Power control in nofication bar

[xious]

I am currently working on a Power Control menu that would be accessible by selecting an Ongoing notification. This would allow control of Wifi, Bluetooth, etc. However, I saw how the Galaxy S has implemented it and am wondering if anyone knows how to do that? Or is that part of the OS and not editable without starting from AOSP?

X

 

[dahctor]

I've got a better idea:
Make it so you can put any bar widget into the notifications bar, like power control or music control. I've been looking for ways of putting these into a series of shortcuts in launcher pro's dock, but in the notifications bar would be a good place for them too.
What do ya think?

 

[matrix2004]

What happened with this? This was a great idea.

 

[dahctor]

Nothing yet. Perhaps I need to make a bigger stink about this...

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[Droid DOES!!]

I'd probably ask a dev. Koush, Chevy, BD (or RafficaX), and others would know I'm sure! I think this is an EXCELLENT idea!

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[akasoldats]

Nothing yet. Perhaps I need to make a bigger stink about this...

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Someone was thinking the same thing. It looks like one of the new features of the latests CyanogenMod is widgets in the notification bar.

CHANGELOG.mkdn at froyo from CyanogenMod's android_vendor_cyanogen - GitHub

 

[kevin@teslacoilsw]

dahctor had emailed me about this idea a while back. I did some preliminary investigation of what was possible in a third party app without root. It is possible to create a notification that either contains individually clickable toggles, or contains a widget. Both require a bit of API abuse, but placing a widget requires more of it. Perhaps a single app that can do it all would be best, but it might be overly complicated.
(I also have a third idea for notification bar like toggles)

Not yet sure if I'm going to do anything with this.
Preference on supporting any widget vs toggles only?

[edit]Just want to point out, the cyanogen notification toggles are toggles only, not any widget[/edit]

 

[furbearingmammal]

dahctor had emailed me about this idea a while back. I did some preliminary investigation of what was possible in a third party app without root. It is possible to create a notification that either contains individually clickable toggles, or contains a widget. Both require a bit of API abuse, but placing a widget requires more of it. Perhaps a single app that can do it all would be best, but it might be overly complicated.
(I also have a third idea for notification bar like toggles)

Not yet sure if I'm going to do anything with this.
Preference on supporting any widget vs toggles only?

[edit]Just want to point out, the cyanogen notification toggles are toggles only, not any widget[/edit]

Wouldn't a toggle be a better idea anyway? I mean, that way you're not wasting battery/CPU cycles to refresh it when it's not in use.

And MIUI does the same thing, does it not? Toggles/widget in the pulldown bar?

 

[NebulaOcton]

I use QuickDesk which lets me popup a homescreen over whatever app I am in to control such things. It even works in full screen apps like Angry Birds. Its still in Beta but is pretty solid.

 

[dahctor]

@kevin
What I didn't realize about the notification bar on the samsung phones, is that when you're playing music, it's smart enough to pop the music control in there.

Also, I think that if it can be done via root, do it as a proof of concept, and then see if you can get it fixed for non-root.

@furbearingmammal
Not everyone wants to be locked into a specific ROM. I have a Droid X, so my choices are limited to begin with. Also I don't like MIUI because, well, if I wanted an iPhone, I would have bought one, not bought a Droid and made it look like one.

 

[furbearingmammal]

I understand that; but wouldn't a toggle be better than a widget? Or is it impossible to put toggles on a stock phone like that? I use CM, and wouldn't dream of MIUI because I like having an app drawer, but I think not forcing people to flash a whole ROM if they're rooted just to get something this cool would be a good idea.

 

[kevin@teslacoilsw]

@kevin
What I didn't realize about the notification bar on the samsung phones, is that when you're playing music, it's smart enough to pop the music control in there.

Ahh I hadn't realized that either. Interesting.

Also, I think that if it can be done via root, do it as a proof of concept, and then see if you can get it fixed for non-root.

Actually at this time I have proof of concept code that doesn't require root. It's not fully functional, but I've worked out the tricky parts.

I use QuickDesk which lets me popup a homescreen over whatever app I am in to control such things.

Exactly, my current thinking is that apps like QuickDesk or Powerstrip serve the need to quickly access Widgets. What's missing is a really convenient, light weight, toggle and music controls. Though widgets can do toggles and music controls, they're a bit complicated and use a bit of memory. But they're definitely more flexible.
The convenience issue is tricky too, since double-tap Home is taken/complicated/not-light-weight (can cause launcher reloads). Long-press search is also often taken. So the status bar makes sense. However no one likes having too many status bar icons.

I understand that; but wouldn't a toggle be better than a widget? Or is it impossible to put toggles on a stock phone like that? I use CM, and wouldn't dream of MIUI because I like having an app drawer, but I think not forcing people to flash a whole ROM if they're rooted just to get something this cool would be a good idea.

"Better" depends on the usage. Either is possible on a stock phone through some API abuse and hackery*. Simple toggles/music controls can be done to use less memory and load quicker. However widgets offer flexibility to support any music player (that has widgets) and any toggles, and any news widget.

* The API abuse and hackery is because notifications don't send the click location, just the location of the notification. So it's not normally possible for a notification to know the location of the click to take a different action. Also the standard API for hosting Widgets doesn't lend itself to putting that layout into a custom view of a notification.

 

[furbearingmammal]

So, if I'm reading that correctly, for simply turning on the GPS, WiFi, Airplane Mode, etc, a toggle would be better, but a widget would be best for music and suchlike. That makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up.