REMOTE CONTROL FOR ANDROID OPERATING SYSTEM (OBSOLETE GUIDE)

VERSIONE ITALIANA

UPDATE 01/29/2024: THIS GUIDE REFERS TO AN OLD APPLICATION THAT IS NO LONGER DOWNLOADABLE.

From the link github.com/...Remote-Control-Android you can download the source code to compile with Android Studio (developer.android.com/studio) an Android application, which allows you to manage devices remotely through the Internet, including ESP32s programmed with the library of the guide of 08/23/2021. A short presentation follows.

Fig. 1: Initial authentication screen.

At first you need to authenticate with your Google account.

Fig. 2: Settings screen.

When you log in for the first time, you need to enter the values "Workspace folder", "Remote control ID", "Data update in seconds" and press "Set values". You can set the language to English or Italian. Clicking "Log out" will disconnect your Google account, while clicking "Close application" will exit the application without logging out.

Fig. 3: "On - Off" screen.

In this screen there are buttons to send commands to the devices.

Fig. 4: "Dashboard" screen.

Device information is displayed here.

THE MAIN ALGORITHM OF THE APPLICATION

Going into more detail, once you log in (fig. 1) and enter the required information in the settings screen (fig. 2), the application cyclically runs the following algorithm:

Fig. 5: algorithm executed repeatedly by the application.

The final cycle can be interrupted by pressing the "Log out" or "Close application" button. The pause depends on the "Data update in seconds" value. An example of a workspace folder at the end of the third step of the algorithm is shown in fig. 6,

Fig. 6: example of workspace completed the third point of the application algorithm.

where you can see the files:

"File of Remote control 1" created by the software;
of the devices to be controlled.

The next sections explain how these are used in the communication between remote control and devices.

FILE OF REMOTE CONTROL

It has the name "File of Remote control " + ID of the remote control; it is generated when the application starts if it is not present in the workspace folder. The ID must be a unique alphanumeric string. The content can be edited freely.

DEVICE FILES

It must be named "File of device " + ID of the device and generated in the workspace folder by the respective device. The ID must be a unique alphanumeric string. Within it, it is possible to define the buttons and values to be displayed in the "On - Off" and "Dashboard" screens, respecting the following three rules.

A) For buttons, in a single line write "buttons: " + first button name + ", " + second button name + ", " + ... + ", " + last button name ";". The names cannot include the symbols ":", ";", "," and must be unique. You can define a particular button for sending custom strings (will be seen later) by inserting the "customizable value" element.

B) For values, in a single line write "values: " + name first value + " is " + first value + ", " + name second value + " is " + second value + ", " + ... + ", " + name last value + " is " + last value + ";". Value names cannot include the string " is " and must be unique. The symbols ":", ";" and "," may only be used to separate the various elements in the row.

C) The lines of the previous points A and B are optional; if present, they must be placed first. The other rows are modifiable as desired.

Device files can be created, edited and deleted even when the remote control is running; an example is shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 7: example of device file.

SENDING COMMANDS USING THE ON - OFF SCREEN BUTTONS

The buttons of the "On - Off" screen (fig. 3) are used to send commands to the devices. Now it is explained what happens when pressing one of them (except those for sending custom strings):

1) the key is disabled;

2) the application generates a file in the workspace folder with name "To dev. " + device ID + " command " + button name, addressed to the device with the same ID.

At this point, the associated device must read the file, perform the action for which it has been programmed and, at the end, respond with a confirmation ACK by generating a file called "From dev. " + device ID + " ACK " + button name. When the software notices the ACK:

3) delete the command and ACK files;

4) reactivate the button.

Clicking, instead, on a custom string submit button (the ones with the string "Send value" in the middle), the application generates a file in the workspace folder called "To dev. " + device ID + " command Cus. value " + custom value (the custom value is the string in the text box above the button). The related device, once it detects the command, must execute the corresponding action and, at the end, delete the file (even those with identical name, if any) without responding with an ACK.

An example of a workspace folder containing commands and acks is shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 8: Example of a workspace folder with commands and ack.

AND FINALLY

The values displayed in the "Dashboard" screen (fig. 4) are those defined in the "values: " rows of the device files (fig. 7).

Multiple remote controls are allowed in a workspace but only one can operate at a time.

The "Reset workspace" button in the settings screen (fig. 2) is used to delete all command and ack files in the workspace.

In the freely editable parts of the filenames of devices, remote controls, commands and ack you must not enter the strings:

"File of device ";
"File of Remote control ";
"To dev. " together with " command ";
"To dev. " together with " command Cus. value ";
"From dev. " together with " ACK ".

Otherwise the application may malfunction.

For security reasons, the application can only interact with files it has created on Google Drive.

Before authenticating with your Google account, you need to enable the Google API and generate authorization credentials by following the guide developers.google.com/i...ls/oauth2.

For this project I helped myself with the official Google Android examples and those contained in Android Studio. Therefore I thank the respective authors.

Notes:

1) the application takes about 750 ms to read a file from Google Drive and, for the moment, these operations happen sequentially; therefore, the more files there are in a workspace, the less fast is the remote control to update the data;

2) the software does not implement all modern security systems for data protection, so it is better to avoid including sensitive content in the information exchanged between the various devices and the Internet;

3) my programming knowledge is not very high and I aim to improve it over time; so be careful because you might find programming errors and wrong algorithms in the source code;

4) the software is provided "as is", without any kind of warranty; I don't assume any responsibility for the consequences deriving from the use of the information contained in this page.

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REMOTE CONTROL FOR ANDROID OPERATING SYSTEM (OBSOLETE GUIDE)

UPDATE 01/29/2024: THIS GUIDE REFERS TO AN OLD APPLICATION THAT IS NO LONGER DOWNLOADABLE.

Fig. 1: Initial authentication screen.

At first you need to authenticate with your Google account.

Fig. 2: Settings screen.

Fig. 3: "On - Off" screen.

In this screen there are buttons to send commands to the devices.

Fig. 4: "Dashboard" screen.

Device information is displayed here.

THE MAIN ALGORITHM OF THE APPLICATION

Going into more detail, once you log in (fig. 1) and enter the required information in the settings screen (fig. 2), the application cyclically runs the following algorithm:

Fig. 5: algorithm executed repeatedly by the application.

The final cycle can be interrupted by pressing the "Log out" or "Close application" button. The pause depends on the "Data update in seconds" value. An example of a workspace folder at the end of the third step of the algorithm is shown in fig. 6,

Fig. 6: example of workspace completed the third point of the application algorithm.

where you can see the files:

"File of Remote control 1" created by the software;

of the devices to be controlled.

The next sections explain how these are used in the communication between remote control and devices.

FILE OF REMOTE CONTROL

It has the name "File of Remote control " + ID of the remote control; it is generated when the application starts if it is not present in the workspace folder. The ID must be a unique alphanumeric string. The content can be edited freely.

DEVICE FILES

C) The lines of the previous points A and B are optional; if present, they must be placed first. The other rows are modifiable as desired.

Device files can be created, edited and deleted even when the remote control is running; an example is shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 7: example of device file.

SENDING COMMANDS USING THE ON - OFF SCREEN BUTTONS

The buttons of the "On - Off" screen (fig. 3) are used to send commands to the devices. Now it is explained what happens when pressing one of them (except those for sending custom strings):

1) the key is disabled;

2) the application generates a file in the workspace folder with name "To dev. " + device ID + " command " + button name, addressed to the device with the same ID.

At this point, the associated device must read the file, perform the action for which it has been programmed and, at the end, respond with a confirmation ACK by generating a file called "From dev. " + device ID + " ACK " + button name. When the software notices the ACK:

3) delete the command and ACK files;

4) reactivate the button.

An example of a workspace folder containing commands and acks is shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 8: Example of a workspace folder with commands and ack.

AND FINALLY

The values displayed in the "Dashboard" screen (fig. 4) are those defined in the "values: " rows of the device files (fig. 7).

Multiple remote controls are allowed in a workspace but only one can operate at a time.

The "Reset workspace" button in the settings screen (fig. 2) is used to delete all command and ack files in the workspace.

In the freely editable parts of the filenames of devices, remote controls, commands and ack you must not enter the strings:

"File of device ";

"File of Remote control ";

"To dev. " together with " command ";

"To dev. " together with " command Cus. value ";

"From dev. " together with " ACK ".

Otherwise the application may malfunction.

For security reasons, the application can only interact with files it has created on Google Drive.

Before authenticating with your Google account, you need to enable the Google API and generate authorization credentials by following the guide developers.google.com/i...ls/oauth2.

For this project I helped myself with the official Google Android examples and those contained in Android Studio. Therefore I thank the respective authors.

Notes:

1) the application takes about 750 ms to read a file from Google Drive and, for the moment, these operations happen sequentially; therefore, the more files there are in a workspace, the less fast is the remote control to update the data;

2) the software does not implement all modern security systems for data protection, so it is better to avoid including sensitive content in the information exchanged between the various devices and the Internet;

3) my programming knowledge is not very high and I aim to improve it over time; so be careful because you might find programming errors and wrong algorithms in the source code;

4) the software is provided "as is", without any kind of warranty; I don't assume any responsibility for the consequences deriving from the use of the information contained in this page.