In September the anual ownCloud Conference is held in Nuremberg, Germany. There companies that use ownCloud, developers from the community or ownCloud partners meet to hear about new developments and plans and to exchange their experiences.
ownCloud is an important partner to NetKnights. The privacyIDEA ownCloud Plugin is a stable software, which allows to enhance ownCloud with many different types of two factor authentication. A lot of companies and customers are using this privacyIDEA component, to protect the web access to their ownCloud installation.
Talk and stand
NetKnights will have a stand, a demo point where you can take a look at ownCloud in combination with privacyIDEA, check the different two factor mechnisms and ask us all your questions about 2FA with ownCloud.
We will also present new features like authenticating at ownCloud with the new privacyIDEA Push Token. In this case, after the user has authenticated with his username and password at the ownCloud Web UI, he gets a notification on his smartphone, which he simply has to confirm and then he will be logged in.
Cornelius Kölbel will also give a talk about this topic on September 18th. And he will also show, how the Push Token mechanism can be combined with any other two factor authentication mechanism in privacyIDEA like HOTP, TOTP, Yubikey, Email, SMS…
Contact
Ask us, if you already have questions upfront or if you want to make up an appointment at the ownCloud Conference.
ownCloud has recently announced “ownCloud Infinite Scale“, a complete rewrite of the ownCloud Server in Go. The project happens in collaboration with CERNBox and AARNet, which are already trying it out.
This new framework is a great progress, but will pose a challenge to the ownCloud platform in total: All existing apps need to be touched and reworked.
Frontend parts need to be integrated into Phoenix, storage releated backend parts need to be integrated into the storage provider and reprogrammed in Go.
Mohit is one of the first people to build upon this brand-new technology – I asked him a few questions about it.
Who are you and how did you get into web development?
Mohit: I am a 3rd year undergraduate student at Indian Institute of Technology. I am doing a major in Physics there. Apart from Physics, I am also involved in programming and have done some courses related to it. I started web development last semester.
As a physics student, how is it working with CERN? I mean, they are the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.
Well, I didn’t directly work with CERN (I hope I do some time in future). The project was with CERNBox, that is the cloud storage and collaboration hub for CERN users across the world. CERNBox uses ownCloud to provide its features. So I guess this project is completely related to web development.
Great, how did you get the idea to apply for Google Summer of Code?
One of my friends participated in the program last year. So, I decided to get involved in Open Source as well, to improve my skills and gain experience. This is my first time in the Open Source community and I am already enjoying it!
You are writing an ownCloud app for Google Summer of Code, right?
Yeah, I wrote two apps actually: the Preferences app, and the Root Viewer app. The Root Viewer app is a reference app for others to make their own according to their needs. Both the apps will be for CERNBox, the ownCloud instance which is the cloud storage and collaboration hub for CERN users.
A tour through the CERN Data Centre.
Will your apps be available on the Marketplace, or does it only make sense to use them in CERNBox? Who knows what specifics they need, not everyone is operating a particle collider.
I asked my mentors about the apps being published to Marketplace. They said it is not mentioned as a part of Google Summer of Code, but if the community finds them useful in their work, they may be available there.
Who are your mentors? Someone from the community?
There are three mentors: Hugo Labrador from CERNBox, Michael D’Silva from AARNet, and Thomas Müller from ownCloud.
How is working with Phoenix? How easy is it to get started with an app?
Creating your own app is extremely simple in Phoenix. You just need to define an app info file that talks to the core of Phoenix about the configuration of app and all. Rest is just the logic of your app which is put in apps directory.
What exactly does the Preferences app do? What can we use it for?
CERNBox has integrations with various application providers such as Office 365 and others; the Preferences app is used to associate different mime types with application providers. The users can use the app to set document association as their preference – for example, they can set PDFViewer as the default application to open pdf files.
You can choose a default app for a file type in the Preferences app.
That sounds very interesting How did you get the idea for the project and what makes it interesting for CERN?
Actually the idea was proposed by Hugo. The main idea behind the project is to make collaboration on CERNBox easier. Right now the server admin decides which application is to be used to edit/work on some file. Users can only use those applications the are made available to them.
So, for example, to edit images, some will use photoshop. But if thats not available, they will have to use the default one provided to them. To solve this problem, the team proposed to implement the idea of “Bring Your Own Application”. This basically makes the collaboration platform independent.
The second app shows how this can be done. The first app will have a small role in the second app.
So how does the second app work? You mentioned that it is a reference app – how can we use it to develop our own Phoenix apps?
The idea is to show how the users can use the application of their choice to work with. I will make an app that renders an application to view/edit root files, one of file types used at CERN.
To integrate any application to the platform, Cernbox people have created a server side implementation named Reva. It will be the storage layer of the new ownCloud Infinite Scale.
Anyone who wishes to work with an app of their choice, can integrate it to REVA. I demonstrated this by integrating a Javascript ROOTViewer.
The root viewer can display root files, a file type used by CERN.
This serves as an example on how they can work on their choice of application. And for the corresponding client side implementation I used Phoenix.
Do you need to have the Preferences app installed so the Root Viewer app works?
Yes, the Preferences app is used to set the default application provider that will be used to open the .root files. So it needs to be installed.
Thanks for the interview! Hope to see you at the Conference!
What do you think about these insights? Leave a comment below or share this interview on social media!
There are already many announced talks in the schedule. Some of them are short and give a quick overview on a topic, some dive into technical depths. And there are even some hands-on workshops where you can directly apply the knowledge.
All the latest technological progress is covered, as ownCloud engineers are eager to share what they are working on. On the other hand, there are also many other topics from the community about what is going on in the ownCloud ecosystem.
The call for speakers is still open, so if you want to share your experience with the rest of the community, great! Of course, every contribution is welcome. But first, spotlight for some of the main topics:
ownCloud Infinite Scale: Architecture and Achieved Milestones – Dr. Jörn Friedrich Dreyer & Felix Böhm
If you follow the news closely, you probably heard about ownCloud Infinite Scale – the effort to rewrite the ownCloud Server in Go. The focus lies on unlimited scalability for users, files, shares, and metadata.
It is one of the main topics of the Conference. The talk by Jörn and Felix is specifically about the architecture and how far the project is, but there will also be a high level overview talk, and a barcamp-style hackday to play with the concepts and dive into the topics.
Keynote: Why People Contribute to Open Source Projects – Franka Ellen Wittek
Against all odds, Franka did not become a taxi driver after her studies of philosophy and sociology. Instead she has dedicated herself to digital communities and explores how new forms of society manifest themselves through digitalization.
She is managing director of the Coworking Space in Nuremberg and Head of Strategy at UCS, a Nuremberg based digital strategy consultancy.
Franka Ellen Wittek, Head of Strategy at UCS.
Ask her about her call for open platforms and ecosystems in an accessible digital society, how physical fixpoints for digital nomadism can be established or why Franka is firmly convinced that even in digital communities, real life encounters are here to stay.
ownCloud at the Landeshauptstadt München – Roland Werner
Roland Werner will talk about how the city of Munich uses ownCloud to organize the secure exchange of files with external partners.
Roland Werner is IT Architect at the city of Munich.
Easy 2FA With privacyIDEA Push Token – Cornelius Kölbel
privacyIDEA is an Enterprise 2-Factor Authentication system. It comes with a new Push token which makes 2FA as easy as reading a notification on your smartphone.
Cornelius Kölbel, managing director of Netknights GmbH and developer of privacyIDEA.
Cornelius Kölbel from Netknights will show how to use it, and how the Push Token mechanism can be combined with any other two factor authentication mechanism in privacyIDEA like HOTP, TOTP, Yubikey, Email, SMS… and all of this integrates smoothly with ownCloud!
Agile Leadership Workshop – Florian Dahl
owncloud is a good example of a democratic, open platform that is growing with its network of collaborators. Agile values are the base of growth – together as a team.
Starting with the basics of leadership theories of the last decades, you will learn about the agile way of everyone being a leader. Everyone can and has to be a leader, in order to support the maturity of a team.
Florian Dahl, Agile Coach at Interface AG.
Small, spontanous teams work together in this interactive workshop to find out more about themselves. Agile coach and scrum master Florian Dahl trains and facilitates the groups to achieve satisfying results.
Workshop: ownCloud Best Admin Practices – Cornelius Wachinger
ownCloud is very complex and offers many options for different environments. It can help to get an overview of the best practices and the ideal way to deploy and manage ownCloud.
Cornelius is responsible for training ownCloud admins.
Cornelius brings years of experience with ownCloud administration from his role in consulting and training. This workshop is perfect for anyone who wants to know what they did wrong during their first ownCloud setup.
Status of the Phoenix Project – Lukáš Hirt
Phoenix is the new frontend for ownCloud, currently in development – it promises a new approach on user experience, faster performance, and easier maintenance.
Lukáš is working on Phoenix as a Frontend Engineer. In the last weeks, he and the Phoenix team worked hard to push out the first Beta version before the conference. With his talk, he wants to show how far the project currently is and how you can try it out.
Join Us at the Conference!
Interested? Come to Nuremberg from the 17th to 20th September and join us for knowledge exchange, sessions of hacking around, and not to forget – the party on thursday night! Register for the conference:
Since Phoenix was announced over a year ago, a lot of work went into the new frontend. Phoenix is still very beta, but the foundation is done. There will be multiple talks at the ownCloud Conference 2019 about Phoenix, going deeper into what is special about it.
This blogpost will show how to get it running, so you can try it out. Best set up a testing ownCloud instance, and install Phoenix as an app. Users can then decide which frontend to use at the login screen and at the app switcher.
This release is a Tech Preview: until now, only the architecture and the user-facing part work, and still need some design. There are rolling releases every friday now, to showcase the latest progress.
When it’s ready – what are the advantages of Phoenix over the old frontend? What is it good for, apart of being the shiny new thing? Well, a whole lot of things:
A New Architecture
The biggest difference between Phoenix and the old frontend is probably the clear separation between frontend and backend. The old frontend is basically a part of the ownCloud core – Phoenix is completely separate, only communicates with the backend over clearly defined APIs, and consists purely out of html, css, and js.
This makes not only for a more secure architecture, but has other advantages, too: you can run Phoenix completely separate, e.g. run it in its own Docker container. Scaling is far easier this way.
Another thing which is coming with Phoenix is the bigger focus on user experience (UX). There are plans for UX feedback sessions, and the ownCloud Design System (ODS), which defines the UIKit components used in Phoenix, and contains basic UX guidelines.
Developers can find pre-defined components in the ownCloud Design Systems, e.g. these buttons.
Everyone who writes an app for Phoenix can use the ODS components, and is directly confronted with the UX guidelines, too. This leads to a streamlined behavior across different ownCloud Server apps, and makes contributing very easy.
The vueJS framework is not only great for contributing – it is also popular for its great performance. The separation between frontend and backend facilitates optimizations, as you can track down bottlenecks easier. All in all, Phoenix is great news for everyone who likes responsive websites.
And the final advantage of Phoenix is its maintainability – the clear architecture and the readability of vueJS make it very easy to maintain Phoenix, as well as Phoenix apps. That way, we can pay more attention to every contribution, increasing overall code quality.
How to Setup the Phoenix Beta in a Testing Environment
To setup Phoenix, you need a running ownCloud server, with at least version 10.2.1. The easiest way is to set it up with Docker on your laptop, or on labs.play-with-docker.com. This way, the installation doesn’t affect your system, and you can easily try it out.
So run an ownCloud with docker-compose, as described in our guide. Then you can access the command line in the ownCloud container; do so with docker exec -ti server_owncloud_1 bash. If this doesn’t work, because your ownCloud container isn’t called server_owncloud_1, you can find out its actual name with docker ps.
Then you can install Phoenix via the command line:
mkdir -p /var/www/owncloud/apps/phoenix cd /var/www/owncloud/apps/phoenix wget https://github.com/owncloud/phoenix/releases/download/0.2.1/phoenix.tar.gz tar -xvf phoenix.tar.gz occ market:install oauth2 occ app:enable phoenix
Now the Phoenix app will show up in the app chooser in the web interface when logged in. If you switch to it, you will see a big Authorize button for authorizing with OAuth2.
Access the Phoenix app through the app chooser.
Configuring OAuth2
Clicking on authorize won’t work yet, unless you make some changes to the Phoenix config. If you closed the shell we opened above, you can edit it with docker exec -ti server_owncloud_1 vim apps/phoenix/config.json.
We need to add the server name, in my case "server" : "http://localhost",, and we need to add the OAuth2 clientID, url, and authurl, so the Phoenix app can get authorized. You can generate a clientID in the settings:
You can generate a client ID in the admin settings. Just add a callback URL like http://localhost/apps/phoenix/oidc-callback.html.
The callback URL needs to be something like http://localhost/apps/phoenix/oidc-callback.html, just substitute your domain if you don’t run the server on your local machine. Then you can copy-paste the client ID – we don’t need the client secret.
After you added all these things to the config, your config.json should look similar to this:
You might need to adjust these values for your domain or for play-with-docker.
Now if you empty the browser cache and reload, the authorize button should work! Click on the second authorize button, too, and you will be redirected to the Phoenix frontend. Voilà! Now you can try out the current state of the project.
The current state of Phoenix – there are already many components to create pages and apps.
Enable Trash Bin and Private/Public Links
The trash bin and public/private link features in Phoenix need some APIs which are in “beta” phase. For testing those features you need ownCloud Server version 10.3, which will come out soon. You can use the alpha2 to try it out.
To make those features work, we need two additional config settings in the config.php. Edit them with docker exec -ti server_owncloud_1 vim config/config.php.
We need to allow the experimental APIs: dav.enable.tech_preview => true, and we need to add the Phoenix URL to the config.php, in my case: 'phoenix.baseUrl' => 'http://localhost/apps/phoenix',
With this setup, you can try out everything which is already in Phoenix!
Next Development Steps
As mentioned above, Phoenix is work in progress – even though there were some big steps before the conference, so we can build on this progress during oCCon19. The ownCloud conference is also a great place for feedback – all the developers will be there.
The next steps will include a lot of focus on UX and tackling the admin interface, which is not yet available at all. Soon Phoenix will be a working replacement for the old web interface!
Try it Out!
So now, as you know how to set it up, it’s the perfect time to get started! There are rolling releases from now on, so you can expect a new version every friday.
In the last 10 years, iOS developers spent quite some effort on developing frameworks and tools allowing faster porting of their applications to macOS – but those have their limitations and struggled with Apple’s iOS fast development pace.
At WWDC 2018 Apple announced that they are working on an official toolset – project Marzipan. They showcased the technology in macOS Mojave.
Building the iOS App for MacOS With Catalyst
We were eager to play with the new technology and as soon as it became available in Xcode 11 beta, we used it to build a native Mac app from our iOS client code-base.
We presented it running on macOS Catalina beta at the ownCloud Conference and shared our learnings from this experiment.
During the ownCloud Conference 2019, the ownCloud Android developers could put the final touches to this version of the app. It brings improvements to different areas. Most important is the extension of the Document Provider feature.
Document Provider support is available in the app since version 2.11 – it enables you to use ownCloud files in other Android apps.
With this version, the document provider can now also copy and move from images, videos, audio, internal storage, and other apps to ownCloud. More file operations are supported now.
But it is not limited to other Android apps – you can also copy and move from an ownCloud account to another destination in the same account, when you are in another app. You don’t have to open the Android app for this.
The Document Provider features are not the only user-visible improvement in this release – the items in the available offline shortcut will show the date and size from now on. Other improvements to this dialog will follow.
Now you see the date and the size of files in the available offline view.
Finally, in the future more data is logged to gather information about known issues like “Rate dialog keeps appearing even after selecting not showing it again” and crashes related to uploads in background. Of course this only happens for users who opted in.
Get the App Now!
If you have installed the app already, you can update it at the Google Play Store or in F-Droid. If you don’t have it yet, get it now!
today we are releasing a new version of the ownCloud Android app with an important improvement in the flow and error accuracy for OAuth when the token expires or becomes invalid.
OAuth flow and error improvement
It’s been many versions since we started to support OAuth 2 in the Android app but as with the rest of features, there’s always room for improvements.
In this version of the app we have replaced the old error message with a new one when the OAuth token expires or becomes invalid. Previously, it was “Authentication failed” and now is “The access token has expired or become invalid. Sign in again to regain access”, making it more accurate and descriptive for the users.
Along with this error message, there’s a button that we have also changed, from “Change account” to “Sign in”. When tapping the old button we showed a view with the list of accounts, so if you wanted to regain access you needed to tap the key button to see the login view again.
With the new button “Sign in”, we are getting rid of the additional step to select the account and the login view will appear directly, where you just need to press the button login and authorize again.
How can I download the new ownCloud Android app?
2.13.1 is already available on Google Play Store, so download and enjoy it!
How can I send my feedback to ownCloud developers?
We really appreciate your feedback to improve the ownCloud Android app so if you find any bug or want to make any suggestion, please participate in one of these channels:
We are excited to announce the release of ownCloud Server 10.3. With more than 100 entries in the Changelog the new version focuses on further hardening the stability and improving the performance of ownCloud Server.
To meet the latest web technologies and to improve security, support for PHP 7.3 has been added to ownCloud Server. At the same time it is necessary to announce the final deprecation of PHP 7.0 with a later version around the end of 2019. ownCloud installations still running on PHP 7.0 should therefore upgrade soon to a later PHP version (preferably 7.2 or 7.3) to stay compatible with future server versions.
Introducing the completely new Media Viewer
The recently released Media Viewer extension is now the default viewer application for images and videos, replacing the former Gallery and Video Player extensions to combine them into one app and to meet the modern web standards.
The difference between zoomed and unzoomed pictures is tremendous.
Improved OAuth2 session handling
To cope for some issues reported around the ownCloud Clients forcing users to re-authenticate from time to time when OAuth2 is used for authorization, the session handling has been reworked and improved. With Server 10.3 those issues are resolved.
Improved User/group sharing UI
Based on user feedback the user/group sharing autocompletion dropdown menu has been redesigned. Now the information is structured vertically for better space usage and to allow users to recognize different user types easily (e.g., internal user, group, guest user, federated user).
Improved sharing UI
Phoenix is coming
Phoenix, the upcoming new web frontend for ownCloud, is completely separated from the ownCloud backend and communicates solely via HTTP APIs. To prepare for the transition, ownCloud Server catches up with HTTP APIs.
In that spirit, there are new endpoints to use the Trash bin and to access Public Links as well as to send them via mail through ownCloud. These endpoints are currently in tech preview state and need to be explicitly enabled. Of course they can also be employed for other use cases.
On Thursday evening, the eight insider portals BigData-Insider, Blockchain-Insider, CloudComputing-Insider, DataCenter-Insider, Dev-Insider, IP-Insider, Security-Insider and Storage-Insider of Vogel IT-Medien in Augsburg awarded the IT-Awards in a total of 43 categories for the fifth consecutive year. More than 35,000 votes were received for the six cloud computing categories. In the Filesharing & Collaboration category, ownCloud was awarded first place thanks to the high approval of the readership and the loyal supporters of the open source community (german: https://www.cloudcomputing-insider.de/das-sind-die-gewinner-der-it-awards-2019-a-875823/). Gold went to Nextcloud for second place, as in the previous year. Third place went to Dropbox.
This again outstanding award in the fourth year in a row reflects the considerable success of the Nuremberg private cloud solution based on open source.
“Data security and data sovereignty are now on everyone’s lips and are becoming increasingly important, especially for large and medium-sized companies as well as for public administration. This is also demonstrated by the fact that ownCloud, as a leading open source file sharing provider, was once again able to hold its own against well-known proprietary public cloud services such as Google, Dropbox and Citrix. I am particularly pleased with the recognition we have received for our daily work and would like to thank our customers and our lively open source community for allowing us to accept this prestigious IT award for the fourth time now. ownCloud rocks!” says Tobias Gerlinger, CEO at ownCloud.
About the Insider Media
With an average of around 1.5 million page impressions per month, insider media are among the most important independent sources of information in the German B2B environment. Vogel IT-Medien currently operates eight topic-focused specialist portals for IT professionals: BigData Insiders, Blockchain Insiders, CloudComputing Insiders, DataCenter Insiders, Dev Insiders, IP Insiders, Security Insiders and Storage Insiders.
First a look back into history: with version 2.5, the ownCloud client introduced the Virtual File System. Never before could ownCloud users have their files available that conveniently.
Since version 2.5, there has been steady work on the Virtual File System, user experience, stability, bugfixes, performance.
Now, the ownCloud Desktop Client 2.6 brings the first new feature for Virtual File System Windows users: native integration with the Windows File Explorer.
Virtual Files on Windows 10
OneDrive already has Files on-Demand for a while, with certain behavior optimized for saving disk space while storing all necessary files locally. The behavior of the ownCloud client is now aligned with OneDrive as a tech preview – we have been working with the team at Microsoft to bring you this feature.
This means, you can now:
Access your ownCloud files directly from the Windows File Explorer, without burdening the disk space on your PC.
Select files and folders you want to keep on your PC permanently.
Free up disk space with two clicks – while the files are still available in the cloud.
Share files with a simple right click in the File Explorer. Changes you make locally will be synced to other collaborators.
This is possible because of two specific improvements:
Temporary vs. Permanent Downloads
This means that you can select whether you want to save disk space or network bandwidth. If you ask for a temporary download policy, you download files as usual in the Virtual File System. Only if your disk space is low, Windows will clean them up.
If you want to save network bandwidth instead and don’t want that Windows cleans up the files, you can choose the permanent download policy. This way, your files stay on your hard disk even if you run out of disk space.
With the native integration, you can control disk usage from the context menu.
Native Windows File Explorer Integration
Apart from this permanent/temporary distinction, you can now better see in the Windows File Explorer whether a file is physically available or virtual. This is because the client uses native File Explorer APIs now, which were designed for OneDrive.
Also some right-click actions have a user interface consistent with OneDrive now. This way, you don’t have to get used to a new software when migrating from OneDrive.
Both these improvements need the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update 1709, so you might need to install the latest Windows updates to benefit from these features.
Switch to Virtual File System
You want to make use of these improvements, but your account is still using a traditional folder connection? Don’t worry, you can convert your folder sync connection to virtual files easily:
With these few clicks you can add all your non-downloaded files as virtual files.
Rewritten File Discovery Algorithm
There is a lot of candy for Windows users in this release, but not only: also the Linux and MacOS users get a piece of the cake. One example is the rewritten File Discovery Algorithm.
The ownCloud Desktop Client regularly synchronizes your local files with the server – with each sync, the file/folder structure on Server and Client need to be discovered and compared. The algorithm responsible for non-virtual folder sync connections was long due for a rewrite – the result is part of this release.
Olivier started this team effort to achieve more performance; the file discovery before syncing is faster now, because discovery on your device, on the server, and the merge of both structures, happen in parallel now.
It is also a lot softer on the RAM – before these improvements, having complex folder structures and many files could mean hundreds of megabytes of occupied RAM during synchronization.
You can expect more improvements on this in 2.7: the download/upload could already start while the folder scan is still running.
Faster Connections Through HTTP/2 Support
And there are even more performance improvements in the 2.6 release: with this version, the connections of the Desktop Client will be faster. That’s because the Client supports the HTTP/2 standard for its connections now, which is more performant than HTTP/1.1.
You can see whether HTTP/2 is supported by the server in this context menu.
This is good news, but not only for the ownCloud Client: we contributed our patches upstream to Qt, to fix it for everyone else, too.
SAML Support Removed
A change which is important for admins of the ownCloud Enterprise edition: the 2.6 Client doesn’t support authentication with SAML identity providers like Shibboleth anymore. It is dropped in favor of OAuth2.
Apart from these changes, there are over 50 small changes and bugfixes. We can’t talk about every single one of them, of course – only that the technology is getting more mature with each release.
So make sure your client is upgraded to version 2.6! The auto-updater will take care of that for you. If you don’t have the Desktop Client installed yet – try it out! Nothing is more convenient if you want to work on your files:
Version 2.14 comes full of new features, improvements for our users and bug fixing. Some of them are contributions so thanks to all of those involved in this new release.
Splash screen
From now on, everytime you open the ownCloud app, you will receive a warm welcome with the new splash screen, fully brandable by the way.
Shortcut to shared by link files
A couple of version ago, in 2.11 to be exact, we included a new option in the drawer menu to access available offline files in a quicker way.
Now it’s the turn of a new shortcut to access files that have been shared by link. This is a contribution by Shashvat Kedia.
Minimum number of characters for searching users, groups or federated shares
From 10.0.8, user and group name search results depend on a new parameter called user.search_min_length (4 by default) and the 2.14 Android version supports it.
To use it, you just need to update the value of that parameter in your server and you will notice in the Android app that the user and groups search will not show results till reaching that value.
For example, after changing the value to 12 characters:
End of support for SAML authentication
SAML authentication will not be available anymore in the Android app so please switch to other authentication methods like OAuth.
Mix files and folders when sorting them by date or size
When sorting a list of files and folders by date or size, the app showed first folders and then files so the sorting was not being strictly respected. Now the files and folders will appear mixed and properly ordered, as you can see below – order by size, descending in this case.
New logs view
Hanness sent us a contribution with an awesome redesign for the logs UI. It also includes changes under the hood, we will no longer use a self-made implementation but an external library one, which makes our life easier.
As you can see in the image below, it keeps the searching and adds:
Tab for ownCloud Filelogging view
Tab for Logcat view
Log sharing
Filters for Verbose , Debug , Info , Warning , Error (in the three dots menu button)
Bug fixing
And last but not the least, we have also fixed some errors reported by the app users:
Avoid overwritten files with the same name during copy or move operations
Retry camera uploads when recovering wifi connectivity and “Upload with wifi only” option is enabled
Important
2.14 will be the last version supporting 4.4 Android devices and ownCloud servers lower than 10.
How can I download the new ownCloud Android app?
2.14 is already available on Google Play Store, so download and enjoy it!
How can I send my feedback to ownCloud developers?
We really appreciate your feedback to improve the ownCloud Android app so if you find any bug or want to make any suggestion, please participate in one of these channels:
Three new features and changes that make you want to upgrade to the new ownCloud desktop version immediately:
1. Enhanced Linux desktop integration
We added a button in the user interface with which Linux users can finally quit the ownCloud app (ok ok, it’s ok, to quit the ownCloud app from time to time). We also extended the context menu: With a right-click on your ownCloud you can now exit the app natively – like you are used to from many other applications. (This will especially please all Gnome users).
Furthermore, until recently you had to log in again on the latest Ubuntu after every reboot. We fixed that!
2. More human, less robot
We now show the domain of your ownCloud as well as your display name throughout the desktop app instead of the domain and hostname only. It’s nice and clear especially in your server activity view.
We also improved the desktop notifications: You can see from which connected account notifications are coming and our wording has got an additional layer ‘human’.
3. Virtual Files System for Windows
With the desktop app version 2.6.0 we have released the ownCloud Virtual Files System for Windows File Explorer as a technical preview. For this we use the native Cloud Filter API and are proud to be the first open source cloud storage and file sharing vendor who has already integrated this. With the new version 2.6.1 we implemented some stability improvements, the next steps are to release a stable version and therefore make it a default feature of ownCloud desktop.
Of course there are many more minor improvements, to learn more check the changelog. The ownCloud desktop app is available for Windows, macOS and any larger Linux distribution. Upgrade your ownCloud desktop app today!
Author: Matthias Hühne, ownCloud Mobile Lead Developer, iOS Developer
It all began with WWDC 2019, where Apple presented iOS 13, and with it a whole range of technical possibilities, increasing the productivity and usability of iPhone and iPad for the business context. We were eagerly sitting in front of the screen and made a long list of features that we wanted to integrate into the ownCloud iOS app. Now we are proud to present you the ownCloud iOS App version 1.3.0! With this blog article, we want to show you the ideas that captivated us back then and that are now implemented into the ownCloud iOS App.
What’s new
Multiple Windows
This feature is so huge! Not only one app instance can be opened, but you can have as many app windows as you need! For example, you can place two ownCloud windows side by side and use it as a file manager, like the classical midnight commander. Drag a file from one window to another, move or copy files between folders, or copy files to a different account.
Unlock the next level of multitasking! With iOS 13 you can use multiple spaces: Place an ownCloud window beside your image processing app and another window with a different folder opened next to your writing app:
To get an overview of your opened windows, swipe up from the bottom of your device into the center and the App Switcher will appear where you can see an overview of your spaces and windows. If you tap on the app icon you will see all open windows.
UI Restoration
Starting with iOS 13 we implemented UI Restoration, which means all your windows will be reopened where you left even if the app was terminated. This will let you continue your work, trouble-free starting from the very same folder or file. Of course, this is also available on the iPhone.
Document Scanner
Everything is digital, but we are all still
receiving papers every day. Now it is possible to scan these documents directly
from the ownCloud app. Just tap on the create button on the right top and
select “Scan Document”.
Now you can place your document in front of your
camera and scan it right into your cloud. There are different options for
saving. You can save your document as PDF, JPEG or PNG, change the output
to color, grayscale or black/white while you can also create a single file or
multipage files.
Markup Images and PDF Files
You scanned a document into your cloud but now you
have to sign it… Awesome, this is
also possible directly in our iOS ownCloud app!
Tap on the … (More) button beside your file
and select “Markup” now you can add your signature to your
document and save it.
Additionally, you can markup, annotate, draw and highlight, add text and shapes or show details with a magnifier in your document. This is possible for images and PDF files on your iPhone and iPad. If you use an iPad you can also use the Apple Pencil.
Shortcuts
Apples Shortcuts app is the perfect tool to automate your workflow. It adds a huge library with actions and scripting tasks to build your own workflows. The best thing is, it is not required to be a software developer: It is intuitive and easy to understand for average users, but it also adds a long-missing base to automate and script tasks for power users right on your iOS device. Starting with iOS 13 developers got the possibility to provide actions with parameters which is absolutely great for a file-sharing app like ownCloud.
We are providing actions in the Shortcuts app, to view, receive and store your files. All actions have a short explanation and for a better understanding we even have some sample shortcuts for you:
Markdown to PDF Example
This converts a markdown document into a rendered
PDF file. Here is a quick guide on what the job does:
It asks you to choose an ownCloud account from the iOS app
Then it downloads a markdown file from GitHub
Safes the file into the chosen account
Reads the markdown file and converts it to HTML
Adds HTML margin and exports this to a PDF file
The file will be saved in the accounts root folder
Clipboard Manager
Wouldn’t it be cool to have your own clipboard
manager? All clipboard content will be securely stored in your ownCloud. You
can use it to sync your clipboard between different devices, but also between different operating systems.
As an example, you are using an iOS device and you
want to share your clipboard with an Android device. Here is a workflow for it.
Use the Clipboard to ownCloud workflow to save your current iOS clipboard to the folder Clipboard in your select ownCloud account.
To get the newest clipboard content back to your
iOS clipboard run the ownCloud to Clipboard script. Isn’t it great?
Give us feedback!
These samples will give you a short idea of how you create your own workflow and how you can use the ownCloud actions. We are interested in your creative workflows! If you want to share your workflow or if an action is missing, please send us your workflow.
System UI-Theme
We already shipped our app with three different themes with version 1.0.0. Since iOS 13 the user can decide if he wants a classic or dark mode interface. Now if you choose System theme in our app, the UI will automatically adapt to the system setting. You still can override this setting by your preferred app theme too.
Keyboard Commands
If you have an iPad you can connect an external keyboard. Apple implemented keyboard commands to use shortcuts. Starting with our app version 1.2.0 it is possible to control the whole ownCloud app with your keyboard. It is not needed to touch on your screen. This will smoothen your workflow and handle tasks faster. It is a great improvement, not only for power users. If you want to know which shortcuts are available, press long on the Command key and you will see which commands currently are available. These shortcuts can differ if an item is selected or not.
Media Player Improvements
Maybe you know, we have an integrated media player,
so you can play your favorite audio and video files straight from the app.
Streaming is supported you don’t need to download the files before. Video and
Audio work when the app runs in the background and on the
iPad you can have a Picture-in-Picture video player.
In version 1.2.0 we added support to show the album
artwork in the lock screen and added controls to skip to the next or previous
media file. Another great feature is, you can
control the media playback directly from your Apple Watch. This makes the iOS
ownCloud app a perfect companion for media playback!
What’s new Screen
If you missed reading our AppStore changelog (you wouldn’t dare, would you?) you can see all changes after an update directly in the app. All important changes are listed with a small description. If you want to give us some love you can leave an app review from this view.
Photo and Video Upload
Most mobile users like to take photos and videos.
As an ownCloud user, it makes sense to store these files in the cloud to share
them with your family and friends or only as a backup.
We integrated an option to select an upload path for photos and videos to automatically upload new media files to ownCloud.
Quick Access Collections
Since version 1.0.0 we have a view called Quick
Access. Here you can find collections of all your shares, links, recently
changed files, favorites, available offline, images and PDF files. This is
really handy to get a fast overview of all these file types without navigating
through a directory structure.
In version 1.3.0 we added the following collections: documents, text files, video, and audio.
Cleaner File List Layout
Meta-Informations are very important for a file sharing app. We changed the file list layout to show more informations to the user and better aligned so that the user can faster see the current state of the item.
In detail we have more space for longer file names, all sharing and the availability icon was moved to the left side below the file name and we used a smaller font size.
Available Offline Support
For a mobile app it is very important to have all needed documents on the go. There are situations, where users are not connected to the internet and the ownCloud server cannot be reached. Available Offline support will help the user in this situation. When a network is available, set all your needed files or folders to “Available Offline” and it will be downloaded to your device. If a file is downloaded you can see a status icon for it. Furthermore in the Quick Access view is a collection Available Offline where you can see all marked files and folders in one place.
File Previews
Filenames are great, but sometimes you want to have a look how the file content looks like. We improved our preview engine to show more file types directly in the app and as a benefit we can generate more preview icons for the file list.
USB HD-Drives
Starting with iOS 13 the system got support to connect external harddrives. This means you can save files from a connect harddrive directly to your ownCloud or store a file on this external medium by using our file provider in the files app.
Give us Feedback
We hope that all this features are a great improvement for the users. Please give us feedback if you like it and have fun with our iOS app. Thank you for using ownCloud! Here you can download our iOS app from the App Store.
ownCloud Server 10.4 lets users see if a file or subfolder is shared as part of their parent folder – making sure they don’t unintentionally share or edit stuff. To that end, each file and folder icon now shows an overlay indicating their status. In addition, users can see in the sidebar if a file or subfolder is shared as part of a parent folder, and with whom.
See with whom files are shared – even in subfolders.
User and Group Shares now too can have expiration dates, just as public links already can. Admins may set a default maximum lifetime. Users can easily see and collapse the permission and expiration specifics for each file in the sidebar.
Add expiration dates to shares with users
With this new version, ownCloud Server drops support for PHP 7.0. Please do not forget to upgrade PHP prior to upgrading ownCloud Server, preferably to PHP 7.2 or 7.3, as support for PHP 7.1 will be dropped in one of the upcoming versions.
In database news, ownCloud Server now supports MariaDB up to version 10.4 and PostgreSQL up to version 10.
Please note: As always, ownCloud administrators should read the Release Notes carefully to make sure it will run smoothly. For more detail, please read the full Changelog.
Apple released iPadOS 13.4 on March 24th which introduced mouse and trackpad support for the iPad. This means if you connect a bluetooth or USB pointer device to your iPad you have a completly new way to interact with it.
Apple decided not to show a classic cursor. Instead, they reinvented the cursor for the iPad. Instead you will see a circle that, if it gets near a UIBarButtons,UISegementedControl or UITabBarItem, snaps automatically to this element and focuses it. In addition to this, you will get a nice highlight effect. This means a lot of elements of app are working out of the box without an app update.
UIButton
Apple added new APIs to add this effect to more UI elements than are supported out of the box. For an UIButton you only have to set a property and you will get the same effect.
aButton.isPointerInteractionEnabled = true
UIView and Custom Implementation
It is also possible to add an effect to a UIView or a custom pointer style for an UIButton. The implementation requires only need a few lines of code:
Add the Delegate protocol to your class
class MyViewController, UIPointerInteractionDelegate
Attach the UIPointerInteraction to the view, which should get you a mouseover effect. This should be done in viewDidLoad of your view controller or in the init method of the view.
if #available(iOS 13.4, *) {
customPointerInteraction(on: myButton, pointerInteractionDelegate: self)
}
Last but not least add this block to your class. It includes the function for adding the pointer interaction to the view and the delegate method for the UIPointerInteraction which sets the preferred pointer style. There are different pointer effects available, highlight, hover, lift and automatic.
if let interactionView = interaction.view { let targetedPreview = UITargetedPreview(view: interactionView) pointerStyle = UIPointerStyle(effect: UIPointerEffect.highlight(targetedPreview)) } return pointerStyle }
That’s all!
Hover Effect
If you want to give your table views, rows and collection view cells a hover effect, you can use the same implementation as above, but set the interaction to your UITableViewCell or UICollectionViewCell and use UIPointerStyle with hover effect.
The pointer style will be set as mentioned above in the delegate method func pointerInteraction(_ interaction: UIPointerInteraction, styleFor region: UIPointerRegion) -> UIPointerStyle? .
Custom Pointer Shape
You can also change the shape of the pointer and implement a custom pointer style for when hovering on a UI element by setting an bezier path:
This code sample gives you a crosshair pointer shape:
Conclusion
As of iPadOS 13.4, developers can upgrade their apps to support pointing devices on the iPad and create a user experience that rivals that of desktop apps.
We at ownCloud already implemented UIPointerInteraction in our iOS app. The new version will be availabe soon on the AppStore. Do you want to test it right now?
The ownCloud iOS app is open source and the code for UIPointerInteraction implementation can be found in this branch of our repository on GitHub: feature/ipad-pointerinteraction
Ready to make your ownCloud experience on Android more secure? Then go check out or public beta of version 2.1.5. in the Play Store (F-Droid will follow soon).
What’s new
The Login has been comprehensively rebuilt, including changes to basic authentication and oAuth
now supports OpenId Connect (OIDC). To test, please log in to the demo server ocis-latest.owncloud.com with any of these (einstein:relativity, marie:radioactivity, feynman:superfluidity) credentials
now supports the native biometrical lock (activate in settings and then reopen the app)
now supports usernames that include a plus-sign (+)
new bottom navigation bar
some crash fixes
What’s gone
support for Android KitKat OS (be sure to use at least Android 5.0)
support for ownCloud Servers older than oc10 (be sure to use at least version 10.0.0)
How to join the beta testing program?
If you want to join the beta program in PlayStore, you will need to have the last app version installed. If you already have the last version installed, go to ownCloud app in PlayStore and scroll down to the end of the view; there you will see a new tab like the one below, just press the “I’M IN” button to join and your app will be replaced with the beta.
How can I send my feedback to ownCloud developers?
If you find a bug or want to make any suggestion, please participate in one of these channels:
By Marcus Herrmann, accessibility consultant and web developer
At the start of 2019, ownCloud team lead Michael Stingl approached me and asked whether I could support the accessibility aspect of ownClouds Project Phoenix. I was very pleased to say yes, especially once I learned that Phoenix was a) a web-app and b) written in Vue.js. The intersection of web accessibility and modern, framework-driven JavaScript is a fascinating topic for me, and additionally, Vue.js is my favourite framework.
Help building accessible components that can be used throughout the new interface, using the strength of a design system: Authors and developers would need to build and test an inclusive interface pattern once, and it could then be used all across the interface. In the bird’s eye view, an application consisting of well-built single parts is on a good path to become a truly inclusive one.
Help with documentation: When certain components or controls a built in a certain way – what is the reasoning behind it? What user groups and which assistive technologies are affected? What circumstances and strategies could people have when they approach the interface? In the end, the documentation is intended to have two audiences: The core team members and associated freelancers, but also anyone else building extensions for the new front-end. For both groups, the design system should serve as a knowledge center: about the available components, for sure, but also about the design and markup decisions that went into them. Project Phoenix is being heavily worked on and will, especially when it comes to user experience and screen designs, go through further iterations. But the sometimes abstract, sometimes concrete documentation bits in ODS are meant to stand the test of time and to be educational resources for everyone working in the proximity of ownCloud’s new interface.
Lastly to conduct occasional video calls or physical meetings where I can show to the team some strategies people with disabilities employ to use websites, and the tools developers have at their disposal to help them succeed. Over the last months, these occasional “accessibility session” also dealt with what needs to be done in the future, and I tried to make it clear, why something needs to be done in accessibility terms.
In October and November of 2019, I also had the opportunity to work in the ‘machine room’ of both Project Phoenix and the ownCloud Design System. While doing so, I tried to emphasize accessibility basics but also the special idiosyncrasies that exist in JavaScript-based web apps. In these weeks, I approached the following topics:
Semantics of controls, and buttons vs. links
The importance of accessible names and labels
Communicating interstitial states in web apps, like a condition where a progress (e.g. upload) is running for a certain time (example)
How an application or document can be structured non-visually with headline and/or ARIA landmark regions, and how skip links will help people who are not using a pointer device (such as mouse, or a touch surface)
The virtue of hiding things accessibly, either from visual users, or from screen reader users without alienating the other group
The concept of an accessible disclosure widget and where it could and should be used in an interface (example)
That keyboard navigation is a cornerstone of accessibility, and that good usability in that regard oftentimes is passed on to assistive technology
The concept of an “action menu” (a widget that emulates native application menus on the desktop, and triggers screen readers to go into a special mode) (example)
The best way of implementing an accessible date picker (example)
The central importance that all of the above should be tested with real users, and that building inclusive interfaces is not checking of a list, and real feedback from real people wins over dogmatism
All in all, especially the weeks in the fall were exciting times. In my project accessible-app.com I built a small dummy application to show some concepts, components and patterns. But of course a living, breathing and growing project like Phoenix was something else, and I really enjoyed it to work so close to the metal.
Still, in such a relatively short amount of time and in a growing and complex application like Phoenix it is impossible to boost the accessibility up to eleven. Nevertheless, I really hope to have helped facilitate laying the groundwork for accessibility knowledge, and that everyone will reap the rewards of this work in the near future. In the meantime, you can check out Phoenix’s progress at github.com/owncloud/phoenix/.
About the author
Marcus Herrmann
is a freelance web developer and accessibility consultant. He blogs at https://marcus.io and currently writes an ebook about accessibility in Vue.js.
Making user interfaces accessible to as many people as possible might be a no-brainer to everyone mindful about it. Accessibility should be the default, not an optional extra.
One of our missions at ownCloud is to enable the future of collaboration. This also means delivering on the possibilities that remote work opens up for people with disabilities. When organizations choose ownCloud, its staff should find the overall accessibility of their tool stack enhanced.
All too often, software projects lack awareness and then need to retrofit their code if and when the topic comes up. We’ve been there ourselves. We want to avoid that particular trap in the development of ownCloud’s future web frontend, code-named Phoenix, and our new app for iOS. Both should be inclusive and empathetic environments which can be used by positively everyone, e.g. non-visually or without a pointing device.
Phoenix is a web app built in the JavaScript framework Vue.js, and we tried to nail accessibility right in its building blocks that are part of the ownCloud design system (ODS), a pattern library for Vue.js. The components and patterns therein, once written and tested, can then be used and reused across the user interface.
It wasn’t very easy to find input on this topic. While accessible design for web pages is an established field, accessible web apps based on the latest and greatest JavaScript frameworks are kind of wild frontier — and those are sparsely populated.
We still have and maybe always will have room for improvement in making ownCloud fully accessible. But we hope that by addressing the issue head-on in the early stages of its design process, we can make our new interface contribute to a more inclusive workplace – and a more open web for positively everyone.
Did you know that the ownCloud app on iPadOS supports a fair amount of keyboard shortcuts? Actually, it lets iPad power users with usb or bluetooth keyboards fully navigate the App without ever having to touch the screen.
That’s a big plus if you’re using your iPad as a notebook replacement as it saves a lot of time and makes the tablet behave even more like a traditional desktop.
To use keyboard shortcuts you have to, of course, connect an external keyboard to the iPad via bluetooth or USB. To get an overview of the available shortcuts long press the Command-Key on your keyboard.
By comparison, with the Apps of our dear competitors like Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or Box.com, good luck on keeping your screen smudge free.
It starts at the entrance: The new version of the ownCloud App for Android comes with a comprehensively rebuilt login which now supports OpenID Connect. The App now also uses the native biometrical lock of your device. We have moved the main menu from a drawer to a bottom navigation bar to make it easier to access files that are either available offline or shared by link. For a list of all fixes, read the Changelog.
What goes
Version 2.15 ends support for ownCloud Server installations prior to ownCloud 10 as well as for Android installation older than Lollipop aka Android 5.
How did you get the idea for the project and what makes it interesting for CERN?
