🚀 Project Weekly Update (May 5 - May 11, 2025) 🚀

[ongxeno]

Here's a summary of the major developments and features added last week:

✨ Screens & Interface:

• You can now see the connection status (e.g., Connected, Disconnected) directly on the main screen.
• The connection speed (ping time) to your PC is now also shown on the main screen.
• The app has a new main color scheme featuring dark orange.
• Setting up the connection to your PC is easier with a new dialog:
  • It can automatically find your PC on the network.
  • You can still enter the PC's address manually if needed.
• When importing a layout from your PC, the "Importing..." message now disappears faster once the file is received.

🔄 Import Layouts from PC:

• Big new feature! You can now send layout files from your computer's web browser directly to the app.
• Look for the new "Import from PC" option in the "Manage Layouts" screen.
• The app will show a web address to open on your PC to start the import.
• The import page on your PC will now close automatically after the layout is sent successfully.

🔗 Connection & Performance:

• If the connection to your PC is lost, the app now tries to reconnect more quickly.
• We've made the connection to your PC more stable and reliable, especially when you're using your button layouts.
• The displayed connection speed is now calculated more accurately.

💾 Layouts & Behind the Scenes:

• Improved how layouts are saved on your device, making it more robust.
• Made several under-the-hood improvements for better performance and future updates.

⚙️ Technical Summary (May 5 - May 11, 2025):

• PC Layout Import Feature:
  • Implemented layout import via PC browser using an embedded Ktor 3.x server (AppLocalWebServer, initially PcImportWebServer) on a fixed port (58008), serving an HTML upload page and handling file uploads.
  • Added TRIGGER_IMPORT_BROWSER UdpPacketType and TriggerImportPayload for app-to-PC communication to initiate the browser opening on the PC.
  • ManageLayoutsViewModel orchestrates Ktor server lifecycle, manages UI state (ImportFromPcDialog), and processes received layout JSON.
• Connection Management & Networking:
  • ConnectionManager: Implemented dynamic health check intervals (faster when connecting/lost). Refined RTT/latency calculation using a sliding window for average response time. Added Macro ACK mechanism (pendingMacroAcks, MACRO_ACK packet type, timeout handling).
  • Introduced Network Service Discovery (NSD) using NsdManager for automatic server detection (_starbuttonbox._udp.).
  • New ConnectionConfigDialog with "Automatic Discovery" (NSD) and "Manual IP" entry modes.
  • UI indicators for connection status and response time (latestResponseTimeMs from ConnectionManager) added to MainScreen.
• Data Persistence & Architecture:
  • Migrated layout definitions, order, and selected index from SharedPreferences to Jetpack DataStore (Preferences DataStore, storing data as JSON strings).
  • Refactored SendMacroViewModel to delegate macro sending to ConnectionManager. LayoutInfo data class was split into context-specific classes.
• Dependencies & Theme:
  • Updated Ktor to 3.1.3 and Kotlinx Serialization to 1.8.1.
  • Primary theme accent color changed to dark orange.