Port Forwarding

A number of my Android applications (WiFi File Explorer, SECuRET LiveStream, BabyCam Monitor and GroovyCam LiveStream) all work by turning an Android device, which is connected to a local WiFi network, into a web server.  This then allows you to connect to it via a web browser on that same local network in order to access the service provided by the application, i.e. file management, video & audio streaming, etc.

So that’s all good and you got it working on your local network, and you’re pretty happy with that.  But wait; now you want someone who’s not on your local network to be able to use the application as well.  For example you may want someone to view the feed from SECuRET LiveStream across the internet.  Well, thanks to ‘port forwarding’ that is entirely possible!

Now, I can’t give you exact step-by-step instructions on how to forward ports for your model of router; there are far too many models available and I simply don’t know how to do it for them all ... hey, I even have to Google up some instructions for how to do it on my router whenever I need to.  But a good place to start to find out how to do it is as http://portforward.com/

What I can do though is tell you want you need to do to accomplish your goal.  Following are some general instructions for forwarding ports on your router to allow the services in my applications to be used across the internet...

Firstly, by configuring your router, you need to forward ports 8000 and 8001 on your router to ports 8000 and 8001 of your Android device, based on the Android device’s IP address.  WiFi File Explorer only uses port 8000 and that number is configurable in the application settings, so you only need to forward this port or whatever you have it configured as.  The other applications will have the ports configurable in the future as well, so depending on when you read this, just bear that in mind.

Once that is done, all you need to do is replace the IP address part of the web URL that the application tells you to enter into your web browser, with the external IP address of your router (one way to find that out is on the main page of the Port Forward website I linked to above).  So for example, the application may tell you to enter something like...

http://192.168.0.3:8000

... where 192.168.0.3 is the IP address of the Android device.  But instead of entering that, if your router’s external IP address is for example, 82.124.321.29, then you (or whomever you want to be able to use the service) would enter...

http://82.124.321.29:8000

... and hey presto, it’s working across the internet!!  Easy huh?!

Now, I realise depending on your level of skill that may not be easy at all, so if you get confused then feel free to email me for more help.  But remember, if it’s something specific to your model of router, I’ll only be using Google to find the answer, just like you would ;)

What’s Coming Soon? Let Me Tell You ...

With the imminent arrival of mine and my partner’s first child (it could literally happen any minute now – already 2 days overdue), I have been very busy coding away like a man possessed to try and cram as many new features into my Android applications as possible. You should have already by now seen the latest new feature in SECuRET LiveStream (real-time audio streaming to go along with the video; pretty freaking sweet!), but there is so much more in the works...

First of all, the next update you will see to the SECuRET apps and GroovyCam LiveStream is that I have fully updated all the settings screens to use the standard Android convention; that is to say that all the settings will now appear using the same layout and style as you see in the actual Android OS settings menus and other applications that also follow the convention. This not only makes my applications feel more familiar and in-line with Android, but hopefully makes the whole experience of configuring my applications more professional, pleasant and straightforward (even I was finding it confusing to configure SECuRET SpyCam in particular!!)

I have also jigged a few settings around and set dependencies to disable things that can’t be set based on other settings, to make everything more obvious. There are also some helpful hints scattered throughout and I really think the whole thing is much easier to use and understand ... hopefully it will result in less emails from people asking me how to do things ;) Also the menus, dialogs, text and popups have also been reviewed and standardised in many places to make the whole experience feel more professional and uniform with other top applications on Android.

The next thing of note is that I have been busy refactoring all my code and just giving it a general tidy up (it’s amazing how out of control it can get when you take your eyes of it :P). I am also making use of my own custom libraries to manage common code between my different applications; this is making some real savings already and I wish I had done it sooner – it means my applications can easily be updated across the board when making little tweaks to the code they share and new features suitable for all the applications can be added with ease. It’s particularly useful for SECuRET/GroovyCam LiveStream and WiFi File Explorer as they share oodles of similar code and now I can manage it all in one location. At the same time as all this is I am finding areas where I can speed up code and make it more efficient, so for example, the frame-rate in SECuRET LiveStream is now absolutely flying – even in hi-res mode! So this may warrant an update, and even though you may only notice slight improvements, it’s important for ease of future development.

And finally, the next big thing I am going to start work on is a major overhaul of the UI for all my applications. The screen shot above is how I have WiFi File Explorer looking right now in development – shiny isn’t it? :P The logo and title will probably change as well as some more tweaks I would think, but it will pretty much look like this to all you guys soon enough. I intend to make similar style changes to all my other applications as well – it feels like a good time to put some real effort into the UI as the feature sets of all my applications have settled down now and I can justify spending time on applying some makeup to them.

But it’s not just the UI of the actual applications themselves that will see a fresh lick of paint ... also the web UI of WiFi File Explorer is due a massive makeover as well! About time too, after a couple of months of you guys having to sit through boring localization updates of WiFi File Explorer – sorry about that ;) I have an old school friend of mine currently beavering away on a fresh new interface (web UIs aren’t my forte and he has several years commercial experience knocking out tasty looking websites) and I am hoping to integrate his work into my code very soon. I haven’t seen what he has done yet, but his sketches were perfect and include a lot of the features you guys have been asking for.

I’m sure there’s more I have planned, but I can’t remember it now (something about Honeycomb and a new application I am working on, maybe ;) ) ... but there’s certainly enough to look forward to there! Now, I just have to find the time to do it all in between nappy changes and being puked on!!

Right, back to staring at my phone and waiting for the phone call ...

No More Support For Android 1.5 (Cupcake) In All Dooblou Applications

From this moment on, all the SECuRET applications, WiFi File Explorer and GroovyCam LiveStream will no longer continue to support Android 1.5 (Cupcake) with new features. The lowest version of Android they support from now on is 1.6 (Donut).

As Android develops at its rapid pace, cool new features are made available to developers with each new version. I have done my best to support older versions of Android for as long as possible, but it got to a stage that features I wanted to implement in my applications could only be possible using Android 1.6 and above. As Android 1.5 is now almost 2 years old and represents less that 4% of the active install base on Android handsets, now seemed as good a time as any to discontinue support for those devices and to concentrate on developing features that can be appreciated by the wider audience.

So what does this mean if you have bought a license for one of my paid applications and you are still using Android 1.5? Well, it means that you must remain on that last version of the application that supported Android 1.5 and you must not update the application, else it will cause an installation error.

I cannot refund you as changing the minimum supported version of Android is allowed in the developers’ terms and conditions, and it is inevitable that all applications will have to do the same in the future (if they haven’t done already). The Market should prevent you from seeing such updates and stop you from updating to a version that isn’t supported, but it is clear from a couple of emails I have already received that the Market has failed to do it's job on a couple of occasions.

If you have problems and cannot roll back to a good version of one of my applications for your version of Android, then please email me and I will send you a link to a direct download.

So goodbye to Cupcake users – sorry to see you go. I’d recommend that if you can, updating to a newer version of Android is a very worthwhile thing to do; you’ll be impressed! And if you do get a new device that supports Android 1.6 or above, you will still have the license for the application you bought from me, so you can re-install that great dooblou application that you loved so much from your old phone at no additional cost ;)

Time For A Break

It’s almost time for me to hang up my mouse and keyboard and set my ‘out of office’ reply on, but before I do, I will let you know of a few updates to expect over the holidays.

For WiFi File Explorer, expect to see the following updates:

• Swedish version;
• French version;
• Improved use of Proguard to obfuscate the code and trim down the app size.

And for SECuRET applications and GroovyCam, you should see updates that include:

• A couple of bug fixes to the camera preview validation;
• Improved use of Proguard to obfuscate the code and trim down the app size;
• A bit of a polish to the UI;
• Full resolution still photos;
• Lots of little bug fixes.

In fact, the SECuRET applications are feeling more stable than ever ... famous last words!!

So I won’t be doing any development over the holidays, just testing these releases and then making the updates at some point, in between gorging on chocolate and recovering from hangovers ;)

I’d also like to think that I will take a much deserved break from answering emails at all hours of the day, but knowing me I will still find time to answer them at some point (much to the annoyance of my girlfriend).

Enjoy your break (if you get one) and I hope you enjoy celebrating in whichever way you choose. I’ll be back adding new features to my applications in the new year – I have huge ‘to-do’ lists, so keep an eye out for update notifications on your Android device.

... And if you want to give me a gift, 5 star ratings and good comments are always welcome :)

Motorola Droid X Not Playing Nicely With Camera Applications

It has come to my attention in the past few weeks that the Droid X isn’t exactly reliable when it comes to using its camera; hence it affects my camera applications – the SECuRET applications and GroovyCam Livestream. Various commenters on the Market have left the obligatory negative comment as they tend to do, but also I have had some helpful users contact me via email to try and nail the problem down. Not having a Droid X myself (I only have a Nexus One and an HTC Magic ... with a Nexus S on the way – very excited!) it is difficult for me to debug and test my camera applications on the device, but I have found some interesting information nonetheless...

The main point to make to any Motorola Droid X users reading this is ... it isn’t my fault! You can find plenty of stuff on the web regarding “Droid X camera problems” – it even seems to effect the native Camera and Camcorder applications. The main symptom seems to be the phone randomly resetting itself when using the camera hardware. As I said previously, it seems to affect all ‘camera-type’ applications, even the native ones, and so it is believed that there is actually a deep-rooted issue with the actual camera hardware/software/drivers in the Droid X itself.

Now one of the reported ‘fixes’ for this is to not run any ‘media-type’ applications in the background whilst you try to run a ‘camera-type’ application. The 2 ‘media-type’ applications that are commonly mentioned are Pandora and Music. Again, I can’t verify this myself, but some of my helpful testers have confirmed this indeed stops (or at least reduces) the random resets. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed I have recently added a warning message to the SECuRET and GroovyCam applications that appears when you press ‘Start’ that says exactly what I have said in this paragraph ... so you have been adequately warned – so no more 1 star ratings and comments of “Doesn’t work on Droid X – Uninstalling!” – deal? Good, thanks!

It does work on the Droid X, it’s just the Droid X’s camera doesn’t work properly! :P

I have also added some new code and tweaked some old code that handles errors from the camera in a more efficient way, as well as interrogating the camera before it’s used to make sure everything is valid. Yet again, I can’t verify this myself, but some of my helpful testers have actually said that they no longer see the random resets at all. Personally, I think that is just a happy coincidence because some users are still getting the problem ... but it’s nice to think I may now be handling any errors from the camera well enough to prevent random resets.

So hopefully this post explains what is going on with the Droid X and I can point any emailers here from now on to answer their questions. Also, it may help you to appreciate just how difficult it is to write camera applications for Android – every new device seems to have some little quirk or strange behaviours that means my code needs to change regularly to ensure compatibility with as many devices as possible.

I think I have done quite well to make my camera applications as widely compatible as they are, considering I only have a pair of HTC devices to my name! ;)

Install WiFi File Explorer, SECuRET And GroovyCam To SD Card

UPDATE 28/09/2010:  Sorry for the 2 releases in quick succession but my first attempt at allowing "Install to SD" was causing installation problems on a handful of devices (mainly rooted ones).  Please download the latest updates of WiFi File Explorer and SECuRET SpyCam if this was affecting you.

Due to popular demand, the next update to be released for WiFi File Explorer, all the SECuRET applications and GroovyCam LiveStream, is to allow them to be installed to the SD card on devices running Froyo (Android 2.2).

This will allow for more room on your phone memory and mean you can install more applications on your phone.

Admittedly not the most exciting update I have ever made, but still a mighty useful one and one that is in high demand judging by some recent user comments.

And don't worry, there are more exciting updates coming soon!  The next planned update for WiFi File Explorer is the 'Create Directory' button which a lot of you are looking forward to, and the next planned update for the SECuRET applications is to show thumbnails of the video captures in the Mini Gallery on the start page.

GroovyCam LiveStream - Released!

GroovyCam LiveStream is available now to download from SlideMe and will be up on the Android Market in a few hours from now.

It's not an application that's meant to be taken seriously, it's just for a bit of fun and to muck around with the camera a bit ... so remember that when it comes to rating and commenting on it!

It's also worth noting that you are going to need a pretty decent processor and camera on your handset to be able to get the full effect, because there is quite a lot of work to get through to process each frame in real-time!  You are going to want to use in in well lit conditions as well, otherwise you won't be able to appreciate the effects.

This is the first release and so it could be buggy in places - let me know via email if you find any.  Thanks :)

Oh, and one last thing - I intend to add more effects and custom settings to this in the future and in time the price of the application will rise accordingly.  So get it now while it's at a very reasonable price - only £1.49!!

Here's me with a dose of radioactive poisoning ...

GroovyCam LiveStream ... Sample Pics!

It's almost finished and ready to go on the Market.  I had some trouble getting it to perform on less powerful devices, namely my HTC Magic (myTouch), and as such it is only going to work on the more powerful Android devices due to the amout of processing it requires.  If anyone is interested in testing a pre-beta version, then email pauldyble82@gmail.com and I'll get something to you to try out.

Outside my office window

Me!

My cramped working conditions ... yes, that is a lava lamp!

Groovy, Man!

With the help of my father, Andy, we have put together (well, it's mainly his work really!) a new camera application, GroovyCam LiveStream, that is very close to being finished.

It's based on the code for SECuRET LiveStream and use the same concept, i.e. streaming a live feed from the phone camera to a web browser using WiFi.  However, where GroovyCam LiveStream is different is the psychedelic and trippy effects that it can embellish on the feed from you phone camera ... I think it's pretty cool!  It allows you to save captures directly from the phone or via a remote control on the web page in the browser.

I won't give any example images just yet; I'll let you have fun yourselves finding out what sort of images you can produce when it is released (but the image above is a good hint!).

GroovyCam LiveStream will be available as a free demo and a full paid version sometime in the next couple of weeks (depending on how much free time I have to work on it ;) ).