Develop Reference

Android - How to set Device input - either touchscreen or mouse

I'm currently compiling for Android for a device and have recently upped the ICS build. I'm facing an issue with the touch. The touch controller is on but the screen is treated like a track pad for mouse input with a cursor appearing over the screen. How do I make the touchscreen input be used as a touch screen and not as a mouse input.
Thanks

Th issue here was with the IDC file. IDC = Input Device Configuration file. I had borrowed the touch driver from a different device with the same hardware, but I hadn't taken the idc file for this change.
Adding this to the product config file fixed it for me.

Open display calibration screen programmatically

I have figured out that in order to calibrate accelerometer in Android I don't need to do anything special I just need to open the horizontal calibration screen in the GB and G-Sensor calibration screen in the iCS+ now how can I open these activities programmatically?
I am able to open the display settings but can't open calibration screen
startActivityForResult(new Intent(android.provider.Settings.ACTION_DISPLAY_SETTINGS), 0);

Really they don't have this option?
I have ~50 Android devices and have not seen a calibration option on most of them. In fact, I cannot recall seeing a calibration option on a device manufactured since 2009. And there is nothing in the AOSP Settings app that suggests to me that it is a calibration mechanism.
Certainly, there is no documented and supported means of starting such a Settings screen.

Is the Samsung S-pen input the same as your fingers?

I have no actual Galaxy Note on-hand and no access to such device so
I would like to ask if the S-Pen behaves the same way as a Finger on a SurfaceView?
Basing from the behavior of S-Pen SDK samples when run on an emulator, it seems that the S-Pen's input is the same with finger inputs only that it is very precise. (noticing that when run on the emulator, its impossible to detect if input came from a finger or S-Pen since touch input is emulated via the mouse cursor)
I'd like to confirm if the gestures I can do with my finger is also doable using the S-Pen?
If this is the case, is it safe to say that the S-Pen is comparable to a very thin finger?
The only difference it can make, is that when an app is coded with specific functionality using the SDK that samsung provides?
Thanks

As it will be easier for everyone to spot an answer and not a comment, here's an explanation from samsung developers themselves:
S Pen behavior on SurfaceView - http://developer.samsung.com/

Yes, using the international Samsung Note (still waiting on ICS). But your question would be better served by one of the xda developers forums.
Using the S Memo app to add a memo, selecting the pen input option, I can write a note using my finger. The stroke is thin, as it would be for a pen...
I can use the pen to interact with anything on the screen, as if it were my finger. But the pen can not interact with the capacitative buttons, nevermind the physical ones.

The s pen works with the Wacom digitizer in the Note devices. This allows for precision, pressure sensitivity (256 levels on my Note II), and hover events. These are pointer events, not touch or mouse/click events at the OS level.

Reacting to multi-buttons wired headphones

I am driving some experiments with a pair of a-JAYS Four headphones (having 3 buttons on its wired remote/mic) plugged onto a Galaxy Nexus (ICS 4.0.2).
My issue is that only the middle button is 'recognised' by a test app I have written, i.e. triggering both Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON and/or Activity.onKeyDown callback with KeyCode 79 when it is pressed.
Pressing the two other buttons don't trigger any of the previous methods. For info, those headphones and its 3 buttons work on Apple iPhones and Apple computers (at least a MacBookPro 2011), as advertised on the box...
Firstly I thought Android or my device could simply not handle more than one button on a wired jack remote (even if that sounds weird...) but then I had a try with a pair of headphones from HTC (the ones coming with one of their Desire device) having 3 buttons. Middle button would react the same way as my a-JAYS, but the two other buttons are also recognised with KeyCodes 87 and 88, respectively Play Previous and Play Next media keys.
So it seems that either the device or the low levels layers of Android are simply not able to catch certain headphones buttons signals :/ (at least those which are not 87 and 88)
Any idea anyone about how to make Android able to recognise other buttons/signals from such headphones as Apple compatible ones? Would it imply low levels drivers writing for ICS or am I missing something really obvious?
Any help would be much appreciated. Can post my test-app code if needed.
Cheers

The signals/ resistance from the volume control buttons (1.525-1.495 V for volume down, and 1.619-1.587 V for volume up) are currently unable to be recognized through the android framework's software. I believe this has to do with Apple having a patent on the designated volume controls and so Google won't release to developers how the framework recognizes particular signals through the fourth connector on the headphone jack. The center/mic/action buttons on headsets generally work, it shorts the path from ~2V to ~0V and Apple does not own the patent for that. If someone could figure out how to interact with the inputs on their own that would be huge. I am tempted to learn app development and find a workaround.

The problem is more complicated that it seems: http://david.carne.ca/shuffle_hax/shuffle_remote.html .

I have to emphasize that I am no expert on this topic, but from what I have read and tried so far I conclude that it is not impossible to have an Android phone respond to an iPhone headphone's volume buttons, but for some reason the performance is poor/lagging.
There are some apps trying to do the magic, but they are too unreliable for everyday use. I suppose the problem is that triggering the signal may have to be implemented at a lower OS level than most regular apps have access too.
The solution could probably be some kind of a ROM mod...
If you can implement this, I am sure it would be a big deal for the Android community, and maybe a good biz for you.
Kind Regards, your fellow Hungarian
Gergő

You have to press and hold the middle button while plugging the headphones to the jack. That will make the microphone work on an Android. It works on my HTC Thunderbolt.

I believe it's a hardware issue (at least in regards to Apple headphones). If you look at the plug on those they have four contacts instead of the normal three. I'm willing to bet they run their button signals through that extra contact. AFAIK, there is no Android equipment wth jacks to match that.
So, ultimately I don't believe you can make apple earphones with buttons work for android (as far as button functions go).

You have to hold the middle the whole time for it to work. If you let go and not playin music it says accsessary not supported but if u play music and let go it simply stops the music until you hold it again. Maybe tape the middle button shut really tight?

If you look at the four contacts, tip-ring-ring-sleeve (TRRS), and know that MOST headphone sets are:
tip: left
ring 1: right
ring 2: ground
sleeve: mic
(1/4 inch pro audio stereo plugs are known as TRS - tip-ring-sleeve)
although some reverse the ground and mic contacts, what you need to know as far as how the device recognizes the different buttons you have, is that those buttons are making a short between the ground and mic contacts.
(before IR, old school WIRED remotes for VCRs used resistance for different functions)
Now your homework to find out what is going on is:
measure the resistance between ring 2 and the sleeve for each one of your buttons
find out if it is a momentary short, or constant
if you have some other headphone/mic device that works correctly, measure those impedance (resistance) too
I don't know how into this you want to get, but you can buy resistors with the correct impedance to get the functions you want out of the Android device, the question is, do you know what functions the device is capable of, and what those impedances are that trigger that function.
daniel#destinypatrolsoftware.com

How should the accelerometer sample android app work?

I installed the accelerometer sample app from the android SDK 2.3 om the device (Nexus s). I get several balls falling towards one side of the screen and nothing changes their position.
Is there any place in which the expected behavior of this application is described?
Does anyone here knows the expected behavior?
I suspects it exposed a problem with the hardware operation.
Thanks,
Yoav

Just ran it on a Nexus One... you hold the phone flat w.r.t. the ground. Tilting it slightly will cause the balls to fall towards the downmost edge of the screen, i.e. as if they were under the influence of real gravity.