Android Stuff

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

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.
  • Option to use an “Archive Mode” where the backup data keeps getting added to a single file.
  • 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, 2.2 and 2.3.
• Restore Call Logs
  • Option to select the backup file to be restored from the folder.
• View Backup Contents from within the App.
• 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:

User Interface:

The screen has 6 buttons:

• Backup: Backup all the Call logs on the phone to the xml file.
• Restore: 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.
• View: View the contents of the backup file.
• Delete Backups: Allows selection of backup files to be deleted.
• Delete Calls: 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 as per the schedule.
• Time of Backup: The time at which the Automatic Scheduled Backup should start.
• 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 filename starts with _ (underscore).
• Use Archive Mode: If the backup should be kept in only one file. Any new backups
  taken since the last backup would be added to the same file.
• Archive Filename: When using Archive Mode, the name of the backup file.
• Backup Folder: The folder to store the backups in.
• Disable Verification: Disables the verification of the backup file after a backup
  is performed.
• Add Readable Date: Add the date in human readable format.
• Readable Date Format: The format of the date used when adding readable date to the backup file.
• 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 names of the Contacts to the backup.
• Filename Date Format: The format of the date used to generate new file names.
• Disable Vibration: Disables the vibration on completion of an operation.
• Enable Logging: For troubleshooting purposes, logs any errors encountered to the system log.
• Do not show Ads: Removes the Ads displayed in the App.
• I have Donated!: Removes the reminder to donate after a scheduled backup.

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.
• HTC users have reported issue where on restore the names don’t appear on the restored calls. Here’s the suggested work around from them:
  1. On HTC, export contacts to SD
  2. Delete all contacts (keep Call history)
  3. Import contacts from SD

Change Log:

v2.1:

• Fixed a problem with the Viewer on phones running older Android versions.

v2.0:

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.

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.

Android 4 / Ice Cream Sandwich: Google seems to have changed the access level for applications which can write/change APN Settings in Android 4 (ICS). Now 3rd Party apps are not allowed to change APN Settings. Even requesting the permission “android.permission.WRITE_APN_SETTINGS” does not allow apps to write APN settings and the app gets an error about not having the permission. At this stage APN Backup & Restore cannot be used to Restore APN settings. It can still create Backups (probably not that useful).

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 APNs 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, 2.2.

Download: APN Backup & Restore can be downloaded from the Android Market on your phone. It can also be downloaded from SlideMe.Org

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.

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 by default.

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. Check the “Related Downloads“. 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 v1.5 to v4.0.
• Option to select which conversations to backup.
• 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.

TrickyWays.com has posted a helpful user guide to using the app.

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

Translation:

The app is currently translated in the following languages:

• Finnish – Thanks to Juhana H.
• Russian – Thanks to Pavel (Павел Миронов)
• Spanish – Thanks to Miguel A. Alvarez
• German - Thanks to Marc Hillesheim & Jan
• French - Thanks to Julien Benoist
• Dutch – Thanks to Kristof Roels
• Portuguese - Thanks to António Silva
• Italian - Thanks to Oliver Thomas Cervera
• Swedish - Thanks to Björn Lindahl
• Polish – Thanks to Mateusz Szczęsny & Mateusz Rozenkranc
• Estonian – Thanks to Margus Palu
• Simplified Chinese – Thanks to Thomas Wang
• Macedonian – Thanks to Vlad
• Turkish – Thanks to Hasan Gök
• Hungarian – Thanks to Kojedzinszky Dániel

If you would like to help translate the app in other languages, please send me an email.

Icons designed by Vlad Kitanoski of  www.vk-solutions.com

User Interface:

The screen has 7 buttons:

• Backup: Backup all the messages on the phone to the xml file. Existing file is overwritten.
• Restore: Reads the xml file and creates a new message for every entry found in the file.
• View: View the SMS Messages in the Backup files.
• Search: A very basic search to look for messages containing specified text.
• Delete Backups: Allows selection of backup files to be deleted.
• Delete 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:

• Schedule Settings: Opens the Settings for Scheduled backups.
• Use Archive Mode: If the backup should be kept in only one file. Any new backups taken since the last backup would be added to the same file.
• Archive Filename: When using Archive Mode, the name of the backup file.
• Backup Folder: The folder to store the backups in.
• Selected Conversations Only: Specifies if only selected conversations should be backed up.
• Select Conversations: Select the conversations to be backed up.
• Disable Verification: Disables the verification of the backup file after a backup is performed.
• Add Readable Date: Add the date in human readable format.
• Readable Date Format: The format of the date used to store the date in the Readable Date.
• Add XSL Tag: Add Xsl tag to view backup file in browser. Check the “Related Downloads“. 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 names of the Contacts to the backup.
• Filename Date Format: The format of the date used to generate new file names.
• Disable Vibration: Disables the vibration on completion of an operation.
• Enable Logging: For troubleshooting purposes, logs any errors encountered to the system log.
• Do not show Ads: Removes the Ads displayed in the App.
• I have Donated!: Removes the reminder to donate after a scheduled backup.

Menu Options:

• Reset Default Backup Folder: Restores the default folder for the backup.

Schedule Settings:

• Enable Schedule: If automatic backups should be performed as per the schedule.
• Starting at: Initial start time for the backup.
• Repeat Every: How often to repeat the scheduled backups.
• 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 filename starts with _ (underscore).
• Disable Notifications: Disable the notification that gets displayed after a scheduled backup is performed. This option only gets enabled when the “I have Donated!” check box is checked in the Preferences screen.

Known Problems / Issues:

Permissions Required:

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 – None = -1, Complete = 0, Pending = 32, Failed = 64.
• 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.

Related Downloads:

Following are some additional useful files related to this app. Right click and then select “Save As” or equivalent.

• Sample XSL Stylesheet for SMS Backup & Restore
• Sample XML file (Rename to remove the .txt extension)
• Sample XSD Schema file (Rename to remove the .txt extension)

Change Log:

v5.0:

• Experimental feature to automatically send emails after backup. Needs the SMS Backup & Restore Add-On app from the Market. Check Backup Settings for options.
• Rearranged the Preferences screen to have Backup Settings in a separate screen.
• Added Translations:
  • Macedonian – Thanks to Vlad
  • Turkish – Thanks to Hasan Gök
  • Hungarian – Thanks to Kojedzinszky Dániel

v4.8:

• Option to choose the app language.
• Email backup now includes the xsl file as well as link to the instructions.
• New Icons. (Thanks to Vlad Kitanoski www.vk-solutions.com)
• Updated translations.
• Trying another Ad Network.

v4.7:

• Changes to the File Selector to make it easier to view/restore files from other folders.
• Fix for app closing/crashing on orientation change on ICS.
• Fix for scheduled backups not starting after reboot on ICS.

v 4.6:

• Fix for Contact Names not appearing on Android 4.
• Minor fix for Swedish notification message.
• Trying a different Ad network.

v4.5:

• Added a basic password protection for the app on launch.
• Options to send a message and dial the number from the viewer and search.
• Sent date now gets backed up and restored
• Added Translations:
  • Slovenian – Thanks to TKL
  • Welsh – Thanks to Huw Waters
  • Czech – Thanks to Jiri Trcka

v4.4:

• Potential fix for the incorrect Date/Time problem after restore on some Motorola phones. Special thanks to Dominick Young for his endless testing. Also thanks to John L Galt for his help.
• Fixed sorting of conversations on some phones.
• Added yyyy-MM-dd_HH-mm-ss as file name format.
• Added a label to display the last backup date.

 

v4.3:

• Needs READ_PHONE_STATE for getting around an error when restoring messages on some phones.
• Potential fix for the missing conversations when selecting conversations to backup.
• Updated Admob Library.
• XSL file now gets deployed to the Backup folder if it doesn’t already exist
• Added Translations
  • Polish – Thanks to Mateusz Szczęsny & Mateusz Rozenkranc
  • Swedish – Thanks to Björn Lindahl
  • Estonian – Thanks to Margus Palu
  • Simplified Chinese – Thanks to Thomas Wang

v4.2:

• Added basic search functionality.
• Fix for the french language error during backup.
• Added Translations
  • German – Thanks to Marc Hillesheim & Jan Allan Zischk
  • Dutch – Thanks to Kristof Roels
  • Portuguese – Thanks to António Silva
  • Italian – Thanks to Oliver Thomas Cervera

v4.1:

• Added Translations
  • Finnish – Thanks to Juhana H.
  • Russian – Thanks to Pavel (Павел Миронов)
  • Spanish – Thanks to Miguel A. Alvarez
• Some more bug fixes.

v4.0.3:

• Fix for the “Delete Backups” function deleting wrong files in certain cases.

v4.0.2:

• Fix for the “Send by Email” not working anymore.

v4.0.1:

• Reverted back to the original color scheme.

v4.0:

• New Icon
• New UI
• Browse button for selecting Backup Folder
• Fix for some message types resulting in messages getting resent after restore
• Check for state of the storage card before starting a backup.
• Lookup for backup files in other folders when no backup file found in the configured backup folder.
• Restore only a particular conversation (Long press a conversation from the viewer)
• Various bug fixes

v3.9.5:

• Hopefully the last fix for the errors introduced in v3.9.2
• Added option to sort messages oldest/newest first in the message viewer.

v3.9.4:

• More bug fix for contact name lookup errors.

v3.9.3:

• Bug fix for errors during backup & restore on some phones.

v3.9.2:

• Updated the viewer to show conversations in reverse chronological order.
• Added options to adjust timezones when viewing or restoring backups.
• Minor bug fixes.

v3.9.1:

• Removed the option “System Default” from the Backup date format option which was added by mistake.

v3.9:

• Added option to select the date format used when storing Readable Date in the backup.
• Fixed a bug where Readable Date and Contact Name would be removed from existing messages in Archive Mode.

v3.8:

• Internal change to make sure the Free version can co-exist with the paid version.

v 3.7:

• Option to select conversations to be backed up.
• Minor internal changes.

v3.6:

• Fixed a bug with the Archive Mode where it would miss messages if a new message was deleted. If you are missing messages, I suggest a Full Backup to be on the safe side. Thanks to Jim for identifying this problem.

v3.5:

• Faster Restore
• Option to share from the viewer
• More Scheduling options
• Archive Mode
• Verification
• Locked Message Handling
• Option to change the Backup Folder
• Option to disable Notifications

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.

Update: many people have reported errors encountered with SMS Exporter and although I’d like to fix those problems, its very difficult for me since I do not have a Windows Mobile phone and the application is using a 3rd party library to export the messages. If you are getting errors, please try the other ways below.

SMS Exporter:

Looking at the number of hits on my site about moving SMS Messages from WinMo to Android, I decided to try writing a simple tool to export messages from WinMo phones.

Click here to download SMS Exporter. This is an experimental application and since I do not have a Windows Mobile phone I have not been able to test it properly. Any feedback about this app is highly appreciated.

Download the .CAB file from the link above and install it on your phone. Running it will present you with a simple form with an “Export” menu.It will export messages into a SMS.xml file which can be directly imported into any Android phone using the SMS Backup & Restore app.

SMS Exporter uses the Pocket PC and Smartphone 99% .NET MAPI library to read the messages.

If the SMS Exported does not work for you then you can always try the following options:

Mario at Homebrew has written an excellent article explaining how to Import/Export/Move/Transfer SMS Messages from Windows Mobile to your Android Phone using PIM Backup and my App SMS Backup & Restore.

Pie at PieMaster has written another article and his own tool for Exporting from Windows Mobile. Click here to have a look.

This process works WITHOUT needing root access on the Android phone. Check it out!

Change Log:
v0.5:

• Removed the BOM (Byte Order Mark) from the Xml.

v0.4:

• Added UTF-8 encoding of exported file.

v0.3:

• Fixed “Invalid type request”errors.

v0.2:

• Added logging.

v0.1:

• Initial Release