Diary of System and Website Development Part 22 (August 2012

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Diary of System and Website Development
Part 22 (August 2012 - September 2012)

Part 1 (February - June 1996) || Part 2 (June - September 1996) || Part 3 (October 1996 - March 1997) || Part 4 (April 1997 - December 1997) || Part 5 (January 1998 - December 1998) || Part 6 (January - December 1999) || Part 7 (January 2000 - December 2001) || Part 8 (January 2002 - June 2003) || Part 9 (June 2003 - August 2003) || Part 10 (August 2003 - April 2007) || Part 11 (May 2007 - September 2007) || Part 12 (October 2007 -December 2007) || Part 13 (January 2008 - August 2008) || Part 14 (September 2008 -> June 2009) || Part 15 (July 2009 -> August 2009) || Part 16 (September 2009 -> December 2009) || Part 17 (January 2010 -> October 2010 ) || Part 18 (November 2010 - December 2010) || Part 19 (January 2011 - September 2011) || Part 20 (October 2011 - March 2012) || Part 21 (April 2012 - July 2012) || Part 22 (August - September 2012 ) || Part 23 (October 2012 - December 2012) || Part 24 (January 2013 - December 2013) || Part 25 (January 2014 - December 2014 || Part 26 (January 2015 - December 2015 || Part 27 (January 2016 - October 2016) || Part 28 (November 2016 - December 2017 ) || Part 29 (January 2018 - August 2018) || Part 30 (September 2018 - December 2018) || Part 31 (January 2019 - December 2019 ) || Part 32 (January 2020 - October 2020 ) || Part 33 (October 2020 - December 2020 ) || Part 34 (January 2021 -> ) || Back to the home page

1 August 2012

Fixing a Bug in AddressBookTab 1.4.2 with Thunderbird 14.0 - NOTE Does not work in Thunderbird 15 but there is now version 1.5 which fixes the problem in TB 15.0

AddressBookTab prevents the display of the contact pane in your address book with Thunderbird 14, both in a tab and in the original display. Namely, when you highlight a contact in your address book, the contact pane will not display the contact's information, it will remain blank. This is a problem but a correction has been provided by a user (ck55) at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/addressbooktab/reviews/368387/ and I have modified the procedure for Ubuntu Linux to use the gnome archive manager instead of the free windows program 7-zip.

1) Open the addressbooktab-1.4.2-tb.xpi you downloaded with the archive manager (right click on the .xpi and chose open with Archive Manager) and go to /chrome/
2) Open AddressBookTab.jar by double clicking
3) go to /content/
4) and open AddressBookTab.js (double clicking opens in the gedit Text Editor), leaving the archive manager open
5) find line 16
var generatedName = realCard.generateName(gPrefs.getIntPref("mail.addr_book.lastnamefirst"));
6) replace it with
try {
lastnamefirst = gPrefs.getIntPref("mail.addr_book.lastnamefirst");
} catch(err) {
lastnamefirst = 0;
}
var generatedName = realCard.generateName(lastnamefirst);
7) Save the AddressBookTab.js file from gedit - the archive manager will then ask if you want to update the archive which you do.
8) Close everything down in the reverse order to opening them.
9) Remove the old AddressBookTab 1.4.2 addon and Restart Thunderbird
10) Install the modified addressbooktab-1.4.2-tb.xpi in thunderbird

This seems to cure the problem completely and I have installed the modified version in 4 machines so far. Hopefully a new version1.4.3 will be produced shortly and it will then replace my modified version at the next version update.

2 August 2012

Another look at Contacts and their synchronisation to Thunderbird.

I have once more been looking at the synchronisation of contacts, calendars and tasks between machines. My master address book started life in Microsoft Outlook which has a rich set of fields. It is now in Thunderbird and is kept in synchronise between machines running Thunderbird by an extension called Synckolab. I am also running an extension called MoreFunctionsForAddressBook which supports some additional fields beyond those in the basic Thunderbird address book of which the only important one is Categories. Categories was used in my Contact list in Outlook and is very useful - it is in fact supported within Thunderbird but just nor displayed or used although the import from Outlook brought my Categories in. SyncKolab also synchronises Categories so I have not lost anything of importance.

One would think that it would be easy to keep a number of address books in synchronisation - Microsoft went a long way with ActiveSync between a couple of Windows machines and PDAs - it was very reliable and effective but proprietary although it seems to be employed by Blackberry. The best I have found for Thunderbird is the SyncKolab extension which uses either a Kolab server or an IMAP mailbox - it is easy to get an IMAP mailbox but they are normally not free although a lot of 'webmail' accounts probably use a standard IMAP mailbox which could be exploited.

There are also Kolab clients available for other machines and email clients. At present I have a Blackberry which I get to appreciate more and more however it is never going to enjoy the support of an iPhone or Android. The way forwards for me looks like the Android and I was fascinated to see that it is now possible to run Android on some Netbooks which I hoped would enable me to explore address book synchronisation without having to invest in a new Android phone at a time when they are evolving so rapidly. Note: There are More Thoughts on Synchronisation below

Android-X86

Whilst looking into the future for smart phones, I discovered that there is an Android LiveUSB which will run on some Netbooks and laptops. See http://www.android-x86.org/releases/build-20110828 for the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) version, the version on most current smart phones. There is also a first cut at Android 4.04 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which has a known problem in that it has no Ethernet or in my case Wifi connectivity. There is no specific build for the MSI Wind 100 but both of the versions for the EeePC version seem run on the MSI Wind U100 enough to see what Android is like but not well enough to check fully if the Kolab-Android connector works. Under Gingerbread it logs in and discovers the IMAP folders but every transfer gives errors although I have seen a couple of items show up in the IMAP folder but that was out of 950! This may not be a problem with Kolab-Android as the synchronise to Google Contacts does not work either in X-86 Gingerbread. More seems to work in X-86 Android 4 and here the inbuilt editor works and saves contacts but without any network connectivity it is impossible to check the synchronisation.

Keyboard Mapping x86 => Android Action Android-X86 2.3 Gingerbread

left-mouse-btn => android-tap
right-mouse-btn => android-BACK
mid-mouse-btn => android-MENU
HOME key => android-HOME
END key => android-power-btn
ESC key => android-BACK
Super Key => android-MENU

Impressions of Android from using Android-X86

It is difficult to assess fully as it is designed for very specific hardware and the application store is inhibited unless you have a machine satisfying (certified) for running android. Android X-86 has to 'fudge' many issues to run without a touch screen and does it in a different manner for 2.3 and 4.0. The version for 4 seems much better integrated with a Netbook and makes more use of the mouse although Networks (ie Internet) and the camera do not work - otherwise it seems in many ways to be better than Ubuntu Linux, which. I did not expect.

Kolab Connector to sync Android Contacts

There is an equivalent to SyncKolab for Android phones which is described at http://code.google.com/p/kolab-android/wiki/Documentation. The way Contacts are handled is quite different to usual. KolabDroid is a synchronisation provider. That means, that there is no icon to launch an app. Instead install it then configure it under "Settings" -> "Accounts & synchronise" and set up a synchronise schedule or carry out a manual synchronise.

As a synchronisation provider, KolabDroid keeps your contacts and calendar events isolated from your other accounts. (Google, Exchange, etc.) and local contacts set up for the phone. No data will be leaked into your other accounts. The built in Contact Editor is not able to edit non-standard contacts. This seems to be inherited from the original Android code, it does not correctly interpret non-native contacts. While there are provisions in Google's code for the Contact Manager to allow synchronisation providers to supply a template top control which fields can be edited there is currently no way to attach them. KolabDroid have therefore implemented an alternative editor which can be chosen instead of the Contact Manager and, if you only have Kolab Contacts, it can be set as default - this supports most common fields.

Summary

In summary it looks as if I will be able to integrate an Android phone into the address book synchronisation I am using with SyncKolab and Thunderbird and SyncKolab or Google Ca lender will handle handle synchronising contacts to the phone. So there is a viable way ahead when/if I replace the Blackberry.

7th August 2012

gContactSync for use in Syncronising Blackberry and Thunderbird Contacts

gContactSync is an add-on (extension) that synchronizes contacts between Google (Gmail) and Thunderbird, and also supports importing contacts from Facebook, Twitter, and more. You can synchronize multiple accounts with multiple address books, and it fully supports regular and hosted Google Accounts. By default, it synchronizes the first four e-mail addresses, the first screen name and number of each type in Google and every attribute in Thunderbird (not all of these are visible in Gmail, however). It adds several fields to Thunderbird for e-mail addresses, screen names, and numbers. Anything that is not synchronized should be preserved. (Note - not always in Thunderbird following a reset which reloads from the server)

Preparation - Backing up

The first stage was to back up my thunderbird and firefox profiles (by the simple method of a drag and drop copy into the same folder).
I fired up my only remaining Windows machine which has the Blackberry Desktop software, plugged in the Blackberry and ran the desktop software. When it started it automatically started a synchronisation with the Outlook Desktop Software Contacts and Calendar giving me a Blackberry backup.
I also requested a manual Backup of the entire Blackberry (belt and braces).
I also checked that nothing had changed by a sync of the Blackberry to existing Google Contacts list and calendar and then made a change in a calendar item and an address book item (paranoia).
I created a (new) gmail account which will be used for testing so existing contacts and calendar were not put at risk
- Do a Google Search and you find all sorts of information and links at the top which include a sign in at top right or search for gmail signup which will get you right there. It is difficult to get a meaningful name so think about what other can remember such as your initials and the last figures of your telephone number or house number.

Tidy up your other extensions prior to tests.

I disabled in Thunderbird the add-ins (extensions) which might have interactions namely:

Synckolab
MorefunctionsForAddressBook
AddressBookTab
EDS Contact Integration

Install gContactSync

I installed gContactSync version 0.3.5 in the initial stages and latter switched to the newest alpha at the time which was 0.4.0a5

Initial Tests with version 0.3.5

At first I ran tests using the new and unused gmail with empty contacts and an existing address book which had copies of my existing contacts list. This gave a lot of problems and only a small proportion of the contact would sync and there were hundreds of error messages. I have emailed in the log. However when I did it the other way on a fresh copy of the profile and an old gmail contacts using the default settings it brought down my existing gmail contacts fine. They did not have the postal addresses so I then set that 'experimental' box and did a forced download by right clicking address book -> Reset - (Replace from server) logged out and back in and a manual sync everything was fine. I set up for a manual rather than automatic sync so I can see the results

I have been re-reading http://www.pirules.org/blog/ which is far more than a blog as it has the various bits of information that help one work out why some things which seem a little idiosyncratic at first sight are actually a good idea and others are work-rounds for shortfalls and bugs in the Google APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). It also stresses the need to Reset (Clear address book and replace from Server) after some changes and this seems to have been what cleared all the error messages.

I then re-enabled all the extensions and they seem to still work in harmony although the contact editor now has a lot of tabs as both gContactSync and MoreFunctionsForAddressBook add their own tabs.

One outstanding anomaly is that when I synchronise with a new contact (or one that has been copied in) it does not end up in 'My Contacts' in gmail contacts but in 'Other Contacts' and likewise deleted contacts are also transferred to 'other contacts' from Thunderbird so editing is best done on my Blackberry. This seems to be a known feature rather than a bug.

Another is that contacts without a email address will not synchronise - the program description implies they should have a dummy email address added by gContactSync to get round a Thunderbird problem with address lists items without email addresses causing a freeze/crash.

Note see below for more Comprehensive Tests of gContactSync version 0.4.0a5 which largely supercede the early tests here and provide workrounds to the anamolies found here.

Using Lightning with Google Calendars - Provider for Google Calendar

If you need both read and write access to a Google Calendar the best way is to install the Provider for Google Calendar from addons.mozilla.org.

Get the extension from addons.mozilla.org: Download the file by right-clicking on the link and choose save-as. Then in Thunderbird with Lightning installed, choose Extras/Tools > Addons and click on the install button. Point it to the downloaded file and install the extension.

To access your calendar data, you need to retrieve your private XML URL from the Google Calendar UI.

1. Open your Google Calendar
2. Click "Settings - Calendars"
3. Click on the Calendar you would like to use in Lightning
4. Click on the private XML button and copy the link that is shown.

The private link will look something like: https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/username%40gmail.com/private-1ba218e6a25bfc32b25a4eb3f9ee6d96/basic

After installing the 'Provider for Google Calendars' extension you can create a new calendar by File -> New -> Calendar and choose "On the network". Then pick "Google Calendar" and paste or enter the URL to your calendar and check the cache box. Click "next" and choose a name and color. Click "next" and a popup appears in which you have to enter your login (with or without the @gmail.com part) and password and choose whether you want Lightning/Sunbird to save your password. Choosing "next" creates the calendar and provides you with two-way access to the google-calendar. There will be a new toolbar item in Calendar view called Synchronise which synchronises your Google Calendars.

11th August 2012

Blackberry Bold 9700 (Draft Page Content)

Introduction

This is now a dedicated page on the Global Communications and Computing - the Blackberry Bold 9700 Smartphone - it is best to jump to that page which will have the latest updates and information from now on but the original has been retained for continuity. [ Click to Expand and see the original ]

The Bold 9700 was released in November 2009 and can still be bought new from Amazon. I have had my Blackberry since January 2012 but I obtained it second hand in January in New Zealand from a friend who had switched to an iPhone. I just used it as a 'standard' phone for the first three months as I could not get cost effective Blackberry services in NZ. It was originally set up for New Zealand Telecom but was not locked - they never are in NZ so in April I put in an existing Vodafone PAYG SIM and added a Blackberry Services bolt on for £5 a month and with not great effort all the Blackberry Services seemed to come alive and the Service Books were automatically downloaded. You may have to Re-register (see below) but I do not think I needed to - the phone had never have been used in anger.

Blackberry Bold 9700 Features

Available Features
* Trackpad navigation
* Bright, hi-resolution screen
* Full QWERTY keyboard
* 3G technology
* Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® enabled
* 256MB flash Memory
* 3.2 MP digital Camera with
Video Camera
* Multimedia Player
* Wireless Email
* Organiser
* Browser
* Phone
* SMS/MMS
* MicroSD card Reader
Size and Weight
Height: 4.29 inches (109 mm)
Width: 2.36 inches (60 mm)
Depth: .56 inches (14.1 mm)
Weight: 4.30 ounces / 122 grams (including battery), 3.17 ounces / 90 grams (without battery)
Battery & Battery Life
* Battery: 1500 mAHr removable/rechargeable lithium-ion battery
* Talk Time: Up to 6 hours (GSM and UMTS)
* Standby Time: Up to 21 days/504 hours (GSM), Up to 17 days/408 hours (UMTS)
* Music Playback Time: Up to 38 hours
Display
* High resolution 480x360 pixel
colour display
* Transmissitive TFT LCD
* Supports over 65,000 colours
* 2.44" (diagonally measured)
Camera & Video Recording
* 3.2 MP Camera
* Auto Focus, Image Stabilisation
* Flash
* 2X digital zoom
* Video camera recording:
Normal Mode (480 x 352 pixel),
MMS Mode (176 x 144 pixel)
Maps & GPS
* Includes BlackBerry Maps
* Integrated GPS with A-GPS
Data Input & Navigation
* 35 key backlit QWERTY keyboard
* Dedicated Keys: Send, End, Menu, Escape, Left/Right Convenience keys (default VAD and Camera) ,2 x Volume/Zoom, Sleep, Mute (Play/Pause)
* Trackpad - Located on front face of device, ESC Key to the right, Menu to the left
* Intuitive icons and menus
Voice Input & Output
* Integrated speaker and microphone
* Hands-free headset capable
* Bluetooth headset capable
* Integrated Hands-Free Speakerphone
Media Player
* 256 MB Built-in memory
* Video format support: XviD partially supported, H.263, H.264, WMV3, MPEG4, Sorenson Spark & On2 VP6 (Flash support)
* Audio format support: .3gp, MP3, WMA9 (.wma/.asf), WMA9 Pro / WMA 10, MIDI, AMR-NB, Professional AAC/AAC+/eAAC+
Ringtones & Notifications
* Tone, vibrate, on-screen or LED indicator
* Notification options are user configurable
* 32 Polyphonic Ringtones – MIDI, SP-MDI, MP3, WAV
Bluetooth
* Bluetooth® v2.0
* Mono/Stereo Headset
* Handsfree
* Serial Port Profile
* Bluetooth Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVCRP)
* Bluetooth SIM Access Profile supported
Security
* Password protection
* Screen lock
* Sleep mode
* Optional support for S/MIME
Wi-Fi
* 802.11b/g enabled
* Wi-Fi Alliance Certifications: WPA/WPA2 Personal and Enterprise, WMM, WMM Power Save, Wi-Fi Protected Setup
* Cisco CCX certification
* Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry® Enterprise Server
* Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry® Internet Server
* Direct IP web browsing over Wi-Fi
* Support for UMA
Wireless Networks
* 3G (HSDPA) compatible
* UMTS: 2100/1900/850/800 MHz (Bands 1,2,5/6), 2100/1700/900 MHz (Bands 1,4,8)
* GSM: 1900/1800/900/850 MHz
* Quad-band support: GSM 850; GSM

Blackberry Applications and Tips

To make it useful as more than a phone I needed to find several applications - apps, as everyone now seems to call them.

Blackberry Applications I use or have installed.

DataViz Documents to Go suite (Microshaft Office look-a-likes)

The Blackberry came with the basic DataViz Documents to Go suite installed but that has very limited functionality so I decided to pay for the Premium Edition through the Blackberry World which was an extra £15. That turned out to be a problem as they never sent the unlock codes having taken my money through the Blackberry Store. I however found that others had had the problems and had put a suitable unlock code on the web which I had no compunction in using as I have receipt for the £15. If like me you receive no joy from Dataviz having paid your money see http://forum.blackberryseeker.com/showtopic-305.aspx for details on how to proceed. Anyway to continue:

Documents To Go Premium Edition is an all-in-one solution that provides users with the ability to view, edit and create Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and attachments as well as view critical PDF files all on their BlackBerry smartphones. Also included is an easy to use desktop application offering bi-directional file synchronization and providing users with a simple way to transfer and manage important documents.

BBNotePad 1.1.3 (122 kbytes) Downloaded from site Free

The Blackberry does not have a simple text editor and this was the best of the free ones Icould find. It was downloaded and installed before I had Blackberry services and access to OTA (Over The Air) installations. It is limited in size of file but otherwise does what the box says.

Contacts with Dropbox - Import Export contact as vcard or CSV file (788 kbytes) BBWorld

I paid a small sum for this and it is not clear how useful it is in practice now I have Google Sync.

Dropbox 1.0.49.1 (1620 kbytes) BBWorld Free

The easy way to access anything from (and less easily pass to dropbox from) the Blackberry. You can only open files for which you have an application on he Blackberry so there are limitations.

File Manager Pro - Zip and File Utility 1.7.0.2 (306 kbytes) BBWorld

File Manager Pro is the advanced file and Zip archive manager for your BlackBerry smartphone which allows you to manage your files easily and quickly using its powerful new features. In addition, File Manager Pro allows you to open, create, extract and append to Zip archives that are today’s de facto standard for distributing compressed files. See http://www.martintobing.com/view/127 for more details. Downloaded from BlackBerryWorld

Google Sync 0.7.4 (421 kbytes) Free

An important part of my use of Blackberry - it enables Contacts and Calenders to be syncronised with Google (Gmail) and hence to Thunderbird and Lightening. Seems to work very well and synchronise most fields other than Categories which is a pity. It no longer seems to be available for download which may be a problem in the future. See http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=82619&topic=21198&ctx=topic See below for an alternative in BIS Sync

GoogleTalk 3.0.0.23 954 kbytes BBWorld

I think this must have been pre-installed as I would never have added it!

My Vodafone 1.3 (160kbytes) BBWorld Free

Almost a waste of time as it does very little

Network Traffic Control 0.2.8 (86 kbytes) BBWorld Free

I am not making use of it at present

Opera Mini Browser 7.0.0.4 (600 kbytes) BBWorld Free

This has transformed browsing on the Blackberry although it seems to be slow to enter each page

PDF To Go 2.000.004 (1134 kbytes)

A part of Documents to Go that is only available in the Premium edition and a major reason to pay for the premium Edition

Installing Applications on the Blackberry

I spent a long time when I first got the Blackberry trying to find out how to install applications on the Blackberry without having active Blackberry Services. The following covers all the installation methods I have used so far.

Install from the media card by fool Your BB into thinking you have an OTA install

The Blackberry is really designed to install files OTA (Over The Air) ie using a network or whilst connected to the Blackberry Desktop Software on a PC ususally via a cable. There is no direct provision to install from a file. You can however 'fool' the Blackberry into installing from files once you can get them onto the SD memory card in the Blackberry which can be done using the USB connection from a desktop/laptop machine including those running Linux as the Blackberry can be made to look like a USB Mass Memory Device.

First you have to download the files needed for the installation on your laptop or desktop. This will depend on the application and they may be separate files or zipped up. The files you need will have .jad/.jar and .cod/.alx extensions. They should be unzipped, if necessary, and saved in a folder on your desktop or another location ready for transferof your choosing. Finding all of the necessary .cod files can be difficult especially if the author has deliberately hiden them. I understand there is a Windows freeware program, BlackBerry OTA Downloader, (one download link I have found is at http://blackberry-ota-downloader.en.softonic.com/blackberry) which enables a user to download all the necessary files and to then save to a folder on a hard drive or to move them to an SD Card for future installation.

When the actual install is done the application will be loaded/installed to your device. As of this writing BBs still don't have the ability to install applications on a memory card and to run from the card. Assuming you have saved the necessary files to a folder of your choice on your PC you now need to get then onto the Blackberry SD Memory card to continue the install.

Once you have all the files connect your BlackBerry device to your computer using the USB cable.

The first time you connect you should see a prompt asking if you want to enable Mass Storage Mode - Select Yes.
There should also be an option to turn on Mass Storage Mode automatically in the future. If you select Yes so you won’t have to repeat this in the future when you connect to your PC.
You can change the setting by BBMenu -> Options -> Memory where there is a drop down for Mass Storage Mode Support and also for Auto Mass Mass Storage Mode When Connected which is what you are changing.
Note - when you are in mass Storage Mode use of the card by the Blackberry is inhibited so everything will not work when you are plugged in which stops you charging from a laptop so use with care.

Your BlackBerry should now be recognized as a drive by your computer. Note that you should see both the BB device (probably labeled as BlackBerry) and the folders included on the Media Card.

Drag the folder where you have saved your installation files (or Copy and Paste) from the desktop to the Media Card. If you are going to install several applications it is worthwhile setting up a folder structure and making sure the folder names are self explanitory.

Disconnect the BlackBerry from the USB cable.

Press the BB Menu key and select the file manager - in my case called Files in Applications. Work your way down to the Media Card and locate the folder containing the installation files.

Choose the file ending in .jad. This is the file the BlackBerry will “think” is a download item and includes all the scripts to carry out the install from the other files which it will expect to be in the same folder. You should now see a download screen. Select Download and the install process should begin.

There will often either automatically restart of the Blackberry or a prompt that the changes won’t take effect until you reset by a battery pull.

After restarting there will be new icon in the home folder or more often in the subfolderApplications - it may sometimes be in Downloads. You can move it to where you like by highlighting then Menu -> Move or Move to Folder.

Note that this installation method does give you the ability to reinstall later should you need to but if you need a registration key to activate the software make sure you keep that safe.

This is how I installed BBNotePad.

OTA (Over The Air) Application Installations

OTA installations are the easiest to install. You must have Blackberry services and a mobile connection to be able to access the Internet and download the required files for the install directly to your BlackBerry device. Many sites offer an OTA link - in some you will have you submit your phone number or email address and they will send an SMS or an email with the appropriate link.

There will often either automatically restart of the Blackberry or a prompt that the changes won’t take effect until you reset by a battery pull.

After restarting there will be new icon in the home folder or more often in the subfolderApllications - it may sometimes be in downloads. You can move it to where you like by highlighting then Menu -> Move or Move to Folder.

Note that installing this way does not give you a backup of the OTA download if you need to reinstall in the future. It is therefore important to do periodic backups of your device and make sure you have selected that applications be backed up as it is not usually the default backup selection. Also retain the registration key if one is needed to activate the software.

Blackberry App World

Similar to the above and brings most of the Apps available together in one place accessible from the Blackberry menu and allows you to easily pay for them - often the software's site will just link to the App World for installation. You can go back into App World and see the status of your software and App World will also notify you of updates when they are available. To use App World you just Search for what you want and follow instructions. I have found in some cases that payment does not deliver the required registration keys for proprietory software.

Using BB Desktop To Install Applications

The software developer’s website will often have a download link for use with the Blackberry Desktop Software:

Download the application to your desktop or to a location of your choosing. Note that you may have to unzip the contents to a new folder. Inside the new folder there should be a file that ends in .alx.
Start the BB Desktop Manager and connect your handheld.
In the BB Desktop Manager look for the Application Loader and select it. A screen will appear that displays all the applications currently loaded on your BlackBerry device.
Above the list of currently installed BlackBerry applications will be an ADD button. Select it to bring up the Add Application.
Navigate to the folder you created above and locate the .alx file. Choose OK and this application will appear in the list with all of your other installed software
Make sure the new Application has a checkmark next to it (selected) and click “Next”start the install process.
There will often either automatically restart of the Blackberry or a prompt that the changes won’t take effect until you reset by a battery pull.
After restarting there will be new icon in the home folder or more often in the subfolderApllications - it may sometimes be in downloads. You can move it to where you like by highlighting then Menu -> Move or Move to Folder.

This installation method has the advantage that you have the ability to reinstall later should you need to but make sure you save any registration keys to activate the software.

Shortcuts and Tricks for Your BlackBerry:

View and switch apps using Application Switcher

One of the best things about the BlackBerry platform is multitasking, so take advantage of this to switch between your open apps quickly. All you need to do is press and hold the Menu key and a listing of open apps will appear. To switch between them, just tap or highlight and select the icon of the app you want to use.

General Tips

Roll the trackball to scroll horizontally in any field where you can enter/edit or view text.

Roll the trackball vertically to scroll vertically or to go to different fields to change options.

Hold the Shift (CAP) key while you roll the trackball to select multiple items in a list (such as messages). You can use this to delete multiple messages, for example. This can also be used to select text in messages etc.

Type a letter in an options list or menu to jump directly to item(s) starting with that letter.

Type the first letters of a name or the first few letters of the first name & last name separated by a space to quickly find a contact in the Address Book screen. e.g. 'jo sm' to find John Smith.

Rearrange the ribbon (menu): In the Home (icon) screen, press the menu key to bring up a menu. You can then select Move or Hide an icon. If you have hidden an icon, you can choose Show All to show it again. A hidden icon will appear with an X over it or shadowed. To un-hide press the menu key while on it and uncheck Hide icon.

Working with Text - Messages and most text/word processors

Selecting and copying, cuting and pasting Text

Press (or hold down) the SHIFT key and then scroll the trackball to select (highlight) text.
Press (or hold down) the ALT key and click the trackball and you will be in select mode until you click again.
Click Menu key and choose SELECT from the menu.

Once you have the selection you want clicking the trackball will open a menu - copy will be pre-selected with cut and delete below in the list. If instead you click delete it will be deleted without entering the menu.

To paste, go to insertion point, or open a new message or whatever, click the trackball, and then select 'Paste'.

Shortcuts whilst Composing Messages or entering Text in most applications

Press and hold a letter to capitalize it.
Press the SPACE key twice to insert a period and capitalize the next letter.
Press and hold a letter key and roll the trackball to scroll through international/accent characters, equation symbols and other marks.
For other symbols, press Symbol (SYM) key. Scroll to highlight a symbol then click trackball, or type the letter shown below that symbol.
When typing in an Email field, press the SPACE key to insert the "@" and "." (period). e.g. Type: john <space> xyz <space> com to create: john@xyz.com. Backspace and type again to over-ride this like you would with AutoText.
When typing in a browser address field the SPACE key inserts a "." (period)

Calendar Tips:

The Calendar is, by default, set up to allow what is called Quick Entry but this disables the ability to easily change the view. You should at least try both options - you can change mode by entering the Calendar click BBMenu -> Options-> General Options and Change 'Enable Quick Entry' to NO.

You can now:

Click the Trackball to create a new entry (instead of just typing)
Press T to go to "Today" in the Calendar screen.
Press N or Space to go to Next (day, week or month, depending on the view you are in).
Press P to go to Previous: (day, week or month, depending on the view you are in).
Press M to go to Monthly View.
Press W to go to Weekly View.
Press D to go to Daily View.
Press G to go to a specific date in the Calendar screen.
Press A to go to Agenda View.

Insert Phone Number and other 'system' information using AutoText:

Type the following 'AutoText' entries followed by the spacebar to insert system information into text.

mynumber - Inserts BlackBerry Phone number.
ld - Inserts Date
lt - Inserts Time
myver - Inserts BlackBerry Model number / Software version.
mypin - Inserts BlackBerry PIN number.

Using Applications While on the Phone:

While on a phone call, press Menu key and choose Home Screen. You can view information on your BlackBerry such as check your calendar or look up an address. Remember to press Green phone key to go back to phone app to disconnect your call.
While on a phone call, press Menu key and choose Notes to take notes while on a call. Saved call notes appear in Messages folder as a call log entry, along with your emails.

Reboot Your BlackBerry:

Most people reboot a Blackberry by the brute force method of removing the battery. There is hover a hidden comand - While holding down the ALT key and the Left Shift key at the same time, Press the Delete key until BlackBerry reboots. This will reboot your BB. No stored data will be lost.

Re-Register (Re-Activate) your Blackberry

Assuming you are a BIS user (meaning personal email only) then after an upgrade the service books for your email should be resent automatically. However, after an upgrade, change of provider or if you experience problems, it's a good idea to go to Options >Advanced Options >Host Routing Table >Menu Key >Register Now. This will force the device to register on the network and your provider will push your service books back onto the machine. It should not change any data or settings.

Hidden Settings Menus on the BlackBerry

There are a number of well hidden settings menus for the use of service staff which have gradually become public. There is a fairly full list at http://www.martintobing.com which formed the basis for my original list - extra items have come from numerous other places, mostly Blackberry conference postings and I have removed a few which refer to the BES setups or are ones I consider dangerous. I have highlighted the ones I consider useful and have tried.

Change Battery Graph to Numerical Value:

You can change the coverage indicator to show 'signal strength' in digital (dBm) format. This is a fairly easy and safe one to try out and shows the overall proceedure .While at the home (icon) screen, hold down the ALT key while you type NMLL. The bars change to digital mode. A lower number is better, and anything between -90 to -50 dBm is good. The figures are not very clear to read so, repeat the process of holdng down the ALT key while you type NMLL and you will get the signal bars back.

Help Me Screen:

ALT+CAP+ H – Displays the Help Me screen that lists detailed device information including software version, pin, IMEI, uptime, signal strength, battery level, file free, and file total.

Event Log:

Hold down the ALT while you type LGLG. This brings up the event log where you can clear events (frees some memory) and can be useful for advanced trouble-shooting.

From Address Book

ALT+VALD – Validate the data structure and look for inconsistencies
ALT+RBLD – Force a data structure rebuild

From Inbuilt Browser

ALT+RBVS – View web page source code

From Messaging Application

ALT+VIEW – For messages, displays the RefId and FolderId for that particular message. For PIM items, displays only the RefId.

From Search Application

ALT+ADVM Search Application Enabled Advanced Global Search

From Home Screen

ALT(left)+Shift(right)+Del – Restart the Blackberry
ALT+JKVV – Display cause of PDP reject
ALT+CAP+ H – Displays the Help Me screen
ALT + EACE – Displays the Help Me screen
ALT + ESCR – Displays the Help Me screen
ALT + NMLL – Switches the signal strength from bars to a numeric value.
ALT + LGLG – Displays the Java™ event log.

From WLAN wizard screen

ALT-SMON WLAN – Enable simulated Wizard mode
ALT-SMOF WLAN – Disable simulated Wizard mode

From Theme menu

ALT-THMN – Change to no theme (B&W)
ALT-THMD – Change to default theme

Date/Time (Date/Time menu – No ALT+ required)

LOLO – Date/Time Show Network time values

SIM Card (Options->Advanced->SIM card – No ALT+ required)

MEPD – Display MEP info
MEP1 – Disable SIM personalization
MEP2 – Disable Network personalization
MEP3 – Disable Network subset personalization
MEP4 – Disable Service provider personalization
MEP5 – Disable Corporate personalization

Status (Options->Status)

BUYR – Data & Voice Usage
TEST – start a device test (Keyboard, GPS, RF, Audio (Handset, headset, bluetooth, Misc)

Useful Links - mainly to do with upgrading

I looked into upgrading me Blackberry Bold 9700 to version 6 software but there seemed to be a consensus that more would be lost than gained except in browsing where I am using Opera in any case. I have included some of the links I found interesting.

Download sites for operating system upgrades

http://us.blackberry.com/support/downloads/download_sites.jsp

Upgrading information

Blackberry OS Upgrade Myths

http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-blackberry-discussion/171232-blackberry-os-beta-os-upgrade-myths-dispelled.html

Applications

http://www.blackberryseeker.com/applications/download/ABC-Berry.aspx - extracts from backup files??

15th August 2012

BIS Sync - an alternative to Google Sync

Google Sync (the app) is no longer available for download from the Google mobile apps website. It is threatened that people who already have it will be able to use it till October and then Google to stop the syncing via the already installed app completely at the Gmail end.

BIS Syncing is an alternative and uses the facilities built into the Blackberry by RIM. Some people find it better but less flexible as far as the number of calendars and it may change the address fields slightly. The proceedure to swap is

Backup everything using the Desktop manager.
Then, make sure that all your calendar and contact entries are on your Google Account.
Back up the Google contacts and calendar as well using Gmail facilities
Delete Google Sync app from your BB device - this may/should delete all the local entries which are synced.
Delete ALL contacts and calendar entries from your BB device if not done above.
Delete Google Email Account from your BB device.
Add your Google Account AGAIN on your BB device - this time, making sure to check mark 'synchronisation options' for Calendar and Contacts.

Changes made on the BB (to calendar or contacts) should be reflected instantly on the Google Account. Any changes made on the Google Account take longer to reflect on the BB Device as this only checked periodically by RIM for obvious reasons - allow 4 hours average.

If you do want the contact list updated instantly,a suggestion is to go to the Contact Options on the device - uncheck 'wireless sync' for the particular Contact List (in the Contact List Options). Save. At this point, you will get an email that sync has been disabled. Now, go back to the Contact Options and go to the Contact List Options and RECHECK 'wireless sync'. This is more like a manual sync.

16th August 2012

BBSAK (BlackBerry Swiss Army Knife)

Unfortunately BBSAK is once more a Windows program which does not run under linux using Wine. It does however do a lot of very useful things, for example if you need to backup applications. It also lets you save particular .cod files which are the basis of applications and also to create a .jad file to reinstall them. I have done this to preserve my files for Google Sync which can no longer be downloaded so I can reinstall it up to the point where Google completely stuff one by removing any facilities at the Gmail Contacts end. It is also the first place to go if you somehow 'brick' your Blackberry and for reinstalling or updating the operating system

It is much better documented than most programs so I will not go into any specifics - the following is a quick guide/feature list:

3rd Party App Backup: BBSAK is one of the only apps currently available that allows you to create a backup of every 3rd party app on your device. In the newest version, this function will even backup 3rd party apps created by RIM, such as Twitter or Facebook. To use this function simply click "Backup Apps," enter a name for your backup and let BBSAK do the rest!
Restore 3rd Party Apps: The Restore Apps function allows the user to select the backup JAD that was created by the Backup Apps function in BBSAK. Once the JAD is selected BBSAK will install all the apps included in your backup, back on to your blackberry. Please note your phone will reboot after this function is complete.
Wipe Device: Wipe Device, is a tool used to completely remove everything on your device including the operating system, leaving your phone at a 507 error screen. This function can be used to restore a "bricked" blackberry. Please make sure to backup everything you need before running this feature!
Load OS: Load OS (Operating System) is a tool that allows you to install an operating system to your device. New to BBSAK 1.8.5 we have given then users the ability to select which OS you want! This even includes downgrading your OS without uninstalling newer OS's from your computer! Furthermore, to avoid confusion the OS Selector will only show you installed OS's for the device currently connected to BBSAK. This function uses the App Loader Wizard provided to us by RIM.
Modify CODs: The Modify CODs tab includes functions designed for the more advanced Blackberry users. This tab will allow you to do a variety of thing revolving around individual CODs on your blackberry.
- Read System: The read system fucntion will read every COD installed on your device and print them into a nice list displaying, name, size and version number.
- Install COD(s): Load COD(s) allows you to install single or multiple cods from your computer to your blackberry. TO use this feature, click the Install COD(s) button choose the directoy where your COD(s) are and let BBSAK do the rest. Please note your phone may reboot after this function completes. Also note that apps installed using this function will not show up in the settings/applications menu.
- Save COD(s): Save COD(s) allows you to save single or multiple cods from your device to your computer. These files will be located in the BBSAK/CODS folder. To use this function first run Read System then highlight one or more of the CODs in the list, finally click Save COD(s).
- Remove COD(s): Remove COD(s) allows you to delete single or multiple cods from your device. To use this function first run Read System then highlight one or more of the CODs in the list, finally click Remove COD(s). Please note, deleting COD's cannot be undone. When this function is complete your phone may reboot.
- Install JAD: Load JAD allows you to install a JAD file from your computer to your Blackberry. Please make sure the folder where your JAD is located also contains all of the CODs that the JAD refers too. Please note phone may reboot after this operation is complete.
- Make JAD: The Make JAD feature, allows you to create a JAD file for a list of COD(s). To use this function, drag and drop files into the box or use the file browser, make sure all information is filled out and that version number starts with a integer. Finally select your save location and name, and click "Create JAD."

17th August 2012

Barry

Barry brings some of the funtionallity of the Desktop Manager to Linux. There is only an outdated version (0.15) in Ubuntu at present although 12.10 will have the latest version.

There is a full description and documentation for the latest Barry (0.18.3) starting at http://www.netdirect.ca/software/packages/barry but in summary Barry can

charge your Blackberry's battery from your USB port (many USB ports provide limited power)
parse the following database records: Address Book, Browser Bookmarks, Calendar, Content Store, Folders, Handheld Agent (partial), Memos, Messages (Email), Phone Call Logs, PIN Messages, Saved Email, Service Book, SMS messages, Tasks, Time Zones
create the following database records: Address Book, Calendar, Content Store, Memos, Tasks
export Address Book contacts in text, LDAP LDIF format, or as MIME vCards
import data in MIME vCard, vEvent, vJournal, and vTodo formats
make full data backups and restores of your device using a GUI
synchronize contact, calendar, memo, and task items with Evolution using the Desktop GUI
use the Blackberry as a modem
install and manage Java applications ( .cod files ) from the command line
take screenshots of your device (command line bjavaloader screenshot < .bmp> )
set the device time from the command line
use raw channel support to communicate with BlackBerry applications

Installing the latest Barry on Debian, Ubuntu or Mint

Starting with the 0.18.x version series, Barry and OpenSync binary packages are available via apt-get. See http://www.netdirect.ca/software/packages/barry/installdebian.php

To install the latest version of Barry onto Ubuntu 12.04, you will need to update your /etc/apt/sources.list file by:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

andding the following line

deb http://download.barry.netdirect.ca/barry-latest/ ubuntu1204 main

There are multiple versions of Ubuntu and Debian available. Replace the word "ubuntu1204" above with the version you are using from

ubuntu1004
ubuntu1104
ubuntu1110
ubuntu1204
squeeze

For Mint, pick the version of Debian or Ubuntu that your version of Mint is based on.

Finally, you will need to update your apt keyring by:

gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-key B6C2250E
gpg --armor --export B6C2250E > barry.key
sudo apt-key add barry.key
sudo apt-get update

Barry is split up into multiple binary packages. For most non-development systems, you will need to install libbarry18 barry-util barrybackup-gui barrydesktop libtar0 by:

sudo apt-get install libbarry18 barry-util barrybackup-gui barrydesktop libtar0

Note: You either need to specifically include libtar0 above to force an update or you will get errors until the next System Update as Barry provides and is dependent on the newer version.

You are now ready to run Barry Desktop from the Dash. I have done some trial runs of the GUI and the it is impressive in its ability to inspect and edit all the database items. Backups failed until I updated libtar0 but after that I could make backup of all my data in a few seconds which makes me feel much more secure playing with address books and synchronisation.

Barry Screenshot facility for Blackberry

I tried the screenshot facility by:

bjavaloader screenshot test.bmp

and there was a file in my home folder just like that . I have converted it to a .png to save space but it still shows the clarity of the Blackberry screens 480 x 360 resolution.

21st August 2012

Thoughts on Synchronising Computers and PDAs

I am looking for a way be able to use the most appropriate machine for a job and have the results available for use elsewhere. We currently have a number of desktops, laptops and netbooks (running Linux) with Thunderbird/Lightning with Contacts, Calendars and Tasks shared through SyncKolab which uses an IMAP server and we currently use IMAP mailboxes so, when required email can also be accessed and sent from any machine.

This does not however solve the larger problem of use of phones, PDAs and Smart Phones where the best we have been able to do has been to bluetooth (or email) contacts in vcard format.

I have recently obtained a Blackberry and initially transferred my address book and calendar via a tortuous route - TB -> Outlook Express -> Outlook -> Blackberry Desktop Synchronisation software with reasonable success and also brought in some further phone numbers via a SIM card. The Google Sync App is currently available for the Blackberry and does a reasonable job of synchronising the Address Book and Calendar on the Blackberry with a Gmail Account I opened for the purpose. The loop has been closed for calendars as there is an extension which makes Google Calendars available in Thunderbird (whilst on line).

What has become obvious is that the preferred mechanism for adding and updating Contact information and Calendar entries is the Blackberry which is always to hand and always turned on and I believe that is always going to be the case - one will use the Smart Phone, PDA or Tablet in ones pocket or hands at the time. This then needs to be synchronised with ones 'fixed' infrastructure. The Google system is the best and most universally available at present although Google now seem to be even less worthy of trust than Microsoft used to be and that is saying something. One therefore needs a reliable 'offline accessible system either end and must not depend on a cloud service outside ones control completely. In addition a cloud based system is not appropriate all the time when mobile and certainly not abroad when data costs can be very high. gContactSync is potentially the a perfect way to get from Google to my other machines for Contacts and can also be used to Sync between Thunderbird address books on lots of different machines.

My existing synchronisation SyncKolab has been used for several years between Thunderbird on my various Linux machines and I have I have much more control as it uses an IMAP mailbox on an ISP I pay for and can easily be moved to a different IMAP server. It also synchronises Calendars and Tasks which gContactSync can not yet do so I will retain it for the medium term and continue to use it to Synchronise the main address book - Personal Addresses. gContactSync will be used to synchronise an independent address book used for sharing between my PDAs and selected of my Linux machines at least until I have used gContactSync for a reasonable period of time.

This needs more thought as it does not bring out the importance of keeping address books and calendars in step

22nd August 2012

More gContactSync Testing

This is the continuation of my earlier investigations see above.

I set up an extra Thunderbird profile for these tests with two additional address books and the intention was to test using synchronisation between these two folders rather than separate machines. I used the 'spare' gmail account I had set up earlier for this purpose. This technique works very well. The initial test used the version 0.3.5 which is better developed. I started off by creating the two address books then added the two new accounts to them. I turned off all the fancy things with phone numbers in the preferences windows so I kept as close to Thunderbird as possible.

I have turned on Address Synchronisation - this is off by default on version 0.3.5 as there were and still are various differences in the way Thunderbird and Google store addresses. Thunderbird stores what are know as structured addresses, which are the individual components of an address (street, city, state, zip code, country, etc.) while Gmail originally only stored a formatted address which contained the entire address in a single field. Google now automatically converts addresses between these two formats, but it did not when version 0.3 was released hence it was turned it off by default. Version 0.4 has it on by default.

I had a lot of problems with version 0.3.5 so after the initial tests I installed the latest version which is still an alpha - 0.4.0a5 but a fairly well tested one. I installed 'over-the-top' of the earlier version. This seems much more consistent so I will describe only the results of testing the 4.0a5 version.

The basic test was to create a new Contact and make sure it was transferred then fill in all the standard and extra fields and see that they were all transferred correctly - that is not always the whole story as the changes also have to be detected so the test really needs to be done field by field. Many of the fields are common between Google Contacts and Thunderbird addresses but some are not consistent and more likely to give problems. These include Phone numbers and Addresses. There are also a set of extended fields in Thunderbird some of which can only been seen and changed by Extensions such as MoreFunctionsForAddressBook and some are added by gContactSync and these also needed to be investigated.

So I should first describe my set up as there may be interactions that I have to sort out. I am using Thunderbird 14 with the Lightening Extensions to give Calendars and Tasks - an almost universal set up. In addition I have several Extensions which are to do with address books:

Lightening 1.6 Adds Calendar and Task functionality.
MoreFunctionsForAddressBook 0.6.7.4 A very important extension which makes the Thunderbird Address book much more useful. It gives greatly extended searching and choice of columns to display as well as more powerful import and export. It allows viewing of some existing hidden fields as well as adding some additional fields. It is a potential source of interactions and the fields it reveals and the extra fields it adds needed particular investigation when used with gContactSync.
AddressBookTab 1.4.2 Does what it says and displays the address book in a tab - no interactions observed
SyncKolab 2.0.2 Synchronises my Personal Address Book, local Calendar and Tasks between all my machines running Thunderbird via an IMAP server. Should not have interactions with the other address books as configured as it set only synchronise my Personal Address Book.
Provider for Google Calendar 0.13 integrates Google calendars into Lightning alongside other local and web calendars and provides bidirectional access whilst online. Should not interact with gContactSync as configured which does not synchronise Calendars at present.
gContactSync 0.4.0a5c is the latest version of extension and will be used to add synchronisation of my Blackberry via Google Sync and Google Calendar to a separate Address book ie no multiple synchronisation with SyncKolab with risks of multiple entries.

Unexpected results in the initial tests

New Contacts have to be synced before they are added locally to My Contacts then synced again.
Address Line 2 is a real problem. It shows a conflict if it is changed and updating of everything on that card is blocked. A workaround is to force synchronisation in the case of a conflict to be from the server to local which at least allows other changes to be propagated even if the second address field does not sync or see below for better solution.
Contacts without a email address will not synchronise - the program description implies they should have a dummy email address added by gContactSync to get round a Thunderbird problem with address lists items without email addresses causing a freeze/crash but this does not occur if the field starts with a text string or is cleared locally. Clearing the field in Google Contacts leads correctly to the dummy address being created.

Summary of supported fields and synchronisation results using gContactSync (and SyncKolab) TB to TB and Blackberry to Google using Google Sync

The initial table has been extended to include a comparison with SyncKolab and similar results with Google Sync for Blackberry to investigate wider integration of address books

y = supported or sync works . N or n = Not Supported or sync fails. h = hidden field. C = Column can be displayed. S = Cards can be searched for this field.

Some shortfalls and consequences of Workrounds in the various programs are highlighted.

Field	Basic TB			MFFAB			gC'Sync	SyncG'	SyncK'	BB	BB G' Sync
First Name	y							y	y	y	y
Last Name	y							y	y	y	y
Display Name	y	C	S		C			y	y
Prefer Display (Tick)	y							y	N
Nickname	y				C			y	y	y	y
Email	y	C	S		C			y	y	y	y
Additional Email	y	C			C			y	y	y	y
Screenname	y				C			y	y
Prefered Format	y							y	y
Allow Remote	y							y	N
Work	y	C			C			y	y	y	y
Work 2 (BB field)								n		y	y
Home	y	C			C			y	y	y	y
Home 2 (BB field)								n		y	y
Fax	y	C			C			y	y	y	y
Pager	y	C			C			y	y	y	y
Mobile	y	C			C			y	y	y	y
Mobile 2 (BB field)										y	y
Home Address	y				C			y	y	y	y
Home Address 2	y							N/Y	y	y	merged into Home Address
Home City	y				C	S		y	y	y	y
Home State	y				C			y	y	y	y
Home Zip	y				C			y	y	y	y
Home Country	y				C	S		y	y	y	y
Home Web Page	y				C			y	y	y	y
Birthdate	y					S		y	y	y	y
Title	y	C			C			y	y	y	y
Department	y	C			C			y	y	y	y
Organisation	y	C			C	S		y	y	y	y
Work Address	y				C			y	y	y	y
Work Address 2	y							N/Y	y	y	merged into Work Address
Work City	y				C	S		y	y	y	y
Work State	y				C			y	y	y	y
Work Zip	y				C			y	y	y	y
Work Country	y				C	S		y	y	y	y
Work Web Page	y				C			y	y	y
Custom 1	y				C	S		y	y	User1	n
Custom 2	y				C	S		y	y	User2	n
Custom 3	y				C	S		Y/N	y	User3	n
Custom 4	y				C	S		Y/N	y	User4	n
Notes	y					S		y	y	y	y
Photograph	y							y	y	y	n
Categories	h			y		S		N/Y	y	y	n
Anniversary				y				Y	y	y	n
Additional Emails (5)				y				N	N
Spouse name				y				N	N
Card Mod date				y				?	N
Extra Fields (10)				y				N	N
Phone 6 and 7							y	Y	N
Additional Emails (2)							y	Y	N
Additional Screennames (5)							y	Y	N
People (4)							y	Y	N
Other Phone (BB field)										y	y

The above are the results of actual tests rather than what the manuals say should happen. Most have been 'Round Trip tests. By 'Round Trip' I mean that I create or edit, say, a contact on machine 1 (or address book 1), Synchronise twice to make sure that there are no problems of alternating changes. Synchronise on machine 2 (or address book 2), again twice for luck, make a minor change in the comment field to force the change to be propagated back to the first machine and check that everything is what one expects. The fields marked N/Y and Y/N are because I have used a fudge to allow synchronisation of Home Address2 and Work Address 2 between machines running Thunderbird to preserve a large number of my adresses which have a second line (~170 in 1000) - see below.

There are options to synchronise 10 extra properties which are fields that gContactSync should sync with other Thunderbird clients. These fields are not visible in Gmail; only gContactSync sees these fields and knows what to do with them. The names must be valid fields in Thunderbird. It's main purpose is for users who synchronize a single Gmail account across several computers (such as businesses who synchronize business contacts to their employees' PCs). In version 3 they were on a tab which has been removed in version 0.4. The feature is still there but it requires editing preferences in the Thunderbird Config Editor to change the fields that are synchronized.

Synchronising the Categories field

I have used this facility to enable me to synchronise the categories field rather than one of the presets by, in Thunderbird ->

Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> General tab and click Configuration Editor, read warning and ignore, then continue and Search for extensions.gcontactsync.extended and right click -> modify and change the extended6 value to Categories - this loses something I have never heard.

Summary of other configuration changes made to gContactSync.

gContactSync -> Preferences ->Main -> Clear Automatic Sync (When Mobile and for testing)

gContactSync -> Preferences ->Main -> Clear Add Phone Number Fields (Keep TB standards)

gContactSync -> Preferences ->Interface -> Clear Rename Phone Column Labels (Keep TB standards)

gContactSync -> Preferences ->Interface -> Clear Add the new fields to Column labels (Keep TB standards)

Solving the Address 2 field problem (at a cost)

The address problems occur because the fields used by Thunderbird and by Google Contacts do not match. Google now supports 'fixed' fields like Thunderbird but it supports 7 and Thunderbird 6 but one field (the second Thunderbird address field has no equivalent). Google Contacts instead has a first address field which supports multiple lines. This gives a problem as the second address field tends to get lost during transfers between machines running TB or during a reset which reloads everything from the Google Server. gContactSync has a facility to sync fields which do not exist in Google Contacts between machines using Thunderbird and there are ten of these extended fields which are unfortunately all preset to useful functions such as 'preferred email format' and the 4 Custom fields. I have decided that preserving my information in Private Address 2 and Work Address 2 is more important than Custom 3 and Custom 4 that I do not use at present so my fix is:

Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> General tab and click Configuration Editor and read warning then continue and Search for extensions.gcontactsync.extended and right click -> modify and change extended9 value to HomeAddress2 from Custom3 and extended10 value from Custom4 to Workaddress2

This change allows the second address fields to be synchronised between Thunderbird address books but not in a way accessible to Google Contacts and at the additional expense of loss of synchronisation of Custom 3 and Custom 4 - I do not use them but that might be a problem to others. I have put a posting in the conference suggesting more such fields are amde available

Cleaning up old Thunderbird Address Books

My Thunderbird address books have a long and chequered history. They started life at least twelve years ago as address books in Microsoft Outlook and have suffered a number of syncing programs including Microsoft Active Sync. I have two main address books, the root one formed the basis of that synchronised with the Blackberry and was transfered to the Blackberry via an LDIF export, import into Microsoft Outlook Express then into Outlook 2003 (2003 does not read LDIF or import from TB directly) then was transfered to the Blackberry using the Blackberry Desktop Software which Syncs Outlook 2003 and the Blackberry. It was then Synchronised and Backed up using Google Sync to Google Contacts and is now back on in TB via gContactSync. The amazing thing is that it mostly works but not entirely. I have eventually located where the problem is - somewhere along the line all the contacts without an email address have had a [No Email address found] string added to the first email field which prevent gContactSync from working as it can not add its random dummy email address to the field which is required to make TB lists work reliably and they need to be in My Contacts list. So problem 1 is how to clear all those fields. Clearing them from within TB does not seem to work for an unknown reason although clearing in Google does or in the blackberry and synchronising does. Either way hand crafting 500 cards is silly.

The second problem is that the original address book has a large number of invalid Birthdays and Anniversaries. The fields seem to need either a sensible date or be blank otherwise it causes errors in Google (Birthdays) or gContactSync (Anniversaries) which show in the error log and prevent transfers to the server. This seemed to the easier of my problems problem so I addressed it first by this proceedure which can probably be refined using the forced loading up and down options:

Export the address book to a .csv file - [this is MFFAB function??? Check!] and one must note that it exports far more fields than can be read back by the csv Import built into TB so data beyond the mnimum TB set of fields will be lost.
Open it in Libra Office Calc (or other spreadsheet)
Clear the contents of the three columns for the Birthdays (the zeros seem to cause the problem) as I only had a couple of Birthdays set up
Save to a new name.
- It may be possible to leave out making changes in LibreOffice as you have a choice of fields to import and you could untick the offending ones.
Import back into a new Address Book - Import does not import Anniversaries at present so I did not need to clear them
Delete the contents of gContactSync1 other than the 4 mandatory lists. This took a long time - do not give up, it gets there in the end
Synchronise to Clear Google and then the other test Address book gContactSync2 (Remember this is a test set up between two address books on the same machine)
Copy blocks of a few hundred at a time from the New Address Book and Synchronise checking no problems after each block. I did it in small block because I had a problem with exceeding a daily data limit from Google at one time.
Go online to Google Contacts and select All and ADD to My Contacts otherwise they will not synchronise with the Blackberry.

This seems to leave me with clean data which has the same number of entries on the server and the error log was clear . I then repeated the exercise to clear all the email fields which had a message like [No email address]. I found I have a number of comment fields which had characters which gave errors when importing which also had to be sorted in as much as a number of my notes fields had characters that could not be read and the fields had been replaced by an err:501 or err:509 - fortunately they all seemed to have come from even older inward transfers from H95 and HP200 PDAs and those that had not been tidied up could be mostly be junked. I found that the new cards uploaded fine but that they still had to be added online to My Contacts and then a reset before everything was completely sorted and the dummy address were present on all cards.

Testing of new cards and cards transferred from other Address Books and how to get card into Google My Contacts Group

When one creates a new card or drags one across from another address book and synchronises the card appears in Google in the other 'group'. If one adds it to the My Contacts list in TB before the first synchronisation it still ony ends up in 'other'. If however one does a synchronisation as soon as you have created a new card or draged one across from another address book and before adding to any lists and then drags the contact into My Contacts list in TB it correctly transfers to My Contacts in Google on the next synchronisation. Trying to get round an initial mistake and not synchronising at the correct time by deleting the card from the local list, syncing then try to add it back does not work and it does not show in the list until after a restart of TB as there must be a shadow of the entry in the list.

Duplicate Email addresses

Another strange anomoly was that that I was short of about 10 cards in the My Contacts list even after a reset. I finally found them and they all had duplicate email addresses elsewhere in the address book - when these were removed everything was set up

Conclusions on gContactSync

gContactSync works surprisingly well once one has a clean address book - almost all my problems were not caused by gContactSync itself but by the data fields in my original address books - it is possible that better error checking and handling could be included. I will, however, continue to Use SyncKolab in Parallel as I do not like to be dependent on Google for such an important function and because it also synchronises my calendars and tasks. If I did not have an IMAP mailbox available gContactSync would be the obvious choice for Thunderbird Contacts and the Provider for Gmail Calendar add-in for Calendars. There are a few quirks and some need for configuration to preserve and access some fields but that is a small price. I do however find it worrying that the only pieces of software to carry out a very important task are both written and supported by single developers working in their own time whilst Google is withdrawing such support as it provided from its competitors such as Blackberry.

2nd September 2012

Gmail Tips

These are some tips I have found on how to make the best of Gmail, in particular for Contacts.

Export all or part of your Gmail address book:

Click Contacts from the Left Gmail Dropdown menu.
In Contacts from the More Dropdown menu click Export.
Select the Outlook CSV format for a maximum compatibility,.
- Both Outlook CSV and Google CSV export all the data. The Gmail format uses Unicode to preserve international characters, but some email programs do not support Unicode. The Outlook CSV format converts names to your default character encoding.
Choose which contacts to export from the radar boxes.
Click Export.
Save the "gmail-to-outlook.csv" or "gmail.csv" file to your Desktop ot a suitable folder.

Restore or Import Contacts from a CSV File

To import Gmail contacts from another program, account or restore your contacts from a backup CSV copy after synchronization went awry, for example:

Go to Contacts in Gmail.
Click Import.
Use the file selector under Please select a CSV or vCard file to upload: to pick the "google.csv" file from which you want to restore or import.
- You can also Check the box for Add these imported contacts to: New group… to have Gmail create a new group for the imported contacts so you will be able to identify them - you will be asked for a Group name during importing.
Click Import.
Click OK.

Gmail should automatically detect duplicates and merge these entries based on matching email addresses. If a contact has been updated, Gmail will add the new information; for example, you will get an address book entry with two addresses, both the old and the new.

Importing Gmail Contacts into Mozilla Thunderbird

To export your address book from Gmail and import it into Mozilla Thunderbird:

Save your Gmail contacts as gmail-to-outlook.csv as above
Select Tools -> Import in Mozilla Thunderbird.
- Make sure Address Books is selected.
Click Next.
Highlight Text file (LDIF,.tab,.csv,.txt) under Please select the program from which you would like to import.
Click Next.
Select the gmail-to-outlook.csv file you just created.
Make sure First record contains field names is checked.
Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons, if available, to match Mozilla Thunderbird address book fields on the left with Gmail fields on the right and select those you wish to Import.
Click OK.
Click Finish.

You will now find a folder named "gmail-to-outlook" with all imported contactsIn your Mozilla Thunderbird address book.

Gmail and Backups

Gmail keeps automatically created backup snapshots for your Gmail address book for up to 30 days. Restoring your entire Gmail contacts to the state in which it was at any point within that time is easy. To recover the state of your Gmail contacts from any point in the last 30 days:

Go to Contacts in Gmail.
Select Restore contacts… from the menu.
Pick the desired point in time in Please select a time to restore to:.
Note that anything that happened to your contacts since then will be undone.
Click Restore.

Preserve Recently Added Contacts when doing a Gmail Address Book Restoration

Export the contacts you have added or changed after the point to which you will restore your Gmail address book by:

Select New Group… in the left navigation bar.
Enter a name for the group such as "contacts to be re-imported".
Click OK.
For all contacts you want to re-import:
Search for or spot the desired contact ad tick the check box.
Click Groups.
Make sure the "contacts to be re-imported" group is checked.
Click Apply if necessary.
Now click More actions.
Select Export… from the menu.
Make sure The group contacts to be re-imported is selected under Which contacts do you want to export?.
Select Google CVS under Which Export format? as you will be reading back into Gmail.
Click Export.

After restoring your Gmail contacts to a previous state (see above) recover the entries you have saved:

Click More actions… in Gmail Contacts.
Select Import… from the menu.
Find and select the "google.csv" file you previously saved under Please select a CSV or vCard file to upload:.
Click Import.
Now click OK.

9th September 2012

Another Google Contacts to Thunderbird Synchronisation Add-in from h.ogi

I have found another Synchronising tool for Gmail to Thunderbird but it does not seem quite so well developed or to offer better solutions to any of the gContactSync or SyncKolab problems so I have not investigated it further - for completeness see http://hogiblog.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/synchronizing-google-contacts-and.html for details. Again it is a one man band production and bug fixes and updates seem to be sporadic. Reading the blog is however interesting and gives some extra insights into the difficulties of marrying Google to Thunderbird when they have a different philosophy and fields and makes one realise that the approaches used by gContactSync are much more sensible than one initially realises. Some quite small fixes could make this another real runner.

12th September 2012

Sources of Developer information on Google Contacts APIs

https://developers.google.com/google-apps/contacts/v3/ which links to what seems to be the area of interest https://developers.google.com/gdata/docs/2.0/elements but also see restrictions in the Structured Postal Address fields at https://developers.google.com/google-apps/contacts/v3/reference#extraRestrictionsOnSomeElements and some extensions in following sections of the reference guide.