Android Stuff

Google has recently updated its Maps App for Android to 4.1.0. Normally the update process in the market is straight forward, but some times it can get tricky, specially if you are using a custom ROM as most of the ROMs come with the Maps App pre-installed and that can make it difficult to update them.

When trying to update to the new version, if you get an error message like “Package file was not signed correctly.” or “Package was not signed correctly.”, then you need to uninstall the previous version of the App first and then install the new version. To uninstall the previous version, run this command from the computer:

adb uninstall com.google.android.apps.maps

After this install the new version from the Android Market.

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Just finished moving the site from Blogger to WordPress. Hopefully all the links and pages are working correctly…

For anyone interested, here’s what I did:

1. Looked at the instructions on the Installing WordPress page.
2. Installed WordPress on IIS6 from the Microsoft Web Apps Gallery.
3. Imported the posts from Blogger using the built-in import function of WordPress.
4. Installed the Eos theme by SRS Solutions.
5. Installed a few mobile themes and settled at WordPress Mobile Pack plugin for now. One of the main reasons being that it has support for Admob ads
6. Since I was moving my site from Blogger and wanted to make sure that all the old links to my old site were still working, I needed a redirection plugin, so installed the Redirection plugin and created entries for all the redirects I needed to work with the permalink structure of my new site.
7. Found out that redirections won’t work that easily on IIS as it doesn’t have Apache’s mod_rewrite functionality.
8. Tried isapi_rewrite lite which could do the required but then found it gets installed as a global isapi filter which could mess with other sites on the server.
9. Found the article at Caspian IT and quickly downloaded IIRF but could not get it to work initially, the documentation and the page at Caspian IT still has reference to IsapiRewrite4.dll and IsapiRewrite4.ini files which seem to have been renamed to IIRF.dll and IIRF.ini in the current release. Another thing to note is that the IIRF.ini file needs to be in the root of the actual site, rather than in the same folder as the IIRF.dll file.
10. Installed the Google Analyticator plugin to get Google Analytics support.
11. Installed the Google XML Sitemaps plugin.
12. Installed the Social Bookmarks plugin.
13. Installed the Link to Post plugin.
14. Modified the Eos theme to add a Paypal button

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A simple App to backup and restore Call Logs, useful when doing a factory reset or installing custom ROMs. The backup is stored in /sdcard/CallLogBackupRestore folder.

This App is a must if you need to keep a history of all the calls you’ve made from or received on the phone since Android only keeps a history of the 500 latest calls and any calls older than that are automatically deleted from the phone.

Please report any problems you are having with the App here in the comments section or email me with the details as I cannot respond to problems in the Android Market. My email address is on the market.

Features:

• Backup Call Logs / History in XML format.
  • Choose a scheduled time to automatically backup everyday.
  • Choose the name of the file to backup to.
  • Option to add and XSL style sheet to the XML file, so that the file can be opened with a browser for viewing easily.  Click here to download a sample XSL Stylesheet for Call Logs. Copy it in the same folder as the Backup XML file and then open the XML file in a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
  • Option to add the date in readable format.
  • Backup format is independent of the Android version so the calls can be easily moved from one phone to another, irrespective of which version of Android it has. Tested with 1.5, 1.6, 2.01, 2.1.
• Restore Call Logs
  • Option to select the backup file to be restored from the folder.
• Delete all Call Logs on the Phone.
• Email a backup file.
• Delete existing backup files.
  • Option to delete old files automatically after specified number of days.

Download:

This app can be downloaded from the Android Market, search for it or scan this QR code with a Barcode Scanner app:

User Interface:

The screen has 5 buttons:

• Backup Call Logs: Backup all the Call logs on the phone to the xml file.
• Restore Call Logs: Reads the xml file and creates a new Call log for every entry found in the file. Duplicates are checked based on number, duration and date/time of the call.
• Delete Backup Files: Allows selection of backup files to be deleted.
• Delete Call Logs: Deletes all the Call logs on the phone, so that a Restore can be performed.
• Donate: If you wish to donate for the App via PayPal.

Menu Options:

• Help: Help information about the App.
• Preferences: Opens the Preferences Screen.
• Send by Email: Allows you to send the backup file by Email.

Preferences:

• Use Scheduled Backups: If automatic backups should be performed everyday.
• Time of Backup: When performing automatic backups, at what time should the backups be performed.
• Days to Keep Old Backups: When performing automatic backups, backup files older than these many days will be deleted after the backup is performed. To keep an older file rename it so that the file name starts with _ (underscore).
• Disable Vibration: Disables the vibration on completion of an operation.
• Add Readable Date: Add the date in human readable format.
• Add XSL Tag: Add Xsl tag to view backup file in browser. Click here to download a sample XSL File. Copy it in the same folder as the Backup XML file and then open the XML file in a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
• Add Contact Names: Add the name of the contact to the backup file.
• Filename Date Format: The format for the auto generated file name.
• Enable Logging: For troubleshooting purposes, logs any errors encountered to the system log.
• Do not show Ads: Removes the Ads from the App.

Known Problems / Issues:

• If you are running any “Task Killer” app that kills apps on a schedule (like Advanced Task Manager), make sure that you exclude SMS Backup & Restore from it, otherwise the Scheduled Backups may not work properly. This App displays a notification every time it backs up with the details of the backup, make sure you are getting those notifications.
• Android only keeps a log of last 500 calls and the app can only backup the calls which are in those logs. If you have configured the app to automatically delete the backups after a few days then you’ll loose that call history.

Change Log:

v1.6:

• Added preference to backup Contact Names as well.

v1.5:

• Scheduled Backups.

v1.4:

• Added Scheduled Backups (experimental).
• Added Preference screen.
• Fixed rotation bug.
• Lots more

v1.3:

• Added button to facilitate selection of files to be deleted.

v1.2:

• Fix for the wrong month in the auto-generated file name.

v1.1:

• Support for multiple backup files:
  • Backup asks to input a file name.
  • Restore asks to select a file.
• Added Menu option to send the Backup file by Email.
• Added prompt during restore to confirm if duplicates should be checked.
• Faster restore when not checking for duplicates.
• Backup xml is now properly indented.
• Now does not ask to delete (and does not delete) calls before restore.

v1.0:

• Added warning before overwriting existing backup file.
• Minor bug fixes when writing the file.
• Now Ad supported.

v0.1:

• Initial release.

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APN Backup & Restore is a simple App to backup and restore APNs. The backup is stored in the /sdcard/APNBackupRestore/ folder.

Please report any problems you are having with the App here in the comments section or email me with the details as I cannot respond to problems in the Android Market. My email address is on the market.

The screen has 4 buttons:

• Backup APNs: Backup all the APNs defined on the phone to the xml file.
• Restore APNs: Reads the xml file and creates a new APN for every entry found in the file.
• Delete Backup Files: Allows selection of old backup files to be deleted.
• Delete APNs: Deletes all the APNs defined on the phone, so that a Restore can be performed.

Menu Options:

• Help: Help information about the App.
• Send by Email: Allows you to send the backup file by Email.
• Donate: If you wish to donate for the App via PayPal.
• Enable Logging: For troubleshooting purposes, logs any errors encountered to the system log.

MMSProtocol: It seems its an optional setting, the G1 doesnt even have the setting for it in the APN screen. By default the value for this setting does not appear in the backup xml because “WAP2.0″ gets displayed even if nothing is selected in the APN Setting screen. If you go into the details and explicitly select a value then it will be correctly backed up and restored.

NOTE: If you have deleted all the APNs by mistake and want to go back to the defaults then you can always do so by going to Settings -> Wireless Controls -> Mobile Network Settings -> Access Point Names, then press the Menu button and select “Reset to default”.

Backup format is independent of the Android version so the messages can be easily moved from one phone to another, irrespective of which version of Android it has. Tested with 1.5, 1.6, 2.01, 2.1.

Change Log:
v1.5:

• Fixed bug with Send by Email.

v1.4:

• Support for multiple backup files:
  • Backup asks to input a file name.
  • Restore asks to select a file.
• Button to facilitate selection of files to be deleted.

v1.3:

• Backup xml is now properly indented.
• Option to send backup file by email.

v1.1:

• Minor bug fixes, now handles missing SD Card while backing up.
• Now Ad supported.

v1.0:

• Now handles invalid APN settings (missing MCC & MNC) in some custom ROMs (CyanogenMod, MyHero etc)
• Added menu option to enable/disable Logging.
• Added button to donate via PayPal.
  

v0.4

• Now asks to delete existing APNs before restore.
• Checks for duplicates and overwrites any existing APNs based on Name, MCC and MNC
  

v0.3

• Now handles the missing mmsprotocol setting on the G1.
  

v0.2

• Changed the xml tags a bit, not compatible with the previous version.
• Better handling of null values.

v0.1

• Initial release.

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A simple App to backup and restore SMS Messages, useful when doing a factory reset or installing custom ROMs. The backup is stored in /sdcard/SMSBackupRestore folder.

Features:

• Backup SMS Messages in XML format.
  • Choose a scheduled time to automatically backup everyday.
  • Choose the name of the file to backup to.
  • Option to add and XSL style sheet to the XML file, so that the file can be opened with a browser for viewing easily. Click here to download a sample XSL File. Copy it in the same folder as the Backup XML file and then open the XML file in a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
  • Option to add the date in readable format.
  • Backup format is independent of the Android version so the messages can be easily moved from one phone to another, irrespective of which version of Android it has. Tested with 1.5, 1.6, 2.01, 2.1.
• Option to choose the format for the auto-generated file name.
• Restore SMS Messages.
  • Option to select the backup file to be restored from the folder.
• View Messages in the backup files.
• Delete all SMS Messages on the Phone.
• Email a backup file.
• Delete existing backup files.
  • Option to delete old files automatically after specified number of days.
• Import SMS Messages from Windows Mobile.
• Import SMS Messages from Nokia.
• Import SMS Messages from Sony Ericsson.
• The backup files can also be viewed on the computer and edited using MS Excel.

Please report any problems you are having with the App here in the comments section or email me with the details as I cannot respond to problems in the Android Market. My email address is on the market.

Answers to some Frequently Asked Questions can be found here.

Download:

It can be downloaded from the Android Market, search for it or scan this QR Code with barcode scanner:

Click here to view on Cyrket

Click here to view on AppBrain.com

Click here to download from SlideMe.org

The screen has 6 buttons:

• Backup SMS Messages: Backup all the messages on the phone to the xml file. Existing file is overwritten.
• Restore SMS Messages: Reads the xml file and creates a new message for every entry found in the file.
• View SMS Messages: View the SMS Messages in the Backup files.
• Delete Backup Files: Allows selection of backup files to be deleted.
• Delete SMS Messages: Deletes all the messages on the phone, so that a Restore can be performed.
• Donate: If you wish to donate for the App via PayPal.

Menu Options:

• Help: Help information about the App.
• Preferences: Opens the Preferences Screen.
• Send by Email: Allows you to send the backup file by Email.

Preferences:

• Use Scheduled Backups: If automatic backups should be performed everyday.
• Time of Backup: When performing automatic backups, at what time should the backups be performed.
• Days to Keep Old Backups: When performing automatic backups, backup files older than these many days will be deleted after the backup is performed. To keep an older file rename it so that the file name starts with _ (underscore).
• Disable Vibration: Disables the vibration on completion of an operation.
• Add Readable Date: Add the date in human readable format.
• Add XSL Tag: Add Xsl tag to view backup file in browser. Click here to download a sample XSL File. Copy it in the same folder as the Backup XML file and then open the XML file in a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.
• Add Contact Names: Adds the name of the contact to the backup.
• Enable Logging: For troubleshooting purposes, logs any errors encountered to the system log.
• Do not show Ads: Removes the Ads displayed in the App. Needs restart of the App to take effect.
• I have Donated!: Stops the reminder about donating.

Known Problems / Issues:

Fields in the XML File
A lot of people have been asking me about the details of the fields used by the application. Here is some description of the fields:

• protocol – Protocol used by the message, its mostly 0 in case of SMS messages.
• address – The phone number of the sender/recipient.
• date – The Java date representation (including millisecond) of the time when the message was sent/received. Check out www.epochconverter.com for information on how to do the conversion from other languages to Java.
• type – Sent = 2, Received = 1.
• subject – Subject of the message, its always null in case of SMS messages.
• body – The content of the message.
• toa – n/a, default to null.
• sc_toa – n/a, default to null.
• service_center – The service center for the received message, null in case of sent messages.
• read – Read Message = 1, Unread Message = 0.
• status – Always -1.
• readable_date – Optional field that has the date in a human readable format.
• contact_name – Optional field that has the name of the contact.

All the field values are read as is from the underlying database and no conversion is done by the app. As you can see there are some fields which are not used and probably can be removed but I have kept them for compatibility reasons.

Change Log

v3.4:

• Fixed the Illegal character problem on Android 2.2.
  Thanks to Juan and Justin for logs and testing.

v3.3:

• Attempt at fixing the Illegal character problem on Android 2.2

v3.1:

• Updated to Android 2.2 SDK.
• Minor Bug fixes.

v3.0:

• Added Progress Bar to be displayed during Backup and Restore.
• Updated the contact list in the message viewer.

v2.9:

• Added a basic message viewer.

v2.8:

• Bug fix for blank numbers in SMS resulting in error when retrieving names.

v2.7:

• Bug fix for Scheduled Backup resulting in Force Close in some cases.

v2.6:

• Fixed a bug where the Restore would fail in some cases.

v2.5:

• Added preference to Add the Contact Name to the backup.

v2.4:

• Removed the Location permission requirement.
• Updated the Admob Library.
• Added tags specifying that low resolution phones are supported.

v2.3:

• Fixed the option to choose the file name format.

v2.2:

• Ads are back, with option to remove them
• Scheduled Backups
• Better handling of screen rotation

v2.1:

• New (and hopefully better looking) Icons.

v2.0:

• Scheduled Backups – Experimental till March 31 – Use at your own risk!
• Fixed an Xml parsing error which resulted in “PI must not start with xml” error message.

v1.9:

• Removed the Ads.
• Added a BIG Donate button .

v1.8:

• Added Preferences Screen with:
  • Option to disable Vibration.
  • Option to add Readable Date in the backup XML.
  • Option to add the XSL stylesheet in the backup XML.

v1.7:

• Fixed a bug where restoring more than 1000 messages did not work properly.
• Added a partial wake lock so the backup/restore/delete operation continues even if the phone goes to sleep.
• Now vibrates after a backup/restore/delete operation is finished.

v1.6:

• Fixed the bug where the selection of file during restore did not work properly and resulted in an error. Thanks Shawn for pointing this out.

v1.5:

• Added button to facilitate selection of files to be deleted.

v1.4:

• Fix for the wrong time stamp in the message threads after the restore.

v1.3:

• Fix for the wrong month in the auto-generated file name.

v1.2:

• Support for multiple backup files:
  • Backup asks to input a file name.
  • Restore asks to select a file.

v1.1:

• Added Menu option to send the Backup file by Email.
  

v1.0:

• Better handling of special characters in messages.
• Added prompt during restore to confirm if duplicates should be checked.
• Faster restore when not checking for duplicates.
• Backup xml is now properly indented.

v0.3 BETA:

• Now does not ask to delete (and does not delete) messages before restore.

v0.2 BETA:

• Fix for the duplicate check during restore.

v0.1 BETA:

• Initial Release.

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