download / backup / sync (big) files

[espruino-discuss2]

Posted at 2021-09-02 by uname

maybe it's a stupid question but do we have apps available to backup or sync files from our smartwatch via bluetooth?

Or is the only way at the moment to go through the ide?

I can't download files that I guess are too big (banglerun trace) how can I get it?

Thanks!

[espruino-discuss2]

Posted at 2021-09-03 by @gfwilliams

Generally to download data from apps I'd go to https://banglejs.com/apps/, connect, click My Apps and then the app in question should have a download button next to it, which will allow you to pull the files off in more useful formats (no need to use the IDE).

I haven't heard of there being issues pulling large files off the Bangle with the app loader recently. I think the Web IDE could still have a timeout for large files. If you're having issues I can look into it though.

There's no app with background sync or anything like that though - but it's an interesting thought.

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Posted at 2021-09-03 by uname

I hadn't tried switching from https://banglejs.com/apps/, I confirm it worked the first time with no problems.

Thanks!

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Posted at 2022-03-14 by Peter_Bernscheider

I think, it´s very good idea to provide a backup/restore functionality in the IDE or in the app loader, which could restore all apps and all settings after a total crash of the watch.

Why do I think, that this a good idea: Yesterday my Bangle2 was stuck, error message "Storage corrupted", then booted with a default set of apps, my apps all gone, all settings back to default. I had to repeat the app installation and settings process for all my apps and than upload my modified source code - tedious task! It would have been much easier to restore the last backup.

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Posted at 2022-03-14 by @gfwilliams

I had been wondering about implementing something like this - but I wonder if many people would actually perform a backup?

I guess even if not, being able to download every file into a Zip would be a pretty neat addition

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Posted at 2022-03-14 by rigrig

I wonder if many people would actually perform a backup?

I've gone through the whole "reinstall my apps, reconfigure settings" a few times now, so I definitely would.
Downloading every file into a zip (and restoring) would be good enough, even better would be a minimal backup: only data files and a list of installed apps, with some way to restore from that.

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Posted at 2022-03-14 by ChrisS

I wonder if many people would actually perform a backup?

I have already done that multiple times by downloading (and later restoring) every file (or at least the data / config files) one by one which is cumbersome.
An easier way to backup / restore would be great.

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Posted at 2022-03-14 by @halemmerich

I would use that backup to duplicate all apps/settings to a second bangle when debugging or reproducing behaviour on different firmwares.

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Posted at 2022-03-14 by nicoboss

I wonder if many people would actually perform a backup?

I had to do a complete reinstallation three times already, and even if it allowed me to sort out and reinstall only the apps I really needed, I would have liked to find more easily the few code modifications and the created data.
Since then, I've got into the habit of bookmarking in the app store the applications I want to find each time I re-install, and not only the indispensable ones (which unfortunately doesn't include those with the "three bars" sub-menu) and to take a screenshot of the list of apps from the "more..." tab.
I also sometimes try to save the json of the alarms, the pattern launcher and some others.

So, I am for the possibility of making a general Backup :)

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Posted at 2022-03-14 by Serj

I wonder if many people would actually perform a backup?

I've wanted this feature for a long time! And it's nice that others need it too!

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by @gfwilliams

I've just added Backup/Restore functions to the 'More...' tab of the development app loader - let me know how it goes!

To make it work nicely I had to tweak the app upload code, so please keep an eye on that and let me know if you see any issues

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by uname

Perfect, thanks @gfwilliams!

Edited: I get this error: "Backup failed, Uncaught Error: Can't get pointer to data to write"

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by @gfwilliams

"Backup failed, Uncaught Error: Can't get pointer to data to write"

Wow, that's odd. And that's backing up? I wonder whether you have a watch face that's causing the error and it gets picked up by the backup tool. I've just made some changes so the Bangle is reset before the backup starts, so that should fix it for you

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by @halemmerich

Had the same problem on backup, the reset seems to fix it. The resulting zip file however is empty. Changing line 48 in backup.js to

return zip.generateAsync({type:"binarystring"});

fixes that as Espruino.Core.Utils.fileSaveDialog seems to expect data in (binary) string form.

Edit: Browser is Chromium 98.0.4758.102 (Offizieller Build) Arch Linux (64-Bit)

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by Minnten

Hello @gfwilliams,

Since this update I am not able to upload apps with the development app loader. The stable app loader works well.

Greetings
Minnten

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by @halemmerich

Changing line 68 in comms.js from

      function uploadCmd(resolve, reject) {

to

      function uploadCmd() {

seems to fix that. No idea if that has other side effect though.

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by @gfwilliams

Ahh, thanks! Just fixed - that was my fault. Tried to fix a lint error and inadvertantly broke it :)

And thanks for spotting the binarystring - just fixed that too. Again, had it working before and then tried to use fileSaveDialog and must not have tested it :)

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by uname

now works!

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by rigrig

Awesome!
I got backup to work, but ran into two minor issues:

At some point last week I abandoned a firmware update, and the download choked on .firmware (I'm guessing because it was huge?) After properly updating my firmware, that file was gone, and it completed.

>Execution Interrupted
Interpreter error: [
   "LOW_MEMORY",
   "MEMORY"
 ]

And after every single file, the IDE console shows a SyntaxError:

>"eyJjdXN0b20iOnsid2VhdGhlciI6eyJzb3J0b3JkZXIiOjE1fSwid2RjbGsiOnsic29ydG9yZGVyIjotMTB9LCJtZXNzYWdlcyI6eyJzb3J0b3JkZXIiOjV9LCJjYWwiOnsic29ydG9yZGVyIjo1fX19"
Uncaught SyntaxError: Got ')' expected EOF
 at line 1 col 102
...ponent("wid_edit.json"))))))
                              ^

Edit: the caret points at the final closing parenthesis.
All downloaded files look fine though.

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Posted at 2022-03-15 by nicoboss

wow, bravo, you have once again fulfilled one of our wishes, and in record time! you are really fantastic

my first attempt unfortunately ended three quarters of the way through with a "backup failed, execution interrupted", but I'll try again :-)

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Attachments:

• 2E3F9EA0-A475-408D-B45E-73AFA66A1C99.jpeg

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Posted at 2022-03-17 by jeroenpeters1986

Yes, I think this is very useful. Somehow my Bangle.JS2 had to be reset 9 or 10 times now since I received it in december due to "storage corrupt". Sometimes 2 times in one week..
This would be a nice help. I just begon developing a settings-customizer myself because that was the most cumbersome job, to reset the settings every time after I reinstalled the favorite apps (this was my saviour before, but then I lose all settings).

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Posted at 2022-03-17 by @gfwilliams

Somehow my Bangle.JS2 had to be reset 9 or 10 times now since I received it in december due to "storage corrupt"

Have you updated your main Bangle.js firmware version? I know before 2v12 there were issues but I believe this is pretty much sorted now.

At some point last week I abandoned a firmware update, and the download choked on .firmware

I've just made it ignore this file. There was an issue with the built-in readFile function if the file wouldn't fit in RAM - so I think that's what was being hit here. I'm trying to get a fix in now.

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Posted at 2022-03-17 by @gfwilliams

Ok, hopefully fixed now

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Posted at 2022-03-17 by jeroenpeters1986

Have you updated your main Bangle.js firmware version? I know before
2v12 there were issues but I believe this is pretty much sorted now.

Hey Gordon, yes I did, it seems pretty stable since the last firmware update. I think it 'crashed' 1 time since that, so I am optimistic, but still very happy with the backup/restore button!!

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Posted at 2022-03-17 by @gfwilliams

I think it 'crashed' 1 time since that, so I am optimistic

Ahh - that could actually have been because of corrupted data left over from the previous firmware, so it's not entirely unexpected. Hopefully that'll have been the last time you see it!

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Posted at 2022-04-29 by nicoboss

Hi,

I had given up the idea of making a backup using my iPad, because it seems that the contextual menus to choose for example where to save the files do not work under iOs (at least not on the versions I tested: iPad Pro under os14.8 and 15.4)
So I bought a BT dongle to backup from Chrome on my old Mac and retried today. Everything works perfectly (connection, application updates, etc).

But I get this error (image attached).

I guess one of the files in the Bangle is corrupted and/or has characters that are bothering the backup program.
I could not identify exactly which one.
This error appears at the very beginning of the backup, just after scanning and downloading Settings.img, 93dub.app.js, 93dub.img and 93dub.info.

for info, about a week ago, after a failed compaction, I did a factory reset, a firmware update and reinstalled the apps I wanted

Any idea before i re-factory-reset the watch ?

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Attachments:

• BCKPFAILURE.png

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Posted at 2022-04-29 by nicoboss

edit to the previous message :
after a deeper investigation thanks to the storage stack in the IDE, i found the files responsible of the failure, removed them and re-installed them. Backup is now working fine. A luck it actually backups the file in the same order they are sorted in the storage stack (or at least it seemed so) :)

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Posted at 2022-05-03 by @gfwilliams

Thanks - out of interest, which file was it?

Just fixed it in the development app loader I think - it's an issue with the default atob implementation - usually we use a custom implementation

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Posted at 2022-05-03 by nicoboss

Thanks - out of interest, which file was it?

The files were FontLECO1976Regular.js and SPHCalendar.app.js (not sure for the second one, but just in case i have re-installed it before the new backuping attempt)
I think they were the two only files (as from another apploader) i did not freshly replace and may have been corrupted while the compaction issue

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Posted at 2022-08-24 by youphyun

This is really great, are there any know constraints? For example should I make sure that the firmware version of the backup is the same as the actual firmware on the watch?

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Posted at 2022-08-24 by @halemmerich

I would expect no more trouble than you get by normal updating. The backup only restores the files to the storage and does not touch the firmware. You can of course hit specific incompatibilities between firmware and app versions, but there is no generic problem with restoring older apps onto newer firmware. Just update them as usual after restoring to prevent most problems.