Office Hours — Today, October 21

Tuesday, October 19

Oct 21
7:50 PM
Mark M.
has entered the room
Mark M.
turned on guest access
8:00 PM
Greg W.
has entered the room
Mark M.
howdy, Greg!
Greg W.
Hi, how's it going?
Mark M.
just ducky
how can I help you?
Greg W.
I'm working on an Android application that has a lot of videos in it.
~ 600 Mb worth
Mark M.
eek
Greg W.
I obviously need them to be stored on the sdcard -- too big for the application space.
Mark M.
stored? you probably need them *distributed* on an SD card
Greg W.
You think it's too much to download?
Mark M.
over mobile data, sure
even WiFi, the question is how fast can the server serve it up?
mobile data the issue is bandwidth cost; WiFi, the question is user tolerance for the time (and being tied down to the location to do the download)
that's a bit outside what you were probably planning on asking, though
so we can ignore this little problem and get back to your real question if you want :-)
8:05 PM
Greg W.
:-)
Mark M.
it was just a knee-jerk reaction of mine
so, yes, 600MB is too big for the on-board app-local file store
Greg W.
Yeah, there's already an iPhone version, but they're getting the video application via iTunes, which is probably downloaded over a wired connection.
David
has entered the room
Mark M.
yeah, that's definitely an advantage for iOS
(btw, howdy, David!)
David
Hi
Mark M.
Greg: so let's assume they download 600MB via WiFi to the SD card
what specifically is your concern?
Greg W.
There's not a way to package the videos to be downloaded directly to the sdcard from the Market is there?
David
I am interested in making an Android calendar. There are many Android calendar widgets which run with built-in Android calendar. Should I make a calendar widget or Android calendar like Google Calendar?
Mark M.
nope
David: hold on, let me wrap up Greg's question first
Greg: you will need to handle the download yourself
8:10 PM
Greg W.
So the best way then would be for them to download the app and then download the videos as they watch them or as a service running in the background.
Mark M.
well, that depends on how the videos are to be used
Greg W.
It's basically a training application.
Mark M.
if the user will be viewing all 600MB repeatedly, it would be best to download them
if the user will be viewing a portion of the 600MB sporadically, streaming would be a good choice
in between, it's a bit murky
you could kinda split the difference
service downloads when the user tells it "go ahead and start caching"
stream for stuff that the user needs but hasn't been downloaded yet
Greg W.
That's true. Also, there's the possibility they might want to watch the videos offline.
Mark M.
that'd be the "go ahead and start caching" path
Greg W.
Right
Mark M.
for 600MB, they'll need to set their phone down for a while
even on a decent US DSL or cable Internet connection, congestion and server issues will limit how quickly that'll all make it down
Greg W.
True, that's why I was thinking download as needed.
It would put a huge dent in their monthly data limit.
Mark M.
worse on plans that pay by the MB (e.g., Europe)
8:15 PM
Greg W.
Yeah, I would definitely want to suggest downloading over wifi.
Mark M.
let me take David's question, and we can swing back to you in a bit for more discussion
Greg W.
Ok, thanks Mark.
Mark M.
David: I do not understand your question
at least, I don't understand the "or"
I would think that would be an "and"
David
For Android calendar, should I make an android app or widget?
Mark M.
if you write your own calendar app, you might want to write an app widget for it
there is no "Android calendar"
there is a Google Calendar client in the Android open source project
it ships on some phones
it is not part of the Android SKD
David
Right, there is no calendar SDK yet.
Mark M.
er, SDK
if you want to make your own Google Calendar client, there's a GData API for getting/setting calendar data
David
Thanks.
Mark M.
it's not part of Android, but since it is just HTTP and Atom, you should be able to make it work
or you can create a calendar app that has nothing to do with Google Calendar
either syncing with some other Web-based calendar, or just purely local on the device
did that answer your question?
8:20 PM
David
Yes. Thank you.
Mark M.
ah, OK
Greg: back to you -- got another question or follow-up from the first one?
Greg W.
Not really, I'm writing this application for a friend / client and they already have an iPhone app where the videos are downloaded as part of the app.
Like you said, that's a advantage of iOS.
Mark M.
yup
Greg W.
I didn't realize how big the videos were until they gave me the zip file.
Mark M.
is this app for the Android Market or some other form of distribution?
Greg W.
The Android Market.
Mark M.
phooey
yeah, there's no real good answer for distributing a 600MB app on the Market
you'll want to watch for connectivity changes during your downloads, in case the user kicks it off and then leaves WiFi AP range
Greg W.
yeah, I was hoping there would be a way to put the videos in an area that would be downloaded to the sdcard.
Mark M.
there are broadcast Intents on ConnectivityManager and...ummm...NetworkManager? WifiManager? I forget
nope
8:25 PM
Greg W.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Mark M.
I've long been opposed to the APK being both the executable and the distribution package
we need a container for the APK that can handle simple rules like "copy this directory to SD"
Greg W.
One thought I had was that the application could be installed directly on the sdcard.
Mark M.
and that the container can be distributed via the Market
Greg W.
Yep.
Mark M.
yes, for Android 2.2, and that assumes you don't have anything else that runs afoul of the apps-on-SD limits
David: do you have another question?
Greg W.
Right. This was probably going to be a 2.X only application due to the size of the videos.
But I didn't want to limit it to only 2.2.
Mark M.
if either of you come up with a question, jump right in!
Greg W.
Ok, well I hate to run off early, but I gotta go. Thanks for your help. I'll have to discuss the options with the client.
Mark M.
happy to be useful!
Greg W.
Have a good evening!
Greg W.
has left the room
9:00 PM
Mark M.
any last questions?
David
has left the room
Mark M.
turned off guest access

Tuesday, October 19

 

Office Hours

People in this transcript

  • David
  • Greg Williams
  • Mark Murphy