ALDLdroid

[pizzaboy192]

I should have mentioned that mine is a pc app for Windows, just in case you thought it was Android. It supports the ABS and SIR (airbags) modules also, and has actuator (aka "bi-directional") support as well.

Got that much. my MID is an Atom Windows tablet. I got the program to load up fine on my Win8.1 laptop, and as soon as my cables come in I'll give it a whirl.

[Six_Shooter]

Seb, that was me that sent you a crash report this morning.

I apologize for it being so short on details, I was late for school and in a hurry.

Hardware: LG G3, 1227749 running $59, Moates adapter with Tunerview II, hardwired using OTG cable.
Android version: 4.4.2
Additional details: I have a Tunerview II between the ECM and the phone, that may or may not be causing another issue...

The app will crash every time the phone is rotated from landscape to portrait or visa-versa, when "connected to the ecu". When not connected to the ECU, this problem does not exist.

The other issue is that my Tunerview 2 showed gibberish on the screen after about 5 to 10 minutes of being connected (and showing valid values), both in the morning and on my way home. It only did this once each time, and then after disconnecting all power to the TV II (without shutting off the car), the problem did not occur for the remainder of either trip. The datastream was still being transmitted to phone even with the gibberish displayed on the TV II. This has never happened before today, so I have a feeling it may have something to do with possible collisions of data, such as the app requesting data at a random time, possibly?

So far pretty cool though. Took me a bit to figure out how to edit some things.

I haven't been able to get into the tuning section yet for some reason, what has to be done there? Does it need to be connected to emulation hardware before this feature can be accessed? Can a USB hub be used to allow connection to a datalogging cable and emulation hardware, such as an Ostrich 2.0? Or does it have to be an AutoProm to enable both at the same time?

[3400tZ]

Chris,

I've found the reason of the crash and fixed it. Took me an hour to come up with a proper solution but it should be good now :P I'm surprised nobody found that sooner... should happen to anybody that uses USB and change device orientation.

I could of got a new version out tonight but I have a feeling you might find more bugs so I will wait a couple days (unless you really want the fix ASAP).

About the Tunerview issue, the first problem I have is that I know absolutely nothing about that device :D So how does it work... its connected into the ALDL port and there is a USB port on the Tunerview for another ALDL device to connect to ? I doubt its an issue triggered by ALDLdroid but I guess you could try to use TunerPro to make sure. It never happened before today but I guess its the first time you're connecting something into the Tunerview too ? I would assume that the way it works is that it just cache the data stream to be sent to the "slave" device once requested so timing shouldn't be a problem. It could easily well be some sort of firmware issues on their side like memory corruption.

And about the tuning section, what do you mean by you cannot get to it ? What makes you not being able to access it, I'm not sure I understand... The tuning menu should be there, you tap on it and you get to the tuning section. No hardware is required, if not in real time tuning mode, it will edit the local bin file. Note that I had ONE! person give me feedback about the real time tuning so lets say that it hasn't been fully tested. It might be a good idea to play with your ECU on the bench first to make sure everything is cool.

About the USB hub, to be honest, I've never tried so I'm not sure but give it a go and let me know! Theoratically, the app should be able to handle multiple USB devices so whether its multiple devices from a hub or multiple ports shouldn't matter at the app level.

I'm happy to hear you find it pretty cool so far. I will sure ask you for more feedback once you've played with it a bit more.

[Six_Shooter]

Seb, actually if it's up to me whether you release the fix sooner than later, I would opt for sooner. ;) Currently I don't have a way to secure the phone in one position, so when it sits on my lap, and I go around a corner sometimes the phone and the orientation is switched. I could lock orientation, if you really want to wait though. Great to hear that you found a fix though, and that it wasn't just an isolated issue. lol

You have the idea correct on the TV II, There is an ALDL cable that connects as per usual, to the ALDL connector in the vehicle, it then goes to an adapter box, much like the ALDL Xtreme box (In fact mine was an early run/prototype test unit, so it has the ALDL Xtreme sticker on it), then this connects to the TV II. There is a USB connection that then connects to a laptop/other device. I've used this with a few different laptops and Tuner Pro for several years without this issue ever popping up. Don't take what I said as accusatory, just that it would be too coincidental to it not be somehow related to ALDLdroid/Android. ;) Now that you mention some of that I wonder if there's a port timing issue. There was some delay needed to be added to the ADX to work correctly with the TV II back when I first got it, and wonder if maybe it's put timing off when it's used with an Android? I really can't see how this would effect the actual display, but I see what I see. I'm not really so worried about this one, although my TV II is my only coolant temp gauge and speedo right now, so it's important that I have SOMETHING working for those. ;)

So I have to have a bin loaded to even see that the XDF is loaded, or load the XDF? I haven't loaded a bin file yet, but would have expected to see the XDF parameters or at least something that says "BIN must be loaded..."

Also does ALDLDroid add a parameter to the ADX called "speed", that I would assume to be vehicle speed based on GPS? If so, it's grossly off in my case, reading less than half of what actual speed is.

I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but when I tried to load my ADX and XDF files to ALDLDroid, through my computer, the ALDLDroid folder did not show up right away in Windows Explorer. So I created a new folder called "ALDLDroid Stuff", that I copied the files to and then used the file manager in the phone to move the files. After a while, and several connects and disconnects of the USB cable (for various reasons), the ALDLDroid folder showed up in Windows Explorer, and was able to load the files directly to the appropriate folders. I was able to do this all on the on board memory, so a device with expandable memory may not be needed after all, though devices without expandable memory does seem to be the exception anymore.

I know it may sound like I'm getting down on your app, but I'm not, it's great, just some things I've noticed in the first 24 hours of use. ;) I may be one of the only (few?) people that are actually using USB to connect the device. With the TV II, this is the only option that I'm away of.

[3400tZ]

I will see what I can do about a release then, possibly tomorrow evening or something... :)

It's weird that TunerPro isn't triggering the issue of the TunerView with the same ADX file as you use for ALDLdroid (assuming you used the same...). You can always try to add a silence in the monitoring macro to see if that helps but it kinda sucks to slow the data stream for that. The app should act the same as TunerPro, just ask for data from the ECU, waits for it, parse it and go back to step 1 indefinitely. I'm pretty sure it's an issue with the Tunerview, possibly triggered by ALDLdroid but most likely not because its doing anything wrong. It might be hard to debug tho, I don't have one and from what I've heard from you, I don't want one either

For the tuning section, I don't remember exactly but I think you need both XDF and bin file to see something. Once you select them, an arrow should appear on the top left corner of the screen and you can use it to slide the menu out. I think there is a message there that say you need to select your tuning files but it might not be clear, that's very possible.

As for the GPS speed, there is a setting in the settings section of the app to select if you want that speed to be mp/h or km/h. Any chance mp/h is selected ? If you haven't touched that, default should be km/h tho so its weird...

Actually, I would assume a majority of the people are using USB. That's usually easier as most people already have a cable.

I think the flakiness you saw from the windows explorer stuff is a Windows issue. I do have problem with folder no showing up once in a while too when connected to an Android device. That and Bluetooth on Windows is horrible.

And it's all good, constructive feedback and well detailed bug report are always welcome. I'm usually having a hard time getting proper bug report or even bug report at all so I'm not gonna complain!

[Six_Shooter]

I have MPH selected, because that's what I use on the TV II, and what my car was originally on the speedo. :P Ok, I JUST checked as I was typing this and it was set to Km/h, odd, I know I changed it to MPH last night. Maybe it reset at some point, at any rate it was reading just under half of what the actual MPH is. I'll try it out more, hopefully tomorrow and report back about that.

Oh, I'm sure it was a Windows issue, or at least a Windows not talking with Android issue at that point. It's not the first time I've experienced something similar. ;)

[3400tZ]

Version 0.52 will be on Play in a few hours. Changes:

- Added a new indicator style: status (for bit mask items)
- Faster ADX and XDF parser (about twice as fast)
- Fixed crash when using USB and changing device orientation

[Six_Shooter]

I was going to make a suggestion about the bitmasks, but hadn't played with the app enough to see just how everything works yet.

[Six_Shooter]

Ok, so I played around a bit more with ALDLDroid today.

I'm not sure what is up, but I connected my phone to my Ostrich, ALDLDroid found it no problem, and hit download bin. Saved it. but doesn't seem to load to ALDLDroid. I tried three times, using shorter and shorter names, some with decimals separating name points (like I use on my laptop), and eventually without. I can see the files in my file manager, but not from within ALDLDroid. They are saved to the bin section of the ALDLDroid folder.
I have tried force stopping the app, with no change, thinking that it may need to start from scratch loading the files.

So as you can see, I figured out how to look at the different parameters...

A suggestion about that. It would be nice to be able to collapse each section, Scalers, Flags and Tables, so that it's not necessary to scroll past items that are not needed at that time.

The other issue is that sleep mode is not being prevented on my device, I do have the box checked, but my screen turns off at the same interval that it would if I wasn't using the app, which I have set for 1 minute currently, since I like to preserve battery, as much as possible.

*update* I have had the app open on my desk here, making sure that what I was saying is the truth and it seems that the app is preventing sleep mode, but it's obviously not connected to the car, so I wonder if there's an issue in the recognition of being connected to the ECU? */update*

Another suggestion I have is about the histograms (awesome that they are right there on the dash BTW, wish I could do that in Tuner Pro. ). It would be nice if there was a way to select the time base shown in the histogram, either by pinching the box right on the dash, or a setting in the edit screen for the histogram. (It would be AWESOME if the time base could be changed on the fly to be able to zoom in or out to see some portion in more detail. ;) )

I haven't tried the USB hub yet, need to get the bin loading issue sorted out first then I'll try the USB hub and see if Ostrich and other datalogging cable can be connected.

[3400tZ]

Chris,

I'm thinking that maybe if you don't add the extension of the file (.bin), it won't show up since the thing that list the bin files will filter .bin files only. I could easily add a check to add the .bin extension if the user haven't specified it. Can you confirm that seems like the issue please ?

I've added the search not too long ago to help with the long XDF item list. I was also thinking people might create simplified XDF for their phone to just tweak a few specific settings. I could add two levels to the menu and allow for expanding / collapsing like you're saying tho.

I think the prevent sleep option only works on the dashboard, were you in the tuning section when the phone went to sleep ?

I have a few ideas to improve histogram, custom number of data points being one of them. Hopefully I will be able to get to that soonish...

[Six_Shooter]

Chris,

I'm thinking that maybe if you don't add the extension of the file (.bin), it won't show up since the thing that list the bin files will filter .bin files only. I could easily add a check to add the .bin extension if the user haven't specified it. Can you confirm that seems like the issue please ?

Yeah that was it. I guess I'm just too used to windows automatically adding the extension for me...

I've added the search not too long ago to help with the long XDF item list. I was also thinking people might create simplified XDF for their phone to just tweak a few specific settings. I could add two levels to the menu and allow for expanding / collapsing like you're saying tho.

I saw the search, that is a great feature, but I can't always remember the name of the parameter I'm looking for, and I'm sure others are the same way. ;)

Does the tuning ability only work when emulation is enabled? I haven't been able to actually change anything, and didn't want to try it with the bin that wasn't actually loaded to my car. ;)

I do plan to make files specifically for ALDLDroid, but even trimming out things I wouldn't need to edit, will still leave a lot in many XDFs I plan to use. Having collapsible trees just makes it easier to switch between items sometimes. ;)

I think the prevent sleep option only works on the dashboard, were you in the tuning section when the phone went to sleep ?

Definitely was on the dashboard, this was while driving along trying to keep an eye on knock retard, so there's zero question on I was on the dash board. It seems to prevent sleep when not connected to the ECU though.

I have a few ideas to improve histogram, custom number of data points being one of them. Hopefully I will be able to get to that soonish...

Awesome.

Just throwing this out there, some of the issues, like lack of sleep inhibit and the speed being so far off, could they be due to the Android version or the phone itself? Could something have changed in one or both of those differences from what other people are using?

[3400tZ]

Yeah, on Android there is no Open / Save dialog provided by the OS like on Windows so I had to do it from scratch. Adding the extension if its not there is a feature I forgot I guess but its easy enough, I will add it for the next version.

I will see what I can do about the tuning menu, its a bit complex but it can be done.

Ok so I've reviewed the code for the lack of sleep thing and speed being off. For lack of sleep, everything looks OK, I will have to add some debugging and test it myself to see if I can find anything. As for the speed, I'm pretty sure I've found the problem. It seems like the scaling to km/h or mp/h is applied for values in data log only. That mean that if you take a data log, the values in data log would be right, but the value displayed by an indicator on the dashboard would be wrong. The issue is that the scaling is happening in the datalog class instead at the level of the Android sensors reading and that's not where it should be. Currently the value you see on the dashboard must be in meters per second, because this is what the Android API provide. You need to multiply whatever value you see on the dashboard by 3.6 to get the km/h value, does that sounds about right ? I will try to get that fixed for the next version as well.

[Six_Shooter]

Now that I know I need to add the extension myself, I can do that, no worries on that. Automatically adding the extension I would say is a low priority, especially since it seems that only two of us care about that. lol

The tuning menu also I would say should be a low priority, again because there's only two of us that seem to care about the tuning aspect. hah I can find stuff as it is, it would just make it easier. I'll also have to figure out how to actually change values before it becomes a real concern.

I would really like the inhibit sleep thing to work though. I mean I can change that in Android settings for now, but eventually I'd like it to work as it should. ;)

I'll have to check the values that are showing up in the speed display and see if that works. I'm sure you're right, but I'll verify, hopefully later today.

[buddrow]

Is AldlDroid compatible with custom ADX set to run at 115200 baud? I see it lists only the 160/8192 baud GM ecm/pcm but I would like to be able to use it with my trans controller project if possible.

Buddrow

[3400tZ]

Chris,
I've already fixed the automatically add extension thing, just have to test it and we'll be good to go for that. I will try to come up with a fix for the speed issue next as I know whats going on (but still please confirm if you can!) and then I will do the investigation of the prevent sleep mode issue, we'll see what I find.

buddrow,
the app will take whatever baud rate is in the ADX file so it should work just fine. The only reason I'm only mentioning 160/8192 baud is because it's 99% of what the people use.