ZIP
Please let me know if you want features that adb can provide or ..just anything you want implemented.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Does it support multiple/batch apk files? That would be useful for a restore.

wow..nice one
if can drag multiple apk files and batch install would be nice

Binary100100 said:
Interesting. Does it support multiple/batch apk files? That would be useful for a restore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pingy_ping said:
wow..nice one
if can drag multiple apk files and batch install would be nice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm..You guys are right.. it does not support multiple apks... It might since it's through adbs command, not sure if that would work. But I have a method of making multiple apks work at once. Lemme throw that on the table.
...Done.

Updated, and fixed v0.2 link.

pretty sweeet

sweet, love the idea of batch installs! Save a lot of time when switching between roms

Thanks! If anyone has anything else they want added. Let me know.

color me stupid but i cant get this to work...
may be that im on a pc at work.
there is nothing fancy needed to get it to work is there?
i am able to use the sdk tools and ADB can see my phone but the app keeps saying failed
any ideas would be great.

ceasee said:
color me stupid but i cant get this to work...
may be that im on a pc at work.
there is nothing fancy needed to get it to work is there?
i am able to use the sdk tools and ADB can see my phone but the app keeps saying failed
any ideas would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did some quick debugging and I found out that I broke the single APK installer by adding the multiple batch one. Damn lol. Well for now, untill I release the completely working one, just drop two or more apks on it for them to properly work. That is an error on my part, must have forgot an if/then/else somewhere along the road, I'll fix it now. Should be compiled within an hour. Thanks

Terribly sorry for the confusion. I have fixed the weird problem. Everything now works as it should. Please re-download v0.2 from the original post.

This is a really Nice utility

I have a couple of requests. Feel free to make them come true
1. Make it so if set as a default app for apks, when i double click an apk it launches this program, installs the apk, then shuts the program.
2. Make it so it detects if adb is currently in $path, u can do that using something like errorlevels in batch. So if it detects it, then it shouldnt have to extract the files such as adb and the dlls.
Just my $0.02

Great!! thanks!

Daneshm90 said:
1. Make it so if set as a default app for apks, when i double click an apk it launches this program, installs the apk, then shuts the program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.. is not the easiest thing to do, since I would now need to make my app utilize commandlines in win shells to allow me to add apk file locations to a command to be installed quickly. It's definitely possible, but unfortunately i can't complete it within an hour so, that'll take a bit longer.
Daneshm90 said:
2. Make it so it detects if adb is currently in $path, u can do that using something like errorlevels in batch. So if it detects it, then it shouldnt have to extract the files such as adb and the dlls.
Just my $0.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is definitely an easy task, never thought of that, consider it done as I have the exact code in my head
I'll compile everything when I get homerz.
$0.2 is actually 20 cents... wow. You put a lot thought into this one. lol
Anyway, keep in mind, I can do..just about ANYTHING with this app. So don't hold back with your suggestions.

qberty said:
This.. is not the easiest thing to do, since I would now need to make my app utilize commandlines in win shells to allow me to add apk file locations to a command to be installed quickly. It's definitely possible, but unfortunately i can't complete it within an hour so, that'll take a bit longer.
This is definitely an easy task, never thought of that, consider it done as I have the exact code in my head
I'll compile everything when I get homerz.
$0.2 is actually 20 cents... wow. You put a lot thought into this one. lol
Anyway, keep in mind, I can do..just about ANYTHING with this app. So don't hold back with your suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol my bad. Typing on phone/in a hurry don't go too well
Btw wht did u write this in ? vb?

qberty said:
This.. is not the easiest thing to do, since I would now need to make my app utilize commandlines in win shells to allow me to add apk file locations to a command to be installed quickly. It's definitely possible, but unfortunately i can't complete it within an hour so, that'll take a bit longer.
This is definitely an easy task, never thought of that, consider it done as I have the exact code in my head
I'll compile everything when I get homerz.
$0.2 is actually 20 cents... wow. You put a lot thought into this one. lol
Anyway, keep in mind, I can do..just about ANYTHING with this app. So don't hold back with your suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anything? Lol (I won't go there!) What is the advantage to this verses using su file manager to just copy and paste within the phone? I guess I should just try it out, but didn't want to waste my time cause I have no problems with adb commands, but some of my friends might like it! Thanks!

[APP] ADB filesystem plugin for Total Commander

EDIT: Aleq has posted updated versions here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=23937844&postcount=36
Checked whether a project for creating a WinCE like plugin for total commander already exist, but couldn't find one, so here it is.
Disclaimer: This plugin is still in it's infancy, therefore it might crash you, your PC or your phone. It might not even start. But it'll improve.
1. What's this?
This is a filesystem plugin for total commander that let's you browse and modify the contents of your phone while using total commander
2. Why?
Although there are some android file managers out there, none of them I've found integrates into total commander. And if you've already using tcmd as a general file manager you usually don't want to open up a new program just to access your filesystem.
3. How?
The plugin uses the "adb shell" interface to communicate with the phone. It issues simple linux commands, parses the results and shows them to you in tcmd.
4. What's needed?
Total commander on your PC, busybox on your phone (root is not needed, but it will be used if available), and USB debugging turned on as well. Next download the plugin, open it in total commander and let it install.
5. Download location?
Download the latest version from here: http://github.com/sztupy/adbfsplugin/downloads
6. Supported features?
- directory listing
- copying from/to phone (very slow)
- copying/moving/renaming inside the phone
- creating and deleting directories
7. Whats needed?
- Better error handling
- Command line interface
- Attribute changing
- APK management
- etc.
8. Common pitfalls/limitations/etc.
- If the plugin can't start the adb server, wait a bit, then try it again
- The plugin won't ask you whether you want to overwrite a file or not, it will overwrite it
- Uploading and downloading files is very-very slow
- The plugin starts by trying to use su. If it can't get permission to use su (for example you pressed deny on the superuser page), it will run as a normal user.
Licence: GPLv3 (with the added exception that allows you to use the plugin with total commander... duh) and CC-BY-SA
Screenshot:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

reserved for later use

- deleted -

Excellent. I will follow the development of this plugin closely. For now I can't use it. I get an error when trying to browse the phone.
Code:
<0005 - stat failed>
EDIT: I am on a HTC Hero running CyanogenMOD 6.

Thanks for this... I have been using total commander for a few years now and I love it. I also use it to open up apk files and change images within them if I need too. I have made a lot of changes to my framework-res and com.htc.resources png files by simply using total commander. So great job on this

Perfect, thank you. Must needed tool for total commander and android users.

this is fine.
-it doesn't play nice with older busybox versions, there is an app (called Busybox) on the market that tries to install/update busybox, it is a great help
-symbolic links are not playing nice
other ways this is amazing

very nice idea
It would be nice if the plugin would use my already installed adb server instead of starting it's own (maybe in the future outdated) version.

Symbolink links and more compatibility with busybox < 1.17.1 is coming soon. I'm also working on linking this with adb putty, so running commands from the command line should work too.

I have installed the plugin, and have my phone connected in debug mode, but how do I access it now? I confirmed that adb shell is able to connect, but in Total Commander I see no way to access my phone. (The drive letters that are usually used for access while mounted don't work.)
I have experience with Total Commander, I have used adb shell, but I can't really figure this thing out...

jjwa said:
I have installed the plugin, and have my phone connected in debug mode, but how do I access it now? I confirmed that adb shell is able to connect, but in Total Commander I see no way to access my phone. (The drive letters that are usually used for access while mounted don't work.)
I have experience with Total Commander, I have used adb shell, but I can't really figure this thing out...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
filesystem plugins ccan be found at the network neighborhood

sztupy said:
filesystem plugins ccan be found at the network neighborhood
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh wow, that is not a place I would look for my USB-connected phone .
But it works now, thanks .
Edit:
it is indeed very slow. A shame, because that means it's actually not a practical way to regularly put music and videos on my phone and download my photos off of it. Is there a chance the low speed can be fixed?
Also, there are several applications that allow you to use ADB wirelessly, could you support that in this plugin? Would be a very nice feature!
I believe they all use 'adb connect IP-addressort' on the computer's side to connect to it, so that does not sound very difficult to me.
Thanks for your work so far, initiatives like these are very appreciated

Nice app. Thanks!

Thanks for this. I prefer Directory Opus but I will use Total Commander just for this plugin. Thank you!!!

jjwa said:
Oh wow, that is not a place I would look for my USB-connected phone .
But it works now, thanks .
Edit:
it is indeed very slow. A shame, because that means it's actually not a practical way to regularly put music and videos on my phone and download my photos off of it. Is there a chance the low speed can be fixed?
Also, there are several applications that allow you to use ADB wirelessly, could you support that in this plugin? Would be a very nice feature!
I believe they all use 'adb connect IP-addressort' on the computer's side to connect to it, so that does not sound very difficult to me.
Thanks for your work so far, initiatives like these are very appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The speed issue is on the todo list, but it will be never as fast as the native usb connection. (the same was true with the WinCE/activesync plugin too)

Win XP / TC 7.55a
Installation OK, but no registered name "Android" available in TC's network neighborhood. (even though TC plugins manager reports successful registration).
Thanks

WOW great job....that plugin is awesome!
Support for ADB WiFi would be great!

tristan202 said:
Excellent. I will follow the development of this plugin closely. For now I can't use it. I get an error when trying to browse the phone.
Code:
<0005 - stat failed>
EDIT: I am on a HTC Hero running CyanogenMOD 6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, running CyanogenMOD 6 on a HTC HD2.

It shows my root, but doesn't show anything besides the SD card as a folder, so I can't browse to any system path.
Sent from my xtrSENSE Eris using XDA App

rschalie said:
Same here, running CyanogenMOD 6 on a HTC HD2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does cyanogenmod's busybox support the "stat" command?

Linux guy buys first android device

Hi folks,
I'm relatively new to XDA and similarly new to smartphones. My old dumbphone broke down and finally got an android device, samsung galaxy note, I really liked the huge screen.
I've been using linux for 2 decades now and chose an android device because everyone was telling me how it is linux-based which sounded like a good selling point. I'm quite pleased actually but have a few questions all of them related to my expectations that the OS will be linux-like:
1. I've been reading about rooting the phone and the like, but nobody explained the basics: why is it a special procedure to root the phone, why isn't it simply multi-user like any desktop linux? You could log in like a normal user or like root and that would be it. I guess there are serious reasons for the current design but it certainly doesn't seem natural at all.
2. In linux I can always figure out what the UI does in terms of the command line, so for instance if I use something on the UI (click an icon or bring up a menu) I can almost always do the same from the command line. This way I really know what's going on and if needed I can customize things. Case in point: right now I have to tap the phone a couple of times until I get to the broadband data transfer ON/OFF switch. It would be really neat to have an icon on the home screen that would do this. But I can't figure out what "command" needs to get executed to bring up the data transfer ON/OFF switch, so I really don't know how to create such an icon. This is just an example, I could come up with others easily, stuff I'd like to do, but can't figure out what happens under the hood. And it seems people create all sorts of simple trivial apps for these kinds of simple trivial tasks, when it should be possible to hack something up really fast. Any pointers on how to see what a UI interaction does and how to replicate it in a slightly different context? For example the broadband data transfer ON/OFF switch on the home screen?
3. I'm missing bash and top, ping, kill, cat, ls, etc, etc, Is there such a thing? (I already found connectbot but it would be nice to have scp and ssh inside a shell).
4. On my linux notebook I have a bunch of ad servers in /etc/hosts redirected somewhere else so they don't consume my bandwidth and don't clutter the webpage I'm trying to read. Can I have something similar on the phone? Is there something like an editor? I normally use vi, would be great to have that on the phone.
5. What controls the startup applications on boot? There are a bunch of stuff I bet I don't need but can't tell the phone to not start them. I guess I need to "root" the phone for this, but see question 1 Something related, I heard it's not possible to delete the factory installed bloatware without "rooting" the phone, is that true?
I guess that's it if anyone would make me feel as at home on the android phone as I feel at home on a linux desktop/notebook/etc I would be really grateful!
Cheers,
Daniel

1) Because the phone manufacturers lock Avg. Joe out of the system files to keep them from doing potential harm to the software. It saves your carrier millions per year in technical support costs.
2) Hold your finger down on an open section of the homescreen to open up a menu that will allow you to create shortcuts to important commands. You may also wish to install a custom Launcher that has more customizable features compared to whatever stock Launcher your carrier put on it.
Addendum: Root your phone, then install "Terminal Emulator" from the Play Store. Type in "su" and you'll then have superuser access to your phone's command line. From that point, it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect from Linux.
3) See Addendum to 2.
4) You could do it yourself, or let others do it for you. Root your phone, then install "AdFree" from the Play Store. Set up AdFree to automatically update and you're good to go.
5) 2 ways to get rid of bloatware, either root and use the Terminal to delete it yourself, or root and install a custom ROM that already has it removed. I highly, highly suggest rooting and switching to Cyanogenmod 9 as soon as possible. Go to your phone's specific forum on this site for instructions for practically everything you could ever want to do with your phone.
Note to 5: Your carrier sticks its bloatware into your system files, instead of in your user accessible app data. To change system files in any way, you'll need root access to your phone.
Here's a link to the development section for the Galaxy Note, please read all the rules and very thoroughly read all instructions before actually doing anything to change your device in any way:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1349

sreza said:
1) Because the phone manufacturers lock Avg. Joe out of the system files to keep them from doing potential harm to the software. It saves your carrier millions per year in technical support costs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, makes some sense for them, but I'm wondering if Microsoft can afford to have an Administrator account exist on Windows, why can't android be shipped that way (rhetorical question).
Addendum: Root your phone, then install "Terminal Emulator" from the Play Store. Type in "su" and you'll then have superuser access to your phone's command line. From that point, it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect from Linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like this is what I have to do
I highly, highly suggest rooting and switching to Cyanogenmod 9 as soon as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the cyanogenmod website I don't see samsung galaxy note listed as a supported device.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1349
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, this is very helpful.
Another n00b question: how the hell does one quit the default browser? It looks like there is no way to close the last remaining window.

fetchinson said:
I see, makes some sense for them, but I'm wondering if Microsoft can afford to have an Administrator account exist on Windows, why can't android be shipped that way (rhetorical question)
On the cyanogenmod website I don't see samsung galaxy note listed as a supported device.
Another n00b question: how the hell does one quit the default browser? It looks like there is no way to close the last remaining window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because Windows can't afford to alienate power users by locking down their system. If they did, they'd be Apple. Also, remember that it's not Google that's locking you out of root, it's the phone manufacturer/carrier; which aren't exactly known for being bastions of ethics...
Windows is actually starting to lock you out of functions with Windows 8, the ARM version of Win8 can't sideload applications.
Cyanogenmod might not be officially supported for the Note, but there's probably a few devs on the Note's forum that are unofficially making a port. Try this ROM:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1552554
There is a way to close the final window if you go into the browser menu and close it, but it's really not necessary. Android will auto-close old background tasks if you start to run low on memory. You may also want to look into downloading a different browser from the Play Store. I've never bothered, but I've heard good words about Opera Mobile. Dolphin HD is absurdly popular, but at it's heart it's basically the stock browser reskined, which offends my sensibilities, lol.
Also, if you're on ATT, you may want to check out these instructions on how to get unlimited data on smartphones for $15 per month:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1446373

Thanks for all the useful info!
While looking further around on the phone I stumbled upon another thing which would be quite trivial on ordinary linux: how do I see the creation/acces/modification times for any file? I've installed Terminal Emulator from github, "ls" works, but not "ls -al".
Also, how do I check if there is any network access at all or if an application tries to access the network or not? On linux I would run the program though strace and that would show me all system calls so I would see what the application is up to. For instance the S Note application (it's a samsung note taking application for the Note) takes a long time when I save a note, which makes me think maybe it wants to sync the file to a samsung cloud service or something like that. How do I check what takes so long for this app, in particular if it wants to access the network or just plain slow?

fetchinson said:
Thanks for all the useful info!
While looking further around on the phone I stumbled upon another thing which would be quite trivial on ordinary linux: how do I see the creation/acces/modification times for any file? I've installed Terminal Emulator from github, "ls" works, but not "ls -al".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the terminal, I'm not sure, but you could download one of many file managers from the Play Store and view the files' properties through that.
Edit: I have Terminal Emulator from the Play Store, and "ls -al" works fine for me (see screenshot). I'm also using Bash for my shell, so that could be it. Also, see about Busybox below.
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"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Also, how do I check if there is any network access at all or if an application tries to access the network or not? On linux I would run the program though strace and that would show me all system calls so I would see what the application is up to. For instance the S Note application (it's a samsung note taking application for the Note) takes a long time when I save a note, which makes me think maybe it wants to sync the file to a samsung cloud service or something like that. How do I check what takes so long for this app, in particular if it wants to access the network or just plain slow?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can probably find an app in the Play Store with that functionality. Wireshark is in there, so I'm sure something like strace has been done.
Also, look into installing Busybox from the Play Store. It provides a lot of the normal Linux terminal commands you might be missing.

EndlessDissent said:
Edit: I have Terminal Emulator from the Play Store, and "ls -al" works fine for me (see screenshot). I'm also using Bash for my shell, so that could be it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet! So how did you get Bash? Is it something working together with Terminal Emulator or a separate application (whatever the appropriate android lingo is )? If I search the play store for "bash" I don't really get anything resembling a shell, but probably I'm just overlooking something obvious. Installing this would be a great start.
EndlessDissent said:
Also, look into installing Busybox from the Play Store. It provides a lot of the normal Linux terminal commands you might be missing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, this looks great too!

Going the Other way
Hi
Android and it UI's is not like any X11 based desktop, but buying an android devices is what got me into using linux as my main desktop and I tend to think as them as one and them same at a command line level at least.
If you comfortable with building from source you can cross compile any tools you are missing.
They numerous time saving widgets and the like on google play. i.e wifi toggling which sit right on your main screen.
You'll find that most utilities and useful stuff has been ported to android.
If you want to use vim I would download "terminal ide" which is an IDE which runs on android, if your familiar with java you can create application directly on the devices
it also contains bash, busybox and more.
Busybox is a multicall binary. Androids native one is called toolbox and can be found in /system/bin. If you want to port your favourite bash scripts over then there's script managers which will run scripts at startup etc.
Obviously with these optimized binary all the help and in the case of android toolbox, any command not need by the system is general left out. It's not meant for as a general purpose shell.
Trivia: splitting up you parameters when using toolbox can sometime help e.g "ls -l -a" works where as "ls -al" didn't
You can remount the root and /system as read writable, a man of twenty years linux doesn't need the dangers of that explaining.
There's a plethora of Root tools for removing system packages and general tweaking, google play is you friend in this case.
If the android UI really does not live up to your expectations than you always install Ubuntu.
When you rooted your device and unlocked you bootloader and basically voided any manufacturers warrenty (not something I care about, but I t seems important to some people ) that came with the device you just got a computer with a different cpu architecture, so the opportunities are limitless with what you can do with it
Have Fun!
T

[APP][4.1+][ROOT] User Management - Simple multi user helper

User Management
Dropbox link - While it's available on Dropbox, I'd really prefer it if you would use the Google Play option, as it help me keep statistics on device usage, and allows you to send error reports in case of problems
As recently discovered, Jelly Bean contains experimental and unofficial multi user support.
I've written an app for rooted Jelly Bean devices that allows anyone to use a simple GUI interface to do the following, without even touching the command line:
Create a user
View list of existing users
Rename users
Delete users
Switch to another user
The Primary user can be renamed, but not deleted. I disabled its deletion as it near-bricks the device, as detailed here (along with fix if you somehow manage it).
There is a donate version as well, but I won't be linking to that as it seems to be against the rules.
NOTICE: The SD Card permissions are required to rename the users. I couldn't find a way to save to the file system, so I read the user's file using the cat shell command, edited it with the new name, saved it to the SD Card and then used the cat command to overwrite the initial file. It's hacky, but it works.
I'd appreciate it if you could try out the app, perhaps buy it if you like it
Comments/suggestions are always welcome
As of now, the only way to switch back to the Primary user is if you hold down the power button and select the Primary user from there. This is because root access does not persist for any app, including Superuser itself across different accounts.
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FAQ
What commands were used?
All were executed in a # (root) shell
To create a user (leave the quotes in if the username being create has a space. Single word names don't need them):
Code:
pm create-user "user name"
To delete a user (replace <user-id> with the user's ID):
Code:
pm remove-user <user-id>
To list all users:
Code:
pm list-users
To switch to another user (replace <user-id> with the user's ID):
Code:
am switch-user <user-id>
To rename a user:
There is no command for this. I used the cat command to read the user's xml file (/data/system/users/<user-id>.xml) into a string array, replaced the user name, saved the file to the SD Card and used the cat command again to overwrite the original file. To reboot after the rename I used:
Code:
reboot

What could come handy is setting profiles for personal n General usage, most people use various call hiding, media hiding apps to hide personal stuff, the ideal way will be to unlock the phone with two patterns at the screen lock level, one pattern unlock for general profile the other for personal use where your personal call logs, media for gets unlocked automatically, there's an app call switch me, but it requires rebooting which is not practically usable
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

sanghaviraj said:
What could come handy is setting profiles for personal n General usage, most people use various call hiding, media hiding apps to hide personal stuff, the ideal way will be to unlock the phone with two patterns at the screen lock level, one pattern unlock for general profile the other for personal use where your personal call logs, media for gets unlocked automatically, there's an app call switch me, but it requires rebooting which is not practically usable
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is really not what the app was designed for. This app was meant to be a simple GUI interface to try out the limited multi user support without having to go to a terminal emulator or adb each time you wanted to do something like create or modify a user. The features you request should be implemented by Google themselves, as they likely will be in upcoming upgrades, and not by a third party app.

Any other comments/suggestions from anybody?

cool app

Good job brotha!
Billy

Raghav Sood said:
Any other comments/suggestions from anybody?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you show a screen shot of the final build main menu (the user selection screen)? Does this show up when you first boot up your phone/tablet?
Thanks!

TBayTom said:
Could you show a screen shot of the final build main menu (the user selection screen)? Does this show up when you first boot up your phone/tablet?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The third screenshot does show the user selection screen. You can tap on any one of the users, and a Context Menu shows up allowing you to rename, switch to, and delete that user.
Here is a screenshot of the menu:
This app does not start up on boot. Once booted, you must manually use the Primary account to open the app. This is because the app is simply meant to allow you to create and manage the users without using the terminal with a nice GUI, not attempt to replace or provide functionality that can only come from Google.

One suggestion: Landscape mode
Raghav Sood said:
User Management
As recently discovered, Jelly Bean contains experimental and unofficial multi user support.
I've written an app for rooted Jelly Bean devices that allows anyone to use a simple GUI interface to do the following, without even touching the command line:
Create a user
View list of existing users
Rename users
Delete users
Switch to another user
The Primary user can be renamed, but not deleted. I disabled its deletion as it near-bricks the device, as detailed here (along with fix if you somehow manage it).
There is a donate version as well, but I won't be linking to that as it seems to be against the rules.
NOTICE: The SD Card permissions are required to rename the users. I couldn't find a way to save to the file system, so I read the user's file using the cat shell command, edited it with the new name, saved it to the SD Card and then used the cat command to overwrite the initial file. It's hacky, but it works.
I'd appreciate it if you could try out the app, perhaps buy it if you like it
Comments/suggestions are always welcome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

dietrichmd said:
One suggestion: Landscape mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure. I'll push an update with it in a few hours

You may want to look at UserDetailSettings.java in the Settings app for the package manager code to enable/disable apps per user.
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/apps/Settings/+/jb-release/src/com/android/settings/users/UserDetailsSettings.java

Not sure if it's easy or not but your app driven by a nfc tags open some interesting scenario like when i give the phone to my wife and she say: "oh, what a mess my iphone have few icons..."
or a shared phone usage for team ... or something like the chamaleon gui that when I arrive at home i switch the user from the profession usage to the private ones. Should be nice.
Is this doable?

Zemaree said:
Not sure if it's easy or not but your app driven by a nfc tags open some interesting scenario like when i give the phone to my wife and she say: "oh, what a mess my iphone have few icons..."
or a shared phone usage for team ... or something like the chamaleon gui that when I arrive at home i switch the user from the profession usage to the private ones. Should be nice.
Is this doable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Both of these are doable. However, this isn't the purpose of the app. Though considering the amount of requests I've received for such features, I'll be making another app that does all this and more very soon.

So other than creating/naming etc is there any functionality like choosing apps/restrictions for accounts at this stage?

works as advertised keeps all apps from primary user on the guest accounts they just don't see any info becuase its like just installing them. Good job.

ellesshoo said:
So other than creating/naming etc is there any functionality like choosing apps/restrictions for accounts at this stage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, @bradymobile did post a link to the source code of a User Specific Settings screen a few posts back. However, this appears to be in accessible from the normal Settings menu, and so I'm currently looking for the correct intent to open it up. Beyond that, you can use Nova or Apex as the launcher for the guest user(s), and hide all the apps you don't want to be visible there.

on latest cm10 the user management app doesnt seem to be able to gain root. In fact, even superuser isnt granted root once you switch to an account other than the primary. suerpuser denies itself and the user mangement app.

mallman said:
on latest cm10 the user management app doesnt seem to be able to gain root. In fact, even superuser isnt granted root once you switch to an account other than the primary. suerpuser denies itself and the user mangement app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is because apparently root doesn't persist across user accounts. The only way to switch back to the primary account is by using the power menu options. I haven't quite figured out why the root won't persist. It happens to all apps that need root.

Raghav Sood said:
This is because apparently root doesn't persist across user accounts. The only way to switch back to the primary account is by using the power menu options. I haven't quite figured out why the root won't persist. It happens to all apps that need root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is interesting. i would ask if the superuser permissions have changed upon switch but obviously you're not rooted so you cant tell. Following closely so god luck and thanks for the dev!

[WindowsTool] APKSharp: De-bloat, view full details & manage APKs on any Android

APK# v1.4
==================================================
Copyright (c) 2020 Captain Majid
Chat with me on Discord: https://discord.gg/F3Ds69M#android
==================================================
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​Description:
==============
Quickly de-bloat, view full details & manage APKs on any Android device/emulator, no other app do/show all that.
Features:
==========
Easily know what app works on what device/emulator by comparing Android cpu architecture to the app's supported architectures (arm, arm64-v8a, x86, etc...), and also by comparing the minimum Android ver required to run an app.
Backup multiple apks at once.
Install multiple apks at once.
Quick-infos of multiple apks at once.
Disable multiple apks at once. (for Android >= 6.0 only)
Uninstall multiple apks at once, including system apps (for Android >= 6.0 only, this doesn't require root, it just uninstall it for the current user, use this to remove unnecessary pre-installed junkware/bloatware system apps).
Push/pull files/folders to/from your Android even when its on Charge mode or connected wirelessly.
Quickly search for a package name without waiting for the whole list to be ready. (really time-saving feature)
Displaying current WiFi & IP with the ability to connect to the Android device wirelessly, no other tool automates that that easy.
Infos mirrored/logged to Excel files by default, also you can save custom screen contents as columns to Excel file for later reference, simply press Alt + Space -> Edit -> Select All/Mark -> Enter -> then paste the clipboard in a text file but change the extension to .csv
APK names encoded in UTF8 text to Excel file format (for non-Latin letters like Arabic, Japanese, Russian, etc...), you can also use an advanced cmd emulator (like mini cmder, that can display these characters on console screen).
Requirements:
==============
Windows ADB drivers: there is no generic solution for all Android manufacturers, even Google solutions mightn't work for your device: https://developer.android.com/studio/run/oem-usb#InstallingDriver, also remember that Windows disables installation of unsigned drivers unless you enable it manually on Windows boot.
So the generic solution is: to get https://sdi-tool.org/SDI_Update.torrent we only need to select \drivers\DP_zAndroid_*.7z, maybe also DP_Telephone_*.7z, & maybe DP_MassStorage_*.7z for MTP or ADB if you use Windows XP, you can also try this solution if the previous didn't work.
.NET 4.0 (if you've Windows older than 8).
Enable "USB Debugging" on your Android device/emulator.
Screenshots:
=============
Videos:
========
While searching on Google, I found this fan-made video, [Perfect Tool] ? :fingers-crossed: uhmmm... but I'm not done yet .
Review & Download:
===================
https://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/APK.shtml
Donations:
I don't need donations, just made this tool to ease the pain on users that aren't able to root/own their Android anymore, found it useful ? spread the word !

Why didn't you put it in the Play Store?

S.l.v.n said:
Why didn't you put it in the Play Store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not an Android app, It's a Windows app written in C# no app/apk is installed on Android at all.

@Zer0De8th Sorry for the late reply to your pm, yes I'm going to add an option to disable a package later and some other features, hopefully not more than a week from now, thanks for the feedback.
You can also join me here if you're on Discord: https://discord.gg/F3Ds69M

Moataz Bellah said:
@Zer0De8th Sorry for the late reply to your pm, yes I'm going to add an option to disable a package later and some other features, hopefully not more than a week from now, thanks for the feedback.
You can also join me here if you're on Discord: https://discord.gg/F3Ds69M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for considering my request.

Updated to v1.3
Donations:
I don't need donations, just made this tool to ease the pain on users that aren't able to root/own their Android anymore, found it useful ? spread the word !

While searching on Google, I found this fan-made video, [Perfect Tool] ? :fingers-crossed: uhmmm... but I'm not done yet .

Moataz Bellah said:
Windows ADB drivers: there is no generic solution for all Android manufacturers, even Google solutions mightn't work for your device: https://developer.android.com/studio/run/oem-usb#InstallingDriver, also remember that Windows disables installation of unsigned drivers unless you enable it manually on Windows boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what kind of solution is in that torrent file (maybe again koush one that distributes illegally MS sign program makecert.exe, like devcon.exe it's not allowed really. But then again also Intel and Amlogic has done/does it, so who cares...) but here is another Windows ADB driver generic solution, signed and all... by me
Yet Another Universal ADB Driver Package and adbupdater for Windows
:laugh::silly:

MesterPerfect said:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback, this error happens when screen resolution (width) is <= 1024, so make it anything above 1024x786 and the problem should be gone, this will be fixed in the next release.
CXZa said:
I don't know what kind of solution is in that torrent file (maybe again koush one that distributes illegally MS sign program makecert.exe, like devcon.exe it's not allowed really. But then again also Intel and Amlogic has done/does it, so who cares...) but here is another Windows ADB driver generic solution, signed and all... by me
Yet Another Universal ADB Driver Package and adbupdater for Windows
:laugh::silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your project with us, you also seem to be a fan of emojis, right?
Well, the torrent is a collection of drivers called Snappy Driver Installer, it's almost the same as DriverPack Solution, both are trusted by thousands of people, but SDI has more features, flexible, and you can just update/download 1 driver when you want, not the whole pack, I don't think alot of people cares if the driver is signed by Microsoft or not as long as it works, does your solution covers all Android manufacturers ?

The phenomenal v1.4 update is here, why I say phenomenal ? well, I checked other similar adb-based tools on the web, and most of them are not just poor in functionalities compared to APK#, but paid/require donations to unlock very basic features, which is annoying.
For example, I didn't find any tool to automate the wireless connection between Windows & Android as easy as APK# (even awesome tools like https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy doesn't), also the tool does not make you wait to load all the packages infos anymore, you just use the Quick Search feature, and save your day.
Enjoy

Moataz Bellah said:
So the generic solution is: to get https://sdi-tool.org/SDI_Update.torrent we only need to select \drivers\DP_zAndroid_*.7z, maybe also DP_Telephone_*.7z, & maybe DP_MassStorage_*.7z for MTP or ADB if you use Windows XP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moataz Bellah said:
does your solution covers all Android manufacturers ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, and future manufactures too if the drivers don't change too much. And it isn't around 130MB like those files that you suggest downloading by using that torrent.
Moataz Bellah said:
The phenomenal v1.4 update is here
< --snip -->
Enjoy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like how? 1.3 is available, not 1.4... just saying...

CXZa said:
Yep, and future manufactures too if the drivers don't change too much. And it isn't around 130MB like those files that you suggest downloading by using that torrent.
Like how? 1.3 is available, not 1.4... just saying...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for that delay, I was waiting for Softpedia to re-test/re-scan the update, I wanted the source of download to be them for additional trust, and to monitor the download count easily, now APKSharp v1.4 is ready. I also added your ADB drivers solution to the main post.

Moataz Bellah said:
Sorry for that delay, I was waiting for Softpedia to re-test/re-scan the update, I wanted the source of download to be them for additional trust, and to monitor the download count easily, now APKSharp v1.4 is ready. I also added your ADB drivers solution to the main post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, great, have to check what's this phenomenality is all about...
My driver package's phenomenality is maybe questionable but it usually does its ****...

Scrolling and filter issues
Overall appreciate your program. Very helpful and useful.
(Currently using ver 1.4 of your apk sharp program on the latest version of windows 10).
Having said this, there seems to be some issues with your program or perhaps
I am misunderstanding its use in certain places which hopefully you can clarify.
1. Is the “quick search” feature the same as your filter except it’s used at the very beginning to preclude the wait period as the app lines are created but then after that the filter is basically one’s search function?
2. Filter option issues:
Don’t understand how the filter works?
Example: If I type in the line number say 205 (of line 205; wuffy player etc.) no result is shown.
Any reason why typing in a number as my filter/search phrase won’t work?
If I type in “wuffy player” (without the quotes) a resulting line is shown as expected.
If I select the “wuffy player” phrase then do ctrl-c to copy then a ctrl-v to paste, its pasted correctly on the filter line but no result is subsequently shown so I am always forced to MANUALLY write in the search phrase which is NOT very helpful.
I even tried doing the ctrl-c OUTSIDE of your program using one of the csv files your program creates, and then tried the ctrl-v to paste in your program with no result. It is as if the ctrl-c or ctrl-v confuses your program.
I think you really need to resolve this because no one wants to always have to manually type in their search phrase every single time.
3. OR’s and ANDS’s in filter phrase – how to?
How do you do OR’s and AND’s with your filter? I tried “search phrase 1” “search phrase 2” (space in between, also tried commas, semi colons etc. in between the phrases) to execute an AND search but got no results.
For an OR’d phrase I tried “search phrase 1” | “search phrase 2” using the “|” as the separator and tried many other chars for the separator char but all yielded no results. Can you please explain how to do OR’s and AND’s when using your filter option?
4. Unnecessary scrolling of existing app lines:
After all the app lines are shown and one sorts say by name using option key ”1” for name, if one enters any char key like say “t” that is not a valid option key the entire app lines are unnecessarily re-scrolled which is quite annoying and provides no added value in doing so. The screen should remain as is with the invalid option char simply ignored.
Also, when a valid option key is pressed and its results are shown, the last valid char is seen on the line so if one backspaces which is a NATURAL user instinct to subsequently erase that char in order to select the next valid char option, all the existing app lines again get unnecessarily scrolled because the backspace just happens to be an invalid option selection char.
This is confusing because for a next valid selection to work, one needs to type in a valid option char at the same time a previous valid selection still remains on the line. This is not a natural user interaction.
Thanks
Ed R.

Burgrio said:
put it in the play store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I won't :laugh:
ed_ray said:
Overall appreciate your program. Very helpful and useful.
(Currently using ver 1.4 of your apk sharp program on the latest version of windows 10).
Having said this, there seems to be some issues with your program or perhaps
I am misunderstanding its use in certain places which hopefully you can clarify.
1. Is the “quick search” feature the same as your filter except it’s used at the very beginning to preclude the wait period as the app lines are created but then after that the filter is basically one’s search function?
2. Filter option issues:
Don’t understand how the filter works?
Example: If I type in the line number say 205 (of line 205; wuffy player etc.) no result is shown.
Any reason why typing in a number as my filter/search phrase won’t work?
If I type in “wuffy player” (without the quotes) a resulting line is shown as expected.
If I select the “wuffy player” phrase then do ctrl-c to copy then a ctrl-v to paste, its pasted correctly on the filter line but no result is subsequently shown so I am always forced to MANUALLY write in the search phrase which is NOT very helpful.
I even tried doing the ctrl-c OUTSIDE of your program using one of the csv files your program creates, and then tried the ctrl-v to paste in your program with no result. It is as if the ctrl-c or ctrl-v confuses your program.
I think you really need to resolve this because no one wants to always have to manually type in their search phrase every single time.
3. OR’s and ANDS’s in filter phrase – how to?
How do you do OR’s and AND’s with your filter? I tried “search phrase 1” “search phrase 2” (space in between, also tried commas, semi colons etc. in between the phrases) to execute an AND search but got no results.
For an OR’d phrase I tried “search phrase 1” | “search phrase 2” using the “|” as the separator and tried many other chars for the separator char but all yielded no results. Can you please explain how to do OR’s and AND’s when using your filter option?
4. Unnecessary scrolling of existing app lines:
After all the app lines are shown and one sorts say by name using option key ”1” for name, if one enters any char key like say “t” that is not a valid option key the entire app lines are unnecessarily re-scrolled which is quite annoying and provides no added value in doing so. The screen should remain as is with the invalid option char simply ignored.
Also, when a valid option key is pressed and its results are shown, the last valid char is seen on the line so if one backspaces which is a NATURAL user instinct to subsequently erase that char in order to select the next valid char option, all the existing app lines again get unnecessarily scrolled because the backspace just happens to be an invalid option selection char.
This is confusing because for a next valid selection to work, one needs to type in a valid option char at the same time a previous valid selection still remains on the line. This is not a natural user interaction.
Thanks
Ed R.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Overall thank you so much for this highly constructive feedback :victory:
1. & 2. "Quick Search" only searches for a package name (not app name) inside user/sys apps, so to search for "Google Play Store" app, you need to type any part of the package name which is "com.android.vending", so just typing "vend" will do the job.
"Filter" will search in the current cached list of apps for an EXACT phrase like: "cpu arch" or "app name" or "package name", so just typing "arm64-v8a" or "play store" or "vend" will give the same result, but you can't use more than 1 filter in the same time, so you can't say "play store arm64-v8a", you also don't need to specify a full word/phrase, just typing "sto" or "pla", is enough to get "Google Play Store".
3. Sorry if you get lost in this, the default filter is an EXACT phrase like I said above, if you find it necessary, I can add "OR" & "AND" filter later.
4. I've added a small update here to prevent apps relisting when an unsupported character is provided.
Please also note that with sorting, pressing the digits from 1 to 5 two times will reverse the sorting method (ascending/decending), so you can get the biggest/smallest app in size at the end by pressing '4' two times.
I'll add this in the main post later, thanks again and have a nice day.

Ooh, this looks like just what I needed to remove bloatware (without touching the necessary stuff). Two questions:
1. Does this work for a samsung galaxy s7 (G930T)?
2. How do I get started? (Instructions on how to use would be nice.)
Hopefully this works for my device (I tried using ADB to uninstall stuff, but kept hitting issues (and reset several times), so now it's sitting in a new (unopened) state. Important stuff is backed up before I started the uninstalling.

pyereciae2788 said:
Ooh, this looks like just what I needed to remove bloatware (without touching the necessary stuff). Two questions:
1. Does this work for a samsung galaxy s7 (G930T)?
2. How do I get started? (Instructions on how to use would be nice.)
Hopefully this works for my device (I tried using ADB to uninstall stuff, but kept hitting issues (and reset several times), so now it's sitting in a new (unopened) state. Important stuff is backed up before I started the uninstalling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as
Code:
adb devices
detects your device, you're good to go.
1. It should work for any Android device/emulator, if you have an issue, let us know, screenshot it, etc...
2. Just follow the on-screen instructions and press the corresponding keys, maybe watch the video in the 1st post.

AHHH~
This worked better than I expected (especially the part where it lists the package name along with the file name). Also, thanks for color-coding everything! I can finally tell what something is, the file name, version, etc. It's also easier than using ADB for uninstalling, as it's just searching for the names, filtering with "6" + Enter, then uninstalling with "u" + Enter then the numbers with plus signs in between (e.g. 1+2+3). Much faster and simpler than "pm uninstall -k --user 0 [FILE NAME]" where [FILE NAME] is what the file name is (e.g. com.nimblebit.pocketfrogs for Pocket Frogs).
Now I can sleep without worrying to much...

I think one error is when I tried to undo uninstalling but it just gives "Uninstalled system apps:" then moves on as normal without the app being re-installed...