PirateBox Reloaded - Episode III

Version 0.4.4 of PirateBox for Android is now available. This post is about the new and noteworthy features of that version.

If tests go well and I have enough feedback I will make PirateBox for Android available at Google Play. So please fill out the questionnaire ... feedback has been very sparse lately.

Droopy Support

The original PirateBox uses Droopy for file upload. PirateBox for Android uses his own mechanism for file uploads. To be compatible Droopy emulation has been introduced. If the Emulate Droopy option is enabled (which it is by default) files can be uploaded by using port 8080.

PirateBox and PirateFox

This makes it possible to use existing file upload tools. For testing the FireFox OS app PirateFox has been used (see image).

In addition to the file upload feature, a number is added to the uploaded file name if the file already exists. In earlier versions files with the same name were silently overwritten.

Info Widget

Info Widget

To make it easier to see if files were uploaded or new messages are available the new version contains a new widget which displays this information.

The counters should update automatically. If that does not work, you can force an update by tapping the widget.

Tasker/Locale Plugin

To make automation easier the latest version contains a Tasker/Locale plugin.
With this plugin it is possible to define tasks to switch the PirateBox on/off automatically.

Tasker

It has to be noted, that there are problems when using WiFi on/off as trigger. This is likely to not work as expected. I hope I'll be able to fix that in upcoming versions.

Status Broadcasts

This might only be interesting for developers but it is now possible to request the status of the PirateBox externally via broadcast. The new Info Widget uses this functionality and might serve as example.

The broadcast action used for the status request is de.fun2code.android.piratebox.broadcast.intent.STATUS_REQUEST and the PirateBox app will respond with a de.fun2code.android.piratebox.broadcast.intent.STATUS_RESULT broadcast which contains the following extras:

SERVER_STATE
  boolean value: true if the server is running, otherwise false

UPLOAD_NUMBER
  int value: number of uploaded files

SHOUT_NUMBER
  int value: number of shout/chat messages

UPLOAD_DIR
  String value: upload directory location

SHOUT_DIR
  String value: shout/chat directory location


That's it for the new version ... looking forward to receiving more feedback :)