how to create task that will monitor system wide app installation... - Tasker Tips & Tricks

so basically i want to monitor system wide app installation and uninstallation, including sideloading with dates? if possible to have it create a log and store it in a specific folder that is locked or can't be accessed or deleted without code. and to do a daily or weekly check to see if any changes were made.
also is there a task to block all installations including sideloading?
any help would be appreciated.
@ktmom

So tracking installed and uninstalled apps is straightforward.
I'm not aware of a way to lock the resulting file per se. Encrypt it, probably. But to prevent any other app from accessing it, I don't know how to do that. It could be uploaded to the cloud, e.g. Google drive. Then the local copy deleted. That's kinda fussy. Saving it as a variable array is doable, then Tasker can be locked.
If on every install / uninstall, the log is updated, why does there need to be a daily/weekly check?
I would have to test and see if the package manager can be "locked".
Is the device in question rooted?
This kinda sounds like something I might do to my kids phone [emoji6]. If this is actually the case, the file could be sent to your device or email on update. It wouldn't matter if the local copy was edited. You also could know immediately if an app had changed.
I asked in the other thread, do you have any familiarity with tasker?

@ktmom
device is non rooted,
file sent to email would be fine if that will get rid of daily/weekly checks. (<--- this was just something I wanted that maybe i'll just use in notepad++ to highlight the differences for a quick way of seeing changes.)
i have dabbled in tasker many years ago, only to enable/disable wifi and turn on vpn in geo fenced locations.

I haven't forgotten you. I should post a solution by the weekend. I'm just spending some time to make sure the kinks are out. You will need the MailTask plugin. I personally use a script in termux (requires cURL) to send via Google servers, but that is harder to setup, particularly with OATH. The plugin makes life much easier.

ktmom said:
I haven't forgotten you. I should post a solution by the weekend. I'm just spending some time to make sure the kinks are out. You will need the MailTask plugin. I personally use a script in termux (requires cURL) to send via Google servers, but that is harder to setup, particularly with OATH. The plugin makes life much easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok great, thank you!

@BobMcGeez
Finally, I think I have this stable and able to handle multiple consecutive app installations and removals. I am working under the assumption that the use for this project is to monitor possible dangerous activity on a child’s device. I do not condone the use of this for monitoring a device without adult consent.
This project will send an email notification when a new app is installed or an existing app is removed. The email will include a CSV file with the remaining still installed apps. It should ignore apps that are being updated (they remove then install). The emails are sent silently and there should not be any indication to the user this is happening in the background. The CSV file is saved in the {storage}/Tasker/tasks/ directory. Each time an email is sent, the stored file is also updated. One instance of the previous file is saved as well.
First, you need MailTask installed. Please ensure that the MailTask plugin is fully configured and tested before installing this project. We are using OAuth Gmail authentication, so ignore SMTP stuffs.
Also, IMHO, I would use a GMail account maybe even created for this purpose, but at least one not setup to routinely access by the device user. This way, the user’s account will not reflect the sent messages.
To configure and test MailTask
Open MailTask from the app drawer on your device
Perform “Authorize Gmail Access” Use the account for the “from” you want to use in this project
Perform “Grant access to primary storage”
If your device has an SDcard, perform “Grant access to Sd card”
Now if you want, you can create a task in your Tasker installation to test the MailTask plugin
Create a test task
Add a MailTask action (Plugin -> MailTask -. send email)
Configuration:
From = Account used to Authorize Gmail Access above
To = Account where to send email
Subject = Testing MailTask
Body = Some text to take up space
Attachments = choose a basic file using the paperclip icon just for there to be an attachment
Test plugin by manually running the task.
If all is good, you can delete this test
Now install the project (taskernet link). On install, accept enabling the profiles. If you do, then the Installation task should run automatically. If you prefer not to, or if you need to re-run the installation, manually run the “Initial Setup” task.
This project may be shared under GNU v2. You may share, modify and use it provide you don't charge, the code is open and credit is provided.

Related

MyEpisodes Viewer Available

Hi Guys
Don’t miss your favourite TV programs, let MyEpisodes viewer show you when it’s on.
MyEpisodes Viewer is an easy to use viewer that extends www.myepisodes.com website to your mobile phone.
All the viewer requires is your MyEpisodes username and password to fetch the listings you have already configured on the MyEpisodes site,
The viewer also allows you to update listed episodes to watched status with one click.
Caveats
1.) Due to MyEpisodes not having a standard API, the Viewer uses a API Helper site (api.madmouse.co.uk) to handle the data.
2.) MyEpisodes has the right to change permissions and there site without notice, which could cause the application to stop working.
3.) To allow api.madmouse.co.uk to enable advanced caching some information that identifies the device will be transmitted to the site
a. These details are hashed and erased 20 minutes after last call to the site.
b. No data is record to disk.
c. No data will be passed onto 3rd Party vendors.
Have Fun
I will put this into the Market place, when teh development team sort out a few issues that prevent me from uploading the application.
Such as?? If I may inquire.
Hi flcl
I have to admit when I am wrong, please ignore or learn from the unjustified comment, as it turned out to be a flaw in the build process.
If developers have the following problem in the future , here's how to solve it.
After building/signing an application, when you publish it get this message
"The new apk's versionCode (x) in AndroidManifest.xml must be higher
than the old apk's versionCode (x)."
If you have set the android:versionCode to a higher number than x, it means your application manifest file has not been updated correctly.
These are the steps I took to correct the problem.
Make sure you have increased the android:versionCode.
close all applications that don't need to be built in the Eclipse editor.
Delete the APK if it already exists (Optional)
Run Project -> clean , select your application hit ok
Rebuild - Export unsigned Package/sign then publish
I have now published the applicaton in the marketplace.

[Q] Can I use 2 different email clients ?

Hi,
Just wondering, I want to bypass the exchange policy (annoying pin lock), so thinking of using those modified AOSP email.apks.
However I would like to retain use of the original email client provided by Samsung.
Anyway to say setup and sync with the modified email.apks but then use Samsung's read/compose ? Do they share same database?
Ideally of course would be a modified Samsung email.apk.
Cheers
fy
fylim said:
Hi,
Just wondering, I want to bypass the exchange policy (annoying pin lock), so thinking of using those modified AOSP email.apks.
However I would like to retain use of the original email client provided by Samsung.
Anyway to say setup and sync with the modified email.apks but then use Samsung's read/compose ? Do they share same database?
fy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My initial response was: no. But thinking about it, there is a chance this actually might work. AFAIK, the way that the modified email apks work is that the creation of a "security device admin" is surpessed when defining an exchange account (don't know the exact name in english, but it's a device wide pin lock because you have to enter it every time you wake your phone from sleep). But apart from that a modified email apk creates accounts & databases exactly the same way as the original. One question remains open, and that is that an original email app might check for a policy also every time the account is actually used.
Also, a problem with the modified email apks is that they want to replace the existing email system app. If there is a way to keep the exisiting email app in place, and install a modified second one to just create the exchange accounts, this might work. I have been installing system apps manually through Root Explorer before, surpressing replacements, i will try tonight with email apps
Thanks. For your feedback. It is not exactly clear how the modified apks work. I would think that it would be easier to 'inform' that the policy is applied but does nothing to trigger the pin lock setting.
In this case it may work. Also head that Autostarts can disable this device administrator on some phones but sadly the 1.6.1 version on mine doesn't. It says do not have sufficient permission although already given rooted permission.
Appreciate if you could let me know how did your tests go.
Cheers

Accessing features in Windows phone 8(.1) development

When developing an application for desktop windows, there's always a way to access functionality - sometimes through back doors like the registry, etc... I'm developing an application for Windows Phone 8.1, but there are certain pieces of functionality that aren't exposed in the PRT APIset that is available to me. For example, we want to ensure that the user has password protection on the lock screen when using the application. There doesn't seem to be any associated APIs to readily use. So my question is, are there back door ways to do such things? How? Is there a way to access ALL system settings - like a registry or something of the like?
proch said:
When developing an application for desktop windows, there's always a way to access functionality - sometimes through back doors like the registry, etc... I'm developing an application for Windows Phone 8.1, but there are certain pieces of functionality that aren't exposed in the PRT APIset that is available to me. For example, we want to ensure that the user has password protection on the lock screen when using the application. There doesn't seem to be any associated APIs to readily use. So my question is, are there back door ways to do such things? How? Is there a way to access ALL system settings - like a registry or something of the like?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another question would be - if something like intune can enforce lock screen password policies, shouldn't I be able to do it the same way that intune does it? If so, how? If not - why not?
It's not possible to check if user enabled lock screen password or not as far as I know
but if you want to made your app secure (because it may include important data)
you can create a password for your own application !
I did it in a little notepad app my password page allow user to set a password with all English and Persian Characters , numbers and special Chars like [email protected]#$ and etc.
Sent from my RM-994_eu_poland_1183 using Tapatalk
It's pretty easy to check, using the registry, but at least in 8.0 that's not allowed at all for store apps (your app would get rejected). I don't know if the rules changed for 8.1. There are ways to sneak past the store checks, but they could pull your app from the store if they ever found out. I know of at least three ways to access the registry APIs (4 in WP8.1) and two of them are pretty hard to detect unless somebody checks for them specifically... but they're the kind of technique that malware uses, so such checks may be in place.
I don't know what InTune is doing, specifically - I'd need to pull the app apart to see - but there are special application capabilities (not normally available to third-party developers) that can query and even set policies. Apps without those capabilities will get Access Denied if they try to use the same methods though, and normally you can't add those capabilities to your app.
GoodDayToDie said:
It's pretty easy to check, using the registry, but at least in 8.0 that's not allowed at all for store apps (your app would get rejected). I don't know if the rules changed for 8.1. There are ways to sneak past the store checks, but they could pull your app from the store if they ever found out. I know of at least three ways to access the registry APIs (4 in WP8.1) and two of them are pretty hard to detect unless somebody checks for them specifically... but they're the kind of technique that malware uses, so such checks may be in place.
I don't know what InTune is doing, specifically - I'd need to pull the app apart to see - but there are special application capabilities (not normally available to third-party developers) that can query and even set policies. Apps without those capabilities will get Access Denied if they try to use the same methods though, and normally you can't add those capabilities to your app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this great and detailed information. See, that's exactly what I'd do if I were developing a desktop app - since i know that intune does it, I'd figure out how intune does it and voila. I'm finally getting over the idea that the same methodologies apply to windows phone development.
For my own educational purposes (since I want to understand this platform better), I would really like to know specifically how you go about accessing the registry APIs (for example). If there's any way for you to describe any number of these methods, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks again!
My NativeAccess libraries (check my signature, or search on the forum or on Codeplex) contain an example of one way to access the registry. The code is open-source; you may use the libraries as-is (don't expect to get them into the store, though I won't stop you from trying), use the source code as a reference, or modify/build them yourself; the license is very liberal (MS Permissive). The functions I use are generally documented on MSDN, in the desktop APIs section; the phone has the same functions, although the DLL names are changed and the header files hide them.

First week with Windows

Hello
And happy new year to everyone!
This is my first week on Lumia 735 after being 6 years with Android.
I like very much it's desktop, but there are some simple things that I thought until now I would figure out but I cannot find a solution....
1. How can I download a PDF from an email and then attach it to another email?
2. Is there a way to have a shortcut on notification bar for data connection?
3. Is there a way to remove Bing and get Google as default engine?
4. Is there a way to tide up settings? I feel that are randomly scattered...
5. Is there a way to open a new tab in internet explorer, but open in background? Cause we are always transferred to the new tab.
Thanks!
I'm on the same phone since about 4-5 days, so I have not yet answers for you, but another question to add:
- why on some apps the keyboard doesn't turn in landscape mode when I flip the phone? I found it working on some apps only, but in Bing search (just an example) it remains in portrait
EDIT: a bit of googling partially answers to 3: I'm a newbie so I don't know if I can link external sites here, but it seems you can change the default search engine in Internet Explorer in the browser settings (so when you type words in the address bar, it uses Google instead of Bing). Regarding the phone search button, maybe the trick is not so easy...
1. did you see download in email message? click on that link to download file to your phone.
2. with latest WP OS 8.10.14219.341 you can add mobile data shortcut in action center
or use Quick Launch app from store
3. settings - applications - internet explorer, select advanced settings and change to google
4. no... latest updated is always at end of list...
5. not exactly... try UC Browser 8.1, maybe you like it better than IE
Download a app named File attacher,it can help you to attach any files into outlook client.
Sent from my AT&T Nokia Lumia 920 using Tapatalk for Windows Phone
1) Download the file to your phone. You can then open it from the email (which will let you choose what PDF viewer to open it with, if you have more than one installed; some of them directly support sharing) or you can then switch to a file manager app (Files, Pocket File Manager, Aerize Explorer, etc.), go to the Downloads directory, and share the file from there. When "sharing" the file, one option will be to use email; this will attach the file to the email. This approach also works for other file types, by the way.
2) As dxdy says, you need to be on a new OS version (you may need to be using the "Preview for Developers" app) to get the ability to add mobile data specifically to the Action Center (swipe-from-top notification area thing) but there are lots of other ways (tons of free apps, for example) to pin a link to it on your Start screen. You can also have both WiFi and Airplane Mode toggles on the Action Center, even in less-than-newest versions.
3) Not unless you're in Russia, I think? You may be able to change the IE default search engine using the method dxdy posted above, but if you want to change the search button behavior, that's trickier. I think in Russia (or possibly just tell your phone you are), if you have the Google app installed, it may run that... haven't tried, though.
4) Settings are, unfortunately, not directly orderable. The default order for Microsoft-provided settings is basically "what MS has found people use most often", thus things like visual and audio customization are at the top, WiFi is on the first page, and stuff like Backup requires scrolling down a bunch. There's also OEM customizations, which are technically just Store apps that are pre-installed and use the Settings hub instead of the normal app list; those are always listed underneath all the Microsoft settings, and (as dxdy says), the one that was most recently installed/updated is at the top of that section ('top of the bottom of the list' if you will).
5) Doesn't seem to be any such way in IE, but there's lots of other browsers. Most of them just wrap the IE rendering engine, so pages will look the same as on IE but the UI can be totally different. This includes changes to tab management. They won't sync with your other devices, at least not by default, though. There's also a beta of Opera for WP8; it still has some bugs but mostly works and has a very different UI from IE. Annoyingly, though, Microsoft doesn't allow any of those apps to be set as the default browser (you can't change the URI association for http:/https: for example).
@axxel84: It depends on whether the app supports landscape mode. That requires work from the developer, since they have to change the layout of everything, so a lot of apps don't support it. If the app doesn't support it, then it will be locked in one orientation no matter how you turn it, keyboard included. Some apps (mostly games) are also locked in landscape mode only, and don't support portrait.
Hi guys, thanks for the help but I am still finding difficult to compose with windows after coming from fully updated Android phones.
- pdf attachments, not possible. You can see that you download files but no where to be seen in order to attach them in another email! What????
- the option to change Bing to Google was in the past, but they don't have it on new phones. And this is the company that wants to increase market share? With these kind of acts I don't think they will last many years...
- I found a way to have a shortcut on desktop that takes me to settings and there to click on for data. But why don't they include this in notification option? How difficult is this?????
- the other frustrating thing I am feeling, is that most other times when resuming an app when I go out and then in, it starts the"resuming" screen and takes 5 seconds to load... For example viber, I can't chat instantly with someone, I have to leave the program on continuously to do this
- no led notification. I should have known earlier by reading reviews, but there is no led notification!!
- no major apps as official pinterest, dropbox, instagram, sms backup to gmail. My biggest disappointment is Dropbox... I am thinking of selling the phone now and going back to Android. Having two small twins, I take continuously videos and photos, and I don't want to think about backup. I found another application but doesn't sync videos automatically. And also the backup app of windows doesn't do automatically the job... If I was windows I would hire people to help these companies develop the "big" apps...
- notification center doesn't always work. for example when a new app is downloaded, nothing comes app on notification. Or in viber you might get 10 messages on notification, if you click one and then in viber you read all, they remain on notification
Nobody seems to have emailed me a PDF recently, but I can download them from the web and they show up in my Downloads folder (on my SD card, since that's where I told Storage Sense to put new downloads). From there, I can see it in Aerize Explorer, select it, Share it, and choose an email account; a new message is created with the file attached.
Some new phones have the option for Google search, but it's not in all regions.
As you have ALREADY been told, the option to toggle data service from the Action Center is available in the latest version. It's also largely un-needed; Data Sense and related settings should give you enough control over your data usage to make it fairly unimportant. Mind you, I agree that it should have been there from the start, but asking rhetorical questions isn't actually helpful.
The "Resuming..." screen can come up for two reasons (or a combo thereof):
1) Badly-coded app that does a bunch of stuff immediately on resume, before it lets you use the app.
2) Your phone ran low on RAM and removed the app from background execution ("tombstoned" it, sort of like hibernating a laptop), so it needs to be restored from the Flash storage and then resumed.
Lots of phones don't have notification LEDs. That's not a WP8 thing, that's a "if this feature is important to you then you ought to buy a phone with that feature" thing. My HTC has a notification LED, my Samsung did not. Both are/were WP8 devices.
Automatic backup of photos and videos is included in the OS, has been included since WP7 actually, but it goes to OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) instead of Dropbox. Microsoft software uses Microsoft services; this isn't really surprising.
SMS is automatically backed up as well, just not to Google. Why would Microsoft include a feature to back up your messages to a competitor's service?
Lack of official apps is somewhat annoying/disappointing, but you could have easily enough checked that before buying, and the apps will come in time. In the meanwhile, there's usually third-party versions of those apps.
App downloads are fast, and you know when you started them. Why would you need a notification for that? As for the thing with Viber, it's not the OS' fault that the app doesn't report when a message is read. Notifications are really easy to clear though, just swipe them to the right and all notifications for that app will clear (or hit the "clear all" button to get rid of all of them at once).

[APP][NST/G] Mantano Reader [MOD]

Edit 1-8-23: I've updated the Mantano apk file. Seems there were still some issues with the aspect ratio of the default.png (book cover) image. Fixed now at 1.5!
I keep my NSTG on FW 1.2.1 because there are issues with Tasker and plugins on FW 1.2.2. The resulting apps are OK, but development is a problem unless I do it on FW 1.2.1. So that one device has B&N apps removed. AlReader has been my go-to reader app. Until now.
While working on some thorny issues with a Tasker app update I came across a book I wanted to read. Unfortunately it was only available in PDF format and AlReader can't handle that. I soon found that something like EBookDroid really couldn't deal well with a PDF file that begged for text reflow (problematic as that is). I wanted something that was at least as good as the stock reader. I could have just picked up one of my other NSTs and read the book that way, but when you abandon the B&N system you should at least break even, not lose. So I went searching through the forum for some ideas.
Mantano Reader caught my interest. Not only can it reflow PDF text (pretty much like the stock reader-don't get too excited), it can also display PDFs as a continuous scroll, with zoom. It can handle Adobe DRM books! And the TTS works (not a big deal). So I looked around and started with version 2.2.12 from Apkpure. This is the last version for Android 2.1. I found that full-screen reading was broken in this version and I couldn't see why, so I worked my way back until it wasn't broken. That was version 2.2.3.
Not for everyone
Those are some of Mantano's virtues, but it's not for everyone. I think it's chief drawback is the absence of full font support. There is only the default (admittedly not bad) and although there is provision for user fonts, there are issues. More on that later. Then there is the really tiny user interface. The colors render somewhat muddy on the NST also. Those are really tough issues to address, certainly beyond my pay grade. Also, none of the syncing, cloud, downloading of dictionaries, OPDS books, fulfilling of .acsm files, additional fonts, user manuals, etc., works. Can't be fixed. I looked. Finally, the reader options are pretty simple, about what is available for the stock reader (except for fonts). So if you like the hundreds of setting combinations in something like AlReader or FB Reader, this app is not for you. If you want something straightforward so you can just read a book without all the B&N hoopla, Mantano may be worth a look.
Mods
When I started getting serious about this I decided to try to learn by doing. My goal was to remove (or at least hide/disable) stuff that did not work. Almost all of my modifications were in the resources folder of the apk file. There was also one annoying issue with the aspect ratio of book covers that required a minor change in two smali files (thanks to @Renate). Here's a short list:
1. Removed Bookstore (OPDS) tab on home screen (formerly "My Catalogs" as described in User Guide)
2. Removed menu icons for sync and cloud
3. Disabled sections in Settings that don't work (Login, Sync, Dictionary download, Fonts, User Manual download)
4. Corrected font colors in some local dialogs so text is visible
5. Made the page number black, smaller, and with a transparent background for less visual distraction
Also, there were a few dialogs with invisible text that used the system framework to generate the window. The only way to fix this was to make a few very minor changes in framework-res.apk. This worked well and even helped with a few other apps that formerly had invisible text. A win-win. You can update your framework-res.apk using the CWM zip provided below. Despite its filename, it is not an "update" zip. You'll just be installing a zip file with CWM.
Making do
Overdrive Library epubs: No app will be able to fulfill .acsm files on the NST/G. The SSL is just not up to it. So there's no point in registering the device with Adobe. That just wastes one of your allowed devices and so I disabled that first Settings selection. However, the app can read Adobe DRM books, understands due-dates, etc. You just need to introduce your device to ADE running on your PC (ver. 3.0 works well for me on Windows) and transfer fulfilled books from there, just as you would with the stock reader.
Fonts: You can, in theory, supply your own TrueType fonts and place them in /sdcard/Mantano/fonts. When a book is opened, the lower menu options include "Themes". This odd term is for adjusting the appearance of the book (fonts, margins, justification, line spacing, colors). You can make a new theme or edit the default one. Either way, you will get to select a font. You will see the font you added in the folder (you can copy any font you like from /system/fonts or from anywhere else). The problem is that Mantano has no way to deal with font families. For example, I prefer Malabar. Of course, there is the base font, the bold instance, italic, bold italic. Mantano makes you choose one of these. Clearly you choose the base font (no need to copy over the others). If there are italics or bold type in a book, the reader uses the default font. This would not be such an issue for small sections of emphasized text, but the font scales are not the same. Malabar is larger than the default font. So any italics is obviously smaller. I tried a software package for scaling the font but it just turned it into rubbish. I am learning to like the default font. This issue was fixed in version 2.4.6, based on what I've read. But that won't run on the NST, of course.
Dictionaries: The reader has the ability to go out to find definitions on the WWW. Big pain. Although you can't download any dictionaries from within the app, Mantano does play nicely with ColorDict and there are plenty of dictionary options for that. Easy fix.
User Guide: I poked around and found a guide labeled "Version 2.1". That was the best I could do. It seems pretty close, although what was the "Bookstore" tab in this version (which I have removed) is referred to as "My Catalogs" in the manual. Either way, it's non-functional and gone. The same goes for references to cloud, accounts and sync. None of it works and all of it has either been removed from view or disabled in this mod.
Extras
Unlike AlReader and FB Reader, Mantano's main activity is the library view. That means there is no simple way to use the "reading now" status bar button to go directly to your current book.
I also like to be able to use the current book cover as a screensaver. AlReader and CoolReader both have this capability. Mantano does not, but it does create thumbnails for each book (if you let it) and one of those is screensaver size (default.png). For some unknown reason, all the thumbnails of various sizes for display in the library have the correct aspect ratio except for default.png. I fixed this in the app with a view to using it as a screensaver image.
To address these issues, I have used Tasker to create two small apps. Mantano_Extras1 enables a listener for when the reader is closed (either by two presses of the back button or simply by pressing the "n" button). When that happens, the Mantano database is queried for the last reading point/book. This is stored in a variable. Accessing Mantano_Extras1 after setup sends a command to open that file. If Mantano is your default app for epubs and/or pdfs, the book will open automatically to the right place without passing through the library. Thus assigning Mantano_Extras1 to the "reading now" button with NookTouch ModManager restores the function of that button.
Mantano_Extras2 does everything described above. During setup it also creates the folder /media/screensavers/CurrentBookCover. When the reader is exited and the database information stored in a variable, it copies the default.png for the current book to that folder. If you select that folder in your NST Settings app for the screensaver, the current cover will be displayed during sleep.
I should add that both apps check to see if the current book has changed before they do anything. If there is no change, they simply stop.
As these are Tasker-generated apps (but don't require Tasker to run), they have a dependency on two small library files. If you don't have one of my other Tasker apps already, you need to copy the two files in the zip as below:
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
Set permissions for both files to rw-r--r-- and reboot. Without these files resident, the app will not install.
The apps also use sqlite3 and busybox. If you rooted with NookManager you already have busybox. A few other special packages probably include it. If you have it, you will find it in /system/xbin. If it's not there, copy the file from the zip to that location and set permissions to rwx-rwx-rwx.
If you don't already have sqlite3, move the file from the zip to /system/bin and set the permissions to rwx r-x r-x.
When you have prepared the way, reboot and then install whichever of the two "Extras" apps you want. When you first tap on the app icon there will be a pause while things are set up and then a request for root access. Once that's done they are good to go. Use NTMM to assign the app to the "reading now" status bar button and set your screensaver directory to "CurrentBookCover" (if you installed Mantano_Extras2).
This is nice work. I have heard good thing about Mantano reader before. I believe it still exists although under new name I think. Its sad that you had to remove app options to make it work on NST. Still I am glad that you make some improvement that could if exploited properly make this device better than before. I believe that solving invisible text message is best of what you did and if understood properly can make number of apps that had this problem before usable again for this device. I would not dismiss even TTS working as I remember that someone tried to implement that on NST before yet I do not remember it was solved. So if it work out of box with Mantano reader it might be prudent to see what makes it work if it is fine TTS not some hardly intelligible sound generator. This options you removed how did you confirmed that they are not working? For cloud I believe it was NST lockout and now enforced TLS1.2 it can not reach that gives you hard time. Yet for syncing it is little harder to understand. For the rest like OPDS and such I guess my knowledge is not sufficient to guess how that even work so if you know more than me I am more than ready to listen.
SJT75 said:
I believe it still exists although under new name I think.
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Now Bookari.
SJT75 said:
Its sad that you had to remove app options to make it work on NST.
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I didn't so much remove options to make it work. It worked as-is, but not the login/download components, and they are not necessary for the reading functions.
SJT75 said:
I believe that solving invisible text message is best of what you did and if understood properly can make number of apps that had this problem before usable again for this device
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It's possible. I noticed improvement in dialog boxes for ES File Explorer. But there are other types of dialog boxes and I only dealt with what was needed for this app. Spillover is a gift.
SJT75 said:
I would not dismiss even TTS working as I remember that someone tried to implement that on NST before yet I do not remember it was solved. So if it work out of box with Mantano reader it might be prudent to see what makes it work if it is fine TTS not some hardly intelligible sound generator.
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Well, that could have been me. Pico TTS (if not removed) always worked on the NST if you downloaded some voices. I have a post about this somewhere with links. But the quality is really wretched. I looked at this further awhile back and found that Google TTS began with Android 2.2 (of course). There is a "bridge" system involving a custom settings app but each application must include this custom code to work. I did a MOD for AlReader to enable this, but it's not easy and would be (nearly) impossible for Mantano as very few of the smali files have descriptive names. Most are just "a.smali, b.smali", etc. So it's really difficult to track down what you want.
SJT75 said:
This options you removed how did you confirmed that they are not working? For cloud I believe it was NST lockout and now enforced TLS1.2 it can not reach that gives you hard time. Yet for syncing it is little harder to understand. For the rest like OPDS and such I guess my knowledge is not sufficient to guess how that even work so if you know more than me I am more than ready to listen.
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It's not all SSL. Or it may be that also. The URLs in the apk file don't go anywhere, even on my PC browser. So far I've gotten up to version 4.5 and still no working URLs. Perhaps when Bookari emerged as the name the old URLs were abandoned and the old Mantano apps became crippled in this way.
Thanks nmyshkin you clarified some things. I agree that change to new platform and abandoning the URL domain for cloud use could be cause for that option not functioning anymore. Yet unless the syncing have not be performed through a same route (login account on the same domain) sync should function fine from one device to another for example. About the rest you are correct I have come to a same conclusion that even slight upgrade of Android on this device would make vast improvement in options available to exploit. Sadly B&N did not go that way. I will look upon PicoTTS to see if something about the way it actually work can be understood to evaluate if it is worth the effort or it maybe can be discarded as irrelevant for this device.
Just crossed my mind... nmyshkin did you tried to hunt down inside apk file exact spot where that URL is written/coded and change it to something else like IP address of your computer/drive/*/*/sync folder ?
SJT75 said:
Just crossed my mind... nmyshkin did you tried to hunt down inside apk file exact spot where that URL is written/coded and change it to something else like IP address of your computer/drive/*/*/sync folder ?
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No, it didn't occur to me. I only read on one device so that's not the kind of thing that interests me. Also, I just transfer books over from my PC to the Nook when I get them, usually via FTP.
I did see cloud, sync, etc., URLs but I suspect that just changing them would not produce the capability you seem to be hinting at. It's likely a lot more complicated than that. It seems to me that syncing implies active communications from both ends. Teaching your PC to respond to the overtures of the Nook would be a whole other rats nest.
You are correct. Using URLs to connect to PC is not safe. Therefore some home workgroup network or SFTP access are more reasonable way. Maybe if you change cloud sink URL to Dropbox folder you get something?
SJT75 said:
You are correct. Using URLs to connect to PC is not safe. Therefore some home workgroup network or SFTP access are more reasonable way. Maybe if you change cloud sink URL to Dropbox folder you get something?
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I don't think so. The app innards were designed for negotiating with certain remote servers and expect a certain dialog. Just changing the URL doesn't address these issues. Using Dropbox as an example, there are login credentials to be supplied and other issues to be addressed before files can be freely moved in either direction.
Well yes unless dropbox folder is public shared one what I wrote will not work. What if you link sync/cloud to internal folders on device inside Dropbox application that also initiate script written to execute Dropbox synchronization? Then login credentials would come from Dropbox app I think.
SJT75 said:
Well yes unless dropbox folder is public shared one what I wrote will not work. What if you link sync/cloud to internal folders on device inside Dropbox application that also initiate script written to execute Dropbox synchronization? Then login credentials would come from Dropbox app I think.
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1. I am not a Java programmer. What you are suggesting is going to require significant changes in the app. It's not in the same league as the modifications I made.
2. I have no interest in the feature. People who must have synchronization with myriad other devices would be better served by selecting an app that currently has this feature working (like FB Reader).
3. If someone who is a Java programmer and is interested in this feature wants to take a crack at it, more power to them. I personally think it's a dead end. Just about the time you get it figured out, Dropbox will no longer work on the NST. Any modification that relies on exchange with an external commercial server has a built-in self-destruct timer, just waiting for tightening external server access rules. It's over for Android 2.1.
nmyshkin said:
Just about the time you get it figured out, Dropbox will no longer work on the NST. Any modification that relies on exchange with an external commercial server has a built-in self-destruct timer, just waiting for tightening external server access rules. It's over for Android 2.1.
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Amen to that. Making NST more cooperative with Calibre is much better option anyway. Commercial server could be also a trap. There was an outcry when Remarkable for example started charging access to their services out of blue and without warning.

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