Add support for profiles

[hssm]

Parallel builds simulate profiles. They don't auto-update, but you can find them:

• Latest Stable https://github.com/ankidroid/anki-android/releases/latest
• Latest Alpha https://github.com/ankidroid/anki-android/releases/

edited by @david-allison

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Originally reported on Google Code with ID 1643

Anki 2.0 supports having different profiles for different users.
This also allows a user to split their decks between different collections.

I built a prototype of this and it seems quite simple.
The prototype is based on using different preference files.

Reported by flerda on 2013-01-26 01:18:26

[mikehardy]

I agree real profile support is important - and you are right David it is literally the reason I started hacking on this app at all hahaha. One of these days it'll get there in the meantime I'm glad you enjoy the hacky but usable parallel install workaround I made. I do use it myself (for my child's collection) so it's guaranteed to be available until real profile support comes in. Cheers

[minustimesplus]

I agree real profile support is important - and you are right David it is literally the reason I started hacking on this app at all hahaha. One of these days it'll get there in the meantime I'm glad you enjoy the hacky but usable parallel install workaround I made. I do use it myself (for my child's collection) so it's guaranteed to be available until real profile support comes in. Cheers

Hi! Any updates on this?

[fluxens]

Can we start a bounty for this? I am wiling to chip in $200.

[david-allison]

I'd be willing to take this on, I was planning for it some time in the new year anyway

[david-allison]

Draft of my thoughts:

EDITS in bold

Anki's screen


Functionality

• A profile does not require an AnkiWeb account
• A profile can be opened
  • Each profile contains a separate Collection, set of SharedPreferences and WebView Cookies
• A user will be able to add a named profile.
  • Preferences may be copied from another profile
• A user will be able to rename an existing profile
• A user will be able to delete a profile
• We will not implement 'Downgrade & Quit/Open Backup' here. The Deck Picker contains 'Open Backup' already, and this screen will not be used by the majority of users.
• EDITED to add
• Widgets are ignored for now
• A user may select the app shortcuts they want to appear
• Profile names may contain special characters.
  • When creating a folder, these characters are removed
• If the user is in a private folder, the folders under /files are the profile
• If the user is in a public folder, use AnkiDroid Profiles by default
  • But allow a user to change the location on a per-folder basis

Defaults

• The default Profile name is AnkiDroid
• We have a 'default' profile, which will launch on open
• The default is the last-opened profile
• The 'open profile' may be shown on launch instead

Unknown

• How do we handle 'Manage Data'
• How do we handle the API

Constraints

• The standard onboarding process should not be affected, neither will the default user experience. Profiles are an extra
• We should not modify the navigation drawer, as this is soon to be removed

[BrayanDSO]

How do we handle WebView cookies Specifically: Shared Decks -> AnkiWeb login

Share it, I guess

How do we handle app shortcuts

Maybe add the profile name to each one? (I have no idea if that is possible) -> Add (David), Study (Arthur)

Profile names may contain special characters. Should the name map to a folder name?

Mimic Anki desktop behavior or allow any characters in the profile name but strip the unallowed in the folder name

Our current folder is AnkiDroid

For app private builds, doesn't seem to be a problem

For full builds, ideally the profile should be in AnkiDroid/profile name but AnkiDroid/ already has the collection. The easiest solution I see is keeping the old AnkiDroid/ folder and if the user tries to create a new profile, default it to a new directory called AnkiDroid profiles or some better name (ideally one that doesn't need to be localized). For new installs, we can default to this new folder

[david-allison]

I specifically chose AnkiDroid so we're not writing to the root of com.ichi2.anki/files in the private directory (so AnkiDroid can be the default profile)

For the public directory, AnkiDroid Profiles seems ideal

How do we handle app shortcuts Maybe add the profile name to each one? (I have no idea if that is possible) -> Add (David), Study (Arthur)

I believe this is workable. Our shortcuts are dynamic.

• • We want a per-profile setting to determine which icons (if any) appear

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• Widgets: probably 'unsupported' for now and have them tied to the current profile
• API: probably the same

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I think we want to isolate the WebView cookies if at all possible

[BrayanDSO]

Widgets: probably 'unsupported' for now and have them tied to the current profile

For the add note widget, I don't suggest any work because it should deprecated when minSdk reaches Nougat and everyone can use shortcuts.

For the reviews shortcut, it needs a redesign so it can have some configurable aspect to distinct it from other instances of it (a color, icon, emoji, text, whatever).

edit: when I say redesign, I mean a whole redesign in appearance, size, etc. It doesn't need to be similar to the current one

I think we want to isolate the WebView cookies if at all possible

Now that I thought a little bit more, I agree

[david-allison]

API 28+: WebView.setDataDirectorySuffix

[david-allison]

Pseudocode

A profile will be of the format:

data class ProfileData(val identifier: String, var name: String) {
    val webViewDataDirectory get() = identifier
    fun preferences(context: Context) = context.getSharedPreferences(
           name = identifier,            
           mode = getDefaultSharedPreferencesMode(),
        )
    fun rename(name: String) = TODO()
    fun select() = TODO()
    fun delete() = TODO("do we also delete data?")
    companion object {
         fun listAll(): List<ProfileData> { }   
    }
}

identifier must NOT contain path separators (setDataDirectorySuffix) Proposal: current unix timestamp in ms

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A file containing List<ProfileData> should exist, for use on the Profile Management screen

• It would be inefficient to store the name inside ProfileData.preferences()
  • O(n)
  • A large amount of XML needs to be read for one field
  • If an issue occurs with a profile, the name is lost
  • But it would be very unusual to have more than 50 profiles, even as a developer
  • architecture is a better argument than speed

Realistic options for storage of the ProfileCollection:

1. in the current SharedPreferences using StringSet + concatenated string
   • As we've done previously
   • Fast
2. In a new SharedPreferences
   • slightly faster than the above
3. Jetpack Data Store
   • Strongly Typed
   • Async
   • Slower

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TODO:

• What happens when a profile is deleted?
  • Offer to permanently delete linked collection folder + backups?
  • [Security] if AnkiDroid is acting as a file manager, ensure you can't use this to delete an arbitrary folder
• Can two profiles have the same name?
  • Technically, yes, but block it
• AnkiDroid needs to know the current profile and load this efficiently (blocker on hot startup path)
• Should the current profile name be visible, are there latency concerns if it's on the hot path?
• What can go wrong? How to recover?

[david-allison]

I'm not going to have capacity to take this through for the 2.19 series