Barebone Android (stripped system/apk folder) - Upgrading, Modifying and Unlocking

Edit : I mean system/app folder for the title.
I manage to strip down my Android to bare minimum, and so far I'm VERY happy with the result.
My device is Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (GT-N8000) but I suppose it is applicable to other Samsung or even any other Android devices (probably custom ROM too) , since I did cross research to wide varieties of stripped devices (including S series, Sony and such).
So far the debloating guides I've encounter don't go this far. I'm left with 68 files within system/app folder.
Google doc spreadsheet :
http://bit.ly/1c647yf
By jermitano
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spr...1gdDJRekl4QmkyNmIzUmRvX2h3UDVkQXc&output=html
As I remember, his spreadsheet was one of my resource to find the useless apps. I will attempt to compare both spreadsheets, and maybe add some more infos to mine.
Scribd link (also attached as PDF) :
http://bit.ly/1gmRGAy
I shared the google doc to public with editing permitted.
So if you're planning to debloat on your device or have complete infos on each apk, you can add it up there so might help anyone attempting to debloat their devices.
note :
Keep in mind, I use my tablet for laptop replacement, which means I don't use it for phone, sms and such (altho they're still working properly) and I disabled contact sync too, so I'm left with contact list stored within my SIM/phone.
I don't use GPS on my tablet too, so I removed GPS location through network (but it still working as well)
I have hardware keyboard at my disposal so in that table I removed SamsungIME.apk since I can use my hardware keyboard for initial setup and such.
Original thread here ;
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2653655
Enjoy, and cheers. Hope this helps.

Google doc spreadsheet updated
http://bit.ly/1c647yf
Been couple of days, on heavy load (watching videos, playing 3D games, youtube and such) my Note 10.1 last about 15+ hours with this minimal settings. Of course I also turned on battery saving mode and turning off haptic feedback. I don't need all those.
Might last a week + if I put it on standby, since the battery consumption seems very flat and the only app listed within "battery" are only LCD screen. Phone, sms, GPS, etc, working great. Booting up is a snap, as well as starting apps and such. No crashes or force closes. AT ALL.
Some settings won't open when I tap them, but no crashes too. Simply, this is the android device of my dream.
Still need help and more infos on the safely removed apks. Or if you have other device than samsung, and want to do this to yours, I could use a bit of cross reference on what's the bare minimum of APKs.
Edit : Now I want to test out www.addictivetips.com/mobile/how-to-install-any-app-as-system-app-on-android and see if I did hard reset on it.

http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/how-to-install-any-app-as-system-app-on-android
Work marvelously. Need to set the permissions on the app.
For commercial apps, it will install to .asec in app-private. Use ES Explorer to convert it to ,apk. Uninstall, then install as usual. Find the apk at data/app.
Need to have the /lib files within the /system/lib in order all these to work.
Also, remember to set the permissions to both the apk and the lib files.
Thanks to IrfanCore http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=50543779&postcount=28

Related

[App][BETA] Kill**** - process killer

This is my first app for WinCE so please be nice!
Rant
It seems I'm part of a minority of users who understand that mobile devices and PDA's are not designed to run multiple apps at once. You can, but anyone with a decent sense of quality will agree that it's a rubbish experience once you get under 50% free memory. In fact the iPhone by default design doesn't let you multi-task apps (jailbreak changes this) which may be one of the reasons peeps think its a faster device. I say I'm part of a minority because most apps around are coded so that when you hit the 'x' close button they minimize instead of close (even by holding x). Also Windows has no inbuilt mechanisms for keeping your apps closed, and none of the roms I've tried (cooked or otherwise) seem to have these types of tools included.
Disclaimer
Firstly I hope I haven't reinvented the wheel or stolen anyone else's idea. I didn't research for months but didn't find anything like this around so apologize in advance if I upset anyone. Also I provide this tool "as-is" in BETA form - so it could damage your device - so use at your own risk.
Kill****?! What is it?
It is a simple app that kills running processes.
Why would I want it - what's wrong with Task Manager?
A common example is you open up Calc to do divide a dinner bill, lookup how to get home in Google maps, send an SMS to a friend and hit Home key. Then you wonder why the thing is running like a dog. You open task manager and notice you have these 3 freakin apps are open still and taking up your memory. So you're expected to open Task Manager after every time you're finished with an app?...no I dont think so..because you've got Kill****! You manage an exemption file, assign the app to one of your softkeys (or events) and it will quickly, quietly kill all other **** running for you.
How Does It Work?
It stores a text file on disk with names of processes that you wish to exempt. You can manage this via the included config tool. When you run the app (which is a console app) it just kills every running process other than the ones on your exclude list. The exclusion file is stored in your default MyDocuments folder and is called something like "NoofnyKill****.settings". Real simple.
What Do I Need To Run It?
Microsoft Windows Mobile (4 and above)
Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 3.5
How Do I Install It?
Simply run the attached CAB and everything is installed for you. 2 icons are added to your Start Menu (the config tool and the console app itself). The app is installed in the default Programs folder.
How Do I Use It?
If the exceptions file does not exist it will be created new and will contain all of the running process at the time the app ran.
The best instructions are;
1) Have your device in your preferred state with only your basic apps running.
2) Open the config tool from the start menu (Kill**** Config).
3) All of the running processes will list with a check next to them (which 4) means they will be exempted).
4) Click Menu -> Save Exceptions and close the config tool.
5) Assign the console app (KilL****.exe) to one of your softkeys or other buttons using your favorite tweak tool.
What Else Do I Need To Know?
I am not responsible for anything negative or positive this app will do to you, your device or life. Use at your own risk. I have not tested this app well and can only guarantee that I have fundamentally screwed something up. If anyone does use it and wants help I will do my best but try to help by giving as much detailed info as possible when reporting any bugs. I'm open to suggestions and are planning to put the source code up here if anyone shows interest.
That's about it - hope it makes someone's life a little brighter.
Hi!
This looks interesting. Is there anyway to cook this into a ROM properly? I dont like to have users make a file in their my documents folder.
Cheers
Epiphany
EpiphanyNL said:
Is there anyway to cook this into a ROM properly? I dont like to have users make a file in their my documents folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks...i can have the file live anywhere really, I just chose MyDocuments cause its easy and accessible. It's easy to even have them define in the config tool where they want to save the settings. I'm new to mobile dev and the whole rom cooking thing, so could you expand about what would be needed to cook this app into a rom?
actually after giving it more thought it would be more practical to store this in the registry. I chose to use a text file at first because I was not going to bother have a config app and you could modify it using notepad or something.
In registry would be the most preferred method yes.

[NST][Home replacement] EpubBrowser [11/04/2012]

Hi,
I did up a home replacement for my Nook simple touch, thought I would share it. This is an initial release, no doubt there are bugs, incompatibilities, etc, you were warned. There are no checks for other devices at this point, NST only.
Thanks to the nook community for the noogie.img file, touch nooter, and relaunch for source code ideas and various threads regarding quick refresh and e-ink support.
Disclaimer: Now, what I am using currently is the bare minimum, I have tried quite a bit of the work in this forum and it works well, but I wasn't satisfied or 100% confident and I wanted less installed. So, I restored my nook to stock, used noogie and copied over a rooted ramdisk. That was it, no touchcolortools, nooktouchtools installed, adw minimal this or that, or button saviors. I am sure they are great programs but I don't know enough about them or have the interest/time to do research on them to want to keep them installed.
For me, the point is to keep things simple and maintain battery life. It's an e-reader not a tablet after all. I just want to read books, check email, check a website or two, get some more use out of wi-fi since I don't live in a B&N supported nation.
​To install:adb install EPubBrowser.apk
Optional:
I also installed Email.apk and set up my gmail from there, no certificates required or a million google app files and plucking a chicken on a Tuesday after jumping on your left foot crap. No offense to those who like chicken plucking.
adb install Email.apk
Done and done.
I can do up a CWM zip upon request, but last going off I have a continuous reboot after installing the latest version and if you know enough to get the Nook's CWM installed you should be able to use adb.​See attached files.
What is not working:
Since Android doesn't really know about multiple external storage locations (at least for the Nook's 2.1 and/or my knowledge of android) EPubBrowser is unable to detect when the internal storage has been remounted, there is no notification of that, just notification of external storage. So if you plug in your usb cord to the computer the list of books will be empty even when you remove it. So if you don't have an sdcard you will have to hit the back button and launch home again to refresh.
Also, B&N books are not listed, whatever is in My Files will be scanned only. That applies to internal and sdcard storage. You can still use B&N's Library to access those.
I don't have any option of uninstalling apps either. adb uninstall works fine or you can just delete files from /data/app via adb shell.
What is working:
Launch of EPubBrowser via nook's home button, without use of nooktouchtools, it duplicates how the B&N home app works.
The notification icon for resuming reading goes through the app. As long as the book was launched from EPubBrowser it can remember the last book, otherwise the main display will show up. Reason being that for whatever reason the last page read doesn't work with the B&N home screen if it's not a book bought from B&N. But if you are just using the B&N Reader app it's not a problem.
When you are prompted which home you want you can select EPubBrowser and hit default. This may not stay set and will go away the next time you reboot.
How to use:Left / right swipes to go to the next 6, previous 6 books, no indication of the current page is displayed, (e-ink and aesthetics).
Touch a book cover to launch a description of the book, swipe up and down to scroll through the description, touch the cover displayed there to start reading. Hit back button on top of screen to exit without launching a book.
To bring up the list of apps installed, swipe a clockwise circle starting at 10 O'clock. Touch an app to launch it, left or right swipe to go back to main screen.​That's it for now.
If you have any ideas for improvements, bug reports, please provide as much detail as possible, and when you have done that add some more detail.
Cheers!
Updates:
2/19/2012:
Added screensaver for last read book. (Jpeg 75%) Settings->Display->Screensavers->EPubBrowser
11/4/2012:
Added src project
Looks nice! I'll give it a shot later when my Nook's charged.
Thank you for making and sharing, i am going to try tomorrow and tell you,
Improvements
First of all, thank you for creating this cool launch screen. I love the simplicity of it. Here are is brief list of improvement that you can perhaps easily implement.
-When on the homescreen with the covers of all the books, I am not sure if I am suppose to scroll down or to the right to view the rest of my books.
-When on the page with the details from the book, there is no back button to take you back to the homescreen. I end up using the button savior back button.
-The circle gesture that takes you to the apps does not feel very responsive to me.
Anyhow, great job. Can't wait to see how you plan on improving it
OW MY EYES
I installed this, and everything just kept flashing. GO Locker and GO Launcher are both broken, and the only way I could fix it was by getting into ADW and closing the task. Did I install it incorrectly? I put it onto an SD card and used ES File Manager to install it.
ChunC said:
First of all, thank you for creating this cool launch screen. I love the simplicity of it. Here are is brief list of improvement that you can perhaps easily implement.
-When on the homescreen with the covers of all the books, I am not sure if I am suppose to scroll down or to the right to view the rest of my books.
-When on the page with the details from the book, there is no back button to take you back to the homescreen. I end up using the button savior back button.
-The circle gesture that takes you to the apps does not feel very responsive to me.
Anyhow, great job. Can't wait to see how you plan on improving it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback.
You swipe left to go to the previous page of books. You swipe right to go to the next page of books, assuming you have more than 6 books. Personally, I know what books I have on the device so it's not a problem knowing how many are left to see for me.
The back button should be on top of the screen in the middle, not sure why it wouldn't be there on yours. I will give it a think, maybe remove the scroll control in the book description and just use gesture detection and scroll the text via code.
Responsiveness and speed will likely improve over time, I am using the gesture library, maybe there are some optimizations there I can do.
Cheers!
Googie2149 said:
OW MY EYES
I installed this, and everything just kept flashing. GO Locker and GO Launcher are both broken, and the only way I could fix it was by getting into ADW and closing the task. Did I install it incorrectly? I put it onto an SD card and used ES File Manager to install it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Noted, so it doesn't work with GO Lancher/Locker. Never tried GO stuff, so that wasn't tested. It was tested with ADW and relaunch, and I had all the rest of your typical touch nooter install there without problems, android market, etc.
I have run it with Home.apk renamed to Home.apk.bak and that works fine as well.
As for your other question, if it is installed it is installed, there are no configurations to modify, however you get it there it should be fine.
Cheers!
WANT
Noted that it does not work with go, will have to get rid of that first.
From the screenshots, I can already tell you put time into polishing! Good job!
NFHimself said:
Hi,
Noted, so it doesn't work with GO Lancher/Locker. Never tried GO stuff, so that wasn't tested. It was tested with ADW and relaunch, and I had all the rest of your typical touch nooter install there without problems, android market, etc.
I have run it with Home.apk renamed to Home.apk.bak and that works fine as well.
As for your other question, if it is installed it is installed, there are no configurations to modify, however you get it there it should be fine.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try it again without the GO software, but it was making everything just keep flashing, like the lock screen.
@NFHimself, any plans for taking this to github? It is very close to what I always wanted but I was also looking for:
- some kind of usage of Calibre data
- library filtering for series, highly rated, etc.
- tracking of books that are clicked to maintain sort of recent read filter
- sorting options by rating, series, and other Calibre properties
- option to display 6 or 12 (smaller) book covers.
I hope it already does use intents for selecting a different epub reader for those who have no defaults and multiple ones installed.
I know its a long list, and I have some Android experience. I am sure there would be other developers here so a combined effort might help.
Screenshots looks good, but on the Nook - only flashing screen like Googie2149 said
tazzix said:
@NFHimself, any plans for taking this to github? It is very close to what I always wanted but I was also looking for:
- some kind of usage of Calibre data
- library filtering for series, highly rated, etc.
- tracking of books that are clicked to maintain sort of recent read filter
- sorting options by rating, series, and other Calibre properties
- option to display 6 or 12 (smaller) book covers.
I hope it already does use intents for selecting a different epub reader for those who have no defaults and multiple ones installed.
I know its a long list, and I have some Android experience. I am sure there would be other developers here so a combined effort might help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I use Calibre as well, I just connect via adb and calibre picks up the nook and I copy books over and it converts on the fly, cool program. Using Calibre data is an idea worth looking into, if I can fit it into the theme of no preferences, no extra buttons or config. There are plenty of those kind of home apps already. Relaunch for one is great, just missing a graphical front end, I was going to mod that, but decided that I didn't really need so much stuff and I wanted to learn more android API.
I did up the app using pretty straight forward epub standards (note the plural), it works with most epubs I have run across, not sure if looking for extra xml is a good functionality vs performance tradeoff. I haven't been using EPubBrowser for very long myself, so when I add more books and find something annoying I will probably make changes to fix it. I want to keep things simple, if I need a preferences menu, it is already going the wrong way.
I am not specifying any class, just a regular launch this epub file intent, so it should work with any reader. I like the stock reader myself, cool reader seems to dislike some epubs I have above a certain size, and I didn't want to deal with it.
I may github it, I am kinda time limited these days.
Cheers!
AgentSlash said:
Screenshots looks good, but on the Nook - only flashing screen like Googie2149 said
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
More details are needed to figure that out. What device do you have? What do you have installed on it?
Cheers!
I just wiped then manually rooted my Nook, and this works now. Although I'm having some trouble with getting to the apps page after the first time I did it. Could you possible change how you get to the apps page? Maybe change it so you have to click the menu key to get to apps.
Edit: Now that I've added my books, it shows me two books, one empty, and another book. Now it just flashes and removes/re-adds the last book. :/
Edit 2: I found that there are a few books that just don't like this launcher and cause the entire Nook to start flashing. I've been adding my books one by one to see which work and which don't and I'll try and find similarities between those that don't.
Great launcher replacement.
Running right now, but after the second page, I get sent back to the first, regardless of left-to-right or right-to-left swiping. Ideas?
Also, any chance for a page up/down use for scrolling through books?
I took a quick vid. It looks like when I swipe again from R to L, it tries to redraw the next books, but gets confused?
http://youtu.be/K1ukWFK0syg
ace7196 said:
Great launcher replacement.
Running right now, but after the second page, I get sent back to the first, regardless of left-to-right or right-to-left swiping. Ideas?
Also, any chance for a page up/down use for scrolling through books?
I took a quick vid. It looks like when I swipe again from R to L, it tries to redraw the next books, but gets confused?
http://youtu.be/K1ukWFK0syg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I'm busy painting the baby's room, but it looks like it is resetting, perhaps one of your books is crashing the app and it is being relaunched as the home screen. Or could be some other bug, how many books are involved, if you remove one or add one, does it go away?
If someone could open the e-pub (it's a zip file) that causes the error and paste the contents of the .odf file (it's an xml file) , that would help.
Cheers!
NFHimself said:
Hi,
I'm busy painting the baby's room, but it looks like it is resetting, perhaps one of your books is crashing the app and it is being relaunched as the home screen. Or could be some other bug, how many books are involved, if you remove one or add one, does it go away?
If someone could open the e-pub (it's a zip file) that causes the error and paste the contents of the .odf file (it's an xml file) , that would help.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've gone through and removed / added ebooks, and still the same problem.
Sorry, been kinda busy.
I need to be able to see the bug on my end to work on it. Maybe I've been lucky with the book selections I have made or converting using Calibre has set them all to have the same kind of format, vs the variety you might see in the wild from multiple sources.
Does the error happen with no books?
What happens when you have just one book?
How many books do you have on your nook? (If it's something like 1000 then yeah, maybe you'd have issues, no checks in the code for being out of memory.)
What firmware are you using?
Are there any hardware differences? (Can't imagine that being a problem, but I am using a NST, not the original Nook.)
What can I do to reproduce this error on my end? What are the steps?
Cheers!
NFHimself said:
Sorry, been kinda busy.
I need to be able to see the bug on my end to work on it. Maybe I've been lucky with the book selections I have made or converting using Calibre has set them all to have the same kind of format, vs the variety you might see in the wild from multiple sources.
Does the error happen with no books?
What happens when you have just one book?
How many books do you have on your nook? (If it's something like 1000 then yeah, maybe you'd have issues, no checks in the code for being out of memory.)
What firmware are you using?
Are there any hardware differences? (Can't imagine that being a problem, but I am using a NST, not the original Nook.)
What can I do to reproduce this error on my end? What are the steps?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, it doesn't matter how many books I have, it's just a few specific books that crash, independent of the other books in my library, and some books are more severe than others (one makes the entire Nook start flashing (all software), others make only this app flash).
I have the same problem as the people above but I can't get past the first page. I can't seem to narrow it down to a certain book making it crash. It's a shame I love this home screen, but hopefully we can get this fixed and running great.

Huge bug in BackgroundTransferService

Just found a huge and very annoying bug in WP7 BackgroundTransferService (it's a task for background file transfers, downloads or uploads).
If you create and add BackgroundTransferRequest, but cancel and dispose it shortly, during download process (i.e. download not finished yet), or even uninstall application (sic!), the OS does NOT release the reserved space (equal of the total file size, doesn't really matter how much data you've already downloaded!) The only way to avoid that problem is to wait until transfer completion. But if your app will be uninstalled during non-completed transfer, you're (i.e. user) out of luck
I did some investigation with interop-unlocked phone. Actual files are stored in \My Documents\Zune\PimentoCache\Lib\<numberic subfolders>; on interop-unlocked phone you may easily delete unwanted "space eaters" (in my case, files are .mp4 video files with real huge sizes, from 250 to 800 MB) but on regular dev-unlocked device you have no choice than do a hard reset - as I supposed to do with my Lumia 900
So, my note to WP7 developers: use these "BuggyTransferService" with care, you can easy damage the user's phone. I believe that bug is the main source of some rare complains about "I've magically lost phone storage free space". And shame on Microsoft to ruin the perfect "sandbox" concept by buggy and untested API!
P.S. As for me (personally) the most annoying thing is: because of "super-duper-STUPID" protection, I can't cleanup my Lumia 900 (and MS didn't provide any tool for that!) and should (damn!) do a hard reset, and reinstall whole stuff For the first time I start thinking, I've chosen a wrong platform to live and work with...
sensboston said:
Just found a huge and very annoying bug in WP7 BackgroundTransferService (it's a task for background file transfers, downloads or uploads).
If you create and add BackgroundTransferRequest, but cancel and dispose it shortly, during download process (i.e. download not finished yet), or even uninstall application (sic!), the OS does NOT release the reserved space (equal of the total file size, doesn't really matter how much data you've already downloaded!) The only way to avoid that problem is to wait until transfer completion. But if your app will be uninstalled during non-completed transfer, you're (i.e. user) out of luck
I did some investigation with interop-unlocked phone. Actual files are stored in \My Documents\Zune\PimentoCache\Lib\<numberic subfolders>; on interop-unlocked phone you may easily delete unwanted "space eaters" (in my case, files are .mp4 video files with real huge sizes, from 250 to 800 MB) but on regular dev-unlocked device you have no choice than do a hard reset - as I supposed to do with my Lumia 900
So, my note to WP7 developers: use these "BuggyTransferService" with care, you can easy damage the user's phone. I believe that bug is the main source of some rare complains about "I've magically lost phone storage free space". And shame on Microsoft to ruin the perfect "sandbox" concept by buggy and untested API!
P.S. As for me (personally) the most annoying thing is: because of "super-duper-STUPID" protection, I can't cleanup my Lumia 900 (and MS didn't provide any tool for that!) and should (damn!) do a hard reset, and reinstall whole stuff For the first time I start thinking, I've chosen a wrong platform to live and work with...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm what about subsequent reboots? I know that I've done what you've just stated above multiple times in testing BGTransferService, yet I see no files within those multiple folders. Maybe syncing the phone helps clear the cache? I don't know.
Reboot doesn't help. If you saw many empty folders, it means your transfers successfully completed and downloaded files are in your app's isf (it's a normal situation).
Try to:
- start a few transfers (AFAIR limit is 2 simultaneous transfers)
- remove and dispose transfers
Code:
BackgroundTransferService.Remove(transferToRemove);
transferToRemove.Dispose();
or just uninstall app.
You'll see "lost" files in these folders. Try to download huge files (like in my case - video recordings) to be sure they will not complete soon.
sensboston said:
Reboot doesn't help. If you saw many empty folders, it means your transfers successfully completed and downloaded files are in your app's isf (it's a normal situation).
Try to:
- start a few transfers (AFAIR limit is 2 simultaneous transfers)
- remove and dispose transfers
Code:
BackgroundTransferService.Remove(transferToRemove);
transferToRemove.Dispose();
or just uninstall app.
You'll see "lost" files in these folders. Try to download huge files (like in my case - video recordings) to be sure they will not complete soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh so basically you have that switch enabled that allows you to download over 10 MB (or whatever that limit is). That may be the issue then with that switch and the API.
Of course I do (transferRequest.TransferPreferences = TransferPreferences.None; ) but it's a default value. Actually Background Transfers API is very useful for the large files: you shouldn't care about power loss/battery drain/connectivity loss - the whole idea is a brilliant (and I like it). But implementation is kinda buggy And MS-side support is awful. The official from MS just confirmed what "bug is well known and will be fixed" but that's all - I did a damn hard reset and spent lot of time to reinstall stuff (also lost my game progress/sms/etc. and so on 'cause MS+NOKIA are really care not for bugs but for "protection") At least they may send me a provisioning file packed in .cab, to clean-up the mess. But... seems it sounds like a "project" for MS

[Tutorial] Using Bluestacks to make Zooper Widgets

Using Bluestacks To Create Zooper Widgets​
Prerequisites:
You must have Bluestacks and Zooper Widget. You can download Zooper Widget (or Pro, which you'll need to import them personally later on. If you are just making designs for other people then you don't need pro as far as I am aware) from the Play Store then just get it from /data/app using a root-enabled file explorer of your choice and copy it to your computer. I personally was getting a lot of problems with the latest version of Bluestacks when downloading things from the Play Store. I resorted to using an older version, which can be found here (v0.8.11.3116). In accordance with the guide I followed to root Bluestacks which can be found here. That guide will cover pretty much all of the installing and rooting of Bluestacks. Now I couldn't get onto the Play Store on this one either but I was able to download Nova Launcher's Stable APK and install it before I rooted Bluestacks and removed all the bloatware on it.
As you are reading this I'll assume you've used Zooper before to create a widget and so I shan't go into any detail about how to use it, however I will say that, before delving into this you should note down some things about widgets you've made previously, mainly their width and height. As bluestacks is always in portrait mode you'll want to know what values to set for it to fit your phone as it should. At least in my experience.
If you intend to import fonts etc. into ZooperWidget you will also need to get ES File Explorer, yet again the only way I could get this from a reputable source was to download it from the Play Store on my phone, find it in /data/app and copy it to my computer.
Another thing you should have before going any further is to get the DropBox apk - and an account - to get your .zw files off Bluestacks and onto your phone ready to be imported (if you have Zooper Pro).
Resources Recap:
Bluestacks v0.8.11.3116 - To run Zooper Widget
Zooper Widget - Self Explanatory
Rooting Guide - In-depth guide to Root Bluestacks
Nova Launcher - My choice of Launcher for Bluestacks (N.B. not tested any others, so feedback would be nice)
DropBox - To upload you .zw files for import elsewhere (I assume any cloud app would work)
ES File Explorer - To install fonts etc. to Zooper Widget
Setup
First of all I'd recommend creating a folder on the desktop named "Zooper for Bluestacks" or the likes. As Shown: (I had not yet copied over the ES File Explorer app)
Keeps everything neat and proper. Once you've downloaded all the APKs needed the followed the rooting guide - hopefully successfully because if I can do it anyone should be able to, however if you're having difficulties feel free to ask me but I feel the guys on the Root Guide thread will be of more assistance - then you simply need to double click on the ZooperWidget.apk and DropBox.apk and ES File Explorer.apk and all should be well. Simply go onto Bluestacks and open the Zooper Widget app. Make your widgets - keeping in mind to take a quick note of Height and Width for your phone - and upload them to DropBox from Bluestacks. When you download them to your phone and import them make sure to check that scaling is set to 100% so that the widget appears as intended.
One final point, if you intend to have clickable modules I suggest you do your final tweaking on your phone and just use Bluestacks for the bulk of the design work as you'll want to make sure you're linking the module to an app/action/widget that your phone can carry out that may be missing from Bluestacks or vice versa.
Problems:
Really the only problem I've come across is that I can't get Bluestacks into portrait mode, however I've not looked anywhere to see if there is a guide to do it. If I get round to it I'll update the tutorial.
You can change the resolution of Bluestacks if you're comfortable with RegEdit. You must kill all Bluestacks processes then you need to run RegEdit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Bluestacks/Guests/Android/0 in here there are setting for Width and Height. Change these to the desire size in a 9:16 ratio. I am using 700x394 for my laptop which has a 1366x768 display. You will also need to ensure that if you removed bloatware earlier that you do not disable or remove App Settings as you'll need this to make Nova Launcher launch in portrait mode. Set the mode in App Settings for Nova Launcher to "Default" and this will change it so that it's portrait mode. As I use Nova Launcher on my phone as well I simply changed the Nova settings so that the Desktop Grid was the same as my phone - I am not sure how this will work if you use a different launcher. For me the NavBar disappeared and I had to use the 'Esc' to get in and out of Apps and stuff. I am still messing about with this to get it working so I'll update again if/when I get it working fully as intended.
Too many problems with this. Found it easier to just stick to knowing what Height and Width to use.
Thanks:
Thank you to you first of all for reading my first tutorial which is basically just a compilation of other tutorials.
And Thanks to:
codelover for their lovely comprehensive guide to rooting Bluestacks.
Thanks for reading, I hope this helps some people that are fed up of making Zooper Widgets on their phones and I hope that I've not missed anything out. If you feel anything is unclear or would like to suggest improvements please do so. Also I sincerely apologise to anyone I've undeservedly left out of the thanks bit, feel free to shout at me if you feel you've been let down. I've attached the terrible sample .zw I made in Bluestacks, if you do download it for whatever reason, the circle module isn't clickable as I don't have a messenger app on Bluestacks.
Pre-rooted Bluestack vs manual rooting
This is such an old thread and Ii'm not taking it against anyone if this doesn't get answered, but what's the purpose of having a rooted bluestacks program?
There are unofficial pre-rooted Bluestacks and I'm wondering if this would be okay to use instead of doing the rooting process. All versions are listed here.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/BlueStacks_App_Player

weird folder in file system: GROWTH_TEST

using MyFiles, saw it in the main file directory.
GROWTH_TEST
was empty, deleted it.
anyone come across this?
Here also but the file is filled with connections blocked log.
raul6 said:
connections blocked log
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
interesting! what creates this log? is this system-related or a specific app?
Filled with following:
com.android.volley.NoConnectionError: java.net.ConnectException: Failed to connect to ureca.samsungapps.com
Me too. Info from Growth-Test Log Text.
com.android.volley.NoConnectionError: java.net.UnknownHostException: Unable to resolve host "ureca.samsungapps.com": No address associated with hostnamecom.android.volley.VolleyError: Network Disconnectedcom.android.volley.VolleyError: Network Disconnected
Sounds like it is a host. Could we be hacked? I have had issues since last august!
L .J.629 said:
Me too. Info from Growth-Test Log Text.
com.android.volley.NoConnectionError: java.net.UnknownHostException: Unable to resolve host "ureca.samsungapps.com": No address associated with hostnamecom.android.volley.VolleyError: Network Disconnectedcom.android.volley.VolleyError: Network Disconnected
Sounds like it is a host. Could we be hacked? I have had issues since last august!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's apparent that it is a log file for an app on the phone.
Could your phone be hacked? if you truly were then you wouldn't see a log file. Let alone a log file saying that something couldn't connect to a samsung server.
If in doubt perform a full factory data reset and set the phone back up without using a backup. Do not install anything on the phone other then updates to what was on the phone originally. Use it like this for half a week to a week... if the log fle appears then it's probly from one of the apps on the phone.
Your issues are probably (80-90% likely until you make a proper new thread asking for help) entirely seperate from this.
Chances are either you have outdated firmware/software, hardware failures/problems, expectation/reality matters, or just need to do a factory data reset. If you choose to do the factory data reset then avoid using a backup to restore apps and settings (cuz if the issue was from an app or setting then the issue is most likely included with the backup).
I found some weird things in Hidden Sys apps as well: "Circular ver1.0" five instances of it 0.0B, "Filled" - also 5 instances, "Gestural Navigation Bar" - 10 times, "Rounded" x4 and some other 0.0 B apps., does anyone know what for are they and why they propagate in so many instances? Thanks in advance.
It was really bothering me that I couldn't find solid information on this. I went pretty deep down the rabbit hole this morning. So far, this is what I've found out:
Worth Noting;
-- If you crawl the subdomains for the logged domain samsungapps,com it's related to Samsung Galaxy Apps.
-- ureca subdomain was registered in 2009 (first Galaxy phone release)
-- "Growth" seems to be related to marketing via the Galaxy Store.
-- There seems to be Knox relations as well. I will speculate further down below.
After sorting through a ton of data, as if it couldn't be safely assumed by the domain, the ureca URL is embedded in the Samsung Apps, Theme Store, and Game Launcher, that I've found so far. Take a look at some interesting strings I found in the APKs;
Package Name
com.samsung.android.themestore
Internal Version
520110303
Displayed Version
5.2.01.10303
]https://ureca.samsungapps.com/collect/billing_usage_log
]https://ureca.samsungapps.com/collect/theme_sa_log
]https://cn-ureca.galaxyappstore.com/collect/theme_sa_log
Package Name
com.sec.android.app.samsungapps
Main Activity
com.sec.android.app.samsungapps.SamsungAppsMainActivity
Internal Version
450509140
Displayed Version
4.5.05.9
]https://ureca.samsungapps.com/collect/iap_usage_log
(There are also iap subdomains @ samsungapps too, fwiw)
BUT, I have no idea what devices these are coming off of. Some APKs are varying wildly. Some report spyware, trojans, etc, too. Most by only 1 AV vendor though. If anyone has more time than me, take a look. Not sure if Knox is the "backdoor", the 'diamond' and 'zirconia' subdomains looked interesting. Or if it's a false hit, the Chinese govt, or if the APKs are from a repo and they're malicious. Didn't look into it in the slightest.
VirusTotal
VirusTotal
www.virustotal.com
Or if anyone already discovered exactly the source of the "GROWTH_TEST" folder, please let me know so I don't revisit this. But I'm pretty sure it's Galaxy Store Market related stuff.
FWIW - Me
Galaxy S10+, OEM Unlocked.
June 1st security update. USA
My Growth Test folder contained 2 files,
appsUsageLog.txt: (1 "volley can't resolve ureca.samsungapps.com")
optin_trace.txt: (1 "volley network error")
You're probably over thinking this.
Pretty sure I've seen it before too.
If you're still running on Pie Karma Firewall will let you monitor and block internet connections.
Shows you which apks are busy sucking up bandwidth and battery.
Scan any questionable apks online with Virustotal.
AM Radio said:
using MyFiles, saw it in the main file directory.
GROWTH_TEST
was empty, deleted it.
anyone come across this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any updates to this? I too have the Growth_test folder with appGrowthLog.txt in it.
Edit: in the appGrowthLog.txt file says "com.android.volley.NetworkErrorcom.android.volley.VolleyError: Network Disconnected".

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