Some users of my app calendar event reminder asked me how they can use custom sounds for notifications, alarms or ringtones. This can be easily done. Just create some folders on your sdcard and place your favourite mp3s in it:

• /sdcard/media/alarms
• /sdcard/media/notifications
• /sdcard/media/ringtones

Some users reported having problems installing the skins from my skin-site for my app email widget. Here is a detailed describtion on how to install them:

1. Go the the android market and install the app AndExplorer (its free)
2. Open a browser and go to my skin site or to the email-widget site and hit the “skin-site” link
3. Push one of the download links for a skin on the left
4. Now your browser should either download the file or it asks you which app to use to open the link, choose your browser
5. Your browser should download the file now
6. Start the AndExplorer and hit the “SDCARD” button on top
7. Go to the directory “download” or “downloads”. There you should find your downloaded skin file.
8. Long-press the file until it get’s checked
9. Now hit menu->copy/paste->cut.
10. Hit SDCARD again and go to the folder .de.foobarsoft.emailwidget (mind the leading dot!)
11. Then hit menu->copy/paste->paste

Now the file should be moved to the right spot. Open your widget configuration and go to the skin-settings. You should be able to choose the installed skin now.

Please mind: If you have downloaded skin files successfully please make sure to not unzip/unpack them.

You now can get my app email widget and of course calendar event reminder as well on the AndroidPit market as well. The good thing about it is that you can now also pay with paypal and click n’ buy.

This page contains information on skins for my app android email widget. Here is a list of available skins for free download. Below are instructions on installing, updating or creating skins. If you’ve created a skin and want to share it, please get in contact with me or post a link to it in the comments down below so i can add it to this list.

If you have troubles installing skin files please read this detailed trouble shooting guide!

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I recently worked on some apps for my new android mobile Samsung Galaxy S and published them on the market a few weeks ago. They are focusing on two key features, which to my surprise are not part of the android core functionality:

• An Email Widget, which shows your recent emails (Exchange, POP3, IMAP) and allowes you to open them from your homescreen
• A calendar event reminder which allows you to set a vibration pattern for nagging event alerts

The first one was really a tough nut to crack, because the android core surprisingly doesn’t provide easy access to emails stored on the phone. You have to use a private api, which unfortunately isn’t documented at all. Also this api is secured on the latest android release, so it is impossible to get the app working without rooting the phone. Additionally the mail app seems not yet technically mature enough, so many device manufacturer like HTC are providing their own implementation of it. This made it even more difficult to build the app.

Thanks to the feedback of several users i was able to improve the apps and make them more feature rich. I also created a twitter account for publishing news on recent development for the apps. You are welcome to follow me there.

Please help us to translate CER to different languages: http://bit.ly/MGO4Ly

If you have any questions or problems with CER please read the FAQ first before getting in contact with us. Thanks!

THE App for calendar reminders – never forget an appointment anymore! Perfect for business user!
This app adds a repeating calendar reminder and extends the stock calendar application. You can customize the duration, repetitions, sound and vibration pattern. Works with every synced calendar.

When alarm / reminder goes off the device will be turned on and a popup window with information about the event (title, time, location) is displayed. Alarm / reminder can be disabled by clicking the dismiss and snoozed by the snooze button.

Features:
- Settings per calendar
- Repeating reminder / alarm alert for all synced calendars (even corporate calendar)
- Customizable vibration pattern / alarm sound
- Lock screen style sliders or wheel to snooze / discard alarm
- Froyo / Gingerbread / ICS look & feel for sliders
- Text-to-speech
- Stays open after every/last/no reminder
- Multiple snooze buttons with adjustable snooze logic and layout
- Wakes up device display automatically
- Supports Android 2.1 or greater including Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Icecream Sandwich and Jelly Bean!
- Shows notifications in the notification bar
- Supports LED flashing
- Supports to flash screen during alarm
- Customizable orientation
- Clean and simple

In combination with the Android calendar this app can be used as a personal assistance to automatically notify you about upcoming birthdays / anniversaries, when to take your medecin or other things of life you don’t want to forget.

!! Please note: !!

- You have to disble your alarm sound within the calendar app. Otherwise the alarm sound of my app may be suppressed
- You have to exclude my app from any task killer app

Touchdown and Lotus Traveler not supported!

If you have any comments, feature requests or questions please get in contact with me. You can vote for new features on my website. You can also follow me on twitter @invalidobject_ for recent infos.

We would also appreciate your help in translating this app into your favourite language! Just send us an email.

Explanation of the permissions:
- android.permission.VIBRATE
Control vibrator: Used for the alarm to vibrate the phone with the desired vibration pattern
- android.permission.WAKE_LOCK
Disable standby modus: Used to make sure that the screen isn’t turned off during alarm
- android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE
Phone calls / read phone state: This is to not interrupt active calls by the alarm and to stop the alarm when a phone call comes in.
- android.permission.READ_CALENDAR
Read calendar events: This is to get the time, title and location from the event when an alarm is raised.
- android.permission.WRITE_CALENDAR
Modify calendar events: When an alarm is snoozed my app has to store a new reminder for the event. This is stored in the calendar database.
- android.permission.GET_TASKS
Retrieve running applications: Used by the home helper to get the Launchers which can be associated with the home key
- android.permission.SET_PREFERRED_APPLICATIONS
Set preferred apps: Used by the home helper to replace the launcher for the home key
- android.permission.HARDWARE_TEST
Test hardware: Used to set the screen brightness for flashing screen
- android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED
Automatically start at boot: Checks for unfinished / missed reminders when phone is started
- android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS
Change audio settings: Used to set a custom volume for the alarm
- com.android.vending.CHECK_LICENSE
License check: Used to check if the user is using a valid license
- android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
SDCard access: Used to read/write settings file for im/export
- android.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS
Change system settings: Used to overwrite the display timeout

Note: If you want to use your own sounds like mp3s for notifications or alarms please read this hint.

Update Version 5.3.2:

• Added option to enable/disable LED flashing during quiet mode
• Enhanced Czech, French and Russian translation
• Added Hungarian and Hindi translation
• Fixed: Blink rate for notification light didn’t work as configured (slow, fast)

Follow me on Twitter @invalidobject_ to get infos on recent develeopment.

Please feel free to leave feature-requests, bugs, ideas, questions or other feedback through the comments below.

Link: www.youtube.com

Use this Android Application to put a widget with your recent emails of a certain email folder on your homescreen. You can use it with every synced email folder for an Exchange, POP3, IMAP or GMail Account.  You can find many custom skins on my Skin Site. The following environments are supported by this app/widget:

For “only with root” please see the description (Installing as system app) below!

By touching the widget you can open emails (GMail only with internal viewer) or the email app. Additionally it displays a small icon to indicate wether a mail is read / unread (K9 does not support this feature). You can use it as 3x(1-4) or 4x(1-4) widget. Different widget configurations are supporte.

Update Version 5.4:

• Added support for Enhanced Email
• Messages can now be opened from widget for K9 provider (PLEASE UPDATE TO LATEST K9 mail!)
• Added internal viewer for GMail provider
• Resizing of widget now supported (depends on launcher)
• For GMail provider the widget now displays messages instead of conversations
• Fixed: GMail provider now displays messages from inbox only if “only unread” is selected

Follow me on Twitter @invalidobject_ to get infos on recent develeopment.

ATTENTION: The App doesn’t work on Android 2.2 / Froyo (except for HTC) for the build in mail app out of the box, because of the strict permission system (technical details here). You can bypass this by installing the app as a system app. For this root access is required, explanation below. You can also use K9 or Enhanced Email.

GMail support only works out of the box until GMail V2.3.4.1. On the current version c.2.3.5 Google locked down GMail. Please see this post.

Please feel free to contact me for any feature-requests, bugs, ideas, questions or other feedback through the comments below. If you have any problems, send me a mail with the detailed logfile (option in the app menu, file is located under /sdcard/emailwidget_log.txt) for support.

Installing app as a system app

PLEASE NOTE: The following is at your own risk. I will not be responsible for any damage or malfunction of your device! Please also mind, that rooting might void your warranty.

You only need to do this, if my app tells you that android has blocked access to your mails (see screenshot below). If this does not appear but you cannot choose a mail folder, then your phone stores mails in a non standard and non compatible mode.

Option 1 (via File Manager):

Required:

• Root access + Super Manager (it’s free)

1. Install the app emailWidget from the market
2. Be sure not to put a widget of the app on a homescreen
3. Start Super Manager
4. Go to Settings and activate root support (Enable ROOT functions)
5. Go back and open the File Explorer
6. Move to directory /data/app
7. Find my app Email Widget (look out for the app icon) and select it
8. Use the “cut”-symbol from the commands below (the scissors)
9. Now hit Menu->Switch System R/W->R/W (this makes System folder writeable)
10. Go to /system/app and paste my app in it (the command icon which looks like a sketch sheet)
11. Now reboot

Option 2 (via shell):

Required:

• Root access + busybox (I used oneclicklagfix from the market)
• Better Terminal Emulator

1. Install the app emailWidget from the market
2. Be sure not to put a widget of the app on a homescreen
3. Start Better Terminal Emulator
4. Type in the following commands (without the content in brackets)
5. su (get root)
6. mount -oremount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock4 /system (remount the system-filesystem read/write)
7. cd /data/app (go to the directory /data/app)
8. busybox mv de.foobarsoft.emailwidget.apk /sdcard (move app to your sdcard, app gets uninstalled)
9. cd /sdcard (go to the directory /sdcard)
10. busybox mv de.foobarsoft.emailwidget.apk /system/app (move app to system-folder, app gets installed as system app)
11. Maybe you have to restart your phone.

Now you should see the app in you app-folder again. Select a mail folder now and add the widget to your homescreen. It should work now. For Froyo Users: Please see the comment below.

Note: Some devices require to enable modifying the system-directory by putting the device to a mode called S-OFF. This is the case if you start your device after the steps above and the directory /system/app does not contain the emailwidget-apk. You can find information on putting your device to S-OFF here.