FrontlineSMS for Android

[Mathias Lin]

There were many comments on the Android screenshots I posted, so I would like to move the discussion into the forum.

I am currently working on an Android port of \o/, which at the moment is in an early stage, the open source project is on github at https://github.com/mathiaslin/frontlinesms-for-android/wiki. Developers, testers, translators are welcome to join :)

 

I welcome any feedback and ideas while the development is progressing, especially:

• who could/would be interested in using an Android based version (which has the basic functionality, but would not have any plugin support in the beginning).
• info on concrete use cases (field of usage, location, availability of Android devices)
• which features are mostly demanded
  • how important is scheduled execution of actions (reply, forward, etc.)
  • how important is it to be able to execute multiple actions for one keyword - or do you mainly just execute one action per keyword

I myself am based in China, getting Android devices is not much of a problem here. I have no experience on Africa myself (yet, unfortunately).

 

As mentioned, the project is still under development, and open issues / ToDo's are listed here.

 

Any comments can be posted into this thread.

 

[Mathias Lin]

1) if you set up another Google account in the Android settings, the contacts of that account would also be synced to the native contacts app in Android, therefore you should be able to fetch these contacts and groups as well. However, at the moment you can't select between different Google account in the FSMS app, you would simply just see all contacts of both accounts.

 

2) Jobs is for scheduled tasks, for example Android has a limitation to send out a certain number of sms per hour, i.e. the limit is 100 SMS per hour. So if more than 100 SMS needs to be sent right away, these deliveries need to be scheduled with a certain delay. However, the job section is still work in progress.

 

[Jorge L. Alonso G.]

Thanks again, Mathias. I saw something in the new version of the app that may be silly but I am going to comment you anyway. Since I downloaded the application in my android phone (Samsung Galaxy X), I see the FrontlineSMS logo on the notification list in the upper left. This logo is always there!!. I deleted the app of my android and I reloaded it again .... and same thing happened. By going to the application in the notification list, says "FrontineSMS is started" and if I do click on it, the application always opens on "Jobs".

[Mathias Lin]

Hi Jorge, can't reply to your post somehow, so I reply here:

yes, that's correct, the icon is there all the time and indicates that the FrontlineSMS service (background service) is running. That's intentional so that the user can see that the app and it's service is running, even if it's in the background.

Did you have the issue with the duplicate deliveries with this new version or the old one?

[Jorge L. Alonso G.]

Hi Mathias, Yes, I have the issue with the duplicate deliveries with this new version.

[Jorge L. Alonso G.]

Hi Mathias,

 

I have made changes in the contacts list from my Gmail account but these did not reflected in the application of FrontlineSMS. I will tell you how I have configured my phone:

Settings / Accounts and Sync /  General sync settings

Background data: OK

Auto-sync: OK

Settings / Accounts and Sync /  Manage accounts

[e-mail] is ON

 

When I make click in that email address, appear: 

 

Sync Contacts: OK

 

*****

 

My list of gropups in the FLSMS app is:

 

Family

vnd.sec.contact.phone

 

Friends

vnd.sec.contact.phone

 

Starred in Android

[e-mail]

 

Work

vnd.sec.contact.phone

 

However, the only group that I created called Familia (in Spanish) and even yesterday I had three phone numbers, just add another.... but this change is not reflected in the app.

 

Thanks for your assistance

 

Jorge

[Jorge L. Alonso G.]

It works now! I deleted the group called "Familia" and I created a group called "Family". The bad is that now the FLSMS app show me two groups called "Family" :-(

[Mathias Lin]

Always best to check the timestamp next to the sync in the sync settings, and see when the last sync has completed, based on that timestamp.

System groups should not be shown in FLSMS, which means all groups that have a 'System group' in their name, as it's usual the case with the default 'Family' and 'Friends' group, since we assume that those are usually not used in any FrontlineSMS project.

 

As for the duplicate groups: FLSMS only reflects the groups and contacts that are synced onto the system, there no sync logic within FLSMS, it only reflects what it can find on the Android system. If it shows two family groups, then there are probably now two family groups on the system, if the sync has completed all the way. Do these two family groups show the same contacts inside? Is the sync completed finished? And you surely don't have two family groups in the Google contacts web client, right?

Feel free to update me via Skype (mathias.lin), even though I might not always be able to answer the question right away, it might be a faster way to  investigate the issues.

[Jorge L. Alonso G.]

My Internet speed is low, so I decided turn off to Skype because it was consumed a lot of resources :-(

To send you my last question, I had to change the the language, in the settings of my phone, from Spanish to English... and I think this have been part of my confusion.

Little by little I am going to understand the logic of Gmail. I made ​​some changes to my contact list, and now I see five groups, after the latest synchronization with FLSMS: four groups set by default by Gmail (Amigos, Familia, Starred in Android y Trabajo) and one group created by myself  for the mobile numbers of my family, called "Mi familia".

Inside the group called "Familia", set by default by Gmail, there are three mobile numbers that I have been unable to delete. But hey, the important thing is that now I can manage the groups of my contacts and sync them with my Android device :-)

 

 

 

[Mathias Lin]

Yes, switching languages should result in different group names. Amigos, Friends, etc. For testing FLSMS it's best to create a separate test group, not using the system ones. Right now, all system groups starting with "System group" in the name should automatically be ignored. However, we only check for the English name, I am not sure if they are called differently internally when switching to a different language. To avoid any problems with that, just create a separate group or groups, then those will for sure not be system groups and also not recognized as such.

[Jorge L. Alonso G.]

Hi Mathias,

Again me. I will probably to start to use the app in 1-2 weeks. Could you solve the issue with the duplicate deliveries?

Another question:

I found this information in the FrontlineSMS forum:

"FrontlineSMS as a SMS->Twitter-Gateway

- you need a twittermail.com-account, where you get a specific email-address linked to ur twitteraccount. all the mails to this Account get tweeted out, and u have to define whether it's the main text(140char) or the re.-line which gets tweeted. I have chosen the re.-line

- then in Frontlinie you define an email forwrading of all incoming sms to that specific twittermail-address, that's Why its a 'no keyword' forwarding, bcs there is no filtering.

- Specify in Frontlinie that the text of the SMS is in the email header. It's somewhere in the emailforwrading settings."

How I can do the second step? It is possible to do it in the app?

How always.... thanks for your assistance.

Regards

Jorge

 

 

[Mathias Lin]

Hi Jorge,

about the second question:

what did you mean with 're-line' ? The reply-to email address in the header, or what is the exact header field name? Is it possible to change the settings to the actual content?

Currently the app does not forward anything in the email header, only as body content or in the subject line. You could use this variable in the subject as well as content field: ${message_content}

 

For the duplicate delivery, I will need to run some tests, since I could not reproduce the problem with the account I have setup. When I sent, it only sent each message once. 

Is the recipient getting the duplicate messages at the same time, or with some delay in between? Do you see the duplicate messages in the sent folder of the native 'messages' app as well?

 

- Mathias

[Jorge L. Alonso G.]

Hi Mathias,

I expressed badly. Sorry. What I wonder is how I can forward a SMS to a Twitter account, through FrontlineSMS app, according the information that I found in the FrontlineSMS forum? I mean, I have already the twittermail.com-account, and I already tested it with success. Now I need to configurate the settings of the app.... and that is what I do not know how to do :-(

Yes, the recipient is getting the duplicate messages at the same time.

Once my family are wakes up, I will send a SMS and I will see the duplicate messages in the sent folder of the native 'messages' app.

Jorge