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rndmcnlly edited this page Sep 14, 2010 · 20 revisions

Welcome to the DialpadDeveloperKit wiki. This kit will allow you to make your own dialpad plug-ins for Ethereal Dialpad, the expressive touch synthesizer for Android.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is a dialpad plug-in?

A dialpad plug-in is an independent Android application that you make which includes a special Activity which the the user may use to interact with the audio synthesis core of Ethereal Dialpad.

What is a dialpad plug-in allowed to do?

Conventionally, the purpose of a dialpad plug-in is to take some input from the user and feed it to the synthesizer service provided by the base app, Ethereal Dialpad, displaying some nice animation along the way. Though a dialpad plug-in can really be an arbitrary Android app, keeping the focus on interacting with the synthesizer is a good idea.

Dialpads can tell two synth lines to turn on and off, as well as set an x/y position for both of them (interpreted as either dual pitch controls or pitch and volume controls when “duet” is disabled). While the user can control the synthesizer settings from the main screen of Ethereal Dialpad, your plug-in can only read the synthesizer settings (to provide a more appropriate visualization). The complete interface to the synthesizer is provided by the ISynthService.aidl file in the developer kit.

Can I charge for my plug-in?

Sure, do whatever you like. You control the distribution of your plug-in app just as you would any other Android app. If you do magically get rich all of the sudden, consider donating some back to me (there is a Pledgie associated with this github project).

How do I get my plug-in listed in the “More Dialpads” screen?

Currently, any app in the Android Market which contains both “ethereal dialpad” and “plug-in” will be listed there. There is no formal approval process.

Developer Guide

TODO

Style Guide

These items are not strictly required, however they will help the various plug-ins made by developers like yourself feel like parts of a cohesive whole.

  • The main (and possibly only) activity should be full screen to offer the user maximum immersion in your interaction.
  • The dialpad’s name should start with a simple name, a colon, then a more detailed description. Ex: “Gravitone: Dial with the force of an entire planet.”
  • Allow the user to easily return to the dialpad selection screen using the back button; don’t use confirmation dialogs.

Dialpad Ideas

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