Hi folks,
I've got an idea for a new widget, but I'd like to know whether or not it's a feasible one.
Since I've not found any all-in-one audio apps that I like, I use many different ones: MixZing for music, Mortplayer for audiobooks, BeyondPod for podcasts, Pandora and Slacker for radio, and Cherry rPlayer for Shoutcast. With all of these different players, I don't like having widgets for each of them on my homescreen, and really just don't have room for all of them.
My idea is an all-in-one (well, many-in-one at least) music control widget that keeps track of what audio app is playing music and allows for pausing and skipping forward/back. If the music is paused, it keeps track of which program was last playing music so that if it is unpaused it knows which app to restart playback. It should be something visually simple, it doesn't even have to display track info (though it would be nice if it could).
Is this even a feasible idea for an app/widget? My biggest concern is whether or not there can be inter-process communication for skipping and other controls. I've seen apps in the market such as Shake2PlayNext which seems to be able to force multiple apps (default player, Mort Player, MixZing, Roxon, Meridian, andLess, Rhapsody, Last.fm, doubleTwist, Astro Player) to skip, and Instant Lyrics which knows which songs multiple apps (Last.FM, Meridian, MixZing, Mort, RockOn) are playing and is able to pull in lyrics, which leads me to believe that it is possible.
I'm new to Java programming and Android programming in general (I've got some experience with coding in C), so I've got no idea if it is or not - all I've done so far is to write a hello world app and get a hello world widget. I don't want to invest a lot of time into this and later find out that it's just not possible. If somebody who has experience with Android thinks it is, any tips on how I'd go about implementing the idea? (Or, if any Android developers think this is a good idea, any takers? I'd be willing to drop a couple of bucks in the market.)
If something like this already exists in (or out of) the market and I've just missed it when searching around, please, let me know
TL;DR: I want to make a widget that controls multiple audio apps. Is this a realistic idea? Any tips?
I've got an idea for a new widget, but I'd like to know whether or not it's a feasible one.
Since I've not found any all-in-one audio apps that I like, I use many different ones: MixZing for music, Mortplayer for audiobooks, BeyondPod for podcasts, Pandora and Slacker for radio, and Cherry rPlayer for Shoutcast. With all of these different players, I don't like having widgets for each of them on my homescreen, and really just don't have room for all of them.
My idea is an all-in-one (well, many-in-one at least) music control widget that keeps track of what audio app is playing music and allows for pausing and skipping forward/back. If the music is paused, it keeps track of which program was last playing music so that if it is unpaused it knows which app to restart playback. It should be something visually simple, it doesn't even have to display track info (though it would be nice if it could).
Is this even a feasible idea for an app/widget? My biggest concern is whether or not there can be inter-process communication for skipping and other controls. I've seen apps in the market such as Shake2PlayNext which seems to be able to force multiple apps (default player, Mort Player, MixZing, Roxon, Meridian, andLess, Rhapsody, Last.fm, doubleTwist, Astro Player) to skip, and Instant Lyrics which knows which songs multiple apps (Last.FM, Meridian, MixZing, Mort, RockOn) are playing and is able to pull in lyrics, which leads me to believe that it is possible.
I'm new to Java programming and Android programming in general (I've got some experience with coding in C), so I've got no idea if it is or not - all I've done so far is to write a hello world app and get a hello world widget. I don't want to invest a lot of time into this and later find out that it's just not possible. If somebody who has experience with Android thinks it is, any tips on how I'd go about implementing the idea? (Or, if any Android developers think this is a good idea, any takers? I'd be willing to drop a couple of bucks in the market.)
If something like this already exists in (or out of) the market and I've just missed it when searching around, please, let me know
TL;DR: I want to make a widget that controls multiple audio apps. Is this a realistic idea? Any tips?
