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Friday, June 1, 2012

Yet another XMPP Client for Android

First of all, git it from github: https://github.com/Buggaboo/android_xmpp_client

The features

  • GreenDao, database access. Say goodbye to e.g. SQL injection exploits, crap manual data type conversions;
  • Smack library (xmpp), modified for Android, with bugs, but not crashworthy;
  • It vibrates messages to morse code; (3 june 2012: WIP)
  • The messages can be translatable to different languages, just by leveraging the xml resources;
  • Multiple provider support, i.e. connect with google, microsoft, meebo, whatever you want;
  • Licence: GPLv3;
  • Support for android api levels 10 thru 15 (from gingerbread to ice cream sandwich due to compatibility library, 80% of the android  market);
  • Support for android api level 15 (pure ice cream sandwich, less than 10%);
  • Support for fragments (12 june 2012: WIP);
  • Support for android Notifications;


 

 

  The general design

  • Sharing data between Contexts via the database: A context alpha (e.g. Activity or Service) pokes another context beta with an Intent with a Bundle payload containing the record id of a certain database table.
  • To prevent competition for the same database resource, certain services take randomized naps, aka Thread.sleep(Long);
  • A message entity has a buddy entity has a connection entity, i.e. I use foreign keys, to sort and group data etc., GreenDao generates all the code you need;
  • BroadcastReceivers and ArrayAdapters work together to refresh your ListViews.

Known Issues

  1.  There are no bounds on how much data is pulled from the database and rendered as a view, the ListViews are potential memory hogs;
  2. There are no arbitrary limits on data input, which could eat all your memory;
  3. I have not stress-tested how many connections can be kept alive at the same time, before thread-related issues arise;
  4. I suspect that the smack library has its own issues with regard to Presence;
  5. I have not checked  for memory leakages, I use nested classes for my BroadcastReceivers, I haven't checked for cyclical references, I don't understand fully how garbage collection on android works;
  6. The vibrator notification can get annoying, or fun, depending on your mood.

1 comment:

  1. it is of ZERO value if it does have OTR

    otr.cypherpunks.ca
    wiki.xmpp.org

    ReplyDelete

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