Develop Bugs

Welcome to the improved XDA-developers forum

First of all: don't worry. Everything you are used to is still here. Your username still exists, all the messages are still here, and we're all still here.
There are a few changes though:
You can set a country flag, as well as which device(s) you have and a home GSM-provider. These will be displayed in icon form with your messages. It's completely uncomplicated and much more fun if everyone participates. So please use the 'Profile' button in the menu above to set these things for you. They help others help you by knowing what device you have and what provider you are using.
Topics now have an extra property, which defines whether they are relevant for the original XDA, for the XDA II or for both. A small icon shows with each message. You can set this property when you start a new topic.
The separate XDAII board is gone. All messages there have been moved to the forum where they are most appropriate (see below). The fact that the messages were originally posted in XDAII now shows with an icon.
We now allow attachments, both in forum postings and in Private Messages, sized up to 50MB (!).
The boards have new names, and are slightly re-organized:
[list:42f131921e]
General
Current events, news, etc.
Using it
messages formerly in 'PocketPC' go here.
Not too technical, about use and peculiarities.
Unlocking it
formerly called 'Unlocking'
Networking it
formerly called 'GPRS/WAP settings'
Stocking up for it
formerly called 'Accessories'
Upgrading and modifying it
formerly 'ROM updates'
Hacking it
formerly 'Programmers corner' and 'Other techie stuff'
Anything but it
formerly called 'Off-topic'
[/list:u:42f131921e]
We currently use the plain-vanilla 'subSilver' phpBB style. Expect further changes to the way things look over the next few days. Please let me know by clicking 'PM' under this message if anything that used to work for you all of a sudden isn't working anymore.
Hope you like it...

New look
Sexy!

Wow ! well done ! :wink: certainly a lot of work ...thanks

Sure does and it looks good too! 8)
But found the following to be missing:
no USA T-Mobile listed under GSM Provider
no AT&T radio stacks listed under Radio Version.

Qman said:
no USA T-Mobile listed under GSM Provider
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoops. Fixed.
no AT&T radio stacks listed under Radio Version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We're still confused about all these Radio Stack Upgrade numbers. And if we are confused, imagine what that means for the poor folks out there. But I will include some more numbers tomorrow...

A couple of suggestions:
In the ROM Version setting of the profile, there should be a "kitchen" option for 4.00.16, since this is on at least one kitchen (perhaps "kitchen" ought to be a check box?)
I don't know that I would have chosen to have a merged 'update it' forum for XDAI and XDAII. Most readers are interested in info for one device and dont care about the other.

pdhenry said:
A couple of suggestions:
In the ROM Version setting of the profile, there should be a "kitchen" option for 4.00.16, since this is on at least one kitchen (perhaps "kitchen" ought to be a check box?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done. I might make it a checkbox later on.
I don't know that I would have chosen to have a merged 'update it' forum for XDAI and XDAII. Most readers are interested in info for one device and dont care about the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was planning to create a one-click filter option for 'viewforum.php'.

Why damn, this blob-thing is ... growing.
As you may have seen the forum now has it's own hostname: forum.xda-developers.com. All existing links (/forum and /phpBB) will redirect to the correct thread or post on the new hostname (using a rewrite rule and sending HTTP 'Moved Permanently').
The uncompressed database for the forum is now 40 MB, the entire site is sending and receiving a few GigaBytes per day, to and from over 2500 unique IP-numbers each day.

Congradulation!
Hello
Well done and great work, keep it up.
thanks with best regards.
Othman

looks alrite but i miss the yellowy colour scheme now looks like every other forum on the web lol :roll:

how strange ...
the DB is only 40Mb ... this fits on 10% of my stamp size SD card ...
and yet, with just 2500 db-access (and how many posts? probably 100kb)
we get Giga bytes of traffic....
Just think how wasteful we're with current technology....
This goes double for a Pocket PC with two wireless communications,
100's of Mb of data, 400Mhz cpu ... and all that it does is displaying
who is calling your phone
Hmmm ....
[this is not a flame of the site or the PPC.... just a note on the status of the information/software age of the 21st century in general]

Looks
gazzaman2k said:
looks alrite but i miss the yellowy colour scheme now looks like every other forum on the web lol :roll:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries: this is temporary. There will be some proper design-work done on the entire site.
This is a good opportunity to say "Thank you" to Mario Giambanco, whose ideas and kind offer to work on the site prompted me to do some cleanup first, which resulted in the changes you see. Between him, myself, and hopefully some other volunteers we can now start to do a major overhaul concerning the looks and stale content of the main site.
The new 'main site' is going to be database-generated (from the phpBB database), and will have at least 'News' and 'FAQ' pages, pointing to topics on the forum. This will mean the 'main site' will be much more of an up-to-date tribute to the collective work of all of you on the forum, instead of a somewhat stale collection of some cool stuff we did way back. Creating layout in the way we did it before is just too much work.

Welcome to our new face
It looks very nice :lol:
But maybe we need added section: download & upgrade hardware ???
:wink:

very nice

Simply An excellent job

I preferred the old one. bah humbug

Thank You!
Thanks! For all the hard work it is much appreciated :wink:
Keep burning the midnight oil, it can only get better! ( like the XDA II )
Kind Regards, StayLucky Jim.

Hacking it ?
I written quite a few custom applications for the XDA and your site has some interesting infomation that has helped me.
I have replied a couple of times too with some code snipits.
All was very professional.
Now the Programmers Corner is under Hacking it, so I must of now become a Hacker. An interesting term, that I will have to add to my CV and see if it effects my future software appointments.

At last! Your decision to migrate to 2.0.6 is very welcome
If you interested - I can suggest two mobile adaptations for phpbb:
- read only version optimized for using as Mobile Favorites/Avantgo channels
and
- fully functional version for using from mobile devices.
These versions were developed and tested for one of the mostly visited (264,100 messages currently) PDA-related site in Russia http://www.handy.ru/board Unfortunately, all of the site is on Russian, but you may look though the following links just to smell it:
Mobile Favorites/AvantGo version:
Setup channels (Controls translation: forum name; timeframe; pictures (all/smiles only/none); link conversion mode; signatures on/off)
Ready-to-synchronize channel link (two days plus vacations, smiles only, links converted to text, without signatures).
Online mobile version: (banners should be visible from desktop PC only)
Forum index
Forum page
Topic discussion
All security is the same as in desktop phpbb version. Almost all functionality is implemented except site administration, advanced moderation panel (topic joining/splitting/mass deletes) and profile changing/private messaging.
These forum versions not include support for skins or language resources (sorry, but I develop them as fast as I can). So translation to English and slight adaptation to your mods (if any) needed. But I'm ready for this job.
The only main forum changes needed are:
- adding 4 lines to template variables array initialization;
- modifying 4 template files to add links to mobile versions;

Re: Hacking it ?
vangelderp said:
Now the Programmers Corner is under Hacking it, so I must of now become a Hacker. An interesting term, that I will have to add to my CV and see if it effects my future software appointments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seemed like a logical term to combine 'Programmers corner' and the little used 'Other techie stuff'. We think of the term 'hacker' as meaning a benign and very advanced programmer or techie, and not in any negative media-sensationalist terms. (Even though some of us do smile when we take the SIMlock off.)
Ofcourse if you think the rest of the world would see this differently, you're welcome to say 'Programmers corner' in future job applications.
I sincerely hope this linguistic issue will not keep you from continuing to benefit and contribute in the future.

Change Device ID

This may be a stupid question for this forum, this may not have anything to do with this forum, but you guys are probably the only forum that could help me. I was referred here from a post at another forum.
I own 2 HP IPAQ 1950s (i know this forum isnt dedicated to handhelds), OS is Windows Mobile 5. I purchased a piece of software for one and want to load it on the other as well, but it does not allow me. Heres why:
In order to purchase the software, you first load a trial version and run it. On that trial version's registration screen, it gives a device ID. I then purchase the software, and at purchase, provide this device ID. The software maker then provides me a registration that will only work with the unique device ID. I cant use the same registration key on the second handheld because it has a different device ID. To be clear, when I say device ID, I dont mean the name I give the device when syncing. This is a random alpha-numeric ID, I dont know where it comes from.
Anyway, I am wondering if there is a way I can edit device 2 so it has the same ID as device 1. Some kind of registry edit or something?
Sorry again if this post is not appropriate for this forum, but you guys seem to know the most about these kind of devices and if anyone knows the answer, theyd be on this forum. Thanks for your help.

trm666 said:
This may be a stupid question for this forum, this may not have anything to do with this forum, but you guys are probably the only forum that could help me. I was referred here from a post at another forum.
I own 2 HP IPAQ 1950s (i know this forum isnt dedicated to handhelds), OS is Windows Mobile 5. I purchased a piece of software for one and want to load it on the other as well, but it does not allow me. Heres why:
In order to purchase the software, you first load a trial version and run it. On that trial version's registration screen, it gives a device ID. I then purchase the software, and at purchase, provide this device ID. The software maker then provides me a registration that will only work with the unique device ID. I cant use the same registration key on the second handheld because it has a different device ID. To be clear, when I say device ID, I dont mean the name I give the device when syncing. This is a random alpha-numeric ID, I dont know where it comes from.
Anyway, I am wondering if there is a way I can edit device 2 so it has the same ID as device 1. Some kind of registry edit or something?
Sorry again if this post is not appropriate for this forum, but you guys seem to know the most about these kind of devices and if anyone knows the answer, theyd be on this forum. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open your registry editor and change this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Ident
Select 'Values'
Select 'Name'
and change the Value Data to the new name for your phone (no spaces)

Sorry to disappoint you but the method above will not work.
What you are seeing is what is know as UUID - a unique hardware based identifier that almost every PPC has.
Note the hardware based part - this means you can not change it with registry hack or any other way (I am not 100% sure but I believe it is derived from several hardware components like memory CPU etc).
The second problem is that you are basically trying to crack a program you should have paid for and we do not do this here.
(Yes there is a forum called 'development and hacking' but it is not this kind of hacking)
My suggestion to you is contact the app creator / vendor and see if you can get some sort of deal for your second device.

HTC Homeplug Weather fix - get your LOCAL weather! [New universal patch uploaded!]

THIS SERVER HAS NOW BEEN DEACTIVATED - See below / my final post
WARNING! The old IP-based/Pocket Hosts method using my server HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED, as I have had to remove the code in question from the direct IP. This means that selecting the custom weather server purely via the HTC home customizing utilities without installing a patched version of the HTC Home DLL, it WILL NOT WORK and you will just get "unable to retrieve data" messages. If this is the case, please uninstall your existing HTC Home plugin, and use one of the ones off the download page.
You can, if necessary, set up your own IP address to base it on, if you can't use my system for some reason, and use the pocket host method that way (requires your own server). Otherwise, please use the cabs below.
NEW! UNIVERSAL PATCH PACKAGE
I've written a universal patcher, so people can now get the HTC Home package they want, and just patch the HTCHome.dll from \WINDOWS. Simply get the package, unzip, drop your HTCHome.dll file in the N2A-Patcher folder, and run the n2a-patcher script inside. It'll magically create you a package! (This won't work for DLLs which people have already patched, you need to use the unmodified original.) This should negate the need for me to create individual packages anymore. Feedback welcome! As a result, I won't be releasing any more complete packages - just install your personal favorite, get the \WINDOWS\HTCHome.dll from your device, drop it in the packager, and let it do it's magic, then install the newly created cab.
Coming soon, if I can figure it out - drop the installer in, and get a patched full installer out! Of course, I have to figure out how to batch extract the cabfile correctly first... *laughs*
I've also just created a DLL to CAB packager (so you can drop your own pre-patched DLL in, and it'll turn it into a ready-to-install cabfile), and a DLL patcher (which just patches the DLL itself, ready for cooking etc - perfect for all you flashers out there!) - all on the download page.
PLEASE DON'T PM ME ABOUT THIS - KEEP IT TO THE THREAD UNLESS I SPECIFICALLY REQUEST A PM OR PM YOU!
Help Request
If anyone has an unpatched Sprint Touch XML file, I could do with a backup copy, for those who corrupt their XML files...
If you've got a Touch, Kaiser/TyTN II or Sprint Touch...
There are specific device DLL replacement packages on the new file download page.
NEW DOWNLOAD AND INSTRUCTION SITE
I've moved all the downloads and instructions to a new page, which will hopefully make it clearer on what people need to download. It also contains full instructions on hexediting the DLL if you wish, and re-signing. I'm not entirely sure if it's more readable or not, but it's certainly more manageable! Feedback welcome. There's some specific overlays now for certain versions of the ROMs too.
FAQ:
Can I install colour customisations to this?
Sure. Take a look around the forum. There's plenty of guides elsewhere.
What does this do?
It reroutes the request to the AccuWeather server to my server instead, which then requests the appropriate data from the AccuWeather server, and translates it into the HTC Weather XML format.
Can I run this via my own server?
Yup. It's running on mine via PHP 5.2.x, using the SimpleXML extension. The code is downloadable from the main download page, and I've even commented it. Once you get it running, you'll need to hexedit the HTCHome.dll file in the same way as described for the ROM chefs. I'd recommend keeping the same length of file for replacement - using directories to pad it out if necessary - it could cause unpredictable results otherwise.
Do I need to run my own server to get my local weather?
Nope, feel free to use mine.
Your server isn't working!
Oops. It's a rarity, but occasionally network outages happen. The server won't be disappearing anytime soon though without any warning! I'm sorry to say that I'll be taking the server down for this shortly as I'm wrapping up my web hosting business and transferring it to another company, but quite a few other people seem to have hosted a copy if people still need it. I hope it's been of use over the years everyone!
Why have you done this?
It was really annoying me that I could only get the weather for a city 25 miles away, that had nothing to do with mine.
Can you make me an XML file for such-a-place?
No, I've done enough already, and it's documented fairly heavily above. If you can't follow instructions, give up and stop trying to hack your phone. I'm not here to hold your hand. I'll help fix bugs and obvious issues, but if you can't edit a textfile, you're on your own.
Release Notes
I've stripped most local data from the return info apart from the town/city and country, but the HTC plugin seems to ignore that anyway. Works for all international locations I've tested. I welcome feedback on anything that's not working though, and I'll try to get it nailed pretty quickly. As said above, also works on zip codes, which will make it easier for our US friends on here.
New release fixes countries that weren't in the list, by removing the country checks altogether - I'm confident it'll "just work" - in theory Report bugs in the usual way.
Known Issues
The WM5 version will NOT update over GPRS/3G, unless you are using an AKU3.3 ROM. WM5 Weather update over GPRS has been proven with Wizard AKU3.3 (like the T-Mobile or WM5SEr5). Other devices/ROM's still to be confirmed.
The temperature in Farhenheit can occasionally be a degree or two out, as I convert from the Celsius scale. To get both readings would mean two calls to the server, which would be more work and bandwidth for my server. I'm sure you can live with a degree out occasionally.
Kudos
Thanks PAPPL for the info on signing files, Schen for his great work on the plugin, and to all those who contributed to getting these plugins (and getting them working!) in the first place!
Enjoy!
As I've taken the server down, I've attached all the relevant files to this post. If someone does want to provide somewhere to point the weather.not2advanced.com domain to, I still own the domain and can add the appropriate A address to it for the purpose if they want to continue hosting for the many users that still seem to be using this plugin. Sorry I had to take it down, but I no longer run the hosting operation this was being held on, and it can be a bit heavy on resources at times.
- Rick

Wow, sounds like a lot of work went into this.
Do you think it would be possible, using this framework, to pull data from the NWS website instead of Accuweather?

Theroetically, I could, providing they set up an appropriate XML feed. However, I can only do one such setup per IP address (and the IP addresses I have are somewhat limited), but if someone wanted to set it up, I've no doubt it'd be possible. However, it wouldn't be trivial - I've had to manually grab bits of data from the XML and process it into the format the home plugin expects. As a UK resident, the NWS isn't huge amounts of use to me
On a more technical note though, it'd require a similar format - at least 5 days in advance for a particular area, and the exact parameters (or something that can be adjusted / mangled / processed into the exact parameters) that the plugin needs. (Take a look at the code in the zipfile if you want to see how much of a pain in the neck THAT was!) Adapting it would also need a complete conversion matrix, or a hacky method using (say) the RSS feed ID for the BBC, or however the NWS does it.

Will this work for cingular/att customer?

If it works already for the major cities, then it'll work the same way, but with more localised weather available.
If you're having trouble with the normal weather plugin setup though, you may still have trouble. Then again, it might work! I've no idea. Try it and find out

Yeeaah
Hi N2A / Rick.
Great job - really! I can't thank you enough.
It finally works for me.
Thanks

HTC Homeplug Weather
Hello,
Thanks for sharing your great work. (I am french so sorry for my poor english)
However, I working on HTC Homeplug Weather because it wont let me download weather forecast when I am using 3G connection.
It works great when I an using wifi connection so I think it is coming from the proxy of vodaphone France (SFR) wich is blocking the access. So I was wondering if I will be able to connect to your server ? (for the moment it is not working) or redirecting the plugin to my tunnel...
Second is there a way to be sure that htc weather plugin is trying to connect to htc.accuweather.com and not to another web site.
Thanks in advance
A french guy wich is also living in a small city and wishto have his weather forecast ;-)

TorbenKB said:
Hi N2A / Rick.
Great job - really! I can't thank you enough.
It finally works for me.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're most welcome Glad I could help.
gdbtg said:
Hello,
However, I working on HTC Homeplug Weather because it wont let me download weather forecast when I am using 3G connection.
It works great when I an using wifi connection so I think it is coming from the proxy of vodaphone France (SFR) wich is blocking the access. So I was wondering if I will be able to connect to your server ? (for the moment it is not working) or redirecting the plugin to my tunnel...
Second is there a way to be sure that htc weather plugin is trying to connect to htc.accuweather.com and not to another web site.
Thanks in advance
A french guy wich is also living in a small city and wishto have his weather forecast ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if it's the HTC accuweather site specifically blocked, then it will help you. If it's generically blocking sites, then it won't.
Re a tunnel - depends what you mean by it.
The HTC home plugin *always* tries to connect to htc.accuweather.com - hence the host file change, which diverts it to my server instead, which provides the correct data. (NO LONGER APPLIES WITH NEW PLUGINS!)
However, if it's still not working with the hosts file modification (may require soft reset, not sure!), then I'm afraid there's not a lot I can do, unless you can tunnel it as you said, but it depends on what you're using to tunnel.

HTC Homeplug Weather
Thanks for your quick answer !
It's still not worling ;-(
But I wondering how can I test if Pockets Hosts is redirecting properly the htc weather address.
Sincerely

gdbtg said:
Thanks for your quick answer !
It's still not worling ;-(
But I wondering how can I test if Pockets Hosts is redirecting properly the htc weather address.
Sincerely
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
***************** REMOVED OLD CONTENT, NO LONGER APPLIES WITH THE NEW PLUGINS *****************

HTC Homeplug Weather
Ok, I have got the web site and not the error message.
So there is something wrong.
Thanks for your help.

Befor I can try your nice work, I have a problem with the write protection of the hh_0407_weather... file. I dont get my own file in the folder. I tried some things but it didnt work.
Can you help me? I'm runing a B&B v3.7 Ger beta.
Thanks

gdbtg said:
Ok, I have got the web site and not the error message.
So there is something wrong.
Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reload pocket hosts - it should look something like the attached thumbnail. If it does, try a soft reset. However, if it's still refusing point blank, it's highly possible you're going via a proxy, and that is handling the DNS lookups. To bypass that will require a hack to the HTC plugin itself. I can set it up server side for it (which was going to be my initial approach!), but it'll need an appropriate hostname hacking into the binary. I'll see what I can do on that score tomorrow, both on the home plugin front and the server-side setup.
smallgermanboy said:
Befor I can try your nice work, I have a problem with the write protection of the hh_0407_weather... file. I dont get my own file in the folder. I tried some things but it didnt work.
Can you help me? I'm runing a B&B v3.7 Ger beta.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest using Total Commander - you can remove the read-only flag from there, and even edit it inside it. Works beautifully.

I use the Total Com, too. But when I open the file the Internet Explorer opens and displays the xml file. I tried to remove the flag but he didnt adopt it. So I looked at the attributes again and nothing has changed.

smallgermanboy said:
I use the Total Com, too. But when I open the file the Internet Explorer opens and displays the xml file. I tried to remove the flag but he didnt adopt it. So I looked at the attributes again nothing has changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming that's after you've gone to the file properties. You should be able to unclick "Read-only" and "System" on it.
There's quite a bit of information on doing this scattered around the forums. Is it cooked into your ROM? (It'll have a tickbox by the "In ROM" box if that's the case.) But you want to clear the Read Only and System attributes from the file properties if you can, THEN edit it.
More information on this thread.

N2A said:
I'm assuming that's after you've gone to the file properties. You should be able to unclick "Read-only" and "System" on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this but when I open the properties again the attributes for "Read-only" and "System" are still on.
There's quite a bit of information on doing this scattered around the forums. Is it cooked into your ROM? (It'll have a tickbox by the "In ROM" box if that's the case.) But you want to clear the Read Only and System attributes from the file properties if you can, THEN edit it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its in the ROM.

There's your problem. I suggest copying it somewhere else on the device, editing it, and copying it back, but it may have issues doing it.
If you can't copy it back, apparently Resco Explorer is able to do it.

I used resco to do it. you have 14 days free trial so you can test it first.
http://www.resco.net/pocketpc/explorer/downloads.asp
And thanks N2A this is realy great. And works perfectly can find all the small places in Norway

ialu said:
I used resco to do it. you have 14 days free trial so you can test it first.
http://www.resco.net/pocketpc/explorer/downloads.asp
And thanks N2A this is realy great. And works perfectly can find all the small places in Norway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for both
I copied it with the resco and now it works perfekt. I tried several small cities in Germany and he found all. THANKS again

Thanks. works great. now i know it's going to rain all week here in abergavenny

[APP] Prepay Widget TESTERS NEEDED!

Hello everyone! I am the developer of Prepay Widget, a powerful app that allows you to monitor your account balance through USSD requests.
You can find more info about USSD on Wikipedia, but basically these are short, SMS-like messages used by most GSM and some CDMA providers to deliver information
or control account services. The actual information comes to you in the form of popup toasts, which thids app hides and parses into widgets.
You can find the apps landing page on XDA at the following thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=12348102
However, i want to stress that its important that we get some device-specific feedback, so please post in this thread if you have issues,
this helps me keep track of bugs and requests better.
You can use the Lite version of the app - it has all the functionality of the full version apart from automatic updates (not really that important imo).
As I haven't got one of these phones in my pocket, I need some testers to track down problems. Please, use this thread to comment or
suggest features. It is my belief that addressing issues is best done individually by phone, so if something doesn't work, let me know and I will fix it ASAP.
Market link:
https://market.android.com/details?id=fahrbot.apps.ussd.widget.lite
Debugging:
Please use the "Write to developer" item in the Settings menu to send logs. Enable debugging, reproduce your error and then send the logs.
Make sure you include a description - the more detailed the description the better.
Screens:

beautiful app idea. how does this work ?

It uses free USSD request. Numbers like *100#...

hmnn.. it seems that it wont be able to update on Optus Australia. As you need to send sms to 9999 for usage details ! do you have anything similar to implemented in this or just the USSD commands ?

This is a great idea, i could have used something like this when i was on pay as you go. Nice work!

Ok the widget appearing is blank ? Is this normal i am using it with a USSD command on another phone with which the network supports.

Which phone? This is just the kind of issue i want to fix!

European SGS2 Stock XWKF3 rooted, blank too. (tested on free version)

Are you sure you got a ussd reply?

Yes I'm sure, I received the reply, made 2 indicators and I'm viewing the differences (green/red) between two calls.

Please send a log using Write to developer in Settings. Don't forget to add a description as the logs can be deceptively empty.

is it internationally?

You just need to know the codes for your operator ...

I have updated the app - please let me know if this fixes your issues!

Fixed all issues for me. Got the full version... great app!

Works great now, thanks, buying the full too.

Great! If you have suggestions, do let me know.

Hi guys. Im back to bother you about stability
Any issues to report before we start working on a new build?

Working great here, thanks.

Any issues? Suggestions?

[SDK] Promocodes for your app

Hello!
I'm software developer from Russia, and made one very popular app in local market. Very soon I realized that I need an ability to give licensed version of app for my friends or reviewers or someone else.
Unfortunately AppHub doesn't provide such functionality(private distribution is pain in ass), so I created a webservice for myself.
After two days I realized that it may be useful for other developers, so here it is:
promo.g33k.ru (here I wanted to post url, but I can't due to low post count. You may find it in my profile->interests)
Now it has:
- JSON/SDK with RSA1024/SHA1 sign for additional security checks
- Binary SDK available
- Russian localization(if anyone cares ) (btw, if you can help translating to other language(s) or correct english misspellings - i will appreciate this).
Now this service works in beta mode.
So for developers I have two questions:
1) Is such service useful for you?
2) How to develop it further, in which way?

Not yet clear
I am sorry, but after reading your post and also checking your website I am still not sure what you offer. For me there is just not enough information to understand and then judge the usefulness of your service.
Maybe you could give a step-by-step scenario: Dev does this, then interested user does that, dev then this ...

Ok, I'll try to describe a little more details:
1) Developer wants to add capability of promo codes in his app(to give some specific users full licensed app).
The first problem is that developer need his own server for checking of promo code validity(hardcoding is not an option, of course).
2) So, Developer registers in my service, add his app's guid to his app list and create a promo code for specific app via web.
3) Developer adds support for promo codes in his app by:
a) adding an text box for user to enter promode
b) adding a web request to specific URL for promocode activation
c) adding to his license check web request for checking is current user activated a promo code.
Benefits for developer:
- Add support for promo codes without owning a server.
- Simple way to give full version of program to friends
Benefits for users:
- User may found promo code for specific app somewhere and use it to get full version of app in simple manner.
Benefits for reviewers/portals:
- Developers can easily give promo code for reviewing purpose or as giveaway for news post.

Clear now
Thanks for the additional info, now it's clear
Well yes, sounds useful. Properly implemented is probably really easier than Microsoft's "closed beta" mechanism, and of course can be used for other, non-beta apps as well.
The icing on the cake would be a "frame application" as sample code that basically does nothing more than asking for a promo code and then check against the list of valid codes on your server.

Sounds intresting but how do you ensure security?

chabun, I thought about security and situation is same as with default checking for trial - there is no security Man-in-the-Middle and direct cracking of xap will work, and there is no way out. I could use RSA signing for MitM, but still cracking of xap is very easy option today, so no one really interested will try to use MitM. When WP8 SDK will be out(I believe it will be in several weeks) - some developers may implement trial checks in native code - this will be much harder to crack.
As for server part there are following possible problems
- App's ID squatting(same as domain, someone else could reserve developer's app's guid). Don't know yet what to do with this, may be think about it later when this happens?
- Promocode's for App ID bruteforce - could be easily avoided via server throttling, if this ever happens - i'll add such checks
- Server DDoS - every webmaster's nightmare, I hope this never happens(or my Amazon AWS will pour my purse empty
rbrunner7, nice idea, I'll add a sample app as soon as possible on site.

This looks like an interesting concept
Sent from my SGH-i917 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Yop, you can never avoid direct cracking... However, RSA signing would be good I'd say as it will avoid MitM - with MitM you could create simple tools which can be used by every noob outhere. Cracking xaps requires some skill and it will need an unlocked WP7 as well.

I can see this working i have been thinking about something similar also. You can encrypt the data on device before sending it off to the cloud, you can than verify the encrypted data with a password and compare it to the codes registered on the server. Than link a code to a certain device id (once the code becomes 'registered') if a certain code is already coupled to a deice id and the device is not the same than the app will jump back into trial mode. Otherwise one can use the paid mode.
This can defenetly work and will prevent reselling th codes. Although it requires a server. And users can still hack/patch the app ofcourse but that will require an unlocked device so I should not worry to much about it.
Also to prevent spoofing you can frequently check with the server if this device is legitetmately registered.

Marvin_S said:
I can see this working i have been thinking about something similar also. You can encrypt the data on device before sending it off to the cloud, you can than verify the encrypted data with a password and compare it to the codes registered on the server. Than link a code to a certain device id (once the code becomes 'registered') if a certain code is already coupled to a deice id and the device is not the same than the app will jump back into trial mode. Otherwise one can use the paid mode.
This can defenetly work and will prevent reselling th codes. Although it requires a server. And users can still hack/patch the app ofcourse but that will require an unlocked device so I should not worry to much about it.
Also to prevent spoofing you can frequently check with the server if this device is legitetmately registered.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought of... private/public key

chabun, so, for example, how about following scenario:
for each developer server creates public/private key pair.
when checking license on server: if success server encodes userid with developer private key
when checking license in app: server response decoding via public key(hardcoded in app) and comparing to userId. if ok -> licensed.

You might want to ask @ngreader guys on twitter. They do have this concept implemented in their app.

diverofdark said:
chabun, so, for example, how about following scenario:
for each developer server creates public/private key pair.
when checking license on server: if success server encodes userid with developer private key
when checking license in app: server response decoding via public key(hardcoded in app) and comparing to userId. if ok -> licensed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if it would be good to encode the request to the server as well but otherwise it sounds really cool now... I'll use this service when I need this (and tell my friends about it)

Here is one way to do it http://stackoverflow.com/questions/599837/how-to-generate-and-validate-a-software-license-key

wpxbox said:
Here is one way to do it http://stackoverflow.com/questions/599837/how-to-generate-and-validate-a-software-license-key
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, what they suggest is not as good as diverofdark's service which is a lot more secure and still easy to use for the customers...

Greetings everyone!
Today I updated promo.g33k.ru, now it has:
- more detailed about page,
- SDK now includes RSA1024/SHA1 sign for additional security checks
- Binary SDK available
- Russian localization(if anyone cares ) (btw, if you can help translating to other language(s) or correct english misspellings - i will appreciate this).
- Many minor bugfixes.
So, from now this service works in beta mode

diverofdark said:
Greetings everyone!
Today I updated promo.g33k.ru, now it has:
- more detailed about page,
- SDK now includes RSA1024/SHA1 sign for additional security checks
- Binary SDK available
- Russian localization(if anyone cares ) (btw, if you can help translating to other language(s) or correct english misspellings - i will appreciate this).
- Many minor bugfixes.
So, from now this service works in beta mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I will check this out

Hey diverofdark
It would be nice if you update the first post in the thread with all information. That's the way it's usually done in the forum.
A possible user (here dev ) can read it and without having to browse the whole thread, he can use your promocode service...

Thanks for mentioning it, I updated the first post.