Dexterology

Random thoughts of a Programmer

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[pranayairan]

Adding Help overlay to your android app

For a developer developing android app, it is often a problem to explain features and functionalists of app. Users who downloads this apps often find them self clueless about what they can do with app and how to do certain actions. There are many ways in which this problems were address, to make user understand the functionality and working of apps developers have find out many ways, mainly 

Putting a introduction screen where a new user flips through different functionality and features about the app like magazine (ANY.DO, Clear)

Putting up Help overlays or Coach marks on different screens explaining first time users what they do when they are at specif screen in the app (Pulse, ES file explorer )

First one got popular with TODO apps like Any.Do, Clear etc using it, it is not the best practice to use this approach

Second approach is more usable compare to first. Lets see how we can create Coach marks/Overlays on the top of android apps and helps user to discover app functionality.

Overlay can be simply achieved by putting up 2 layouts on the top of each other, In android this can be done by using Framelayout. Lets follow steps mention by Mark Murphy on this post at stackoverflow

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10216937/how-do-i-create-a-help-overlay-like-you-see-in-a-few-android-apps-and-ics.

By the end of this tutorial, we will have a example Alarm application with Coach marks like this

               Step #1: 

// Create a new framelayout so that we can associate child layouts with it      

final FrameLayout overlayFramelayout = new FrameLayout(getApplicationContext());

//Set the framelayout as root layout in your activity

setContentView(overlayFramelayout);

Step #2:

//Get the reference of your main layout and inflate it to frame layout

View view = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.activity_help_overlay, overlayFramelayout,false);

overlayFramelayout.addView(view);

Step #3: 

// inflate overlay layout and add it to frame layout

View overlay_view = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.overlay_view, overlayFramelayout,false);

overlayFramelayout.addView(overlay_view);

This will give us the Coach marks/Overlay on the main layout. Now we want to have functionality to remove this Help Overlay when users tap or perform some action, this can be done by removing overlay view from framelayout

Step #4

overlayFramelayout.removeView(overlay_view);

Complete working example along with source code of this tutorial is available on Github https://github.com/pranayairan/AndroidExamples/tree/master/AndroidHelpOverlay

Let me know if this helps in comments, suggest for topics on future android tutorials

[pranayairan]

[pranayairan]

Shipping sqllite db with your app

Yesterday I came across a question in linkedin where some one wants to import a excel sheet into android sqllite db, it was simple, export it into CSV and use any tool like sqllite browser to import it as table. 

Interestingly one also want to use there own custom database ship with the android app, it is simple to ship your own db with android app, after this post you will able to ship your db with your android app. The code for this tutorial is available on github

First Download sqllite browser and create a new sqllite db

Now create a new table android_metadata with only 1 column locale

Insert en_us as data for this column

Import any other table as CSV which you want to put in this db

Save the database

This steps are essential as all android db which gets created has default table android_metadata, since we are manually creating this db we have to make sure about this table. 

Now Open eclipse and create a new project, Copy newly created db and put it into Asset folder of your project 

Once This is done use this code

https://gist.github.com/3489486

This code has helper methods which will be used for copying database. Once you created the above class in your android app, in your main activity call this method

 DataBaseHelper mydatabaseHelper = new DataBaseHelper(this);

This method will copy database from your asset folder to your android app system folder. Once this is done you can get reference of database using 

 mydatabaseHelper.openDataBase();

This will give you reference of the db, now you can use this as you use normal db reference, you can run query on this, insert or create tables etc.

Working example using above code can be downloaded from My Github repo https://github.com/pranayairan/AndroidExamples 

[pranayairan]

Moving To Syte

The other day i encountered a beautiful personnel site template called Syte, from long time i was thinking of changing my blog and personnel website to something more cleaner and smoother. 

Syte is perfect blend of personnel features and social integration. With a excellent documentation i was able to move my personnel website from dedicated hosting on wordpress to heroku running syte. Syte not only integrate with twitter and facebook but it comes with a nice tumbler integration.

I moved my wordpress blog to tumblr and integrated it with syte, result now i have a single website to maintain with tumblr as a blogging platform. 

I will start writing blogs again, Going forward you will see blogs with a newer approach with more code and more information.

Keep watching this space. Do check out Syte on github http://rigoneri.github.com/syte/ 

[pranayairan]

Read LowPrice Android App Review on CuberJunkeez

A friend from CyberJunkeez has written a excellent review about My android app Lowprice, http://cyberjunkeez.org/2012/03/find-books-at-the-lowest-price-with-lowprice.html Visit the blog and let me know if you like this post

[pranayairan]

HTML 5 Geo Location API

  With recent facebook feature of geo  tagging, geo location is becoming a hot field in internet world, considering the future aspects of geo location HTML5 specification has added a new Geolocation API which helps in mapping the exact location of any user to offer personalize location based services.

Lets take a dive into how this geolocation API works and what you can do with this.  Geolocation tells you where the user is it is not of much relevance for him knowing his current position. You can track a users current location by embedding just 2 line of javascript

navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(callmeonSuccess, callmeonError, options);

  This 2 lines of code will give you the current location, the callmeonSuccess function will be called with position parameter passed which is then used to extract the lat long etc. Here is the code which will give you the lat and long for any user

function callmeonSuccess(position) {

var lat = position.coords.latitude; var lng = position.coords.longitude; }

Yes with this simple line of code you can get the lat and long of any user. There are various other options which you can extract from position.  You can play with this API and check with different parameter by going on this link.

You can see the stand alone version of the example application integrated with Google maps on my website.

There are lot of good examples and uses of this geo location feature you can find something similar on html5rocks, I am exploring the possibilities of how to use this feature and in my upcoming posts I will try to put some content related to the same.

You can read the specification of geo location tracking form W3C website. They use a set of GPS, satellite mobile phone tower position IP etc for getting the exact location.

What will you do if you get the location of visitor who is visiting your webpage? post it in your comments.

Thanks

Pranay

[pranayairan]

Adobe Flash platform summit 2010 part 1

  Today i am attending adobe flash platform summit 2010 @ bangalore, will go for live blog post updating every talk.

Ben Forta started out the event with a  excellent statistics, according to ben

=> out of top 20 OEM 95 % using flash

=> 98% computer which are connected with flash

=> more then 3 million flash developer, 85 % of top 100 website uses flash

Flash is multipurpose runtime, high performance VM, incredible graphics and animation engine, advance audio video

He talked about Flash builder, flex builder and Adobe catalyst,  Discussing about the new features of Adobe AIr Mark pointed following features

=>offline support which makes sure the gluing

=> Leverage local resources

=> tight integration with hardware and os

=> Air = Flash + installation + updates+ Local SQ:+local file access+Notification

He shared an interesting stats stating that 300M AIR install 2.5 M air SDK download

For flash CS 5 here are some interesting points

=> Brand new test engine for non Latin text in flash CS5

=> Most imp features XML based FLAs you can share assets using FXG

For Adobe flex he pointed out that

=> Mxml markup language, framework fir building application and eco system

=> controls charts etc features were added

=> flex builder / flash builder renamed in version 4 IDE for flex

He wrapped up his talk with few demos and talking about Flash Catalyst which seems to be an interesting product for designers

Will post the follow up talk session in few hours keep following

Thanks

Pranay

[pranayairan]

Install non market app on your android phone

  There are tons of application available on android market place, but sometimes you want to install any 3rd party app which is not available in Market place. If this case is with Iphone you probably need to jailbreak it but android provides its own way and you don’t need to jailbreak your phone.

Follow this simple steps for installing non market apps

=> Download the application which will have .APK extension and save it into any folder on your phone

=> You can find lots of application which are not availbale on Market place if you search Google, droid life is a site where you can find non market apps. => Next step is to allow your phone to install applications from outside market place, go to settings then application and check the box called unknown source

=> Now you need to install the app you downloaded, to install any app there are few apps which can help you you can try ASTRO File manager 

          => After installing ASTRO, launch the application, navigate to the folder where you have copied the non market app, tap the apk file, ASTRO will ask if you want to “Browse File” or “Open App Manager”. Choose App manager

=>Click Install on the left side to install the third party app

You have successfully installed non market app on your phone.

Share any non market cool app if you know in comments

Thanks

Pranay

[pranayairan]

Whom do you write like?

  Is your writing skills similar to a famous writer? to answer this question of yours there is a fantastic website I write like this site will help you to identify which famous writer you write like with there statistical tools.

It is very simple, you simply need to put few paragraphs of your writing into the box on the website and click analyze

After analyzing it will display result with a badge of writer you write like. It only shows you the name of the writer clicking on which will take you to Amazon to show books written by that author. You need to do little search for finding more about that author.

In a day or so I will create a simple Yahoo API powered page where you can paste the author name and get complete details about the author.

I write like Dan Brown You can use the available badges for your website or facebook. Paste only few lines to get correct result.

The developer recently revealed in a blog post how the service determines the famous writer.

“Actually, the algorithm is not a rocket science, and you can find it on every computer today. It’s a Bayesian classifier, which is widely used to fight spam on the Internet. Take for example the “Mark as spam” button in Gmail or Outlook. When you receive a message that you think is spam, you click this button, and the internal database gets trained to recognize future messages similar to this one as spam. This is basically how “I Write Like” works on my side: I feed it with “Frankenstein” and tell it, “This is Mary Shelley. Recognize works similar to this as Mary Shelley.” Of course, the algorithm is slightly different from the one used to detect spam, because it takes into account more stylistic features of the text, such as the number of words in sentences, the number of commas, semicolons, and whether the sentence is a direct speech or a quotation.”

So you write like which writer?

Thanks

Pranay

[pranayairan]

Google Android Live CD by Live Android

  You can go and buy an android power phone like Droid or nexus one to try your hands on android, or you can install the Android SDK which comes with a phone emulator. But do you want to try Google android without installing the SDK or buying the phone?

Live android helps you in this. Live android project lets you download a LiveCD /Live USB disc  of the Google Android operating system. Just burn the image and check out Android without installing it or affecting any files on your PC. Latest version of Live android is 0.3 for Live Cd and 0.2 for Live USB

To Download Live android there are lots of option available on this download page follow this simple step to grab your copy of Live android

=> You can download Live CD image via torrent by this link (Live USB torrent is not available yet)

=> If you don’t have any torrent client/torrents are blocked see my previous post how to download torrent without torrent client

=> There are alternative downloads, also available for Live android, you can download iso file directly via web, but you need to download 2 files iso.001 and iso.002 (for both Live usb/live CD) and then join them using any tool

=> Google recommend you to use a small freeware tool HJsplit for joining this iso, you can download hjsplit from here

=> I recommend you to download live USB, after joining iso via HjSplit, you can use Live USB creator from fedora to create a bootable live USB Stick.

=> Use any image burning software to create live CD

You can also use the disc image with virtual box or other virtual environment. Here is live android kit all-in-one solution from, including iso file, portable virtualbox,  readme, well Google docs (via @xenodesystems)

                 This is how android will look when you boot it on your machine

Here is complete user guide for how to use Live android, how to install apps etc.

Thanks

Pranay

[pranayairan]

Cheat Sheets for programmers, get all quick references

  If you are a Developer or programmer, you often need quick reference for Commands/ Shortcuts or cheat sheets which you can refer when needed. Cheat sheets are organized references for quick look, which contains all possible information in a single page. It is quite popular among developer.

Here are some useful websites which you can use to find cheat sheet of your interest. You can download cheat sheets from this sites and then take a print out to paste it in your room

1) RefcarDz 

This is a good site which offers free cheat sheet for developers, This cheat sheets can be downloaded freely in PDF format. This site is divided into different zones, ranging from open source, java, .net to web designing. You can browse section wise or can use there custom search.

2) Quickly code

Quickly code is a community driven website which runs by programmers. Cheat sheets are shared by programmer and developer, these sheets are well categorized and can be browsed through using the tag cloud or searched using a keyword. You can rate cheat sheets, quickly code also offers code snippets, widgets, tutorials, info graphics and even apps.

3) Cheat sheet.org

Cheatsheet.org is simple site where all cheat sheets from different sources are categorized and collected. Its cheat sheets collection covers nearly all topics of programming.

My personal favorite cheat sheet is of HMTL5 from smashing magazine, you can download HTML5 cheat sheet from here

If you know any other good site for finding cheat sheet tell us about it in your comments.

Thanks

Pranay

[pranayairan]

Mediacope all in 1 media converter for free

  Most of us often need to convert media into 1 form or another, there are lots of tools which are available but they are either very basic version or they need a license to activate.

Mediacope all in 1 media converter is a free application which you can use to convert any media file to anything else. You don’t need to download separate converter for converting videos, audios or images. Mediacope all in 1 converter can covert all of these. The main advantage of this software is it is totally Free.

it can convert a YouTube video into a format that a portable video player or gaming system can play, reducing the photo sizes of the new shiny 10+ Megapixel camera so that they can be send to friends more easily or to convert audio files so that they can be played on a mobile mp3 player or cell phone.

It has following features:-

=> Audio converter

=> video converter

=> Audio/Video Player

=> Audio/Video Cutter

=> Photo Cutter/Resizer

=> Slide show maker

=> Some internet tools

You can download Mediacope all in 1 converter from here

Thanks

Pranay

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[pranayairan]

Download torrent via FTP, Break all restrictions

  Many times you want to download something from a torrent but you can’t because torrents are blocked, or there are not enough seeds, or simply you don’t have a torrent client installed in your machine.

Torrific is a new way of downloading torrents from internet, It a simple website which allows you to download any torrent file via FTP. You don’t need any client or any software to download from this site, this makes it very simple to download from any torrent, follow this steps: -

=> Login to torrific and add in the URL box the torrent you want to download and click Get button

=> If file is already in there server cache, it will allow you to download that file instantly

=> If the file you requested is not available , then you need to wait 24 to 72 hours depending on the queue status, you will get an email alert to your account once it is available.

One of the major advantage of this site is you can download it at your max speed, also places where FTP downloads are allowed but torrents are blocked, this is an easy way to download things from torrent without breaking any rules. It is recommended that you use any download manager so that you can pause and resume your downloads.

Here is the link for Torrific : - http://torrific.com/

Disclaimer: This post is to just provide you an easy way to download from torrents, we will no be responsible if you avoid your IT policies.

Thanks

Pranay

[pranayairan]

GooReader read Google Books on your Desktop

  Gooreader is a windows application that brings Google books on your desktop. There are lots of books and magazines that are available free on Google books, but Google books web interface is not that great.

GooReader allows you to search, read, and even download the books and magazines you find. It enhance the display and appearance of books and magazines available on Google books.

When you search for a book name in GooReader by book name or by book id, GooReader displays matching books in virtual shelves. Books with a green bookmark can be read, others can not. Clicking in a book to opens it in a nice full screen mode.

You can see in this video how GooReader works

There are 2 versions of GooReader which is availbale 1 is free and other is premium version for $20

You can download GooReader from here

Thank

Pranay

[pranayairan]

HTML5 powered browser based drawing tool

  DevianArt site which has some great collections of arts and designs by artist round the globe has released a browser based drawing tool MURO, this tool created entirely with web standards.

Muro works in all modern browsers which support HTML5, just dive in and start drawing on a blank canvas, all without Flash or any other plug-in. There are several brushes available to everyone, but to access the more advanced features, you’ll need to create a DeviantArt account and log in.

Muro is a cleaner tool which gives drawing power to browser, there are many other HTML5 based drawing tools available but MURO is different and much more simpler to use.  The above image is created in Muro by charlie140588 

I Created this image in less then 5 min, using all available brushes without logging in. It is very easy to use muro, there are lots of option which are available to explore in muro.

This tool works great with ipad and other touch screen devices which has large screen, its capabilities far more depends upon the creativity of the designer. You can see arts created in MURO here

Thanks

Pranay

[pranayairan]

allGoogleBlogs, a new way to get all Google news

  Yesterday I launched a new project called allGoogleBlogs, which is a Google blog mashup. The main idea behind this site is to Aggregate all Google 50+ blog news at a single place, where you can follow them time to time.

Google operates more then 50 blog post which is nearly impossible to follow, many of us use Google readers or similar things and do a group of similar following blogs, but again it is difficult to group 50 blogs and categories it, also the % of people who knows how to use this readers are very less.

 allGoogleBlogs is design keeping this things in mind, we take content from all Google blog and 1st categorize them into 5 categories, after categorizing it we display top 10 recent news article on each category page. Also we shows top 6 blogs recent 3 post side by side.

This whole mashup in turn helps people to follow Google in a easy way, you can keep your self updated for all Google news and announcements.

I used only JavaScript html and CSS3 for this whole project, the theme is taken from a nettuts+ igoogle tutorial. In future i will post how you can create your own mashup like this.

You can visit this site here http://allin1gblogs.appspot.com/

Feel free to post your comments and suggestion about this website.

Thanks

Pranay