Open file on computer with Phone

[Stupifier]

I see all these "Remote Control Your Computer" apps out there allowing you to use the keyboard/mouse and see visual screenshots of your computer.....very nice and cool looking...but not too practical.

Is there an app out there that allows me to Open a file (exe, mp3, avi, etc) on Computer from my phone? I don't care about viewing it on my Phone or anything like that. I just want to send a command to my computer that tells it to open a specific file. It is really dumb to have to fiddle through all sorts of Mouse/Keyboard/Screenshots to do this with all the current apps out there.

I only want to press a button on my phone.....to open a specific file on my computer.....is it really that hard to do? Why no apps for this?

-----------------------------------------------------

The closest app I have found is gPad (links below). This app only allows connection via WiFi though and not over internet (damn). In short, this app allows you to send Keystroke combinations to your computer by pressing a single pre-programmed button. I could use this to open specific files on my computer (via a global hotkey open command). Still this fails as it is only WiFi

gPad remote for android - HOME
gPad remote - Android app on AppBrain

Please help me find a solution to my problem. It does not even have to be an app. It could be a server client I setup on my computer that is accessed via a website on my phone for control (no phone app needed).

 

[muab]

I see all these "Remote Control Your Computer" apps out there allowing you to use the keyboard/mouse and see visual screenshots of your computer.....very nice and cool looking...but not too practical.

Is there an app out there that allows me to Open a file (exe, mp3, avi, etc) on Computer from my phone? I don't care about viewing it on my Phone or anything like that. I just want to send a command to my computer that tells it to open a specific file. It is really dumb to have to fiddle through all sorts of Mouse/Keyboard/Screenshots to do this with all the current apps out there.

I only want to press a button on my phone.....to open a specific file on my computer.....is it really that hard to do? Why no apps for this?

-----------------------------------------------------

The closest app I have found is gPad (links below). This app only allows connection via WiFi though and not over internet (damn). In short, this app allows you to send Keystroke combinations to your computer by pressing a single pre-programmed button. I could use this to open specific files on my computer (via a global hotkey open command). Still this fails as it is only WiFi

gPad remote for android - HOME
gPad remote - Android app on AppBrain

Please help me find a solution to my problem. It does not even have to be an app. It could be a server client I setup on my computer that is accessed via a website on my phone for control (no phone app needed).

It sounds like you are totally rejecting any of the remote desktop programs out there but it seems like some of those (thought perhaps a tweence tedious) would do the trick.

I would think having a folder or exe open on your Windows desktop, then using a remote desktop App it would be simplicity to click the file or exe....

Am I missing something?

 

[Stupifier]

I see your point Muab....and I may actually just give up looking for a solution and go with something similar to what you are mentioning...just out of pure exhaustion.

Consider this though:
-all the screens and time it takes to even get to your computer desktop using these apps.
-On your phones homescreen, Instead of clicking on a shortcut to open said command, you click a shortcut to open your Remote Desktop app....log in....do whatever it takes to see computer desktop, click with mouse to open said file.

I've seen many of these apps....they all pretty much follow that flow of commands to get something done. You don't see any bloat here? As an engineer.....I see ALOT of unnecessary actions. Gimme a shortcut on my phone that runs a specific command prompt or something...jesus...so much more versatile.

Anyone agree?

 

[treborcj]

I use ES File Explorer on the phone to view contents of the folder I specify on my computer.

 

[muab]

I see your point Muab....and I may actually just give up looking for a solution and go with something similar to what you are mentioning...just out of pure exhaustion.

Consider this though:
-all the screens and time it takes to even get to your computer desktop using these apps.
-On your phones homescreen, Instead of clicking on a shortcut to open said command, you click a shortcut to open your Remote Desktop app....log in....do whatever it takes to see computer desktop, click with mouse to open said file.

I've seen many of these apps....they all pretty much follow that flow of commands to get something done. You don't see any bloat here? As an engineer.....I see ALOT of unnecessary actions. Gimme a shortcut on my phone that runs a specific command prompt or something...jesus...so much more versatile.

Anyone agree?

yes, I do see your point, and I think you do have a valid object for an App. Of course there MAY be an App out there that does this and I/we do not know about it.
Am I the only one amazed that the Android Market is so difficult to search considering the association with Google? I find it somewhat baffling.

If you do come across something like this let me know.

I am going to check and see if anyone has heard of something like this in the Root board since that gets a little more attention from the developer/high tech crowd than this subforum generally does.

Cheers.

 

[Stupifier]

I use ES File Explorer on the phone to view contents of the folder I specify on my computer.

This is all well and good...I use this APP as well (and Astro) to view things on my computer...but I actually want to quickly tell my computer to OPEN things. Thanks for the thought though.

yes, I do see your point, and I think you do have a valid object for an App. Of course there MAY be an App out there that does this and I/we do not know about it.
Am I the only one amazed that the Android Market is so difficult to search considering the association with Google? I find it somewhat baffling.

If you do come across something like this let me know.

I am going to check and see if anyone has heard of something like this in the Root board since that gets a little more attention from the developer/high tech crowd than this subforum generally does.

Cheers.

Thanks for the support Muab. I have tried searching around a few areas of a few different forums for solutions....no good answers. If you find something of interest, bring it to my attention.

Yes, I do feel as though Android Market is difficult to search for what you want. Appbrain and most other Mirror markets are equally difficult.

And, Of course I will post here if I find a true solution to my Remote App woes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone else reading....please help if you know of a solution.

EDIT:
Might as well just post this up in the App Idea thread around here for kicks.....doubt anyone cares though.

 

[muab]

This is all well and good...I use this APP as well (and Astro) to view things on my computer...but I actually want to quickly tell my computer to OPEN things. Thanks for the thought though.



Thanks for the support Muab. I have tried searching around a few areas of a few different forums for solutions....no good answers. If you find something of interest, bring it to my attention.

Yes, I do feel as though Android Market is difficult to search for what you want. Appbrain and most other Mirror markets are equally difficult.

And, Of course I will post here if I find a true solution to my Remote App woes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone else reading....please help if you know of a solution.

EDIT:
Might as well just post this up in the App Idea thread around here for kicks.....doubt anyone cares though.

It does seem like an application that could be pretty spiffy. I will check and see if my son can make something like this. He develops some Apps.

He has a nifty Chrome Plug-in for encryption that I think is pretty cool.

Good luck

 

[Stupifier]

Just to update everyone:

I searched for a long time. I found apps that basically allow you to execute customizable commands and such.....but with the bloated screen jumping and button pressing.

So, you have to jump through a bunch of screens on your phone to do it....WHY? No "Control Your Computer" app out there currently supports the creation of Shortcuts on the Phone's homescreen to do anything. Guess none of the designers feel users like shortcuts....hmmmmm. I DO!

Sorry to be hard on designers here...but seriously, the level of fluid efficiency in accomplishing anything on these apps is ridiculous. This is especially true when you know if could be so much faster and more powerful. All these apps are meant for convenience.....therefore, they should be as convenient as possible....minimum clicks, minimum eye contact, minimum screens jumping. That is the point of controlling your PC from your phone.....CONVENIENCE. Sorry for ranting.....but these programmers need to think about more than just the code and principle construct.

Note: if anyone is interested in the apps I found that accomplished the above....I can give you links. Frankly, they were cool and allowed users to do many many many things. They did cost money. In conclusion, I don't care how many things your app can do if you don't make it easy to actually do it......

 

[ukulele_ninja]

Set up a VPN and when you get it working OTA let me know Seriously though, what your wanting to do is setup a VPN server.

 

[Stupifier]

I have already looked into VPN servers and tried a few. None of the client apps for android allow for creation of shortcuts on phone homescreen to accomplish an action.

If you know of a VPN android app that DOES allow this.....that is what I want.

EDIT:
For example, I tried Android-vnc-viewer (android-vnc-viewer - Android app on AppBrain)

They do have a Homescreen shortcut option...but it is limited to just connecting you to a specific computer...you can't customize the shortcut to actually connect and do some preset command. This is written about here:
Documentation - android-vnc-viewer - Project Hosting on Google Code

Edit: I can see how this may sound picky as Android-vnc-Viewer does have the shortcut feature....but honestly, it only allows the shortcut to just jump you into a connection with the computer.......

Lets see......you just made yourself only about 2-3 screen-jumps/Button-Touches faster. An improvement...yes, but still pretty weak shortcut.

 

[owtroid]

I see all these "Remote Control Your Computer" apps out there allowing you to use the keyboard/mouse and see visual screenshots of your computer.....very nice and cool looking...but not too practical.

Is there an app out there that allows me to Open a file (exe, mp3, avi, etc) on Computer from my phone? I don't care about viewing it on my Phone or anything like that. I just want to send a command to my computer that tells it to open a specific file. It is really dumb to have to fiddle through all sorts of Mouse/Keyboard/Screenshots to do this with all the current apps out there.

I only want to press a button on my phone.....to open a specific file on my computer.....is it really that hard to do? Why no apps for this?

-----------------------------------------------------

The closest app I have found is gPad (links below). This app only allows connection via WiFi though and not over internet (damn). In short, this app allows you to send Keystroke combinations to your computer by pressing a single pre-programmed button. I could use this to open specific files on my computer (via a global hotkey open command). Still this fails as it is only WiFi

gPad remote for android - HOME
gPad remote - Android app on AppBrain

Please help me find a solution to my problem. It does not even have to be an app. It could be a server client I setup on my computer that is accessed via a website on my phone for control (no phone app needed).

Hi!

I see that this question is quite old so maybe you've already found something. If not, I published an app called Remote Launcher recently that may work for you.

Remote Launcher is an easy to use tool that enables you to start applications remotely on your PC via your Android device. It consists of an Android app and a small server program for your PC.

You can configure Remote Launcher to start any application on your PC with a single click on your Android device, e.g. start your mediacenter, shutdown/restart the computer or run a custom script. There is no widget for the home screen available yet though. If you want to open specific files (and not just launch a program) you can add that file as an argument to the program that you normally would use to open it with (e.g. Notepad myfile.txt).

You can use Remote Launcher with any internet connection, not just wifi. But if the server you want to control is behind a router and you are not on the same router you will have to make sure that the correct port is forwarded to your pc.

The Remote Launcher server is written in Java so it should work on any pc with the Java Runtime Enviromnment installed (version 1.6 or later), be it Linux, Windows or Mac OS. It has been tested on Ubuntu and Windows 7.

The free version (with ads) is available here:
http://market.android.com/details?id=com.owtroid.remotelauncherfree

A $0.99 version without ads is available here:
http://market.android.com/details?id=com.owtroid.remotelauncher

Downloads for the server, installation and usage instructions are available on the project wiki:
Remote Launcher - RemoteLauncher

And a screenshot:

 

[AngryHatter]

This will only open a specific program? Or does it allow for remote control of the desktop?

 

[owtroid]

This will only open a specific program? Or does it allow for remote control of the desktop?

It will only open specific programs (several can be configured and chosen between in a list). The idea is to be an easy to use alternative to more complex remote control tools like vnc or ssh for when you just want to start a program or some script etc.

I use it mostly to start my mediacenter without having to leave the couch (and then switch to the remote control application for my mediacenter) or to shutdown my pc...