Well, actually I need 3

[PaulTech]

1st App. An autostart program schedular, you enter the start time, finish time and/or interval and which program/s to start.
2nd App. A camera app to take start the camera, focus, take 1 photo, save, then power down the camera.
3rd app. Start 3G service, FTP file, close down 3G service. Can probably do that one myself

[PaulTech]

Ok, the final product would be a DIY solar powered surf cam. A budget android mounted in case with an extended battery,charged by a 5W solar panel. A basic COTS project. The reason for modular design is that I might also use the same basic design for magnetometery. In fact some of the surfing spots are so remote dual functions would be handy.

[sohguanh]

I am curious what role will the budget android play in your setup? Surf cam is what?

[sohguanh]

1st App. An autostart program schedular, you enter the start time, finish time and/or interval and which program/s to start.

I believe Android SDK does not allow any app to be able to terminate other Android app and hence finish time to stop the program may not be feasible unless rooted or some other un-documented API.

[sohguanh]

2nd App. A camera app to take start the camera, focus, take 1 photo, save, then power down the camera.

When you say power down the camera do you mean to terminate the camera app ? If it is, then it will be the same reason I have given in the above post. I believe this is to prevent some rogue Android app that is developed to kill other Android app and let itself be the only one 'hogging' the users action?

[PaulTech]

so how do task killers work?

[PaulTech]

the phone is the complete system, basically a surf cam is a "web cam" looking at a beach. If you want to find a good surfing spot, rather than drive to all the beaches, just visit the local website. A popular surfing spot is 1/2 walk thru bushland, and with boards etc not pleasant, so if a cam were there you simply visit the website, view the conditions on the various beaches and can then decide which to go to. The android will be the camera, and internet link back to the webserver. There are very few cams here at the moment. The hardware would be a budget Android, an extended battery via dealextreme housed in a weatherproof box and a 5 watt solar panel, hopefully all under $200, yes I can get a budget Android in the price range.

[PaulTech]

An activity can be shut down by calling its finish() method. One activity can shut down another activity (one it started with startActivityForResult()) by calling finishActivity().
A service can be stopped by calling its stopSelf() method, or by calling Context.stopService().

[sohguanh]

An activity can be shut down by calling its finish() method. One activity can shut down another activity(one it started with startActivityForResult()) by calling finishActivity().
A service can be stopped by calling its stopSelf() method, or by calling Context.stopService().

Above only refer to the app itself. If you are asking for an app to go and terminate OTHER apps it will require certain privilege and this privilege if given can be abused. I don't know how task killer works but just to note some apps require root or uses un-documented API. Some of those app developers did not specify.

[PaulTech]

So all I really need is an app to start the camera app, which will then close itself. The schedular would only have to start the program.


Just found TaskBomb opens & closes tasks on intervals. 1 down

[PaulTech]

Ok, so now I will use TaskBomb, ShootNow and some Auto FTP / HTTP transfer program yet to be chosen. Dig deep enough, long enough and with a few variants on the typwe of program wanted, and eventually you find.

[ekevinuk]

Hi PaulTech,

I've understood what you want, I think the best approach is to set-up an Activity and a Service which will be fired every x minutes as you said. It's not necessary for the camera to show the preview to take the picture as it's an automated process.
On the same vein for economy, the app should be able to detect if it's daylight or not to not take picture in the dark...

I find your idea very interesting and I'm available to take the challenge. Just contact me if you're still looking for someone.

A quick question, have you tested your installation with the solar powered battery, if yes, do you have some results to share?

[PaulTech]

No testing yet, just about to order an extended battery from DX, the 5W solar panel should be able to charge even on partly cloudy days & as the unit doesn't take pics at night, the extended battery should last 2-3 days per full charge.
I will also have a look at Tasker as it has a lot of plugins for other programs, including some that can turn the data service on/off, makes it a bit harder to hack if there is no connection. And it looks like Tasker also handle SMS requests which would be handy for doing remote resets, though I don't like the idea of on app handling all tasks including resets, too many eggs in one basket.
TaskBomb and ShootNow are at least letting me get the idea sorted & started.