[APP][14.Aug][v1.3] "Back FavPeople Up!" - Backup/Restore of TouchFlo Favorite people

zenkinz · Aug 2, 2009

[APP][14.Aug][v1.3] "Back FavPeople Up!" - Backup/Restore of TouchFlo Favorite people

14th Aug 09

A new version is released to add support for new manila 2.5. More information can be found in the release note.

5th Aug 09

Another minor release to provide the silent execution capability , i.e. the ability to execute the backup/restore process from command line. More information about the supported parameters can be found in the release note. This version comes with two sample shortcut files that can be found in the program folder.

4th Aug 09

Minor update to the first version. The only functionality added in this minor version is ringtone support. Also added some cosmetic to the folder browser. See release note for more information

3rd Aug 09

Decided to release for public testing, as I have tested the backup and restore functions looks and everything looks okay to me. I have tested this including a hard reset, and my experience is the restore works perfectly well for me. But there might be scenarios that I have yet considered, so don't blame on the developer if you did not manage to recover your favorite contacts 100%

Screenshot and Cabs are attached. The version release information will be posted in the next post.

zenkinz said:
Hi guys,

not sure if this has been done already, if so, please pardon this duplicate work. But I have tried to search the forums, and I couldn't find a solution thus this work of mine.

Basically, for flash junkies like me, I have to manually add the favorite contacts in the people tab, after each ROM Flash. I found a way to backup and restore this setting, but it needs to be done "programmatically". i.e. it's not a file or registr backup/restore, unless you want to archive the entire PIM database.

I need further testing, but so far it looks promising. Here's some screenshot for you.

zenkinz · Aug 2, 2009

Version 1.3 (Released on 14th Aug 2009)

Added manila 2.5 support. This will backup and restore the ordering of your favorite contact, and the default contact method. Without this utility, your favorite contacts may be restored after you hard reset (if you have sync at least once before your hard reset), but the ordering and default contact method will not be restored!
Updated the ringtone support. Will backup/restore contact's ringtone setting even if the contact is not a favorite contact in Touchflo3D people tab.
Revamp the UI.

Version 1.2 (Released on 5th Aug 2009)

Minor update
Added command line mode. Two mode of command line execution are supported, namely backup and restore. The syntax of the command is BackFavPeopleUp.exe [mode] [folderpath], where [mode] is either /backup or /restore and [folderpath] specifies the path where your favorite contact information will be archived/read.
Two sample shortcut files can be found in %Program Files%\Zenyee\Back FavPeople Up, one for restore, and the other for backup. You can copy the program Back FavPeople Up.exe to \Storage Card\Program Files, and then copy the restore shortcut file to your Sashimi or UC folder.

Version 1.1 (Released on 4th Aug 2009)

Minor update
Added ringtone support. Only path of ringtones are backup and restored. You would still need to backup/restore the physical ringtone files. Would recommend that you use tool like UC or Sashimi or PPCPIMBackup to backup/restore these ringtone files. May consider backup/restore physical files in future release
Updated with some cosmetic changes to the folder browser function.

Version 1.0 (Released on 3rd Aug 2009)

First public beta release
Requires .NET 3.5CF to be installed
Only supports backing and restoring of favorite contacts (and default call method) in TouchFlo's "People" tab
Sashimi user can place the executable file in the EXE folder and run.
Ringtone and other contacts backup/restore are not supported
Restore requires you to have your contacts restored first (using Microsoft My Phone, PPC Pimbackup, Activesync, etc)

zenkinz · Aug 2, 2009

To do List

[Added in Release 1.2) Command line support
User choice to restore all or partial information
Multi-language support
Prompt for phone reset after a restore is complete
Mass update of ringtone or favorite contact by category

Bug Tracker

UI shows a wrong version (fixed in release 1.3 and future releases)

Steeve24 · Aug 2, 2009

Potential to be very useful, will await release, will also be very handy when Activesync forces a complete resync and therefore loses the connections for the favorites.

Mandragore · Aug 2, 2009

zenkinz said:
I need further testing, but so far it looks promising. Here's some screenshot for you.

Well done. This is one of the few things missing in my backup, flash and restore routine.

jmckeejr · Aug 2, 2009

zenkinz said:
Hi guys,

not sure if this has been done already, if so, please pardon this duplicate work. But I have tried to search the forums, and I couldn't find a solution thus this work of mine.

Basically, for flash junkies like me, I have to manually add the favorite contacts in the people tab, after each ROM Flash. I found a way to backup and restore this setting, but it needs to be done "programmatically". i.e. it's not a file or registr backup/restore, unless you want to archive the entire PIM database.

I need further testing, but so far it looks promising. Here's some screenshot for you.

View attachment 211642 View attachment 211644 View attachment 211643 View attachment 211641

Great! Thats the only thing I have to do manually now. I am working on some scripts to backup all of my other programs and settings. Cant wait.

mlk · Aug 2, 2009

Cant wait for this - this will make my life complete - well this a proper SBSH-like Calendar tab showing Tasks as well as Appointments and a Notes Tab... ooo, and a million dollars

ugumba · Aug 2, 2009

+1

A backup+restore of pim.vol does the trick, but I welcome a way that works better with ActiveSync. Last time I restored pim.vol I ended up with duplicates.

Also, are you able to backup+restore contact pictures? Any hi-res mug shots are not propagated to Exchange.

zenkinz · Aug 3, 2009

Thanks guys for the encouragement, I will tidy up the code over the next few days, and release for beta testing.

@ugumba, in principle I can do the contact pictures backup as well, as I plan to do the same for the ringtone (I know there's a program recently released for that purpose), but the favorite contact will be my main focus.

tombbb · Aug 3, 2009

this is defnitely one of the most important app developed recently !!!!

S.V.I · Aug 3, 2009

That's pretty sweet!! I can't wait to try it. So far I have been using a reg for that... but most haven't. This should be much easier.
Let me know if you want me to make some efficient GFX for it. I'd be glad to.

DID I JUST SEE RINGTONE TOO!?!?!?!?!?! Wow! this makes me giddy!

Since you are gong in this direction, any chance you might want to try to get a bit more passive contact backup solution in general?? PIM backup tends to make duplicates in outlook, and I can't figure out why. I think it might have something to do with security with activesync.
It would be awesome to have a program that could simply update my contacts back and fourth... don't know if that's possible though.

ugumba · Aug 3, 2009

S.V.I said:
PIM backup tends to make duplicates in outlook, and I can't figure out why. I think it might have something to do with security with activesync.

I don't know the answer - however, I wonder why you backup your contacts when you synchronize with Outlook?

I synchronize with Exchange myself, and use PPCPimBackup heavily - however, I make sure it only backs up (and restores) my SMSes and call logs, which are not synchronized anywhere else.

vizier · Aug 3, 2009

This is just what I was searching for:

Would you please consider the following features as well:
- backup contact-facebook links
- backup my card (Or my contact card, whatever)
- backup selected cities in the weather panel
- backup selected cities in the clock
- backup the program shortcuts in the programs panel (or Manilla start menu)

Thanks for your initiative and efforts...

ugumba · Aug 3, 2009

vizier said:
This is just what I was searching for:

Would you please consider the following features as well:
- backup contact-facebook links
- backup my card (Or my contact card, whatever)
- backup selected cities in the weather panel
- backup selected cities in the clock
- backup the program shortcuts in the programs panel (or Manilla start menu)

Thanks for your initiative and efforts...

Good requests, but these are trivial to backup from the registry or file system. Get SASHIMI (see my sig), read its manual, then setup SASHIMI to back all these items up using its INI files.

The OP has a solution for backup up something which is *not* trivial, since the HTC favorites are buried inside pim.vol, a file with almost all other PIM data, in a relatively obscure binary database file format. Backing up and restoring the entire file is not a good idea, since its format may change between ROMs, and you might get problems with duplicates in Outlook etc.

I haven't looked into facebook connections, but the rest of your requests are located here:

Your contact card: HKCU\Software\HTC\People\OwnerInfo
WM owner info: HKCU\ControlPanel\Owner
Weather cities: HKCU\Software\HTC\Manila\Weather.CityList
World Clock cities: HKCU\Software\HTC\Manila\WorldClock.CityList
Start menu/Programs panel: HKLM\Software\HTC\Manila\ProgramLauncher

cyron_at · Aug 3, 2009

zenkinz said:
Hi guys,

not sure if this has been done already, if so, please pardon this duplicate work. But I have tried to search the forums, and I couldn't find a solution thus this work of mine.

Basically, for flash junkies like me, I have to manually add the favorite contacts in the people tab, after each ROM Flash. I found a way to backup and restore this setting, but it needs to be done "programmatically". i.e. it's not a file or registr backup/restore, unless you want to archive the entire PIM database.

I need further testing, but so far it looks promising. Here's some screenshot for you.

View attachment 211642 View attachment 211644 View attachment 211643 View attachment 211641

Nice work!

BTW: Which taskbar are you using.can you pls. share it! Looks great!

zenkinz · Aug 3, 2009

First public beta release! see first 2 posts of this thread for more information

zenkinz · Aug 3, 2009

cyron_at said:
Nice work!

BTW: Which taskbar are you using.can you pls. share it! Looks great!

m6silver taskbar. do a google search.

zenkinz · Aug 3, 2009

S.V.I said:
That's pretty sweet!! I can't wait to try it. So far I have been using a reg for that... but most haven't. This should be much easier.
Let me know if you want me to make some efficient GFX for it. I'd be glad to.

DID I JUST SEE RINGTONE TOO!?!?!?!?!?! Wow! this makes me giddy!

Since you are gong in this direction, any chance you might want to try to get a bit more passive contact backup solution in general?? PIM backup tends to make duplicates in outlook, and I can't figure out why. I think it might have something to do with security with activesync.
It would be awesome to have a program that could simply update my contacts back and fourth... don't know if that's possible though.

like some one has said, one can use activesync (desktop or exchange server) to backup the contacts. So I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here. The only reason why I'm doing for ringtone (potentially) is because that's not being sync with the desktop/server.

fards · Aug 3, 2009

Nice job, but for some info the latest manila 2.5 does this automatically now, so I'm presuming anything new out of HTC will do the same thing.

It does so by automatically assigning the contacts to a new category, HTCFavourite. Then they are backed up and restored with outlook, it's not perfect as the favourites tab puts them back in alphabetical order.

just a heads up in case you hadn't seen it..

I guess if you set your system up to save as HTCfavourites, then future manila versions would restore them automatically?

zenkinz · Aug 3, 2009

fards said:
Nice job, but for some info the latest manila 2.5 does this automatically now, so I'm presuming anything new out of HTC will do the same thing.

It does so by automatically assigning the contacts to a new category, HTCFavourite. Then they are backed up and restored with outlook, it's not perfect as the favourites tab puts them back in alphabetical order.

just a heads up in case you hadn't seen it..

I guess if you set your system up to save as HTCfavourites, then future manila versions would restore them automatically?

yes I'm aware that 2.5 will solve it (with the solution that you have just outlined). But 2.5 too buggy for now, plus this will be useful for those who are still using 2.0/2.1.

I can include the option to add HTC favorites category to the contact in future release, so that one can use this to upgrade from 2.0/2.1 to 2.5

[APP][14.Aug][v1.3] "Back FavPeople Up!" - Backup/Restore of TouchFlo Favorite people

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