What is window manager in android

Android Windows Manager — Радикальное решение с рабочим столом

Если вы мечтали избавиться от непривычных и неприятных дизайнерских решений в операционной системе от Google, то слушайте: Android Windows Manager делает работу с файловой системой телефона максимально похожей на работу с небезызвестной ОС от Microsoft. Да, система окон, ставшая прорывом в своё время, и определившая развитие ПК на десятилетия вперёд, стала доступна для мобильного сегмента рынка.

Понятное дело, что это решение подойдёт скорее для планшетов, к которым подключается мышка и клавиатура. В основном беда подкрадывается со стороны размера иконок. Они очень мелкие… изначально. Размер настраивается без проблем в пункте «Eщё» — «Настройки», но простите, туда ещё надо добраться. А через крошечные иконки это сделать проблематично…

Тут нам в помощники записывается периферия — мышка и клавиатура. С их помощью пользователь быстро привыкает к «хитбоксу» меню, и обнаруживает преимущество номер один. Это многооконность, уважаемые! Фича, частично реализуемая в виде QSlide из LG G2 и так же частично благодаря Multitasking от OryonCorp. В Android Windows Manager всё честнее: любое окно просмотра файлов можно расширять, перемещать и закрывать по желанию, сворачивать одно или все вместе. Как и в Windows, собственно.

При этом программа не обладает встроенными редакторами или просмотрщиками файлов. Если нужно найти файл в памяти телефона, Android Windows Manager спасает день. Но если нужно его открыть — она не при делах, уж извините. Что касается поиска, то никаких преувеличений. Обладая почти стандартным набором для сортировки, приложение предлагает привычный для пользователя дизайн, знакомый со времён сами понимаете чего. Легко разобраться, легко использовать.

Android Windows Manager превосходно подойдёт всем, кто устал от стандартного меню смартфона или планшета, или хочет превратить его в походный вариант ноутбука. Впрочем, если эмуляторы полноценной Windows перестанут быть глючным мракобесием, превращение в лэптоп займёт ещё меньше времени. А пока — довольствуемся тем, что есть, благо стабильности герою статьи не занимать. Как и возможностей, и внешности. И это весьма знатно!

ferra.ru, 2021 г. 18+

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Top 5 Android Window Manager: Multi-Window Is Possible

We all know that we can open multiple windows at the same time on the computer and one of them will be in front as the main operation window. So people are wondering if there is such a feature in Android phones and tablets. The answer is Yes.

Part 1: Top 5 Android window manager Apps

Android window manager is a system service, which is responsible for managing multiple windows. It decides which windows are visible, and how they are positioned on the screen. It also performs window transitions and animations when opening or closing an app or rotating the screen. Here are some Android window managers:

1. Multi Window

With Multi Window manager for Android, users can add their favorite apps to the sidebar and open whenever they want. The best feature is that you don’t need to root your devices in order to use this app. There are 6 stylish themes along with the app and you can choose one you like. And if you don’t know how to use this app, there is a instruction to teach you.

2. Android Windows Manager

This is the perfect application for those of you who are reminiscent of computers running Windows operating system. Android Windows Manager is basically a file manager, which allows you to manage files in multiple windows. This app is designed to work on large-screen devices so if your phone doesn’t have a large screen you will probably encounter problems. You can rotate the opened windows as what you with your PC.

3. Multiwindow Launcher

Multiwindow Launcher is another free window manager. It is something like that you can see on a Mac computer, with a line of apps. And you can add your favorite apps and switch from one app to another. Some people may don’t like the line everywhere since you may accidentally tab it and go to other apps. If you don’t like ads, you have to upgrade to the pro version with some money.

4. Multi Window Manager (Phone)

This app makes all apps multi-window capable, but only adds the ones you add to the launch tray. It means you can drag an app from the launch bar and drop to any app. Then, it will launch in split screen. However, you have to root your phone to use it.

5. Multi Screen

Multi Screen is better to be called a window split manager. Users can two screens at the same time. It’s a good app for surfing online with your Android devices. You can read one webpage and another page at the same time or read one page and take notes. And for some photo lovers, they can compare one to another. And this app also supports customizing the size of the window. No root is required as well.

Part 2: Fix Multi-window Problem with Samsung on Android 4.3

Samsung has this feature with their phones. As the Android operating system updated to the 4.3 version, the multi window feature had to suffer, especially on Samsung devices like Galaxy SIII. It seems that the multi-window feature lost its functionalities. Still, there is a solution that will get your favorite feature worked in no time.

Step 1. Go to Settings — My Device — Home Screen Mode, select Easy Mode and then Apply

Step 2. Go back into Settings — My Device — Home Screen Mode, select Standard Mode and then Apply.

Step 3. Go to Settings — My Device — Display and enable Multi window by ticking the box next to this option. When the box is ticked means this option is enabled. Now if you long press the back key it should bring up the Multi window panel.

Part 3: Further Reading — Android Manager to manage all Android apps and files

Android is such a complex world, isn’t it? At times, you really need to download many third-party apps to help you realize some amazing features like multi-window. Want an reliable Android manager that allows you to view apps and files comprehensively, and install and uninstall many apps at one click?

Here comes a PC-based Android manager to help you.

dr.fone — Transfer (Android)

One Stop Solution to Manage Android files and apps

• Install and uninstall any apps from PC to Android in one click.
• Manage, export/import your music, photos, videos, contacts, SMS, Apps etc.
• Transfer iTunes to Android (vice versa).
• Manage your Android device on computer.
• Fully compatible with Android 8.0.

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Jetpack Window Manager for foldable devices

This article describes functionality and guidance that is in public preview and may be substantially modified before it’s generally available. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

Jetpack Window Manager (currently in beta) provides a standard API for working with all foldable devices. It contains two important classes:

• DisplayFeature — Identifies disruptions in the continuous flat screen surface such as hinges or folds. Window Manager will return a collection of display features from a layout change callback.
• FoldingFeature — Provides information about a specific feature of the device — while the Surface Duo only has one folding feature, it’s possible that other devices might have more. The FoldingFeature class provides information about the state of that part of the device, with properties for bounds , occlusionType , orientation , state , and isSeparating .

A similar guide is on Codelab. Read more about developing for foldables in the Android docs. Examples by the Android team are also available on GitHub. Jetpack release notes record changes in Window Manager as it is updated.

The controls and helper classes in the Surface Duo dual-screen library work with Window Manager. Follow the instructions to add the correct packages to your app project.

To use the Window Manager directly in your code, follow the instructions below:

Add dependencies

To add the Jetpack Window Manager library, update your build.gradle file.

Ensure the project is compiling with API level 31:

Add these dependencies so we can access the APIs needed:

The library name includes «beta» — the Window Manager APIs are currently still in preview and could change prior to becoming stable.

Use Window Manager in your Kotlin code

In the MainActivity class, declare a variable for the window manager:

Ensure that import androidx.window.WindowInfoRepository is added to the top of the file.

Initialize the window manager in your activity’s onCreate :

Ensure that import androidx.window.layout.WindowInfoRepository.Companion.windowInfoRepository is added to the top of the file.

Also in the onCreate method, wire up this . The activity should have a TextView called layout_change_text so that this method can update the displayed text:

Ensure that these imports are added to the top of the file:

The WindowLayoutInfo class has a collection of DisplayFeature items, one or more of which could be instances of FoldingFeature . Folding feature instances have properties for bounds , occlusionType , orientation , state , and isSeparating that you can query to make decisions about how to adjust your layout for the new state.

When this code is run, the activity will update with the current device posture and display features (if spanned across the fold or hinge). Add additional code to check for more information in the FoldingFeature object.

Samples

The surface-duo-jetpack-window-manager-samples GitHub repository contains a number of Kotlin samples demonstrating different dual-screen user experience patterns built using Jetpack Window Manager.

Java API

Refer to the Jetpack Window Manager alpha10 update blog post and this Java sample to see how to access the WindowInfoRepository class via the WindowInfoRepositoryCallbackAdapter .

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Working With WorkManager in Android Like A Pro

How can we schedule our application tasks at a particular time or periodically? How can we add constraints to our scheduled task like network availability(only Wifi some times) or if the device is charging? We see such tasks occurring in our day to day applications like WhatsApp and PlayStore App updates. Can we chain up such tasks together? We have a solution for all these questions and many more in Android Development.

Work Manager

Welcome to the Android-Work Manager blog.

So let’s discuss Work Manager and its use in background processing in this blog.

We have a lot of ways to do background processing in Android, like AsyncTasks, Loaders, Alarm Managers, etc., Which one to use when? How can we come to a decision on the same?

For more information, please refer to background processing guide

As an Android Developer, we should have an idea of the latest optimizations Android is coming up with its newer versions of OS being released for better performance. Also, we cannot guarantee every android device being used in the market contains the latest version of the Android OS installed. So, we should think about backward compatibility to reach the maximum number of devices that are present in the market(at least a min SDK of KitKat).

So how do we categorize our work that needs to be scheduled based on its importance?

Let’s say our work is to open a contacts screen by clicking on the Contacts button. This is something that is only related to the UI part. Hence the main thread or the UI thread is enough to perform this piece of work. We don’t need this to be done when our device is in doze state. This is an example of a Foreground Service. It’s a guaranteed execution and it needs to be done immediately.

Now, let’s say we have to perform a task but it need not be immediate. Like you want to set a reminder for the day after tomorrow at 8 pm. Now, this reminder will occur nearly after 48 hrs. So the device can be in a doze mode or alive during this period. We have a handful of APIs to perform these tasks. Like Job Schedulers, Firebase Job dispatchers, or Alarm manager with Broadcast receivers in the previous versions.

Now, what if we have a functionality that needs all the properties of these APIs. We tend to come with a combination of all the APIs discussed. That’s a lot of APIs to be used for in a single application. This is where WorkManager comes into the picture.

BackWard Compatible

WorkManager is Backward compatible up to API 14 -Uses JobScheduler on devices with API 23+, Uses a combination of BroadcastReceiver + AlarmManager on devices with API 14–22

WorkManager is intended for tasks that are deferrable — that is, not required to run immediately — and required to run reliably even if the app exits or the device restarts. For example:

• Sending logs or analytics to backend services
• Backing up user data with Server on a Periodic basis (Eg: WhatsApp, Google, etc.,)

Constraint Aware

WorkManager is constraint aware. In our day to day usage, we see our phone getting the latest software updates and we are requested to keep our devices in charging mode for these updates to happen as it may take time and insufficient charge can lead to improper installation of software. Sometimes, we see our apps getting updated as soon as we connect our phones to our power adapters. These kinds of tasks are constraint aware.

Accepts Queries

WorkManager is Queryable. A work that is handed off to the system by the WorkManager can be in a Blocked State, Running State or a Cancelled State. We can get the state of the work by passing the id of the Work like below:

By doing this, we can improve the UX by displaying a progress bar while the task is being executed by the work manager.

Chainable

WorkManager is Chainable. Let’s say we have a series of works that are dependent on each other, we can chain them up with Work Manager. You can also specify the order in which the works that are chained should be done.

Let’s say we want to upload photos to the server. For this task to be done, let’s say we want to compress the images first and then upload it. These tasks need to be done on a background thread as they are time taking tasks and it is evident in this case that they are dependent on each other. We can chain up these tasks by using the Work Manager.

In the above code snippet, work 1, work 2 and work 3 can be referred to as three different images that are extracted in parallel since they are a part of beginWith(). work 4 can be referred for compress and then work 5 can be upload. This way we can chain up our tasks.

WorkManager can be used to perform a unique task(OneTimeWorkRequest) or a recurring task(PeriodicWorkRequest) based on the requirement.

In order to execute a OneTimeWorkRequest or the PeriodicWorkRequest, we have to pass the work to these requests which are our Worker class. This is where our business logic is written in the doWork() method:

The doWork() method runs on the background thread. We can see here a success result is returned once the uploadImages is successful. The other two enum values for the return type are a failure and retry. Return types success and failure are fairly obvious, but what does retry do here? Let’s say we are performing a task with a Work Manager with a constraint that is network connected. If the network get’s disconnected in the midst of the work being done, we can retry the task.

Inputs and Outputs

Not just this, we can create data as inputs and get outputs as data with respect to WorkManager requests. The inputs and outputs are stored as key-value pairs in the Data object.

So, how do we create a data object? Let’s create a simple map in kotlin and convert it into a workData so that it gives a Data object

Now, where can we retrieve this data? It can be done in the overridden doWork method in our Worker class

Now, we see that the compressImages is returning a map of images mapped to their respective sizes. Let’s say we need this data. We can set the output from our worker thread as a Data object.

If we are using a chain of work requests here, the key observation is that the output of a worker will become input for its child workRequests.

Let’s say we use a UploadWorker after the CompressWorker, the compressedImages that is executed in the CompressWorker can be an input to the UploadWorker. It can be retrieved similarly in the doWork method of the UploadWorker class.

This works fine if we have only one worker request chained with another work request. What if we have multiple work requests(running parallel) chained with another work request that needs input from all these parallelly running work requests like

What if the input for work 4 should be the combined output of work 1, work 2 and work 3? InputMerger to the rescue.

InputMerger

InputMerger is a class that combines data from multiple sources into one Data object. There are two different types of InputMergers provided by WorkManager:

OverwritingInputMerger (default) attempts to add all keys from all inputs to the output. In case of conflicts, it overwrites the previously-set keys.

ArrayCreatingInputMerger attempts to merge the inputs, creating arrays when necessary.

Important note:

There might be instances where we get outputs containing similar keys. So, we must be cautious in choosing our Inputmergers. If we want to override the key values, we can go for OverwritingInputMerger. If we want to save all the instances of the respective Key, we have to use ArrayCreatingInputMerger. It creates an array of values(if the values for a key are more than one) for the respective key.

Exception-Example case study for ArrayCreatingInputMerger:

Let’s say we have a key, “age”. One work request has value 30(Int) in it for this key. Another work request has value “three days”(String) in it for the same key. Can the ArrayCreatingInputManager merger these values and create an array for the key “age”? No. It gives an exception. So, it is expected that the datatypes of the values for similar keys should be the same.

How to use InputMerger

Work Manager can cancel the unwanted tasks or tasks that are scheduled by mistake. All that we need to do is to send the task id to cancelWorkById() method :

The Tag Support

The ids that we are referring to here are auto-generated and generally large numbers that are not easily readable by humans. Let’s say we have to log them we are unsure whether we are logging the correct workRequest Id. To overcome this issue, each work request can have zero or more tags. We can query or delete our work requests by using these tags.

Now, if we want to see the status of all the works that are associated with a given tag, we can just use

The above statement returns a LiveData
> as more than one work request can be associated with a single tag. We can use this result to get the statuses like

Similarly, we can use the tags to cancel the work like:

Existing Work-Keep it unique or Add Operations with Keep, Replace and Append

Keep, Replace and Append

These three properties add advantage to using Work Manager.

Let’s say we have a work request with tag “image_1” that is already enqueued with the WorkManager.

Let’s say we define this work request to upload a particular image. And if by mistake, we click on upload the same image, this property helps us in not repeating the task.

So, if there is work already with “upload” ongoing, it will keep that request. If there isn’t one, it will enqueue this particular request.

Replace

This will replace any ongoing work with the name “upload” and replaces it by enqueuing this particular work.

Append

This helps in appending the respective work request to an already existing unique work request with the name “upload”(if it exists)

Note: Please be careful when you add the constraints to the work requests in a chain of work requests. Each and every work request that is being chained may not need the same constraints. For example, if our work request contains image upload and we are chaining compress image and upload image work requests together, compressing an image may have constraints related to storage and uploading image can have a constraint with respect to the network connection. So, add the constraints accordingly.

References

Work Manager from the Android Developers Youtube Channel from Google i/o 18.- This video link also describes how the Work Manager operates under the hood. A snapshot of the same is being give here:

That’s all about WorkManager! Hope this article has been of use to you and has given you a basic idea of how Work Manager is useful for us.

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