Kostya Vasilyev's software blog

I know it’s taken me a long time, but the new version is finally here:

Full changelog:

• Two new widget themes, styled after Android 4.0 (part of premium package).
• Support for IP address and proxy server configuration for Android 3.0 and 4.0 (free functions).
• Added widget to toggle WiFi Tethering
• Adjusted widget sizes for a wider range of screens.
• Support for EAP (802.11x) networks, Android 2.2 and higher.
• A new way of connecting to networks, see app settings. Keeps all networks active, if you move out/in range (home/work etc.) your device should connect.
• Easier IP address configuration for Andorid 2.* (when connecting for the first time).
• Connection speed info in the main window (tap on the currently connected network; actual value is reported by the firmware).
• Fixed Android 1.6 compatibility broken in 2.1.8 (sorry!)

Note: IP address and proxy configuration for Android 3.*/4.*, as well as EAP network support, use undocumented functions. May not work on some devices, depending on how extensive the manufacturer’s firmware changes are.

Version 2.5.0 had wrong widget widths on Android 1.6-2.1. Fixed in 2.5.1.

And now the same thing again, but this time in Russian:

• Две новые визуальные темы для виджетов в стиле Андроида 4.0 (входят в платный пакет).
• Поддержка конфигурации IP адреса и прокси сервера для Андроида 3.0 и 4.0 (бесплатные функции).
• Добавил виджет для управления точкой доступа WiFi.
• Коррекция размеров виджетов для более широкого набора экранов.
• Поддержка сетей EAP (802.11x), на Андроиде 2.2 и выше.
• Новый алгоритм подключения к сетям, включается в настройках. Все сети остаются активными, при выходе/входе в зону действия (дом/работа, etc.) должно быть подключение.
• Более простая конфигурация IP адреса в Андроиде 2.* (сразу при подключении).
• Отображение скорости соединения в основной программе (нажмите на сеть; зависит от прошивки).
• Исправил совместимость с Андроидом 1.6, сломанную в 2.1.8 (извините!)

Учтите: для настроек IP адреса и прокси сервера на Андроиде 3.*/4.*, равно как и для работы с сетями EAP, используются недокументированные функции. Может не работать на некоторых устройствах, в зависимости от степени изменений прошивки, внесенных производителем.

Версия 2.5.0 неверно отображала виджеты, по ширине. Исправлено в 2.5.1.

• Added Polish and Czech translations.
• The 3×1 wiget on 10″ tablets now shows connection speed info, like the 4×1 widget on smaller screens.
• Sharper graphics for the Galaxy Nexus.

Some screenshots:

• Added Slovak translation.
• Added a workaround for an Android Market / Checkout issue.

More on the Market / Checkout issue:

Starting with about three weeks ago, I’m seeing those dreaded “Order canceled / took too long to deliver” errors again. Maybe it’s the latest Market app version, maybe it’s the Wallet / Checkout merge, there is no way for me to know.

These errors are not new, but what is new is that now when this happens, there is no “order canceled” notification from Google’s servers to the application.

Google Groups discussion

Bug tracker discussion #1

Bug tracker discussion #2

Android Market Forum discussions

As a result, the app would get stuck waiting for the order to complete or fail, and the user could not retry his purchase.

Version 2.1.7 adds code to automatically reset from “order in progress” state after four hours.

Now if one of these Market errors happens again, there is a way to retry the purchase.

Unfortunately, it does not mean that the repeat order will succeed – that’s up for Google to fix, and they’ve not done that for a few months now.

Subtitled: why I never buy any Andorid devices made by Samsung.

This update has a workaround for a firmware bug on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

About a month or so ago, someone left a Market comment saying that the app crashes on his Galaxy Tab 10.1. With no way to contact the user via Market (thank you, Google, one way “communication” is so effective!), I had no way to verify and resolve the issue. In fact, I have two Honeycomb based tablets, and the app works just fine on both of them.

Now, two days ago, a very nice user contacted me via email, reporting that WiFi Manager crashed when trying to disable the device’s WiFi. He provided screenshots, one of them had an error message displayed by the firmware: “the application does not have the android.permission.CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE permission“.

I added the permission, emailed the apk to the user, the issue went away.

And here is why I “looove” Samsung.

Working with WiFi does not require android.permission.CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE. It requires android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE, which is a different permission.

The firmware on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 thinks that CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE is required for disabling WiFi – probably because the device also has a 3G modem, and disabling WiFi kind of, sort of, like, maybe implies enabling 3G (which might be done a bit later by the firmware and not by the application that disabled WiFi).

This is wrong and is clearly a bug in the firmware.

All my users will now need to update the app manually due to the added permission, which is an inconvenience.

I wonder how this one slipped past Google’s certification testing. Perhaps this is not tested by the CCD, or perhaps firmware updates are not required to be submitted for testing, only the initial releases are.

The latter seems likely – seeing how the 3.2.1 firmware for the Motorola Xoom also has a serious issue with WiFi APIs (a thread deadlock, it seems).

A user recently reported an issue with IP switching on his office network: the automatic switching wouldn’t work.

To fix this, I added a “compatibility” setting to “Switch early”. If the application doesn’t notice a WiFi network connection change and doesn’t switch to its IP, try enabling this setting and see if it makes a difference.

More info:

WiFi Manager watches WiFi related events which are broadcast by the networking code inside Andorid. There is a number of events during a single connection, so there is a choice as to which one is used to check and update the device’s IP settings.

The new setting instructs the program to make the check / switch on an earlier event than before.

This is disabled by default, to make sure the application keeps working as before on those devices that don’t need this change.

A new release: WiFi Manager 2.1.3.

This is a small update, first of all, it now has an option to display network signal strength as dBm in the radar mode:

I also fixed a couple of crashes, one of which merits a small story.

There is a setting in the application to play a sound when it discovers a new open network. To let the user pick the sound, I used RingtonePreference, which is a class built into Android for picking a sound (does just what it says on the box… nice).

Some manufacturers make changes to Android’s UI components, the ringtone picker included, and as it turns out, one of them, Samsung, didn’t properly test their modificaitons for the Galaxy S.

The ringtone picker on the Galaxy S crashes if the applciation reqests that the “None” option not be included in the available sounds list. My application did exactly that, because it has a separate checkbox to enable or disable sound notifications. Now, this option is a standard part of Android. It’s documented, it’s supported on all Andorid versions, but Samsung didn’t properly test their modifications to this class.

Nice. But it doesn’t end here – I’ve been seeing crash reports in this code “from the field” in my Market Developer Console for a few months now, but the device was listed as “Other”. Does it make sense that one of the most commercially successfull Android devices is listed the same as a non-name device from an unknown manufacturer? Wait, it gets better – apparently, Google’s own Nexus S, which is also affected by this bug, is also listed as “Other”. So all this time I just assumed that the app crashed on some weird device with broken firmware and ignored it.

The end of this story is that the bug is a really trivial one, and it’s fixed in this release, but it could have been fixed a long time ago (or not be there at all) if only Samsung and Google had set their quality bar just a little bit higher.

Ok, my Market Console was fixed (or fixed itself), and I was able to complete my release process.

Both applications have two significant updates:

- German translations, thanks to a very enthusiastic user. I appreciate the work.

- The UI has been updated for Android 3.*, and looks especially good on 10″ tablets running Android 3.2. In the latter case, this includes widget labels in the landscape orientation.

Bluetooth Widget now has an option to use the left half of its screen real estate for quick access to system Bluetooth Settings.

WiFi Manager now also has a 1×1 widget, and it also can be configured as a 2-in-1, providing not only toggle functionality, but also access to the application.

Here is a couple of screenshots:

I just uploaded a new verison of WiFi Manager, 2.1.0, to Market. It has several new exciting changes.

1 – Per popular request, the application can now switch IP addresses for connections initiated by other programs, including the built-in Settings screen, or by Android in the background (such as when you moved from the area of one access point to another).

Here is a quick demo, where I configured a fixed IP address for one of my networks, then used the built-in WiFi settings to reconnect. Once the connection got under way, WiFi Manager updated the IP address to that configured in the application.

This feature is disabled by default, so if you need this, please see the application’s settings.

2 – Up until this version, WiFi Manager display a warning message when the user attempted to connect to an AdHoc (also known as IBSS) WiFi network. The reason is that Android doesn’t support connecting to such networks, and the message provided an explanation and a link to the Android bug tracker where this issue is described in detail.

On the other hand, at this time, there are enough rooted / modified firmwares, including a recent version of CyanogenMod, that support AdHoc networks.

For those users running these firmwares, WiFi Manager 2.1.0 has a checkbox to disable the message and attempt a connection to an AdHoc network. This assumes you know what you’re doing – disabling the message on stock Android doesn’t magically imbue it with new abilities, and the connection will silently fail.

3 – I reworked the way WiFi Manager reconnects from one network to another. As a result, switching networks is now much faster. This affects both the main program and the one-tap network switch widget.

This is a bug fix release. The changes are:

• Fixed an issue with purchase / activation.
• Fixed WEP keys containing only digits.
• Improved animation in radar mode.

I would like to remind that the free / premium functionality split has stayed unchanged since the 2.0 release back in April. Since then the application has been continunously improving, and no features were “turned off”, only bugs fixed and new functions added.

And while I’m here writing a new post… Don’t like the new Market developer console. The new feature that supports multiple APKs per application is probably really awesome for game developers, but the process of updating an application has gotten more complicated. In the new UI, I am never sure if the changelog and other changes (not the APK itself) has been really saved. It also takes much longer for an update to go live, as much as an hour or two.

Some info on in-app billing. I ran some regression tests, and discovered that as of now, for in-app billing to work under test accounts (those are set up in your Market developer profile), it’s necessary to upload to Market (but not necessarily activate) the exact APK version as you’re testing with on the devices. I believe that previously, the version didn’t have to match.

It seems that Google fixed the significant problems with activation that were happening all of July. And so, here it is, a new version, 2.0.4.

This version has a few bug fixes, as well as a new widget size, 4×1, which shows your device-to-router connection speed.

There are a quite few devices already that have 802.11n WiFi chips in them, and are capable of establishing WiFi connections at speeds higher than 54 Mbps. One of these is my HTC Incredible S, shown in the screenshot below. The Incredible S correctly reports the actual connection speed (checked at the router management page), which is then shown in the widget. Some other devices that are capable of high speeds with 802.11n always report 54 Mbps to the program (my Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc is one of these).

So, if you like this feature, and your phone is one of those that can connect at 802.11n speeds, but you always see 54 Mbps in the widget, please report it to the manufacturer / firmware author so it can be fixed.

One other change is that there is now a setting to select which widget sizes you’d like to see in the launcher. Android requires that multiple widget sizes are implemented as separate widgets, and the Launcher’s widget list can get too long and uncomfortable. With this in mind, you can now select which widgets sizes you’d like to see in the Launcher’s widget list.

Detailed changelog for version 2.0.4:

• Fixed dns2 after the program is reloaded.
• Added a warning about IP address switching in Android 3.0.
• Added a 4×1 widget with WiFi link speed (most devices report 54Mbps).
• Added settings to select which widget sizes are shown in the launcher.