I'm developing java-based app for Blackberry OS 7. One of the possible features can be to see the name of currently playing audio file. The question: is it possible to get this information from system using only Java API? Is it possible at all to get access to this kind of information?
I don't suppose there is any straightforward way to get this information, at least not any that is documented. BlackBerry's Java API is somewhat silly in that sense, unfortunately.
If you want you can probably do some ad-hockery to attempt to get that info, but it won't be painless. One example can be scraping the UI elements of the "Now Playing" application that runs in the background during playback for any changes and reflecting those in your app, but then again, it won't be exactly elegant.
Related
I am a developer who is still learning . I want to design an app which can allow multiple people to have a video conference/chats simultaneously something like zoom . I know i can design native apps like specific for Android as well as iOS but I am still learning Android development and have no idea about iOS code .I searched and found that we can have hybrid apps having React,Node.js or with Angular.js and they work on different platforms .But as I'm a newbie I need suggestions as well as guidance .what I'm expecting in my app are following things :
Should support all video resolutions and audio quality, should
work in low and high network scenarios
Should be low on usage of power/ processor
Should not have any external hardware dependency
Should work on any device
Should have chat option during conference, even the multi
people conference
Should have sign-in and non-sign-in options to join a
conference
Can be browser and/or app based interface
Should have encrypted network communication
Should have audio/ video recording feature
Should have screen/file sharing capabilities
Should allow audio to close captioning during chat
(multilingual)
Should have capabilities to host multiple concurrent
conferences having multiple participants in each conference
I know its a tedious task to involve everything I discussed but I need guidance how to do this .
I have already told my expectation so now I want to know what steps I need to do so ,How to start as well as where to start ,what language/library I should choose ,whether having a hybrid app be a good idea or should I go for native apps .As I have earlier said I am a learner so I am going to learn each and everything to get my project done ,so whether its react or node or angular or whatever experienced developer are going to suggest/guide here .I know my question may look broad or even vague but still I am asking only because I see stack-overflow as a group of supportive accomplished coders .Hope you guys will help me in getting my project done .Thank you !
OK then you have got much work to do. I will point you to some references which should give you a good start. I will try to keep this as short as possible.
As you mentioned, WebRTC is the way to go.
With WebRTC, you can add real-time communication capabilities to your
application that works on top of an open standard. It supports video,
voice, and generic data to be sent between peers, allowing developers
to build powerful voice- and video communication solutions. The
technology is available on all modern browsers as well as on native
clients for all major platforms.
This blog explains how WebRTC functions in details - https://medium.com/#anto.christo.20/understanding-web-real-time-communication-webrtc-d4cec5a43f2f
This blog explains how to build peer2peer video calling in android -
https://medium.com/#anto.christo.20/understanding-web-real-time-communication-webrtc-d4cec5a43f2f
https://webrtc.org/ also contains lot of headstart material including sample code.
Once you have done this you can add other features on top of it.
Now, this will take care of peer2peer but if you want o build a multi-user functionality from scratch there is some extra work required as mentioned in the answer - how to build multi-user video chatting web app using webRTC, node.js and socket.io
I'm currently looking for a way to track user activity. I'm working on an IOS app using swift and i need stats of apps usage. basically I want to get-make a tracking of the used apps. Data like opened apps, start time and shut down time... I know that for get all stats, maybe is necessary run a backgroud service, but, this is another problem that i think to solve after. for now i want to know if it's posible, if there is some way to get stats for used apps. I know that the UIApplication class call the UIApplicationMain function when an app is launched. Maybe, from my app, there is a way for access this info?... Thanks, i have been a long time reading but really, i can't see some clear option.
If (as David has interpreted your question in the comments) you are trying to track usage of other apps that aren't yours, he's right; you can only track your own app's usage.
If you are needing to track events in your own app, there are a good number of analytic frameworks available to do exactly what you are needing to do.
Flurry is one I've used in the past with success, and is one of the more well know solutions. I've also utilized Google's analytics framework. Both are pretty straightforward to integrate into your app and to track the sort of fine grained events you are looking to capture. You can't go wrong with either one of those.
Here is a (slightly old) list of additional tracking/analytics options beyond Flurry and Google's offerings.
You can record your feedback and user experiences, and bug reports with lookback.io
This is kind of a dumb question but I've aware of classic style JDE development for Blackberry but I've never tried using WebWorks. BB website says that it's possible to build applications for both smartphones (OS 6.0+) and tablets - sounds fantastic, but what's the price?
Is here anyone using WebWorks on a daily basis and capable of describing pros and cons?
Thanks in advance
I would suggest using it if you build webOS applications before hand. It make porting to the blackberry a breeze.
Use WebWorks if you know html5, Css3 and javascript over Java and C++.
I haven't ran into any issues with the webWorks, ported two applications without running into any issues. Its your standard html5, css3 and javascript you love with blackberry APIs
WebWorks is a good development choice, particularly as it allows easy migration from earlier BB OSes to BB10. It's mostly standard web technologies (HTML5, CSS3, etc.) and the team seems focused on making it perform well (e.g. hardware accelerated WebGL graphics) while at the same time providing BlackBerry-specific APIs to make WebWork apps capable and with good UX (e.g. you can make it look like a native app).
For native apps, you should look into Cascades. This is a modern development environment with good tooling, accelerated graphics, and APIs for building snazzy apps. It's the one that will most be a "BlackBerry app".
AIR remains an option, but I would recommend WebWorks over AIR, as even Adobe is migrating from Flash to web technologies. Likewise, you can develop Android apps on BB10, but unless you are keen on Java programming, you will get more cross-platform support from WebWorks (or even AIR) so there's no particular reason to go the Android route.
WebWorks API is limited, for example it does not have socket, so you cannot port a VNC (UltaVNC, tightVNC ..) to it but you can do it with JDE.
For UI, WebWorks allowed me to write UI of acceptable quality quickly and easily, a thing that I have never succeeded with JDE.
Still on the UI side, I can make use of multi-touch (PlayBook), I don't think this one is possible with JDE.
So depending on your needs you should go either WebWorks or Native, having heard that Java may not be supported in BB10, and Air may not be future proof (Adobe favors HTML5 instead of Flash). Android appli has some lag on start up when it is run on PlayBook, some customers are sensitive to the initial even just one time slow response time.
I'm a huge proponent of Webworks. Ever since I've started using it, it quickly became the default option for my apps going forward. Especially for someone like me who is just writing a few apps on the side, I don't have the time to do it in c++.
The apps I'm writing revolve around home automation. They are client/server based from the get go.
Here's why I like it:
First and foremost, native API support. I can very easily create my own active frames, import invocation from other apps (think camera, stuff like that). I can export portions of my webworks app as an invocation card! Which means I can write say 3 unique apps (in this case home automation, lights, thermostat, security cameras). And I can very easily pull features from each app into the other. Maybe I want to turn my lights on in the living room, I can also import the camera card from my IPcam app and view the results, without having to add that code into my lights app and maintain two separate code lines.
Rapid design. Since I've been dabbling in html since I was a kid, it's now very easy for me to whip up an appealing UI in little time. Because web engines these days offer good performance in terms of graphics capability, I also can make apps that behave very fluid.
Considering the time to make something beautiful, it's hard for me to leave webworks and go for something in c++. Also the big plus is often these apps I'm making are intended for multiple devices, namely an app on my phone and being hosted on my personal website. By maintaining two slightly different css files, most of the time I need no code changes, just load a different css depending on if it's a phone or a pc. (Exactly what you'd do if you were developing a regular old website).
For that matter, I actually don't put my code on the device, I host all of my html and javascript, images etc on my server. The webworks app is just the config.xml pointing it's source to my server, and an icon. A glorified website bookmark on the homescreen, only difference is I can use native API and there's no browser bar in the app.
Also, this way I can still continue to edit the same single codeline on my server, and instantly apply changes to the in-browser app and the on-device app.
This is especially cool if you're designing an app where all of it's data is out in the "cloud", say you work for a publication and you want to write a magazine app which pulls content from your servers on the net.
So, I wrote a quick little app for the iphone that takes in an http URL, and plays the .mp4 video located at that URL. It does more than that, of course, but that's the meat of it. Naturally, I wanted to have it on more than just a single mobile platform, so I decided to target BlackBerry next.
However, I'm running into a lot of problems with the BlackBerry Environment. First of all, I learn that I can only download 256k files! I learn how to set that variable in my MDS simulator and I learn that this is NOT a production solution, because any end users will have to have their BES or MDS admin change the setting there. Then, I find a video less than 2 MB I can practice with. Going to the browser prompts me to save the video rather than it playing in the browser like I expected. After saving the video, it refuses to play, saying it's the wrong format.
So. I can't find a reference to whether BlackBerry can stream with HTTP. I've heard it can use RTSP, though, and heard some rumors that it can't use HTTP, which would really suck. I also can't find a reference to what format BlackBerry uses, although I can find a million programs that will convert one file to the 'BlackBerry' format.
Surely SOMEONE must have tried to stream video with the BlackBerry before. How did they go about doing so? Is it just a hopeless pipedream? Will I have to go with RTSP?
Sorry for the lack of a concrete question. I'm just really lost, and I hate how so many tutorials or forum posts seem to assume I know the capabilities of the Blackberry.
Edit: I finally found out that the .3gp format, which I'd never heard of, is what BlackBerry uses. Still have no idea how to stream videos off the web, though. I found "How To - Play video within a BlackBerry smartphone application" That seemed useful, but the code doesn't work if you give it a URL, even though it claims it does.
While you are correct that the tutorial claims the code will load any valid URL, the API documentation for javax.microedition.media.Manager.createPlayer specifies "A locator string in URI syntax that describes the media content" which may not, in fact be the same as any valid URL. Luckily createPlayer will also take an InputStream and a String specifying the content type. So you should be able to open the URL as documented in the API for HttpConnection, grab the content type string, and open the input stream to create the player.
I will admit that I haven't done that, but it would be my next step.
BTW remember to run your HttpConnection fetch on a thread separate from the application event thread.
Just got a car with the Microsoft sync system in it. Did a quick search online and was curious if anyone is aware of any SDK that may exist, sample open source add-on applications, etc.
Thanks in advance.
UPDATE:
Looks like Ford has finally released their SDK:
https://developer.ford.com/
Ford has a website SYNC Mobile Application Developer Network but the SYNC SDK does not look to be available yet (their site mentions possibly later this year). It appears they are stilling working on the API before releasing it. All they are offering now is a way to register to be notified of new info as it becomes available.
From their About page:
Ford is hard at work developing an API
to allow developers to integrate their
Smartphone applications with SYNC. The
Developer Program website will educate
developers about the Ford SYNC
platform and how to interact with it
via the API. There will be a full set
of documentation, example
applications, reference libraries, and
even a developer forum so you can
reach out to the community for quick
help.
With the available SYNC API's, mobile
application developers will be able to
do some of the following:
Create a voice UI for your application using the in-vehicle
speech recognition system.
Write information to the radio head display or in-vehicle touchscreen
Speak text using text-to-speech engine.
Use the in-vehicle menu system to provide commands or options for
your mobile application
Get button presses from the radio and steering wheel controls.
Receive vehicle data (speed, GPS location, fuel economy, etc.)
The official API and full website
launch is set to be targeted for later
this year.
It looks like the SDK is coming very soon. The story was just posted on Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/18/ford-to-give-sync-some-app-store-flavor-opening-api-to-devs-in/
Now just imagine what you could do with access to your automobile functionality!
I don't think there is any. Its a closed ecosystem.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/09/ces-2009-sync-could-one-day-add-app-development-like-iphone/
From what I understand it is based on the CE 6.0 platform using windows automotive 4.1, but I could be wrong. We really need a forum to get this going. Hurry up Ford! Release the SDK!
Given the way Windows automotive is there is only two ways of putting a ROM on Sync. Using JTAG to put your own custom bootloader (forget it), or though the USB. Which you will need to know how to sign the file so sync will think it is an OEM ROM. So at this point even if you were able to come up with your own custom rom by using Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++ you would still have no way to get it on there.
BTW, the SDK they are talking about releasing will only be to develop apps for applink. (not modifying the OS). However, to upload the apps we might be able to find out how to sign the .bin file for sync to accept a ROM through the USB.
Then again this is just from my understanding... I am no great developer or anything.
Ford launched sdk in ces, check it out: http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/08/ford-launches-its-openxc-sdk-and-hardware-specs-to-let-developers-access-its-cars-sensors-and-metrics/