Supplementary Info For The Automagic Site Help Section
Posted: 01 Oct 2016 16:59
The AUTOMAGIC web site is: automagic4android.com
I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Tablet E (SM-T560NU) running Android v6.0.1 and I also bought AM (Automagic) in order to create some apps and widgets. I began to learn how to use AM by going to the Help section of the above web site. I had some small difficulties and prepared the following info in the hope it may help other beginners with some of the examples from that site's Help section. As of Sep 26, 2016, this site includes a Help section with some examples (aka tutorials). The two that I built are called: 1) Creating the First Flow and 2) Creating a Custom Widget.
The following discusses the example "Creating a Custom Widget". If you go to the main menu and select "Help" then "Creating a Custom Widget", you will see this example which helps a beginner create their first widget. I am a beginner and I wrote the following to help other beginners.
ADDING ACTIONS TO THE WIDGET.
The text explains that once you get your widget working, you can tap on the upper half in order to run the "device clock app" and you can tap on the lower half to run the "battery usage summary". For those people who may not know, the "device clock app" is the app named "Clock" and the "battery usage summary" is the app that runs when you select "Settings" then "Battery". For people who may not know that, it could be a problem to understand what is meant.
The text explains you need to create two text elements. The text shows the following two text elements:
The first one contains "{getDate().dateformat,HH:mm} and the second one contains "{com.android.settings/fuelgauge.PowerUsageSummary}"
My widget did not work when I entered those two text strings. I asked for help in the User Forum and Martin (the moderator) explained that the names of apps can be different for different devices or different versions of the Android O/S. He advised me that instead of typing the Package Name from a keyboard, I should select the [...] button at the right side of the Package Name. That will list all the different names allowed by the system and I could then select the correct one. Indeed, the names on my device were different. The following are the correct names for my device and O/S:
com.sec.android.app.clockpackage
com.android.settings/.fuelguage.PowerUsageSummary
I want to tell you that when selecting the [...] button at the right side of the Package Name, the system displayed a huge list of names. One technique you may find will make this operation much easier is to use the search icon (the magnifying glass) that is also displayed near the [...] button. I searched for the string "clock" and that quickly produced a list of three names that contained the string "clock". That was so much quicker and easier than scrolling through page after page of names. I hope you will find that using this search icon will make things easier for you.
Consider the differences between these two text strings. See the slash ("/") in the second name? That means there are two components to the text string. The Package Name is "com.android.settings". But it also contains a Class Name which is "fuelguage.PowerUsageSummary". When entering the first text entry, there is only one field - the Package Name. But the second text entry contains two fields - the Package Name and the Class Name. I'm guessing the idea is that some apps (like "Settings") contain a number of different choices within the package. One of those is the Power Usage Summary. For those packages, you have to enter both a Package name and a Class name. Both have a [...] button as well as a search icon to help you find the correct name.
ADDING THE WIDGET TO THE LAUNCHER
If you have never before selected a widget and added it to one of your home screens, it can be a fair bit more involved than explained in the text. This really has nothing to do with AM. It's a technique that applies to Android devices. Logically, it should not be AM's responsibility to explain how to do this. But if you are a beginner and have never done this before, you may need some help and the following info may help you accomplish this task.
If you already know how to select an existing widget and move it to one of your home screens, you can skip this section or just skim through it as needed. But since this process can be different for different devices and versions of Android, I think the following info may help anyone trying this for the first time. The text states there are two ways to add your widget to the launcher.
1) "Open the widget drawer by opening the Apps drawer and switch to the widgets tab. Press and hold AM Custom Widget to add your widget to one of the home screens."
2) "Depending on device, Android version and manufacturer, you can also add a widget by long-pressing a free area on the home screen and by selecting Widgets in the popup dialog."
Apparently, the first way no longer applies. But I got this to work using the second way. Beginners may need to know there is more than one way to select the Widgets screen. I have used two different versions of the Android O/S and the method was different in both versions. I will explain how my current O/S works and hope that may help you accomplish this task on your device:
a) Go to any home screen and tap and hold any empty spot on the screen (aka "long tap"). When you do that, the screen seems to shrink to about 75% of its original size and near the bottom of the screen you can see two icons named: "Wallpapers" and "Widgets". If you tap the Widgets icon, you will see a number of different widgets displayed on a few different screens (maybe 3 to 6 screens depending on the version of your O/S). Select the Widgets screen, containing the AM widgets.
b) On one of the screens (the first screen on my system) you will see a section called "Automagic Premium (3)" with a number of icons under that name. On my device, the number "(3)" seems to mean there are three icons under the name. If you tap the first icon (called "AM Custom Widget"), it will open a new screen with the three icons in a window. You need to tap and hold the first icon and then drag it to one of the home screens. But you're not finished yet.
c) After you drag the small icon named "AM Custom widget" to one of the home screens, you are put back into the AM app that contains the name of your widget. At the top of the screen, it says "Select a Widget". If you then tap on the name bar of the widget (mine is named "Info Widget" and I think the text requested that you name your widget the same), you will be put back into the home screen and you will see your widget on the home screen. It will appear in a small "resizing window". You can set the size as you like and then tap on that window and that will leave your widget on the home screen and you should be all set. Phew! That sure was a complicated process. I hope this info may help some of you.
I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy Tablet E (SM-T560NU) running Android v6.0.1 and I also bought AM (Automagic) in order to create some apps and widgets. I began to learn how to use AM by going to the Help section of the above web site. I had some small difficulties and prepared the following info in the hope it may help other beginners with some of the examples from that site's Help section. As of Sep 26, 2016, this site includes a Help section with some examples (aka tutorials). The two that I built are called: 1) Creating the First Flow and 2) Creating a Custom Widget.
The following discusses the example "Creating a Custom Widget". If you go to the main menu and select "Help" then "Creating a Custom Widget", you will see this example which helps a beginner create their first widget. I am a beginner and I wrote the following to help other beginners.
ADDING ACTIONS TO THE WIDGET.
The text explains that once you get your widget working, you can tap on the upper half in order to run the "device clock app" and you can tap on the lower half to run the "battery usage summary". For those people who may not know, the "device clock app" is the app named "Clock" and the "battery usage summary" is the app that runs when you select "Settings" then "Battery". For people who may not know that, it could be a problem to understand what is meant.
The text explains you need to create two text elements. The text shows the following two text elements:
The first one contains "{getDate().dateformat,HH:mm} and the second one contains "{com.android.settings/fuelgauge.PowerUsageSummary}"
My widget did not work when I entered those two text strings. I asked for help in the User Forum and Martin (the moderator) explained that the names of apps can be different for different devices or different versions of the Android O/S. He advised me that instead of typing the Package Name from a keyboard, I should select the [...] button at the right side of the Package Name. That will list all the different names allowed by the system and I could then select the correct one. Indeed, the names on my device were different. The following are the correct names for my device and O/S:
com.sec.android.app.clockpackage
com.android.settings/.fuelguage.PowerUsageSummary
I want to tell you that when selecting the [...] button at the right side of the Package Name, the system displayed a huge list of names. One technique you may find will make this operation much easier is to use the search icon (the magnifying glass) that is also displayed near the [...] button. I searched for the string "clock" and that quickly produced a list of three names that contained the string "clock". That was so much quicker and easier than scrolling through page after page of names. I hope you will find that using this search icon will make things easier for you.
Consider the differences between these two text strings. See the slash ("/") in the second name? That means there are two components to the text string. The Package Name is "com.android.settings". But it also contains a Class Name which is "fuelguage.PowerUsageSummary". When entering the first text entry, there is only one field - the Package Name. But the second text entry contains two fields - the Package Name and the Class Name. I'm guessing the idea is that some apps (like "Settings") contain a number of different choices within the package. One of those is the Power Usage Summary. For those packages, you have to enter both a Package name and a Class name. Both have a [...] button as well as a search icon to help you find the correct name.
ADDING THE WIDGET TO THE LAUNCHER
If you have never before selected a widget and added it to one of your home screens, it can be a fair bit more involved than explained in the text. This really has nothing to do with AM. It's a technique that applies to Android devices. Logically, it should not be AM's responsibility to explain how to do this. But if you are a beginner and have never done this before, you may need some help and the following info may help you accomplish this task.
If you already know how to select an existing widget and move it to one of your home screens, you can skip this section or just skim through it as needed. But since this process can be different for different devices and versions of Android, I think the following info may help anyone trying this for the first time. The text states there are two ways to add your widget to the launcher.
1) "Open the widget drawer by opening the Apps drawer and switch to the widgets tab. Press and hold AM Custom Widget to add your widget to one of the home screens."
2) "Depending on device, Android version and manufacturer, you can also add a widget by long-pressing a free area on the home screen and by selecting Widgets in the popup dialog."
Apparently, the first way no longer applies. But I got this to work using the second way. Beginners may need to know there is more than one way to select the Widgets screen. I have used two different versions of the Android O/S and the method was different in both versions. I will explain how my current O/S works and hope that may help you accomplish this task on your device:
a) Go to any home screen and tap and hold any empty spot on the screen (aka "long tap"). When you do that, the screen seems to shrink to about 75% of its original size and near the bottom of the screen you can see two icons named: "Wallpapers" and "Widgets". If you tap the Widgets icon, you will see a number of different widgets displayed on a few different screens (maybe 3 to 6 screens depending on the version of your O/S). Select the Widgets screen, containing the AM widgets.
b) On one of the screens (the first screen on my system) you will see a section called "Automagic Premium (3)" with a number of icons under that name. On my device, the number "(3)" seems to mean there are three icons under the name. If you tap the first icon (called "AM Custom Widget"), it will open a new screen with the three icons in a window. You need to tap and hold the first icon and then drag it to one of the home screens. But you're not finished yet.
c) After you drag the small icon named "AM Custom widget" to one of the home screens, you are put back into the AM app that contains the name of your widget. At the top of the screen, it says "Select a Widget". If you then tap on the name bar of the widget (mine is named "Info Widget" and I think the text requested that you name your widget the same), you will be put back into the home screen and you will see your widget on the home screen. It will appear in a small "resizing window". You can set the size as you like and then tap on that window and that will leave your widget on the home screen and you should be all set. Phew! That sure was a complicated process. I hope this info may help some of you.