[sword-devel] Android SWORD

[Kenneth Arnold]

I just got an Android phone, and after seeing the state of Bible
software currently available, I'm excited about helping develop a good
SWORD-powered Bible reader for it. I installed Troy's bishop2.apk and
tried to download a module... fail (logcat at end of message). So I
went looking for the code to see if I could track down the problem...
but I haven't found any source code anywhere. Is that intentional, or
am I missing something?

As a user (previously of Laridian on WinMo), I've made this list of
requirements for a Bible reader:
- local storage
- fast navigation UI (Laridian had specialized T9 for book names. You
could get most anywhere in the Bible in about 6 keypresses.)
- continuous scrolling (across chapter divisions)
- cross references and footnotes
- word/phrase search (perhaps fuzzy?)

optional features:
- scripture memory helper (I have a lot of concrete ideas here)
- finding related resources (e.g., sermons) from selected resources
- daily reading (or at least "what's next after things I've read recently?")
- screen orientation lock
- song lyrics
- history tracking ("what passages did I look up while studying
yesterday?"), perhaps communally ("what books have my friends been
reading?")

Any other interest in helping out? How can we organize a team?

Martin, if you're still listening, I'd love to check out your code too.

-Ken


PS - here's the `adb logcat` from a failed module download. Turns out
it succeeds if you create a 'modules' directory inside /sdcard/sword
:) -- but then there are plenty of other issues.

08-24 23:19:46.443  2002  2021 D libsword.so: remoteInstallModule:
sourceName: CrossWire
08-24 23:19:46.443  2002  2021 D libsword.so: remoteInstallModule: modName: ESV
08-24 23:19:46.443  2002  2021 D libsword.so: ***** InstallMgr::installModule
08-24 23:19:46.443  2002  2021 D libsword.so: ***** modName: ESV
08-24 23:19:47.286  2002  2021 D libsword.so: ***** mgr.prefixPath:
/sdcard/sword/InstallMgr/20081216195754/
08-24 23:19:47.286  2002  2021 D libsword.so: *****
destMgr->prefixPath: /sdcard/sword/
08-24 23:19:47.286  2002  2021 D libsword.so: ***** absolutePath:
/sdcard/sword/InstallMgr/20081216195754/modules/texts/ztext/esv/
08-24 23:19:47.286  2002  2021 D libsword.so: ***** relativePath:
modules/texts/ztext/esv/
08-24 23:19:47.286  2002  2021 D libsword.so: netCopy:
ftp.crosswire.org, modules/texts/ztext/esv/,
/sdcard/sword/InstallMgr/20081216195754/modules/texts/ztext/esv/, t,
08-24 23:19:47.341  2002  2021 W System.err: Problem installing: -1
08-24 23:19:47.396  2002  2002 D libsword.so: getModInfoList returning
0 length array


On Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 4:30 AM, Martin Denham <mjdenham at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Troy,
> Apologies, I was a bit confused regarding the different projects.  The above was my first post to *Sword forums.  I incorrectly thought that JSword, Sword and other Crosswire forums would be worked on by the same people.  I have now joined the JSword-dev list which I had not spotted before.
> Whether the back end is built based on Sword or JSword it might be worthwhile combining with the Java Jsword guys for the front end which I think has to be in Java.
> I may download your apk and try it out.  I can put my code/build somewhere if you want but it's still in a state of great flux.
> Kind regards
> Martin
> On 13 June 2010 04:54, Troy A. Griffitts <scribe at crosswire.org> wrote:
>>
>> Martin,
>>
>> Great news on your success of getting JSword to build on Android.  I'm
>> sure the JSword mailing list would be interested to hear about your success!
>>
>> I'm not sure about the speed.  I will add a primitive search box to my
>> test app and let you know how long a complete search of the KJV (a
>> heavily marked up Bible) takes on my G1.
>>
>> Troy.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 06/09/2010 05:28 AM, mjdenham wrote:
>> > Hi Troy,
>> >
>> > I just thought I would mention that I have also been playing around with
>> > Android.
>> >
>> > I have spent the last few weeks creating a prototype bible viewer
>> > application for Android, but I just noticed Troy's messages in this forum.
>> > I took a slightly different technical approach to you and I don't know which
>> > is better and I also came at this project with the aim of creating a mobile
>> > bible viewer I could tweak and improve rather than specifically to write an
>> > Android front end for Sword.  By way of information I thought I would
>> > outline my approach and what led me to start.
>> >
>> > I have used Pocket e-Sword for many years but development has now ceased on
>> > Pocket e-Sword and it is already looking a bit old, as is WinMob that it
>> > runs on, so I started thinking what to use in the future.  Although I loved
>> > using Pocket e-sword there were one or two things that I would have loved to
>> > change if I had access to the source but the source was closed.  Most pocket
>> > bible apps seem to be closed source and many charge money or depend on being
>> > on-line so I began to think about writing my own.  I have been writing Java
>> > code for a living since the 90's.  I looked at Java ME which unfortunately
>> > is not supported by recent, popular, trend-setting phones like iPhone and
>> > Android and started going that route but there doesn't seem to be much
>> > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1414288/j2me-vs-android-vs-iphone-vs-symbian-vs-windows-ce
>> > buzz around Java ME  at the moment.  I briefly thought of iPhone but refuse
>> > to learn Objective-C, buy a Mac, and bend over backwards to get the app into
>> > App Store.  Then I realised that Google have built Android primarily for
>> > Java Applications and Gartner predict that by 2012 Android will outsell the
>> > iPhone so I downloaded the Android SDK and am impresed by the application
>> > framework Google have put into Android.  Incidentally I went to a
>> > fascinating talk on Android by Reto Meier yesterday evening.
>> >
>> > As Android hosts Java apps so well it seemed a good idea to use java front
>> > to back so I downloaded the  jSword and sword-Common projects back-end to
>> > serve the OSIS documents and started creating a Java front-end for jsword on
>> > Android so I have now been doing that for the last couple of weeks off and
>> > on.  I included the jsword and common jars in my Android app and simplified
>> > the xslt template I found in bible-desktop and now have a basic bible viewer
>> > app.
>> >
>> > Troy, I am interested to see that you use jni to access a C back-end.  Is
>> > that right?  Does this give better performance or is there another reason.
>> >
>> > In the front end I am currently using a TextView but briefly used a WebView
>> > which has better html support. I may have to switch back to WebView.  I
>> > tried to copy the PocketSword verse selection screen but failed so I am just
>> > using 3 combos for now.
>> >
>> > I haven't used Crosswire code before and it took me a while to get used to
>> > OSIS and jsword but the code looks great and I am now familiar enough with
>> > jsword to find my way around the necessary parts.
>> >
>> > Here is a screen print of the current state:
>> > http://sword-dev.350566.n4.nabble.com/file/n2248754/android-bible1.jpg
>> >
>> > For now I am still happily trying to improve on the prototype but I could
>> > switch and contribute to a central project  with others.  My only aim is to
>> > create a good open source bible I can tweak and that others may find useful
>> > too.
>> >
>> > Best regards
>> > Martin
>> >
>>
>>
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