Today is Friday the 13th, but it doesn’t mark a day for superstition. Instead it marks the release of a long over due update to Droid Explorer. I have been working hard the past couple months getting this release ready. As I have mentioned in some previous posts, there are a lot of redesigned components, like the Shell Console, LogCat Console, the Device Selection dialog, and much more. Another key change is the handling of, non-issue, questions. Instead of being part of the discussion on CodePlex, there is now a tag on Android Enthusiasts. If using Android Enthusiasts, be sure to be detailed in what your issue is. I am not the only one that would be monitoring questions there. I wouldn’t want to see the questions closed because of lack of information.
On top of the changes that went in to Droid Explorer, I am also announcing the launch of http://de.bit13.com/, a new home for the Droid Explorer project. Besides being a place that contains screenshots and information on the releases, it acts as a central service for the device icons that are displayed when choosing the device to connect to and the icon that is shown in Explorer. As I get more information on devices, more icons will be added. Over time, other features will possible integrate more with the website.
Highlights of the Changelog for 0.9.0.0
- Added support for connecting to devices via TCP/IP New web service for getting device icons.
- Upgraded .NET Framework Requirement to 4.5.1
- Device lookup now uses 'detailed' call. Gets device name, model, and product name. see adb devices -l.
- Redesigned the GenericDeviceSelectionForm
- Updated the [default] image for devices
- Options Windows: added information to show the build tools version that is being used. [workitem:17313]
- Added ActiveMenu to add button to DWM.
- Moved DDMS launcher to be a plugin
- Moved Hierarchy Viewer to be a plugin
- Removed the "reboot" buttons, instead there is now a reboot plugin that supports all forms of reboot: normal, recovery, bootloader, download.
- Added a warning dialog when the app launches that will let the user know if droid explorer was unable to gain root access via adb root.
- Some refactoring to some plugins, like the shell, so it can be launched independently.
- Added links to ask questions on android enthusiasts.
- Removing some code that is unused.
- removed out of date plugins / tools.
- Some refactoring of the ConsoleControl. Moved to the Core.UI.
- Added reference to Camalot.Common.
- Updated LogCat to use ConsoleControl.
- Updated the Debug Console to use ConsoleControl.
- Updated ConsoleWriter to work with the ConsoleControl.
- Added OutputProcessors to handle different content for logging.
- Adb Root call is now called during initialization, after device selection.
- if adb root fails, a warning is displayed to the user. Future warnings can be ignored.
- A minor redesign to the splash screen.
- Plugins are now grouped in to separate toolbars.
- Added SDK Manager plugin
- Added AVD Manager plugin
- updated icons across the application.
- Plugins now grouped in the plugin menu.
- Fixed the cloud image path to support the new site.
- Fixed the file names when transfering to PC to remove invalid characters.
- Fixed the device monitor service.
- Added PluginSettings (not yet used really)
- Added icon handler interface
- Added picture extension handler using the icon handler interface