Codinac

About Codinac Android App

*** Introduction ***

This application is a workaround for AOSP bug 6545: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6545.

A contact as you see it in the People application can be the aggregation of multiple contacts. For exemple, if you have added your friend Allan to your contact list and Allan also has a Twitter account, these two contacts can be aggregated together to form a single contact in the People application.

The name you see for this aggregated contact comes from one of the individual contacts. If the names are the same (e.g. Allan), no problem. If they differ, you certainly want to see "Allan" and not his Twitter account name. In other words, you want to be able to choose which of the names you want to see.

On the Nexus line of products, you can't choose. If you are lucky, the name you want is also the one Android chose. If you're out of luck... too bad! On Samsung devices, you do not have this problem; you can choose which should be the primary (or default) contact; the aggregated contact will then show the name of the primary contact.

This app allows you to force Android to use the display name of your choice. It's a hack, and Android can change it back at any time.

Note: the app has been tested on the Nexus 5, nexus 7 (first edition) and Galaxy nexus.

Other Android versions (from different manufacturers or custom ROMs) may exhibit the same problem and would thus benefit from this application too. Samsung devices don't seem to have this issue.

Note that it is a minimal implementation that covers the following use-case:

1) the problem affects only a few contacts
2) the display name is not reset by automatic refreshes or at least not too often (depends mainly on the account type)

The app could be extended for other use-cases. Let me know.


*** How to use ***

This app is not visible in the launcher. It is visible only in the "quick contact badge", that Window that opens when you tap on the thumbnail photo of a contact and that shows the possible actions for that contact.

To use it, do the following steps:

- find you contact in the People app
- tap on the thumbnail photo
- find the Codinac icon (Codinac = this app)
- tap on it
- choose the display-name you want
- that's it

Note 1: it is possible that you don't find the Codinac icon in the Quick Contact Badge. This happens when another application also registered an action on the contact name, as Codinac does. Tap on that app's icon instead.

Note 2: on tablets, the People app does not let you access the Quick Contact Badge. You may have to install another contact manager like the excellent DW Contacts.