source: gs3-extensions/android-war/trunk/src/README.txt@ 26685

Greenstone3 Runtime on Android
(NEWER README FILE)
==============================

This extension helps you set up and run Greenstone3 on your android device.

It relies on the environment variable ANDROID_SDK_HOME to determine
where the Android SDK lives on your file system, in a similar way
JAVA_HOME gets used by many programs to determin where Java is
installed on a particular computer.  The key programs we need to run
from the Android SDK are 'adb' and 'dex'.  The most straight forward
way to control this variable is to:

  cp setup-android.bash.in setup-android.bash

and then edit 'setup-android.bash' the value of **ANDROID-SDK-HOME**
to be the top-level directory of where the Android SDK was installed to.

Having done this, source the main setup file:

  source setup.bash

which automatically sources setup-android.bash if the ANDROID_SDK_HOME
environment variable isn't set.

Having sourced the setup file the two main steps are:

  1) Install i-greenstone-server on the Android device
     (in order to do this you must checkout on SVN the extension
     "i-greenstone-server", which has its own seperate README.txt
     in order to build the application)

  2) Install Greenstone3 as a web-app application for i-greenstone-server, for
     your Android device.
     
Step 1
--------

First, install i-greenstone-server on your Android device. You can do this by
typing in your terminal:

  adb install i-jetty-3.1-aligned.apk
  
Note: for your Android device to install applications using 'adb' you
need to have enabled it's application 'Development' mode (under
Settings->Application)

*************
**Important**
*************

Having installed i-greenstone-server, find the application on the Android device
and launch it (but you don't have to go as far as starting the i-greenstone
server from within this application).  Launching i-greenstone-server completes the
installation of the application by creating the 'greenstone' folder on the
Android's SD-card, and populating it with the default configuration
files for i-greenstone-server.  The 'jetty' folder is needed for your
setup procedure as it is where Greenstone-3 will be installed to.

Step 2
--------

(This usually only needs to be done once.)

Transfer the bulk of the <GSDL3SRCHOME>/web structure to the preparation
area "webapps" with the extension foler (i.e., where you are running these
scripts from) with:

  ./PREPARE-WEBAPPS-GREENSTONE-ROOT-FOR-IJETTY.sh

This script skips any .svn files if present.  It also skips installing
the majority of 'localsite' as this can be rather large -- both in
size and in terms of the number of files invovled -- so copying is
rather slow, and it is probably not what you want anyway.  Only the
'lucene-jdbm-demo' collection is copied to the preparation area.
Any other collections you wish to add should be manually added to
the "webapps/greenstone3/sites/localsite/collect/" area.

Step 3
--------

Convert the class files (includes those stored in jar files) into
classs.dex with:

  ./JAVA-TO-DEX.sh  

The finished file, which is also by this point zipped up, is stored in
the 'lib' folder (should you wish to inspect it).  It is also
automatically copied to "webapps/greenstone3/WEB-INF/lib" which is
where it needs to be to work when installed on the Android device.

Step 4
--------

Right now we have a fresh new "webapps/greenstone3/" that we've created.
Now there's two things you can do - you can either create a
JAR file out of this webapps/greenstone3 (which is Step 4A),

**OR**

You can directly push the webapp into the greenstone/webapps directory
on the SD card of your Android phone (which is Step 4B).

(Note: You'd probably only want to do Step 4A if you were also working with
the source code for i-greenstone-server.)


    Step 4A
    --------

    Assuming you have Java's bin folder already on your classpath, then 
    run the script:

      ./CREATE-WAR.sh

    The result of this script is a newly created "webapps_greenstone.war", which
    you would put in the <GSDL3SRCHOME>/ext/i-greenstone-server/CUSTOMIZATION/assets
    folder. That way, when it comes to compiling a fresh new i-greenstone-server,
    it will come pre-bundled with the jar file.
    
    
    **OR**
    
    
    Step 4B
    --------

    Copy Greenstone3's webapps folder onto the Android device's sd-card:

      ./IJETTY-PUSH.sh webapps/greenstone3

    This is the final step in getting Greenstone3 setup on an Andoird.
    Switch off the USB disk mode on the Android device.  Note: it can take
    a device minute or two "preparing" the sd-card.  This can be seen on
    the notification view.  Alternatively, if you try to start i-greenstone-server
    before the card is ready, then i-greenstone-server points this out, 
    and offers you a 'retry' button.

    Launch i-greenstone-server from my apps area.  Then, within i-greenstone-server, 
    start the server.  Once the "Jetty started" message appears, switch to your
    web-browser application.  We've tested the built-in web browser, and
    Mobile Firefox 4.
    
    By default, the URL you would navigate to is:
    http://localhost:8080/
    
    As of this time of writing (10th January 2013), when you access the
    Greenstone3 page (i.e. http://localhost:8080/greenstone3) you want to access
    the "basic servlet", which is the 3rd link from the top.
    
    ====

    If the compiled Java code to Greenstone3 has changed, then you need to
    repeat sub-steps 2.2 and 2.3.  Transfering just the newly
    dexified code can be achieved more quickly by entering:
      
     ./IJETTY-PUSH.sh webapps/greenstone3/WEB-INF/lib


Caveats:
========

1. Due to difficulties in getting MG and MGPP working on android
   through the NDK, these are currently not supported.  Effectively,
   the Greenstone3 used needs to be one compiled *without* JNI
   support.

2. Due to a runtime (reflection) error, we had to modify xalan.jar.
   The modified version of this file is also in the 'modified-jars'
   folder used in this extension.
   
3. This Greenstone3 web app has failed to work on some phones. Upon
   accessing an individual article in the "basic servlet" (i.e.
   http://localhost:8080/greenstone3/basic-library) we get a stack overflow
   error. This has not happened on newer Android phones, leading us to
   believe that this web app may only work on Android 4.0+ OS, or on
   newer hardware.