Android Goodreader alternative for offline tours

Q&A about the latest versions
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panovrlover
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I'm trying to find an 'easy' way of uploading a clients tour files onto their Android tablet so they can use the tours offline and when out and about. So far i've not come across and option that allows them to do this, instead other solutions rely on using a cache manifest that it seems is unstable.

Anybody got an easy solution? Can you just upload all the files in a folder on an android and then launch an HTML page?

Thanks in advance.
panovrlover
Posts: 157
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:39 pm

Also, is using the cache manifest really that bad? There must be an easy way of viewing these tours offline. Good reader isn't ideal as whenever you go to move the tour the menu bars appear top and bottom, unless anyone knows how to stop that from happening?
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Hopki
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Hi
Im using Android File Transfer on my Nexus7.
This opens with showing all the folders on my device, right button click to add a new folder , say panorama and copy the output folder in.

Once transferred go to the Play store and look for a file manager app.
You can then browse to your Panorama folder and open the output folder then HTML page. The default for my device is open with Firefox which open the pano in the browser. Clicking the fullscreen button in my skin then opens it edge to edge fullscreen.

You can then add a bookmark to the home screen :-)

This is only any good if you can add it for your customer or give them the instructions on how to do it.
Regards,
Hopki
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panovrlover
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Perfect, thanks Hopki. I'll give this a go. Any recommendations on the file manager app?
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Hopki
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Not really, any one for the free apps should be ok, just make sure when you go to install one or two may say the app will try and sell you stuff. Needless to say I did not install these ;-)
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DennisS
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After downloading and trying out oh so many browsers, Opera is the one I finally got to work reliably. I just tried FireFox again. FireFox is confused between panning around the pano and scrolling the screen. I just could not get it to work properly.

Here is a page I put together a few years ago showing how to get panos to work on a Galaxy S3. I just tried it with my Galaxy Light and the instructions still work.

http://www.dlsphoto.net/Tutorials/ViewP ... index.html

You do not need to go to the play store to download any sort of file manager in order to transfer files to your Android. Hook your supplied USB charging cable to your computer and use your computers file browser to copy the files to your phones internal storage or SD card.

Enjoy
panovrlover
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Thanks Dennis, got that method to work (Hopki, couldn't get Chrome to work using your method, skin images appeared but no tour images?) but Opera Mobile renders the tours pretty badly on our Note 4's for testing.

Surely there must be a reliable method for showing these tours offline? It seems that if you're an Apple user you only have Goodreader and the appearing menu's to deal with and if you're Android you have to use a work around that gives less than acceptable performance?

Is the only option developing your own app? Easier for Google Play but a pain for Apple's store.
DennisS
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Since each cell phone manufacturer can build in custom specifications based on the carrier's needs, it is kind of tough to have a reliable "one size fits all" solution for mobile viewing, either on cell phones or tables. The target keeps moving from device to device, from IOS to Android.

Back before smart phones and tables when it was just PC and MAC and flash was supported, the target tended to stay still. The target still moved around, but not like it is doing today. Ever since Adobe dropped Mobile Flash development, we have been left to cobble together whatever solution we can. As you have found my steps for the Galaxy S3 works great but does not work on your Note 4S. (BTW the instructions work great on my Note 10.1 2014 edition.)

So we keep on trying, asking questions and posting results.
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Hopki
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Hi,
Looking on the play store and the App store there are file manager applications for both flavours of device. For Android you need to use your software that came with your device to make a folder then transfer your output files to it. The file manager app just makes it easier to locate the files on your device and open the HTML page.

Of course it will depend on which browser you use to the experience you will get. On my Nexus7 I opened with Firefox and it was fine. I guess on a different device you just need to select a different browser.

As said above I did also find a free file manager for the iPhone which when connected to iTunes lets you transfer the output folder to the phone. Then use the file manager to browse to the folder and open the HTML page the same way you would for the Android device. This was sort of ok with the file managers menu popping up whenever you taped the screen, so whenever you hit a hotspot or button. Im sure if you took time and tried a few you might find one that does not pop open its menu on tap.
Regards,
Hopki
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DennisS
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Hopki wrote: For Android you need to use your software that came with your device to make a folder then transfer your output files to it.
I do not know about MAC computers, but with Windows computers, once you plug the serial cable in and the drivers load, your Android device shows up as an external USB drive. You then use Windows Explorer to move files around just like you do on your PC. If you have a Micro SD card installed, both the Phone's memory and the SD card show up as folders inside the Android device. No special software needed. The only time I use any Android file manager is when I am playing around with system folders. Otherwise I never use the built in Android file manager.
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Hopki
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Hi Dennis,
If Windows loads the software needed to view the Phones memory from the computer then even better but you do need a file manager on the phone to open the transferred output folders HTML page.
Regards,
Hopki
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