ODK Briefcase and Android 4.x

Hi Alex,

a very late reply, but since we had the same issue, stumbled over your post
when looking for solutions and found a work around at least with the
devices that we use, I thought I might as well post it here, especially
since this thread comes up on top of the Google Searches when typing ODK
Briefcase and Android 4.

We have recently upgraded the Xperia Pro to Android 4, before it had been
running on 2.3 and there was no issue using ODK Briefcase.

At least on the Xperia you can still go in MSC mode, (e.g. do not connect
as MTP by default) but it is not so obvious at first glance, especially
since you can only switch modes when your phone is disconnected from the
computer.

  1. Ensure your phone is disconnected.
  2. On the Settings, go to "Xperia TM", then tap on "Connectivity".
  3. Tap on "USB connection mode". Note: If your phone is connected to a
    computer, this option is greyed out.
  4. Now switch from Media Transfer Mode (MTP) to Mass storage mode (MSC)
  5. Connect your phone and Briefcase will recognize the SD Card as a
    "Mounted Android SD Card".

Hope this helps, at least for all Sony users who upgraded it might.

Best
Sandra

··· On Saturday, September 8, 2012 2:37:40 AM UTC+2, Alex Monnard wrote: > > I'm facing a very vexing issue and I have been unable, despite my best > attempts, to get around it. > > We are planning to use Asus Nexus 7 tablets for our data collection in > Liberia in the coming few months. These devices are great as they: 1)are > relatively cheap and well-built, 2) have a great, easy to read screen even > in some sunlight, which is made especially useful by the newly implemented > feature of having several survey questions on the same screen in ODK > Collect 1.2, and 3) have a long battery life (>10h) and are reasonably fast. > > So far, they have performed admirably well with the ODK ecosystem (running > both ODK Collect and Kobo Collect with no issues or crashes, syncing to ODK > Aggregate with no issue, etc.) despite running a brand-new version of > Android. Or so it was, until today... > > I began testing ODK Briefcase, and realized that, because all Android 3.x > and 4.x (Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich/Jelly bean) devices have switch > away from mass-storage class (MSC) transfer protocol to Media Transfer > Protocol (MTP) connection when plugged into a host computer using USB, ODK > Briefcase will not recognize the memory card when selecting "Pull" and then > "Mounted SD Card". > > The device shows up as a media player though the memory card content is > still present and accessible via normal Windows navigation, and does not > have a drive letter (as do all MTP devices, unfortunately). I have so far > been unable to find a walk-around (tried the usual: enabling/disabling USB > debugging mode, installing the Asus ADB drivers, etc.) to no avail. > > My understanding is that MTP is read-only from the host computer's point > of view. Since no writing on the memory card has to be done for ODK > Briefcase to work, it should be possible to get it working. Does anybody > have a suggestion? I'm guessing that ODK will have to be modified sooner or > later to accommodate MTP since it has become the standard for recent > Android devices. > > Thank you very much for any help and I look forward to hearing from you > all! > > Alex > >

Has there been any work on this issue? I am running ODK on a Samsung Galaxy Tab2 with JellyBean and we can also not use ODK Briefcase because of the switch away from mass-storage class (MSC) transfer protocol to Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) connection when plugged into a host computer using USB. ODK Briefcase will not recognize the memory card when selecting "Pull" and then "Mounted SD Card". This means we can't use the storage or extra security provided by ODK Briefcase.

Not true.

You just need to do things differently with 3.x and 4.x devices.

(0) Power off your Android device, then power it on
(1) Connect the device to your computer. Choose to connect it with Media
Transfer Protocol (a setting on the phone -- some devices offer alternative
connection mechanisms).
(2) The device appears on your computer. Open the device with the file
browser.
(3) copy the odk directory on that device onto your computer
(4) use the Pull function of ODK Briefcase, and select "Custom Path to ODK
Directory"
(5) select the 'odk' directory you copied to your computer.

For Mac OSX users, instead of (2), use http://www.android.com/filetransfer/

Step (0) is important to ensure that the device reliably reports the
current contents of its odk directory to the computer; I especially notice
this on Windows.

··· ----------- As for any automation of these steps within ODK Briefcase, Waylon led an exploratory effort in October to code apps to test about 5 different open source libraries that claimed to support MTP. None of them worked.

Mitch

On Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 7:29 AM, kwong.laura@gmail.com wrote:

Has there been any work on this issue? I am running ODK on a Samsung
Galaxy Tab2 with JellyBean and we can also not use ODK Briefcase because of
the switch away from mass-storage class (MSC) transfer protocol to Media
Transfer Protocol (MTP) connection when plugged into a host computer using
USB. ODK Briefcase will not recognize the memory card when selecting "Pull"
and then "Mounted SD Card". This means we can't use the storage or extra
security provided by ODK Briefcase.

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University of Washington
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Hi,

I tried the way you suggested but doesn't work on my Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The "Custom Path to ODK Directory" does not show the path of tablet though I connect it via MTP. I cannot find a place to connect with MSC.
Anyone who is successful with this tablet?

I could only copy paste ODK folder to a local path and find it using "Custom Path to ODK Directory". :frowning:

Thanks!

Best,
E

··· On Thursday, December 5, 2013 at 12:00:27 PM UTC-5, Mitch Sundt wrote: > Not true. > > You just need to do things differently with 3.x and 4.x devices. > > > (0) Power off your Android device, then power it on > (1) Connect the device to your computer. Choose to connect it with Media Transfer Protocol (a setting on the phone -- some devices offer alternative connection mechanisms). > > (2) The device appears on your computer. Open the device with the file browser. > (3) copy the odk directory on that device onto your computer > (4) use the Pull function of ODK Briefcase, and select "Custom Path to ODK Directory" > > (5) select the 'odk' directory you copied to your computer. > > For Mac OSX users, instead of (2), use http://www.android.com/filetransfer/ > > > > > Step (0) is important to ensure that the device reliably reports the current contents of its odk directory to the computer; I especially notice this on Windows. > > > ----------- > As for any automation of these steps within ODK Briefcase, Waylon led an exploratory effort in October to code apps to test about 5 different open source libraries that claimed to support MTP. None of them worked. > > > Mitch > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 7:29 AM, wrote: > > Has there been any work on this issue? I am running ODK on a Samsung Galaxy Tab2 with JellyBean and we can also not use ODK Briefcase because of the switch away from mass-storage class (MSC) transfer protocol to Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) connection when plugged into a host computer using USB. ODK Briefcase will not recognize the memory card when selecting "Pull" and then "Mounted SD Card". This means we can't use the storage or extra security provided by ODK Briefcase. > > > > > > > -- > > -- > > Post: opend...@googlegroups.com > > Unsubscribe: opendatakit...@googlegroups.com > > Options: http://groups.google.com/group/opendatakit?hl=en > > > > --- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ODK Community" group. > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to opendatakit...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > > -- > Mitch Sundt > Software Engineer > University of Washington > mitche...@gmail.com

This is a very very stale thread. These instructions have been
updated/clarified.

See "Pulling data directly from an Android 4.x device"
at https://opendatakit.org/use/briefcase/

··· On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 11:45 AM, wrote:

Hi,

I tried the way you suggested but doesn't work on my Samsung Galaxy Note
4. The "Custom Path to ODK Directory" does not show the path of tablet
though I connect it via MTP. I cannot find a place to connect with MSC.
Anyone who is successful with this tablet?

I could only copy paste ODK folder to a local path and find it using
"Custom Path to ODK Directory". :frowning:

Thanks!

Best,
E

On Thursday, December 5, 2013 at 12:00:27 PM UTC-5, Mitch Sundt wrote:

Not true.

You just need to do things differently with 3.x and 4.x devices.

(0) Power off your Android device, then power it on
(1) Connect the device to your computer. Choose to connect it with Media
Transfer Protocol (a setting on the phone -- some devices offer alternative
connection mechanisms).

(2) The device appears on your computer. Open the device with the file
browser.
(3) copy the odk directory on that device onto your computer
(4) use the Pull function of ODK Briefcase, and select "Custom Path to
ODK Directory"

(5) select the 'odk' directory you copied to your computer.

For Mac OSX users, instead of (2), use
http://www.android.com/filetransfer/

Step (0) is important to ensure that the device reliably reports the
current contents of its odk directory to the computer; I especially notice
this on Windows.


As for any automation of these steps within ODK Briefcase, Waylon led an
exploratory effort in October to code apps to test about 5 different open
source libraries that claimed to support MTP. None of them worked.

Mitch

On Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 7:29 AM, kwong...@gmail.com wrote:

Has there been any work on this issue? I am running ODK on a Samsung
Galaxy Tab2 with JellyBean and we can also not use ODK Briefcase because of
the switch away from mass-storage class (MSC) transfer protocol to Media
Transfer Protocol (MTP) connection when plugged into a host computer using
USB. ODK Briefcase will not recognize the memory card when selecting "Pull"
and then "Mounted SD Card". This means we can't use the storage or extra
security provided by ODK Briefcase.

--

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Software Engineer
University of Washington
mitche...@gmail.com

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Software Engineer
University of Washington
mitchellsundt@gmail.com