[APP][Android 2.1+] Ray Sidebar Launcher 1.2.1 | 12.Nov.2013 | the best multitasking

[Android 2.1+] Ray Sidebar Launcher​

Features include:
- Add your favorite apps and shortcuts
- Add "actions" such as: app drawer, toggle Wi-Fi, toggle mobile data, screen brightness, etc.
- Organize your items (apps, shortcuts and actions) in folders*
- Easily rearrange items and remove unwanted ones
- Option to remain open after launching apps and shortcuts - for even faster multi-tasking
- Many others

*The free version of Ray is limited to 8 items or 7 items + 1 folder with up to 8 additional items in the folder


Ray Pro additional features:
- No advertising button (“Free apps”)
- Unlimited number of apps, shortcuts, actions and folders
- Choose between left or right sidebar alignment
- Adjust the text size and color of the item labels
- Add “Running apps” action with task management functionality (kill unwanted apps)
- Icon pack support (load app icons from ADW, Apex, Nova and some Go Launcher themes and icon packs)
- Unread counts for: missed calls, unread SMS and emails as well as any app that displays notifications, including: WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, Viber, etc.




Follow my future projects: here

Change log:

olorolo said:

Very nice app first of all I will give you my personal input from a consumers view. Overall it's a really nice app with a few features the other sidebars lack as in custom icon packs ability along with the ability to rearrange, those are awesome abilities! Where it's lacking is the ability to see running apps indicater and the ability to close them by swiping them away as the others offer, once this feature is added I believe this puts this sidebar in the front runners position. A main feature they all lack because of 4.3 I might add is the ability to hide the app notification from the notification panel. I understand that it needs to be there so the launcher doesn't close the app but there has to be a way to hide that without closing the app. I remove it in settings/app by unchecking the box but eventually the launcher will close the app by default. Once that's accomplished by whichever sidebar that does it will lead the pack hands down! I have purchased two already and I'm going to go purchase yours now, I tried the free version but goodluck to you and this great app!

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Hello, thank you for your support!
The paid version has an "action" called "Running apps". You can add it by: (+) button -> Actions -> Running Apps
It lists all currently running apps and lets you kill unwanted ones by swiping them away.
I decided to implement it this way, because in my opinion it's less cluttered and it's usually faster to kill an app. If for example you put the "Running apps" on top of the sidebar, you can reach all running apps with a single tap. Otherwise, if you have added a lot of apps, you would have to scroll down and look for the active ones.

About the notification icon - unfortunately it is a matter of how Android is designed.
As you probably know already, prior to Android 4.3 apps were allowed to show fake (invisible) notification to prevent being killed, but Google changed that in 4.3, because they believe it's best for the user to be notified when something is running continuously in the background...

It's not possible to guarantee that Android will not kill the app when there is no notification and the app is currently not shown on the screen, because in that situation the app is considered to be running in background mode and Android decides that it is not critical if the app is killed.
After killing it Android (may) eventually automatically start the app again when there is more RAM available, but from my experience it takes more than 10 minutes for Android to restart the app, which is unacceptable for the user.

The developer can request from the operating system to try to (re-)launch the app let's say once every 60 seconds or even less, but this can significantly increase battery usage :/

In Ray I used the least intrusive approach that is currently possible - using low priority notification that does not show up in the statusbar. I may also add an option to completely disable the notification for Android 4.3+ devices, but of course if disabled, Android can decide to kill the app at any time.

I have added a direct download link in the first post for those of you who don't have the Gogle Play Store on their devices.

For those who tried the app - please share your thoughts on ways of improvement and possible problems

Thank you!

TopperBG said:

Thanks to dev for amazing app - that's what I miss on my device!
But I have a prob when type somewhere with software keyboard (I've just decide that must re-calibrate screen but suddenly realize what's happens).
Far left side of keyboard like letters A, Q and number 1 are NOT USABLE because they are under the sidebar ?
It's checked and approved if I close Sidebar keyboard works as expected.
Please @ra3al solve this little but frustrating bug.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thank you for support! and I'm glad you like the app
Yes, this is a known problem and there is a (partial) solution. I guess I should mentioned it in the initial tutorial.
OK, you need to go to the settings of the app (either by long-pressing the (+) button in the sidebar, or tapping the Ray / Ray Pro icon in your normal launcher.
Then go to: Swipe area settings -> Width and height and reduce the height, so that the swipe area does not overlap your soft keyboard. (Or you can also reduce the width - make the swipe area still full height, but thinner, so that it does not cover the leftmost buttons in the keyboard, but keep in mind that if you make it too thin, it may stop recognizing your swipes).
If you are using both Ray and Ray Pro - you have to do these changes for both apps :/

While you are in the Swipe area settings the swipe area will be painted in magenta color, in order to let the user visualize where on the screen it actually is and how big it is, in all other situations the swipe area is completely transparent.

The swipe area is always positioned on top of all other programs (besides the lock screen app). Unfortunately it's not possible to position it below the soft keyboard, and that is the reason, you need to resize the swipe area.

The swipe area is necessary for detecting your swipes from the edge of the screen, and as you already realized, the app that is bellow it cannot receive touch events in that specific region.

BTW in Ray Pro, if you set Swipe area settings -> Horizontal alignment to Right the sidebar will be positioned on the right edge of the screen and is activated by swiping from the right edge. And if you want, you can have Ray on the left side and Ray Pro on the right side running simultaneously.

Sorry for the long post

wuzdat said:

I just purchased the Pro version of your sidebar launcher to test it out, because I love the quick access launchers of this type. Just a couple of things that I would like to see added...... First is the "Width" of the Sidebar feature only lets me reduce it to a certain width and stops, but when you open the sidebar the icons are almost half that width in size. I would like to shrink/reduce the sidebar width down very thin, to just about the width of the smallest icons that show. If you put the width slider all the way down to the smallest point, it should then go just a little bit further.
Also, I mainly decided to try your sidebar because of the "Folder" option. Most sidebars don't allow the setup of folders, I really like this option, but I was disappointed when I found that I could NOT set a Custom Icon for the Folder itself. The sidebar allows using Icon Sets, but I can't select a custom icon for the Folder. Please add this Feature to allow us to choose our Folder icons. it would really complete this app.
The last thing I noticed was a problem....the instructions mentioned something about long pressing an icon then swiping out of the sidebar to Delete the icon. This does NOT work for me at all. I have not found any way whatsoever, to Delete an app icon that I already placed in the bar.
or am I missing something.........
I'll post again after using this for a little while.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks for your support and feedback!

About the option to use custom folder icons - I am almost done with implementing this feature - it will be available in the next version together with a couple of bug fixes - I will release it today or tomorrow.

For sidebar width - I am also going to improve it in the next version - please let me know if it's OK, after the you try the updated version.

For deleting items - when trying to swipe away the item you want to delete, are you putting your finger on the grabber handle button? If so, that's the reason it does not work for you (the grabber handle can only be used for moving an item up or down in the list). You have to put your finger on the app/shortcut/etc. icon.
Maybe I should make a short video that shows how to delete items and somehow improve the tutorial.

DanielFran said:

Hi ra3al,

First thanks for this wonderfull sidebar launcher!

I am testing it and found very usefull, but I think that you should add also the possibility to have a dock bar (by default available) and this will be the future laucher: most used apps on dock like phone, sms and app drawer, and favourite apps and shorcuts in sidebar.

Without that option everyone will keep his launcher...

What do you think?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thanks for your suggestion. Do you mean - a horizontal sidebar (bottombar) that will be activated by swiping from the bottom? Or one that is constantly visible?

DanielFran said:

I mean have the possibility to have a bottombar that could:
- by default: be visible (fixed on bottom like other launchers) without the needs of swiping from the bottom
- have the possibility to not be visible and needs swiping from the bottom to appears
- have the possibility to not be available

If you implement the bottombar, you should also add an option to slidbar not be available also!

Thanks

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I might add this feature or something similar in a future version I also want to add an option to have widgets in another sidebar (in the Pro version) in the future.


Meanwhile, I have released an update for both Ray and Ray Pro
This is the change log:
1.1.0 (18.Oct.2013):
- Added: option to automatically close the sidebar after a specified time of inactivity
- Added: user selectable folder icon backgrounds (circle, rounded rectangle, rectangle and custom)
- Fixed: unable to change sidebar background color while in landscape mode
- Fixed: flashlight not working on Nexus 10 and other devices
- Fixed: Android 4.3+ only: Tapping on notification not opening app settings
- Changed: icon margins now depend on the selected sidebar width
- Changed: smaller minimum for sidebar width

wuzdat said:

It is very much appreciated that you made some of the updates & changes that myself & others have requested. That's a very good way to get & keep loyal users & have them spread good news about your app. I really like the new features & options in this last update. After using it a little while with the updates I only saw 2 more little things that I feel need to be added/changed..... Now that the sidebar width is modified & we can reduce it pretty small, we really need the ability to change/customize the Icon size. Every person has a different view of how big/small their own icons should be and how big/small the sidebar should be. Since the sidebar width is now easily customized, please give us the ability to customize our Icon Sizes also. I personally want a small sidebar width but enlarge the icons enough to where they aren't "tiny", as I don't use icon labels either.
The 2nd thing is Custom Icons for all shortcuts/apps, since we can choose a custom Icon Pack for the entire sidebar, a lot of apps aren't included in the Icon Packs. So we end up with half custom icons and half regular app icons. But if it was like our Launchers where we can choose an icon pack but then select individual apps & choose Custom icons, we can make our entire sidebar match.
Please consider these 2 features also in an upcoming update.
Thanx again for the great app!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I already have plans about adding both of these features, but I am not completely sure about the first one, but I will probably add it. thanks