Syncing local HQ instance with an Android Phone¶
No syncing or submitting, easy method¶
If you would like to use a url or barcode scanner to download the application to
your phone here is what you need to setup. You won’t be able to submit or sync
using this method, but it is easier.
Make sure your local django application is accessible over the network¶
The django server will need to be running on an ip address instead of localhost.
To do this, run the application using the following command, substituting your
local IP address.
./manage.py runserver 192.168.1.5:8000
Try accessing this url from the browser on your phone to make sure it works.
Make CommCare use this IP address¶
The url an application was created on gets stored for use by the app builder
during site creation. This means if you created a site and application
previously, while using a ‘localhost:8000’ url, you will have to make a code
tweak to have the app builder behave properly.
The easiest way to check this is to see what url is shown below the barcode on
the deploy screen.
If it is currently displaying a localhost:8000/a/yourapp/... url then open
localsettings.py and set BASE_ADDRESS = "192.168.1.5:8000" substituting
192.168.1.5 with your local IP address.
Try it out¶
With this set up, you should be able to scan the barcode from your phone to
download and install your own locally built CommCare application!
Submitting and syncing from your local HQ instance (harder method)¶
Install the configuration file¶
In /etc/nginx/nginx.conf, at the bottom of the http{} block, above any other site includes, add the line:
include /path/to/commcarehq/deployment/nginx/cchq*local*nginx.conf;
Start nginx¶
sudo nginx
Make sure your local django application is accessible over the network¶
./manage.py runserver
Try accessing http://localhost/a/domain and see if it works. nginx should
proxy all requests to localhost to your django server. You should also be able
to access http://your_ip_address/a/domain from a phone or other device on the
same network.
Make Commcare use your local IP address¶
Set the BASE_ADDRESS setting in localsettings.py to your IP address (e.g.
192.168.0.10), without a port. You’ll have to update this if you ever change
networks or get a new IP address.
Rebuild and redeploy your application¶
You’ll have to rebuild and redeploy your application to get it to sync.
Adding CommCare (J2ME) Builds to CommCare HQ¶
Go to http://HQ_ADDRESS/builds/edit_menu/
In the second section Import a new build from the build server
In the Version field input the version in x.y.z format
Click Import Build
In the first section Menu Options add the version to HQ to make sure the build is available in the app settings.
For legacy J2ME builds¶
Finally, in order to get full permissions on a J2ME phone, you need to set up jar signing. To do so, you will need
acquire a code signing certificate (from e.g. Thawte).
To enable jar signing, put your certificate information in localsettings.py as follows:
JAR_SIGN = dict(
key_store = "/PATH/TO/KEY_STORE",
key_alias = "KEY",
store_pass = "*****",
key_pass = "*****",
)
If you don’t need this, skip this step by commenting out the code entirely.
You’re done!