Console applications without root?
 

Hey, I was wondering if it's possible to develop apps which could be launched from a Terminal on Android, without having to root it. Like develop an app that can send texts from the command line, make calls, etc. These features are available to developers of GUI-apps, so I wouldn't see why they couldn't be done from a Terminal, though I have seen nothing about developing them. I just like the Terminal. I'm the kind of guy that would be content with the lynx browser if it were able to OCR some Flash/Silverlight/Shockwave screens ;). I have my Droid X rooted and the only thing I really use the rooted-ness for is using a 7zip utility that I found online. I take a lot of pictures and I like to upload them to my server, I move around throughout the day and so it's ideal for me to have my phone compressing while I have no Wifi, and then spend only a short time uploading the actual archive. Also certain times I am searching for text within files, it's nice to be able to use some bash loops and the sort.

Can this be done? I have NO Android development experience and I just wanted to know if it could be done before I really dive into trying to figure it out. Thanks!

You should try launching an app from the terminal by calling the .apk file. . . let us know how you get on.

Basically, what you get in the terminal is a neutered busybox and some scripts without root. What the apps can do is leverage the rest of the system - libraries, etc. Those little lines in code that say
#include <some_file>
allow you to pick and call these routines in java, but not from a console.

Alright. I'll write a little Console app and see what happens. Looks like I might need to call a specific "Activity" http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5...using-terminal

I think you will like this: https://github.com/try2codesecure/ShellMS

Cheers!

Josh

Definitely interesting. I'll be installing that one for sure!

Might also like tt take a squint at an app called TerminalIDE.

Although I don't use it a such it gives you a command-line-with-vim Android development environment on your Android device.

Obviously it is a pain o try to work on such a small screen, so you start a telnetd (running on port 8080) and telnet into your phone from your main achine over wifi

This app doesn't require root

Addendum

Forgot to mentionthat it has a command-line Anddroid development environment with a tuned version of vim to act more like an IDE (hence the name) with java tools plus the necessary to convert java class files to run on Dalvik AND gcc

Dream on. The Android terminal is not a real terminal.

Zeebra said ' Dream on. The Android terminal is not a real terminal.'

But Terminal IDE *is*, with bash (colour turned on) vim, gcc, java etc set up specifically to enable you to develop Android apps directly on your phone.

As mentioned before, you can use it directly on the phone, with its tiny screen - half of which is lost to the keyboard, or telnet into it over wifi from your computer.

Among the commands available are the aforesaid gcc and java tools such as javac etc., plus a set of git commands, rsync, ssh, vim and nano, the busybox set, Bitchx and the links command-line web browser.

For anybody wanting to use command-line in Android it is the one to look at first.