Guide for App Users - Hive2Hive/Android GitHub Wiki

Connect to the Network

When you open the app, you first need to connect to the P2P network. Once you are connected, your mobile phone will be one peer in the overlay network. If the connection details are not already configured, hit the Show advanced settings button just below the Connect button.

Mode

You have the choice of three modes which differ mainly in their energy consumption. The optimal mode should already be selected. Here are the details about the modes:

  • Google Cloud Messaging: When being connected to the cellular network (3G, LTE, etc.), this is the best option. Actions might take slightly longer, but the energy and data consumption are at the minimum. To use this mode, you need to set the GCM sender ID. It should be provided by your system admins.
  • Open TCP: If you are connected to a Wifi, the Open TCP mode provides you fast network interaction without much additional energy consumption. In this mode, your mobile phone will also be used to store (encrypted) data from other users or to keep replicated content in order to provide the maximum reliability for all users.
  • Full Peer: This mode does only work if you are in the same LAN as all other peers in the P2P network. It's for example applicable in corporate networks which are only available if the mobile phone is connected to the corporate Wifi.

Bootstrap Address and Port

In order to join an existing network, you need to know one reachable peer. A reachable peer has a public IP address or domain name (or a private IP if you're using the Full Peer mode). You can also specify the port the known peer is operating (default is 4622).

Connect

Once you hit the Connect button, it may take a while to establish a connection. If the connection setup failed, your bootstrap address or port is invalid or the bootstrap peer is not running.

#Login After successfully connecting to the P2P network, the login screen is provided. Here you can enter your secret credentials:

  • Username: The username is your identification. It does not need to be a email address or you real name. Please be aware that special characters could cause problems at other clients.
  • Password: The password is the first part of you secret. Make it as strong as possible because too weak passwords could be guessed by evil users / peers.
  • PIN: The PIN is the second part of your secret which makes password guessing even harder. It is not restricted to numbers, but should again not be too simple. And please don't re-use the password as the PIN...

If you don't have an account yet, the application will automatically create one for you. If you already have an account, you will be logged in. In case an error during the login occurs, your (encrypted) account documents in the P2P network might be damaged. Currently, it is not possible to restore this content, but the Hive2Hive team works on it. Note also that your password or PIN cannot be changed, restored or reset. If you lose your credentials, your account is lost, too.

#File Management Once you're logged in, you can start synchronizing your files. You can navigate the file tree by clicking on folders (go in) or the action bar (to go one level up). The following options are provided by the menu:

  • Refresh: Fetch the file structure from the P2P network again. If you are not sure about the current state or an error occurred, simply refresh the file view.
  • Add File: You can add a file by picking it with any installed file manager. Ensure that you have a file manager installed on your mobile phone, otherwise, you are not able to pick the file to upload. The file you pick is copied (not moved) to the Hive2Hive directory on your phone and uploaded from there. File changes are not uploaded automatically, you need to upload the changes manually.
  • Create Folder: A popup where you can enter your folder name is shown. If you hit OK, the folder is going to be uploaded.
  • Settings: see Settings
  • Logout: Logout from your user account. You can also logout by twice hitting the back button.

By long pressing your files / folders, you find options for sharing, deleting, downloading or uploading in the context menu.

#Settings The settings are split up into two sections: In the Networking section, you can configure the port the peer on the mobile phone binds. If another application binds to the same port, you can re-configure it here to prevent conflicts. Further, the poll update interval can be lowered or increased. This only affects if you use the Google Cloud Messaging mode. The lower you set it, the higher the reliability that other clients can contact your client about file updates, etc. On the other side, A too short interval increases your battery consumption. Since polling is only used as a fallback if Google Cloud Messaging does not work, an interval of 2 minutes should suffice. Here you can also set the GCM sender ID which is required if you'd like to connect with the GCM Push mode. This sender ID should be provided by the P2P network system admins.

In the About section, you see the currently installed app version and the version of the underlying Hive2Hive library. You can also give feedback or ask questions by hitting the Contact entry.

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