Just a small update to fix some blocking issue:

– workaround for launcher stuck in extremely large grid drawing

– add LL.getScriptById

– add a dedicated Item name property: it replaces the item label, except for shortcuts. Existing methods Container.getItemByLabel, Item.getLabel and Item.setLabel still work but are deprecated. Existing scripts should not be broken. Use getItemByName, Item.getName and Item.setName instead.

This last modification is a bit sensitive. I tried to make enough tests to be confident that it won’t break anything, but my tester skills are quite low 😉

Edit: followed by 10.5b2 to fix Tasker support

I am a bit frightened by what this update will trigger, but here we go…

Once again, this version is geared toward scripting, but I think that with the final v10.5, this area will reach a stable status and will evolve a lot less in the future, giving me more time for other stuff. What I wanted to achieve is now almost ready. In this version three new features will work in conjunction to bring scripting to, I hope, a whole new level.

What are those new features then ?

First, scripts can be loaded from APKs. This mean it will be a LOT more easier to share scripts, at least from the user side. Install some APK, hit “Load a script”, select your entry and you’re done. A bit like a templates. These scripts will be able to configure your setup, create items, set event handlers, load images from a package and so on, as seen on the Sketch video shared in a previous post.

Secondly, scripts will benefit from a better Tasker integration, meaning that it will become possible (or easier) to push various data into the home screen, or trigger some specific actions.

And at last, but not last (and this is where I am a bit frightened), using the Android framework is finally possible. That’s certainly not a basic feature but most advanced users (let’s say developer.s..) will certainly leverage this tool to do… almost everything else! For instance accessing accelerometers, files, playing audio, or whatever. (provided that permissions are granted)

Taken together, these features allow the launcher to be extended with plugins, and create fully functional, possibly animated and interactive widgets.

All this stuff will inevitably raise issues, questions and ideas, but my feeling is that this is something to be tried. I released two sample APKs on the Play Store whose goal is to proof the concept (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.pierrox.lightning_launcher.llscript.sketch and https://play.google.com/store)/apps/details?id=net.pierrox.lightning_launcher.llscript.clock).

More info here

http://www.pierrox.net/cmsms/applications/lightning-launcher/scripting.html

http://www.pierrox.net/android/applications/lightning_launcher/wiki/doku.php?id=how_to_use_the_android_framework_through_script

Now let’s see how it goes!

This is a minor maintenance update : it fixes icon layer loading issue seen in some setups.

Finally out of beta. Almost no change since the last beta version (added ComponentName, fixed one bug), but it’s time to release this update for everyone 😉

Last beta (if all goes well). It merely fixes a few bugs and add a LL.startActivity script method. One thing I couldn’t resolve is the zero size at load, sorry.

In details:

– add LL.startActivity

– fix a bug where opening a folder from a load event (or maybe pause/resume) produces a crash

– fix a bug where deleting all desktops and creating a new one could lead to a dead launcher

Oh, and don’t use btrfs as a production filesystem yet…

Bug fixes and minor improvements only. I hope this will be the last beta in  this round.

Edit 10.4b4 is following

Well, not progressing too much on multi selection but instead extending script capabilities (because I like that…)

A couple of funny additions are impatiently waiting to be used in this third beta:

– (experimental) ability to directly handle touch events (albeit single finger yet). A sample code here: http://www.pierrox.net/android/applications/lightning_launcher/wiki/doku.php?id=script_paint_free_hand

– a new Script object to manipulate scripts through… scripts. A notable use is Script.getText() with eval, but I see a few other very special use cases for this new class…

And several important fixes as usual.

An update to the previous beta and almost exclusively dealing with script. This version mostly enhances features  introduced in b1: more item type creation, better image handling (create from packages, support nine patch) and a few other miscellaneous improvements.

As usual, full changelog here: http://www.pierrox.net/cmsms/applications/lightning-launcher/change-log.html

This is a beta for script lovers. It will dramatically enhance scripting capabilities with two new features.

The first is the possibility to create shortcuts (and remove them). The good thing is that you can specify custom intents for more dynamic interactions with other apps. New items are currently limited to shortcuts, more to come if needed

The second (and best) feature is the ability to manipulate images through scripts. This includes creating images, drawing on them using a subset of the Android Canvas APIs and setting these images as icons, item background or folder window background. I hope that performance will be enough for animations.

There are also a couple of bug fixes. I am sorry for peoples on the stable version, you will need to wait for the release to benefit from these bugfixes 🙁

A few hints on drawing with script: http://www.pierrox.net/android/applications/lightning_launcher/wiki/doku.php?id=drawing_with_script

As usual make a backup before to play with these new things, I will be mostly offline during a few days…

The new image picker is now available in the stable version!