TL;DR

PhoneDo is an Android automation application that provides a scripting environment based on JavaScript with methods for handling native Android actions in a headless way.

Table of contents

TOC

• About
• Installation
• PhoneDo Terminal

• Contributing
• Credits

About

The tech stack for this application :

Technology	Usage
Vue	Front end
SQLite	For script storage CRUD operations.
Bootstrap	For styling (in the context of script evaluation)
JQConsole	For a terminal UI.
JQuery	For manipulation of the DOM, also serving as a dependency for JQConsole.
ACE.js	For an integrated scripting development environment (Users' reading and writing code inside of the app).

I aimed to provide a straightforward way to script tasks, using scripts labeled with the .nts extension. Users can create these scripts and execute at their convenience. These scripts are stored on their device in a SQLite database and can contain JavaScript code that integrates with Android's native functionalities like file handling, text-to-speech, speech recognition, texting (SMS), Bluetooth connections, Wi-Fi, NFC, infrared, networking, SIM card operations, flashlight control, and battery management, among other things. I documented these methods here.

Why ?

This project was inspired by this question on reddit Quoted from OP :

Is there a Lisp environment for Android that would let me make simple programs to e.g. hit a web API, parse JSON and display the results as text? I'd really like to open an app which shows me a list of all the little scripts I've made, I tap "Weather San Francisco" and see the text output of my program, done. I swear I saw something like this about a decade ago...

Let's try it.

An example of how a user can control a device's flashlight would be to navigate to Script Editor > File > New Script, then name the script, for instance, FlashControl.nts

On clicking OK, the script is created inside an ACE integrated development environment and a header is automatically generated, to allow you to provide additional details for the script.

/*
 * Script Name     : FlashControl.nts
 * Date            : Mon Aug 07 2023 04:49:00 GMT+0300 (East Africa Time)
 * PhoneDo Version : 1.3.2
 * Description     : 
 * Author          : 
 * License         : 
 */

Then, we can use a provided flashlight method to programmatically control it:

if (await flashlight.switchOn()) {
    console.log(' Flashlight successfully turned on.');
} else {
    console.warn(' Failed to turn on the flashlight.');
}
exit();

Expand the full script

/*
 * Script Name     : FlashControl.nts
 * Date            : Mon Aug 07 2023 04:49:00 GMT+0300 (East Africa Time)
 * PhoneDo Version : 1.3.2
 * Description     : Turns on the flashlight.
 * Author          : PhoneDo
 * License         : None
 */
 
if (await flashlight.switchOn()) {
    console.log(' Flashlight successfully turned on.');
} else {
    console.warn(' Failed to turn on the flashlight.');
}
exit();

---

Congrats! You just made your first PhoneDo Script! Now let's figure out how to execute it.

To simply execute FlashControl.nts , we navigate Run > Run Script and press Enter , or we can also manually navigate back at the PhoneDo terminal view and type in the following command line and press Enter :

run -i "Flashlight.nts"

OutPut on success :

 Flashlight successfully turned on.

Installation

You may need to permit installations from unknown sources. To do this, navigate to your device's settings :

Settings > Security (or Settings > Apps > Security)

and activate the "Unknown Sources" option.

1. Download:

   • Download and Extract the latest release to your desired path.

2. Install the APK:

   • Open a terminal or command prompt and run the following commands:

     :: Install the APK file
     adb install -r "basePath/PhoneDo.apk"

3. Restore Sampled Demo Scripts (Optional)

   • To make the sampled scripts available for experimenting with, run the following command to restore a prepared adb backup file:

     adb restore "basePath/PhoneDoExamples.ab"

4. Allow All App Permissions (Optional)

   If you want an uninterrupted experience, you can pregrant all of the wanted permissions, even though a script can request any of them at runtime.

   • At your device's Settings, navigate to "Apps" or "Application Manager," depending on your device.

   • Find and select PhoneDo from the list of installed apps.

   • Look for the Permissions or App Permissions section.

   • Enable or grant all the permissions listed under PhoneDo.

PhoneDo Terminal (In Progress)

PhoneDo features an interactive Terminal User Interface with purpose-built commands designed to help you script easily.

Typing a command with no parameters dumps its help information.

Command	Description
slist	Script management utility.
run	Runs a script.
runwait	Runs a script and pauses script execution until the program finishes.
beep	Plays a beep sound for an audible audio feedback.
ipconfig	Retrieves the IP address information for the active connection.
ifconfig	Retrieves the IP address information for the active connection.
cls	Clears the terminal screen.
clear	Clears the terminal screen.
exit	Quits the current terminal instance.
time	Prints the system time information to the standard output.
sysinfo	Displays information about a device software configurations.
ping	Sends ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network hosts.

---

Scriptable Interfaces

	API	Implementation
	bluetooth	In Progress..
>1.3.2	wifi	community-cordova-plugin-wifi-wizard
>1.3.2	sim	community-cordova-plugin-wifi-wizard
>1.3.2	utter (Speech synthesis : TTS/STT)	cordova-plugin-speechrecognition , cordova-plugin-tts-advanced
>1.3.2	network	cordova-plugin-advanced-http , cordova-plugin-network-information , cordova-plugin-networkinterface
>1.3.2	device	cordova-plugin-device
>1.3.2	flashlight	community-cordova-plugin-flashlight
>1.3.2	sim	community-cordova-plugin-sim
>1.3.2	fs (file system)	cordova-plugin-file
>1.3.2	️️️browser

---

Contributing

Your assistance is much appreciated. There are various ways you can help make the project better :

1. Code Contributions

If you're a dev, you can contribute by:

• Filing Issues: Report bugs or suggest new features by opening an issue.

• Pull Requests: Implement new features or fix existing issues by submitting a pull request.

2. Documentation Improvements

Contribute by:

• Updating Docs: If you notice any gaps or errors in the documentation, feel free to submit a pull request with your improvements.

3. User Experience (UX) Enhancements

Help improve the overall user experience by:

• Design Contributions: If you have design skills, propose UI/UX enhancements to make PhoneDo more user-friendly.

4. Testing and Bug Reporting

Contribute to the stability of thia app by:

• Testing: Try out new features and report any issues you encounter.

• Bug Reports: Provide detailed bug reports, including steps to reproduce and information about your environment.

5. Community Support

Contribute to the PhoneDo community by:

• Answering Questions: Help fellow users by answering questions on forums.

Checkout our Community Group before making substantial contributions to connect with other contributors and get a sense of ongoing discussions.

---

Credits

PhoneDo Logo : https://linktr.ee/namishkashyap

Made with ❤ by MurageKabui