Hi all,
How to uninstall unwanted applications from the Emulator? The adb command-line only has "install" option, no uninstall option. I tried experimenting and used "-wipe-data" emulator argument. It did delete all apps, but when I reopen and launch emulator, I get "Contacts" provider not responding. What could be the reason? Could the "wipe-data" be the reason? Please guide me to solve this?

My second problem is as follows. I tried running FriendFinder app, and then updated one of my contacts with co-ordinates. But the app is still showing "not set km" for the contact, what is the reason? Is internet access mandatory for GPS? But I am testing from my office where the system is always connected to Internet. What else could be the problem. Please somebody help as quickly as possible for these 2 questions, as time for the contest deadline is fast approaching and I have not even attempted to start on anything.

Thanks and regards,
TVP

Hello tv_sathish,

a "-wipe-data" resets the emulator to its original state (or at least should do).
To uninstall applications form the emulator have a look at the :src: Removing Apps(*.apk-Files) from the Emulator-Tutorial.


The Friend-Finder grabs the Contact-Details every cycle so there is
a.) a problem while querying for the contacts
b.) a typo in your geo-URI

Both problems can be resolved using the debugger.

Regards,
plusminus

Hi Plusminus,
Thank you for the reply. Is the FriendFinder your contest entry? Looks very good, man. If you posted it as a tutorial and not as your contest entry, I really wonder how you come up with such wonderful tutorials. You must have spent a lot of time experimenting because I find the documentation for Android very insufficient.

Can you help me on the following:

1. What is the difference between the various Map applications that have been posted in the "Map applications" forum? What do the TrackBuilder and FriendFinder do differently?

2. When I start the FriendFinder, and debug the program, my GPS location is not set, but it still shows a distance of 2.xxx km, how is this possible and later it increases - strangely when I switch the window and come back, the distance starts decreasing, and then again increases if I do not switch for a minute or two. How do I verify if the GPS values of my location are indeed retrieved. Does the LocationManager retrieve GPS of your current geographical co-ordinates? Then it must have shown a lot of distance as I entered US co-ordinates for the contact and I am in India, but it was just exponentially growing in units of 1. I hope Internet connection is required for GPS to work right, but then how do I ensure that "myLocationManager.getCurrentLocation("gps")" returns correct GPS value?

3. Is there a specific port through which a mobile operator contacts the mobile device to push updates, and messages?

4. What are the NMEA, KML etc.? Can you explain a bit?

5. Does the Android Maps package use Google Map API inturn? I opened the class files inside the JAR, but could not find any reference to any external class? Is there some tutorial on Google Map API? Can we use it in conjuction with Android SDK? (As an aside, which package helps you to connect to Internet and browse in Android SDK?)

6. Finally do you know any lightweight (embedded) speech recognition API (free to use) and also a lightweight speech synthesis (text to speech) API (required for one of my office projects!!)

Thanks and regards,
Sathish

Hello sathish,

tv_sathish wrote:Hi Plusminus,
Thank you for the reply. Is the FriendFinder your contest entry? Looks very good, man. If you posted it as a tutorial and not as your contest entry, I really wonder how you come up with such wonderful tutorials. You must have spent a lot of time experimenting because I find the documentation for Android very insufficient.

No it is not my contest-submission. Yes it took me a lot of time writing all these tutorials, but it is nice to see that some of them have been read more than 10000 (!) times. I'll have another submission (or two or three ^^) starting them with some fellow students in the 1month vacation (pretty short time for 3 projects ^^).

tv_sathish wrote:1. What is the difference between the various Map applications that have been posted in the "Map applications" forum? What do the TrackBuilder and FriendFinder do differently?

FiendFinder shows distances to your contacts and displays them on a map.
TrackBuilder is not my code but its really cool. You can create mock location-providers which the emulator uses (emulator uses no real gps, because no GPS-device is connected!).

tv_sathish wrote:2. When I start the FriendFinder, and debug the program, my GPS location is not set, but it still shows a distance of 2.xxx km, how is this possible and later it increases - strangely when I switch the window and come back, the distance starts decreasing, and then again increases if I do not switch for a minute or two. How do I verify if the GPS values of my location are indeed retrieved. Does the LocationManager retrieve GPS of your current geographical co-ordinates? Then it must have shown a lot of distance as I entered US co-ordinates for the contact and I am in India, but it was just exponentially growing in units of 1. I hope Internet connection is required for GPS to work right, but then how do I ensure that "myLocationManager.getCurrentLocation("gps")" returns correct GPS value?

The LocationManager built into the Emulator is a so called MockLocation_Provider (faking real GPS-values!) For further information have a read on: Mock LocationProvider - Structure/Explanation (NMEA, $GPRMC).

tv_sathish wrote:3. Is there a specific port through which a mobile operator contacts the mobile device to push updates, and messages?

Intents are triggered on FOTA-Events:
Have a closer look at this SDK-Doc-page: http://code.google.com/android/referenc ... ntent.html there search for "FOTA"

FOTA_UPDATE_ACTION Broadcast Action: Trigger the download and eventual installation of an over-the-air (OTA) operating system update.

tv_sathish wrote:4. What are the NMEA, KML etc.? Can you explain a bit?

NMEA is a standard GPS Protocol
KML is a very simple way of storing Location-Data: "KML is a file format used to display geographic data in an Earth browser such as Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Maps for mobile."

tv_sathish wrote:5. Does the Android Maps package use Google Map API inturn? I opened the class files inside the JAR, but could not find any reference to any external class? Is there some tutorial on Google Map API? Can we use it in conjuction with Android SDK? (As an aside, which package helps you to connect to Internet and browse in Android SDK?)

All Maps you see are Google-Maps. You can query for example DrivingDirections ans search for nearby stores. DrivingDirectiosn soon in: AndNav! - Android Map-Routing-System!.

tv_sathish wrote:6. Finally do you know any lightweight (embedded) speech recognition API (free to use) and also a lightweight speech synthesis (text to speech) API (required for one of my office projects!!)

Android does not yet but in future SDK version provide speech recognition and speech synthetis. If have not yet searched for additional tools, sorry.

Sorry for the late and short answer, but I pretty busy these weeks.

Regards,
plusminus