1src Forums - AutoOffExtender 2.5 Crash

ledge00

11-07-2006, 08:49 AM

Hi,

I've just installed Auto Off Extender 2.5 on my Tungsten T5. If I set "Manual extension by holding: Power for 10 tenths of a sec." and turn off my T5 with the power button and then turn it on by holding it down for at least one second I get a confirmation tone and then Z Launcher freezes / crashes. Is this a known bug? Is there a workaround?

Many thanks for any help as this is great software!!

yoovee

11-07-2006, 10:32 AM

Hi,
Thank you for trying this program on the T5 - I'd like to hear more users' feedback on this device please.
There's a known problem of getting the Power button to be recognized in some of the new devices with my other freeware PowerBright which uses the same handling code (I'm still waiting for developers' answers of why won't the power button issue a vchar notification like the others...) - the simple workaround is to use another button, but even w/power - there's no crash! it just does nothing, so I apologize for your experience.
Please check and report:
1. Does it happen with other buttons too?
2. Does it happen if you uncheck the beep/alert notification?
3. Does it happen at all times or just in/out of the timeframe for auto-extension? (i.e., the second field in the main screen).
Thanks again & sorry for the trouble,
- Yuval.

pokeypda

11-07-2006, 12:58 PM

yoovee

11-07-2006, 01:47 PM

yoovee while your here.

When I enable 'lock device-when power is off' in the security prefs AutoOffEx seems not to work. I tried 90 seconds for 'off less than' time which is more than enough time to enter the password but the off time is not extended. Is this the correct behavior?
I guess not...thanks for the feedback - I always wondered why the palm has a separate "device unlocked" notification - perhaps that's the answer - I'll catch that one as well in the next version.

BTW - I'm always here :) and if I'm not reading, don't hesitate to email.

PatrickS

11-07-2006, 02:13 PM

Yoovee -- and while you're here.... THANKS! ... for a terrific application. There are a million apps out there for flexibly changing the AutoOff time to other values, but yours is the only one that responds intelligently to the way the device is actually used.

Brilliant.

FerdFerd

11-07-2006, 02:17 PM

I second PatrickS's sentiments. This is the most intelligent of this sort of application, and it has stopped me from evaluating the others periodically. I used to reevaluate them regularly. They're now all gone from my device, except for AOCtrl DA, which I seem to keep for some reason but never use. I guess I find DAs interesting, so I collect some of them. Or something like that.

mrp123

11-07-2006, 04:20 PM

I third these sentiments. Thank you.

ledge00

11-07-2006, 05:40 PM

Please check and report:
1. Does it happen with other buttons too?
Happens with all buttons only if Z-Launcher is active. Works fine with palm's launcher.
2. Does it happen if you uncheck the beep/alert notification?
Happens only with Z-Launcher active in both cases. Fine with palm's launcher in both cases.
3. Does it happen at all times or just in/out of the timeframe for auto-extension? (i.e., the second field in the main screen).
Happens only when the power or hard button (1-4) are held down for 1 sec to force auto-extension. If I let my T5 turn off after two minutes and then I immediately turn it on, everything works fine, even if Z-Launcher is active.
- Yuval.

Hi Yoovee,

Thanks for responding so quickly!

I ran the tests you mentioned above and discovered that if I exit and disable Z-Launcher, everything worked fine. However, when I re-enabled Z-Launcher and had it running while I powered-off and powered-on the T5 with hard-button held down, it froze everytime. So, it sounds like Auto-Off-Extender 2.5 and Z-Launcher 5.41 are incompatible somehow when holding down a hard-button.

This is only when I hold down the power-button or any hard-button (1-4) when Z-Launcher is active.

I would be extremely grateful I this problem could be solved as I really love AutoOffExtender!

Many thanks!

Cheers

yoovee

11-09-2006, 07:47 AM

ledge00, I'm really sorry - I have no T5 to check, but I couldn't find the problem under either Palm's Garnet simulator or the CLIE simulator.
Is there any other setting inside ZL that could 'take over' the hard buttons? I'd really appreciate if more ZL & AOE users could share their experience please.

Everyone, I really appreciate your kind words - this feedback is what makes freeware publishing so enjoyable! thank you very much :)
- Yuval.

pokeypda

11-09-2006, 12:50 PM

I'm using AutoOffEx v2.5 with ZLauncher v5.41 on a TX and the way I use AOE works as expected until I tried to activate Palm security.

I set AOE up as ledge00 described and if I pressed the off button to turn the TX off and then held the off button the TX froze. (I think the problem may be holding the button to turn the unit on that causes the freeze?)

If I turned off by holding button and then turned back on pressing the button I got the proper extension.

I usually use H4 to extend the time and noticed events are chained. I have a press of H4 set up to launch MetaDA and a hold of H4 to extend the time. A hold not only extends the time but launches MetaDA. Note that I'm using myKbd to create a macro for H4->MetaDA.

The above doesn't happen with other apps assigned to hard buttons.

Anyway, there seems to be a stacking of commands?

1. hold power button-> extend time+turn unit off

2. hold h4-> extend time+launch MetaDA

If I'm confusing the situation I'll stop. :)

ledge00

11-10-2006, 08:31 AM

Hi Yoovee,

I've managed to reproduce the problem using the Palm T|X Simulator. The T|X Simulator can be downloaded from pluggedin.palm.com. Refer to this thread from more info: http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?p=956962#post956962 .

The steps I followed were:

1. Run the Release version of the Palm TX Simulator. It may be a good idea to hard-reset it to ensure you start with a clean slate.
2. Install ZLauncher 5.41 with Aquawood_Hi_64K Theme and ZLauncher Manager
3. Install AutoOffExtender 2.5
4. Run Zlauncher. You are at the main ZLauncher screen now.
5. Run AutoOffExtender and press the "Configure" button.
6. Enable "Manual extension by holding Power for 10 tenths of a sec.". Power button should now force extension of timeout. Press "Apply" to apply setting.
7. Press soft Home button to go back to ZLauncher.
8. Press the "Escape" key on your (physical) keyboard. This will 'turn off' the TX. You should get a message saying something like "This device was powered off. Press the power key (ESC) or one of the application hard keys (F1-F4) to power it up."
9. Press and hold the "Escape" key on your keyboard for one second. The TX will 'turn on' and the AutoOffExtender activation sound will play and ZLauncher will be frozen.

I hope this helps in your debugging efforts with current and future applications you write.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers

ledge00

11-10-2006, 08:41 AM

Btw, to answer your question, I didn't see any setting in ZLauncher that mentioned the Hard buttons.

Please continue investigating AutoOffExtender as it's Awesome!

Cheers

yoovee

11-11-2006, 01:59 AM

Btw, to answer your question, I didn't see any setting in ZLauncher that mentioned the Hard buttons.

Please continue investigating AutoOffExtender as it's Awesome!

Cheers
I'll sure will - that's an excellent bug report you gave me up there!
It might take a while till next release though, as I'm quite busy these days.
Thank you for all the useful information,
- Yuval.

yoovee

11-12-2006, 12:29 PM

AutoOffExtender 2.6
http://www.palmgear.com/?xyz=62989

Updated Description:

Fixed some 3rd-party incompatability with button extension at power-on.
If locked, power-on extension will only trigger after entering password.
Option to signal extension by LED/Vibration.
ledge00
I think v2.6 solved the ZL problem, atleast on the TX sim. Actually, it never "froze" totally - the apps display seemed stuck, but I was always able to open menues or switch to other apps by a hardware button - I never needed soft-resets. Anyway, v2.6 solves that by specifically ignoring the vchar of "LateWakeup" which ZL seems to be dependant upon?!? (Palm's SDK states it is for system use only...)

pokeypda
Apparently the palm calls "LateWakup" a second time upon unlock, hence canceling a potentially correct extension. Once I fugured that out (took me a while though), I simply ignored the first wakup call - no need to hook for the unlock notification specifically.

LED/Vibration was added per user request by email & made optional. I hope the current configuration satisfies most users, as the next version will probably need to be compiled by other, more powerful means than what I have used so far (rest assure, the current compilation is as efficient as it could be - I'm simply in the need of more resources for my future plans for AOE).

Cheers,
- Yuval.

pokeypda

11-12-2006, 03:07 PM

Palmgear says v2.6 but after I install I still got v2.5 and no fixes. Is there another download site or do I need to wait a while?

Edit: Never mind, operator error. ;)

pokeypda

11-12-2006, 04:56 PM

v2.6 firing on all cylinders. Thanks a bunch.

yoovee

11-13-2006, 01:36 AM

v2.6 firing on all cylinders. Thanks a bunch.
Thank you, I'm glad to hear so :)
However, I got a report that LED/Vibration doesn't work under Treo 650 - could you people, with any devices, check & report as well?
My own TH55 blinks its LED (no vibration hardware) fine...

(Developers: I've used the "attention manager" routines ['...DoSpecialEffects' with '...Always...' flags] - shouldn't they be compatible w/the Treo?)

Tam Hanna

11-13-2006, 02:14 AM

Hi,
if you need the keycode for the power button of a T5, what about using KeyWatcher from John Wilund?

I used that for getting the keycodes from my Treo 600

yoovee

11-13-2006, 02:39 AM

Hi,
if you need the keycode for the power button of a T5, what about using KeyWatcher from John Wilund?

I used that for getting the keycodes from my Treo 600
Hi Tam,

Actually I've used InputInspector which I guess does pretty much the same. Getting the keycode for the Power button was a breeze though (one of the oldest entries in the SDK...) - the problem was having it recognized through the vchar notification - for some reason, I had too many 'no effect' reports when users of PowerBright tried to assign the Power button to adjust brightness. Using any of the other buttons proved successful...

Since I wasn't able to replicate this behaviour under my TH55, I was led to believe that the Power button press under certain circumstances/devices, simply won't broadcast the vchar notification...

Anyway, under the TX simulator, AOE seems to handle the Power button just fine, so that's no issue.

Thanks for the tip though! :)
- Yuval.

ledge00

11-13-2006, 04:17 PM

Hi Yoovee,

Thank you!! It works really well now on my T5 :)
Thank you for the fast turn-around time, too!

Cheers

pokeypda

12-26-2006, 11:31 AM

Anybody using AOE successfully with PictureLogin? It's not extending the off time when I turn my TX right back on. If I extend the off time through AOE manually it doesn't reset to the default when I power off.

Yoovee, you out there?

yoovee

12-28-2006, 11:18 AM

pokeypda, I'm always here :)
I'm not familiar w/PictureLogin, so I'll need more details to know where the culprit is: may I assume that w/o PL, AOE works as expected, right? Now, when you say "it doesn't reset to the default when I power off", can you please elaborate how you check that - are you still in AOE's main screen before and after the power-off and the "current" label shows no update? How do you power-off exactly? Some non-standard power-off methods may fail to trigger the required notification...
I'd like to here more users feedback please if possible (users of both AOE/PL) - I'll try to investigate it myself under a simulator once I understand the situation more thoroughly (a detailed course of action to reproduce whatever effect, will help too).
As always, I appreciate any feedback - thank you!

pokeypda

12-28-2006, 12:16 PM

Yes, AOE works as it should without PL.

I'm trying different combos now:

1. turn on TX, log in via PL, launch AOE, extend off time (15m), home, power off (H1), wait a few minutes, power on (H1), log in via PL, launch AOE-> current off time is 15m not default (2m).

2. soft reset TX, launch AOE->back to default 2m.

3. repeat 1 using top power button instead of H1. Same results.

4. repeat 2.

5. repeat 1 using top power button to turn on and ZLaunchers 'off and lock' soft button to turn off. Same results, off time still 15m not the default of 2m.

Tapping 'restore defaults' sets it back to 2m but that's not auto if I have to tap.... ;)

yoovee

12-31-2006, 01:05 PM

pokeypda, pardon the late reply, I'm quite busy these days.
You gave me a very good report - I've downloaded latest PL and was able to easily re-produce the described behaviour under a TX sim.

I've then waded through Dr. Alex Pruss' source-code for PL, and confirmed my suspicion - he doesn't broadcast the 2nd "LateWakup" after unlock - only a "DeviceUnlocked" notification.
Since PL overrides the built-in Security app, I think it must follow its original behaviour, even if that makes little sense...(see what I wrote you in post #14 on this very same thread).

Just to re-confirm my suspicion, I've tried an earlier version of AOE, that didn't include the unlock update, and it worked flawlessly.

I guess I can, on my part, change AOE to handle the dedicated unlock notification, but maybe PL itself should be updated to be compatible with other apps that may rely on the built-in Security?