[App] BattMonX (Droid X Battery State Monitor via LED Indicator)

[scary alien]

Seems the latest version has a bug. I have the low battery set to blink orange, but it is yellow green and is staying lit. I have the experimental features on and the screen being lit leaves the led on.

Unfortunately, its not a bug--I don't have the blink action working with the LED-always-on setting. Not sure about how well the non-core colors will translate to every phone... Try out the LED color tester and let me know what color codes represent a reasonable representation of orange.

Thanks for the feedback and cheers!

 

[mruno]

thx for the info.
i am thinking the led color issue is from the rom i am using.

 

[scary alien]

thx for the info.
i am thinking the led color issue is from the rom i am using.

No problem!

I'm going to release a minor update tonight that will be fixing an issue that was apparently FC phones that were running a ClockworkMod ROM when they pulled-up the preferences menu (specifically, the low-battery settings). Apparently, the "%" I was displaying causes FCs in (some?) CM ROMs, presumably because of how the text is parsed for the XML (this does not cause an issue in a stock Android ROM, so it makes you wonder who is doing is right(er) ).

I've also put a little pop-up warning (in the next version) if you try to use the blink action when the LED-always-on setting is enabled (I've had a lot of questions re. this, so this should help remind folks). I'll try to get the blink function working for this, but there will be compromises to be made since its my app that is writing to the LED brightness files and not the notification API.

Cheers!

 

[Steven58]

Word of warning to the DEV of BattMonX: Make sure with the release you put up a donation link. (Steven scowls ferociously at ScaryAlien, then pounds his hairy chest like a gorilla).

 

[scary alien]

Word of warning to the DEV of BattMonX: Make sure with the release you put up a donation link. (Steven scowls ferociously at ScaryAlien, then pounds his hairy chest like a gorilla).

lol...what? more research and work! (i.e., figuring-out how to do this...).

I'll put it on the list... (promise!)

P.S. the change I mentioned above should allow the population of Milestone phone owners to use the app (CM ROM or not). Many thanks again to Jason600 for helping me test this out on his Milestone.

 

[Steven58]

I have a serious idea. Is there a way to configure this app NOT to allow other apps' notifications to overrule it?

 

[scary alien]

I have a serious idea. Is there a way to configure this app NOT to allow other apps' notifications to overrule it?

Well, I don't think so, but I can't absolutely rule that out because I haven't (thoroughly) investigated it.

I will tell you that when you are rooted and using the LED-always-on feature/setting, that BattMonX will change the color of (at least the blinking/green SMS text) notification to whatever color you've got your particular battery state color set to at that moment (at least I'm pretty sure that this is the case... My app currently "steps aside" for a cycle to allow the notification to present itself and I do this (currently) regardless of the mode/setting of the LED-always-on feature so that the SMS text notification can be displayed.

In the LED-always-on mode, I basically just overwrite to the LED's color brightness files whatever color codes correspond to what the settings are (so that's the only way, for example, that you would see the blinking behavior while in this mode, but its really still being done by any SMS notification that just came in (until its cleared)).

Currently, I haven't read of a way to stop or intercept the various app's notifications, but that doesn't mean I won't research it? Like others have asked, there's a possibility / tempatation to modify this app to be more than just a battery state monitor--but that's going to take a tad more research and testing, if you know what I mean.

Make sense? (it all makes MY head spin, lol).

Thanks again for the suggestion and feedback, I very much appreciate it!

Cheers!

 

[Steven58]

I'm rooted and use the always on mode (you KNOW I'm rooted because this all started in the root section.)

Thank you for your

Spoiler

very long

explanation! I'll read it when I have the time ...

Spoiler

before bed.

 

[scary alien]

I'm rooted and use the always on mode (you KNOW I'm rooted because this all started in the root section.)

Thank you for your

Spoiler

very long

explanation! I'll read it when I have the time ...

Spoiler

before bed.

lol, you just wanted me to reply with "no", eh?

I have gotten several requests (both in the app's Market comments, here, and on XDA) about expanding the scope of the app--my lil old brain had a hard-enough time just getting the battery monitoring thing working .

I'm always open to suggestions... Now, if there were just more hours in the day or drinking Mountain Dew in the evening did not keep me from sleeping, I'd have all kinds of cool, new features already supported.

 

[Steven58]

some folks have trouble just saying "no!" jk

 

[dirtmouth]

just what i was gonna bitch about...and here we go , i guess its for rooted DX only cuz it dont light up LED

 

[scary alien]

just what i was gonna bitch about...and here we go , i guess its for rooted DX only cuz it dont light up LED

You mean when the screen is on, right? Yeah, you have to be rooted to see this behavior from my app... You're not rooted yet?

By the way, for any who care, I've got version 2.0 waiting in the wings (gotta find a few minutes to update the documentation)...just a few minor goodies:

- more responsiveness after turning screen off

- ability to set your LED to light-up to different colors by percent used vs. battery state

- some niceties in the LED color tester (preset color buttons)

- two features I created for debugging that I'm sharing with everyone:

- "keep CPU on" feature that goes along with "rainbow mode" to cause the LED to cycle through the various colors (I used these to validate my wake locks and test how Android behaves when the screen is turned off and power is disconnected (apps go to sleep pretty quickly))

Coming soon!

Cheers!

P.S. dirtmouth, let me know if you have any questions or issues...happy to help you if needed.

 

[fonefreak]

Hey scary, just thought I'd give you a heads up that BattMonX works fine with the new Apex 1.4! Love your work!

 

[scary alien]

Hey scary, just thought I'd give you a heads up that BattMonX works fine with the new Apex 1.4! Love your work!

Thank you very much!

I appreciate the encouragement...(wish there were more like you though...the number of daily downloads has been steady, but the number of installs has flattened-out (its been about 2,500 installs since just before Christmas and is only 2,738 right now)).

I think people are looking for a more generic notification tool, but I don't really want to alter this app's main, original purpose...or at least anything else I add does not interfere with the original function.

Anyways, thanks again and cheers!

 

[Steven58]

Hey Scary. I was wondering where you were. How's the fam?

 

[scary alien]

Hey Scary. I was wondering where you were. How's the fam?

Doing great Steven, thanks for asking mate! Wife and kids doing fine.

Been really busy with work and the recent ice-storms that blanketed a third of the nation. The last of the ice/now finally melted this weekend on my back porch--only after about a week of temps in the 50s.

How'd you guys hold up on the east coast with all the snow and ice?

By the way, I tried overclocking my Droid X and using it to melt the ice--didn't work though .

Cheers!

 

[Steven58]

It was a rough January, bro, but things have thawed out. We had another inch of snow, but that amounted to nothing. For awhile there, I thought the ice age was upon us again!

 

[Raptor912]

Great app Scary! I appreciate your hard work on this one!

 

[scary alien]

Great app Scary! I appreciate your hard work on this one!

Thanks Raptor!

My Droid X Android Forums mates are the best!

Cheers!

(v2.0 coming this evening...prepping screen shots and docs )

 

[scary alien]

Sorry guys...I actually published v2.0 tonight but was contacted shortly afterwards by a kind D2 user that he was getting FCs...

My developer console showed me the usual hard-to-fathom Java stack trace that I can't make sense of at the moment... Had to "un-publish" the 2.0 version with v1.9 but you'll see the Market shows it as 2.1 since I can't publish a new version with version numbers lower than the prior one. It'll still show "1.8" on the screens and such since v1.9 didn't have any visual differences from v1.8--just a few key fixes for the Milestone phones.

Are you confused yet? I know I am .

Hopefully, I'll get this straightened-out sooner than later...sorry for the delay.

Cheers!

 

[scary alien]

Okay, finally figured-out my silly coding error that led to last night's recall of version 2.0. Here's the highlights:

Version 2.2:

- added more strategies for making the app more responsive when screen off & unplugged (I implemented a partial wakelock for one minute after the screen is turned off)

- added 'Set LED Colors by Percent Charged' feature (i.e., you can assign a different color to each 10% range of battery percent-charged)

- added 'Rainbow Mode' (under Fun Stuff) to cycle through the various LED colors

- added 'Keep CPU On' feature to allow you keep the CPU awake/on when the screen is turned off (this is only true when monitoring is active); *** Warning *** this will consume more battery!

- added preset-color buttons to LED color tester (easier to test main colors)

Hope you enjoy this new version. Cheers!

 

[Toolanddiemaker]

Nice work scary, just wanted to say thanks.

 

[scary alien]

Nice work scary, just wanted to say thanks.

Hey, thank you very much! Glad to hear from everyone...and it certainly keeps me motivated in making changes.

I've still got some other things planned for the app (including a donate button for Steven ), so stay tuned.

By the way, not that I totally understand what a tool and die maker all entails, but my grandfather was a precision machinist who, after he retired from the police force, used to create injection molds for contract. But the reall cool thing he did was to make scale model firearms (1/2, 1/3, 1/4-scale versions of pistols, rifles, etc.). Had a book published about his work and he even has some miniature guns on display in the Smithsonian My brother sort of followed in his footsteps regarding the precision machinist stuff (his company makes tools for other companies to make tools).

Cheers and thanks again!

 

[Toolanddiemaker]

Hey, thank you very much! Glad to hear from everyone...and it certainly keeps me motivated in making changes.

I've still got some other things planned for the app (including a donate button for Steven ), so stay tuned.

By the way, not that I totally understand what a tool and die maker all entails, but my grandfather was a precision machinist who, after he retired from the police force, used to create injection molds for contract. But the reall cool thing he did was to make scale model firearms (1/2, 1/3, 1/4-scale versions of pistols, rifles, etc.). Had a book published about his work and he even has some miniature guns on display in the Smithsonian My brother sort of followed in his footsteps regarding the precision machinist stuff (his company makes tools for other companies to make tools).

Cheers and thanks again!

Will b looking forward to that donate button. You should be getting something for your work. I would be interested to know the title of that book. I work for a large auto maker in Prototype Operations.

 

[old.blue]

Thanks scary! Love the app. Wish all developers were as involved as you are.