[App] AndDiscovered - Android exploration tracking tool modeled after EDDiscovery

[Gen.Fussypants]

AndDiscovered is now Pathfinder! Please find the new forum page here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=252224

This page will no longer be maintained.

AndDiscovered is an Elite: Dangerous exploration tracking tool modeled after Finwen's excellent EDDiscovery.

Google Play Store: AndDiscovered
All information about the app, including usage, is tracked via it's wiki.

For a list of known issues please reference Jira, and create new ones if you find a problem.

This application requires edproxy.

Installation and First Usage

Spoiler

1. Install Edproxy. Follow the installation instructions from the Edproxy thread.
   • https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=167688
2. Download AndDiscovered from the Google Play Store
   • https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fussyware.AndDiscovered
   • 
3. Start Edproxy
4. Launch AndDiscovered
5. Go to Settings (three vertical dots in the upper-right corner)
   • Add your CMDR name for system submissions
   • If you want to receive image events turn it on here.
   • If you are having trouble connecting to Edproxy you may manually enter your PC IP address here.
6. All of your visited systems will populate in the background. This may take several minutes if you have visited a lot of systems.

Edit:

Version 2.8
- Allow database read and write at the same time.
- Updated EDSM first install database to be more current.

Version 2.7
- Fix crash when EDSM provides an empty system name during synchronization.
- Force the keyboard to show when entering distances in the Distance dialog. (Thank you Micha!)
- Add in missing Gas Giant planet types: Ammonia, Water, Helium-rich, and Water Giant. (Thank you Micha!)

Version 2.6
- Fix critical crash when receiving massive amounts of data from EDSM.
* The updates will take a little longer to finish out, but it is safer and uses considerably less memory.
- Merge from 3.0: Updated database index tables. This gives approx. 10x improvement in database read response.
- Merge from 3.0: Updated reference system selection algorithm.
* Previously too many system where collinear, and thus not able to produce a coordinate.
* Now the algorithm will pull 90deg right, left, top, and bottom. It will also pull from straight out along the traveled vector.
* This reduces the number of required references when in the core from 10~15 down to 5~7.

Version 2.5
* Fixed an auto-report ANR for Android 4.4. The "settings" seems to have become corrupted for a user. This should address that one case.

Version 2.4
* Fixed crash when calculating coordinates and the "back" button is pressed to return to the System List.

Version 2.2
Note: Edproxy 2.0.4+ is required
* AndDiscovered now supports phones!
* Moved to a static Fragments with multiple Activity design.
* Added new Ping/Pong heartbeat to Edproxy to better detect loss of connection.
* Pull down EDSM instead of just access the website. This will give better performance, but at the cost of some storage space. It will also allow for more features in the future. (crosses fingers for a 3D star map to work)
* Distance update list is now refreshed properly when coordinates are found.
* The software keyboard "Done" will now automatically click the "Done" button on dialogs.

Version 2.1
Note: Edproxy 1.2.1+ is required for this version.

* New System Image Gallery!
** Records images for a system as they are captured.
** Ability to name the image after the celestial body.
** Ability to specify the distance from the main star.
** Ability to specify the celestial body type. (i.e. Earth-Like World)
* Added new Preferences under "Settings" to control the Discovery Service.
** Specifying the IPv4 address, or hostname, to Edproxy is now supported.

How to get to the new images:
1) Select a system from the System List to open the System Info window
2) On the top "action bar" there will be a "gallery" icon (looks like two planet pictures)

What you can do from the gallery:
* Touch a picture to open fullscreen mode.
* Long press a picture to enter special delete mode.
** Other images may then be selected for deletion by simply touching them.

What you can do from image fullscreen:
* Touch the screen to make the title bar reappear.
* Long press the screen to bring up Edit or Delete menus.
* Edit the celestial name, distance from main star, or type.

Version 2.0 released
Version 2.0 is a major UI update. Please visit the wiki to learn about the new UI. https://bitbucket.org/westokyo/anddiscovered/wiki/Home

* Moved route destination to the action bar.
* Moved CMDR name and Display Days to Settings page which may be accessed form the action bar.
* Added new connection state icon for edproxy to the action bar.
* System list and System details are now separate UI flows.
* Added more information into the system list.
* CMDRs may now input the main stellar body, stellar body count and list of all stellar body types, and planet count/planet body types.
* Distance updates are now more tablet like. (they are a separate dialog)
* Migrated to new EDSM domain names.

Version 1.2 released
* Various bug fixes. All crashes should be resolved now....hopefully
* Added support for 4.2.2
* Moved to EDSM star coordinator from EDSC.
* This will save space on the drive, and overall time on app launch.
* Added ability to enter distance for the next system in route (before the jump) (colored E: D orange)
* Added "reference" systems to distance list for a selected system. (colored Red)
* These reference systems are places that the commander has already been *and* have coordinates
* Reference systems are sorted in the distance list after visited systems, and are ordered by most recently visited.
* Selected system now has its row highlighted
* Added new field to input the final route destination system.
* Since E: D cannot remember routes across restarts.

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

Version 1.2 released.

* Various bug fixes. All crashes should be resolved now....hopefully
* Added support for 4.2.2
* Moved to EDSM star coordinator from EDSC.
* This will save space on the drive, and overall time on app launch.
* Added ability to enter distance for the next system in route (before the jump) (colored E: D orange)
* Added "reference" systems to distance list for a selected system. (colored Red)
* These reference systems are places that the commander has already been *and* have coordinates
* Reference systems are sorted in the distance list after visited systems, and are ordered by most recently visited.
* Selected system now has its row highlighted
* Added new field to input the final route destination system.
* Since E: D cannot remember routes across restarts.

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

Version 2.0 released:
Version 2.0 is a major UI update. Please visit the wiki to learn about the new UI. https://bitbucket.org/westokyo/anddiscovered/wiki/Home

* Moved route destination to the action bar.
* Moved CMDR name and Display Days to Settings page which may be accessed form the action bar.
* Added new connection state icon for edproxy to the action bar.
* System list and System details are now separate UI flows.
* Added more information into the system list.
* CMDRs may now input the main stellar body, stellar body count and list of all stellar body types, and planet count/planet body types.
* Distance updates are now more tablet like. (they are a separate dialog)
* Migrated to new EDSM domain names.

 

[wolverine2710]

WOW. Nice tool. Rep +1.

Its amazing (better said a shame), such a nice tool and NOT a single post here with feedback. A prime example imho of a thread which got snowed under badly by the forum. I've been watching,following the forums like a hawk but totally missed this one, my bad. I especially like what AFAIK is unique so far: EDProxy. Its marvelous from a technical point of view.

In the hope that more commanders find this gem I've added it to EDCodex . Its a website with a database of currently approx 210 tools,threads,websites,videos for ED. Any one can and is encouraged to add entries there. EDCodex companion thread. Its equally suited for PC's, tablets and smartphones. I've added the following entries to EDCodex:

• AndDiscovered - Android exploration tracking tool modeled after EDDiscovery
• EDProxy - Netlog proxy server

If you deem it useful you can become owner of your entry. Just register, login and use the "Claim Ownership" button. After doing that please send me a PM with the email address you used for registration. This is for verification and to prevent that others claim your entry.

Question: I can't seem to find the installable app somewhere. Does it exist or does one have to built it one self?
You might consider adding a few screenshots. It would give commanders a better understanding of how it looks andworks.

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

WOW. Nice tool. Rep +1.

Its amazing (better said a shame), such a nice tool and NOT a single post here with feedback. A prime example imho of a thread which got snowed under badly by the forum. I've been watching,following the forums like a hawk but totally missed this one, my bad. I especially like what AFAIK is unique so far: EDProxy. Its marvelous from a technical point of view.

In the hope that more commanders find this gem I've added it to EDCodex . Its a website with a database of currently approx 210 tools,threads,websites,videos for ED. Any one can and is encouraged to add entries there. EDCodex companion thread. Its equally suited for PC's, tablets and smartphones. I've added the following entries to EDCodex:

• AndDiscovered - Android exploration tracking tool modeled after EDDiscovery
• EDProxy - Netlog proxy server

If you deem it useful you can become owner of your entry. Just register, login and use the "Claim Ownership" button. After doing that please send me a PM with the email address you used for registration. This is for verification and to prevent that others claim your entry.

Question: I can't seem to find the installable app somewhere. Does it exist or does one have to built it one self?
You might consider adding a few screenshots. It would give commanders a better understanding of how it looks andworks.

Now that is nice. Good job OP!

Wolverine, see the link to the wiki in the OP.

Regards o7

 

[wolverine2710]

Now that is nice. Good job OP!

Wolverine, see the link to the wiki in the OP.

Regards o7

Thanks for that, appreciated ;-) Indeed the Google Play Store entry for AndDiscovered was there, my bad. Personally I think a place on the OP might be better. Note: nice to see that others have found this thread as well ;-)

Added Google Play Store and a screenshot to EDCodex for this entry.

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

I will update the OP with a link to the play store. I did not add the screenshots out of concern that it would make the OP too large. If folks would rather have screenshots here also though I will gladly update it.

 

[Zeeman]

Looks interesting - will give this a shot as soon as I get my new Android tablet...

Z...

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

I will update the OP with a link to the play store. I did not add the screenshots out of concern that it would make the OP too large. If folks would rather have screenshots here also though I will gladly update it.

I reckon you should - look at my CL post, for example - instructions and screenshots are what attracts users

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

Version 2.1:
Note: Edproxy 1.2.1+ is required for this version.

* New System Image Gallery!
** Records images for a system as they are captured.
** Ability to name the image after the celestial body.
** Ability to specify the distance from the main star.
** Ability to specify the celestial body type. (i.e. Earth-Like World)
* Added new Preferences under "Settings" to control the Discovery Service.
** Specifying the IPv4 address, or hostname, to Edproxy is now supported.

How to get to the new images:
1) Select a system from the System List to open the System Info window
2) On the top "action bar" there will be a "gallery" icon (looks like two planet pictures)

What you can do from the gallery:
* Touch a picture to open fullscreen mode.
* Long press a picture to enter special delete mode.
** Other images may then be selected for deletion by simply touching them.

What you can do from image fullscreen:
* Touch the screen to make the title bar reappear.
* Long press the screen to bring up Edit or Delete menus.
* Edit the celestial name, distance from main star, or type.

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

Release of v2.2

Version 2.2:
Note: Edproxy 2.0.4+ is required
* AndDiscovered now supports phones!
* Moved to a static Fragments with multiple Activity design.
* Added new Ping/Pong heartbeat to Edproxy to better detect loss of connection.
* Pull down EDSM instead of just access the website. This will give better performance, but at the cost of some storage space. It will also allow for more features in the future. (crosses fingers for a 3D star map to work)
* Distance update list is now refreshed properly when coordinates are found.
* The software keyboard "Done" will now automatically click the "Done" button on dialogs.

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

Version 2.4:
* Fixed crash when calculating coordinates and the "back" button is pressed to return to the System List.

- - - Updated - - -

Users of AndDiscovered I need some feedback!

Here are two screenshots of a new theme I am working on. The intention is to resemble the side panels in ED. There is more that will go into the next release, but the overall theme would look the same.

http://imgur.com/a/L5rtV

Gen. Fussypants (CMDR Duck Rodgers)

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

Version 2.5:
* Fixed an auto-report ANR for Android 4.4. The "settings" seems to have become corrupted for a user. This should address that one case.

 

[Micha]

Fantastic little app! Been using it tonight and it really makes a lot of things simpler. Thanks so much for writing this


However, a couple of suggestions:
* When entering distances, I have to click in the text-box to bring up the keyboard, which deselects the 0's; I then have to hit backspace 4 times before I can enter the distance. It would be great if the keyboard can be started up automatically, and the text-box empty ready for input. Bonus points for auto-decimals (since we should only enter distances with 2 anyway)

* When adding stellar objects, why are there 2 selections, one for primary, and one for number of bodies? Just have one screen and a second tick-box to select the type of the primary.

* When adding planets, there isn't an option for Gas Giants with Life.

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

Thank you very much! It is good to know that you are enjoying it. I have, and continue to, put a lot of effort into the application. I am waiting for my wife to shoot me for spending all my free time doing this!

* When entering distances, I have to click in the text-box to bring up the keyboard, which deselects the 0's; I then have to hit backspace 4 times before I can enter the distance. It would be great if the keyboard can be started up automatically, and the text-box empty ready for input. Bonus points for auto-decimals (since we should only enter distances with 2 anyway)

I believe I have resolved this in my next version. I will make sure and double check. As far as I can tell Android does not give me an easy way to limit to two decimal places. However, I do limit (with rounding) in application after "Done".

* When adding stellar objects, why are there 2 selections, one for primary, and one for number of bodies? Just have one screen and a second tick-box to select the type of the primary.
* When adding planets, there isn't an option for Gas Giants with Life.

On my developmental line I have added the missing Gas Giants already. As far as stellar and planetary objects goes.....I have abandoned what is there in my next release.

The problem is that I have been developing what sounds good to me with regards to the app. However, after playing with it some I realized I really need to step back and think of this as a product. So I have been really reorganizing data, screens, and a ton of other stuff.

Here is a link to some screen shots of the 3.0 mobile version of the developmental app. The imgur album contains comments as to what is changing. I am hoping this new version will come across as more professional, and factor more into a RP scenario thus giving more connection with the game. I apologize for the very large size of the images. I thought Imgur would scale them down.

Any feedback on 3.0 would be greatly appreciated!

Gen. Fussypants
a.k.a. CMDR Duck Rodgers

 

[Micha]

Wow; that's changed a LOT! Heh, well, I was about to try to download and build it myself, then add some of the tweaks I suggested, but I guess I'll wait until 3.0 is ready.

I don't think there's an easy way to restrict Android to a set number of decimals; you'd need to code/extend a custom input box. Not that difficult either though. I haven't done much Android coding, but did play around with a pile of custom input boxes a long time ago, didn't seem to be all that difficult.

The only comment I'd have so far is that the new version is very.. detailed.
So I think there might be value in considering being able to switch between "simple" (not much more advanced than the current system) and "detailed" mode. I'm guessing most explorers will only want to do very brief inputs, with relatively few being so OCD that they will want to copy everything from the game.

I'm guessing most inputs are optional, but by the looks of it it still requires going into many different screens just to capture the basics.

[EDIT]: Again, it seems when popping up input boxes (image #6), the keyboard isn't automatically displayed. This means the user has to click on the input box to bring up the keyboard, which deselects the place-holder numbers, which means the user has to delete them before typing in the actual numbers.

[EDIT2]: PS. Forgot to mention, it's looking really nice overall!

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

A lot of the code is on my local repo at the moment. I will push this up when I get a chance. I always welcome contributors!

Please don't shoot me for the lack of in-code documentation.

The only comment I'd have so far is that the new version is very.. detailed.
So I think there might be value in considering being able to switch between "simple" (not much more advanced than the current system) and "detailed" mode. I'm guessing most explorers will only want to do very brief inputs, with relatively few being so OCD that they will want to copy everything from the game.

I agree. This has been one of the items I have been struggling with. My plan was to a couple of things:
1. When adding a Satellite group necessary items at the top, and let the user know that all other items are optional.
2. When adding a Satellite provide a "Duplicate" button.
* This helps with all those pesky Ice planets that you may not care about, but want to record so you can see the System value.
3. Maybe not in the initial drop of 3.0, but I plan on providing an OCR option. Thus you just screen shot the selected Satellite in the System Map and all fields will be filled in for you.
* This is my preferred way. Using an OCR was my original plan, but it has taken so much time just to get the stupid UI where I want it that I am thinking I will do some iterative releases soon.

[EDIT]: Again, it seems when popping up input boxes (image #6), the keyboard isn't automatically displayed. This means the user has to click on the input box to bring up the keyboard, which deselects the place-holder numbers, which means the user has to delete them before typing in the actual numbers.

Well, crap. I will go double check all these. In order to force Android to bring up the keyboard you have to play some tricks. The problem is that you are somewhat taking over the state machine of when to show the keyboard, which in turn means it is easy to miss something and makes the code more complex. The simplest way to play tricks with the focus of an element. However, different Android versions treat this, well, differently. So what occurs on one device may not occur on another.

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

being able to switch between "simple" (not much more advanced than the current system) and "detailed" mode

Thinking about this some more I think I slightly missed your point. My response discussed making it easier to get information about the celestial bodies into the app. I think what you are actually saying is "Fussy, make it easier to just get main stuff into the app.".

With that in mind I think you are still right. I can present a simplified way of saying "how many bodies in the system", "ok, what are their types.". Don't worry about whether they are Satellites, or not, and don't worry about all the other minor details. Is this more along the lines you were thinking? This is the main reason the app has a "simpler" front-end today as I do not normally enter every piece of information.

What would you loose in the simplified mode? Well, mostly the app would no longer know which body is a satellite of another body. Thus I could not perform some statistics on the system. I was also planning on having an in-app Orrery. In the simplified mode you would not have access to this.

Should the application default to simplified or detailed? There are so many changes in this version that I am probably going to have to have an "introduction walk-through" anyways. I could ask the user at that moment if they want simple or detailed.

Thank you by the way. Feedback like this is greatly appreciated!

 

[Gen.Fussypants]

[EDIT]: Again, it seems when popping up input boxes (image #6), the keyboard isn't automatically displayed. This means the user has to click on the input box to bring up the keyboard, which deselects the place-holder numbers, which means the user has to delete them before typing in the actual numbers.

Ok, I have found a solution for this. It is easy as pie. I am an idiot for having overlooked it.

 

[Micha]

A lot of the code is on my local repo at the moment. I will push this up when I get a chance. I always welcome contributors!

Best way would be to have a new branch, work in that and push it up as and when you feel. That way others (possibly even myself) can check it out and contribute while still able to make fixes to the current version.

Please don't shoot me for the lack of in-code documentation.

Real Men don't need no steenkeeng Documentation! They're like directions, right? Lol, nah, always good to have some, but even better is to have self-documenting code. Don't sweat it - it's your hobby!

The main thing would be a quick doc to get potential contributors up and running. Dependencies, tools, etc. For example, I've never heard of your build system before..

I agree. This has been one of the items I have been struggling with. My plan was to a couple of things:

Have you seen the Captain's Log application? It's got an interesting interface for relatively quickly adding the various system bodies and their relationships. It's too fiddly for me personally since I'm not that interested in capturing all the details for every system, but overall it looks like a good idea.

Thinking about this some more I think I slightly missed your point. My response discussed making it easier to get information about the celestial bodies into the app. I think what you are actually saying is "Fussy, make it easier to just get main stuff into the app.".

This. Very happy with the current App, and I think I wouldn't bother adding more info for most systems. If (when!) I find a very interesting system, I might be tempted to add (some) additional info. But this is just one user (me) speaking - others may have different opinions.

At the most basic, number of objects and types like the current app. Then number of each type. Then relationships (satellites; although this can get rather complex when things orbit barycenters etc).

I get it that people using "simple" mode would lose a lot of the nice planned functionality (eg orrery), but well, can't have your cake and eat it. Sounds like some really neat additional features coming though!

As for the screencapping, I wonder if it'd be possible to make an on-the-fly OCR? Ie, without taking a picture (my phone is REALLY slow these days when it comes to taking pics), just hold it up with the camera running and see if it can OCR it directly. Various barcode scanners can do it, but I'm guessing that's mostly because barcodes are designed for scanning and aren't really needing OCR.
I've never played with screencap/OCR before, so no idea how much support Android provides developers here.

The best approach really would be to petition FDEV for an API which you could query for information (obviously only info which has been scanned/revealed in-game by the current pilot). Either have the game log the info locally, or provide a server which can be queried.

Should the application default to simplified or detailed?

On first launch? Possibly display a choice.
On subsequent launches? Whatever the user chose last time.
And have a quick way of switching between the two.
(I'm speaking as a user here, not a developer. Give me an option and I'll say "yes" )

Looking forward to having a play with the new version, even if it's in-progress!

PS. Going to be away a fair bit on-and-off soon, until mid-Jan. So won't be able to follow/contribute much in the short term, so don't rush anything on my behalf.