Database Users

Lost in the woods of developer tools - Please Help.

I'm trying to make a simple (or so I think) program. Essentially, it's a mobile version of the Run dialog you see on the PC when you press WindowsKey+R.
{
"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"
}
And as you can see, I got the UI design in good shape.
The problem? I'm lost in the woods of developer tools! I'm not buying the way overpriced Visual Studio that nobody would pay for hobby/small projects. I'm sick of paying for upgrades of BASIC 4 PPC that still doesn't have what it takes to complete such a simple project (i.e. Shell command only loads programs, not documents or URL's.)
All of my programming experience has been in some form of BASIC, from ApplesoftBASIC on the Apple IIc and MS-DOS QBasic to VB6, VB2005/2008 and REALbasic. I decided to give PPL a try but all its documentation assumes you have as much programming exposure as I, but in C, not in BASIC. For example, getting that Open: edit field to populate with the file chosen in the File Open dialog was a torture as I tried to translate the appropriate VB statement into its equivalent C-style PPL statement, and actually getting the darn file executed is a nightmare that is still not over.
Is there any hope? Is there a mobile developer tool that can provide a balance between "easy to program" and "feature-rich", and that can create code for both touchscreen (Pocket PC) and non-touchscreen (standard Smartphone) WinMo platforms, without costing and arm and a leg?
I appreciate your recommendations.

Good luck with your quest. I was going to post Basic4ppc then read the whole thread lol

Have you tried SharpDevelop?

anikolop said:
Have you tried SharpDevelop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. What a nice surprise. SharpDevelop seems to allow .NET CF projects for both C# and VB, something that the free versions of Visual Studio don't support.
That said, I created the project and started to add the code, but SharpDevelop won't run it - heck, it won't even run an empty window with no code. I'm hoping that's an issue I can solve by downloading the latest .NET CF from Microsoft.
EDIT: Downloading the tiny (yeah, right) SDK for .NET Framework 3.5... Hope that does the trick.
EDIT 2: The SDK didn't do anything, but the Power Toys were the ones that allowed Sharp Develop to compile my .NET CF code.

SharpDevelop .NET CF compile
I have installed Sharp Develop, NETCFv35PowerToys, NETCFSetupv35, Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Developer Tool Kit , etc. When actually attempting to compile (to ARM) I'm not sure if I've missed setting some option in SharpDevelop, failed to install some tool, or made some other error, but Build just seems to produce an x86 Windows executable.
Neither Help nor Google seems to shed light on exactly what I need to do.
Pointers please.
Thanks,
Greg

Hey Greg,
.NET executables are platform independent. You need to choose .NET CF as the target framework and "Any CPU" as a target CPU in your project options.

".NET executables are platform independent."
Does .NET produce some kind of intermediate "P-code" that gets interpreted on the PC/WinMo? That would explain the complaints I've read about .NET programs being relatively slow. I'll have to try the HelloWorld.exe on my phone.
Thanks,
Greg

Yes, .NET programs get complied down to CIL, previously MSIL, a stack based, machine independant byte-code or P-Code.
All of this stuff is defined, search the net for "Partition III CIL" for a bit of light bedtime reading.
Use Red Gate's .NET Reflector, to open your HelloWord.exe program, and it will show you the IL code, as well as higher level code, VB C# Delphi etc.

[APP] micro-httpd (GET / POST / CGI support) cross-compiled to Android

Hello,
A while ago I've managed to cross-compile a basic web server, resulting in a native ARM executable (you can find it here) that allows any other device to connect to port 80 (or whatever) and browse the contents of the phone.
Easy to exchange photos at a cafeteria which has wifi and both phones are connected - for example. No need for an FTP client, slow bluetooth, and so on...
However, I wanted more and since webserver was only handling GET (no POST / no CGI), I've started looking for an alternative that did the job.
Below, you will find a native ARM executable of micro-httpd, a light weight web server that supports CGI.
Download
Use it at your own risk!
mini_httpd_1.19.arm.tar.gz
It supports .htpasswd files to restrict access to folders - and it comes also with its own utility htpasswd which manipulates the password files.
micro-httpd website: http://www.acme.com/software/mini_httpd/
micro-httpd configuration options: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/maverick/man8/mini-httpd.8.html
You can use almost any CGI interpreter you want, minus PHP. The PHP 4 Android (a native implementation of PHP) has only CLI (command line support) and even if you could change the PHP code of the scripts to output the missing headers. BUT! It also outputs debug messages that you cannot control, in the output of the script!
Those messages are are considered errors in HTTP / CGI.
The creators of PHP interpreter say that is only meant for Scripting Languages for Android (SL4A) which works with what they have. You can read more here: http://groups.google.com/group/php-for-android/browse_thread/thread/79d0b5f856189675?pli=1. This topic also mentions an alternative (CGI this time) from GroomDroid but that is also unstable.
Enter PERL!
I had good success with Perl 4 Android
I can how host a blog on my phone - I've set up a big tutorial on how to configure everything here Running native CGI scripts (perl) with micro-httpd on Android.
Result
{
"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"
}
Next step would be to try out a file manager and test file upload, then go even deeper to see if I can access various phone details and offer a sort of management interface for them on the web.
Source code
You will find the source code and the license (free) on the tutorial website above.

Seems interesting !

[TOOL] Scr33nDr0iD 1.1 - Instant Hotlinking

Here is a small application I made because I wanted to quickly get a simple screenshot from my Android device without having to download the SDK, or download a separate GUI and all that jazz. This is a simple enough application that grabs a current screenshot from your device and displays it, as well as saves it as a JPG in the same directory for quick access.
Not really much features, but it's a moderate size (7-8 MB) due to the package having ADB and FFMPEG bundled for the screenshot to have a customized compression. File sizes of the screenshots range from 15-25 kb each. It's a different method of taking a screenshot from the Android device, and I feel that using FFMPEG, has a more reliable output.
As of 1.1, i've added an "instant hotlinking" feature for the couple people that PM'ed me about it. Scr33nDr0iD now uploads your screenshot immediately to a direct download server for easy hotlinking and copies the link to your clipboard in a matter of seconds. That's just about the only unique feature that no other GUI for Android screenshots have.
..:: Screens ::..
{
"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"
}
..:: Downloads ::..
Download 1.1 for Windows (7.74 MB)
..:: Changelog ::..
1.1
- Added Instant Hotlinking (copies a hotlink URL to your clipboard)
1.0
- Initial Release
If there is any feature you want added to this application, just let me know and i'll code 'em up. If requested I can make this for Linux and MacOSX as well.

Looks promising but I'm not sure about 1 thing, is this software for your device or for your PC?

Well I put the tag [TOOL] so I figured that would assign it to PC only. And for you to download it, the only download link is for Windows right now. So, yeah, PC. Unless there's a good reason to put this on Android, i'll keep it on PC Operating systems.

qberty said:
Well I put the tag [TOOL] so I figured that would assign it to PC only. And for you to download it, the only download link is for Windows right now. So, yeah, PC. Unless there's a good reason to put this on Android, i'll keep it on PC Operating systems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answering quickly. Was just asking because [TOOL] could mean Android Tool, didn't specify PC or not. Thanks again though.

No problemo.

Updated Scr33nDr0iD to 1.1
Added an Instant Hotlinking feature. This allows it upload your screenshot as a JPG to a server for quick hotlinking and copies it to your clipboard.
(Couple of people PM'd me for this feature, so I threw it in. I haven't seen any other app with this feature so I figured it would be a cool addition)

[Tool][Win] Better ADB GUI

{
"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"
}
Many of you may be familiar with ADB GUI (Or ADB Helper UI). So am I. I always thought it could use something... I don't know... Then, a few days ago, while reading the portal, I read it got an update. So I had a look and downloaded the program. I looked at it, and thought: "Well. It works! But what can I do about it, and how could I make it better? It's missing some tools..."
So then I opened up Visual Studio and coded on. I spent an entire day working out the design and how it should work and what features it should have. I had no internet at the time (Change of ISP) so I then coded and coded and coded until it was bed-time. The next day I started coding and wasn't sure about the design, so I deleted the code, got rid of the project and started anew. And the results aren't too bad!
So today I am proud to present to you, Better ADB GUI!
It's still very early and almost nothing works, but I want to show it off and release the current source code.
Screenshots
Features
Install ADB to system (Natively, like in other projects of mine)
Install and uninstall apps
Push files to Android device
Pull files from Android device
Backup device
Restore device
Reboot system; system, recoery, bootloader|Fastboot
Show/Save logcat to device
Show DMESG
Sync dirs
Start ADB shell
Root ADB shell (Restarts ADBD deamon with root rights)
Open CMD
Remount system
Restart ADB
Install SuperSU by Chainfire (x86, arm)
Uninstall SuperSU (x86, arm)
Install SuperSU (by @Koush)
Uninstall Super User (by @Koush)
Install busybox (App by stericson)
Install busybox (App by Stericson) as root/system app
Uninstall busybox (App by Stericson)
Install busybox binary (Requires custom kernel)
Uninstall busybox binary (Requires custom kernel)
There is other stuff, but it's still being coded.
What doesn't work
Everything that isn't up there ↑
Coded in(...)
This program is coded in Visual Basic 2010 (Upgrading to 2012 soon, as my laptop is broken and the one I'm using is REAL bad.)
Uses(...)
The app uses following libs/apps:
AndroidLib (Forgotton by whom. Sorry!)
Custom libs (Usedin Universal Android Toolkit)
Odin 4.22 (Thanks to Samsung!)
ADB, fastboot, AdbWinApi.dll, AdbWinUsbApi.dll (Thanks to Google!)
SuperSU, SuperSU binaries (x86 and arm), SuperSU no-nag (Many thanks to @Chainfire!)
Busybox (Thanks, @Stericson!)
Super User (Thanks to @koushikdutta)
7z.exe, 7z.dll (Thanks to some Igor bloke!)
Anything else has yet to be added...
LINKS:
Better ADB GUI Repository
No download link, yet. Will be available with first release.
Don't forget to enjoy the program! If you like what you see, please do contribute to the project, or help me save up for a nice, new PC (Links in program and description).
Stay awesome, guys! ​

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Woe it looks awesome but When you gonna release it? Cant see any download link yet ..

H4CK_H0PP3R said:
Woe it looks awesome but When you gonna release it? Cant see any download link yet ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as sad as it is, I don't code in VB anymore, and I especially don't use Windoze anymore.
So, any functionality that is found here, will:
a) Be also incorporated into my much older project Universal Android Toolkit - which will be coming very soon
or
b) Will be ported to Java for use with Windoze (Universal Android Toolkit is mutating to a BSD/BSD-like OS-only program, because we've go way to little of these.
But, you can pull the source and try it out for yourself. I can't remember what's working and what isn't, but hey. There should be a working build in thre somewhere, and you should be able to carry on maintaining it.

[TOOL][ADB][Windows]RAM-Hog Sniffer For Rooted Android Emulators

Given the case you feel your favorite Android emulator runs slowly, especially at a certain game, then you should remind that Android emulator's (AVD) performance mainly depends on correct setting of its
A: Android per app Heap Size granted
B: VM total RAM (read: Random Access Memory) allocated off host machine
Most emulators don't automatically take care of this, they are preset to standard values: it's on the user to correctly configure it.
User has to check and monitor for the RAM usage of an individual app/game on Android, has to check which app/game is eating the maximum RAM and affecting the performance.
Yes, for me one of the fundamental questions users ask (or at least, they should) is: how much memory is my program using? It may be a simple question, but with a virtual memory operating system like Android the answer is quite complex.
By default Android OS - a derivate of Linux OS - since ages comes with procrank tool, what in detail shows you some RAM metrics for an application as those are VSS, RRS, PPS and USS. So also Android OS provided by the various emulators should do it, too.
Installed Terminal Emulator app on some wellknown emulators and ran procrank. Experienced that on Android emulators like
BlueStacks 4 ( Android Nougat )
PROCRANK doesn't work at all, you get message: "error creating kernel interface -- does this kernel have pagemap?"
MEmu 6 ( Android Nougat )
PROCRANK doesn't exist - means isn't implemented at all
NOX 6 ( Android Nougat )
PROCRANK isn't working, you get message: library "libpagemap.so" not found
Genymotion 3 ( Android Nougat )
PROCRANK doesn't work at all, you get message: "error creating kernel interface -- does this kernel have pagemap?"
Maybe someone knows reasons for that?
Hence, to get out the app/game specific RAM metrics ( read: VmPeak, VmVSS, VmHWM, VmRSS and VmPSS ) on an Android emulator, I wrote a Windows command script ( ~50KB ) that running against a rooted emulator gives them to me: I named it RAM-hog Sniffer. Notes: It's provided on an "AS IS" basis, it's free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under license GPLv3.
Successfully tried it on properly rooted and ADB-enabled BlueStacks v4.50.5.1003 ( Android Nougat ):
Excerpt of logfile created:
{
"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"
}
Useful or not is for you to tell, give it a try and leave a comment with suggestion if indicated.
Usage:
• Download the attached ZIP and unpack it on Windows PC into any location of your choice
• Connect a rooted and ADB enabled emulator to PC
• Run Windows batch-file named RAM-hog-Sniffer
FYI: You will need to install the Android ADB drivers if your emulator is not detected.
PS: Please, do NOT share this elsewhere - I want to be able to update if necessary.

Script revamped. New version is in OP.

gr8. ty

To keep you updated: BlueStacks announced to fix the PROCRANK problem

According to the description I think something good,
but, can the script, not to change to the installed system,
for editing on a computer.>?

Ciuma777 said:
According to the description I think something good,
but, can the script, not to change to the installed system,
for editing on a computer.>?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You use any ANSI-editor of your choice, preferredly of course Notepad++, to edit the script on your Windows computer according to your needs.