Android Basic Alternative

[Charlie]

Sure - I've produced a display program for a PIC project that is basically collecting sensor data and sending it by BlueTooth. The Android app reads and displays the data, and saves me carrying a laptop for a task a phone can happily do. I have not hit any real limitations with the language other than my imagination. I did uncover a bug and got a load with a fix within a few hours, which is way better than I'd see with a proprietary product.

All the major constructs are there, and all the smart phone platform advantages are accessible like BlueTooth, WIFI, position/motion sensors, GPS, file reads and writes, etc. as well as graphics tools and text dislay tools, and there are tools to produce standalone apps for distribution in Google Play. I guess my only concern is the double edged sword of open source and GPL - you get lots of code to reuse, but you must publish your source so you might lose any competitive advantage. Perfect for a hobbyist, and still usable commercially with caution.

Not a lot of posts, though, so I'm guessing not a lot of PBP folks are using it - or maybe not even doing Android.

[Normnet]

Does RFO basic include the advanced feature of "Ad Hoc WiFi" or point to point WiFi?

Norm

[Charlie]

Hi Norm. I'm not sure - I have not played with WIFI yet. In general RFOB uses the android/java/linux existing infrastructure to set up physical or transport layer stuff, then uses sockets or defined buffer accesses to move data in and out of those layers. So if your version of Android supports PTP WIFI (I don't think my old 2.3.3 does) you should be able to use it. RFOB really wraps the existing Java and hides the complexity to get you going fast without a huge learning curve.

But I'm pretty much a newbie too... I'm just looking for something that doesn't require me to write a dozen pages of objects to type "hello World" on the screen. B4A is nice for a big collaborative projects, but I don't generally do any of those. RFOB might just serve all of my needs. The manual is quite good. I'm not sure about other language alternatives if they even exist, hence my original post.

[mackrackit]

Not a lot of posts, though, so I'm guessing not a lot of PBP folks are using it - or maybe not even doing Android.

From what I have seen I do not think that there are that many here working with Android.

I am going to try RFOB when I get time. Not sure when that will be though.

[rsocor01]

From what I have seen I do not think that there are that many here working with Android.

Well, I have been using Basic4Android for a while. Unlike Charlie, I do like the fact that the program is object oriented. I think that it been object oriented it makes my life much easier.

Robert

[spcw1234]

I also am using B4A, though only a few simple apps so far. Learning how to make your app work with different screen sizes has been my biggest hurdle. Still having trouble with that I will check out RFO basic. Thanks for the link.

[Tobias]

I have been working with B4A for a couple of months and like it. Now trying to get PIC connected to a BT module to talk in Prefix mode. If any of you guys have experience I would appreciate some input.

I define all variables as BYTES. B4A crashes when it receives the data.

Send_BT:
  Prefix1=0
  Prefix2=0
  Prefix3=0
  Prefix4=4
  RPM1T=34
  RPM2T=65
  RPM3T=232
  RPM4T=45
  debug Prefix1,Prefix2,Prefix3,Prefix4,RPM1T,RPM2T,RPM3T,RPM4T
Return

[spcw1234]

Did you ever get this working with prefix mode? I am struggling with the exact same thing. I can view the data with prefix disabled, but it crashes (doesn't like the prefix) when using prefix mode. Any tips appreciated.

[Tobias]

I did get it working. The one thing that was kicking my ass if I remember right was the True/False for BigEndian.

AStream.InitializePrefix(Main.serial1.InputStream, True, Main.serial1.OutputStream, "AStream")

Also I had to look around to set the BPS right. I am sending at 9600 currently

Incoming= BytesToString(Buffer, 0, Buffer.Length, "ISO8859_1")

Here is the PBP side of the Bluetooth TX

Send_BT: 'Sends data assembled from control boards and outputs to the XOOM
  RPM1R=RPM1R+1000                                
  RPM2R=RPM2R+1000',2
  RPM3R=RPM3R+1000'1
  RPM4R=RPM4R+1000'0
  RPM5R=RPM5R+1000                                   
  RPM6R=RPM6R+1000
  RPM7R=RPM7R+1000
  RPM8R=RPM8R+1000
  RPM9R=RPM9R+1000
  RPM10R=RPM10R+1000
  RPM11R=RPM11R+1000
  RPM12R=RPM12R+1000
  RPM13R=RPM13R+1000
  RPM14R=RPM14R+1000
  RPM15R=RPM15R+1000
  RPM16R=RPM16R+1000
  RPM17R=RPM17R+1000
  RPM18R=RPM18R+1000
  RPM19R=RPM19R+1000
  RPM20R=RPM20R+1000
  RPM21R=RPM21R+1000
  RPM22R=RPM22R+1000
  RPM23R=RPM23R+1000
  RPM24R=RPM24R+1000  
  Prefix1=248
  Prefix2=0
  Prefix3=0
  Prefix4=0
  RadarTotal=radartotal+1000
  debug Prefix1,Prefix2,Prefix3,Prefix4,"R,",dec4 RadarTotal,",",dec4 RPM1R,",",dec4 RPM2R,",",dec4 RPM3R,",",dec4 RPM4R,",",dec4 RPM5R,",",dec4 RPM6R,",",dec4 RPM7R,",",dec4 RPM8R,",",dec4 RPM9R,",",dec4 RPM10R,_
                                                       ",",dec4 RPM11R,",",dec4 RPM12R,",",dec4 RPM13R,",",dec4 RPM14R,",",dec4 RPM15R,",",dec4 RPM16R,",",dec4 RPM17R,",",dec4 RPM18R,_
                                                       ",",dec4 RPM19R,",",dec4 RPM20R,",",dec4 RPM21R,",",dec4 RPM22R,",",dec4 RPM23R,",",dec4 RPM24R,",",dec4 RPM1R,",",dec4 RPM2R,_
                                                       ",",dec4 RPM3R,",",dec4 RPM4R,",",dec4 RPM5R,",",dec4 RPM6R,",",dec4 RPM7R,",",dec4 RPM8R,",",dec4 RPM9R,",",dec4 RPM10R,_
                                                       ",",dec4 RPM11R,",",dec4 RPM12R,",",dec4 RPM13R,",",dec4 RPM14R,",",dec4 RPM15R,",",dec4 RPM16R,",",dec4 RPM17R,",",dec4 RPM18R,_
                                                       ",",dec4 RPM19R,",",dec4 RPM20R,",",dec4 RPM21R,",",dec4 RPM22R,",",dec4 RPM23R,",",dec4 RPM24R,",","E"
  'serout2 lcd,16468,[Prefix,CursorPS,0,dec RPM1T,",",dec RPM2T,",",dec RPM3T,",",dec RPM4T]
Return

Here is the Bluetooth RX side on the Xoom/B4A

Sub AStream_NewData (Buffer() As Byte)
	'Log( BytesToString(Buffer, 0, Buffer.Length, "ISO8859_1"))    
	Dim Incoming As String
	Dim Start As Int
	Dim Stop As Int
	'sAmount As Int
    'LogMessage("INTERFACE", BytesToString(Buffer, 0, Buffer.Length, "ISO8859_1"))
	Log( BytesToString(Buffer, 0, Buffer.Length, "ISO8859_1"))
	Incoming= BytesToString(Buffer, 0, Buffer.Length, "ISO8859_1")
    Start = Incoming.IndexOf("R")
	Stop = Incoming.IndexOf("E")

	If ScrId>3 Then
	''''''''''
	If SimSpeedYN="Yes" Then 
	  MPH = SimSpeed
	  MaxRPM=(30/PC)*(RS/30)*(MPH)*0.168*(txtMasterPop.text/1000)
	  txtRPM.Text = NumberFormat(MaxRPM,0,1)
	 Else
      MPH = (Incoming.SubString2(Start +2,Stop -241))
	  'If MPH>0 Then 
        MPH=(MPH-1000)          '''''''''THis is for hard coded MPH
	    MPH=Radar/MPH
	    txtMPH.Text=NumberFormat(MPH,0,1)
        MaxRPM=(30/PC)*(RS/30)*(MPH)*0.168*(txtMasterPop.text/1000)
	    txtRPM.Text = NumberFormat(MaxRPM,0,1)
			    'MPH="0"
	    'txtMPH.Text=0
      ' Else
	   ' MPH="0"
	   ' txtMPH.Text=0
	   ' txtRPM.Text = 0	
	  'End If
	End If   
	  
	Log("MPH " & MPH)
      If EPD>0 Then
	    If MPH>0 Then 
 	      Row1 = (Incoming.SubString2(Start +7,Stop -236))
	      Row2 = (Incoming.SubString2(Start +12,Stop -231))
	      Row3 = (Incoming.SubString2(Start +17,Stop -226))
	      Row4 = (Incoming.SubString2(Start +22,Stop -221))
	      txtRow1.Text = NumberFormat(((Row1-1000)/(((30/PC)*(RS/30)*MPH*0.168)*10)),0,2)
	      txtMR1.Text=   NumberFormat((((txtRow1.Text*1000)/txtMasterPop.Text)),1,3)
	      txtRow2.Text = NumberFormat(((Row2-1000)/(((30/PC)*(RS/30)*MPH*0.168)*10)),0,2)
	      txtMR2.Text=   NumberFormat((((txtRow2.Text*1000)/txtMasterPop.Text)),1,3)
	      txtRow3.Text = NumberFormat(((Row3-1000)/(((30/PC)*(RS/30)*MPH*0.168)*10)),0,2)
	      txtMR3.Text=   NumberFormat((((txtRow3.Text*1000)/txtMasterPop.Text)),1,3)
	      txtRow4.Text = NumberFormat(((Row4-1000)/(((30/PC)*(RS/30)*MPH*0.168)*10)),0,2)
	      txtMR4.Text=   NumberFormat((((txtRow4.Text*1000)/txtMasterPop.Text)),1,3)
		 Else
	      txtRow1.Text=0
	      txtMR1.Text=0
	      txtRow2.Text=0
	      txtMR2.Text=0
	      txtRow3.Text=0
	      txtMR3.Text=0
	      txtRow4.Text=0
	      txtMR4.Text=0		 
		End If
		Dim MPHTest As Short
		MPHTest=0
		txtMPHZ.Text=MPHTest
      End If 
      If EPD>1 Then 
 	    Row5 = (Incoming.SubString2(Start +27,Stop -216))
	    Row6 = (Incoming.SubString2(Start +32,Stop -211))
	    Row7 = (Incoming.SubString2(Start +37,Stop -206))
	    Row8 = (Incoming.SubString2(Start +42,Stop -201))
	    txtRow5.Text = NumberFormat(((Row5-1000)/(((30/PC)*(RS/30)*MPH*0.168)*10)),0,2)
	    txtMR5.Text=   NumberFormat((((txtRow5.Text*1000)/txtMasterPop.Text)),1,3)
	    txtRow6.Text = NumberFormat(((Row6-1000)/(((30/PC)*(RS/30)*MPH*0.168)*10)),0,2)
	    txtMR6.Text=   NumberFormat((((txtRow6.Text*1000)/txtMasterPop.Text)),1,3)
	    txtRow7.Text = NumberFormat(((Row7-1000)/(((30/PC)*(RS/30)*MPH*0.168)*10)),0,2)
	    txtMR7.Text=   NumberFormat((((txtRow7.Text*1000)/txtMasterPop.Text)),1,3)
	    txtRow8.Text = NumberFormat(((Row8-1000)/(((30/PC)*(RS/30)*MPH*0.168)*10)),0,2)
	    txtMR8.Text=   NumberFormat((((txtRow8.Text*1000)/txtMasterPop.Text)),1,3)
      End If
 end sub

To make sure I was calculating the Prefix right I found this website that allowed me to type in data and it would calculate the size for me
http://mothereff.in/byte-counter