B2G/MarketCustomizations

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Customization Overview

Since 1.0.1, Firefox OS use the same mechanism as firefox for customization.

You can download the gaia-distribution-sample.zip to check what can be done with build-time customization.

Below is the tree structure for customize-sample.zip: 

 customize-sample
 ├── power
 │   ├── carrier_power_on.png
 │   └── carrier_power_off.png
 ├── ringtones
 │   ├── list.json
 │   └── ringer_dream_theme.ogg
 ├── wallpapers
 │   ├── customize.png
 │   └── list.json
 ├── browser.json
 ├── contacts.json
 ├── costcontrol.json
 ├── homescreens.json
 ├── settings.json
 ├── sms-blacklist.json
 └── support.json


Note that all files are optional. If you don't provide that file, it will fallback to the system default settings.

Steps to Apply Customization

Here are steps to apply sample-customize.zip to gaia custom build:

  1. unzip sample-customize.zip, assume path is <DISTRIBUTION_PATH>
  2. clone gaia source code from https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia
  3. you can just put customization data to GAIA_DIR/distribution/
  4. or you can run command
   GAIA_DISTRIBUTION_DIR=<DISTRIBUTION_PATH> make

or 

   GAIA_DISTRIBUTION_DIR=<DISTRIBUTION_PATH> make production

To assign an specific folder for your customization.

if you connected a firefox os device. Then you will get the gaia build with customization.

Explanations

power/

customized power on/off animation or static image (can be mp4 for animation or png for static image)

Valid file names are:

  • carrier_power_on.png
  • carrier_power_on.mp4
  • carrier_power_off.png
  • carrier_power_off.mp4

ringtones

customized ringtones, define the ringtones in list.json

wallpapers/

customized wallpapers, define the wallapers in list.json

browser

customized bookmarks. Will overwrite init.json file in browser.app (further explained in runtime customization)

contacts

customized contacts

costcontrol

customized costcontrol. Will overwrite config.json file in costcontrol.app

homescreens

list all bundled apps

settings

set default wallpaper/ringtones, lockscreen enable/disable, bluetooth on/off.. etc

sms-blacklist

customized sms blocklist, blocks senders in this file. Will overwrite blacklist.json file in sms.app

support

support contacts (include online support & tel support). Will overwrite support.json in settings.app

Note if you provide an customize file, these customization will overwrite the default settings. So if you want to keep default settings and add some extra resources. You should copy those settings from build-in apps and add your own customization upon them.

FYR: The build script is in build/applications-data.js

Runtime Customization

Bookmarks is the only app that support Runtime customization. To ship devices for multiple carrier or for a carrier serving across several regions, Manufacturer can configure several sets of bookmarks in customize folder. While the user first time use his browser, the browser bookmark will be initialized by MNC/MCC settings from SIM card . If SIM card is not inserted at first time user open the browser, the bookmarks will fallback to customized default bookmarks.

Bookmarks can be customized as default bookmarks, Carrier bookmarks(base on MCC), Carrier with region bookmarks(base on MCC+MNC). You can reference standard MCC/MNC code via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_country_code

The bookmarks are organized in a json file. the first level key always with 6 digits. the default key is "000000", which denotes:

  • mcc:3 digits
  • mnc:3 digits, fill with leading zeros, fill '000' in MNC to provide the carrier default bookmark

customized bookmark looks like: 

   {
     "000000":{
       "bookmarks": [
         { "title": "Vivo Busca",
           "uri": "http://www.google.com.br/m/search?client=ms-hms-tef-br",
           "iconUri": "favicon.png"
         },
         { "title": "Serviços e Downloads",
           "uri": "http://vds.vivo.com.br",
           "iconUri":"favicon.png"
         },
         {
           "title": "Site Vivo",
           "uri": "http://www.vivo.com.br/conteudosmartphone",
           "iconUri": "favicon.png"
         }
       ]
     },
     "123001":{
       "bookmarks": [
       .....
       ]
     }
   }

Plan

we are planing to add preload apps to gaia build and choice apps from a configuration file in below bugs:

  • Bug 848064 - Gaia build process needs a better process for abstracting app directories
  • Bug 838098 - Install the apps, external apps in customization package

FAQ

(... means Donovan will fill in)

(Many variables will be handled by customize.py (815517))

What can be customized?

  • Brand
    • Start up & Power off animations
      • ...
    • Network name on Lock screen and in Utility Tray.
      • (I think this is controlled remotely from the cell tower?)
    • First Run Experience logos
      • ...
  • Localization
    • Installed locales
      • shared/locales
    • Default locale
      • GAIA_DEFAULT_LOCALE
    • Default keyboard layouts
      • ...
      • (Multiple keyboards can be enabled, not tied to locale)
  • Apps
    • Preinstalled third party apps
      • Handled by customize.py
    • Home grid app placement
      • Handled by customize.py
    • Licensing
      • (What does this mean?)
    • In-app payment provider configuration
      • ...
  • Settings
    • Default screen brightness
    • Device Information - Model (name or #)
    • Device Information - Legal Information link or content
    • Help - Online support link
    • Help - Call support phone number
    • Help - User guide link
    • APN
  • Media preloads
    • Wallpapers
    • Music
    • Videos
    • Gallery
      • see make install-media-samples for example of how to populate these
  • Sounds
    • Start up & Power off
    • Ring tone
    • Message tone
  • Everything.me
    • Option to enable or disable the feature
    • Set of default categories and apps
  • Browser
    • Default bookmarks
    • Default search engine

How and where do you define a customized app grid layout?

  • It's currently in gaia/apps/homescreen/js/init.json
      • customize.py takes care of building this in the correct format

Is it possible to define whether an app is removable in the homescreen configuration?

  • No. All apps that are in /system/b2g are non removable, those in /data are removable. Since all preloaded apps come from /system, we need to move them to /data if we want them to be removable.

How do you add a preloaded packaged app to the build?

  • In gaia/external-apps
  • Many 3rd party apps will not be added to the Gaia repo, so need to determine how to add them. Build step?
    • customize.py will allow entry of the URL to a packaged app or a hosted app manifest, and will download into the correct place and create metadata.json. This will serve as the "build step"

How do you add a preloaded hosted app to the build?

  • They are also added to gaia/external-apps. We have different meta-data for packaged and hosted apps to distinguish them.

How do you prepare a preloaded hosted app for initial offline support?

  • You need to provide all the files to cache in the directory external-apps/MY_APP/cache, and the appcache manifest.

What Marketplace Customizations Are Possible?

  • On-device
    • The customization on the device regarding payments is limited to populating a whitelist of payment providers. There are a couple prefs for this, documented here https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI/WebPayment#Testing
    • For example, Mozilla B2G phones will ship with our implementation of the payment provider (https://github.com/mozilla/webpay#readme) in a whitelist so that it is accessible to the Marketplace and third party apps for in-app purchases via navigator.mozPay(). Some more info on providers is here https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI/WebPaymentProvider
    • If any carrier wants to implement their own payment processor and whitelist it, they are free to do so. However, the Firefox Marketplace is only configured to enable purchases through Mozilla's payment provider at this time.
  • On-server
    • The merchant app sets a price point for the product and Mozilla's backend payment processor chooses the currency based on the user's network. None of currency, regional taxation, L10N is controlled by device configs (yet).
    • Category in the Firefox Marketplace specific to the carrier with your operator logo/name in the region.
    • Features apps / promotions in the Firefox Marketplace specified by the Carrier

There are many other considerations when adding a region or carrier. See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Marketplace/AddingRegionsAndCarriers

How do I package and store per-market customization changes?

  • Store each of the files changed only.
  • Currently these are in various locations in the filesystem.
  • For v2, we should consolidate to a single location, similar to the branding directories we have for Gecko.

How do you build the product with a specific market's configuration?

  • Copy your changed files into a checkout of Gaia, and build using that modified Gaia.
      • customize.py will provide a ui for setting relevant switches and then create the appropriate files in the appropriate places in the gaia checkout, and then build the profile from that gaia.

How to customize power on / off animation?

  • Uses Android bootanimation.zip/desc.txt format.
  • An explanation of this format can be found here: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-hacks/33932-bootanimation-zip-file-explained.html
  • This lets us create multi-part animation sequences where we can specify things like size, framerate, and number of times an animation sequence loops for each part.
  • There is also an animated png transition animation that bridges the gap between this bootanimation.zip sequence and the transition to the lockscreen, which is performed by Gaia.
  • Size on disk of current animation: 8.2 mb (looping) + 3.6 mb (frame 18 transition) = 11.8 mb total
  • Currently, the shutdown animation is a custom css animation based on a design specified in this bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=809342

Process Questions

  • Is it better to have specific bugs for each app on a homescreen grid, or just one bug per layout per market?
  • How to deliver/retrieve code for pre-loading? Manual delivery of assets, or suck it from a live app?
  • Who owns gathering the values for these customizations from the carriers?
    • Karen Ward (Content Program Manager) owns it for Pre-installed Apps.
    • Remaining localizations/customizations?
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