clarify widgets in the settings screen

[killarny]

The settings screen is currently quite confusing if opened by launching the app menu entry. It shows a number of widgets that doesn't seem to correspond to the actual number of widgets in use, and isn't clear which widget settings to change to affect the widgets actually in use by a launcher.

For example, I have exactly one agenda widget from this app added to my home screen, but the settings UI shows 3 different items for some unclear reason. Only one of them actually seems to affect the widget I'm using (in this case, it's widget 161). I have no idea what the other entries are for or where they came from. They do not go away when I remove the widget from my home screen and clear this app's cache and storage. They did not go away when I uninstalled and reinstalled this app. Changing their settings doesn't appear to affect anything at all. It is unclear what the purpose of those extra entries is.

This is especially relevant when one hides the widget header, making settings inaccessible directly from the widget. The app is then the main interface to access settings, but it's always a shot in the dark about which entry to adjust.

[yvolk]

Hello @killarny

1. We have "Other settings" -> "Widget name" setting allowing you to give a descriptive name to any widget. I use it exactly for the same purpose as you wish: to distinguish my widgets, especially widgets with a hidden header.

2. Regarding widget entries in settings that seemingly don't correspond to any real widget.
   These entries correspond to Android widgets, stored somewhere in Android system by Launcher apps. I noticed that if you have more than one Launcher installed, each of them creates its own set of ToDo Agenda widgets...
   When our "ToDo Agenda" app starts, this is an Android system that gives it a list of existing widget IDs. If "ToDo Adenda" doesn't have settings stored for some widget (e.g. when you cleared ToDo Agenda's cache), it creates settings with default values.
   So in order to get rid of that "lost widgets" you possibly need to clear some Launchers related storage/cache.

[yvolk]

@killarny It would be interesting to hear, how you could finally delete that "lost widgets"!

[killarny]

@yvolk Aha thank you for the tip about changing the name, somehow I missed that option. Tthat helps a lot! Now I can easily see which config I need to change. I wonder if Todo Agenda could name the entries by launcher app title automatically? It might help with this situation a little bit, although maybe not worth the effort on your part.

I still can't remove the other config entries, though. I only have 2 launcher apps installed: Kvaesitso (which I actually use) and Pixel Launcher (which I don't use at all, but annoyingly can't remove, thanks Google!) I've cleared the cache and storage for the Pixel Launcher, but both extra widget config entries are still shown in the list for Todo Agenda. 🤷

[yvolk]

Hi @killarny Thank you for reply.
Unfortunately our "ToDo Agenda" doesn't know, which launcher app created a widget, so we cannot customize a widget name in our app based on a launcher name.
Regarding unknown widget entries. Our app asks Android system about IDs of widgets, and we cannot delete them https://developer.android.com/reference/android/appwidget/AppWidgetManager#getAppWidgetIds(android.content.ComponentName)

I will think about a way to delete an entry of a widget in "ToDo Agenda" settings at least till Android system asks to update it, so we will have to create its settings in ToDo Agenda anyway.